The Press. — London, England, 1856-07-05 00:00:00

JULY 6, 18L6. the writer go out of his way to call Charles ll' a perjured roué"? We thought the days for this sort of thing were gone by. He was a roue no doubt, but where was the perjury? His sneer, too, a Cie Anglia in clergy a little surprises us. The re view of Lord Brougham's essays, in point of style, is c t pital. The opening remarks on the character of the ambitious man are very fine. But we fancy the Aut h or must have derived his notions about Lord Bolingbroke rather from vulgar hearsay, than from Sly careful study of that statesman's own works or actions. " The injured Bolingbroke," as Mr. Dis raeli well calls him, is gradually rising clear from those calumnies with which his enemies have loaded his me mory; and we doubt not that another gene- T ifton will recognise in him both the sincere patriot sali the constant assertor of genuine Tory princi ples, founded on the only sure basis of combined liberty and order. Bentley's Miscellany contains, of course, an article on America, which is perhaps the best in the num ber. " Old Actors " gives some curious statistics relative to the longevity of this class. The essay on Gifford—a capital subject—is wanting in point. The Monthly Review has an article upon Goethe, in which there are passages much above the average of our periodical criticism. The comparison be tween Byron and Goethe is admirably written, and the career of the former is hit off very happily as having been " all warning, and no example." C oc kburn's "Memoirs" are reviewed in a sensible and weighty essay ; and we have a lively notice of Lady Shell's " Persia," the writer of which, with affected modesty, professes not to know what " crino line" is. There is little in Tait which demands special no tice. It contains a fair variety of readable matter, and some respectable poetical criticism. " Tangled- Talk " is a skein which few will care to unravel. De Cressy. A Tale. By the Author of " Dorothy." London: J. W. Parker and Son. STatcr rules of criticism fail to account for the plea sure this unpretending narrative inspires. Neither the character, nor the plot, nor the language, are such as to invite particular praise ; yet the effect of the whole story is uncommonly agreeable, and will charm where many works of greater pretensions would only fatigue. What it is which constitutes the peculiar excellence of this writer's compositions we hinted at on a previous occasion. It is in the lifelike character of the scenes, and the singularly easy and natural flow of the dialogue, that the attrac tion is to be sought. There is little attempt either at ornament or dramatic effect in the one, nor is there anything that can properly be called wit in the other, but we feel throughout as if we were listening to the recital by an eye-witness of some interesting domestic story, such as we may believe to occur Almost daily in some one of our Eng lish homes. The heroine, Kathleen, is a beautiful and high spirited girl, who, having been adopted when a child by a wealthy family, and introduced into fashion able life, eventually goes out as a governess, carry ing with her a passion for a young nobleman, Lord de Cressy, whom she had met upon terms of equality abroad. When she leaves London for her situation In Scotland she is still uncertain whether her affec tion is really returned. This uncertainty is the .point on which the story turns. The writer is an accurate observer of the ordinary habits of society, ,which he 'able to represent to us with great fidelity, "auff 'Clothed in very agreeable language. He possetfies also, we should say, great kindness of heart,` tt fin unaffected sympathy with all that is generdiii °and elevated. Such qualities are certain to pradfice a popular work of ficti n, though the evidence of higher genius, deep insight into unman nature, grand descriptive powers, or effective dra matic skill, be displayed but little. • • 1 ots.,i t.. I. Diana Wynyard. By the Author tot 44,1klit*Went as,A.tallil I wcrth." Vireo yolS. I,..incton Lin p t s!T t - Blackett. A NOVEL in chit-chailio fo tt, a smooth, agreeable surface, and pleasant sumprike things floating on it. The action is siisteine ,by that conimbn source of interest f M, fi ci t ion), mis,unders. tending. Clement Aylmer, though with good reason to suppose that be possesses the affection of Diana Wynyard, *is tip easy at observing her intimacy with Edward Boh cowen, not knowing that Edward's heart ie given elsO where, and that he marries in secret the girl of humble fortunes, on whom his inclinations are fixed. Hence Aylmer is kept in suspense, shuttle cock-like, and the skill d the author is mainly shown in the use of the battledores by Which the suspicious, though not unplacid* lover, is prefented from dropping Omagh near a thousand pages.. ;Ex pectation is kept alive without being much, excited; the dialogue is level, and the -draperies - are .unex. ceptionable. Sometimes we are inclined to murmur at the fate which condemns so large a portion of the • literature of the day