The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-17 00:00:00

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THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 17, 1864.

REMEMBER! WE WAIT SUPPER for you
er ,he Covent Garden Opera, at EVANS'. Fail
not!
0..0•01

KINAHAN'S LL WHISKY v. COGNAC
BRANDY.

This celebrated Old IRISH WHISKY rivals the finest
FRENCH BRANDY,
It Pure, Mild, Mellow, Delicious, and very Wholesome.
Sold in Bottles. 3s. Bd., at the Retail Houses in London ; by
the Agents in the principal towns in England ; or wholesale
tt

8, GREAT WINDMILL-STREET, LONDON, W.
Observe the Red Seal, Pink Label, and Cork branded
Kinahan's LL Whisky.",

THE WELLINGTON, ST. JAMES'S-STREET.
In addition to the Pining room on the Ground Floor
(for Gentlemen only), she Saloon Dining Rooms are open for
Ladies and Parties, Daily, from One o'clock.
The WELLINGTON Three Shilling Dinner of Soup, Fish,
Made Dish, Joint, Sweet, &c., from 3to 9 p.m. On nundays
from 5 to 8.30.
By Order of the London and Paris Hotel Co. (limited).
JOHN CATES, Manager.
The Wellington l'ntrance, 160, Piccadilly.
Ladies' Entrance, 53, St. James's-street.

THE SOUTHSEA PIER HOTEL COMPANY
(Limited).
Offices -6, John-street, Bedford-row, W.C.
7th October, 1864.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that an ORDINARY
GENERAL MEETING of the Shareholders of this Com-
pany will be held at the Southsea Pier Hotel, Southsea, in
the county of Hants, on THURSDAY, the 20th day of Octo-
ber instant, at Four o'clock in the Afternoon, for the purpose
of receiving the REPORT of the Directors, and to elect three
Directors and an Auditor in the room of the Directors and
Auditor who will retire from office at such Meeting.
By order,
- •

S. 6. RATTENBURY, Secretary.

PIGS ! PIGS! PIGS!—INDIAN PIG MEAL,
without husks, supplied to the Royal farms, Windsor,
and in every county in England, lOs 6d per cwt. ; one cwt.
equal to 11 cwt. barley or any meal. Delivered free in Lon-
don. Established 1858.— THOMAS PEARCE, Manager, 66,
Lant-street, Southwark.

D' SCOTT'S BILIOUS AND LIVER
PILLS.—A NEVER FAILING REMEDY.—Pre-
pared without anST mercurial ingredient, from the recipe of Dr.
Scott, of Bromley, Kent, will be found invaluable to all who
suffer from bilious and liver complaints, indigestion, wind,
spasms, giddiness, dizziness of the eyes, &a For habitual
costiveness, as a family aperient medicine, and as a purifier
of the blood, they are truly excellent; mild in their opera-
tion and grateful to the stomach, they create appetite, pro-
mote digestion, and strengthen the whole nervous system.
Sold by W. Lambert, 8, King William-street, Charing-cross.
London, and by most druggists, in boxes,ls. lid., and three
times the quantity in one, 2s. 9d. Be sure to ask for Dr.
Soott's Bilious and Liver Pills. The genuine are a square
green package, with " William Lambert," engraved On the
BUMP.

1:11B HON. GRANTLEY BERKELEY.
Just ready, in 2 vols. Bvo , with Portrait, 30s. bound,
MY L 1 F E AND RECOLLECTIONS.
By the Hon. GRANTLEY P. BERKELEY.
Hurst and Blackett, Publishers, 13, lireat Marlborough-
street.

NOTICE.
THE QUEEN OF THE COUNTY,
a New Novrl, by the Author of " Margaret and her
Bridesmaids," in 3 vols., IS Now READY at all the
Libraries.
Burst and Bla:kett, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

AGGREGATE SALE 28,000.
BENTLEY'S FAVOURITE NOVELS.
Ea( h Volume with Two Illustrations.
QUITS ! By the Author of " Ihe Initials" and "At Odds."

- 6s.
EAST LYNNE. By Mrs. HENRY WOOD. es.
NED LOCKSLEY, the ETONIAN. 6s.
THE CHANNINGS. By the Author of "East Lynne." 6s.
THE LAST OF THE CAVALIERS. Os.
MRS. HALIBURTON'S TROUBLES. By Mrs• WOOD. Os.
THE INITIALS. By the Author of " Quits " and "At
Odds." Os.
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street

On 20th October will be published,
THE PERPETUAL CURATE.
By the Author of " Sa em Chapel"
Being a New Series of
THE CHRONICLES OF CARLINGFORD.
Threa vols post Svo., £1 uls. 6d.
William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.

