The Press.
London, England, 1854-01-14 00:00:00

OLYMPIC.

Mr.DISRAELVS position, that "England does not love
coalitions," has received a singular confirmation in
the fate of the Christmas piece at this house. The
manager seems to have spared neither expense nor
trouble to render the late lamented (for it is now num-
bered with the dead) Harlequin Columbus the best and
brightest of its race. He entrusted the composition
of the libretto to one of the most brilliant and able
of our dramatic authors, and the scenery, dresses,
and decorations were entirely new, and conceived in
the best taste ; moreover, a number of the first
artists of the day, native and foreign, anxious to
show that de vtinimis curet ars, volunteered their
services in those departments in which the hands
of the painter and sculptor can be most effectually
employed. Our readers will scarcely believe that
this new combination of " all the talents " has re-
sulted in the withdrawal of the pantomime from
the bills in the height of the Christmas season, after
twelve nights' performance—a fact, we believe, un-
precedented in theatrical annals. Some cause may
he found for this sad failure in the inefficiency of
the representatives of Clown, Harlequin, and Pan-
taloon; but the imbecility of the Rochez family is
not of itself a rock of sufficient magnitude to justify
the catastrophe. The cause of the disaster must be
traced to the fatal mistake of endeavouring to obtain
success by means of a coalition, that is, by the union
of minds which are independent of each other, and
which have no sympathies in common, except so far
as the desire to effect some distant though specific
end. In this, as in all instances of the kind that
have ever fallen under our notice, the want of har-
mony in thought and action have rendered power-
less those energies which, if directed in a proper
channel, under the influence of some master mind,
might achieve great things. The author has neither
the experience nor the knowledge requisite for a
writer of pantomime, and on this occasion has
figured as a theatrical Mr. Gladstone. Over-conti-
dent in his abilities, he has plunged into a difficult
and unknown subject; and the result is, the refusal
of the public to accept his newly-created stock.
Equally unsatisfactory was the last scene. The
designers thereof, anxious, apparently, to extend
to this theatre that " large measure of reform "
in scene-painting which has of late years proved so
beneficial to the treasury of the Lyceum, have met
with a defeat which is the inevitable lot of those
who, without due preparations strive for a great effect.
We confess we could neither admire the general
design nor any of the details. The ship, the figure-
head, the colours, the arrangement, were alike
displeasing to our eyes; and we looked in vain
for that aerial perspective and fairylike effect which
in our judgment should ever be combined in the
culminating point of those pieces which are the pure
creatures of imagination. Though we disclaim all
intention of comparing Mr. Wigan's ability and
honesty of purpose with the vacillating incapacity of
Lord Aberdeen, and the acid party spirit of the
Peelites, we cannot help feeling that the present fate
of the Olympic coalition is a precursor of that which
awaits the unprincipled combination which for the
last twelve months has misgoverned this country.
Wo must not omit to join with some of our con-
temporaries in giving credit to the manager for
the manly course he has followed on this occasion.
Admitting the failure without hesitation, lie has
withdrawn the pantomime, and supplied its-place by
reviving The First Night—an English version of
Le Pere de la Dkbutantc—which he performed
originally under Mr. Maddox's management at the
Princess's. This play has been reproduced with the
greatest success ; and deservedly so, for it is one
of the best-acted pieces that we have seen of late
years. Mr. Wigan's incomparable impersonation of
the hero is too well known to enlarge upon. Although,
for our part, we cannot abide the race of stage
Frenchmen, we found the other night our objections
fading away one by one, until at last they were all
fairly overruled.
Miss P. Horton is excellent as the daughter, and
she gives a force and importance to the part which
it has never bad at the hands of any former repre-
sentative. Her singing is quite admirable; and the
duct between her and Mr. Wigan, from the Hugue-
nots, fairly took the house by storm. It is, in fact,
too good for burlesque. Miss Wyndham surprised
us by her perfermance of the difficult and ungrate-
ful part of Arabella Fotherivgay. We venture to
prophesy that, it' she takes pains and studies hard,
she will soon rise to a considerable eminence in her
profession.

