The Express.
London, England, 1846-12-03 00:00:00

WAitWIjKSIIINE.

.....
BANKRUPTCY COURT, BIRMINGHAM. RAILWAY
SPECULATIONS AND BANKRUPTCY.—In this court, Mr.
Commissioner Balguy delivered judgment in the case
of a bankrupt named Griffiths, who formerly carried on
business as a druggist at Wolverhampton, and whose railway
speculations and bankruptcy have been previously alluded
to in this journal. The learned Commissioner, after come
preliminary remarks, said: The bankrupt has been in busi-
ness for a con.ideiable length of time as a chemist and
druggist ; and upon a large scale, as I infer from
the amount of his trading debts. In the autumn of last
year, being, as he admits, perfectly insolvent, he embarked
extensively in railway. speculations ; became a provisional
committeeman in no less than eighteen different projects,
subject to all the liabilities that may be ultimately considrred
to belong to that amphibious character . • and a purchaser in
several of them to the amount of 30,000/. After reviewing
many of the insolvent's transactions, the Commissioner con-
cluded, giving the bankrupt the foliest benefit of all favour-
able circumstances, and granting the certificate; but sus-
pended the issuing of it for eighteen months, to be calcu-
lated from the day appointed for his last examination. The
learned commissioner subsequently granted the bankrupt
protection for three months.
WORCESTERSHIRE.
VACANCY FOR EAST WORCESTER,HIRE.—A vacancy in
the representation of the Eastern division of the county of
Worcester, is occasioned by the demise of John Barneby,
Esq., of Brockhampton-park, in the county of Hereford.
At present nothing certain is known, as to who will be
brought forward to succeed the deceased gentleman in the
representation, but the registration has been of late so much
neglected by the Liberals, as to have scarcely the shadow of
a chance for any candidate in that intenst, the probability
therefore i that no opposition will be offered to the indi-
vidual whom the Tory party may select. At the election in
1811, there was no opposition in this county to the Pro.
tectionist candidates, Captain Foley having retired without
a poll being demanded on his behalf; but at the election in
1837, the contest was rather keen, the numbers polled being
as follows:—Horace St. Paul (r.), 2,595; llarneby ('f.),
2,281; Holland (L.), 1,949; Foley (L.), 1,933. The late
member was a staunch ProteciM onllat.
ONFORI
THE LADY POACHER.—We hear the information for
poaching against the Duchess of Marlborough has been de-
feated on a technical point of law. The statute, not looking
to a violation of its provisions by females, only introduces
the masculine gender " he; " and theretbre "she," the
duchess, escapes its operation.
BERKSHIRE.
THE FRENCH AT TAHITI.—PERSECUTION OF PRO-
TESTANTS.—WINDSOR, WEDNE.SDAY.—A large and in-
fluential meeting, including the Mayor of Windsor, several
members of the Town Council, and between 300 and 400 of
the principal inhabitants of the town, was held yesterday
evening in the Town-hall, to induce her Majesty's Govern-
ment to interfere to prevent the further persecution of
British protestant residents at Tahiti, and the total exter-
mination of the inoffensive natives of that island. A memo-
rial to Lord Palmerston, earnestly entreating the Govern-
' went to take such steps as would "secure to the Queen of
Tahiti and her subjects the rights of nature recognised by
the laws of nations, the peaceful possession of their father-
land, and the free exercise of their common religion," was
read to the meeting and unanimously adopted.
UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENT.—WhiIe Mr. A. Morrison. one
of the sons of James Morrison, Esq., M.P., of Basildon
Park, was loading a barrel of a double-barrelled gun, of
which the other barrel had not been discharged, it exploded,
the whole charge going through his left hand Mr. Morri-
son was immediately conveyed to the Berkshire hospital,
where it was at first feared, from the lacerated nature of the
alma that it would be necessary to amputate the hand at
the wrist. It was found that one finger only would be lost.
ACCIDENT AT WINDSOR.—Yesterday afternoon, as James
Hopkins, Esq., a gentleman residing at Earl Grey's man-
sion, at Hatchet, was riding a spirited young horse from
Datchet to Windsor, attended by his groom, opposite the
Castle gate in the Frogmore-road, the animal took fright,
proceeding along Park-street, at a tremendous pace, into
the town. The horse dashed, with its rider, into the stable.
of the New Inn ; and the left side of Mr. iopkins•s bead
came into contact with a large iron lanthorn suspended in
the centre. A severe wound was inflicted, from which the
blood flowed profusely, and Mr. Hopkins was rendered for
a time insensible. In the course of the afternoon, he so far
recovered as to be cinveyed to his residence at Datchet.
No serious effects are likely to result to Mr. Hopkins from
the accident.

