The Press.
London, England, 1855-07-21 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Robert le Diable, by M. Levassor, between the parts,
concluded the entertainment. The room was crowded
with a fashionable and distinguished audience,
among whom the Duke and Duchess of Argyll,
Marchioness of Ely, Marchioness of Aileshury, Earl
and Countess of Fortescue, Viscountess Palmerston,
dm., were present. At the close of the performances
the Marquis of Breadalbane presented to her High-
ness the Princess Czartoryska a congratulatory ad-
dress from the Literary Association, signed by him-
self as president. _

SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.—M. Jullien has
this week commenced his series of Concerts Monstres
at these popular gardens. His orchestra, which is
on a large scale, includes several artists of note,
among them M. Guerin, M. Leloup, Herr Reichardt,
Signor Martini, and Herr Romig, &c., are the most
distinguished musicians. The selections of music
have hitherto been upon the usual popular scale, and
several of M. Jullien's well-known compositions have
been very warmly received, "The Allied Armies
Quadrille " still achieving great triumphs. The fine
weather and this attraction, which materially
enhances the " Siege of Sebastopol," have nightly
filled the gardens to some extent.
BIRMINGHAM MUSICAL FESTIVAL.—The preparations
for this festival are on a scale of unexampled
liberality. The programme speaks highly fur the
judgment and taste of the committee, and shows that
they have determined on sparing no efforts to
maintain the celebrity for which the festivals at Bir
mingham stand preeminent. Greater care than
usual has been bestowed in the selection of the
choral department, which will consist of about 350
performers, while the band will consist of about 150
more, so that, combined, there will be five hundred
in the orchestra. The principal vocalists include
Mine. Grisi, Mlle. Bosio, Mme. Rudersdorff, Mme.
Castellan, Mme. Viardot, and Miss Dolby; Signor
Mario, Signor Gardoni, Herr Reichardt, and Mr.
Sims Reeves ; Signor Lablache, Mr. Weiss, and Herr
Formes. Mr. Costa conducts, as usual. One of
the principal attractions of the festival, so far as the
musical world is concerned, will be the performance
on the second day of Mr. Costa's new oratorio, en-
titled Eli, which has been written for this meeting.
The subject is from the first four chapters of the
First Book of Samuel. The words have been com-
posed by Mr. William Bartholomew. The other se-
lections are unexceptionable. On Tuesday morning
the Elijah is to be performed ; or, Wednesday, the
new oratorio; on Thursday, The Messiah; and, on
Friday, Beethoven's Mount of Olives, Mozart's
Requiem, and a selection from Handel's Israel in
Egypt. The three evenings are all devoted to the
usual class of concerted music. On Tuesday evening
Mr. Macfarren's cantata, Leonora ; on Wednesday we
have, inter alia, Mendelssohn's Lorely, and selections
from The Huguenots; and, on Thursday, Beethoven's
Pastoral Symphony, a composition of Prince
Albert's, and selections from the Etoile du Nord,
&c. The programme presents the appearance
of having been very carefully and judiciously pre-
pared. The magnificent hall is undergoing a very
elaborate course of decoration, suitable to the archi-
tecture of the building. From the descriptions
which have appeared in the provincial papers, the or-
namentation is of a very gorgeous character, the ceiling
being studded with arabesques. The mode of lighting
is to be entirely changed. The new plan is by sunlights
in the three compartments of the ceiling, and more than
twelve hundred burners will be employed in obtaining
sufficient illumination. The festival is this year a
few days earlier than usual, being fixed for the last
four days of August; but it has in it the highest
elements of success.

Re Vrama.

HAYMARKET.