Mn. JAMES HANNAY (author of "Singleton
Fontenoy " and other works of fiction) is delivering
his course of six lectures on satirical literature at the
Marylebone Institution, Edwards street, l'ortman-
square. Ile lectured on the Oth inst. on Horace
and Juvenal ; and the remainder of the series are to
follow upon the 16th and 30th inst., February 10 and
20, and March 6.

..,,_" 7

prtign gait Nittraturc, ttr.

43

THE TOTAL NUMBER OF BOOKS PUBLISHED IN
P.tais in the course of 1853 was 8,000. In 1852 the
aggregate of publications amounted to 8,002, show-
ing a diminuti m of 902 works during the past as
compared with the preceding year.
ANOTHER HISTORICAL EDIFICE, says the Journal
de Loiret, has disappeared in this arrondissement.
The Chateau de Chemault has been sold for the
purpose of immediate demolition. Built in the
reign of Charles VII., this château has successively
belonged to the families of the Marquis Barbezieux,
of Charlotte de Balzac, mistress of Marshal Bassom-
pierre, and latterly to the Counts de St. Ferriol.
Henri IV. visited the chateau often in his hunting
parties. The furniture of the chamber in which he
slept has been religiously preserved untouched even
to the present day.

THE PLAN FOR CONSTRUCTING A RAILROAD from
Algiers to Blidah, after receiving the approbation of
the Colonial Council, has been referred to the Minis-
ter of War at Paid,. The consent of that minister's
department is not doubted, and this work, whose
results promise so many benefits to Algeria, will in
all probability be in active accomplishment early in
the coming spring.
_

AN INTiiilisTitin DISCOVERY has been made at the
fort of Vingt Quatre Heures, in Algeria. A crevice
was discovered in pulling down part of the walls,
which contained a skeleton, the position of whose
arm and leg bones seemed to indicate that the body
had been tightly bound when consigned to its resting-
place. From this and other signs it was concluded
that the remains were those of St. Gemnimo, a French
missionary, who was made a slave in Algeria, and,
being martyred about the year 1549, was afterwards
canonized. The discovery being notified to Monsig-
nor Pavy, the Bishop of Algeria, he took possession
of the relics in a solemnity at which all the ecclesi-
astics and a multitude of the soldiers and other in-
habitants of the district assisted. _ _

AFTER A LAWSUIT which had lasted for nearly four
years, through a series of appeals and processes, the
proprietor of the New York Herold has been finally
condemned to pay 10,000 dollar damages and costs
to Mr. Fry, the manager of the Italian Opera-house
in that city, for having libelled his admi-'
its affairs.

ion of

MADAME IDA PFEIFFER, who is now in California,
thus writes from San Francisco, under the date Oct.
30, 1853 :—" The city of San Francisco certainly
ranges with the great wonders of the world, but it is
not a wonder to charm or enchant. No less than six
times in the course of five years it was destroyed by
fire, yet it looks as magnificent as if it had never
suffered by that element. It lies mostly on sandhills,
which are covered with houses and huts up to their
summits. The eentee of the city consists of an arti
fieial piece of tolerably fiat ground, produced by
filling up the bay with sand to the extent of one-third
of an English mile. Here you would see a bustle as
in the city of the English metropolis—where is a
driving, riding, running, a haste and hurry as in a
disturbed ant-bill. Houses of brick are built in an
incredibly short time, so that streets are often not
recognised after a month or two. While in the luxury
and splendour which is to be seen in the interior of
the houses, San Francisco rivals London and Paris,
the filth without and the state of the streets generally
far exceed Constantinople. These, forming as they
do the common receptacle for all kinds of rubbish
and filth, are, in the first instance, covered with a
layer of dust and sand, upon which may be seen
heaps of broken boxes and casks, crockery and
bottles, cast-off clothes, linen and. okl shoes, together
with the dead bodies of dogs' and rats. To balk
through the streets is a punishment, and to extend
your walk to the counry around an additional penalty,
your legs soon becoming fatigued by the deep sand,
and your eyes not the less so by viewing the mono-
tonous dreary landscape."
Tsx COURT THEATRE AT MUNICH has been re-
cently rebuilt end redecorated, and opened on the
26th ult. one of the most extensive and magnificent
theatres in Germany. It is lighted by a thousand
and twenty-two jets of gas. The first representation
in the new house was Goethe's Faust, with the music
composed by Prince Radzovill. The Emperor of
Austria, the King of Bavaria, with his Queen and
the whole Court, were present at this performance.
M. Benedict's Crusaders is in preparation, and the
author has arrived in Munich to superintend the
rehearsals.
AT THE TUDELA THEATRE IN NAVARRE the perfor-
mance lately, according to the playbills, has con-
sisted of The Beheading of St. John the Baptist—
" baile, canto, y sainete."
THE TEATRO GRANDE AT TRIESTE. has opened for
the season with I Puritani. Messrs. Stecehi-
Botardi, Giraldoni, and Mme. Valesi, who sustained
the principal parts, are said to have meritoriously
exerted themselves.
VERDI'S Louisa Miller has been given at the
Oriente in Madrid with great success. Mile. Cazza-
' niva, as the heroine, is very highly spoken of.

