The Express.
London, England, 1864-05-02 00:00:00

t 9 tn.! r44:1
THE FiX'ltEl3B, MONDAY

posing them to the vengeance of the Confederate*
as soon as he has taken him departure—loses a few
hundred men, and comes back without having in
the smallest degree advanced the Federal cause.
The world knows that when the Confederacy falls
Dick Taylor and his army will dissolve in thin air ;
and the Confederacy will only fall by blows struck in
Virginia and Georgia. All fighting in the trans-Idia-
si sin ppian region, except so much as maybe necessary
to keep the river open, is a work of pure superero-
gation. I was in hopes that when Grant assumed
the chief command he would check Banks's ardour,
and can scarcely persuade myself still that this
expedition into Louisiana forms any part of his
plan.

The following account of the Federal defeat at
Pleasant-hill appears in the American papers :

-- . .
The Federal way 'drawing against Shreveport, Louisiana,
met with a severs reverse as the Bth inst., at Pleareat-hill,
war the Red Blow. The whole bad bees Wreaths" before
the Federal cavalry for two days, when the latter swat back
for infantry supports. as the rebels bad roads& stand. General
Ransom came up with the third and fourth divisions of the
thirteenth caps. The rebels made the atter* ia overwhelming
'anthem, advancing steadily across an open field, in the face
of a heavy fire, from which they suffered severely. The
Federal cavalry finally pre way, and the iofisetry fell hack,
closely pressed by the rebels coder oinusand of Gomel
Kirby Smith. The panic of the Federal cavalry so demorel.
Wed the army that the retreat became • rout, and General
Ransom, finding it impowilile to rally the weeps, made'
disparate effort to we the artillery.
The Chicago Mercantile Battery lost all its guns. General
Ransom, in as endeavour to save them, wee serioualy
wounded. While the fourth dividing was falling back is
disorder, 1,800 men of the third came up, but were imme-
diately routed. Fioelly 7,0C3 men of the 19th oorps came up,
and forming into line socosoied in heldiog the rebels in
check until all the trains eromt thine of the cavalry were
saved. At last &comets the whole Federal army wee falling
beck to Good Ecossone the Red River, jwst abese
NaMbi-
inches, when it will wait to reargeniee before any further
advance. The Fedaeal low is estimated at 2,000.
The Southeaster:counts of the battle, thas far received,
are supposed to be greatly szeggerated. One despatch,
dated Mobil., April 15th, says :—" Mississippi River ad-
view from different pouts report great battles between
Kirby Smith and Baum ow Shreveport, is which Basks
was defeated, with a lose of 11,000 men, killed, wounded,
and captarcd. Batas Rouge and other hospitals are full of
the Yankee wounded."

THE STRATFORD SHAKESPEARIAN
rasTrvAt.

(raw ous amour. oossowcaren.)
BTRATFORD•ON-AVON. Snit.

The Stratford committee, mindful of the decree
issued by the good Queen Anne, "that no one be
allowed or presume to wear a ward mask in
either of the theatres," insisted that the same
rule should be enforced at their fancy dress-
ball on Friday night ; and the result was that
the varying expression of doubt, fear, hope, dis-
comfort, misery, self-consciousness, and half-defiant
shyness which chased each other over the faces of
many of the male mummers, were as clearly dis-
cernible as if they had been so many physicguo-
mica] heads, issued by Lavater to illustrate the
various feelings and passions incidental to huma-
nity. Apart from the military and country uniforms,
the wart dresses, and the official robes, the
fancy costumes of the gentlemen were not, with a
few signal exceptions, such as to either inspire awe
or command respect. But as neither of these feel-
ings are requisite in a ball-room, it would have
been sufficient had they given pleasure to their
beholders, or grace, comfort, or dignity to their
several wearers. As far as our observation went,
they failed in each of these particulars, and setting
aside the exceptions enumerated, there were not
too many men in the room who were not fidgetty
as to the absence of pockets, nervous as to the pro-
per dispOexl of their arms and hands, or devoured
by an omnipresent anxiety as to the precise appear-
&nos and behaviour of their lege: Some there were
who spent a portion of the evening in vainly regret-
ting that they bad not adopted another and more
becoming disguise and in envying the superior ap.
pesrance of their Lends, and the
Beaman( I were you.
And somas yes we me,
Suppouse we all were somebody aka
I wake who In should *—
which Mr. Frank Matthews used to sing so hu-
morously in the old Lyceum burlesque, was more
than aloe unconsciously paraphrased by sell-
distrustful revellers, anxious to be "anything,
anything out of "—their clothes. We will not say
that King Lear seemed less mad than dyspeptically
melancholic ; that Shakespeare himself had ruddy
features and a merry eye, but concealed his intel-
lectual power with exceeding skill; that the gen-
tleman who "paled his head in" (the eighth)
" Henry's glory " gave as realistic a rendering of
the character as could well be possible ; or that
Shylock was rather too like the "Jew whom
Shakespeare drew " to be altogether unsuggestive
of the pound of flesh ; because these characters
were severally sustained with both discrimination

