The Press.
London, England, 1858-09-18 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 18, 1858.

evidences of his ability as a singer of buffo parts.
The chorus was very efficient ; and the orchestra,
under the direction of Mr. Mellon, ably discharged
their duty. 'the entertainments terminated with a
ballet divertissement, executed by Mesdames Mot.-
lacchi, Pasquale,and a numerous corps de ballet.
IVe understand that two novelties are in course of
preearation—an opera by Balfe, and a new work by
American composer.
SI3TFIE LYCEUM.—A farce, entitled Tco Much and
Good Nature, was produced on Saturday night, and
met with unequivocal success. Without much pre-
tension to originality in the plot, the new piece is
lively and the situations effective. Mr. Adolphus
(MnEmery), a good-natured man, and Mrs. Alol-
phus (Miss Portman), have just enjoyed five weeks
of matrimony when the piece opens, and during that
period we have the testimony of their maid Betty
Miss Eate Saxon), that Mrs. Adolphus has not
permitted Mr. Adolphus to remain out of her sight
for five minutes. Mrs. Adolphus is now setting out
to see a sick aunt, and positive are the injunctions
given to Betty to keep a watch over her " master."
But no sooner has Mrs. A. left in the train, than Mr.
A. °rings in a file of newspapers and a dozen cigars
as a beginning to make himself comfortable. He is
reading an account of the revolution in Tahiti when
the first-fluor lodger, Mr. Spalding (Mr. Garden), a
mesmeric madman, requests the use of his room for
the purpose of throwing Miss Jones, a fellow lodger
in the same house, into a clairvoyant state. Mr.
Spalding is too much afraid of Mrs. Spalding to try
his science in his own apartment. Mr. Adolphus
grants the use of the room to get rid of the scientific
monomaniac. Scarcely has Mr. Spalding left the
roon when Mr. Jaffier Jenkins (Mr. J. Rogers), the
inhabitant of the attic and the mad lover of Matilda
Jane Chummy (Miss Gilbert), enters, and asks the
use of the room for an interview with the " adored
Matilda Jane," as Mrs. Chummy will by no means
permit that interesting ceremony to take place in her
own room. To get rid of his new visitor, who is ten
times more insane than the firmer one, Mr. Adolphus
also promises the use of his apartment to Jen-
kins. The aunt too, whom Mrs. Adolphus went
to see has come down tl Mr. Adolphus, and
privately gains admission into Mr. A.'s bedroom. The
result is, that on the return of Mrs. A., Miss Chummy
is found concealed in the lumber room, Miss Jones
on the sofa in a mesmeric trance, and a most ludi-
crous scene ensues. The innocent and good-natured
Adolphus would have been ejected nem. con. were it
not for the testimony of the aunt, who explains to
the satisfaction of the indignant Chummies, Spat-
dings, Joneses, and Mrs. Adolphus, that the whole
thing on the part of Mr. A. was " quite innocently
done." The piece, which appeared to give general
satisfaction, was announced for repetition.

SADLER'S WELLS. The dramatic season recom-
menced at this theatre on Saturday under the
management of Mr. Phelps, with Othello, one of the
b.-t in the role of this clever actor. The cast was
effective, the principal characters being Mrs. Charles
Young as Desdemona, Mr. Marston as logo, Mr. F.
Robinson as Cassio, Mr. Belford as Roderigo ; nor
must we omit Miss Atkinson, who played Emelia
carefully and judiciously. All the minor parts were
well filled. The house was crowded, and the meeting
of the audience and the actors was like the reunion
of friends after a temporary separation. Mr. Phelps
was called before the curtain between the acts to
receive the plaudits of the audience, and again at the
close of the play. The farce of? Mrs. White—in
which Mr. Charles Young, late of the Strand Theatre,
rude his debut in the character of Peter White—
concluded the evening's entertainment.
THE STRAND.—A new piece, which is little more
than a sketch, entitled Nothing to Nurse, has been
produced at this theatre. The plot turns on the
attempt of a graceless nephew to get over pecuniary
difficulties by representing to a rich uncle that he
has married and has a fine boy. The uncle, over-
joyed, comes to town to see the baby, and the diffi-
culty of the nephew to "get something to nurse" for
the old uncle forms the comicality of the plot. The
uncle discovers the attempted imposture, but the
Piece ends happily—the nephew getting a real wife,
with the uncle's blessing. The farce cannot be said
to have been successful.
MR. ALFRED WIGAN.—We are happy to say that
the health of this favourite actor is quite restored.

