The Press. — London, England, 1856-01-05 00:00:00

W' -- JANUARY 5, 1856. had ; the writers, who, we should imagine, ar generan, -.'ry voung men, aim, as usual, much too high ; and, in the against cant and quackery on which they have set out, ` l .- , weapons they employ are to be no keener nor more pouRN., a than those of Which we have here the first specimen, we fear that humbug will continue to flourish as it has extensively flourished hitherto. ALMANACKS-1b56. bito s i man deic appears for the present year—The Aluuniack of Science and Art. It, is published by chapunn and Hall, and, as its name implies, is de voted mainly to such particulars of art, design, science, and manufsztures as are likely to be most generally useful. Details are given respecting all learned and ocientific societies. and of Government institutions cooneeted with scaeace and art. The local schools of art ere enumerated, together with the examples and models which may be obtained from Marlbo rough-house. There are headings, also, for regis gation of designs, for public libraries and museums, ; awl for the Paris Etchiblitiou, with a . COMpiete list of tbe,nrizes. The alinftneek extends to upwards of .two huiAlred and fifty pages, is admirably produced, ,and supniies a want in our Yearbooks just beginning ; to be much felt. The publication is a a kind only n9uiring to be known to be extensively petronised from as obv,ious The British Almonnek and Companion has for this -yete original articles on " The English Coinage," "Agricultural Statistics," " Shipwrecks and Life 'boat"," " Reorganisation of the Civil Service," "Fluc tuations of the Funds," and "Average Prices of corn." It is a peculiarity of this compact volume ghat even when old it is not worthless. For refer, &net a set of the almanack is one of the handiest works we know of ; it is an " annual register" in what relates i to the main statistics of the United Kingdom, its eltroaicles of occurrences and of Parliament proving wvaluable aid to memory. The abstract of the sampaign given here is complete as to facts, though a litle disfigured by the "popular orator's" style of allusion to Russia. ,hitch's Literary and Scientific Register contains pa. ticket-book form the leading facts or statistics of Avery,department of science from acoustics to thera ,peutics. By successive publications accuracy has iimen insitred in the details. The pocket-book alto gether is e x tremely well produced, and full of prac .c,icittl,iufortitation. VUIBIiIeAajONS RECEIVED.—JAN. $. BOOKS. ;Practical Hints fur Ingesttiag Money. Francis Playford. Smith and Elder. Laura Gay. A Novel. Two Vols. Hurst and Blackett. Memoirs of British Gene►als distinguished during the Penin rular War. John W. Cole, Half•pay 21st Fusiliers. Two Vole. Bentley. :The Prisqp.u/ Wellecretkn, and a Glance at the East Indian Archipelago. Sampson Lowe and Son. ZaPhnatkPauneeh ; or, the History of Joseph. Rev. Thorn- Ae 3 Y.SWith. Freeman. 444une's Geographical Word Expositor. Longmans. The Flifil **P ift Chemistry. Churchill. The Bash Boys. Captain Mayne Reid. Rogue. Popula► History of the Palms and their Allies. Berthold Seeman., Pk. D., M.A., F.L.S. Reeve. Popular Geogesiniug f:tf Plants. E. M. C. l)o. Popular Garden kivAus.g. Agnes Callow. Ito. Inside Selnistopot„o4 Experiences in Camp. Chapman and Hall. Introduction to the Litexurtnre Arf Europe. Henry Milani, L.L.D., F.R.A.S. Murray. ;The Poetical Works of Lore ,i(gros, A Ncw Edition in Six Vols. Vol. IV. Do. :.The Bsitish Empire—Hiabtriest, Biagraphical, and Geoyra• ,phical. E. S. Creasy, M.A. Griffin and Co. PAMPHLETS. • The Paitical Annual. Freeman. On the Female Education of the IndustKat Classes. Bell and Daldy. '7'he Emperor's Vigil, and the Trares and the War. Ernest Jones. ' The Bread Question. Ia Ligue des Neutres. Bruxelles : Bluff. General Guyon on the Battiejlelds of Ifungary and Asia. Hamilton. FEU!OD(CALS. The London Quarterly. Walton anti Maberly. Blackwood's Magazine. Blackwood. The Dublin Magazine. Hurst and lilackett. The Westminster Review. J. Chapman. Martins of Cro'lllartin. Chapman and Hall. The West of Scotland Magazine. Hall and Virtue. The United Church Journal. Serleys. Home Companion. Orr and Co, The Idler. Hsrdwicke. The Art Journal. Virtue and Hall. Royal Galkry of Art. Edited by S. C. Hall, F.S.A., Colnaghi and Co. Virtue and Hall. Beaton. Do. Hope and Co. Crroombridge. Harry Coverdale's Courtship. Boy's Own Magazine. Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine. The Amateur ; or, Our Magazine. Tha Traits. THE PRESS. glmustnunts, tt•t. DRURY-LANE THEATRE. `P" . e. pantomime at this theatre has had a complete and success. The introductory bur lesque, which is well written, "tc...ds a series of very effective comic illustrations of Shakspeare's " Sevon Ages," the " characters" acting aid reacting upea one another in such a manner as almost to entitle the vellele to the name of drama. The hero of the story is our old friend the lazy schoolboy, who, like many another dunce, in complete contradiction t Mr. a Beckett's maxim, that " Ass in preeienti" never makes " wise man in futuro," turns out a very useful and effective member of society. The first action worthy of record which he does is to fall in love, and with a pretty ward of the capon-eating jus tice ; being ejected by that personage (whose abdo minal peculiarities are very fully exhibited) in favour of a suitor with " good prospects," and the most frightful mouth we have ever seen in a pantomine, he proceeds to the village forge, where, after sitting down in his despair on a red-hot horseshoe, he meets with a recruiting-sergeant and enlists. Having gained all sorts of distinction abroad at " the wars," he returns, and insinuates himself into the house of the justiee, concealed in a hamper, just in time to carry off his charmer, "nothing loth," by main force. The tale here becomes somewhat obscure. The lovers arrive at a ruined roadside cottage, tired and hungry, and we are just permitted a glimpse of lean and slippered pantaloon, shivering over a miser able fire, when the chilly scene is obscured, the leva - s disappear, and the whole changes to the " Realms of Perpetual Summer," a dazzling melange of sunshine, palm-trees, bright pilasters, rich flowers of all hues, glittering groups of fairies in silver, of fairies in gold, bare arms, bright eyes, short petti coats, and most unexceptionable feet and ankles, lit up, of course, by that inevitable blue and red fire, without which no audience can be coaxed to enthu siasm. This scene is certainly deserving of all the praise which has been bestowed on it ; it is a mag nificent specimen of theatrical fairyland, and, with the beautifully painted "Abode of Love" which pre cedes it, fairly entitles Mr. Smith to the nightly call with which he is always honoured. Sufficient time having been allowed to elapse for the due amount of admiration front the audience, for Mr. Smith's bow of general gratitude, and for the entire subsidence of those horribly shrill whistles by which the perfect satisfaction of the gallery always vents itself, the usual transformations take place, the Pantomime Proper begins, and of course the function of the " theatrical noticer " immediately terminates. We have not the heart to write a word against the novelty of some of the tricks which, though old, yet shake all of us with laughter as hearty and inex tinguishable as that of the little people for whose sole and especial delectation pantomimes are erro neously supposed to be always got up. It will be enough to say, that Clowns, Pantaloons, Harlequins, and Sprites do their fooling admirably ; that the jumping, tumbling, slapping, kicking, shouting, ge neral scrambling, and utter confusion create im mense amusement; that the warming-pan is applied to the Pantaloon's extremities with considerable frequency, and the most satisfactory results ; that the butter-slides are a most fertile source of laughter, and that everybody in the audience (everybody, that is, who is anybody) is as honestly and heartily pleased with this scene of riot and ab surdity as everybody (who is anybody) always has been, and always will be, until (quod ab sit) the in stinctive love of noise and nonsense shall cease to be part and parcel of human nature itself. PRINCESS'S. T►tr Christmas piece here, as elsewhere, partakes of the double nature of burlesque and pantomime. The burlesque is founded on La Gazza Ladra, and is remarkable for nothing but the excellence of the rustic masks—that of the beadle (who here takes the place of the magistrate in the opera) is a wonder of wooden stupidity. The scenery is pretty, especially that of the first scene, laid in the Court of the Queen of the Birds ; and there is one trick in the pantomime which surpasses in design and execution any that has been presented to the public during the panto mime season of 1855-6. We allude to the decapita tion of the Clown, whose head is cut of by being jammed into a doorway. The Pantaloon, after carefully placing the head on a dish on the ground, where it displays more decided signs of animation than the head of Epistemon, Charlotte Corday, or Marie Antoinette, carefully glues it on to the head less trunk, which has been performing its own independent antics in the absence of its partner. The I ead and body then—their connection not being firm—jump through a shop window, and, in less time than it takes to write this, reappear on the stage as Clown, apparently in perfect health and spirits. 