The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-29 00:00:00

CAMISINHH/EARo....
ANOTHER ACCIDENT HAS OCCURRED ON THE E
COUNTIES RAILWAY.-0° Tuesday, the train which 'Mold
arrive at the Cambridge station at half-put two o'clock cm.
was proceeding from Ely to Cambridge, and when a few
miles below &sedum, the line rail bun some cause or other
broke, and the engine tore it up for several yards, ploughing
up the ballast. The shock is described as terrific. The train
was rather a long one, and the back carriages were thrown
on to the foremost most violently. Fortunately the engine
having escaped the broken part of the rails, recovered the
line, and the train was stopped. The guard was thrownh
off
the train, but, beside a few bruises, escaped unhurt, thoug
he was unable to continue the journey farther than Cam-
bridge, where the train arrived at four o'clock—having occa-
sioned a delay of two hours in all the trains up and down
the line. nrsratneMlßE.

LLWLFSII PILOCEEDINGS OZ RAILWAT LABOUHEILS.--
At the petty sessions at Woodstock, on Tuesday, 12 persons
were appointed special constable, and three persons were
appointed constables under the railway act. Six had,
in addition, previously been appointed special constables, in
order to preserve the peace at 'l'ackley. The appointments
were made in consequence of the information of the Rev.
L. A. Sharp, who deposed that the Oxford and Rugby Rail-
way passed through the above parish, that lawless acts had
airecl). been committed, that tumult and riot was likely to
take Vac., and that he, in consequence, prayed for the ap-
pointment of St persons for the preservation of the peace.
Mr. Collard, superintendent of police on the Great Western
Railway, has been in the locality some days. In con-
sequence of the disorderly conduct of railway labourers at
Tackley his services were required. At the end of the past
week a company of navies, who were " flooded out " from
the works for the Oxford and Rugby Railway, committed
several excesses at Tackley. They went to a public-house and
drank a quantity of liquor, and when the cash was de
mended they bid the landlord defiance. After leaving the
pmandeh
they met the Rev. Mr. Sharp, and with
threats obtained us. of #im ; they then wcut into the re-
sidence of William Evett,,Esq., a justice of the peace, and
robbed his garden, is dilance of the owner and his ser-
vants. A scuffle ensued, Ind the navies thought it bet to
decamp after they had assaulted the servants.

