The Press.
London, England, 1858-09-04 00:00:00

'rHE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 4 1858. 851
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The ties, therefore, that united the two gentlemen, !no knowledge. We have a right to assume that there A grand miscellaneous concert took place in the
were of no common order, and it is an act of justice may be some doubt about his own ability, if he have evening. One of the most remarkable features of
to active
friendship, of which there is not too much, the will, to pay it, because it is nut very long ago
the first part was the reappearance of Mlle. Victoire
lef 61
'a
last haot theln a dLey ca e suumc c,
ea
ss 8 Af un
al idnaebiuntLtahesosnenaasnsonbot-. among literary men, that in tracing a that he made public declaration that he possessed Bfoar
in these days,
sweeping story, we record the good offices by which but a small sum, with which he proposed to endow
the younger author endeavoured to serve a friend the widow of the first tyrannicide. One would think
Miss Balfe, on the present occasion, met with a
highly flattering reception. The second part of the
who would not be served. Mr. Forster went down there would be no. great di it culty in preserving the
concert was Handel's Acis and Galatea, for which I
to Bath, and after much negotiation prevailed on Mr. old poet from a gaol. The object with which we,
Mozart wrote additional accompaniments, which Mr.
Sandoz. (whose determination of character had very reluctantly, nave written this brief narrative, is
become, in age,
more determined still) to sign a to urge that something is due from England to Landor. Costa, however, dispensed with, and substituted his
cis, were
fir. th
suismfislHleede:v—es ;Damon,alateG a, M mme.
Mr.
document in which he fully and unreservedly with- For more than sixty years Walter Savage Landorown.
drew the charges in the pamphlet. The plaintiff's has been enriching and adorning the literature of Clar TheNriv parts
ell o; A
Smith; Polyphemus, Signor Belletti.
vcoocOsatalai,sstWeEebl die niwnea
sgs dmagyiersedmoaomi rape
attorney demurred to a word in this document, a word this country. He has brought out from his treasury Montem
implying, as he thought, that Mr. Landor had some things new and old, and has eet them worthily forth performance of
Being put right as to for the instruction and delectation of his fellows.
morning
1 itlge
Clara Ta owfinn
Novello-e
Ir a l l , the principal
Viardot,
authority for his statements.
the meaning of English language, he gave was, but His " Conversations " will live while English lan-•
very naturally and properly demanded a promise that guage, chastened but not emasculated by the severit9 Mr. Sims Reeves, Signor Belletti, and Mr. Weiss.
the libels should not be renewed. It was given, and of classical rule, is the garb of scholarly thought and This oratorio wa-i first produced at the Birmingham
poetical conception. A popular ovation at no distant
proceedings ceased. Festival in 1855, town having that h• ng also introduced
Then the libels were renewed, in a form which day awaits his works—but they must first be popu• Mendelsaohn's Elijah. Though the attendance was
far more damaging than the coarse, bold charges larized. Landor will then be recognized as one of those
was large, the hall was not so well filled as on the pre
in the pamphlet. Landor's power of . condensing who have aided to settle and garnish our English vious day, a circumstance which
thought, his mastery of versification, his skill at tongue, and to store up its riches, counted and for by the
eclat
which usually attends the inaugura-
pointing
epigram, were degraded to the office of set- summed, for the use of the prudent, instead of tion of musical as of other festivals.
ung in poetry a series of sin ults and outrages, so leaving its wealth to be carelessly handled by the The second miscellaneous concert took place in
atrocious, that, taking Mr. Landor's antecedents, his eciolist and the prodigal. We repeat, England owes the evening, with a well•arranged programme, pre-
once keen judgment, his delicate tact, and his noble a debt to Landor, and it is not to be cancelled by the fared by that perfect piece of instrumental music the
nature into consideration, it becomes manifest that miserable tellies of that which has survived to be but Jupiter symphony. The several artists acquitted
in his case the not uncommon phenomenon must half Landor, and that not the better half. We had themselves most creditably, More. Alboni being re-
have occurred of the partial extinction of the moral rather hoped to see this view taken by some of our warded with are demand.
sense while the intellectual faculty was preserved. contemporaries, instead of hearing the virtuous On Thursday the streets were densely thronged
In a word, Mr. Landor's condition should have been British outcry against that which every respectable by unceasing streams of well-dressed visitors to the
the subject of kindly care, and there should have person among us—cheesemongers, beadles, and all-- great centre of attraction, Handel's immortal work
been those about him who would have contrived that of course must condemn, namely, an atrocious The Messiah being the oratorio selected for this day.
