The Express.
London, England, 1864-10-21 00:00:00

GALLERY OP ILLUSTRATION.

Mr. German Reed's entertainment, the Opera di
001110.8, has proved a eumeedul experiment. The idea of
prochning • series of light, 000210 pieces, of sufficient drama-
tic and musical imporkoos to merit the attention of the
public, and at the isms time so easily got up u to be within
the reach of chamber performance, was a very happy one.
The pieces brought out by Mr. Reed are so simple, and so en-
tirely divested of the laboured and costly accoesories of the
maned sage, that they may be agreeably repeseented
even by • little party of amateurs in a drawing-room, while
(to judge from the speakeasy .heady given) they me calm-
lilted to gratify the most refined Late. The entertainment,
it will be remembered, begets far the second lemon with en
operetta, composed by Mr. Belle, called The Sleeping Queen,
founded on the French omen opera Pe TOlllik't pas ei la
Brine, and • little piece called Too Many Cooks, adapted
from the German of Offeebecb, both of *hick have proved
very attractive. The Sleeping Queen has now beta raplaesd by
on "opera di camera" in two acts, entitled The Soldier's
Legacy, written by Mr. John Oseeford, and oomposed by
Mr. G. A. Macfarren. It was performed for the first time
on Wednesday evening, and promises to prove as successful
as is precursor. Is respect to subject, it is of the slightest
description. It is like many of the light productions of the
French comic stage—a piens depending on is gay tone,
sprightly dialogue, and pretty mean. A grave &nada the
plot of such a piece would be an absurdity. As acted sad
swig, It goes trippingly off, but it. spirit would evaporate
in the praxes:of nervation. It is sufficient to say, therefore,
that there are only four characters—a lively country girl ;
a jolly widow who would have no objection to a mooed
husband ; a village fiddler, a grotesque personage ; and a
yoaog soldier, the girl's lover.
Mr. Oxenford's dialogue is very clever. He bee—probably
more than any of oar light dramatists—the French art of
treating tan gracefully ; sad Mr. Macfarrea's very pretty
mosio is quite in the sportive vein of the subject. The per-
formance is moonset. The girl, Lotty, is permeated by
Mies Robertine Henderson, • young lady who is already as
accomplished singer, end promisee to be • lively and sal
ligeae oaken. Miss Poole (as she never fails to be) is
admirable. Her unaffected and genial manner is delightful,
and her rieb, mellow messosomano voice is as charming se
ever. Mr. Shaw and Mr. Whiffle have become known to
the public entirely by means of Mr. Reed's eetertainmente
By the experience thus acquired they have improved
greatly both in acting and singing, and deserved their share
of the applause with which the performance of this operetta
was received. We must add that, there being no orchestra,
the accompaniments for the piano were played in a masterly
manner by Mrs. G. A. Madmen.

A performance of the Demi Monde of Alexandre
Dames /1. recently took plan In Turin. When the actor
Gatos to the passage "Every road leads to Rome, sod the
limpet is sometimes the safest," loud murmurs areas
fres some of the audience, and prolonged applause freak
others.

TH2 NATIONAL CHORAL SOCILTT.—This society
hold its ant weekly meeting this season on Wednesday, at
Exeter-hall, when nearly 400 members of the choir assem-
bled fora rehearsal of Handers oratorio, Israel in Pgart.
In consequence of the large number of applications to join
the choir end band of the society the list will be closed i• •
few days.