PiOft.
PRINCESS'S THEATRE.—Mr. Edward Loder's new
opera, " The Night Dancers," which was performed at this
thntre last evening (the first night of the season), obtained
a great, legitimate, and well-merited success. Mr. Loder's
opera of " Nourished," producal at tke English Opera-
house twelve years ago, was received with great favour, and
was the basis of a reputation which he has subsequently in-
creased by many excellent compositions; but this new opera
is his second work for the stage. It is not only much supe-
rior to his former work, but (if wo may judge from first
impression) equal to any English opera that has been pro-
duced for many years. He has had the rare advantage of
a good libretto ; the drama, by Mr. Soane, being constructed
with dramatic skill, and written with taste and elegance. The
subject is similar to that of the well-known ballet, " Giselle,"
though it can hardly be said to be founded upon it; the dra-
mstist,though he has made use of the same wild legend,having
departed entirely from the ballet in the characters and incidents.
The legend (•se may reinind our readers who know it, and
inform those who do not) prevalent in several parts of Ger-
many, is, that there are unearthly beings, called If ilia—the
shades or phantoms of maidens who hare died before
their welding-thy. They rise from their graves at mid-
night, and assemble in troops, arrayed in bridal finery,
dancing wildly in magic circles, within which, if any luck-
leas wight is caught, he is compelled by enchantment to join
in their dance, till he falls dead from exhaustion. Mr.
Soane's drama ensists of two acts, preceded by an " In-
duction." Giselle, a country girl, is about to be married to
Albert, a young forester, and it is the eve of their wedding-
day. The bride, in her chamber, after listening to her
lover's serenade from the lake, gives vent to the excitement
of her spirits by a joyous son!, to which she dances, till,
gradually yielding to drowsiness, she sinks asleep on a
couch, and the curtain fain. When the first act begins, it is
the morning of the wedding-day. Albert comes to seek his
bride, who tells him she has had a frightful dream
of the Wills, and describes the legend. The fes-
tivities of the nuptial morn commence ; but a
stranger arrives—the Ineke of Silesia, with his daughter;
and it is discovered that Albert, the young forester, is a dis-
guised prince, affianced to the noble lady. Giselle, struck
to the heart, falls lifeless; and the festive strains of the mar-
riage-day are changed to a dirge for the departed. In the
second act we discover the tomb of Girdle, on the border of
a wild lake. Albert and the villagers are lamenting her
fate. It is night, and the villagers retire, leaving Al
alone by the tomb. A torpor falls on him, and he sinks into
slumber. While he sleeps, the phantom forms begin to
assemble, rising from the ground, and entering from every
side ; forming a spectsclelike that of the dead nuns in "Robert
le Diable." In the midst of their orgies, Albert comes among
them, is compelled to join their gallopade, and is about to
fall, exhausted, into the lake, when Giselk, who, after all
has been quietly sleeping on her couch since the end of the
" Induction," wakes, and finds that—it has been all
a dream! Her father, lover, and friends, come to take
her to church, and are surprised at her strange ques-
tions—but she tells them her dream ; and " all goes
merry as a marriage bell." All this is cleverly and ele-
gantly treated; hut it would have been better, we think,
to represent the incidents as having really happened,
than to resort to a device, which, since the famous melo-
drama of " Victorine," has become quite hacknied by repe-
tition. Mr. Loder has fully availed himself of the capa-
bilities of his subject ; his music, far the most part, being
full of fancy, as well as of beauty and expression. The
overture is scarcely worthy of the rest. Its best part is the
commencement; and it is too like the beginning of
Mendelssohn's overture to the " Midsummer Nights'
Dream." In the " Induction " there is little music ; but the
distant serenade is pretty. The air, " Wild is the spirit,"
sung by Giselle before she goes to sleep is a lively waltz
=Tomcat, very nicely executed by Madame Albertan',
whose whole performance of the character was admirable.
Her contralto voice has lust nothing of its fine quality ; and,
in purity of style, few singers, even on the Italian
stage excel her. The two acts which follow are
full ofe music—airs, duets, concerted pieces, and choruses—
almost every one of which would furnish matter for
remark ; but we can only mention two or three of
them, almost at random. The piece of concerted music be•
ginning, " Good morrow, you are late to-day," is quite
ifozartish ; than which there can be no greater praise.
The couplets sung by Allen as Albert," Wake, my love, all
life is stirring," are exceedingly sweet and tender, and were
sung with a grace and delicacy which no other of our tenor-
singers could rival. Were Allen's vocal power equal to his
other qualities, he would have no superior on any stage.
There is an admirable drinking song, • The cups oak, the
wine is gold," sung, strangely
.enough,. by Miss Smithson,
in the character of a country girl. It is full of the spirit of
the German songs of this dam was well sung, and had an
excellent effect. Madame Albertazzi's scene, " I breathe
again !" is one of the gems of the opera. The air Is full
of elegance, and was rapturously encored. The funereal
music which forms the finale of the first act, especially the
concluding phrase, " Weary sister, part in peace ."is pecis deeply
solemn and affecting. The composer's genius, however,
is most strikingly exhibited in the scenes f diablerie
in the second act. We have here innumerable
traits of originality, flights of fancy, and wild and
startling instrumental effects, which remind us of
Ideyerbeer in his happiest vein. The strain, to which
the Wars dance in fantastic mazes, though in a quick
dancing movement, has a wild, unearthly melancholy. in its
sound which contrasts strangely with the seeming gaiety of
the sight ; and the chorus, in which the phantoms wel-
come their new sister, " Hail, sister, hail," is such as
Mendelsohn would have written. We cannot extend
our particular remarks any further ; but must add
to what we have said of this music in general, that
its most striking features are the purity of its style ;
the simplicity, grace, and expression of its melodies';
its masterly instrumentation; and the absence of unmeaning
noise and gew-gaw ornament. Its enthusiastic reception by
the audience proved that there is no necessity (however com-
mon the practice may be) to sacrifice to the supposed bad
taste of the public. Besides the characters we have
mentioned, there was that of the Duke, in which Mr.
Bodda made his Mut, and acquitted himself in
a manner which seems to insure his future success.
His song. " Believe me, honest friends," was warmly en-
cored. Leffler, in Fridohn, a comic sexton, was very clever
ant sang admirably; and Miss Sarah Flower, in Bertha,
showed her beautiful voice to great advantage. The piece is
excellently pat upon the stage in every respect. Towards
the end of the piece a frightful accident occurred. As
Madame Albertazzi was rising through a trap-door, the
skirt of her dress came in contact with a light. It was
instantly in a blaze, and in another second she would
have been wrapped in flames, had not Mr. Allen,
with great presence of mind and promptitude, torn away the
burning part of the dress, and extinguished the flame. The
audience, for a moment, were struck with horror, and we
saw a lady carried, fainting, out of the next box to that in
which we were. Madame Albertazzi behaved with
singular fortitude, and finished the part with little
diminution of her usual power. Every part of the
house was densely crowded. After the new opera, a
new farce was produced with the title " All for the best."
It celebrates the peculiarities of one Mr. Walkenpop, who is
at once the most officious and the most unlucky of friends ;
always obtruding service on those whom he has a regard
for, and thereby always subjecting them to annoyance or
disaster. One specimen of Mr. Walkenpop's doings is, that
being in love with Mrs. Raymond, a lady who has been de-
serted by her husband, and is dependent on the emo:uments
of her office of guardian of a raven, to whom her maiden
aunt has bequeathed an annuity of AOl. a year, he
contrives to let the raven fly away on the very day when a
quarterly payment of thebird's income is to be made, and ulti-
mately kills it by the inadvertent discharge of a loaded pistol.
The other centre-temps are not very happy. To be amusing,
such a work should present the principal character in a series
of droll situations, brought about by his own intolerance of
mere passive good liking ; or, on the other band, should
contain nice touches of humour, and dialogue full of life and
wit. Instead of this, however, the funny incidents were
recited, and from beginning to end the language was fruit-
less. To complete the author's misfortunes, the principal
part was confided to Mr. Compton, an accomplished
actor, but not one of those fortunate triflers who,
by dint of grimace, extravagant gesture, whimsies!
costume, and a certain impudent familiarity with
the spectators,
.manage to ensure the success of
the most nonsensical productions. Unless there be real
matter in a part, be is not tit for it. The audience, it must
be confessed, tolerated the performance; not applauding,
indeed, but also not manifesting any disapprobation. A
farce of greater merit would, in all probability, have been
witnessed with the like apathetic indulgence. The painful
incident during the third act of the opera had caused a de-