to the use of the day alone ; it; seems like waste, Yet, why should things for the *THE PRESS. -- - pleasure of the mind (litre: from things for the plea. sure of the body? Why should Diana Wynyards be held of more worth than the strawberries on our table? Both serve their hour or minute, and a plentiful supply of both are ready as occasion calls for them. Paterfamilias's Diary of Everybody's Tour. London : Hatchard. A GENIAL little book, written with great cheerfulness and spirit. It is the journal of a tour through Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland to Italy, and back by way of Geneva and Paris. The author has quite a talent for giving a bird's-eye view of the different towns and other objects of interest en route. And he adds, also, considerable information on the subject of expense, which, however, as his party consisted of eleven souls, and always lived at the best hotels, will not perhaps prove very serviceable to that class of travellers to whom the cost is an especial object. Forty-four or forty five pounds a week, was his average expenditure. Paterfamilias is a strong Liberal, as far as hatred of Austria and the Pope is concerned; but does not believe that the Italian character contains in itself the materials of regeneration. His descriptions of scenery are quaint and original, and free from needless sentimentality. Theatres, churches, cafes, gardens, galleries, and palaces were all duly visited ; and his remarks on each are generally sensible and often amusing. His observations on Paris are superior to the rest of the book. He thinks its gaiety a delusion. " Paris," he says, "is a tinge bubble which must burst. Every " body spends more money than he makes." Pater familias is to be congratulated on baying given us a nice, readable sketch of "Everybody's Tour." Weeds from the Isis. By a few Oxonians. London : James Blackwood. 'rpm unpretending little miscellany is not, we can sure our readers, composed entirely of weeds ; there are some bunches of flowers among them by no means unworthy of those classic banks. Strange to say, the verse is better than the prose ; and there are some pieces which, if not exactly poetry, evince at least considerable taste and skill in versification. Several of the ptose articles first saw the light in Bentley's Miscellany some three or four years ago, where their merits were decided by a larger public than can be anticipated for the present volume. They contain brisk writing, and sketches evidently of the authors' own friends, at which they cannot but be highly flattered. " Amateur Demagogues " is perhaps the best of them, and is, in what Jeames calls "the main fax," strictly true. The Stepiny-stone to Natural History. By James I ,1„ Owen. London: Longmans. Owe of the improved class of educational books, to be welcomed with pleasure. It contains a scientific division of animals, very simply and intelligibly explained, vfith excellent cuts of the various species, and is well, calculated to arrest the attention and stimulate,the memory of chi1dren.,,,,.,,,,_ . 1/01i{ , 1: •lil cai L,..lPATig4l44lllTl4ll*{§ RgCETVED.--5 . dT 3. •• ,„ , BOOKS. Hislorx: trilish Lichens. Love!! Reeve "4ten tg ielddrest's 4 - 11fajor•Genetal Sir R. itirey, at Chelsea Nosed. • v, I ' J. M array -eodioi.. A Storieltiall Life Thirty Years Ago. " 40 "'II 1 . J. W. Parker and Son Wedded.; or, Life AllauFra94l,, i • •• .I.44bnex and Co. The Dramalio MOIMIWW 4 6 and ;‘, I •• I.III ijaILAY MOMS& fillawlollll,ollP4,l4AllWltralmi, math and Elder OCd Ddedak,Balialie. Hope and Co. Expeeition•Of the Twee and!..4etieiteto of the Old and New Testament. Aentley . The Angel in the House. Book IL J.:VV . :Parke r ; and Son First Footsteps ix East Africa; or, An Exploration of Barran. Longmans The First of June ; or, Schoolboy Rivalry. rev. H. C. - Adams, M.A. Rivingtons Selections from the Letters of lioiliffi„Puthey. 1 - ols. IT. and V. Longmans Frankenstein; or, The Modern., .11faibifoleigs• 13 Mrs. Shelley. H odgson The Erten Mead. A Ses Story. Boutledge iftbsbifitilary.,Ometisatiou °sad 4410A4,411010 , 4 Of France Newby . Stories about Slant and Star.gasers. Mary W Doig. ard and Lock The Will, Divine and liamusa. Thomas Sony. Bell & Leidy The Wife; or, Lore and afgebsoos. A Tragedy in Five Act L. a. nu ',:;.. Bell and 1.41dy Life Thomas Gainsborologh, R.A. Lungrnaus •,I f PINIZQDWAteS. The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine. Bell and Daldy —Colbarn's New Monthly. Casprnan and 1:1611-L 21 e Irish Quarterly. W. B. Kelly—Royal Gallery of ifro. Colnaghi and Co.--The Westminster ..1 4 Chapman -- , The United Church J 01177141. Seeley and Jackson—The Train. Groombridge— Shrove's London Magazine. Hall and Virtue--The Art Journal. Hall and Virtue—The History of France. Part 111. The London Printing and Publishing Conipany—alee Electric Review. Ward and Co.