HarrutsaL—An amateur concert was given to a
crowded audienos in the Lamina-ball, Battersea, on Tues-
day evening, the lath instant, eo behalf of the Working-
log-men's Club and lastitute in Mist pariah. The services
of the singers were updated gratuitously, and upwards of 20
songs, dueta, glees, lc., were executed by the following
ladies and geotlemen :—Mise Shairp, Miss E. Shairp, Miss
Sells, Miss N. Salim, and Mime Cawood ; and Messrs. N. W.
Maim, 11. G. Shairp. T. Sbairp, C. Sells, J. WiliON and E.
Cackles. The siagiog wee warmly applauded by the sub-
epos, sod at tbe coachuica • vote of thanks. proprssd by
the vicar (the Rev. J. B. Jenkinsool, was seconded and car-
! Tied unanimously. A considerable profit was realised, which
will be placed to the credit of the club.
GROCERS' A ssrsrawrs' Assochtrime—The third
quarterly meeting of this usociatioe wee held last emits(
at the board-room, Whittiegton Club, Mr. F. T. C. Keeble
preskilsqp Minn. Woolf' sad Goode rendered the auditor's
report, which showed that 1441, had beau received from
members for subscriptions, and dooations from several
Arms in various branches of the trade. The report was
adopted. It was stated the assistants had bees personally
canvassed in Loodon, sod, with the support of the whole-
sale booms, there appeared every prospect of the society
burg very successful
REWARDS or LITERARY MERIT.—The rewards of
literary success, as indeed of success in any pursuit what-
ever, are in thee days something marvellous. It is said
that Mr. Tennyson bas already realised 10,0005. by the sale
of hie last volume, and that Mr. Wilkie Collies is to re-
ceive 3,0001. for his proposed novel io the Conshill Maga-
sine, sod still he at liberty to republish it is a complete
form after it had appeared in the periodical. And it is not
only in England that these large some are realised by
authors. No live than 30,000 copies of as illustrated edi-
tion of Victor Rage's Les iftseraNts were lately sold in a
few days, and 1,500 more were ordered. The times are
changed indeed goat Dr. Jobueon wee obliged to dance
atteedance in Lord Obeeterfield'saste-room in the vain hope
of obtaining a paltry dedication fee. —Guardian.
The ()liken of the United Assurance Sick and
Burial Society of St. Patrick, amongst whom was the Rev.
P. J. Phelan, Roman catholic priest, were yesterday sum-
mooed in the Liverpool county court, by a member of the
society, whose complaiot charged them with • long list of
malpractices. Severed counsel were engaged in the ease,
and ultimately it was agreed to refer it to the arbitrattou of
Mr. J. B. Aspinall, Recorder of Liverpool, the court mean-
while retaining control over the suit.
TWR Gan? FLOAT AT BIRKENHEAD. It was
agreed, at the weekly meeting of the Mersey Docks and
Harbour Baud yesterday. to &cunt the tender of Sir
William Arm strong and C.o. for the supply of hydraulic and
ether machinery for the northern entrances to the Great
Float, at • cat of about 40,0001. It was explained that the
expesditure would result is • eoseidenble reduction in the
employment of manual labour, and a coosequent saving of
expenditure.

EXTRAORDINARY PROCEEDINGS IN A
IiftNNSEY.

The Corriere deik Marche of Ancona bin an as
of some extraordinary proceedings which have just
occurred in the convent of Augustinian nuns at Loretto. in
the nunnery referred to, sixteen nuns—twelve French and
four Italian by birth—conduct au educational establish-
ment. Amonpt their pupils was lately a girl 14 years of
age, the daughter of one of the moat respectable inha-
bitante of Loretto, in the opinion, at least, of his fellow-
citizens, bat, in the judgment of the inns, the
wont of heretics or infidels, because well known
to be attached to the government of King Victor
Emmanuel. His daughter had left the convent is
the April of the present year. Scarcely had she done so
when a rumour sprang up that a girl, three years older,
and one of her fellow boarders still renzeiniag in the
convent, had become bewitched. From a roped to the
feelinp of the respective families, which are well known
in the neighbourhood of Loretto and ADOOI3II, the Corriere
&Milan/a, published in the latter city, gives only the
initials of the names, and we are told that Hies A. G. had
thus been charged with having, through mesas procured
by • direct pact with the arch -memy of mankind, so
bewitched Hies G. H. that needles sad pine, by mysterious,
and inexplicable peonies, penetrated into all, parts of her
body, whence. amidst greet suffering, they emerged is
violent fits of vomiting. The Corriere delle Marche con-
tinues :

