The Press. — London, England, 1854-03-04 00:00:00

MARCH 4, 1854. complaints made against them. Mr. Wilberforce, who really deserved better treatment at their hands, read to the house, on one occasion, au extract from a newspaper, in . which he was reported as having said, ' Potatoes make men healthy, vigorous, and active ; but what is still more in their favour, they make men tall ; more especially was he led to say so as being rather under the common size, mid he must lament that his guardians had not fostered him upon that genial vegetable.' " Amongst the best of this month's periodicals is the current number of the Dublin University Magazine. We were much interested with its articles on " British Spinsterhood Abroad" and. on "Van " Diemen's Land." But the chief paper is the elaborate memoir of " Captain APChire," the Polar navigator, which will repay perusal. perceive that this eminent person was educatud at Eton and Sandhurst, and that his first appointment as mid shipman was on board Nelson's old ship the Victory. The memoir has more biographical than literary merits, and its author in referring to Sir Humphrey Gilbert should not have omitted to notice the poem written by Southey on the gallant voyager's tragic fate. A portrait of Captain M'Clure, and a reduced chart of the Arctic regions, accompany this timely article. The paper on "The Food of the Irish" is amusing ; and the other articles are not below, if they are not above, the average merits of this well sustained periodical. The New Monthly is of fair average merit. Two articles, "The Cafés anti Restaurants of Paris" and " German Singers and English Audiences," are amusing, as sketches of the English by foreigners usually are. The former is a notice of Dr. Veron's memoirs, and various preposterous anecdotes of Eng lish eccentricity are culled from that work ; while th latter is an account of what the German singers who came to England last year saw and witnessed in this unmerry and unmusical land. Ainsworth. Mr. Harrison Ainsworth, who edits both, seems to devote his energies more to the New Monthly Magazine than to that which bears his name. The latter is by no means equal to the former. Bentley's Monthly Review continues to improve. The present number has an air of vivacity, along with the light and anecdotical matter that is attractive to readers. A cleverly-written memoir of Albert Smith opens the present number—written in a tone of goodnatured criticism, and humorously recording that its subject is more "popular" than several of " the great men" of the day. In another article there is some sharp criticism on one of our weekly contemporaries. But we dislike seeing literary organs attacking each other. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. Booxs. The Purple Tints of Paris. By Bayle St. John. Chapman and Hall. Visit to Portugal arid Madeira. By Lady Stua►t Wortley. Chapman and Hall. The Ride Musket. By Captain J. W. Jervis. Chapman and Hall. The Lost Child. By Mrs. Bennett. Weaterton. Annotated Edition of the English Po. ts. "Dryden." Vol. 11. Parker and Son. The Mediterranean. By Admiral Smyth. Parker and Son. Gibbon's Roman Empire, Vol. I. Edited by W. Smith, LL.D. Murray. Poems. By I). Bates. Lindsey and Blakiston, Philadelphia. The Life and Correspondence of Henry St. George Tuck entl er. Bey. Secret and Inedited Documents. " Russia." By J. R. Mogue.orell. B PAMPHLETS. Remarks on the Reorganisation of the Civil Serriee. Ridse R. Dawes. ay. Speech 41 Earl Grey in the house of Lords on Feb. 1.1. Ridgway. Correspondence between Lord John Russell and Mr. Croker on some Passages in Moore's Diary. Mun ay. Speech of Lord John Russell in the House of Commons n o t a te 31st of Jan. Ridy. The Two Sacraments. Sermons by the Rev. B. L. Wilteys. Seels. Juvenile Delinquency: its Prevention easier than its Cure. By the Rev. S. L. Wolley. Rivington. A Dozen Ballads for the Times about White Slavery. Bosworth. T. M. Plauti Miles Gloriosus. Parker e.nd Son. T. M. Plauti Trinummus. Parker and Son. Remarks on the Purchase of Landed Property. By G. H. Rhodes. Wilson. Observations on the Government Bill for Abolishing the Re moval of the Poor, tr., By B. Pashley, Q.C. Longman and Co. A Reply to Dr. Vaughan on the acrord Tutors J ' Association. . H. Parker. Reports of the Oxford Tutors' Association, No. 3. J. H. Parker. The Newspaper Press Directory. DR. CtILLEN has pronounced against the polka. In the Lenten pastoral which was read at all the chapels in Dub lin on Sunday last, he says :--" Never engage in those im proper dancer. imported from other countries, and retaining foreign names, such as polkas and waltzes, which are so repugnant to the notions of strict Christian morality, are condemned by many of the highest and most respectable members of society, and are at direct variance with that purity and modesty of the female character for which Ire land has been ever distinguished." THE PRESS. Ett prima. DRURY-LANE THEATRE. IF the public had never before seen 2'he Corsican