The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-09 00:00:00

NORWICH MUSICAL FESTIVAL.

The choruses in Mr. Silas's new work, " Joash,"
were rehearsed on Monday evening in St. Andrew's
Hall, under that gentleman's personal supervision.
Mr. Silas expressed himself pretty well satisfied
with the result, but intimated that the voices ought
to be more concentrated, so as to produce a more
united effect, and some effort will be made to attain
this object. Mr. Benedict was expected down again
yesterday, and last evening the choruses of his can-
tata, " Richard Coeur de Lion," were to be rehearsed.
Mr. Benedict will remain in Norwich during the
remainder of the week. The rehearsal of Monday
evening was attended by about 200 persons, a
charge of ls. being made for edmission ; for as the
period is now approaching when a return must be
secured on the outlay and liabilities incurred, the
committee has abandoned the gratuitous principle
on which it acted last week. During the last few
days applications for tickets ha\ e been received
tolerably freely, and the total represented by the
sale had advanced from £2,500, at which it stood a
week since, to about £3,.300 yesterday. The ex-
penditure will be somewhere about £3,800, so that
there is a very fair prospect of a surplus being
realised, as in 1860. For the Thursday and Friday
morning performances, when " Elijah" and the
" Messiah" will be given, there is scarcely a vacant
beat now available; but the same cannot be said
with regard to the miscellaneous concert of Tuesday
evening and Wednesday morning, at which last
" loash" is supposed to be the staple feature. Great
prominence has been attached to this work;
but as it is a new and untried production, com-
paratively little interest has been displayed with
regard to it. It is right, however, to state that the
programme for this morning includes also the scene
at the Gates of Nain, from Leslie's oratorio " Em-
manuel," and selections from the " Stabat Mater,"
and that Mademoiselle fitiens and Mademoiselle
Trebelli will appear, as well as Sims Reeves. The
usual fittings have been erected in St. Andrew's
Hall, and the bare and naked walls will receive
their old adornments in the shape of time-honoured
portraits of local worthies.

Mr. Charles Mathews upon the French Stage,

(From the Daily News.)
Mr. Charles Mathews, the English comedian,
made his first appearance upon the French stage at
the Theatre des VariLes, in Paris, on Monday
night. The piece selected was a version in French,
under the title of "Un Anglais Timide," of the
actor's own farce of the " Bashful Man." Our
Paris correspondent, writing on Monday night,
gives the following account of the performance:—
" Mr. Charles Mathews has not met with quite such a
great success at the Varietes as I should have been glad to
have recorded, and as I think he deserved. It is always an
arduous task for an actor to play in a foreign language, and
before such a critical audience as a Parisian one the ordeal
is doubly frightful. But Ido not think the comparative
failure of this evening's representation is in any degree
attributable to that cause. Mr. Mathews speaks French
better than almost any Englishman I ever heard. Indeed,
his easy, graceful, and singularly correct pronunciation
might be envied by many an educated Frenchman,
and the very slight English accent occasionally perceptible
was really no detriment at all to such broad farce as the
Bashful Man,' From the moment he stepped upon the
stage it was obvious that all the difficulties of a foreign
tongue had been overcome with marvellous felicity,
Although he speaks with the volubility which he inherits
from his father, every word was audible in every part of
the house and every 'point' told, The fault, if fault there
were, was not in the actor but the author. The humour of
the piece was, in the opinion of the audience, exhausted in
the early part of it, and during the ten minutes which pre-
ceded the fall of the curtain they began to get weary.
"No puff preliminary was resorted to in order to secure
an audience for Mr. Mathews. I heard by the merest ac-
cident that he was to make his first appearance at the
Varietes to-night, and could hardly believe my informant
—so out of the usual course of things did it appear to me
that such a theatrical event should take place without
making more noise beforehand. I went however, to the
door of the Varietes, and there I saw by the bills, Un
Anglais Timide,' a comedy in one act, by Mr. C. Mathews,
was to be produced this evening, and that Mr. C. Mathews
would play the character of Mr. Brown. Thereupon I
secured a stall—which was not difficult, for the theatre
was by no means full at the opening, although before
the ' Bashful Man' began nearly every seat was occupied.
From the conve) cation of people around me I found that
Mr. C. Mathews' fame as an actor had not reached
Paris. A great many came out of curiosity to see an
Englishman play in French; but they knew nothing
about him. The audience was therefore as genuine a
one as could well be. Only if I may trust my own im-
pression there was a cabal of some 20 persons predetermined
to hoot down the Englishman, if they could see their oppor-
tunity. In the early part of the piece Mr. Mathews' acting
of the cool adventurer who makes himself at home in old
Gogo's house, sets his furniture to rights, rehangs his pic-
tures, pokes him in the ribs, orders his servants about, and
makes love to his ward, was fully appreciated, and rewarded
by roars of laughter such as are seldom heard within the
walls of a French theatre. But a comic song in English
was not relished, because not understood, and another song
to the guitar in Neapolitan patois (also not understood)
provoked visible marks of impatience. At last, just as the
very slight denouement of the farce was being worked out
the audience seemed to think the explanations of how it
came to pass that Mr. Brown mistook somebody else for
Goo.o, jun., on a Rhine steamboat, as altogether unneces-
sary, and at all events too long. There was a good deal
of stamping of feet, and some cat-calling, and the curtain
fell amidst considerable disturbance. There was little or no
applause at the end of the piece, and Mr. Mathews was
not called for. I, however, heard several people in the foyer
while criticising the piece, speak highly of Mr. Mathews'
talent, and if he cares to p-rsavere on the French stage I
am quite sure there will be great curiosity to see him when
he becomes better known.

