Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-09-08 00:00:00

THE ITALIAN OPERA

The concluding performance of the first series of
Italian Operas at the Theatre-royal took place last
night, when the representation of " Dterezia Borgia"
was witnessed by one of the largest and most brilliant
audiences that ever graced that theatre. The prin-

c !pal parts, were sustained by Mad'lle Titiens and Madame
Borchardt ; by Signors Giuglini and .Badiali. The
singing and acting were• both excellent, and their
reception was a triumph.. In the last act, Giuglini
was particularly great. In different parts or, the
opera, M. Titiens and Badiali prpduced an over-
powering effecct, which the audience recognised by enthu-
siastic outbursts of applause. The principal artistes
were repeatedly called before the curtain to receive their
meed of well-merited applause, and at the final fall of the
curtain Mad'lle Titiens was greeted by an. overwhelming

Shower of bouquets. Complimentary as this was, the
enthusiasm of the audience did not rest there. On leav-
ing the house her carriage was surrounded by a host of
musical admirers, who greeted her with the warmest
encomiums, and loaded her with expressions of admira-
tion.'

• •The musical amateurs of Liverpool will learn with
groat pleasure that this able company is to give three
more operas in the Theatre-royal, namely :--" La
Figlia del Reo-mimento," "La Traviata," and " Don
Gi,yanni," to take place on Tuesday, the 27th, Wednes:-
day, the 28th, and Thursday, the 29th instants.

THE LADY AND THE LIFE-BOAT

EXMOUTH, September 5

This usually quiet little town was' thrown this morn-
ing into some little excitement, when it had become
generally known that Lady Rolle and some of her
friends, accompanied by Richard Lewis, Esq., the
secretary to the Royal National Life-boat Institution,'
and some gentlemen of the place, had decided on taking
a trip in the beautiful new life-boat recently sent here
by that society. Adcordingly, about eleven o'clock, the
life-boat was brought on her carriage out of her house
and launched from it, having on board Lady Rolle, the
Countess of Antrim, Lady Helen M‘Donnell, Miss
Parlby, Rev. J. Hall Parlby, Mr. Tring, Colonel Wilkin-
son, and several other gentlemen, with the boat's crew.
This operation, which is sometimes so difficult of accom-
plishment with sonic life-boat carriages, was, in this
instance, quickly performed, in consequence of the in-
genious, but simple mechanism of the life-boat carriage.
Indeed, the whole work of launching, from the time the
boat and carriage, drawn only by her crew and a few
extra hands, were taken from the house to the beach,
which is sandy, did not occupy ten minutes. Nothing'
could have been more satisfactory than the launching ;
and loud were the expressions of approbation of the
proceeding, and of the singular energy and intelligQice
which the National Life-boat institution had brought
to bear on its sacred and humane objects.
The life-boat afterwards proceeded with Lady Rolle
and her party in gallant style outside the bar. The
boat's behaviour, whilst ploughing through the seas,
elicited the admiration of every ono on board. She was
afterwards brought alongside a vessel, and there,__ with
'the aid of some tackling, she was, after Some difficulty,
capsized, but she immediately self-righted from a pecu-
liarity in har construction, and self-ejected the water
thus shipped in a few seconds. This operation again
excited some applause, as such an effect was, doubtless,
quite novel to many persons in this little town. Some
successful experiments were also made with the cork
life-belts, which each man of the crews of the society's
boats . now always required to • wear 'before going
afloat in the life-boat. Some of the crew,- even those
who could not swim, fearlessly plunged into the sea
with their belts, and readily regained their seats.

• The' life-boat is a beautiful craft. She is 30 feet
long, 61- broad, and was built by Forrcott, of Lime-
house, after the plan of the boats now adopted by the
institution. The life-boat house is a commodious and
handsome building, and was built from the design of
C. H. Cooke, Esq., of London, the honorary architect
to the Life-Boat Institution. The cost Of the life-boat,
carriage, and boat-house was munificently presented to
the Royal National Life-Boat Institution by Lady
Rolle. There is, probably, not a more complete life-
boat station on the coast of the United Kingdom than
that at Exmouth.

Such an establishment is not an ordinary affair.
Here often the hope of the shipwrecked seaman, when
Clinging with death-like grasp to sonic frail piece of his
once noble ship, is concentrated. In the dark hour of
the tempestuous night the minute gun at sea is heard
from the sinking ship. At its sound the people 'from
far and near make with all haste for the life-boat house.
The well-known report of the signal gun has brought
the crew of the life-boat to the station. She is quickly
launched; with brawny arms and stout hearts her crew
valiantly contend with the raging surf, which runs, as
they say, mountains high ; but with a resolute will they

arc determined, with- God's blessin
stranded vessel, or perish in their peril
At last the ship is reached ; the hapless
and are soon on shore. The life-I
housed in readiness for another hazardous expedition
should her services be again required. This is no

imaginary description. What we have here related
took place a few months ago at Padstowe, Appledore,
and many other life-boat stations. We are told that
the National Life-boat Institution has now eighty-five
life-boat establishments in connection with it, on
which it has expended upwards of £28,000. More
than 11,000 shipwrecked persons have been rescued
from a watery grave since its first establishment,
for saving whom it has voted upwards of £lO,OOO, be-
sides gold and silver medals, and other honorary dis-
tinctions. Let the reader inquire at our seaport towas
and fishing villages, and he will not fail to hear many,
many a wife and mother expressing their gratitude for
the preservation from drowning of either a husband or son.
Indeed, only two days ago, our reporter heard from the
lips of a pilot at Shaldon, expressions of heartfelt gra-
titude that his life and that of his "poor boy," as he
feelingly called him, had been saved some time since
during a gale of wind, and in the night, from inevitable
death, on Teignmouth Bar, by one of the life-boats of
that institution. • There are many noble and valuable
societies in this country : but we believe there is none
more deserving of public support than the National
Life-boat Institution, judging exclusively from the
plain and stirring facts which it frequently places
before us. Its operations are, however, • unques-
tionably, much crippled, for the want of adequate
public support. Even at its meeting on Thursday last,
we have been informed that payment, amounting to
abmit £9OO, for new life-boats. boat-houses, and carriages,
could not be discharged without infringement upon its
funded capital, from the want of the necessary funds.
Surely the few facts which we have here stated, relating
to this valuable society, will call forth from the British
public such prompt and liberal aid as will enable it to
persevere in its course of usefulness, on a scale somewhat
adequate to its great and national importance, in the
cause of humanity—that of saving the lives of our
fellow-creatures from the perils of the sea.