BEDFORD:4IIRP.
As: INQV EST was held at Luton last week upon the body
of a young female named Allen, who died from the effects of
prussic acid under rather mysterious sircumitances. The
jury returned an open verdict, to the effect that the deceased
died of poison, but how or by whom administered there was
no evidence to show.
HAMPSHIRE.
PASTIME IN BARRACKS.—" On passing by a basket's
shop, in the ancient city of Winchester, we (Ilampshire
Advertiser), observed a large quantity of fine pork sausages
hanging. Supposing them to be for sale, the price was asked,
when themuter of the shop replied, ' They are already sold to
two of the officers of the barracks, one having betted the other
that his dog should eat twenty pounds of pork sausages at a
meal, the other betting contra.' The dog had been kept tied
up without food for a day or two, and on Tuesday he was to
be put to his savoury meal, at two o'clock. The sausages
were fried at the hour appointed, and in the presence of a
large as-emblage, collected to witness this refined and novel
source of amusement, the dog devoured the whole in a few
minutes. How much better the food might have been
bestowed we need not say."
ESSEX.
REPRESENTATION OF COLCHESTER.—DUTiER the earl
part of last week, a report was current that Mr. D. W.
Harvey was about to visit Colchester for the purpose of look-
ing into One register with some of the burgesses, and endea-
vouring to ascertain what chances existed of his return in
the event of a general election. A letter was, however, we
understand, received from him, postponing his visit for a
fortnight, intending then to give his attention to the subject.
Of course, Mr. Harvey cannot, under present circumstances,
become a candidate for the representation of any con-
stituency. He mu*, first of all, get released from the
situation he occupies as Chief Commissioner of the
Metropolitan Polie'. Whether he is disposed to make the
sacrifice of 8001. a year to enable him to enter the House of
Commons, or whether he is an expectant to office under the
present government, we tnnnot tell ;at all events, the
electors of Colchester ought to be made acquainted withe

fact—wliethe.' Mr. Harvey seriously contemplates offering
mew If as a cat. 'lidate for the representation of the borough,
that they may no.
be baulked as they wire in 1811, when
they were told a mat. wee coming, only a few lays before
the election ; but who
never. made his appearance at all.—
Essex Herald.
Ixotkass Htkoa.—A terrespondent of the Essex
Herald says : " Four years ago I addressed a series of letters
sumption of grain. My objet.
to the farmers on the titeteee, of small birds, and their con-
et,!. now is, not to enter into a
minute calculation of their consu2totion, but simply to direct
the attention of f•wmers to the sut,,;eet. Sparrows arc the
most prolific bird in England : a
peir usually bring forth
three broods, averaging fourteen young, onea. The late
summer has tended to increase that aveoure materially,
owing to the unusual heat, which greatly facili'ated incuba-
tion. Perhaps each pair of sparrows have produced twenty
young ones. To verify this observation, a person has only
to cast a bird's-eye glance on the stubbles and hedges ;
they may be seen like a swarm of bees round a hive,
and might be shot by Acores. It is surprising that farmers
should be so little interested on this matter, at a time when
foreign competitors are attempting to drive them out of their
own market, and almost annihilate their occupation. Surely
they cannot be aware that the little feathered tribe claim a
tithe of their land's produce. The doily consumption of small
birds is computed to be in weight one•siztli of their own
bodies, and allowing the average weight of sparrows to be
one ounce avoirdupois, the consumptioa of 100 would be
6,083 ounces, or nearly 31 cwt. for the year. Supposing
further that every huridred acres of land contained 1,000
sparrows or other small birds, their yearly consumption
would be according to the preceding theory, 60,830 ounces,
or nearly 341 cwt. I leave the farmers to draw their own
inference, and adopt their own remedy.

fFme arts.
ROYAL ACADEMY ELECTIONS.—At a meeting of
the members of the Royal Academy on Tuesday last, Mr.
W. E. Frost and Mr. P. F. Poole were elected associates of
that body. Mr. Frost is a painter in Mr. Howard's earlier
and better manner, and is best known by a fine poetic pic-
ture front "Comue," and by his " Diana surprised by AeLeon,"
in the exhibition of the present year. " A Scene from the
Great Plague," and the "Visitation and Surrender of Syon
Nunnery," are two well known pictures by Mr. Poole.