In the press. and will be published in the course of the
month,
OVED AT LAST ! A New Story by MARK
14 LEMON. In 3 vols. post Bvo., price £llls. 6d.
London: Bradbury and Evans, It, Bouverie-street, E.C.

NEW NOVEL BY GUSTAVE AINIARD.
This Day, in 3 vols.,
THE BEE-HUNTRESS.
By GUSTAVE AIMARD,
John Maxwell and Co., Publishers, 122, Fleet-street.

NEW NOVEL BY A CLEItuyAL&N.
This Day, in 2 vo s.,
ASKERDALE PARK, A Novel.
John Maxwell and Co., Publishers, 122, Fleet-street.

NEW NOVEL BY THE AUTHOR OF " LADY AUDLEY'S
SECRET," &O.
NOTICE.—THE DOCTOR'S WIFE,
reprinted from "Temple Bar Magazine," is ready,
in 3 vols., at every Circulating Library.
John Maxwell and Co., Publishers, 122, Fleet-street.

T OAFL3 Tr
AHNEA
eFKA R
forAl
1865,
THORLEY'S
Starr ling and Useful Information for Agriculturists. Price
contains some
d., post free for five stamps. May be had of all booksellers
HFEARBATRKS'
and newsvenders in town and country. Published by Joseph
Thorley, 145, Fleet-street, City.

20th Thousand, price ls.,
DR. HARVEY ON CORPULENCE.—Its
diminution and cure without injury to health, with
Remarks upon the Maladies produced by obesity.
C A.NC tat and CONSUMPTION. New and painless treat-
ment. Price is. By JOHN HARVEY, M.D., 2, Brook-s.reet,
Grosvenor-square.

Smith and Co., 52, Long acre.

JULLIEN'S CONCERTS.-HER MAJESTY'S
THEATRE.
Mr. SANTLEY TO-NIGHT.
POSITIVELY THE LAST. NIIHIT BUT ONE.
THE BAND OF THE DANISH GUARDS.
DANISH NATIONAL VOCALISTS.
The new Danish Fantasia, arranged expressly for this oc-
casion by M. Ju lien, entitled
DANSKE TONER.
Vocalist Mdlle. Liebhart.
Violin M. Lotto,
Conductor
Admission—ONE SHILLING.
M. JULLTEN'S ANNUAL BAL D'OPERA on WED-
NESDAY, October 19.

MR. GERMAN REED'S OPERA DI
CAMERA ENTERTAINMENT TO-NIGHT, at
Eight. THE SLEEPING QUEEN, by M. W. Balfe. With
TOO MANY COOKS, Miss D'Este Finlayson, Miss Poole,
Mr. J. A. Shaw, and Mr. Whiffin.—ROY,L GALLERY of
ILLUSTRATION, 14, Regent-street. Every Evening (except
Sat rday), at 8. Saturday morning, at 3. Admission, ls.,
25., 35., and ss.—On Wednesday Evening next. Oct. 19 (first
time), a New Opera di Camera, entitled THE SERGEAN T'S
LEGACY, composed by G. A. Macfarren, Esq , and written
by John Oxeniord, Esq.

T"EXF 0 R D,
6, OXFORD STREET, W.
The Oxford and Canterbury 11,11 Company (limited P.

LA FAVORITE. MARTHA, THE TROVATORE, &c.,
by the tollowing Artistes, vlz., Misses Russell, Fitz-Henry,
Walmsley, Tyrr, 11, &c. With augmented Band and Chorus,
conducted by Mr. F. Jong-timans.
Mr. JACKSON HANES, the Champion Skater, in his per-
formane-,' on the rawiug Room Skates, of Quadrilles,
Varsovieune?,

UNSWORTH (or any other man), EUGENE, W. Randall,
H. Nash, He; r He mann, and Mdlle. Cavalho.
LE PETIT hLONDIN THIS EVENING:
Admission—Area, 6d. ; stalls and balcony, le.; private
boxes, 10s. od.

CANTERI3URY H ALL.
Triumphant Success of

PRINCE PERFUME AND PRINCESS BOUQUET.

Under the title of Prince Perfume and Princess Bouquet
is nightly to be seen at the Canterbury Hall a Magic Spectacle
far tremseendincr in poetry of concept on, b auty and in-
genuity of arrangement, scenic effect, and brilliancy of light
and colour any former ap lication (even at this Hall) of the
princiole k,own as the OPTICAL ILLUSION. n this last
collective disp ay of scenic art and of brilliant choreographic
and statuesque grouping will be found pictures surpassing
some of the greatest achievements of the Modern Extra-
vaganza—Ste "THE SHIPWRECK " "Trim PHANTOM
COMBA V," and " THE CURTAIN 'OF FIRE."
The "Illusive Sketch," which is the centre of these corns-
caton s. is by Mr. W. F. Vandervell • the overture and inci-
dental music by Willem Vandervell:
Prince Perfume, Mrs. 'William Randall.
The Oxford and Canterbury Hall Company (limited).