Brothers, its representation as played here would be likely to obtain success. But there is no superior merit in the American version of it, as given by Mr. Brooke, to compensate for its want of the gloss of novelty. The Drury Lane copy of this melodra made piece is little better than a second edition of the Princess's enlarged and rather disimproved. The audience were thoroughly exhausted on the fall of the curtain at eleven o'clock on Monday night; and in our visit of Thursday, although its perform ance closed at ten, it was evident that many of the spectators felt the piece wearisome. Mr. Brooke rather fell below than rose beyond his average standard of acting. He played with great tameness ; and in the more intense parts,—as in the duel scene, — he was far inferior in effect to Mr. Charles Kean. We never saw his admirers so faint in their applause, and very few called for his appearance at the close. Mr. T. Mead received as much approval from the audience as " the leading tragedian," and had also to bow his thanks before the curtain ! The presence of the latter gentlemaii:at Drury Lane, along with that of Mr. G. Wild, made us almost fancy ourselves at the Surrey side of the Thames. The theatre, however, still continues to be crowded, and even on Thursday nearly every corner was filled. The best thing in the whole piece is the masked ball at the Opera-house, and we were really sur ; rised at the brilliancy with which that gay scene is portrayed at this theatre. Its spectacular effect, though inferior to the same scene at the Princess's, may assist in keeping The Corsican Brothers in the bills. Some of the mechanical artifices were also cleverly done. The sole point in which Mr. Brooke's version excels Mr. Charles Kean's is in the rapidity with which Mr. Brooke alternates between the two brothers during a single scene, " the apparitions" (especially that in the armchair) being adroitly managed. But, taken as a whole, there was a general tameness in the piece, and the earlier portions of it ought to be still further greatly curtailed. The Beggar'Bop era has been played as the after piece during the whole week. The new Polly (Miss Maria Stanley) has a voice fit only for a concert room, or for the comprimaria parts in opera. Miss Featherstone's Captain Macheath appears to be very popular. She has certainly great vocal resources, but no musical skill; and we never hear the rich tones of her contralto without lamenting that in this young lady's case nature has not been aided by art. Her speaking voice also is remarkable for its sweet ness and distinct articulation. Amongst our rising young actresses, however, she is certainly one of the most promising, and with pains and more study Miss Featherstone may attain a very high place in her arduous profession. Her appearance is always very cordially greeted by the audience. SOHO. AT this theatre on Tuesday Mr. Henry Nicholls played the part of Hamlet before an evidently select and critical audience, which he gradually conciliated and ultimately conquered by his intelligence and excellent taste. Mr. Nicholls was already known to the public as an able reader of Shakspeare, hut we confess we were not prepared for this exhibitic n of his aptitude as a Shakspearian actor. His fine voice and promising physique were usad and not abused in realising a just conception of the poet's meaning; and, if it is scarcely possible now to be original in a part which has been so thoroughly commented upon and elaborated, yet the selection of readings by Mr. Nicholls was almost invariably correct, and was rendered with characteristic expression and vigour. In the first act of the play we thought him a little wanting in natural ease, but this impression passed away as the tragedy advanced. In the play scene and the rant over the grave of Ophelia he exhibited natural passion. If we note any other deficiency it is chiefly of that conscious ideality which is requisite to render the sublime self-communings and defensive sarcasms of the distracted prince. It would be in vidious, however, to lay stress upon these partial abatements to a general excellence, or to infer from them any discouragement to the career which we believe to be open to Mr. Nicholls, and which we shall watch with considerable interest. Of the other actors by whom Mr. Nicholls was supported we may single out Mr. West, who performed the First Gravedigger with judgment and fidelity to nature. Two RENTERS' SHARES in the Theatre Royal Drury lane were put up for sale at the Auction Mart by Mr. G. Robins on Tuesday. The original cost was 5001. each, the possessors being entitled to an an nual dividend at the rate of 2s. 6d. each night of per formance, but which is now reduced to is. 3d. per night, entitled also to free admission upon all occa sions, transferable or saleable annually ; held for a period of about forty years. The shares sold for forty eight guineas each, ghtsir. 