—The West of .Scoliand Magazine. lind and Vutue— , The New Quarterly Review. Bosworth. Music. HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE. THE Qaeen has been pleased to retain her box for the season, and will be present at Mlle. Wagner's performance of Romeo this evening (Saturday). Wagner gains on a rehearing; her style is tho roughly dramatic, and she will be heard with in terest in many of the great works of Gluck, Mozart, and Meyerheer. Why does she not essay Simon Mayr's Medea? The successful Parisian ballet, The Corsair, founded on Lord Byron's poem, will be pro • duced next Tuesday, and then Mr. Lumley will have honourably redeemed all the pledges in his pro spectus. There is a rumour of State visits to both the Italian Opera-houses this season. Mlle. Picea! lornini's benefit is announced for next Thursda: . l when the Traviata will be given. ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA. THE Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by the King of the Belgians, honoured the performance of Rigoletto on Thursday night. The revival of the Puritani, announced for to-night (Saturday), is postponed. On Monday Mme. Bosio will mane her first appearance in London as Leonora in the Trova tore, with Mario's Manrico. MADAME JENNY LIND-GOLDSCHMIDT. IT may be heretical—it may be paradoxical—but, even with the deafening cheering of last Monday night at Exeter-hall still ringing in our ears, we must pronounce the Swedish Nightingale to be a puzzle, both in her career as a vocalist and in her policy as an artiste. As a lyric actress there is no other instance on record of a fame acquired by such an extraordinarily limited range of characters; and, as a concert singer, her range of music seems equally to have been confined to the narrowest limits. Jenny Lind was first heard in England in 1847. She achieved assuredly the greatest success ever known, and yet her dramatic reputation is based on Alice in Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable, Amino in Bellini's Sonnambula, and Maria in Donizetti's Figlia del Reggimento. To state that these respec tive performances were perfection is an exaggeration. But her Norma was a signal failure. Her Susanna in Mozart's None di Figaro, always excepting that won drous piece of vocalisation, the " Deh vieni," was singularly repulsive. Her Adina in the Elixir was a terrible termagant, and her Lucia the most unloving one ever witnessed. Strange it is, but in one of her finest assumptions, in Spontini's Vestale, she never appeared in this country. Taking her oratorio repertoire, we have those magnificent displays in the Messiah, the Creation, and in the Elijah, which will give Land's name much greater glory than her stage successes. Her collection of music for the concert programmes exhibited little variety. Her eternal "Echo" song, the "Ah non giunge," the "Non paventar," the scene from Beatrice, cte., with ever and anon "John Anderson," a stray ballad of Balfe or Benedict, whoever was conductor for the time being, and some weak walk of Herr Otto Gold schmidt, and the catalogue is soon _gone through. Setting aside a miserable quibble that has been raised of the probability of Lind's return to sing for others, but not for her own account, assuming that this is a bond fide farewell, and not a Grisi juggle, ` e truth may be told now of Mme. Goldsehmidea anal appearance.' It has been given out that her Chief reason for the campaign of thi4 etir in England pras to enable her taro sposo to take . is position, as she believes, as a second Mendelsso n. If this be true, it was an amiable but an unfortunate delusion, for, whether as pianist or composer, a more mark ed mediocrity never claimed public patronage than Herr Goldischniidit. In this respect Mme. Schumann, the' unrisoillritilieniste, has made as great a rifyil4ki,iii Hin itli O bhthidt. Polite toleration and fu4F heiOl i nti: kaTO l i beee I VOted to the productions ofDr.,sehtl - id eilt,e iGetschinidt, and thatis all. . - - all - (Jenny it was iharities, :braced .ininann any lit• ad Jolt typo early to enter into the causes cfsT\ Iliad's popularity. Many judges think that it mainly owing to her system of singing for chr• like that so successfully adopted by the Mine. Catalani. This supposition will not stand goodlUtivaViitt'if Lind and Catalani had not been great gingers, With artistic specialities to distinguish them from the throng, their charitable policy would have availed but little. It is mudialic a r reasonable to ascribe the vast triumphs of the T . , 1;0 and the Swede to their ingenuity in isolation. Catalani would never sing, if she oould avoid it, with first rate artistes. "Moi et sees. quatrea poupees," her well known axiom for an Italian opera, has been imitated by,Lind. Until towards tbeelose of be c a reer this year, Tiardot Was the only rival star re mitted.lb,eßpteacli Mnie. Goldschtnidt, whose.dm bitiou wia44,ap.overwhelming as to originate ileyer • beer's quaint observation as t,o .its ,uncompromising character. She has realisetf aj and yet it is, we believe, a fact, that for money she . en J us fortune, I herself cares but little. To : be regarded as the Artiste, the singer, here wee the impetus to her hi. tensity in the execution of the duties she took OA