PROMENADE
CONCERTS.
TIHE STRAND MUSICK HALL
_i_ will OPEN THIS EVENING (Monday), Oct. 17, with
a Company composed of the following eminent Artistes :
Vocalists—Madlle. Rosa Wilks' of the Conservatoire Royale
de Musique, Brussels, and of the Principal Concerts of
Belgium, Holland, Germany, prance so. ; Madlle. F nny
Molidoff. Prima Soprano of the Principat Concerts of France,
Germany, Prussia. Belgium, .te.; Madlle, Carlotta Mayer, of
the Prin-ipal Concerts of France, Belgium, Germany, &c.
Instrumentalists—Violin, c
, Signor Giovanni Adelmann,
Principal Violinist at the Conservatoire de Milan; Cornet-
it-Piston, Mons. Duhem, Professor at the Conservatoire
Royale at Brussels ; Pianoforte, Mons. Tito Mattel, Pianist
to his Majesty the Kin;,r, of Italy.
Orchestra—First Violin : Principal, Herr Strebinger :
Messrs. Mackenzie, J. Russell, c, G., eespaeh, P. Marsh, A.
Haynes. Second Vi lin : Principal, Mr. J. Newsham ;
Messrs. Gunnis, J. Ma'shall, T. Porter. Viotins: I rinciPal,
P. Anderson.
Mr. H. Smyden ; Mr. Thompson. Violoncellos: Pri, Mott'
and Solo, Mr. W. F. Reed; Mr. Schroeder. Contra Bassi :
Principal, Mr. W. Castell ; ifir. Vernon Percival. Flumes:
Principal srd Solo, Mr. C. A. W ells • Mr J. Edwards. Oboes :
Principal and Solo, Mr. C. Engle ; dr. A. Lane. Clarionettes
Principal and Solo,S Mr. G Tyler ; Mr J. Tyler. Bassoons :
Horns : Principal, Mr. W. Handley ; Mr. J. Titley. Cor-
nets : Principal sad Solo, Mr. A. Boulcourt ; Messrs. J.
Davis, 11. H. Stratford. Trombones : Alto, Mr. F. Kendall;
Tenor, Mr. Rochester ; Basso. Mr. J. Marls. Euphonium ;
Principal and 010,
Cass
Sig. A. Jannotta. Tympany : Mr T. P. ChiPP.
11.
Grosse e • .
Mr. F. BUXtO Sure Drum, Triangle, &c.: Mr. C. Thomp-
son. llarp : Mr. Stratford.
Musical Director, Mr F. Kingsbury.
- - -

Private boxes, 105. 6d. ; box stalls, 25. 6d. ; balcony and
stalls, 2s. ; area, is.
Box-office, 17, Wellington-street.

Open Every Evening at Half-past Seven o'clock, and corn
mence at light.

added. Admission nortrait model
MADAME TUSSAUD'S EXHIBITION
Established 28 years at the Bazaar, Baker-street.
Isnow
full n
ag td
Napoleon Rooms and Chamber of horrors, 6,1 extra. ,
le 31N 01
IirLERA, DtapkieTnif°rNoin—lifAe,
Open from 11 in the morning till 10 at night

ARGYLL ROOMS, Great Windmill-street,
in addition to the
Piccadilly.
Sole Proprietor, B. B. BIGXELL.
popular Operas, Il
Trovatore, Traviata, Rigolettc, &c. ; Meyerbeer's Etolle du
DaDnucrein3vgiuthsiec,wseeeklec, atniodntsilflrfountrthvererndtice,
Nord, Huzuenots, &C. ; Melodies of the Forest, Valse, Gny
Manneriug, Polka, ctc.
Conductor—L. CURTI.
Doors open at half-past S.—Admission, One Shilling.
Manager-31. GRENET.

SHORTHAND.—PITMAN'S P
- HONOGRA
PHIC TEACHER 6d.; free by post, 7d.

SHORTHAND.-PITMANS PHONOGRA,
PHIL MANUAL. Free by post, is. 6d.

