The Press.
London, England, 1856-07-12 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

the advice of a person in the position of his Royal High-
ness should be taken in preference to that of a Minister,
we are told by Lord Aberdeen that the latter has his
remedy, and " his only one," to resign. Yes, that would be
his personal remedy, or rather his way of extrication and
escape. But what would be the remedy of the country?
The New Quarterly is fairly entitled to the position
it claims as the only Quarterly Review, which, avoid-
ing mere essays, gives a critical account of the
literature of the past quarter. There has been great
improvement in its writing of late. The articles on
Southey, Ruskin, Moore's "Memoirs," the " Peel
Papers," the Duke of Buckingham's "Court of the
Regency," and Froude's " History," all show acute
ness and thought, and in these and other papers we
frequently meet with special knowledge brought to
bear on the subjects discussed, In the slighter
notices tact and discrimination are shown in the
selection of extracts, which are both good in them-
selves and convey a fair idea of the books from which
they are taken. The notices of French and German
literature, though slight, are useful.
The Gentleman's Magazine has just started
afresh under new auspices, having been purchased,
we understand, by Messrs. J. and H. Parker. We
wish the long-lived progeny of good old Edward Cave
as famous a career for the future as it enjoyed for
the first sixty years of its existence.
The London University Magazine is the youngest
member at present of the Magazine family, this being
only No. 3. All the numbers have up to the present
time given great promise, especially one or two in
the humorous vein, which have really a high order
of merit.

In the Orford and Cambridge, the article on
" Lancashire and Mary Barton " has attracted us
most. The "Study of Shakespeare" is careful and
pleasing.
The New Monthly presents us with its usual
variety, but we do not in the pleasing whole notice
any paper calling for special remark.

The Man of the World. By S. W. Fullom.

London : Skeet.
A LIVELY and bustling tale, which will be generally
acceptable to those who seek in a novel for excite-
ment rather than dissection of character or philoso-
phic discussion. The career of Danvers is one that
must be followed with interest, though the cata-
strophe a little belies his character as " a man of the
world." His victim Rosalie is a well finished portrait
of a very common female type—the woman "fine
"by defect and delicately weak." Amy, on the
other hand, the daughter of a chartist agitator, and
unconscious heiress of Danver's estates, is perse-
cuted by the " man of the world," who has discovered
her true position. She is spirited away from place
to place, till at length, worn out by fear and anxiety,
she dies of consumption only just in time to save
her from the murderous designs of her persecutor.
There is a happy couple in the book, who after a
wide undercurrent of adventure are enabled to bring
their love to fruition, and are left at the end of the
third volume " maintaining a liberal establishment,
" and living in comfort, though not splendour." The
fiction, though of somewhat coarse texture, is stimu-
lating, and succeeds by the rapid flow of its incidents
in sustaining attention and moving wonder.

Memoirs of Celebrated People who Died in 1855.
" Hardwicke's Annual Biography for 1856." By
Edward Walford, M.A. London : Hardwicke.

A GOOD idea, and so well carried out as to reflect
credit on both author and publisher. Many of the
biographies are oririnal, but many are condensed
from the various daily and weekly journals. It is
satisfactory that the compilation should have fallen
into the hands of one who is at once a first-rate
scholar and a well read genealogist. Correctness of
fact and literary excellence are thus both guaranteed.
Among the most striking biographies are those of
Lord Raglan, Lord Truro, Joseph Hume, Mr. J.
Black of the Chronicle, Miss Mitford, and Currer
Bell. If the work has a fault, it is that it is a little
too copious, and contains too many names which
can by no stretch of courtesy be considered as
"celebrated,"—though, to b 3 sure, the men who by
dint of hard plodding and a thick skin have won some
eminence in life, are often less worth notice than
humbler but more gifted individuals. The archi•
tects of their own fortune are sure to make them-
selves conspicuous by their edifices; but the archi-
tects of intellectual expansion—the persons who
truly create by their ideas, principles, and inven-
tions—these commonly labour in obscurity, their
works by which the world profits failing to.perpetuate
their name.

