The Press.
London, England, 1856-08-09 00:00:00

AUGUST 9, 1856.

the most valuable timber; with unbounded
water supply, and incredible facilities for land
and water carriage; with every advantage in
the purchase or possession of land, a square
league costing for purchase 1201., or 21. a year
rental—the country is held by a race who
occupy it only in spots few and far between,
and who neither cultivate the land, care for
trade, nor seek to develop its immense re-
sources. Since the overthrow of Rosas, and
the opening up of the Parana and Uruguay
(for which we are entirely indebted to the fore-
sight of Sir W. G. Ouseley in '45, and the
energy and persistence of Sir Charles Hutham
in '62), a great opportunity im given to specu-
lative enterprise in Paraguay and up the
country generally. English and other mer.
chants are already settling in Assumption and
Corrientes, trade will arise, the Governments
are favorably disposed to us, immigration and
colonisation it is hoped will follow, and one of
the finest countries in the world be rescued
from its unoccupied neglect.
The letters abound iu the usual anecdotes
of travel and in remarks upon the manners
and customs of the primitive Castilians who
at present inhabit the upper country of the
Parana. Many woodcuts, from sketches on
the spot, also accompany the book; and we
can thoroughly recommend it, so far as it goes,
as one of the most accurate and truthful vo-
lumes published upon South America.

uth.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.
REVIEW OF THE SEASON.

"Now or never" must have been Mr. Lumley's ex-
clamation,when the news of the destruction of Covent-
garden Theatre by fire reached him in Paris by
telegraph on the morning of the sth of March. He
lost no time, and made an astonishing effort, for his
prospectus was out on the 24th of April; and on
Saturday, the 10th of May, after being closed for
three years, the ancient Haymarket Italian Opera-
house was reopened. His activity must have been
prodigious; for the difficulties to be overcome of all
kinds were overwhelming. He conquered every im-
pediment valiantly, and collected on the whole a
company which, although experimental on the whole,
contained some artistic celebrities ; amongst whom
may be cited, of course, Alboni, Mme. Albertini,
Mlle. Piccolomini, and Mlle. Johanna Wagner, Bene-
ventano, Belletti, Baucarde, and Calzolari. His spe-
culative singers were Mme. Amadei, Signor Salviani,
Signor Z icconi, and Mr. Charles Braham—all un
equivocal failures. Zuceoni was afterwards replaced
by a clever, although anything but great, artist in
Signor Rossi. The campaign, calculating this night's
representation (Saturday), exhibits the annexed
returns :

No. or REPRE.
OPERAS. COMPOSERS. SENTATIONII.
Cenerentola Rossini .. 3
Il Barbiere Ditto .... 4
Tancredi Ditto .... 2
Lucrezia Borgia Donizetti 3
La Figlia Ditto .... 7
Don Pasquale Ditto .... 4
I Capuletti Bellini.... 5
Sonnambula Ditto .... I
Trovatore Verdi .... 2
Traviuta Ditto .... 15

46
The above tabular statement at once gives the tone
to the performances. It has been a Piccolomini
season. The debutante has played more than half
the number of representations, and she has extin-
guished the accomplished Alboni, the emphatic
Wagner, and the artistic Albertini. In a weak opei a,
with an abominable libretto, Piccolomini, with very
little voice, with an indifferent style and no execu-
tion, has completely captivated the opera frequenters,
who have been utterly insensible to her defects, and
have accepted a pretty piquant style of acting, with
la beaute du diable youthfulness, in place of those
high vocal and dramatic capabilities which are
usually expected from a prima donna at a great
lyric theatre. Night after night La Traviata drew
fashionable crowds, whilst Alboni's lovely voice and
inimitable execution, and Wagner's large dramatic
style, left the receipts on the off nights next to
nothing. Sober criticism is dumbfounded at this
result. Here is the broad fact. The Spectator of
last week and the Time: of Thursday—which journals
contributed as much as anything to the Picculomini
triumph by the notices of her performances—have
been suddenly seized with virtuous indignation. The
Tunes now calls the constunptive-coughing death