ftlustt.
SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY.—The oratorio of
" Solomon" was performed at Exeter Hall last evening.
The effect of this piece, however well it may be executed,
is never satisfaetory. Handel WA svery unfortunate in the
literary assistance which he obtained fur the production of
his oratorios. Except " The Messiah," and " Israel in
Egypt," which consist of passages of scripture selected and
arranged by himself, the poems (if they may be called so) of
all of them were written by Grub-street literati of the tray,
whose incompetency his ignorance of English literature pre-
vented him from discovering. They are all bad, and " Solo-
mon" is the worst. As a whole, it his neither subject nor
coherence; and in its details, it is a collection of insipid
commonplaces, expressed in mean and vular language. The
only portion of it which has the slightest dramatic interest is
the scene of the " Judgment," in which Solomon decides the
question of maternity between the two women. The writing
of this scene, indeed, is almost as bad as possible;
I but the: passion of the subject has inspired the
composer, and given birth to some expressive and
beautiful music. Another cause of the unsatisfactory
effect of this oratorio is the impossibility of performing it
with dramatic propriety. Though sacred dramas are not
represented on the stage, yet consistency requires that each
principal character should be sustained throughout by the
same performer. Handel unaccountably chose to compose
the part of Solomon for a soprano voice, and to have it per-
formed by a female singer. In our day this appears absurd ;
and, in this part, the solos arc given to a ban voice, while
the concerted music, which cannot be altered, continues to
he sung by a soprano. Thus, in the judgment scene, we
had last night two Solomons, the one in the person of Mr.
Phillips, and the other in that of Miss Williams ; a proceed-
ing which aggravated, instead of lessening the original
absurdity. The excessive badness of this libretto seems
to have damped the ardour of Handel's genius. The
music certainly contains some grand and beautiful
things—such as the famous chorus, " From the censer,"
the air " What though I trace," the soft chorus, " May
no rash intruder," the trio, " Words are weak," the air,
" Can I see my infant gor'd," and 14:reral others—yet it con-
tains a much larger proportion of mere remplissage—ras,-
ages of long and formal divisions, and repetitions of ideas
and phrases formerly used by himself, than any of his other
works.—The performance of last night was not distinguished
by peculiar excellence. The hesetting sin of these concerts,
the excessively slow time of many of the movements
(especially the airs) had a dull and heavy effect, notwith-
standing the force and vigour with which several of the
choruses were sung. Sometimes, too, in the choruses, with-
out positive mistake, there was a want of precision and
aplomb in attacking the points of fugue and response, which
rendered the har.nony somewhat misty. The principal
singes were Miss Birch, the Misses Williams, Mr. Lockey,
and Mr. Phillips. The hall was as crowded, but the applause
not so warm as naval.
MR. WILsON'S Scorrisu ENTERTAINMENTS.—Mr.
Wilson on 'Tuesday evening commenced a short series of his
vocal entertainments in Crosby Hall, and, as usual, attracted a
very large audience. We never heard him display to greater
advantage, the powers of his rich and beautiful voice, or sing
with more animation, expression, and humour. Ilia selec-
tion was a happy mixture of the grave and the gay, and in-
cluded a number of his most favourite songs, with two or
three which we never heard him sing before. One of these
was " Bonnie Bossy Lee," written by the late Robert Nicoll,
whose untimely death, at the age of three or four and
twenty, deprived the world of a genius closely akin to that
of Burris. Indeed, Burns himself has not surpassed the fol-
lowing description of a rustic lawny :
Ronnie Bessie Lee bad a face fu' it* Milk*,
And mirth round her ripe lip was aye dancing nice ;
And light .11n the focal', and Will,ollle the wiles.,
0' the flower o' the paroehin— our :On Bessie Lee.
Wi' the bairns she would rui, and the school cal lies punk,
And o'er the brainy bract like a fair) would flee,
Till auld hearts grew young again wi' love for her take:—
There was life in the blithe blink a' Donnie liewie Lee."
The air of this song was new to us ; but it is beautiful,
and too strongly marked with Scottish character to permit
any doubt of its nationality. Another song, " The Married
Man's Lament," also written by Nicoll, is full of sly Scottish
humour; but the melody to which Mr. Wilson sang it—the
same with that of Justice It song in Love an a Vil-
lage, " When I followed a lass," is one which we have tawnys
believed to be English. It is given as such, if we remember
right, in kr. Chappell's valuable collection, and possesses
the decided features of old English, not of Scottish, melody.
However it is well suited to the words, and enables Mr.
Wilson to deliver them with great spirit and pleasantry. I u
hinging Walter Scott's famous war-song, " Pibroch of Donuil
Dhu,' Mr. Wilson, with singular skill and felicity, imitated ,
the peculiar character of the pibroch, or pipe-tune, without
impairing the martial energy of the poetry. Among other
gems, there were Mrs. Cockburn's beautiful " Flowers of the
Forest," and Joanna Baillie's imitation (if that can he called
an imitation which infinitely transcends the original), of the
old ballad" Woo'd and monied and a' " in which she has so
exquisitely blended arch playfulness with tender feeling.
Every song was vehemently applauded, and several were
encored.
Ebr Drama.