" On the afternoon of the 14th, about 4 p.m., the young
girl, A. G., repaired in obedience to an invitation of the lady
superior, to the convent, being amompanied by two of her
relations. She wee taken alone into the parker, of which
the door was locked behind her, and there confronted with
the chaplain and the physician, and, at the grating, the lady
superior herself, who began by declaring that G. M. was in
risk of login her life in consequeees of the charms pros-
timed upon her by A. G., and, therefore, that for the pur-
pose of saving her, the latter most comers the
manner of the incantation, and the agreement which
she hat entered into with the demon. It is im-
possible to describe the astonishment of the young girl
at theme demands. She addressed herself to the physician
and to the chaplain to get some explanation of the matter ;
but they, being evidently accomplices in the disgraceful in-
trigue, echoed the words of the sister, attesting the feet of
the sorcery, and insisting that the girl should bleak the
charm by giving up thelboad entered into between her nod
the Evil One. Then began a long aid painful scene of de-
nials on the one side and fierce demands on the other ; and
the struggle Maimed such a character as has never been wit-
nutted within the walls of the Immtsitioa, when the priest
set to work sprinkling the girl with holy water; making her
swallow draughts id the same, twisting his stole round her
seek, and roaring signs of the MOO on her mouth and fore-
head, repeating in a loud voice the priestly exorcisms. This
disgraceful ewe acquired an immoral cod disgusting
character what, by orders of the sister, and in spite of the
resistance offered by the girl, the physician and chaplain
stripped her to her chemise, putting their filthy bands into
her armpits, under the pretence of there seeking the pact
with the devil. The moral pressure, the confuke, and
the shams of these proceedings caused the poor girl to
faint away. Oa returaiog to her Noses the scoundrels
again rebutted to the attack, this time threatening bee
with more serious consequences, even with death, and the
lady superior at the same time showed her a little box full
of needles and pies, which she said bad issued from the
body of G. M. Mwell as a note said to be loud under
the said G. IL's drew, where, together with indecent ex-
pressions, were written the words, ' Death to the Pope !'
During this scene of horror in the convent parlour the
girl's mother was subjected in another room to the demands
of another sister for the purpose of getting her to make her
daughter to reefers the agreement with the devil. Bat this
second scone—lese disgraceful, but still sufficiently painful
—ended in the mother insisting on having her daughter
restored to her, and at last, on being taken into the par-
lour, she succeeded in bringing her back, distracted, sob-
bing, and in hysteria, to her own home. When
these facts became generally known, two days after-
wards, by the inhabitante of Loretto. the popular indirna-
mon was so general that, on the *repair of the 17th ult.,
a mob collected before the nunnery, with the 6rm inten-
tics of proceeding to acts of violence against the DUOS.
But the anodic of Loretto Itesimod to the Re* and his
authoritative words calmed down the popular euesteration,
and onthe following day the Procurator of the Mug and
the Judge of lestrocition repaired to the spot, where, hav-
ing verified the fact that the young girl, A. 0., had been
forcibly detained and threatened with death, they
issued warrants for the arrest of the physician and
of the chaplain. Meanwhile, it bee been further suer-
tained that the other girl, G. M., is in the enjoyment of
excellent health and has been sent away from the convent,
and no doubt whatever is entertained that the whole thing
au planned with the view of workieg on the minds of the
credulous and of the ignorant, and of provieg —(this is evi-
dent from the words • Death to the Pope!' being written
on the motel—that the enemies of the temporal power are
the friends of the devil, and that the present Italian revolu-
tion is a demoniacal agency. Meanwhile the physician
and the chaplain have both been lodged in prison, whither,
it is to be hoped, they will shortly be followed by the lady
superior of the convent. Why punish the Ugaritic woes-
pines and spare the chief author!'

