The Press. — London, England, 1853-11-19 00:00:00

service. " Venice " was also much applauded, and gave a capital idea of the peculiarities of that roman tic city. We could wish for a more detailed com mentary. Mr. J. It. Smith might also follow the example of " Albert" with some appropriate dramatic illustrations ; but, even as it is, his " Europe" is ex tremely interesting, and is one of the best exhibitions DOW open. tort* gut, Xittraturt, k. A SPECIAL. FLowen Mattarr has been authorised In Paris, to be held on the eve of Saint Eugenie, the filte•day of the Empress, Nov. 15. One of the most prolific dramatists of the ago, M. PLANsun, has just died in Paris, at an age exceeding seventy years. The son of an emigei of good family in Rovergite, the deceased, while yet a child, wits imprisoned with his mother during the Reign of Terror, was set free after the 9th Thermidor, and became a law student in Paris. In ItOwl he obtained an appointment under the Conned d'Etat., and was finally made secretary to the legislative department of that council. Notwithstanding his continual Ile - ettpittion as a public functionary, M. Plautard, during forty-six years, prepared a constant series of pieces for the principal theatres. Ilim last work, Colette, was produced little more than a fortnight before his death. lie was the composer, partially or solely, of more than filly dramatic works, beginning with a one act piece entitled Le Curieux, performed at the Lonvais Theatre in 1/4417. In the tonne year be wrote a play called Le Pererent for the Thialtru Franglais. TUN newly-appointed director of the electric tele graphs in Paris took his oaths of office, in presence of the Emperor, last week. Among the clauses of this oath was one by which the now functionary swore " to keep secret the despatches entrusted to him, and to give no hint respecting the telegraphic messages to anybody, without a formal order from the Minister of the Interior." Tim [teems Medical Journal states, that from the first appearance of cholera in St. Petersburg, on there have been reported cases, of which 54109 terminated fatally. THI members of the Paris Academy of the Fine Arta proceeded, on Saturday last, with the election of a new member, to supply the vacancy caused by the death of M. (Mallow. Thirty-live voters were present, and the ballot was repeated five times before any candidate could obtain the eighteen votes re quired ko give hips an absolute maiority,of suffrages.. In the arid, M. H. Mier was successful, defeating by tire votes only M. ClaPisson, who obtained six teen. ' M. Mann David *as among the candidates, but, at the ►sat ballot, only a single vote was giVen in his favour. TM►: FIARNeII (ioVERNMENT am preparing a decree by which all tontine associate are to be subject to state supervision, and obliged to submit their titian cial position to periodical audits superintended by certain functionaries app einteal for that purpose. THE KINO orto PRUNsIA lots remitted the penalties of fine and imprisonment to which the late editor of the New Priousian Gaz►tte, M. Wagner, had been condemed fur various offences against the laws of the press. Tux Oan►:R OF THE LION Ole 11Aous has been con ferred on Herr Listz, the celebrated pianist. AN ANeIENT dilrerillg from those of Her culaneum and Pompeii in everything but its arcades of pillars, has been discovered near Scafati, in the kingdom of Naples. The mansion comprises ten moms of considerable magnitude. Its upper ps►r tions were found at a depth of only four feet be neath the surface. Iwo bronze instnunents for ploughing, Walla Inman skeletons, and the bones of a large bird, were disinterred from among the ruins. At Ansonia:lite, .lAstEs MAenosALD, an employi of Mr. Mackenzie, contractor on the railway, has been condemned to pay a fine of 2001. for walking on the line while the red Hag was displayed, indicating danger. Lot.'. MoNTvs, wording to the San Francisco papers, has instituted a suit for divorce from her new husband. Mr. Ilan. Itt►lATl has illattti a most successful tUbut at file Paris Opera, ensuring at the same limo the success of the new ballet of ./orita. The story of this ballet is laid among that very unsentimental race the Hue cowers. Mlle. Jorati (IttKati) is the daughter .4 a certain Don Jose Corenines, living in som e W e st, Indian isle unnamed. She loves a naval officer, Altamiso, who loves her in return, but is at present engaged in hunting up Ztai Hap, the chief of th e buccaneers, whom he has undertaken to capture witl► all his men. Zutillaya, however, is on his guard. Instead of letting himself be taken, be surprises the mansion of Don CareWats, and carries bun oll*, with all the family, to the buccaneers' cave. Jorito alone escapes, 17 hiding herself ; but shortly reappears in the cavern disguised, and with a tamborine in her hands. The buccaneers request her to dance for their entertainment., and, while executing a piquant series of pus, Jorita contrives to seize a powder horn, to lay a long train up to some powder-barrels stowed THE PRESS. away in a corner, and then to set fire to it. The cavern and buccaneers are Jill blown up, while Jin her father, 10141 friends, of course escape unhurt. 