PHONO-
GRAPHY IigAPN AN'S
efficient-probably
the MOST efficient-system
,I;HforAmsNaDn
Rowland HIM exceedingly

Power, in Case, 255.
, 0 Miles,
PO( lc I,lTust
IIVIIMOSCOPE and TELESCOPE combined,
215.; Ditto, and for Astronomy, 40s. MICROSCOPES in
Cabinets, 3 Powers, 10s. at, magnifies 15,000 times; Ditto,
TELESCOPES,inroduced, othof
define wonsdaeiriflue
stiles,
, 1 0
8.
6d. ;
magnifying 3C,001, 215., with Animalcule Cage, Life Box, &c.
Lare Compound Achromaac Ditto, power 65,000, 84s.
The most powe:ful Race Glasses, made with sling cases,
at 40s.
MAGIC LAN TERNS alai DISSOLVING
111.. VIEWS.-111agic Lanterns and 36 Pictures, 7s. 6d.' •
Larger Size, 10s. 6d. Dissolving Apparatus complete, 70s.
Descriptive Catalogues for two stamps. poet Orders pay-
able Upper Baker-street.
BERNARD DAVIS, 430, EUSTON-ROAD, LONDON.
Optician to the Institutions.

QPECTACLE S.—Lenses ground on a new
tproewmeer oldn d
age,wwith
th which the smallest print may
principle, requiring less than half the usual magnifying
be read to ex-
•
(From the "Medical Circular," Nov. 16, 1859.)
"We have seen Mr. Davis's improved spectacles, and by
their aid the most defective vision may be improved."
Steel Frames and Pebbles, 10s. 6d. and 7s. 6d. Glasses,
ss. 6d., 4e. 6d., 35.q.1.... Country residents suited by stating
age.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