The Linesman; or, Service in the Guards and the
Line. By Colonel Elers Napier. Three Vols.
London : Hyde.
THROUGH the medium of a fictitious story—" the
"hero and other personages introduced upon the
ti scene are all creatures of the imagination," .Colonel

667

Napier gives in these volumes some results of his
professional experience, and discusses many points
connected with military efficiency and army reform.
He is uncompromisingly hostile to General Routine,
and advises the abolition of promotion by purchase,
and in place of it advancement by competitive
examination and proved merit. When the author
writes from personal observation he is commonly
forcible, as, for example, the account of " bringing a
"man to the halberds,"—a terrible description of
corporal punishment; but we think less favorably
of his imaginative sketches. The narrative is varied,
as it takes in a long period of time, and relates
military service in various parts of the globe. The
volumes are dedicated by the author to his "old
" friend and comrade " Colonel Tulloch. Without
disparaging the merit they possess, their author
would have produced a much better book had he
adhered to the principle laid down in his preface,
" that no work of fiction can equal in point of interest,
" one composed of incidents derived from the ordi-
" nary occurrences of every-day life," and given us
the military experience of a Linesman free from
imaginary characters, and a purely fictitious plot.
The mixture seldom answers.

Descriptive Geography of England. By T. Chal-
lener. London : Longmans.
A LITTLE book, which in one hundred and fifty duode
cimo pages professes to give an exhaustive account of
England. Some of the information conveyed in it
will perhaps excite a smile, both at its own character,
and at the notion too of classing it under geography,
such, for instance, as the question, "How many
inferior orders of society are there?" (i.e. under the
Queen), and the answer, " about fourteen "; giving
the various titles to nobility as representing different
orders of society, and knights, esquires, gentry, &c.,
also, as denoting different classes. This is calcu-
lated to mislead young students on a most important
point. The work is in question and answer, and if
meant to be learnt by heart is too full of minute facts.
The outlines for children should be broad and
distinct. Here several pages in succession are filled
with an enumeration of every town in every county
of England. The evil of such books is, that in
seeking to cram the memory too early, and too full,
the mind itself may be impaired. Knowledge should
be apportioned to each stage of life; and it would be
impossible to c mceive knowledge more utterly use-
less to a child than many of the details of this
elementary book

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.-Jum 11.
BOOKS.

Adonejah. A Tale of the Jewish Dispersion.
Simpkin and Marshall
_ _ _

Works of the Rev. Thomas lifCrie, D.D. Blackwood»
The Sterescope. Sir David Brewster, D.C.L. J. Mum),
The Seasons of the Church: What they Teach.
J. and C. Mozley
Medieval Preacher; and Medieval Preaching. J.& C.Mozley
Four Sermons on the Great Feasts. Rivingtons
Jaufry the Knight, and the Fair Brunissende. Addey .L• Co.
The Huguenot Exiles; or, the Times of Louis XIV.
Sampson Low and Co.
Western Africa. Its History, Condition, and Prospects.
Sampson Low and Co.
The Sketcher. Rev. John Eagles. Blackwood'
Sunshine and Shadow. Newby

Co►respondence of Lieut.• Colonel the Hon. Sir George
'Cathcart. K.C.B. J. Murray
A Voice from w:thin the Walls of Sebastopol. Captain
Hadaserielt. J. Murray
The Lost Solar System of the .Ancients Discovered. John
Wilson. Longman'

London University Magazine. Hall and Virtue--Mac•
phail's Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal. Simpkin and
Marshall—Great World of London. Bogue.