while the old poet amused his mind with composing slander on a lady. We all know how detestable are There was a large demand for places, none of which
these fantastic revenges for imaginary wrong, his such offences ; and we are, it is to be hoped, all were procurable under a guinea. The high character
hallucinations should be prevented from annoying ready to punish them at need; but in the case of an of the festival on the opening day was now fully
other persons. Had Mr. Landor been a wealthy old man of eighty-three, who has outlived his best sustained. Mr. Sims Reeves, who was in good voice,
man, no doubt affectionate relatives would have been faculties, virtuous indignation seems a little obtrusive. snug " Comfort ye my people " with fine effect. Miss
found to take charge of him and his estates ; and if There no longer exists the Walter Savage Landor Dolby honourably distinguished herself', and Mme.
a jury had been invited to take cognizance of his who wrote the " Conversations ; " need we throw Novello gave " Come unto Him " with powerful
doings, it would not have been an assize jury. many stones at the old head that once held that earnestness. Sig. Belletti, in the recitative " Thus
It was manifestly impossible for the assailed per- brilliant brain? Let us pay the aggrieved lady her saith the Lord," and Mines. Viardot and Castellan in
sons to leave the matter where it was. Had Mr. damages, and then try whether we cannot take such their several parts, were equally happy. The chorus
Landor been placed under surveillance, it would at order with her slanderer, as shall show that the and band are also deserving of especial notice for
once have been the most complete trampling out of memory of sixty years of noble service is not wiped their execution in the " Hallelujah " and "Amen." •
the slanders; but while it was assumed by the world out by a few vagaries of imbecile anger. During the performance of the first the entire ••.
that he was in a condition of responsibility, there Was SHIRLEY BROOKS. audience rose simultaneously, and the appearance of
nothing left to Mr. Yescombe but an appeal to the .
the hall at this moment was most imposing. Both
world's tribunal. Mr. Slade, in this view of the case, NUS its choruses were redemanded.
said, fairly enough, that the defendant "was one We are happy to be able to add that one of the
_
whose works had procured for him a world-wide re- most cheering evidences of the complete success
putation, and anything that dropped from his pen THE BIRMINGHAM MUSICAL FESTIVAL. which has attended the festival is found in the
approaching to a serious imputation must have Tin—
s great musical festival commenced on Tuesday, receipts for the three days over which our notice
serious notice taken of it." The libels were of course in the presence of a large and distinguished corn- extends. On Tuesday the total receipts were
read in court, and have now been read throughout 3,120/. d • on Wednesday, 1,9371. Ns.
pany. Like that of Hereford, it is given for charity's
the length and breadth of the land. We transfer
sake, allthe profits b • devotedthe of
beingto support and on Thursday, 2,7891.—making the aggregate
not one line of them to our pages. There was the Birmingham General Hospital. The preliminary
receipts for the three oratorios and two concerts ,
nothing to be said, or at all events nothing was 5aid,7,8531. 14s. Bd.
arrangements were admirable, and were carried outs•
on the other side. Mr. Phinn made the only plea • • • • which • d
by the committee in a spirit insure success
which it was, perhaps, competent to him to make, and where the • lof the
musical attractions were highest
urged that though some of the passages in the verses TRAVELLERS IS SPllN.—Travellers on the Con
order. The solo vocalists engaged for the occasion •
could not be excused, the jury must look upon Mr.tinent have, generally speaking, three great annoy--
were Mesdames Alboni, Castellan, Viardot, Garcia,
Lander as one who bad been educated in the mannersßaces to contend with : passports, custom-houses, and
Clara Novello, Victoire Balfe, and Dolby; Messrs.
of a past age, when free license was accorded to •
Sims Reeves, amber i , onconi„ I.
satire, and literature had not been purified, and who, whom one never knows exactly whether to call police
and Belletti. Mr. Costa presided as conductor over • •
with the virtues, had imbibed some of the vices of or military. Now in Spain the passport system is
an orchestra composed of nearly 500 performers.
the early poets. This was pat with the adroitness of merely nominal ; the only place where the slightest
T 1 11which from its is h• 11
The own- la ,
the eloquent advocate who was retained, but such a importance is attached to it is the gate by which
favourable to musical sound, presented a pleasing
detente was of course perfectly hollow. We do notthe Spanish lines are passed on the neutral ground
interior, Mr. Ingram's tastefdul decorations for 1855
make allowances for men who refuse to adopt thebehind Gibraltar ; so that it happened in our case,
manners of the age in which they live; we laugh at having
.been renovated, an aided by further re- ridiculously enough, that we were never asked to
decoration of the galleries and orchestra, The lady
pig•tails, Hessians, and bunches of seals ; patronesses were :
we do not produce our permission to enter the country till the
invite men who swear and get drunk, and we kick moment when we were leaving it ! Then the
out of our houses men who venture to talk to women The Countess of Dartmouth, the Countess of Bradford, custom-house officials are such a civil and ob-
asViscountess Lifford, Lady Guernsey, Vicoubtess Newport,
they were talked to in the last century. We have liging set of rogues, that the traveller need
BO toleration of the kind suggested by Mr. Phinn, Lady Willoughbypai do Broke, Lady Hatherto n,
Lady
BWerot-
fear or suffer no trouble or delay from them.