THE " SATURDAY REVIEW" ON THE VERY
SHAM FIGHT.—The story of how this match was
made, and how it did not come off, has been told by
the sporting papers in their very best style. W e
propose to compile, for the benefit of those who are
not habitual readers of those papers, a brief narra-
tive of the rise, progress, and ultimate failure of
the match. It appears that, by articles of agree-
ment dated June 10, 1864, Mace agreed to fight
with Coburn " a fair stand-up fight according to
the rules of the Ring of the Pugilistic Benevolent
Association." The connection between pugilism and
benevolence, however obvious to the properly in-
structed mind, may possibly need some elucidation
far the general reader, and therefore we will give
what is, we believe, the correct explanation—
namely, that the above-nam'ed Association, which
is similar in its objects to those which are main-
tained by other trades and professions, depends
for support partly upon the proceeds of the sale of
inner-ring tickets at prize-fights ; and hence the
managers of the Association have been invested
with authority to appoint ring-keepers, and gene-
rally to superintend the ring and the proceedings
which take place within and around it. This ar-
t angement is not bad in theory, but a practical d ffi-
.
culty sometimes arises when a ring-keeper who
has received a considerable sum for tickets prefers
to keep that sum in his pockets, instead of handing
it over to the treasurer of the P.B.A. The only
remedy of the managers of the Association in such
a case is by a process similar to that of excommue
nication by a Church of a disobedient member ; and,
unfortunately,the similarity may be traced, not only
in the process, bat in the equanimity with which it
is apt to be received. In the present case, it was to
be apprehended that, even if the ring keepers were
ready to do their duty, the natives of the country
in which the fight was appointed to take place
would scarcely be found amenable to the delegated
authority of the P.B.A. We know very well that
Irishmen have conscientious objections to the use of
the fist, but if one of these ring keepers had pro-
duced, as they sometimes do, a staff to enforce order,
we certainly should expect that some of the com-
pany would respond to such a congenial demonstra.
Lion. It could scarcely be said to be impossible that
a genuine attempt to bring off this fight in Ireland
would end in a general row and scrimmage ; and
if it was likely that the police would be called in
finally, it would be just as well for them to inter-
fere in the first place. However, to return to Mace
and Coburn, it was provided by the articles between
them that the fight should come off on Tuesday,
October 4, above 20 and under 100 miles from
Dublin, and that the referee should be chosen the
day before fighting. The men went into training
in due course, and both were reported to be doing
well and to be full of confidence. Mace obliged the
sporting world at Doncaster by walking over from
his training quarters at Sheffield to the races ; and
certainly both his appearance and the report which
his trainer gave of his pedestrian and other per-
formances were well calculated to inspire his backers
with the confidence which he professed himself.
When he said, after receiving 'the final polish from
his trainer, " I want to have a fight with Coburn be-
cause I am so well," it is likely that he was speak•
ing almost the only word of truth that has been
uttered in connection with these proceedings.
The train which left Euston-square on the morning
of Saturday, the Ist instant, was ominously unfure
nished with fighting " mugs." We learn that such
members of the P,R. as undertook the trip suffered
as much as weaker and less famous men in crossing
the Irish Channel. Even Mace himself, in the full
perfection of his training, enjoyed no exemption
from the ordinary sufferings of humanity. Sunday
and Monday brought a considerable accession of
leading pugilists, and also a detachment of those
hangers-on of the Ring, with regard to whom it
must have seemed mysterious how they got to Ire.
land, and still mere mysterious how they would
get back. If they never got back at all, the balance
of profit and loss between the two countries on the
transaction, would not perhaps be against England.
These worthies, it may be supposed, went over in
hopes of a job of ring keeping, and having with
extreme difficulty scraped together enough money
for their passage over, they must have been reduced
to provide for their passage back by expedients into
which it would be unkind to inquire too particu-
larly. We can only hope that the warning given
by the editor of Bells Life, "that he has his eye
upon them," will have the desired eff et, but we must
own that, in reference to the security of purses and
watches, we should prefer the eye of a policeman.
It very coon became evident that there was no pro-
bability of bringing the fight off, even if there had
been any desire to do so, which is extremely
doubtful. It will be interesting to see how Mr.
Edwin James treats these Irish proceedings in the
columns of the New York Clipper; and as American
journalists have had great experience in the mani-
pulation of similar materials, we should not be at
all surprised to find Coburn transformed into a
hero. But if he goes back leaving matters as they
now stand, his fellow-townsmen of New York can
hardly help feeling that they have been taken in ;
for they certainly got up an enthusiastic demon-
stration at his departure, under the belief that he
was going across the ocean to fight Mace. His
conduct bears rather a strong resemblance to that
of the gentleman who appointed time and place for
a hostile meeting, and earnestly entreated all his
friends on no account to give warning to the police.
Coburn sent Mr. Edwin James to the place ap-
pointed for the choice of a referee the day before
that named for the fight, and he instructed him to
name one Mr. Bewley, a hotelekeeper of Limerick,
of whom nobody had ever heard before, and to
agree to no one else. The representative of Mace, on
the other hand, proposed one well-known and unex.
ceptionable person, and even offered to agree in
choosing Mr. Edwin James himself. The con-
clusion drawn by Mace and his friends from the
proceedings of their opponents was the very
natural one that it was useless to remain
any longer in Ireland, and accordingly they
returned to England that night, Colearreproceeded
next day to the appointed place, which was 95
miles from Dublin, and, presenting himself at the
appointed time, threw his cap into a hastily formed
ring, and claimed the stakes. The police were at
hand in considerable force, but did not interfere,
probably because they knew that Coburn, however
valiantly disposed, could not fight unless he bad
somebody to fight with him. But at earlier stages
of the proceedings the police displayed great acti•
vity, and laid hands on several robust persons on
Suspicion that they were the intended combatants.
But the people and the police of this happy land
showed utter ignorance of what a trained pugilist
ought to look like, and the general impression ap-
peared to be that any big man seen in the street
was likely to be Mace or Coburn, and the more
likely in proportion to his bigness. Almost the
only good that has resulted from this'visit of Eng.
lish pugilists to Ireland has been to demonstrate,
what certainly needed domonstrating—namely, the
peaceable, law-abiding character of the Irish people.
If we were to attempt to take an elevated view of
the proceeding, we should say it was a mission for
propagating the doctrine of the superiority of the
fist over ',.se stick, and we should have to own that,
like some other missions, it has been unsuccessful.
There may have been some slight stimulus given to
the business of sporting public-houses by the
announcement that their proprietors had returned
from Ireland brimful of whisky and of anecdote.
But, on the other hand, the expenses of the journey
must have been considerable—not to mention such
disagreeable incidents as "breaking down bodily
at the first mouthful of boiled mutton and caper
sauce," and being reduced to a state of pitiable
incapacity for drinking, smoking, and almost for
swearing, during the passage of the Channel. It
would be superfluous to expend compassion on the
deluded backers who have found money for the
combatants. It is stated that £BOO has been
advanced to Mace to make good his battle money
and for expenses, and, as Coburn had to cross the
ocean, even a larger sum must have been found for
him. If those who advanced this money are
satisfied with what they have got or are likely to
get for it, nobody else has any reason to complain ;
but, with our limited knowledge of American insti-
tutions, we cannot understand what Coburn's
motive could have been for playing a part in such
a farce. The net result of all that has taken place
in reference to the so-called international contest
appears to be that a considerable sum of money has
been spent, and a great deal of trouble has been
spent, to make the prize ring contemptible. The
enemies of pugilism can desire nothing more than
that pugilists should pursue their present course.
THE SPECTATOR ON THEATRIC REALISM.—The
sue-
ceps of Mr Boucicault's play, "Streets of London,"throws a
curious light upon the present taste of the English public
Night after night for 60 nights the Princess's Theatre has
been crammed to the roof till the gallery looks like one of
those quaint photographs lull of tightly packed faces, with
crowds anxious to applaud a play whose only merit is a
rough and partial realism. The story itself is a crude
mixture of a scene from "Hard Cash," David Dod's
arrival at Mr Harding's bank, and a French play called
"Les Pauvres," and the French portion has not been very
carefully adapted, English people do not stifle themselves