211 L'ETOILE DU NORD. SCRIBE AND NEYERBEEIeS NEW THREE•ACT COMIC OPERA, " THE NORTHERN STAR." (From our own Correspondent.) To descend from the sublimity of lyric tragedy to the commonplace of operatic comedy even the warmest admirers of Meyerbeer's genius pronounced to be an impossibility, when it was first announced to musical Europe that the composer was engaged with the evergreen Scribe in the concoction of a comic opera. The musician has passed through the ordeal of a transformation of his style triumphantly. A congress of celebrities from the chief capitals col lected at the Opera Comique in Paris on Thursday, the 16,h of February, were unanimously of opinion that Meyerbeer has matured a masterpiece. A more lively, poetic, and dramatic production has never been heard and in this instance the success is solely due to thu music, the librettist having been sin gularly unfortunate in his subject. It may be readily imagined that no amount of ingenuity could invest with stage sympathy the characters of Peter the Great and of Catherine. Catherine in the first act is but a smart soubrette ; in the second she is a theatrical conscript ; and in the last act a second hand Lucia ; whilst Peter is alternately a bully, a drunkard, and a sentimental spooney. The other parts iu the drama, save a stolid Cossack, are next to nonentities. But Scribe, if he has failed in indi- vidualities, is still supreme in striking situations. He makes his point in each act, and supplies the com poser with the opportunities of display of varied emotion. In the music, therefore, is the interest of the Etoile do Nord concentrated—there are scenes for smiles—there are moments for tears; and every where the hand of the master is felt. The ani oration and piquan !y of the musical inspiration are so continuous that the hearer involuntarily ex lams, "Is this the composer who has depicted the conflict of the good and evil with such superhuman power in the Robert—who has painted the religious strug gles of an epoch in the Huguenots—who has deve loped the impulses of fanaticism in Tht Prophet ?" It is so, however, and the careful amateurs who will examine closely those three great works must come to the conclusion that therein may be traced the type which has enabled Meyerbeer to be hand in hand with the Tragic and Comic Muse. Analyse the music assigned to the minstrel Rainibaut in the Robert, listen to the strains of the Page and to the trio for three sopranos in the Queen's gardens in the Huguenots, and, above all, remark the structure of the trio for three basses in the tent scene of the Profhite, and the quaintness of the duet between Fides and Berthe, and then, summing up the con ceits, oddities, and prettinesses of these cited pieces, will it not be seen that to Meyerbeer all forms are familiar, because the instincts of art effect are with him irresistible ? The career of every great composer, as of every distinguished painter, is one of change and progress. Meyerbeer, before he established his own formula of composition, went through every school. Under Vogler he was a fugue-spinner and an organist. He began with oratorio-writing, God and Nature and The Daughter of Jephtha being his earliest works. Will ho finish as he began? The directors of the next Birmingham Festival are anxiously waiting for a reply to this question. In the sacred school he has yet to win glory. After being a dry disciple of Vogler, Meyerbeer was found to be a pianist of the Hummel model. Next it is seen that ho fails in a comic opera at Vienna at the age of nineteen. Now, at sixty, he is triumphant therein at Paris. The hearing of Rossini's works in Italy caused a com plete revolution in his style. He abandoned the rich harmonic combination of his fatherland for the melodic flow and elegance of the southern sky. After the run of his Margherita d'Anjou he wrote the Esule di Granata for the contralto l'isaroni and the Titan of basses Lablache. Then, in 1 42-1, came the Crociato in Egitto, in which his original powers were undeniably indicated, and, after a lapse of six years, taking a final farewell of the voluptuous Italian school, Robert the Devil startled the world with its daring innovation and novelty. Here the great composer became truly himself—all imitations ceased—he nrginated a new and transcendentally fine form for the lyric stage. His individuality was fixed, and it became the model in turn of all those ordinary talents in the domain of art who can only faintly copy the broad lines of demarcation which separate invention from imitation. Such progres sive transformations of ideas and forms of composers do not pass muster without severe controversy. Meyerbeer has met with bitter and uncompro mising opponents, but time has proved the Dem. racy of his system, which, accepted even in Italy, has shown how absurd are antipathies in art—how useless it is to attempt to confine the limits of lyric composition to one invariable style. In the Etoile du Nord Meyerbeer has laboured at the same profound calculations of effects which dis. tinguish his other masterpieces. His preparations I • ~411f.;:i