19 ST. MARTIN'S-HALL. Miss Emma Stanley's entertainment, " The Seven Ages of Woman," continues to attract tolerably numerous audiences. Though far from according to Miss Stanley the excessive amount of praise lavished upon her by our contemporaries, we still think that, all due reductions made, she displays an amount of observation and imitative power sufficient to place her far above the level of her predecessors in the species of performance which she has selected. The "literature" of the parts which the actress successively assumes has been very tolerably "done;" it is characteristic, and avoids very carefully all pre tension to " fun ;" very fortunately, too, as it appears from the style of jocularity introduced into the descriptions, that the average vapid inevitable puns, superannuated allusions, all the " old do'" of the " funny " lecturer, have been pressed into the service. The most successful of the presentations appeared to us to be " The Monthly Nurse," though here there was a little too much of stage convention. Miss Stanley's way of sliding, with a connecting whine, from one sentence to the next, is evidently bor rowed from Mrs. Grump (theatrical). Our own ex perience of monthly nurses does not enable us to confirm the truth of the imitation in this particular, which, however, to the majority of the audience seemed to form the chief fun of the character. The professed flirt, that most interesting of all varieties of .the femme de society, is very cleverly touched off. The way in which she raises the holies of her admirer by all'ecting jealousy, draws out a declaration by shamming sentiment, suddenly crushes the poor victim by sincerely laughing at his ardour, and leaves him at last in a perfect torture of-doubt and indecision, gracefully kissing the tips of her pretty fingers at him as she quits the room, was true to the life; and in all but the tones of the voice, which were a little too loud for our taste, " Grandmother Grey" is perhaps the most finished specimen of Miss Stanley's art.. The make-up of the actress is perfect, and the part is very well written. The feeble plaintiveness of the good old lady's reminiscences of her own youth anti beauty is very toncning. It was a pity almost to mar the sentimental eflect of the picture by the intrusion of a fit of coughing; fur though it made the distinction between good acting and good mimicry very obvious to all present, it combined, or rather confused, two different views of old age ;—the one, dwelling on its tender regret for dead hopes, affections, faith, and innocence, which Mr. Thackeray is never tired of I describing, and which move our love and pity ; the other, like Juvenal's, coarsely cataloguing the bodily ailments which disgust our senses and shock our delicacy, and impressed one much as a beautiful head by Itatfaelle, EXETER-HA LL—The performance of The Messiah on Monday evening, in which Jenny Lind, for the first time in London, sung the principal soprano part, was without exception oue of the finest render• jugs ever heard of Handel's sublime oratorio. The brilliant execution, the artistic finish of style, and the surpassing excellence of Jenny Liod's singing, were displayed from beginning to end. In "Come unto him all ye that labour," and in " I know that my Redeemer lived)," her exquisite purity of voice and intense fervour of expression exc►ted the audience to the most enthusiastic applause. In "If God be with us," and " Rejoice greatly;' were remarkable for a happy combination of distinct articulation, just accent, and exquisite tone, though the florid passages in the latter were perhaps scarcely rendered with sufficient spirit. Vet ►n the performance of I:er part in The Messiah none will deny that Jenny Lind has added another leaf to the laurel of her successes, and proved betaelf, of all oratorio singers, the greatest, as well as the most correct, interpreter of the text. The contralto part was undertaken by Miss Dolby, and the tenor divided between Mr. Lockey and Herr Reichardt, with the bass by Mr. Thomas, all of whom unexceptionably performed their several parts. The chorusses were exellent, and the orchestra under the baton of M. Benedict as perfect as could be wished. Altogether, the concert was admirable in every respect, and showing a marked improvement over the previous performances. MADA3IE GOLDSCHMIDT will sing in Mendelssolan's Elijah at Exeter-hall, on Monday, the 21st inst., the first Miscellaneous Concert, under the direction of Mr. Mitchell, taking place at the Hanover-square Rooms, on Thursday, the 10th inst. 4 THE PANOPTICON must not be forgotten among the attractive places of amusement at present open. 1 New dioramic views, and the beautiful chromatic fountain, besides the magnificent organ per• formances, alone render it worthy of a visit, without mentioning the varied and interesting experiments in chemistry, magic, and other subjects.