with charcoal, either in sight of an audience or out of it,
nor do English policemen release criminals arrested on
warrants from motives of high-flow," generosity. Ihe
dialogue though pointed is not better than the ordinary
dialogue of plays which do not succeed, and very much
inferior to the dialogue of either the " colleen Beam" or
the " Ticket of Leave," and the acting is of the poorest and
most conventional kind. Everybody looks his or her part
decently, but except the gentleman who represents the
fraudulent banker, whose shrewd villany and courage are
the only genuinely dramatic feature in the play, and Mr
Vining who acts the fraudulent clerk, nobody realizes even
the common-place ideas which the piece contains. The
comedian will not understand the distinction between
comedy and buffoonery, and acting for 5 minutes—when he
brings news of the fire—almost as well as Toole reduces
the rest of his part to an absurd pantomime. Paul
the victim of the fraud is a stick who does not even
stand silent effectively, while Miss Barnett's ex-
pression of the hard hearted, purse proud, over-petted
London girl is very much what a ladys-maid's would
be if she tried to assume the character. Even Mr. 'Vining,
who undoubtedly can act, succeeds only in the first half of
his part, giving the shrewd scoundrelly clerk very fairly,
and the clerk returned from California perfectly, but acting
the clerk ruined but comic with too single an eye to the
notion of fun entertained in the gallery. Still with all
these drawbacks the piece succeeds, for it has in it, as we
said, a rough inartistic realism more especially of locale.
One scene is laid at Charing Cross on a winter's night, and
the spectators having just seen it outside welcome it inside
with boisterous applause. It is capitally painted to begin
with, and the hot-pie man and the man who walks about
with an illuminated advertisement on his head, the police-
man and the boy who tumbles, the chestnut furnace, and
the woman who begs are all introduced, and all with one
exception are as real as if just hired out of the streets, as is
very likely the case. The exception is the woman who has
to do something beyond looking the part, and who accord-
ingly begs with a scream for which if she did it outside she
would be taken up by the police. The whole is, however,
well arranged, and the delight of the audience with a scene
which gives them nothing to think about, which they can
criticise minutely without fear of error, wed which appeals
to the memory and not the imagination, is most amusingly
exuberant. London from Hampstead is not quite so well
done, at least it has never been our lot to see Hamp-
stead under that Florentine atmosphere, but there is
a crowning tableau. A house in some lane off Co-
vent Garden is set on fire, burns and explodes before
the audience, white the regular crowd of loafers,
street girls, street Arabs, policemen, firemen, and horses
make up a scene of noise, confusion, and excitement which
keeps the breath of the house suspended, It is really a most
creditable piece of carpentery and arrangement, and we only
hope for the sake of the lessee and the owner that Mr.
Lloyds, who designed it, knows the use of tungstate of soda,
for if the canvass once caught the flame of those spirit
lamps, precaution would not be of much avail. The final
scene seems poor and ineffective after the grand ." effect,"
but the audience depart delighted, having seen and heard
nothing except an indifferent repetition of what they see
every day. The taste for realism, which is the taste of the
hour and in its way a sound one, has been gratified, and
author and lessee will probably realise thousands by a piece
which, if the scene were laid in Paris, would not rua a
week. Will nobody take advantage of the new fancy to
give the theatre-going public a genuine play, a drama of
the life of to-day, with all this scenic realism and some-
thing else besides, a dialogue worth hearing for itself and
a plot reasonably interesting and consistent P Is all the
plot-making ability in England consumed in making
novels, or does the want arise from the absence of a link
between the playwright and the manager ? The latter
may have, and we think has, something to do with it. It is
the natural temptation of managers to apply for aid only,to
known "hands,' men who have succeeded, and the difficulty
of getting a play acted at all unless written by a known
London professional checks or suppresses invention. Why
should not managers act like publishers, announce that
plays sent them would really be read, and pay by success,
so much for every acting night? There must be dramatic
ability sufficiently intelligent to comprehend the taste of the
hour left somewhere or other in the land, and a successful
piece nowadays must pay well. The poverty of the theatres
has become a tradition, and though the change has not yet
attracted many educated men to the stage, it has given
managers energy and hopefulness enough to try experi-
ments. In a country which once had the richest native re-
pertory in the world, it cannot be necessai y for lessees to
rely exclusvely on adaptations made from the French, and
in their English dress either so unnatural that they fail
from the first, or, like the catastrophe in the " Strews of
London," so un-English that the pit at the moment of
horror does not see what is going on, or, like " Gabrielle do
Belleislo" so " improper" that the adaptor is compelled to
sacrifice the point, and make the plot absurd lest English
morality should take just offence. People arc wanting to
see to-day on the stage, and not last century. Who acts
Lord Foppington P-- but Lord Dundreary brings a fortune.
A drama as good say as the "School for Scandal," but
filled with the people of Mt, and surrounded by the ac-
cessories which modern skill in carpentry crn produce,
seems to be the thing required, and it surely cannot be
wholly beyond the range of English inventiveness.