SHIPPING—This Day.

LONDON, Sept. 9.—Wind this day at noon—South-
Westerly; light breeze, and cloudy weather, with rain
during the morning.
FALMOUTH, Sept. 9.—Wind N.W.—Arrived—Pieter,
from Akyab for Liverpool ; Trio, from Cochin ; Carolina,
from liavannah.

BELFAST, Sept. 7.—Wind N.W.—Arrived—Handy,
from Salina.

RAMSGALE, Sept. 7.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Helena,
from Stockholm for Lisbon, assisted in here leaky, and is
discharging her cargo.
PORTSMOUTH, Sept. B.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Maria
J ohanna, from London for Cnrdiff and Baenos Ayres ;
Enable, from Gefle for Bilboa.

CLYRE, Sept. S.—Wind S.W.—Sailed—The Channel
Fleet. for Belfast.

BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
SOUTHAMPTON, Wednesday Morning.
Arrived—Havre, steamer, from Havre ; Purveyor, from
Swanage ; Courier, steamer, from Jersey.
Sailed—Queen, for Plymouth; Antelope, for Cardiff.
BY MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.
GRAVESEND, Wednesday Morning.
Arrived, Sept. B—Hannah Andrews, from Stettin; Frau
Marie, from Taganrog ; John Bruster, from Prince Ed-
ward's Island.
Arrived, Sept. 9—Elkin, from Wykobing ; Pole Star,
from Calcutta; Albert, from Quebec; Four Staters, from
Antwerp ; D. W. Pickering, from Pomeron ; Mellona, from
Guernsey ; Springbok, from Stanbey ; Margaret, from
Malmo; Rover, from Guernsey; Eliza, from Mazagan ;
Sarah King, from Guernsey.
DEAL, Wednesday Morning.
Anchored—Minister, from London, for Sonswald ; John
Exeter, from north, for west.

A FRENCH WATERING PLACE.—It looks a
comical kind of decency to English eyes. The men
are dressed in a sort of trowsers and jersey all in one, which
differs from ordinary garments of that description chiefly
in being much toe short in the legs and arms. This ar-
rangement seems to be a compromise between the Govern-
ment's appreciation of decency and the natural human de-
sire to be as naked as possible in the water. But, to a
stranger, it looks as if all the male population of the place
had been seized with a sudden fancy for dressing in the
clothes of their little boys. Bat they are not the oddest
figures of the scene. The Government having ascertained
the minimum of clothing that is respectable for men,
appears to have come, by a kind of mechanical logic, to
the conclusion that a similar quantity is abundant for
women. The result is, that the beach is
peopled with a
number of nondescript-looking figures, bearing much the
appearance of short, ill-made men, scantily dressed in cho-
colate-coloured serge—a sort of forked radish turned brown
from keeping—which it requires some effort of reasoning,
on the part of people who are not habituated to this Para-
disaical innocence of costume, to believe may possibly be
ladies. All these figures wander about in the aimless dila-
tory way
which appears to be an integral portion of the
amusement. Some are approaching the water with lazy
steps, wondering whether it is not rather cold, and, in the
agonies of deliberation, displaying the beauties of their cos.
tume to considerable advantage. Others, who have had
their dip, are picking their steps wearily over the shingle,
lookinghentsel in
ofvait d
vain for
forriptphieng garments which cling to theircabane where they may relieve
L
figures with a tenacity which gives rather a statuesque
effect, All this time, by way of contrast, the beach is full
of non-bathers—women dressed as only French women can
dress--who , are come to enjoy the. spectacle,—Raturday
.Review.