The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-09-12 00:00:00

YORKSHIRE MUSICAL FESTIVAL.

(HY EXPRE&S.)
rslte. SEPT. 10.
Very few of the distinguished company who are expected to the
festival have yet arrived. Among the exceptions may be reckoned
Lord Dundas and family, and the Earl and Countess of Nor.'
manby. A god many, however, of the Inferior classes, from the
county squires to the substantial Yorkshire farmers, have been drop-
ping into the city this day and yesterday. Lodgings may still be
had in abundance, and at all prices from two guineas for a share of
a bed to 40 and 50 guineas for accommodation for a small family.
The chorus singers, indeed, and persons of their grade are enabled
Ito pig together three or four in a sty for much less, namely from
la is. to I*. 6d. a night per head. For the Jut two days the Min-
ster has been closed, and this morning there was a rehearsal of the
choruses, from which all but the professional persons connected with
the festival were scrupulously excluded. I have good authority
II for stating, that the performance of these subalterns did great credit
to Mr. White, who has had them for some time in training in dif-
ferent pans of Yorkshire, and that Mr. Greatores expressed his
perfect approbation of the manner in which they acquitted them-
selves at this rehearsal. About 250 of the chorus singers were in
attendance. They are mostly operative manufacturers and other
persons in an humble station in life, but when collected in the
Minster Yard this morning, before admitted to the Cathedral, exhi.
bited a well clad and respectable exterior.
Mr. White has remarked that the voices of the men, particularly
in this part of thecountry, arc much stronger, generally speaking,
than those of men in a similar rank in or near London. The prin-
cipal singers have still been delayed at Hereford, but are all ex-
pected on Monday. Some amateurs from Ireland arrived thus
moruing, also Mr. Punting of Belfast, who is considered to be a
virtuoso In ancient Irish music. A distinguished Hibernian pro-
fessor. Cooke's troop of Equestrians came here yesterday, and the
stud has since been paraded several times through the city. The
following notice and regulations will show the means adopted to
preserve order and decorum during the festivities ;
The only place for the purchase of tickets is the Guildhall ; ex
eept that on the evening of each concert and ball, after the doors are
opened, tickets of admission may be had at the doors.
The morning tickets are from &guinea to fra ; the evenlag tickets
from 15s. to 7s.

Books of the words may be purchased at the Guildhall.
A Register of the Company will be kept at the Guildhall, in
which they are requested to allow their names and residences, and
their lodgings at the festival to be inscribed.
For the morning performances, the doors of the Minister will
be opened at half-put ten, and the performances will commence
at twelve.

Proper precautions will be taken to prevent, u Touch u possi-
bk, the inconvenience of any rush or pressure at the doors.
Ladies are particularly requested not to wear high head-dresses
in the Minster.

For the evening Concerts the doors will be open at seven, and
each concert will begin at eight. At the concerts and balls, there
will be three avenues to the assembly-rooms; one for the company
retiring in carriages at the usual entrance by the portico ; a second
for the company in chairs. by a new door between the portico and
Etridge's Hotel ; and a third for the company on foot, by a new
door on the oppssite side of the portico. It is requested that at the
Fancy Ball, the company will appear in fancy or full court dresses,
or full dress naval or military uniforms. On the ball nights the
doors will be open at nine o'clock.
To avoid delay and inconvenience in leaving the church, no plates
will be held at the doors ; but boxes will be placed there for done-
tions.