DRURY-LANE. --That " Loretta" will not long con-
tinue to attract is a fact testified by the thin audiences at
this theatre on Sophie Fuoco's off-nights. This was the case
Inst evening, notwithstanding the announcement of a new
comic Spanish ballet, entitled " La Venen," which "went"
with perfect success, although not strong enough to correct
that dramatic evil which seems attacking all the playhouses
by turns—empty benches. It is well that the strength
of a ballet depends little on the nature of the story
illustrated, or 'Ls Venni " would have fared but
ill. It is, indeed, little more than a divertissement, the plot
being of the most primitive description, and serving only 68
a slender thread to connect the dances. We are introduced
at the beginning to the old accustomed cottage, with practi
cable windows at the wing, to the heroine Anita, Anita's
m,ther, Anita's betrothed, and Anita's rejected lover,whose
importunities and eventual discomfiture, form the subject of
the piece. The model villagers enjoy a model village file,
as usual, introducing a variety of dances, which are generally
effective, if not quite new. The best is the " Pas de
Manteau," and "La Sebilliano, pas seul Espagnol,"
by. Mdlle. Dubignon, who did full justice to the
principal part. receiving a large amount of applauds
and bouquet- in proportion. The " Pas de Manteau
is new, rind is the only part of the piece, except, in-
deed, the Pas Seul, which has any Spanish characteristics--
for the rest any, other country would serve equally as well.
The Akade (11. H. Payne) who is paying his attentious, in
ballet fashion, beneath Anita's windows, is drawn up by
his enemies by means of a rope and crane, belonging to au
adjacent barn—the remainder is formed of reminiscences and
stock devices. The music, composed and selected by Mr.
Hughes, is spirited and well marked, and the grouping and
general decorations also deserve commendation.
PRINCESS'S.—" The Two Rainbows" is the title of
an amusing trifle in one act produced at this theatre last
night. These " Rainbows" of the Princess's—l'eter and
James—are umbrella-makers. They are brothers and are
dissimilar in most respects—one being extremely timid and
the other quite domineering; so much so that poor Peter,
who has married unknown to his brother, is afraidto acknow-
ledge his wife. James supposes that Caroline, the wife,
stands in a very different relationship to his brother, and
urges him to send her away forthwith, that the house might
be as pleasant as possible for Matilda, whom he is about to
marry. Unfortunately Matilda loves Frank, leaves her
father's house and comes to London in male attire after him.
She takes up her abode at the house of her friend Caroline
a circumstance of which both the brothers are in perfect
ignorance. Frank, however, knows she is there,
and gains admission. Meantime Peter gets a letter from his
intended father-in-law, informing him of the flight of Matilda,
and from Caroline he learns that she is actually under his I
own roof. Of course, he supposes Frank is .Mati,da, and
makes love to him, and then James, who is quite in the dark
for some time, woaders what a strange man wants in the
house, and is sorely troubled about his wife. At length the
mystery' is cleared up by the production of Matilda, who ac-
knowledges her preference for Frank, and James assumes
courage to declare Caroline his lawful wife. The humour
of the piece consists in the oddness of the situations, which
come so rapidly one atter the other, that the improbabilities
of the plot are forgotten. It passed off very pleasantly.
Mr. Compton, as Peter, was highly amusing.
FRENCU PLAYS.—The part selected by M. Pcrlet
yesterday evening was that of Dental in the ' Comedien
d'Etanmes," a vaudeville well known to English playgoers
in its close and Clever adaptation, " lie would be an Actor,"
by Mr. C. Mathews, who, however, is not so success-
ful in his version in the principal character as M. Per-
let. His Modus is indeed an agreeable impersonation,

light and airy, as can well be; and, in fat, too much so,
since herein consists, to our notion, its defect. Tne whole
thing seems with Lim the •effect of sheer frisking animal
spirits—a school-boy lark, rather than the carrying out sums
clear purpose, however full of pleasant humour the means.
M. Perlet, on the contrary, on every change of costume,
shows those who are in the secret that he has some-
thing in view beyond the mere indulgence of their
whim or of his own relish for the humorous, indifferent
whether or no his disguises are detected by the selfish cox-
comb whom they ore designed to he'll,. The accomplished
actor representing the accomplished actor, plays out th.t play
within the play in very earnest. By refraining front thateeon-
scions node and winks and wreathed smiles which 2lludus is so
incessantly interchanging with his fellow-plotters, he does not
seem to endanger the success of the plot itself. Of the various
F nisei assumed by parietal, we can scarcely decide which
is most excellently sustained, so perfect is the artist's com-
mand of feature and of tone; but, adopting the joyous
judgment of the audience, we should pronounce for the im-
personation of Milatli la retire Ilifsleldon. The dress, the
mien, the manner, the languor, were indeed, inimitably
rendered. M. Dumery, as the impudent, P. vapouring,
cowardly coxcomb of the piece, fought gallantly mtainst
mast severe cold, and, despite it, excellently aided M. Perlet.
The other performances of the evening were "Le Mari et
L'Amant," and " Le Bonhomme Richard," both of which
we have noticed.