The Anglo• Hebrews. •L. Booth—Par Eirina. Simpkin
and Marshall—Minutes of Proceedings of the Bmnbay
Association. Simpkin and Marshall—Lunar Motion.
Groombridge and Sons—A Plea for the Separate Reforms•
tory.—Treatment of Juvenile Offenders. Rivingtons—De•
notional Theology of the Church of Rome. J. and C.
Mozley—The Lord's Day. J. Murray—A Letter, by George
Sand, on Shakespeare's "As You Like It." J. Chapman—
A Sermon. Rev. J. Scott, M.A. Seeley and Jackson—
Principles of Railway Construction Analysed. Effingham
Wilson—Church Papers. Non. I and IL J. Masters—
Illness Prevented. Groombridge—Common Blunders.
Groombridge--How to Cut and Contrive Children's Clothes
at a Small Cost. Barton and Co.

CONSTANCY OF POPULAR GOVERNMENTS.-It is a
remark of Machiavel, distinguished by his usual
acuteness and depth, that although, in matters of
general discussion, the people are often mistaken,
yet, in matters reduced to particulars, they are most
sensible and judicious; that the prince is much
more apt to he ungrateful both through avarice and
suspicion than the people ; that the multitude is
generally both wiser and more constant than the
prince ; and that those leagues and confederacies
are more to be trusted which are made with free
States, than those which are made with princes.—
Lord Brougham's ContriNitiona to the Edinburgh

Palk

TIER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

Tnz Italians and the French, and even the Germans,
pertinaciously cling to the study of gesticulation,
which Plato explains as inclusive of motion and
gesture, to express internal feeling by external action
or signs, "even when quiescent." The close copying
on the Grecian stage of every facial expression and
personal attitude, was considered as a musical study,
time and rhythm being comprehended therein. A
ballet, based on these divisions of tragic, comic, and
satirical gesticulation, as may be witnessed in Milan,
Naples, Paris, and Betlin, is a grave affair, and men
of profound learning do not disdain to afford assist-
ance to the ballet master, the painter, and the pan-
tomimist, to give due effect to the dumb scenic
representation. Some years since, in Mr. Lumley's
palmy days, an excitement was raised for ballet ex-
hibitions, not exactly upon the grand continental
scale, to last an entire evening, or to be preceded only
bya single act of an opera, but sufficiently gorgeous and
imposing to eclipse the glories of composers, whoever
they might have been. The dancers, in fact., were
supreme at Her Majesty's Theatre, and opera was
neglected; the director making the mistake of taking
a transient triumph for a fixed attraction. The days
of the idealists and the realists were then glorious ;
because the stars of the Taglioni, Fanny Elssler, Lu-
cite Grahn, Carlotta drisi, Cerito, Perrot, Sic., were
in the ascendant, extinguishing the remembrance
even of Noblet, Heberle, Bias, Mercandotti, Le Gres,
Brocard, Anatole Montessu, Paul, Charles Vestris,
Albert, Coulon, ,Itc. Tempted by the great success
of Le Corsaire at the Grand Opera in Paris, a re•
vival of terpsichorean spectacle has been essayed,
and the experiment will, no doubt, prove successful,
but not on genuine grounds. The popularity of the
Corsairs, as it was proclaimed viva voce by the
stallites and pittites, on leaving the theatre at
midnight, will be derived from the concluding
shipwreck, and the picturesqueness cf the general
grouping. We join issue witn the verdict so far
as this—that, whilst fully admitting these attrac-
tive points, we must contend the Corsaire
is worthy of watching, principally for its pantomime,
for rarely has anything more perfect been seen than
the combined gesticulation of Mlle. Rosati as
Medora, Signor Ronzani as Conrad, and M. Dauty
as Seyd, the old pacha. There is no occasion fir
any amateur to trouble himself about Byron's poem.
M. SL Georges, wbo was the concocter of the Cor-
en ire, a well-known operatic libretto writer, in con-
junction with the veteran ballet master,
have not pirated the Byronic fancies. They have
invented situations for their hero and heroine,
simply taking names as the standard, and it would
be a complete waste of space to copy our contem-
poraries and fill the columns with the English
printed adaptation. Without the book, Rosati and
Ronzani tell their story. There is no mistake in the
intense passion of the Corsair and in the sympathetic
return of the Medora. Never were action and
gesture more speaking, and attitude more poetic,
striking, and graceful. M. Dauty is an admirable
mime. His make-up was marvellously accurate, and
his expressions irresistibly comic. A finer panto-
mime scene than that in which Medora dances round
the pacha, and draws his pistols from the belt, he
laughing like an old amatory imbecile, has not often
been witnessed. The dramatic climax, when the
Corsair appears at the window, was capitally attained
by the three artistes. The Corsair's scene with the
mutinous lieutenant, and Medora's "pas de fascina-
tion " round him, were great demonstrations on the
part of Rosati and Ronzani. The grouping of the
girls in the " pas d'eventail," with extended fans of
peacock's feathers, was well contrived. The Oriental
slave market is a very commonplace incident in a
ballet; but Mme, Copere's taste in choice of colours
for the costumes, and the skill of the elaborated
groupings, carries it through with animation. Mar-
shall is in his glory when he has something terrible
to grapple with, and the sinking of the felucca amidst
the raging of the elements gave him an occasion
for distinction of which be has skilfully availed
himself. The transitions from the lurid glare of
the sunset, to the blackened mass of clouds, were
naturally made, the doomed ship being tossed on
the agitated waves, and going down amidst a fearful
crash, the Corsair and Medora being, of course,
saved on a plank to enable them to receive the bou-
quets of the delighted spectators after the fall of the
curtain. The only hitch of the repreeentation was
in the over-anxiety of the crew to drown themselves,
as they mercilessly dragged the waves over their
beads, making such a dust as caused no little sneez-
ing from the stallites. This little defect remedied,
the sinking ship will be seen with much interest.
When the small size of the stage is considered, it is
really surprising what scenic effects are accom-
plished in the Corsaire. The storm is far better
managed than the one in Halevy's Tenyesta, for
now, by the panoraniie contrivance of the moving
clouds, the felucca appears to be actually in motion
on the waters. Whether this ballet will revive the