The market to-day was extremely well supplied with all the ne-
cessaries of life, and the delicacies of the season—excellent peaches
may be purchased at 4s. per dozen, and other fruit in that propor-
tion. The shopkeepers, too, are all very polite and obliging to
strangers, as well as moderate in their charges, relying more upon
large sales than exorbitant profits during this Northern Carnival.
Lite information I obtained on Thursday of the Committee of
Management having refused to give the I ork newspapers admis-
sions the the performances at the Festival proves to be quite cor.
rect. I waited this morning upon the Rev. W. H. Dixon, M.A.
Chaplain to his Grace the Archbisliny, and, by his desire, after.
wards on the Committee, of which he is chairman, to know if
if were inteded to afford me any facilities for furnishing an ac-
count of the proceedings during the ensuing week. 1 stated at
the same time, that I only wished to ascertain the determination
of the Committee, but by no means to solicit, or press a request,
for accommodation. My application, I observed, was solely
grounded on the general courtesy observed towards the Press
on similar occasions—the conductors of public entertainments
making a practice of presenting the principal Newspapers with
free admissions, and giving every other facility for enabling them
to supply their readers with the tidiest and most accurate de-
tails of what took place. It was in consequence resolved, that the
subject should be taken into consideration, and an answer forwarded
to me at Bellerby's the booksellers in Standgate-street. The
following are the terms of the reply which I received at four o'clock.
" The Committee of Mao tint beg to acquaint Mr.—,
that on the 7th Instant a Resolution was paned. that no free ad-
missions should be granted to the Reporters, Minster and Con-
cert-rooorn."

—, Esq. Committee-room, Mr. 11We:by's,
Stargate, Saturday."
I should not trouble you witli any notice of this attar were it not
to develope the views and feelings in which this treatment of the
Press has originated. I, of course, am accountable for what I
state. and I expressly mentioned to the Rev. Mr. Dixon, this even-
ing, that I should publish the theta which have conic to my know.
ledge, and the impressions they had made. The truth is then,
that a certain Bibliopolist and Newspaper Reporter of York
got himself placed " on the Committee at the outset, and
that he and hi, friends had this Resolution passed, as indi.
motive of a determination to throw obstructions in the way
of Newspapers gener.ily. The person I allude to intends,
at the close of the Festival, to publish a full account of the whole,
embodying all the clandestine information himself and friends can
supply, and afterwards :u re-cast the teport into a pamphlet. To
such an extent has this monopolising feeling been earned that,
until the Minster and Coneert-mom were thrown open to the public
on Tuesday last, a glimpse of either was nut to be bad for lore or
money. The same feeling has excluded all visiters from the re-
hearsal to-day; and, in short, a seal is put on every thing, in order
to make a public benevolent occasion subservient to individual be-
nat. The majority of the Committee, it is but fair to add, have
been imposed on under specious pleas, such as the vast number of
applications they should be troubled with, tea to tall into the
designs of the minority, anti are necessarily pledged by the resolu-
tion already adverted to. The matter is, of course, one of no con-,
sequence, except in a public point of view.
The Mayor of York has issued is notice against illegal rubing,
directing the police officers of the district to give a vigilant attention
to ibis subject, sod to take such active measures respecting it as the
law has authorised them to pursue.

The inhabitants of the metropolis will soon be aster-
lathed by the sight of a balloon, which has been so con-
structed as to be guided in the air. The inventor intends
to go up himself, and to take a given journey of 50 miles
and backin the same day.—Sraday Poptr.
ClllB7ll BR,IV: 'timber of men are now em-
ployed in carry'ng stone, stud squaring it, preparatory to
widening the pyre., t bridge. It is expected the work will
be completed beturc Christmas: •