'the Paris critics speak rapturously of Itosati'a dancing in this ballet, and especially of her various pas in the buccaneers' den. The Emperor and Em press have visited the Opera-house during the week, to see her performance m the character of Jorita. THE riEbm.,Nrrmr. IioVERNNENT has directed that all articles intended for the Exhibition of Genoa shall be conveyed free of expense. Moreover, all those sent from foreign countries are to be admitted free of duty ; but they cannot compete for the prizes, and, if sold in the country, will be liable to duty. A JUNTA has been formed in Madrid for pro moting a subscription fstr erecting a monument to the memory of Senor Mentlizabal. A FuENett AEItioNAVT, M. Arban, who made an ascent front Barcelona more titan two years ago,and, not having since been heard of, was believed to have fallen into the sea and been drowned, has male his appearance again. Au Alicant letter says that his balloon went over to Africa, and that he was seized and made a slave, and continued in that state for two years, when he effected his escape. M. VEnox, the ex-proprietor of the Constitution nei, has had a partial attack of apoplexy, from which he will not completely recover. ills noun IllonNEss THE PRINCE OP PIIIIIIBIA has lately been occupied with the reorganisation of the military music in the Prussian army. The Austrian system is to he adopted. In Austria each military band consists of alt musicians, and is dis tinguished by its number of brass instruments. The reorganisation has commenced with the Ist Regiment of the l;nards. I,Asnot.rr, physician to the King of Naples' Professor at the University, and director of the principal hospital of that city, ham discovered a new method for the cure of cancer, when not in its worst and last stage. It is expected that he will speedily publish a work on the subject of his dis. covery, which will be an inestimable boon to suffer ing Ittunanity in one of the severest shapes of disease. Tuff Elxeritie Timr.4ll‘eit between Stockholm and Upsala—the first construeted in Sweden—was opened to the public on the Ist inst. This line will, doubtless, soon be continued to tiothenburg. A Rovm. 114:eitr.i: has appeared authorising the erection of vast buildings at Turin, to serve as . dwellings for the working classes. Iln. I.o.lrmen, physician to the King of Sweden, has published a most interesting pamphlet on " the necessity for fresh air in barracks." lle shows that. the enormous mortality of the garrisoned troops in the chief European armies, that of England in eluded, is largely owing to the small quantity of• fresh air allowed them, especially by night. The quantity of pure air required by each soldier he es timates at 44 cubic metres, which no European army even approaches. The Swedish army regulation is based on only ILO cubic feet, or $ collie metres per matt, one-sixth of the quantity imlispensable for health. The consequence is that the soldiers are poisoned by carbonic acid gas. The European soldiery are the flower of their youth, but in France 11l in 1,000 of these men die annually, while of the gross nude population there is only a mortality (between and :10 years of age) of 10 per 1,000. in England the mortality in the Foot linards, from consumption, is 141 per 1,040, which there is three tittles the average of the general population. Tux Parlament° or TVRIN states that a motion has been made in the Communal Council of that city to the effect that the Piazza San Carlo shall be' called the " National Pantheon," and adorned with the monument of tholterti, and those of other illus trious Piedmontese. Set.exton Ltnnutv of the late Mt. Frederick Wm. Conway, proprietor of the Deb/in Evening Poet, is about to be sold by public auction in Dublin. This is admittedly the finest collection in point of literary value in Ireland. The late Mr. Conway was a highly aceomplished and extensively-real scholar; but, great as was his passion for the perusal of works of merit and strange import, it was far surpassed by his passion for accumulating books. The collection about to be scattered by the auctioneer consists of upwards of 16,000 volumes, of which there are few that are not worthy of a line in a catalogue in any public library. Mr. Conway was not only a first rate judge of the contents of a strange looking book, but of its market or auction value and few temark able auctions of libraries have taken place in Eng- . land or Ireland during the past :10 or .14) years at which lie had not an agent buying fur him. His library contains a great number of exceedingly ram books of all European languages, from the produc tions of Guttemherg and Claxton, from the "Nn renilinn; Chronicle" and the " Hoke. of Cashell," to the richest illustrated works of the present year. Of Shakspeare alone there are upwards ,if eighty editions. It will require some weeks to arrange this collection for sale. SATURDAY, AN 