THE PRESS.

ancient predilection for serious pantomime time will
show, but certainly no better specimens of the
school could be given than the gesticulation of
Rosati, Ronzani, and Dauty.

One of the greatest treats experienced this season
was that of Tuesday night, when Alboni sung the
Cenerentola with a charm and brilliancy which
contrasted strongly with the screaming and spas.
modic styles the subscribers have had recently to
endure, being told as a consolation that in these
days a prima donna was not bound to know how to
sing, provided she could act. With Calzolari as
coadjutor, and a new buffo-basso, Signor Rossi,
from St. Petersburg, Paris, and Vienna, as Don
Magnifico. the opera went off merrily, even with an
inferior Dandini to Beneventano, whose coarseness
and want of finish are more and more apparent as
his voice becomes fatigued by incessant strain.
Rossi, who in face recals the late Mr. Fitzwilliam,
and in unctuous humour Mr. Dowton, will be a very
useful addition to the company. Mlle. Wagner will
appear to•night (Saturday) in Lucresia Borgia, and
Charles Braham will make his debut as Gennaro,
and Mme. Amadei (Mrs. Fry) in Orsini.

ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA.
GRISI has reappeared as Elvira in 13ellini's Puritani,
a youthful character, which, it was hoped, she had
abandoned to younger aspirants. Gardoni's Arturo
was new to the subscribers, who, however, resent
the giving up of any part by Mario, however
able his successor. Mme. Bosio has had a good re•
ception as Leonora in the Trovatore. She sings the
music brilliantly, and acts with more than ordinary
animation. Otello will be revived with Grisi and
Mario, and, we trust, Gardoni as Rodrigo. The
season is drawing to a close, and Mr. (lye's plans to
rebuild the Royal Italian Opera are stated to have
been settled. The site will be the old Covent-gar-
den Theatre, the approaches to which will be im-
proved.
CONCERTS OF THE WEEK.