13.1/3/S
The courses for the King's cut Dauphite's prise were
run yestii.tay, at half-past one, in the Champ de 'Mars.
Neither tile King nor any other member of the Royal Fa-
' mily were present.
The first race was for the Dauphin's grlze, being a cup worth a
thousand francs, and a sum of 2,000 trines. The Streutlemtad,
belonging to Al. Jean ; La Duchesse, belerigiug to Al. Cremieuz :
and La Tigresse, belonging to M. Bettis:au, junior, ran for this
prize. The last named horse won it. having run the first course in
fire minutes 23 seconds and.three.flfthc, and the second course in
five minutes 33 seconds and two-fiftlfs,
The second prize, called the King's prize, consisted of a silver
vase worth 1500 trance, a cup words4l4lo francs. and a sum of 371/0
frames. This prize was contended for by Semiramis, belonging to
Desgrande ; La Jeune-Senail, of M. Duval ; La Miss, belong-
ing to the Duke d'lllecars ; be St:isthmus:l and La Lank, of
Messrs. Tilltard and Drake; and lastly, Le Volage, of Al. Venn-
Leans. La Miss having twice ran round the Champ-de-Alarm, in
flee minutes ten seconds, gained on the first trial. On the second
trial, Le Streatlamtad and Le Volage declined to run. In that
course La Miss was only five minutes and three seconds, which se-
cured her the prize. This is the ehohest time the course has been
performed since the establishment of races in France.
I According to the rules of 11125, the horses and mares of the
fltst class, that it, French by both parents, who should be se-
cond in the race, should hare the „half prize of two thou-
sand rumen,. La Jeune-Senail, and Le Semiramis havingeach
had this advantage in the two preceding courses, they now ran to-
gether to decide which should have that prize. It wile decreed to
Le Semiramis., he having performed this, his third course, in five
minutes and forty-two seconds. The inare, La back, we:
not admitted to partake in this trial, although she had followed
La Miss very closely both the preceding times, because she was
excluded by one of the regulations.
It is said that next year horses of every country in Eu-
rope will he permitted to compete in our races, but after
that trial they are not afterwaath to be permitted to leave
France.- Juurnal des Debats. ,
. _

LITERARY GLEANINGS.
NO. 1-17---C VII. •

THE IRISH SIIILIIIROCK.--The 0,1,1re/oil was VC'Ty
highly regarded in the superstition of the ancient Druids,and
still has particular virtues of a medicinal kind ascribed to it
by the mote ?emote HigbhoderstT Scotland; isitere it is
culled, according to the ancient rites " In the list of plants,"
says a Scotch statistical writer, " must be reckoned the
seamrog, or the wild trefoil, in great estimation of old
with the Druids. It is still considered as an anodyne in
the diseases of cattle; from this circumstance it has derived
its name :4/Rh, in the Gaelic signifying pacific,or soothing.
When gathered, it is plucked with the left hand. The
person thus employed must be silent, and never look back
till the business be finished! !"--P. Kirlonichael, Banff's.
Statist. Ace.

This is the seatprog, or shamrog, worn by Irishmen in
their hats, as °moss says, " by way of a cross, on ST.
PATRICK'S day, in memory of this great Saint."

Gel Loon NE.—An instrument for beheading, constructed
on the same principle as the guillotine, was anciently used
in SCOTLAND, and was called a Maiden ; it was introduced
by the regent JAN Es, Earl of Morton, who, it seems, had
met with it on his travels, and who, by a singular coinci-
dunce, was the first person whose head it severed.
"This mighty Earl (MORTON) for the pleasure of the
place, and the salubrity of the air, designed here a noble
recess Lind retirement from wordly business, but was pre-
vented by his unfortunate and inexorable death, three years
after, anno 1581,being accused, condemned, and executed by
the Maiden, at the cross of Edinburgh, as art and part of the
murder of King Henry, Earl of Dandy, father to NINO
JAMES VI. which fato-1 instrument, at least the pattern
thereof, the cruel REGENT has brought from abroad to be-
4eod the LAIRD or PENNECUTE of that ilk, who, not-
withstanding, died in his bed,- and the unfortunate Earl
was the first that handselled that merciless MAIDEN, who
proved so soon after his own executioner."—Pennecaik's
Descr. of 7'weedule.