and spirit, aid with some knowledge of the spe-
cialty which should pertain to each. Still less
would we censure the quaint and admirably dressed
Touchstone, whose early retirement was remarked
to be regretted, and who, if blamed at all, must
be blamed for too soon pulling the "dial from hi
poke." Othello, again, looked every inch a Des
demons unotherer ; a gentleman in black, con-
earning whom opinions were divided, and who was
described vaguely as " a notary " by one set of
commentators, and as "the half-starved apothecary"
by another, contrived to throw a dignifiedaShos
into his manner, equally appropriate to the m of
wills and a hidden craving for food ; Orlando ed
quite the man " to carve on every tree;" P
looked the "master," not of one, but manyo),
poor, cells ;" and several other of the purely
Shakespearian characters were well enough in their
way. A handsome salsoon-troutooloured dress of
the James IL period had at least the merit of
looking historical, and though the huge' starched
frill, wherein the wearer's neck was set, seemed to so
separate it from the rest of his body that his head
was compared, with reprehensible flippancy, to that
of John the Baptist in the charger, still it looked
both interesting and appropriate ; a richly em-
broidered and appointed Albanian prince, whose
small and rather bare looking white bib was the
only drawback to an otherwise radiant appear-
anos, was another of the happy people whose clothes
really seemed to belong to them ; and a singularly
rich puce satin and belaced hero, who might be
any one who's vocation it was to win hearts, was
another favourable specimen of what the advertis-
ing tailors term " the art of dress." When the
proceedings terminated soon after four a.m. with
Sir Roger de Coverley, there was a unanimous
expression of unalloyed pleasure and gratification.
The lower gallery had been boarded up and was
covered with the Elizabethan cloth with Shake.
speare's monogram, and the sight of the upper gal-
lery, full, beyond all anticipation, of gaily-dressed
people, was one to gladden the hearts of the com-
mittee, who received half-a-guinea clear profit
for every person there seated. Though some
people left the little town by • special
train at 4.30 a.m., the majority remained,
ant: the Stratford station at midday on Saturday
was a vast scene of hand shaking, thanks ex-
changing, and farewell making, Mr. Flower, the
mayor, and the Rey. G. Granville, the visit., being
foremost to " speed the parting " as they had been
' "to welcome the mining guests." Without making
backnied quotations, or dragging in irrelevant
sentiment as to the ending of these revels, it is
impossible for those who have in any capacity been
actively mixed up in the Stratford celebration to
clove the subject without a tinge of sadoeas and
I regret. When graceful attentions have been uni-
form, when identity of interest has been for the
time complete, and when pleasant friendships have
been inevitably formed, it would be beneath human
nature if the visitors to Stratford did not hence-
forth think of it warmly, and remember their
sojourn there with pleasure.

On Saturday the streets of the old borough were
sornparatively deserted, sad except the denating of the
banners which were impended from the windows of the her
houses there was scarcely an outward indication that
the previous week had been one of revelry to which the
majority of the ialcaliiteate had bees ansoctim
tooled. With a view of keeping the commemoration
en the move, without absolutely taxing the asst of the
people too strongly, • promenade concert wee given in
on the Pavilion by the bead of the 2nd Warwickahire
The sachem.' was a scanty one, although the pieces was
earefally executed. For Moediy. Tuesday, and Wednesday,
a series of what are called " popular estertainments“ have
been organised, with the view of gratifying the bourgeoisie
This will terminate the festival, with a balloon assent, a
prosissede donort by the bead of the }loyal Soot. Greys,
a ball in the Pavilice in t►e evader, the tragedy of Othello,
the comedy of Mod Ado About Nothing, and the trial
some from the Merchant of Venice. The prices are on a
scale that will allow of the utmost mimeos% to the claim
for whom the ammoniac.s are intended.