The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-12-29 00:00:00

MUS!C.

THE MUSICAL SISTERS.
Yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, nightly, and hourly,
we become more and more musical in our habits ! For:
merly the remark applied only to the old world; the are;.
val of the last mail from America proves it to be now.
equally appropriate to the new. The Italian Opera has
been naturalized at New York. The " Falls of Nia_
gara" will shortly tumble as melodiously as " Th 2 Falls of
Clyde"—unpronounceable mountains, like Popocateped, be
smoothed down into a series of semiquavers, and " river,
(hitherto) unknown to song," flow along, through a liquid
lapse of minims, to the air of " Water parted from the sea,"
like the well-behaved dancing-bear in the play. 'lid,
is
just as it should be. What a pleasing reflection to io sideK
that the town of " Concord" will at last have setnethin
better to vindicate its claim to that title than frog mittens!
and that Mr. Owen and his co-operatives will be compelled
to dwell together in " Harmony" in a new sense, and
itr
spite of their ears and parallelograms.
In Europe we do still better. Music is patronised when
other arts car not show themselves without producing dis.
cord. The Holy Allies have taken a hint from our own
Shakspeare, and adopted, in its utmost and most literal
interpretation, his opinion—
" The man that bath no music in himself,
Nor to not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils."
Accordingly Rossini, Meyerbeer, mid Carl Maria yon
ber meet with encouragement, when professors of sciences
and holders of opinions, to the full as literal, thLugh per-
haps not quite so creative of harmony, fare the curse fir
tl.em.

At home here in England—in our own country of
fogs, firesides, and fortepianos--music is also d thriving
art, ar d its professors richly rewarded. We It mour Bishop 3
notes at sight, or rather hearing, when Exchequer bills are
at a discount. Musicians are the only people who can
scar.: without fear of the Insolvent Court ; and to be al-
rnatly flat and sitarp, without impeachment of their
honesty or wit, is to them alone of all other ruortah per.
fectly natural.
8.. t to the point we are all fiddlers fro:n four to forty.
The former part of the sentence is true, if Mr. Nlanning's
account of his youngest daughter is to be credited. We
have se.n the young lady, and, truth to say, there appeared
no reason to doubt the accuracy of the report as to her age.
On the occasion of oar visit to the Egyptian hall yester-
day she executed a variety of pieces of music, both on the
harp and pianoforte--sclos as well as duets—with a degree
of taste, accuracy, and precision, truly astonishing, when
her very tender years and the elaborate nature of the corr.
positions selected as specimens of her talents are consi-
dered. Of course so youthful a performer could not be
expected to excel in execution—the very deficiency of the
necessary physical power incapacitating her from the attain-
ment of that excellence. But in all other respects her style
of playing is good, and, considering the circumstance of her
' years, we may add, surprising. She, as well as her elder
sister, played on excellent time throughout. By the latter,
Kalkbrenner's variations to " Rule 'Britannia" were ex-
tremely well executed on the pianoforte, as was " Di rand
palpiti, ' in which she was accompanied by her younger
sister on the harp. The " Nightingale Duet" was pleas.
ingly played by both on tl:e piano, the younger Miss Man-
wereg the first part. Several oilier pieces of music
played by the sisters, together and separately, in a
style that excited the surprise and satisfaction of a numerous
and elegant assembly. For our own part, we think the
youngest child evinces talents of no common order, which
have certainly been most usiduously, perhaps painfully,
cultivated. We should add, the elder girl is said to be
between seven and eight years of age ; and the instructor of
both sisters is a gentleman named Toulmin.

One more remark—we have no doubt tl.is will be a very
popular, we wish we could add it was to us an entirely
pleasing, exhibition. Apart from the high degree of eco-
cious skill and talent displayed by these children, we do net
consider it as such. 1 t is somewhat painful to see females
of tenders years and frames, after the revere discipline neces-
sary to ensure so early a proficiency in music, exposed to the
gaze of a crowded assembly. Such a specks of training is
not the most favourable to the development of the mental,
moral, or physical, faculties. It seldom or never produces
excellence in the art cultivated:in riper years ; and we do not
wish to dwell upon its other and obvious consequences. Be
this as it may, these are always sufficient people in London
rawly to run after and reward all manner of wonders, no
matter what their nature or tendency. The present exhi-
bition is curious, and in every respect more endurable than
many of a similar nature which have been received with
high favour by the town.

PROVINCIAL BANKS.

WENTWORTH AND CO.

IVe are nearly tired of reporting the tardy proceedings
connected with this firm; anti, though we still feel fully
convinced that all will be paid, yet the continued silence of
the majority of those whose authority is alone valuable, is,
in our opinion, far from proper or satisfactory to the people,
who are anxiously waiting to know if ruin, through delay,
Ike. shall be their portion, or a well founded hope their
anOlor.

The names of the partners have not yet appeared in the
London Gazette, as was expected ; but we know that the
commission of bankrupt has already arrived in the
country, and is now in the hands of a respectable solicitor.
We lately stated that Messrs. Wentworth and Chalon
had sent an order to Mr. Barnes, the head clerk here, to
close the bank and not to open it again on any account.
This order WS" complied with.
Yet amidst all this, Mr. Rishworth on Saturday last at-
tended in York, had the bank opened, in order to show
himself to the creditors, and gave them verbal assurances
that all would he paid.
How far this proceeding is in unison with the present
wishes of the other partners we know not, nor do we care.
The bank remains open, but we know of no advantage the
public can derive from this measure. All that we and the
public wish for, is an open statement of the case, and an
assurance at what time the debts will be paid, according to
human probability. We shall add no more—general re-
marks amount to little, particularly when they do net
come before the public in the form of an official report,
under the decided sanction of the partners altogether as an
undivided firm.—York CONY ant.