The Express.
London, England, 1858-01-06 00:00:00

THI CHURCH 611rICES FOB THE WOlllllO
CL43818.

Last night the announcement that the Bishop of
Oxford would address the working men who might assemble
at St. Pancras Church, drew together a remarkable conger
(kick, which oceaseted almost entirely of working mat end
their fernlike. Many went is their working clothes, as they
had her invited to do, bat more paid all the respect they
could to the church sad tie ordinances by putting on their
best awe. Still there was eo mistake shoat the nature of
the assembly, sad every one tat once me that the
object fur which the service hd been established was most
folly realised. The Litany was read by the Rev. Canoe
Dale, M.A., the vicar of the perish, after which the congre-
gation sang the evening hymn. The Bishop of Oxford thew
ascended the pulpit, and preached from the 10th verse of the
28th chapter of (Mies's, " And he dreemed, and beheld •
Waif set up on the earth, and the top of it retched to heaves."
He said that in addressing workitig men and worm he
wished lo direct their thoeghts to one who share 4,000
yews ace was a bard writer, one is whore his he food the
exempla of the one great truth be wired to hrieg Won
thin. That truth wee this—• eat tie& begat the sew
Iry with—the safeguard, the Phimeriesse end the pave
width von wish& the reach el eery or of Mesa la prayer.
He kart that dillealties world at once sprig up is the
lards of gray of Nat eiregregedee—re that •lile of real
Meet arid sat be a lib of payer, that people who bed
hare might vend their dor in pryer, btu that
wee reempatArb with a 116 et &fly ler. Another that wadi enure Meat would be that is ceder to
elbruel pryer there meet be great saintliness of life, and
that men trembled with the cares of the world would sever
saccerfully same is It. Now the example of Jacob,
to whom the text referred, met both these difficulties.
He was erniastly a man of labour. He was honed in early
life out of his father'. hew" and was Saud by *car
stances to earn hie own bread by Siouan labour. This
was his lot for 20 yews, mid if It be shown that he was
• men of prayer, trades first obJection was doer away with.
With regard to the word apron, he might say that
Jacob was 'narked se • man who had great faults to over-
cools, for he was the spotted child of • deceptive mother,
wee afflicted with meek softness of character, socomprisd, as
that frequently war, with cunning and door. And yet
afterwerda he bemuse one of the most eminent worthies
whose deeds are recorded in the Old Testament history.
From them bete he drew tree inferences—dust a life of
brines* wee me hindrance to prayer, and that prey,' being
oaly the net of the saint of God. tt was perfectly open to the
hard worker se being the very first step In the divine life.
Now if there were any clam of persons who ought
more than others to engage in prayer, it was the
working dame, those to whom it was necessary that
their bodies should be sound, their flagon supple, their
brains clear—those above all others should leave
the burdens of their lives upon God, and their prayers should
he louder and more perpetual than those of other men. After
speaking in a strain of persuasive earnestness which those
who have ever heard the bishop will fully understand, his
lordship raid that this was the message he had to deliver to
them, and be besought them not to turn away from it. If
they attended to it, life might be to them the sun-
shine of God's presence, and death might be t.; mem
the entrant's to His glory. The mermen, although
marked with the greatest simplicity of diction, end
abounding with the meet familiar illustrations, was a
most brilliant piece of pulpit oratory. The congregation were
literally entranced, and the bishop, feeling the importance
of the occasion, and realising probably the fact that some of
those he was addressing might never again appear within
the walls of a church, was frequently overcome with an err-
iioll which he attempted unsuccessfully to check.
The other three churches In which services were held were
Oiled by attentive cusereptimii, composed for the most pert
of artisans. The Rev. C. J. Phi pm Res, M.A., mew of
St. Megatons, preached at St. Mary • Church, White-
chapel, an eloquent mad topiaries sermon, toured upon his
own parochial experience in one of the largest of the metro-
politan wires. The Rev. Capel *ogre; M.A., chap.
lain of the Lock Hospital in Henow.rood, preached at the
chareh of St. Oilern-tirrields, and the sermon at St.
Barrbae, Remington, was perched by the Rae. J. Riddell,
M.A., fellow of Ralliol College, Oatord.
To-sight, the Rev. Dr. Hook, vicar of Leeds, will perch
at St. Man's, Woiteohapel ; the Bishop of (liked at et.
Barrios, knottier ; and the MILS of Wasbairaor at
St. Gilarin-the-Fiskie.

CHURCH RATTA AT WOoLwICIE—In accordant.
with the resolarirs of a previous vestry weettag, a poll of
the ratepayws el the pad& of Weetwlee look Ai.
Model .ad rogf4o7, at A* Tows•bsil, le tl.da• Ow go.
Ham of mods( a &arch rale of 2d. in Use pound. As the
parish cestaine sheet 1,000 ratiwyers. ths remelt pew. this
• brio esednrity took 10 ISLOreSt ill the prooewhass. Al ow
cisme ef the poll at o'cliessocedyreterday, Use Rev. Henry
Wenn (wiatiar), who the chub, announced tbs
wises rueurdad as follows: the rate of 2d. la the pound,
341; wriest the rate, 2311; majority for the vase. 120. The
Sec TabM, onaregatiotal minister, observed, although
tie uppeonle of church raw had been defeated, it was
olibleabory b dadl that tbe rate was carried by the operation
of Na plireliq mem of sonny. am 213 had voted
mil bee IP2 persons I. favour the rate. He be•
lbw▪
ed that thii woe the bee auras-raw coareet that would
ewer take pleat is Worleriek, for it woe sexiest that the
hapset was coadantaed by public opinion, and would epeedlly
M sbeieibed by act of parliament. Should it, hoverer, be
siessaary, le should feel it hie dote at sap tutors period to
ilannad a poll against this anjust tan.