PRESENTATION OP A TEETIMONIAL TO W. F.
Coma. ESQ., LAY! 11/YAGER OP TES SWINDOI RAILWAT
Woiat.—Mr. Gooch having recently retrigeed his of..
as manager of the railway works, the workmen who
for levee years had served under him resolved upon
promoting him with some proof of their respect and good-
will. A subeeripties was therefore entered into, raid the
suns of 581. 10s. bevies been reellestl, the enmities ap-
pointed to midst* the business selected • very handsome
silver ceotre.pieee, for preeentatioa to him. The design
consists of a triasgalar base formal of three shields, one
of which bears an inacription, soother Mr. Goork's ant
and motto, aid the third • monogram. Standing on the
top of the hen are two deer browsing. and is the metre an
oak tree, the brioches of which support • elipes beaked
and glass bowl for dowers. The inscription was as follows t---
" Presented to (Apish W. F. Gooch, %Uhl Wiles Rid.
Volunteers, by • mumbler of friends aid masy of the unpkgre
of the Great Western Railway Company, at Swindon
Works, as a totem of their esteem for his many kind social
qualities aid gentlemudy bearing towards them ea fried
sod foamier daring • residenee of seven years. New
Swiodoo, 14th October, 1864." In addition to this the
committee prep red an eddied.* for presentation to Mr.
Gooch. This was mast beautifully and artistically
eogroseed by Mr. Clough, • clerk in the Swindon Works
and is a beautiful piece of penmanship. The presentation
took pine os Friday neeng.—Nottinotame Journal.
I.47EMOAT SILIVICRA. -PLR/MOOD, LANCASHIRE,
rainwear Nina'.—Lnuing a heavy gale of wind this
afternoon treat the westward the brigantise Highland
Mary, of Fleetwood, wee driven on the Barnard Wharf
The lifeboat of the National Institution stationed at
this port was at once launched to her assistance, and has
fortunately brought unity on shore the brigantine's crew of
five own. She was hosed from Ardroesan to Fleetwood
with • aerie of pig Imo. The cost of this valuable lifeboat
was presented to the National Institution about two years
since by a benevolent lady.
A TicKEr-Or-LRAVa Mates STORT.—A t the
Warwickshire sessions, on Wednesday, George Haynes,
25, was charged with having, et Stratfordma.Avon, on
the 12th of August last, stolen two pounds weight of
beef. The prisoner pleaded guilty, and asked to make •
statement. The chairman having remarked that be had
been previously sentenced to penal servitude at Ohmmeter
assume for housebreaking, the prisoner maid that was
really true. He committed the aeon when be was only
13 years of age, and was sent to Gibraltar, to the penal
settlemeet there. After having been imprisoned for
three years mad a half, his conduct had bees so mate.
factory that he had beer released upon • ticket of leave. He
forthwith returned to England. and did 011ie could to oh.
rain an honest livelihood. After working for four years in
Warwick, during a part of which time he bad attended re-
gularly at All Saran' Church, Eranote, and assisted in
thee:brae, be went to reside at Stratford, got work, and
attended the parish church at Cbarlecote, singing in the
choir. All things went on well with him and
with his family for a long time. One day one of the
Stratford police, named Weston, called upon hiss, and
asked if be had ever bean transported. He declined at
fist to answer the question ; but ultimately he admitted
that such wee the can. From that time his prospects
were blighted. He was dismissed from the choir at
Charlecote Church, and lost his place. In every way he
was being hutted down and oppressed. At the time be
took the soak his wife and &Mess were in a starving
condition, ad be took the meat for theme. The Rev. T.
B. Dickens, of Emmone, had not a letter, testifying to
the prince?' character as being limiest, sober, and in
every way respectable. Mr. [lmmorality impressed his
deep regret at the statement which the prisoner hail made.
If ft was tree, and upon the fun of the facts it seemed
probable. the policeman had exceeded his duty, for he
ought net to have bartered with him at all. The prisoner
seemed to have mediated himself creditably, and the
tawnier offence might have been considered burled in oh-
Striae. Both he sad his brother magistrates considered that •
the prisoner bad been hardly dealt with, and, ender the .
eircninstancee he would only be sentenced to 14 dime' bard
labour.