testes, Lady
Mrs.k egton, Hon. Mrs. Adderley, sue
nor is it fit that we should have any. But the plea When asked for his keys, he produces a small
mont, Lady Wniugton, Lady Chetwynd, Lady Hartopp, .
was really untenable on another ground, though the Lady Scott, Newdegate, Mrs. Foster, and Mrs. silver one, and his luggage is immediately passed
jury probably knew nothing about that. Mr. Landor's Dugdale. without a single strap having been undone
writings are almost entirely free from the very faults The following noblemen and gentlemen officiated
No doubt this kind of remedy ultimately (as has
which it was thus sought to slur over. His love for long been the case is other parts of Europe) becomes
as honorary stewards .
the purity of his classic models led him to study a . worse than the disease, by suggesting the annoy-
hi The Earl of Dartmouth, the Earl of Bradford, Viscount
annoy-
higher purity which those models do not alwaysantes which it is intended to avert; but at present
Lifthrd Lord Guernsey Viscount Lord
exhibit. When an erotic allusion threes his page, it • ' ' Newport, w M.P., 1 this is by no means the case in Spain. Lastly, the
Willoughby de Broke, Lord Hatherton, Lord . rottes ey,
is not French pruriency or British c°o ..eness ebut Right Hon. Sir J. Pakington, Bart., M.P., Right Hon. Police are too few, and their duties too laborious, to
something that Pericles might have whispered, at C. B. Adderley, M.P., Sir George H. Beaumont, Bart., Sir leave them any time, if they bad the inclination, to
sunset, to Aspasia. And his satirical writings, though T. F. \Vinnington, Bin., M.P., Sir George Chetwynd, play the spy on a traveller. We were on several
flavoured with the bitterness of earnestness, and Bart., Sir W. E. C. Hartopp, Bart., Sir Francis E. Scott, occasions offered their services by way of escort; but
with far more purpose about them than anything Bart., Mr. C. N. Newdegate, M.P., Mr. J. H. H. Foley, we treated the stories of brigands as myths, and in-
with which Byron or Moore ever played at lashing M.P., Mr. W. 0. Foster, M.P., and Mr. W. S. Dugdale. variably declined their protection. Individually, if
tyrants or bigots, afford very few instances in which The oratorio of Elijah was selected for the inaugu- not nationally, Englishmen are not only respected in
an unseemly illustration is employed. For one such ration, and the sublime music of Mendolssohn was Spain, but are even popular, especially with the
case in Landor's works there are a dozen in the rendered with fine effect. The performance, from lower order. They spend their money freely, buy a
elegantly-bound Byrons of which we make presents the overture to the close, was perfect, full justice good deal of rubbish, and submit without grumbling
ell lady birthdays. Mr. Landor was, therefore, not being done to the beautiful passages so familiar to to any moderate amount of extortion lndeed
entitled to the benefit of this dethnce, but his ad- the musical public. The duet, " Lord, bow thine the very difficulties of travelling are here the travel-
vocate might have availed himself of the much ear," was sung by Mme. Castellan and Miss Dolby lees best protection. The country is not as yet over-
stronger
. one, that an old man had lived to lose one of with easy fluency and refined taste. Mine. Castellanrun with those legions of tourists and adventurers
the finest faculties of his youthful and mature • seare. did full justice to her parts, and wag well supported who are the cause of so many restrictions and ob-
The jury of course saw nothing but a set of dis- by Mr. Sims Reeves as Elijah. Mesdames Novello structions to the more legitimate wanderer. In
Rusting rhymes, directed against a woman, and, like and Viardot contributed muoh to the general effect Spain the Englishman is still a " grand senor," it
true Britons, they held out their hands to assist a by their careful performance of the pieces assigned man of wealth and importance, who has not come to
Sinuous female in distress. They gave damages to the to them. " Thanks be to God " and " 0 rest in the create a revolution, to cozen shopkeepers, or emuggle
amount of one thousand pounds. Lord," the latter being beautifully executed by Miss finery :he has Et long purse and a strong band, and
There ends the legal part of the story. Whether Dolby, were redemanded by the President? the IJarl is as quick to recompense a service so to meat iw
*, tiNidor 1 h aided Will to pay the twig, 919 We of Partinout)). 0)14170e1-13efttfry1 Siscellany.
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