Vubitt lmustratitts.

WILTALBA FRIKELL.—The magician's wand
waved by the hand of the most expert amongst
modern professors of the mystic art nightly attracts
crowded audiences to the Polygraphic Hall. " Two
}lours of Illusions" is the appropriate description of
an entertainment of physical and natural magic, not
only wonderful in itself, but remarkable as an evidence
of a Complete revolution in legerdemain. Herr
rrikell is, in fact, the founder of a new school.
Others have played fantastic tricks," repudiating
the confederacy which the gorgeous robe and the

glittering apparatus alike suggested. Professor
Wiljalba Frikell dispenses with such material aids.
No machinery cunningly devised finds a place in the
pretty little chamber wherein, for his third season,
he :exercises his spells. No well-tutored attendant
awaits his summons, or if he does, it can only be as a
trial of human patience, for he is never called. Kerr
Frikell stands unaided and alone. Wondrous are
the feats of the agile little Russian, whose debonair
manner and pleasing exterior at once place him on
the most intimate terms with his auditory, and
almost cause us to believe that our previous estimate
of the " rugged Russ " was also an " illusion." Clad
in evening c4,stume, he went through his varied per-
formances with an ease and dexterity which proved
a complete mastery over the science of which he is,
in truth, an unrivalled professor. In vain should
we attempt to describe the marvels which we wit.
nessed. Coins, which had previously quietly lain in
porte-monnaie or capacious pocket, were placed
in a tumbler, and, attracted by an invisible
power, told with unerring accuracy the numbers on
a pack of cards or the precise quantity of cigars
with which a visitor had replenished his case. A
bank note for 1001. was recklessly burnt before the
astonished spectators and was subsequently produced
by a canary which had met a violent death in a lady's
pocket - handkerchief, but which afterwards aut.
tered from a temporary prison in the inside of a
lemon. Hats became inexhaustible, and produced
their fifties of silver cups, and now and again the
bouquets and souvenirs, with which the good-
natured protessor deluged his company. We cor-
dially recommend this attractive entertainment not
only to the juvenile community, but to children
of a larger growth, being perfectly assured that
no one will recret his " Two Hours of Illusions "
with Professor Frikell.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THEATRE.4.—MT. W. Har-
rison has addressed the following letter to a con-
temporary :—" The very first consideration of Miss
Louisa Fyne and myself upon becoming managers
of Drury-lane Theatre (before the terrible tragedy
at Sheffield bad been enacted) was to see whether
the facilities of rapid egress were sufficient for so
large a building. We have had several interviews
with Mr. Nelson, the architect to the committee of
proprietors, upon the subject, and have carefully
examined every passage, staircase, and other com-
munication which we found in use. It was with
no slight degree of satisfaction that we discovered
these communications to be entirely fireproof—a
most important matter to begin with—and, more-
over, sufficiently commodious to prevent any fear
of the occurrence of any such fatality as that which
immediately afterwards took place at Sheffield. We
found, however, that certain passages, staircases, and
doors had been for a long while disused. Some of
them, in fact, bad not been made use of for five-and-
twenty years. It is true that the existing commu-
nications seemed sufficient without these to meet
almost any conceivable contingency; but, determined
to err, if at all, upon the safe side, we immediately
had all these extra means of egress—six in number
—thrown open to the public, and now the theatre,
however densely crowded, could be safely emptied in
ten minutes."

PICCOLO MINI will take leave of the Eng
lish public at a farewell concert at the Crystal
Palace, on Tuesday, the 28th instant. She sails
from Southampton, for a lengthened tour in the
United States, on the following day.

THE FOLLOWING STAGE APeLOGY Was made in
Sunderland last week :—" Ladies and gentlemen, I
hope you will excuse our performance, but our vio-
linist is in a state of beastly intoxication ; the pianist
is doing his best, but fourteen or sixteen strings of
the piano are broken."

QUEEN'S COLLEGE, BIRMINGHAM.
AT the annual meeting of the governors and friends
of Queen's College, recently htld, the Rev. Chancellor
Law (the vice•principal) in the chair, the report of
the council for the past year was read, and from it
we make the following extracts :

The aggregate number of students registered as
studying at Queen's College within the period com-
prised between the Ist of October, 1857, and the pie-
sent date, is greater than in any former year.
MEDICAL DEPARTBIENT.--ThiS department has in
every respect hilly supported its character during the
past session. Your council have great reason to be
satisfied with the reports made to them by the pro.
fessors and tutors of the general good conduct and
regularity of the students. The chaplain's register
shows that the daily attendance at Divine service
has been good, and the attendance of the stu.
dents, both senior and junior, at the theological
lectures quite satisfactory. At the close of every
term a written examination has been held, at which
the students of the respective classes have been re-
quired to•attend.