THE " LONDON REVIEW' ON THE NAUTICAL CIRCUM-
LOCUTION OFFICE.—Mr Dickens is frequently taken to
task for raising whet is called a shallow and ignorant pre-
judice against the administration of business in Govern-
ment offices. We are told that the British Circumlocution
Office is as unreal and fictitious a creation as the Milord of
French comedies, or the Island of Barataria in " Don
Quixote." But several times a year the Board of Admi-
ralty conies forward upon the stage to perform a new and
original pas de fascination and to vindicate the truthful-
ness of Mr Dickens. There is, after all, such a place as
the British Circumlocution Office. There is a happy ad-
ministrative valley, as secluded from the world as the
valley of Rasselas itself, where the inmates play at leap-
frog all day at the national expense, where ships are built
that cannot swim, and ships that can swim are imme-
diately dismantled. A famous Greek author tells us of
the Egyptians that they seem to do everything by the rule
of contrary. The Egyptien women dig, he observes, in
the fields while the Egyptian men stay at home and
spin. The modern Egyptians will be found without
much difficulty at Whitehall, absorbed in the pro-
fitable and interesting task of throwing the Eng-
lish navy into a state of inefficiency, complicating
dockyard accounts, underpayimg valuable seamen, pro-
moting the world advancement of incapables, and muddling
themselves alternately over targets and guns.. There is a
Providence, says Gibbon, that watches over imbecility; nor
can it be denied that the Board of Admiralty has the host
claims to its protection. Wooden ships are passing into
disrepute. But the wooden walls of Old England will sur-
vive so long as the Admiralty stand. The naval affairs of
the greatest maritime nation in the world are administered
by a department which seems impervious to all reform, and
whose present spokesman in the House of Commons, Lord
Clarence Paget, is only remerkable in that assembly for his
uniform and invariable inaccuracy in every single official
statement that is extorted from him. The paying off of the
Royal Sovereign at this precise moment is the Admiralty's
last and perhaps its most singular feat this year, The ques-
tion of turret-going ships being just now the one question
which it is of paramount importance to solve, with charac-
teristic ingenuity the Admiralty, as soon as Parliament is
up, and they got their hands loose, proceed at once to shelve
it. It is something like the dismissal of the Iron Plate
Committee early in the summer. For the last two years
the Iron Plate Committee had been labouring with con-
summate success at experiments between plates and guns.
Just as the contest was arriving at its solution, the Ad-
miralty broke up a committee, which had succeeded till
then—a rare achievement—in giving satisfaction to both
impartial critics and private inventors alike. The cause
was known in official circles to be that the Iron Plate Com-
mittee entertained a very different opinion to Lord Clarence
Paget and his colleagues with respect to the originality of a
certain Admiralty target. Within a few days after Sir John
Hay had expressed this opinion in the house, the Iron
Plate Committee were quietly informed that the necessity
for their labours was at an end, If, in the few experiments
that they were permitted to make before closing their report,
they virtually solved the great problem of heavy guns, no
thanks at all is due to the Admiralty, though a great deal
of thanks is due to their own industry and zeal. We
know now, in spite of the blunders of the Admi-
ralty, that England can make heavy rifled guns,
which, with steel shell, will shatter every float-
ing target in existence, In the last three
months this fact has been made patent to the
country. Whatever may be the future improvements in
artillery, great guns up to 600-pounders now exist, and can
be turned out to any number, which would destroy a fleet
of ironclads as easily as the lighter service guns would de-
stroy a fleet of wooden vessels. This fact ascertained, the
all essential question is how best to build ships to carry and
manceuvre them, and the Royal Sovereign is a most impor-
tant experiment on this very subject. She is not a floating
battery, as the anonymous but official apologist of the Ad-
miralty in the Times suggests. To insinuate that a turret
i
ship can be nothing more than a floating battery s to beg
the very question that is in debate, and the very .
question
which the Royal Sovereign was meant to elucidate the
Admiralty would only resign themselves to givin her fair
play, Instead of lotting the Royal Sovereign furnish data on
the subject, the Admiralty take the opportunity of the re
recess
to pay her off, and put her in the steam reserve, She is to
be attached, forsooth, to the Excellent as a tender, t
o carry
out experiments with turrets and guns. What possible good
she can renderinthisTcahpaatchiteyrrteumtraeitnssaannd inhsectrguutanbslewniiily
workstery
to ordinary minds.
in harbour or on a mill-pond may be easily conceded. What
the ;ship, to say nothing of her apparatus, can perform