A NEW OPERA, by Maestro Buzza, Il Convito di
Baldassare, has been produced at La Scala in
Milan. The first performance went off smocthly,
but without exciting any great enthusiasm, Mmes.
Novello and Brambilla, and MM. Guicciardi and Bre-
mond, sustaining the principal characters. On the
same night a new ballet was brought out entitled Il
Diavolo Inamorato, but called down a tempest which
abruptly terminated its career.

WE rejoice to hear that a great desideratum at the
present moment will shortly be supplied by the re-
publication of "Travels in Turkey, Greece, itc.,
and of a Cruise in the Black Sea with the Capitan
Pacha, in the years 1829, 1830, and 1831," by Adol-
phus Slade, Esq., now virtual commander of the
Turkish fleet, and which has been long out of print.
Of all the recent works upon the Ottoman empire we
know of none which equals this in intrinsic merit,
apart from the interest conferred upon it by the pre-
sent position of the author. As Mrs. Kerr observes,
in a preface to her recent translation of Ranke's
" Bosnia," " It is most agreeable to meet with a name-
tor who enables us while sitting comfortably at home
to participate in some degree in all he sees and en-
counters, and who amuses and informs without
wearying us. Slade has keen and subtle powers of
observation : he possesses the power of reproducing
things and setting them vividly before our eyes :
he
abounds in striking anecdotes, but not to excess ; at
the same time he appears to be of a shrewd sarcastic
turn, never omitting an opportunity of making a
caustic remark. We accompany him with lively and
unflagging enjoyment throughout his whole journey."
From our own remembrances we can endorse this
testimony with our unqualified approbation.
MR. WEBSTER and MR. E. T. SMITH are now the
only two managers of theatres of importance on this
side the water who unenviably distinguish themselves
by puffing their own performances. Both these
gentlemen have thought it advisable to do some
thing in favour of their Christmas pieces; but, though
Mr. Webster is a puffer of great experience, he is ob-
viously inferior in originality and ability to Mr. E. T.
Smith. While the Adelphi manager can invent
nothing better than a transparent picture of a scene
from The Thirst of Gold, executed in the worst cara-
van style, and placed over the principal entrance of
his theatre, after the manner of a booth at a country
fair, Mr. E. T. Smith has actually excogitated a new
genus of puff—the puff charitable—and announces
an intention of dist►ibuting soup to two hundred poor
persons twice a week at his stage-door. Still, as Mr.
Smith cannot undertake to furnish jugs to the "par-
ties applying," his charity is to a certain extent
limited to the possessors of crockery. Not to be out-
done, perhaps Mr. Webster will next week, at his
stage-door, supply this deficiency.
MR. CHARLES DICKENS has cleared 4001. by his
readings at Birmingham, which sum is to be devoted
to the new local educational institute.
OPERATIONS have been carried on for some time in
New Palace-yard, in front of the main entrance to
Westminster hall and the House of Commons, pre
paratory to the erection of a statue to the late Sir
Robert Peel. The pedestal has been erected in a
direct line opposite to the statue of Mr. Canning. It
is expected to be now completed in a very short
period.
MR. WARREN is engaged ou a " Life of Sir Astley
Cooper."