MUSIC.

LONDON. WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 6. 1858

MUTH OF MOLLS. RACJIBL.

The year 1858 has scarcely commenced, and
already it has carried off the greatest theatrical artist of
1310411111 tines. Intelligence has beat received announcing
the death, near Cannes, of the above great schema on Sun-
day night, at eleven o'clock.

Rachel was born fa March, 1820, at the little
Swiss village of Munf, during one of the profes-
sional tours of her peerage, who were Jew hawkers, named
gainitg a livelihood by periodically visiting various
levee in Germany and Switzerland. The family at teat
nettled in Lyons, end in 1830 cams to reside in Paris. fliesh,
the eldest girl, was etwentemed to sing at the various cafe
to the aceoropinimeat el an old gaiter, while little Rachel
went hem tails to table itellbeehig the offerings of the kindly
disposed. It is said that en toed them °endow the little
wandenes attracted the Bolide of M. Chorea, the founder ot
the Institution for the Andy of Sacred Music, sad he
made senneemsnas for sdesittisi them moon hie
pupils, Odder tamp mem pardenlarly of Retbel.
After a abort experiment, however, he bead that
the stamen organ of the young girl our better waited for
decluesteey expression then Jr mole, and he transirred
her as a pipit to M. St. Lubin, who enjoyed at th ffiese
a high repattaion as a dramatic instructor. For four yews
that piles unweariedly pursued hie teak, and laboured
boleemedi to implant in the mind of his pupil • true ma-
tillirtigth=ghen abmiceril
Phedre; —Abe at thaauSeMelliaLliallialift'hifinitsly pro-
faning the Dodoes, Lisette", and Philunintes of Yobbo.
In the course al time her primroses in Andromaque, at a
private rapressrallan, was considered by some timatrical
dignitaries so admirable that by theta good offices she was ad-
mitted to the Conservatoire, end la October, 1836, joined the
due conducted by Michelot. Her studies were interrupted
by an offer of 3,000 fr. a-year at the Gramm, and on the
24th of April, 1837, she made her debut in a piece written
expressly for her, called La l'eedeenno. It appears beyond a
doubt that she did not produce say great sensation in the
pert, and Mdlle. Rachel seem to have not again appeared pro-
minently before the public until the 12th June, 1838, when
she performed " Camille " to Les Hormel at the Theatre
Francais, her engagement at the Oymnue having been
retiliated by mutual corneal. She had for some months
been studying under Samson, who always predicted her great
sucrose. The Parisian critics were startled by her powerful
acting and by the originality of her conoeptiona, sad, above
all, by a certain concentrated power of expression which
thrilled to the very soul of the hearer. In the winter at
that year she alio performed the parts of " Emilie" in Cinema,
" Ameraide" in Uttered., " Eryphile" in Iphiglisie and
" Moms" in MiLtriefate. It wee afterwards that the added
"Rome" in Bojaret, " Pauline" in Polyesiego, and the chief
part in PAidrs. liar popularity sprang to its highest
point almost instantanewaly, and no better proof an be
adduced of the hot than the circumstance of her salary,
which was 4,000 fr. the first year, being 20,000 fr. in the
second. In after years her income varied from 300,0026.
to 400,000 fr., 'wording to the number of representations
which ate gave during her annual Bong(—in her cam, of
several months' duration. From the catalogue of her me-
mesas we must not omit to mention the encores of her ap-
pearance, at an early stage of her career, at the St. James's
Theatre, where her unrivalled enunciation, inflexions of
voice, and management of periods, taught Englishmen that
the stately verses of Corneille and Racine may be delivered
without monotony, while her acting, always graceful, easy,
natural, and mervelloesly classic, though in proper place
deeply impassioned, captivated even those who did not
understand a word of her language. Mdlle. Rachel, in the
course of time, extended her repertoire by the representation
of parts in modern works, and attracted crowded audiences
by her performance in Nile. de Belk-Iskoddrients• ',mur-
mur, Liaise do Lipotroikey Lady Tortsifo, de. tip to her
very last season she continued to study regularly, and •
strung proof of her progress was to be found in the swots-
sive changes and very derided improvements which took
Ow la her enecteust of the part of Phldre, always, no
doubt, a great performance, but in latter years beyond coin-
; prima • Haar and more finished representation than it was
whoa filet )tempted. Never of a &bong constitution,
Mdlle. Rachel gradually found the arduous labour of her
profession te affect her health, and at tut to leaf; tu the ill-
ness which has now cut off this gnat actress so prematurely
in the 37th year of her age.
A Milan journal, the Bola/via, lIIIIINIDCPI that Mdlle.
Rachel, having embraced the Roman catholic faith, was
baptised on the 18th ult.; but the authenticity of this state-
ment, though repeated in other quarters, is deubtful. It is
very positively stated that on Saturday (the day before her
death) she sent to Nice for • Jewish rabbi, who perforated
by her bedside the service is extreesis prescribed by the
Jewish religion. It Is also stated that her body will be
brought to Paris fur interment in the Jewish Cemetery.
The Theatre Francais was eland last evening, and will
also be closed on the day of the funeral.