The eighth and concluning concert of the Musical
Union was given last Tuesday, at Willis's-rooms.
Mozart's quartet in B flat, Beethoven's quartet in E
flat, No. 10, Op. 74, and his pianoforte sonata in C,
Op. 53, were included in the scheme; the execu-
tants being Sivori, Cooper, Goffrie, Piatti, and
Halle. Mr. Ella has brought his matinees to a
brilliant conclusion, and he has fairly entitled him-
self to the approbation of his aristocratic admirers,
as well as of the general body of amateurs. In his
1• Record," which is instructive in information, if
here and there somewhat eccentric and dogmatical,
the director justly alludes to the fluctuations in or-
ganised institutions depending upon annual contri-
butions ; but the Musical Union has become a
necessity for the fashionable classes, who love the
classic masterpieces in chamber compositions ; and
we believe that this Union will be one of the pioneers
for the foundation of some permanent national
musical institution. In the love of art there should
be no exclusiveness, and music is the language of
all countries, but we are not the less rejoiced to
find that out of the twenty one artistes who have ap-
peared this season the majority is in favour of the
English.
Miss Susan Goddard, the pupil of Halle and
Benedict, had an evening concert at the Hanover-
square Rooms last Monday, assisted by her two
masters, the brothers Ganz, Mme. and Mlle. finders •
dorff, Mlle. Milner, Herr Reichardt, M. Jules Lefort,
Herr Rokitanski, and Signor Belletti.
Miss Arabella Goddard, the pianiste, gave a soiree
on Monday, at the Hanover square Rooms; she
played the celebrated B flat sonata of Beethoven,
in which she gained such glory at the Musical Union,
with wondrous precision, the intricate fugue being
rendered with almost unparalleled ease. Miss
Goddard accompanied Mr. Sims Reeves in B,tetho-
ven's "Adelaide," his reading of which is full of
affectation.

Just at the fag end of the season an artist has
arrived who might have created some stir, a Signor
l'isani. He presented himself in the double capacity
of singer and composer, and, independently of his
own abilities, was for.ified by diplomatic recom-
mendations, being a son of the well known drago-
man at Constantinople. Mine. Viardot sung in
French, Italian, and Spanish, at Signor Pisani's
matinee, which was held at the Dudley Gallery, and
Mme. Rudersdorff, Signor Monari, Signor Marras,
Signor Sighicelli the violinist, and Signor Andreoli
the left-handed pianist, with Signor Mariani and
Benedict as accompanyists, lent their aid.

MR. BUNN'S BENEFIT.—Next Monday, at Drury-
lane Theatre, Mr. Bunn, the former lessee, will take
a benefit, on which occasion portions of the operas
of the Enchantress, the Bohemian Girl, and the
Maid of Artois, will be performed. The words of
these works are by Mr. Bunn, who was associated
for so many years with Mr. Balfe in the working
of a really National Opera, the decline of which in
some measure may be ascribed to the jealousies of
the wits of the day, who, being themselves libretto
writers, did not like Mr. Itunn's monopoly of the

SATURDAY,

only existing lyric stage. When the history of the
two patent houses is examined hereafter with im-
partiality, justice
will be done to Mr. Bunn for his
exertion, to sustain their interests. His managerial
dictatorship fell after arduous struggles, but what
has it left behind?

tte grams.

LYCEUM THEATRE.