ON Monday night Mr. Farren took a farewell of the
stage. For forty years and upwards he has been
famous to the wcrld, and few actors can claim so un-
deniable a success in certain characters as Mr.
Farren. As Sir Peter Teazle or Lord Ogleby he was
literally unrivalled, for never from his early days has
any actor appeared who could equal him in his sin-
gular power of individualisation, in his exquisite
conception of character, or in those delicate touches
and minute traits with which he perfected the im-
personation. His name will always be connected
with these two characters, and although be never
failed and always excelled in everything which he
undertook, even to a Grandfather Whitehead, his
reputation will stand upon Sir Peter or the dandy
lord. Of late years bis broken health and loss of me-
mory seriously affected him, and it is only surprising
that he should have been able to bear up so long
against such terrible physical infirmities as he suf-
fered. On Monday night it was painful to a de-
gree to see the veteran actor striving boldly to go
through his part ; hut he could only sustain himself
in a solitary act—the second of The Clandestin'
Marriage, one of his cleverest and most exquisite
scenes ; yet he got through it with considerable effect,

695

the warm and enthusiastic applause of the house
encouraging him manfully. When the curtain
rose and discovered the old favorite of many long
years surrounded by his friends and associates
the house rose and cheered with enthusiastic
vigour, and the curtain dropped upon another of
that inimitable school of actors which flou-
rished so famously in the days of our fathers. The
performances, which took place under royal
patronage, were varied and amusing. King Rene's
Daughter came first, performed by Miss Helen
Faucet and Mr. Sullivan, and followed by the
amusing farce A Moving Tale, in which Mr. and Mrs.
Keeley appeared ; then Mr. Sims Reeves sang "The
Bay of Biscay," and Mr. Albert Smith " Galignani's
Messenger," while Mr. Webster, Mme. Celeste, Mrs.
Stirling, Mr. Leigh Murray, Mr. Buckstone, Mr.
Selby, Mr. Compton, Mr. Harley, and Mr. Parselle,
appeared in several of their most amusing characters,
and in The Clandestine Marriage Mr. Wigan, Mr.
Howe, Mr. Chippendale, and Miss Ellen Chaplin
lent their effective assistance.

During the week the "Spanish Dancers" have
continued their charming pertormances, and the new
ballet, Two Pretty Women, is the most successful
which has been performed.

PRINCEBS'S.—A lively, entertaining farce, as usual
adapted from the French, Un Mari qui Arend du
Ventre, was produced at this theatre on Monday with
great success. The title itself, even in English,
How Stout you're Getting, attracted a good deal of
attention, and the smart dialogue and good jokes
which succeeded fully bore out anticipation. The
story is that of a fat, bulky chemist, who is too fond
of his dinner, and his cozy arm-chair, and too indif-
ferent to his wife, suddenly receiving a hint front his
doctor that his idleness and indifference will be
productive, not only of unusual obesity, but of a
graver evil, since his wife, young and pretty, is
perpetually the companion of a good-looking cousin,
George. Mr. Plummy becomes alarmed, and at
once takes active measures to subdue his own
tendency to fat, and his wife's to visit her cousin ;
goes through all sorts of violent gymnastic exercises,
dances, fence and fights, and, as a last resource,
starts upon a tour to Switzerland, with the intention
of attempting Mont Blanc. As the fair Mrs. Plummy's
object has solely been to get her husband out of his
arm-chair and on a foreign tour, the conclusion is
inevitable, and they start, leaving cousin George to
look after the business. Mr. Fisher, who takes the
character of Plummy (originally assigned to that
inimitable actor Arnal, at the Varieties), enlivens
the piece materially by his versatility and humour,
while Mr. Everett as cousin George, and Miss
Murray es Mrs. Plummy, are both extremely clever
in their impersonations. The piece is certainly one
of the most successful farces out this season, and
selves as a very pleasant prelude to Henry the Eighth,
which appears to have lost none of its attractions.

ADELP ti I.—An extract from the last Christmas
piece Zigzag, called Fraternization, has been brought
out at this theatre with success. The title will
sufficiently indicate its allied meaning, but the grand
contamination of the plot is the appearance of en
heroic drummer, M. Blondelet, who beats twelve
drums at once, and elicits the most startling and
alarming combinations of sound.