ARTS DEPARMENT.—The senior tutor and chaplain
reports :—" I am glad to notice that the two students
who were under my care while preparing for the
London University examinations, Greig and Fox,
recently passed the matriculation examination of the
first division. Two other students have also passed
the Apothecaries'-hall preliminary examination
creditably."

THE ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT.—The engineer-
ing class, while it affords the most ample means for
securing a first-rate education for persons intending
to follow the professions of civil and mechanical
engineering, with a degree which the college, under
its charter, had power to confer, by the above rule,
will also afford such a part of the whole as may be
sufficient for those who do not intend to follow those

professions, but to whom, as manufacturers, such
part so obtained will be of the greatest value.
LAW DEPARTMENT.—The number of students the
first term was thirteen, and the second and third
fourteen. Of this number one gentleman is keeping
his terms, preparatory to a call to the bar; another
is reading for a degree in laws at the London Uni-
versity ; and eleven are articled to solicitors. Con
sidering that the attendance on law lectures is not
at present made a necessary sundition to examination
by the Incorporated Law Society, and that much
prejudice on this subject has yet to be overcome, the
number of students is encouraging, and the professor
reports favourably of their regular attendance and
attention. It is hoped, however, that next year the
Birmingham Law Society will appoint examiners to
conduct terminal examinations, and that the college
will be thus enabled to distinguish its meritorious
students in this as in other departments.
THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT.—The Professor of
Theology reports :—" During the academical year
lately closed there has been an average of rather
more than twenty-one students in attendance on his
lecture, the average for the previous year being Sf:
teen, and for the year 1836 eleven. In the past year
eight students have gained the certificate, most of
whom expect ordination in September next. Three
students also have been accepted by bishops as can-
didates for holy order- without any certificate. The
mass of evidence recently collected by the select
committee of the House of Lords has brought into
more distinct notice the existence of an appalling
amount of spiritual destitution in this land, and has
directed anxious attention towards the best means of
providing for it. In that evidence it appears again
and again that there is the most urgent necessity
for a large and speedy increase in the number of the
clergy. It is thought by many experienced persons that
in a manufacturing or mining population a body of
clergy drawn less exclusively than at present from the
upper and wealthier classes, would, and so far as it has
been tried does, succeed in many departments of paro-
chial work as well or better than those who have been
more highly educated, and who are more removed from
their flocks in habits and ideas. There is evidence
to show that such men penetrate into quarters which
are practically closed against their superiors, that
their ministrations are more frankly received by many
amongst the working classes, and that their manner
of teaching is more intelligible and persuasive to
them. There can be no doubt that the prevalence
of Rornanism and dissent amongst the masses of our
people is greatly due to the fact that these denomi-
nations draw their ministers more largely from the
lower ranks of society than does the Established
Church. While the professor by no means desires
to intimate that his department draws, or seems
likely to draw, its students chiefly from classes of
society lower then those from which the ranks of the
clergy are usually recruited (the fact being that
several graduates of different universities have
from time to time entered, that several of the stu-
dents are often men of means and position, and
others the sons of beneficed clergymen whose cir-
cumstances render it expedient to avoid the expense
of an education at Oxford or Cambridge), still he
may be permitted to point out that the arrangements
of his department are well adapted to meet such a
state of things."
CHEMISTRY.—It is sincerely hoped Professor Bond
will spare no endeavour to keep pace with the nro.
gress made in the various departments of chemical
philosophy, but more particularly in those directly
bearing upon the study of medicine.
Gnonoex.—The invaluable services of D. T.
Ansted, Esq., have been secured as professor of
geology—a gentleman who erOys a European repu-
tation, and whose appointment cannot but give a
most important impulse to the study of geology, a
branch of knowledge at the present day so indispen-
sable in this great mining district, and at the same
time give additional strength to your institution, by
adding one to the list of distinguished men now
associated under your direction for the cultivation of
science in all its departments in the midland metro-

polls.
AotucumunE —lt is confidently hoped that in the
recently established agricultural chair Mr. Tanner
will succeed in imparting valuable instruction in a
branch of human knowledge essential to the happt.
ness and prosperity of the nation.