CANZONET.
Love and Joy, one April day,
titole a fragile bark, they say
But—when they got once afloat-.
Quarell'il which should steer the boat.
Love grew angry—seized his quiver,
And struck poor Joy into the river!
And tho' his pinions buoy'd him on the wave S
And tho' he wept and pray'd, Love would not save,
But frowning turn'd away—He found a wat'ry grave.
Still the bark is sailing on,
But Love steers her all alone ;
Mournful sits the cruel boy,
Weeping for the death of Joy,
Whose phantom sometimes Hits around the mast,
Recalling all the brightness of the past ;
But if repentant Love woos the light lbrm to stay.
Be spreads his rainbow-wing, and instant lies away.
Ott 'MUSS—ITS ANALOG; TO LITIR•RT ComPOM-
trow.--Dress should be properly adapted to the person,
as, in writing, the style mud be suited to the subject. I
am far from objecting to magnificence of apparel in those
whose rank and fortune justify and allow it; on the con-
trary, it is a useful piece of luxury, by which the poor and
the industrious arc enabled to live at the expense of the
rich and the idle. I would no more have a woman of qua-
lity dressed in doggrel, than a farmer's wife in heroics.
' To those of the first rank in birth and beauty 1 recommend
a noble simplicity of dress; the subject supports itself, and
wants none of the borrowed helps of external ornaments.
Beautiful nature may be disfigured, but cannot be improved
by art ; and as a very handsome woman may be regarded
as the finest subject in nature, her dress ought to be epic—
that is to say, the true Virgilian epic, modest, noble, and
entirely free from the meretricious tinsel of the modern
taste. All conundrums and bitarreries of costume must be
avoided, as well as jarring images and metaphors ; or, in
other words, confusion of colour. All conceits and luxu-
riancies of fancy, which only tend to depreciate so noble a
subject, are strictly prohibited ; and it is but justice to the
handsomest women of England to say, that they generally
keep the clearest from these extravagancies. A graceful
deshabille may be permitted, and even admired, like the
rersi stiolti of the Italians ; but it must never relax into
slovenliness.

As for those of an inferior rank of beauty, such as are
only pretty women, and whose charms result rather from
a certain air and
le me sail quoi in their whole composition,
than from any dignity of figure or symmetry of features,
they may be indulged in greater licenses of ornament, be-
cause the subject not being of the sublimest kind, may re-
ceive some advantages from the elegancy of its style, and
the variety of its images. I therefore permit them to dress
up to all the flights and fancies of the sonnet, the madrigal,
and such minor compositions.
As for that third class who, with perfect neutrality of
face, are neither handsome nor ugly, and who have nothing
to recommend them but a certain quick and lively manner,
or smart and genteel turn of figure, they cannot lie indulged
in a higher style of composition than the epigram, which
should be neat, clever, and unadorned, the whole to lie
in the sting.
I come now to a melancboly part of the subject, upon
which the freedom of my advice will, I fear, not be kindly
taken. I mean that part cf the fair sex who go by the appel-
lation of plain or ordinary, and who (I am compelled, but
sorry to admit) constitute a portion of our countrywomen.
Their dress must not rise beyond humble prose, as any
attempts beyond it amount at best to the mock heroic, and
are calculated to promote laughter. A plain fair one should
by all means avoid all ornamental flourishes of style,
which attract too close an attention, and repay so ill a
critical investigation into the materials of the subject.
Should I be disposed to allow a litle poetry to those of this
class, who have at the same time considerably passed a
" certain age," they must not be confined to the elegy and
the tristibus. If they have Any tendency to bliteism, they
may be indulged with being bound, gilt, and letteted on
the back before they are finally consigned to the shelf.
As to the ultra-ultras of this class, and who are at the
same time " old offenders," we must, for their own sakes,
treat them with rigour to save them from the ridicule of
the Bathos in dressing up to the fashion. The more robust
of these immortal ladies, some of whom we have the happi-
ness of knowing, ought more properly be called a third
sex than a part of the fair one. They should publicly
renounce all thoughts of their persons; and turn their
thoughts another way. They should become honest, pale,
good-humoured old gentlemen. I see no reason why they
should not amuse themselves with field-sports and a cheer-
ful glass; and if they were to attempt getting into Parlia-
ment, I for one should not only have no objection to so
laudable an extension of Major Cartwright's plan of uni-
versal suffrage, but would most cordially assist them with
my vote and interest.—Alham.

The Dutch paper: state, that at Haarlem experiments
have been tried, which have for their object the relief of
persons exposed to shipwreck. The nature of them is not
very distiuctly explained.