The Express.
London, England, 1847-05-27 00:00:00

fine farts.

CABINET OF DUTCH PICITRES.—Mr. Phillips will
sell on Friday (to-morrow), "a small cabinet of high class
Dutch pictures," the property, it is said, of " a gentleman,"
and certainly superior to the general run of anonymous sales.
There are several "examples by masters of the highest re-
pute," but nothing pre-emizently geod—nothing, in short,
to attract Mr. Hope, Mr. Holford, Lord Ashburton, or Sir
Robert Peel. The three " Jan Steens" are rather indiffer-
ent spesimans of the master, and the "De Hooghe," an
interior with six figures, is a blackish example of a painter
who was always bright ; among the better elan pictures we
may mention No. 21, " The Sempetests," • small dues-quarter
figure of • girl in profile, the hands poor and unfinished, but
the face full of beautiful expression ; No. 17, "An Archi-
tectural View," by Vander Heyden--the figures by Adrian
Vanderrelde, a email picture and good; No. 13, " View of a
Town in Holland," by Gerard Berkheyden—a square in front
of the Stadthouse with figures capitally grouped ; No. 32,
" A Farm House," by Vander Heiden—small and good, the
figures as usual by Adrian Vandervelde ; No. 38, "Canal
with figures skating," by A. Vander Neer; No. 39, "The
Skittle Players," the best of the so called " Jan Steens ;" sad
capital three-quarter portrait by Sir Peter Lely, of the
celebrated Sir Isra Morland, in a black dress slashed with
white—the ardem much in the manner of Vandyck—this, it
is true, would suit Sir R. Peel, who is fond of collecting the
heads of Magi& worthies—it is one of the best male por-
traits Lily over painted.
PORTRAIT OP SIR HENRY POTTINGER.—A
fnll-
length portrait of Sir Henry Pottinger, engraved by John
Burnet from a picture by F. Grant, A.R.A., has just been
published by the Messrs. Graves. The action is easy, the
likeness excellent, and the engraving good. This is the first
mezzotint portrait Mr. Burnet has done, and we are glad to
see so good an example from the hand that gave us the
" Chelsea Pensioners" and the " Letter of Introduction "
two of the glories of our English school of line engraving.
SALE OP MR. COLLINS'S DRAWINGS.—To-morrow
(Friday) is the day of the private view at Christie and
Maneon's of the drawings of the late William Collins, R.A.
The sale commences on Monday.

Mies HaWMi'd CONCERT.—Among the benefit con-
certi of the mason, that given by Mimi Hawes is always
one of the most satisfactory. It is not made up of
fashionable frivolities, but is generally a judicious ',election,
consisting chiefly of good English voml music. Such was
the concert of last evening. It contained, in the first
place, several of our finest glees, partictdarly Horsley's " By
" Celia's arbour," and Webbe's When winds breathe soft,"
which were exceedingly well sung by Mies Birch, Miss
Hawes, and Messrs. Hobbs, Lockey, and Phillips. There
were several pleas from Mendelmohn's " Elijah." The
aaaeeospaaMa trio, " Lift thine eyes," was beautifully exe-
cuted by the two Misses Birch and Mir Hawed ; and her
of the air, "O, rest in the Lord," was
by earnestness and feeling. The air, "Is
net wed like a fire ?" and the recitative, " 0
Leak I have laboured in vain," were well deli-
vered by PM*, bat the want of the orcheetral moom-
puilmealle simillered then impactive, and they mama, with-
out kjwiy, be atrial frees the context. Tide pal work
is not ealenbled tie braids hageseatt for reieesdleaseis con-
certi. The fine alp duet, " Quid seeleate," was nag by
Mile Hams gad Mr. Phillips, with great presides and
thorium The ~maw eceitalari ease other mead plum
VatezdLliabilla- drevelletrealiedeme (haa sad Ms
Ws Mahe In the pirseilirte a ihahrie ea
sirs hen " MS* rhe a powered perearner is the style
ot Theiborg. ((taw Illapeedeld (a new arrival) paelhemed
a solo on the viciesselle, with melt mid*, el exemila, but
• somewhat thin sad asetahhehey tome. The Nom was
very fall ; and the eali=Lby ibde wham, paid a just
tribute to Mile Hawse's

gag
ADELP/11.—A new pieee wait predated last night,
on the 000ISiOlt of Madame Celeste's liamadt, in which Mr.
Webster came down "express" ham the Haymarket to take
apart. Its title was "Flying Odom; or, Crossing the

Frontier ;" and its story, evidently from the Fessea, simply
as follows:—The Govevnor and Commandant of Verdun
have orders to arrest, the one a young military 'Meer, and
the other a fugitive lady from the Convent atkFrey, who
are expected to per through the town, the on the
way t 3 Lorraine, the latter en route to Paris. • happens
that the parties in request meet at an hotel he Verdun, to
which Mime, the young lady from the neamery, has, for
the purpose of better disguise, repaired iu mete attire. It is
ascertained by the authorities that the fugitives are within
tneir "rasp, bet they ear ignorant which of the twos is the
liegumed lady. Now, n the -nun is to be sent back to the
maven:, and the officer to Paris, and as the former defines
to go to Paris, and the latter to proceed to Nancy, it Is ar-
ranged between them that the lady shall declare herself the
captain—and the captain, winning a female garb, shall pass
himself off as the lady. In due course, the pair are arrested,
the Commandant, a bachelor, securing the real !blew, the
Governor, a jealous husband, making n capture of that lady's
representative. Confusion here becomes thrice confounded.
Mademoiselle manages to intoxicate the Commandant with
his own wine, whilst the military lady intrigues with the
Gorentor's wife and her maid, and, in his torn, is forced to
receive the addresses of the Governor, who proposes
to carry him off at all risks and hazards. As,
of course, is fully apparent, the denouement is
brought about, when chaos has come again, by free par-
dons arriving for each of the parties. The plot, therefore, is
of the slightest description, and the piece is left to rest upon
position, acting, and dialogue. Of the last, we can only say
that it was just sufficiently broad to suit an Adelphi audi-
ence, without containing much that was particularly
sparkling. The positions, however, were in many re-
meets admirable, and the acting of all the parties
in the cast was well worthy comedy of a much
higher grade. Celeste, as the dashing Captain, and Webster
as " the gorgeous woman" of the stricken Duke de Sons-
ireuse, were each in their way inimitable. It is wonderful,
indeed, how they managed to play an well, considering what
they had to do, for the piece lasted two mortal hours and a
half, slight as were the materials of which it was composed!
Cut down to one third of its present length it would, as at
present cast, probably prove a succeisful production.