'-kPF,II

in a heavy sea, is the only thing w4r h r"SePyiyigeiskr'
the Admiralty and their chief adviser .tesOlutely:rpf4asst*s",
examine. The excuse is so ludicrous that 'tsar' efeibtrea.../
been invented as an afterthought. That tfls published:P.
the Times newspaper, we probably owe to the misdirected
literary zeal of a well• known adviser of the Admiralty, whey
does not scruple in person to descend masked into the
arena of anonymous controversy. It is that in July a list
of defects was sent up by Captain Osborn to Whitehall,
which have not yet been made good. A hawsepipe was
accidentally destroyed, it seethe, by a casual shot ; this
much we know upon authority. The other defects an
not detailed, and on the legal principle that all things are
to be presumed against wrongdoers, we shall presume
that they are lighter and more trifling than the Admiralty
like to say. But what have the Admiralty been ding to
mend them ever since July ? Apparently nothing, and
unless their advocate gives us a list of what defects still
require immediate attention, we may fairly assume that the
awful catastrophe of the hawsepipe will have been sufficient
to send a British ship into dock for all the autumn and
winter months.

"THE READER" ON THE LAST or THE TROUBADOURS.
—Till within the last few days, at the entrance of the
Promenade du Gravier at Ager, on crossing the street,
cue object was sure to attract the eye of the passer by—
a bright blue fl ig, destined hereafter to become more
celebrated than either of those banners which have re-
cently occupied Garter King-at-Arms and his assistant
heralds for two whole days in removing or fixing up at
Windsor. This blue flag was tree from all coat armour,
and simply, within a border of gold, contained the words
" Tasmin, Coiffeur." To the readers of Longfellow the
name has long been familiar as that of the famous Lan-
guedoc troubadour, The flag is now removed; the poet
barber died on the 6th inst,, and another knight, not less
celebrated than those whom Garter represents, has passed
away, for the poets coiffeur was a knight of several orders,
wore the Cross of the Legion of Honour, the Order of Gre-
gory the Great (presented to him by Pius IX, for his devo-
tion to religion), and the Spanish Order of Isabella the
Catholic. Though up to the time of his death he followed
his lowly calling, the Journal de Lot et Garonne appeared
with a mourning-border when announcing his death, for in
life the poet was honoured by the great and good. A gold
watch-chain and seals, the gift of the citizen king Louis
Philippe, and an emerald ring from the late Duke of Orleans
were among the personal ornaments worn by him. A
golden laurel crown from St Clemente Isaure, Toulouse,
and a golden goblet from Auch testified the estaem in
which he was held by his compatriots. His portfolio was
filled with compliments from ambassadors, great lords, and
poets; and, through the good offices of the late Duchess of
Orleans, M. Salvandy, than Minister of the Interior, gave
him, in 1840, a pension of 1,000 francs. No wonder that
Jacques Jasmin was vain, Like the great Napoleon, he
summed up his pedigree in one word :—D'un pore bossu,
d'une mere boiteuse, naquit un enfant—et cat enfant etait
Moil" He was the son of a poor tailor, and was born at
Agen in 1798. In 1825 he began his political career with
the poem "Me cal mouri." In 1835 appeared "Los Papil.
lotos," and in 1836 " L'Abuglo de Castel-Cuillee," the
story of a girl abandoned by her lover on her being struck
with blindness. This beautiful poem attracted universal
attention, Longfellow translated it, and it will be found in
his works with these introductory lines—

" Only the Lowland tongue of Scotland might
Rehearse this little tragody aright;
Let me attempt it with an English quill,
And take, 0 reader, for the deed the will."
Indeed, Jasmin's verses bear a strong resemblance to Burns.
In 1840 he published " Frangonnetto." It was his favourite.
When travelling about, as was his wont, from town to
town of the South, reciting his poet'y like a troubadour
of old, he once said, with great naviete, " True, true, I am
a troubadour ; but I am far above all others : they
were but bungling tyros, amd never Emit forth a poem like
my Frangennetto.' " " Marthe la Folle" followei in 1544,
"Les Deux Freres Jumaux" in 1845, "La Semain (run
Fils" in 1849, and, close upon it, " Ma Vigne," in which ho
confesses that he allowed the lads to steal his grapes, be-
cause, as a boy, he had often stolen flail himself. It is said
that several unpublished poems are kit behind him. Of
simple habits and a most kindly disposition, he was much
beloved; and on Saturday last, the day of his funeral,
which took place at Agen, the entire population turned out
to honour his remains. The funeral was a public one, but
the mourning was sincere and general. During the solemn
service of the Church a deep impression was proiuced by
the organ playing the air of Jasmin's first poem, "Me cal
mouri" (I must die), before the last tones of Mozart's
" Miserere" had died away.