GOLDONI'S COMEDY "LA LOCANDIERA."-MME. HISTORY;
THE action of the comedy passes at Mirandolina's
hotel, at Florence, in 1753. Mirandolina (Mine.
Ristori) is the owner of the hotel, "La Locandiera,"
at the death of her father, and on the rising of the
curtain the Marquis of Forlipopoli (Signor Belloui.
Bon) and the Count d'Albaf.orita (Signor Boccomini)
are disputing as to their patronage of the hotel
Mistress, finding, however, a dangerous rival in her
eyes in Fabrizio (Signor de Ogna), a waiter. The
Marquis is poor and mean, and the Count is rich and
generous; the former hopes to find favour with the
mistress cf the hotel by his rank and patronage, and
the Count by his lavish expenditure and by his atten-
tion. Mirandolina is no ordinary landlady—there is
nobility in her face, grace in her movements, and
fascination in her manners. The Cavaliere di
Ripafratta (Signor Gleck) is no believer in her
attractions, as he tells the two disputants ; he is a
kind of Rolando and Benedict. The landlady is
piqued at his hatred of the fair sex, and resolves to
subdue him—her weak point being the love of
flattery and adoration, as she admits herself. She
mystifies Fabrizio, who relies on the wishes ex-
pressed by her father on his death-bed, that she will
marry the waiter. Of course she tames the womar-
hater, and plays off two lively actresses, Ortensia
(Mme. Tessero) and Dejanira (Mine. Rapazzini), as
ladies of rank on the Marquis and Count, from whom,
with ludicrous tact, she extracts presents, and ulti-
mately, after causing the Cavalier to quarrel with them,
she bestows her hand on the faithfui Fabrizio, who,
however, in vain tries to exact conditions from her
as to the "love, honour, and obey," &c. Miranaolinti
in the tag of the comedy, gives notice to her too
loving lodgers to quit her hotel, with an intimation,
that on changing her condition she purposes to
change her coquettish ways.
Such is the outline of this lively three-act drama,
which, in many points of treatment, resembles the
plays of Congreve. Goldoni has been called the re-
former of Italian comedy. His animated pictures of
manners gave a blow to the system of masked
comedy. The construction of La Locandiera is
slight, but the love scenes are by no means deficient
in drollery. If we had not the example of Homer's
" Nausicaa," who condescends to wash her veil in the
stream, the notion of Ristori doing the work of a
laundress on the stage, of giving out linen to the
visitors, and of making out hotel bills, seems impos-
sible to be conceived, after the terrible displays in
Medea and Rosmunda. But the Florentine hostess
is no ordinary personage, and the great tragedienne
does not lose her air of distinction. The landlady i
a well-drawn character. The soliloquy in which she
is piqued at the Cavalier's hatred of women is ad-
mirable. "To be courted, flattered, and adored,"
she exclaims, "is my weak point;" but then she
archly adds, in her own defence, "it is the same
with all women." The Cavalier is also well con-
ceived. His roughness and rudeness in the firA
instance, and his subsequent submissiveness to the
wily will of Mirandolina, are cleverly developed by
the author. The cowardly Marquis is a good and
consistent sketch. He is placed in bold relief with
the more courtly Count. The feeblest part is the
waiter Fabrizio, and one feels that at the denoue-
ment the landlady has sacrificed herself to an in-
sipid lover. The quadruple plot to win the hostess
is not in the least entangled; it is easily
and perspicuously developed, without attempt at
complication and artifice. The second act, in
the Cavalier's room, in which he is moved
gradually to regard the ingenious landlady with
favour, and finally with liking, is dexterously worked.
The comedy is rich without caricature, in this scene.
It is just such a one as could be imagined in any
country at any period, with such a hostess and such
a guest. Most exhilarating and most exciting is the
situation in which the Cavalier is compelled by his
inexorable tormentress to persist in his declaration
to the Count and Marquis that he is a woman hater,
whereas he is unable to conceal his ardour in the by-
play with the landlady. When he piteously asks her
whether tears of women and her swoons are really
false and feigned, the extent of the feeling can no
further go. His final exit is in a towering rage, with
the admission that flight alone can save him frt,ra
Mirandolina's wiles. The acting of the comedy by
Ristori will require a separate notice.

ADELPHI THEATRE.
THE pen of a ready writer has transformed 31.
Legouve's tragedy of Medea into a one-act burlesque
or this theats.. Mr. Mark Lemon has converted

• , •