17NIN*111.MIET) LF:rrErt OF Loan ltvitos has transpired through that rather singular channel for literary productions, the Vice-Chancellor's Court. It WWI written to Leigh Hunt on June the 21 4 th, 1s2:1. The earlier part of the letter related to priv a t e matters, after alluding to which his lordship pr e . ceeds " I am sure there is no such intention on my plot, nor ever was, in anything which had passed between us, although there are circumstances so plausible, a nd me ,„„,. drels PO ready in every corner of the earth, to give a colou r of their own to everything. The last observation is tated by what you told me to-day, to my utter astonish ment; it will for ever teach me to know my company better, or not at all. And now, pray do not apply, or mis apply, directly or indirectly, to yourself any of these 1/b. knew you long before Mr. H. knew either you or toe, and you and two more of his friends are the only ones whom 1 can at all reflect upon as men whos e acquaintance was honourable and loveable. 1 hate one thing more to state, which is. that from this moment I must decline the office of acting as his executor, in any respect, and also all further connection with his family in any of its brunches, slow or hereafter. There was some thing about a legacy of 2,000/. which he had left me ; this, of course, I decline, .and the snore au that I hem his will is admitted valid, and I state this distinctly, that, in case of anything happening to me, my heirs may be ire strutted not to claim it.—Yours, ever and truly, "N. It." The ease in which this letter was produced related to the claims of certain incumbraucers upon the resi • due of the noble poet's estate, chiefly in regard to interest and costs. There were seventeen claimants, awl twenty-one learned counsel appeared for the several parties to the suit, which under such circum stances of course, still in course of argument when the court rose. NoT very long ago, says the Atheneum, a person well known for his large and accurate knowledge of the sources of English history found himself by accident in one of our great dockyards. In one part of the yard he noticed some preparations for a bon fire, and, with the instinct of an antiquary where old papers are in peril, be ran off to the scene. " What arc these bundles'," he inquired of the ready minis ter of destruction. " Nothing but rubbish," Raid the man. The very tie of the parcels told the antiquary that they were letters, and of old date. " Where do they come from ?" he asks. " Oh, they have been lying here no one knows how long : we want the room, and we are going to burn them out of our way." The antiquary took up a bundle of the doomed parrs, opened the first letter, and found , that it was the original despatch announcing to the. tiovemment, with all its details, one of the most im-. portant events in the reign of Charles 11. Com manding the dockyard men not to set fire to the pile until superior others could arrive, the antiquary posted to London, repaired to the Admiralty, stated the fact, and saved the papers. When carefully examined they proved to he as interesting a series of State documents as any in our national archives. gl,one parlat anb ditg ntriligtntt. FRIDAY EVENING. THE funds have boon very firm during the week, the price of Consols having risen from 94 to 95i. The same causes to which we have so often alluded of late, viz., the scarcity of stock and the continued demand on the part of the public, have together ope rated to create this rise. Stock, however, is not so scarce as it was, and any thing above 95 induces capitalists to sell Consols, as money can be employed on good security at 4 to 4; per cent. The continued firmness of the Corn Market, not withstanding the fine weather, also induces caution on the part of capitalists, the more especially as within the last few days an increased demand fin• gold for exportation to France and Russia has arisen, and it is understood that the Bank has parted with a large amount of half imperials for Russia and the north of Europe. Should this demand for gold not be counteracted by large supplies from America and Australia we can expect no further improvement in the Money Market; and in the event of politics assuming an unfavourable aspect it is hardly possible that the present price Of Consols will be maintained, as the Bank of England will be under the necessity of selling securities. We have not heard that any of the South Sea dis sentients have taken advantage of the offer made by the Government through the Bank of England to discount their claims due in January at a per cent., the fact, no doubt, being as we surmised last week, that most of the dissentients are trustees who will not run the risk of the funds falling between January next and the present time, and their being made answer able for the difference. • . . Exchequer Bills maintain their premium at 4s. to is. Capitalists, who in the present critical state 4, f politics sell stock, invest in Exchequer Bills, as, in the event of war, either the iutereet they bear would