The Press.
London, England, 1858-09-25 00:00:00

Vubizt linusenunts.

MR. HOWARD PAUL'S " PATCHWORK."—The favour-
able impression produced by tho comic and musical
entertainment provided by Mr. and Mrs. Howard
Paul at the Egyptian•hall, has in no degree lessened
with repetition. The imprimatur of approval is still
firmly fixed on the olla potlrida for whieli our nomen
clature could supply no other title so appropriate as
" Patchwork." Human life in its varied phases is
portrayed with remarkable fidelity, and the " cha-
racters " which stand out in the bold relief of origin-
ality amidst the sameness of our existence find in
Mr. and Mrs. Howard Paul apt representatives of
their peculiarities. The great charm in Mrs. Howard
Paul's impersonations, the great secret of her suc-
cess, is her ready adaptation of voice and manner to
the part she assumes. Nothing, for instance, could
have afforded a stronger contrast than her Laura
Dashaway, a young lady who has graduated in the
high•pressure school, and the child of France de-
claiming the hymn with which Rouget de Lisle
fanned the fire of Republicanism in 1792. Then
what a broad line of demarcation is drawn between
Molly Doolan, the merry maid-of-all•work, whose
bashful admissions of partiality for her " Bowld
Sojer Boy " enlist our sympathies. and Miss Selina
Singleheart, the unprotected female, whose lop •
brious confessions of her love passages—the green
spots in a sterile existence—provoke nothing but

laughter at
The sorrows and the hardships poor females must endure,
and which the fair Selina so pathetically deplores .
But if Miss Singlebeart, with all her anxiety to catch
a husband, takes a highly practical view of matri•
ninny, Miss Aurelia Gushington, though impulsive
and sentimental, is, as Captain Puppington Loll
would say, " deucedly particular" in the object of
her choice. In fact, she has just arrived st that dam
gerous period of life when sentimentalism finds d
a
vent through such media as discourses on
poctrYseti
me-
moonlignt. A nice young man on own is PuPP
ton Loll, as portrayed by Mr. Howar we
swell of d Paul. The
great weakness of this young gentleman, who, as
te
are informed, " has set up as a heavy
thin umbrella species," is the introduction
hio n
of a new
pattern of " trouser," which arbitrary fas will
st similar
doubtless some of these days place among
" institutions." Another very admirable character is
old Roger Whitelock, who inveighs against mod
innovations ern
with nil the prejudices of ag. As a
whole this little entertainment, woven as its name
denotes, of " shreds and patches," takes premier
1i s.
ank
amongst the public amusements of the metropo

T

•
THE CRYSTAL PALACE.—MIIe. Piccolomini's fare•
well concert will take place at the Crystal Palace on
Tuesday next, when a grand miscellaneous concert,
comprising the principal features of her repertoire,
will be given. The services of Signor Giuglini, and
other leading krtistea from Her Majesty's Theatre,
are also engaged for this occasion. Amongst the
many novelties which we have to chronicle in con
nection with the Palace, the most recent is the
display of fountains by moonlight.

pan iarktt Cttg 3uttingtntt.

FRIDAY EVENING.
Ms return of the Bank of England for the week
ending Wednesday last, the 22nd inst., shows the
following changes compared with that for the week
preceding :
Decrease in Circulation
Increase in Public Deposits . .
Deciesto, in Other Deposits
Increase, in Government Securities
Decrease in Other Securities
Increase in Bullion
Increase in Rest
Increase in Reserve
Bullion in both Departments 19,134,065
Circulation, including Bank Post
20,775,364
Bills ..

The principal features in this comparison are the
large addditions to the Bullion, the Reserve, and
the Public Deposits. The Bullion now exceeds
nineteen millions, with every prospect of its
amounting to nneteen millions and a half next
week, while the notes in reserve approach thirteen
millions. The Public Deposits ate more than
8,710,101/.—so that the Government account is in a
very strong position. The Private Securities con-
tinue to run off, and the Bank is adding but little
0 its stock of Public Securities, notwithstanding the
magnitude of the Reserve, the Directors making
their purchases as moderate as possible.
Although there has been a slightly-increased
demand for capital during the week, it has not been
of a character to affect either the supplies or the
price. On the contrary, the supplies are enlarging,
or, if not absolutely enlarging, more confidence is
shown by those who have money to lend, while the
price, upon the best parer, cannot be quoted higher
than from 21 to 2i per cent. Trade continues
to expand. In the manufacturing districts of Lan-
cashire and Yorkshire there is a wonderful degree of
activity compared with the state of the same localities
less than half a year ago. Their production is quite
equal to that of the period just before the late col-
lapse, which is still reckoned as unsound and specu-
lative ; yet this unexpected degree of animation has
been brought about without any material aid from
the Money Market. This fact is in some quarters
perfectly incomprehensible, and from the same
quarters we hear no small wails upon the unprofit-
able returns of capital under such circumstances.
Even in Birmingham, and some parts of Warwick-
shire and Staffordshire, and we may also add Sheffield
to the list, though the feeling of depression is not
entirely abated, they are erecting new workshops
and warehouses. How could this be done, and who
would have the courage to do it, if the prospects of
the commercial future were so dismal as might be
implied if we accepted all that is told us by the
moneyed interests? The real truth is, that trade is
emerging from the late crisis, tried and purified,
more self.reliant, more natural, and less exposed to
the contingency of losing its profits by discounts and
rediscounts. In other words, it is profitable because
there is a healthy domestic consumption, because
credits are restricted to a minimum, and because a
general foreign demand for nearly all descriptions of
our manufactures is accompanied by the prospective
opening of more than one or two entirely new markets
in the East and on the shores of the Pacific. It is
no wonder, therefore, that we see Eccumulations of
unemployed money in the banks. This is the
natural result of the character of the demand ; and
we doubt whether, under present circumstances, any
appreciable addition to the floating circulation of
mercantile paper would arise even from a reduction
of the Bank minimum to 21 per cent. It is said
the Directors are restrained from making this
reduction lest they should thereby encourage specu-
lation. This view is quite imaginary. They are
restrained by no such motive : but, they are restrained
by the fact that in the present condition of trade they
would be making a useless sacrifice, for when traders
are working upon their own resources, as they are
now, they will not pay for that which they do not
*am. We, therefore, do not. anticipate any fall in
the Bank rates ; though we ars far from saying that
a reduction may -not be made, now that the Bank of
France has relaxed, and the supplies of money in the
hands
_of the public are about to be increased by the
dispersion of the October dividends. But, if a
reduction be decided upon, contrary to our expecta-
tion, we do assert., with some degree of confidence,