The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-04 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 4, 1863,

selves deep in the planking. Some shells went through
the second target whole, and exploding by the percussion,
scattered their fragments far and wide, and deeply indent-
ing the surface of the third target. There was not on the
surface of the three targets, each about twenty feet long by
six feet high, a apace o' six inches square that was free
either from splintered holes, or pieces of the shell sticking
into it. The casualties that would have occurred to a body
of troops indulging in the fancied security afforded by a
slight indentation of the ground, or any similar cover,
would have been terrffi2,. Enough having been seen by
those who took the trotble to inform themselves on the
subject of the efficacy of the Armstrong shell, the party
returned to Newcastle.

The Crystal Palace and its Flower Beds,
AS DESCRIBED BY THE REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER IN A
LETTER COMMUNICATED TO THE " NEW YORK INDE-
PENDENT."

I have just returned from spending a day at Sydenham
Crystal Palace. The day was glorious. Everybody had
said, "You must go to Sydenham I" I had read descrip-
tions of it. Yet, the meaning of it never dawned upon me
till to-day—this most wonderful of all modern English
achievements. Even alter having been at Chatsworth, one
of the Duke of Devonshire's seats, reputed, hitherto, to be
the finest in the world for landscape-gardening, Sydenham
is still more wonderful. This vast Crystal Palace, vast
but not massive, springs into such huge proportions, with,
such a fine and almost ethereal structure, that you can
scarcely believe it to be more than a picture; or, if a veri-
table building. one which the winds will blow away. It is
the very antithesis of castles and cathedrals. These impress
you with their solidity. They are mountains of stone, and
seem to be durable, as the mountains from which the stone
was hewn. Against their huge walls has dashed battle and
siege, almost in vain. Time itself, that never raises its siege,
seems in vain, with wind, and art, and frost, to have
assailed many mighty media3val structures. And when
you look upon them you feel the solidity, the mighty
massiveness. But this film upon the sky—the gossamer
spun last night by fairies,
this glimmering, luminous, tran-
sparent spectre of a palace I Can it be real, durable,
tangible ?

The grounds on which this ethereal pile is erected are
worthy of the vast jewel which they hold upon their bosom.
There is every variation of hue and slope. The grass is
shaven close and is as green and velvety as only English
grass can be. Cut into its green are innumerable beds of
gorgeous flowers of every. hue. You are dazed and dazzled
at the wealth of flowers, the clamps of rhododendrons, the
belts, beds and ribbons of colour, the circles of roses. I have
travelled in the prairies of the Great West, and seen the
sheets and billows of flowers that stretch with endless pro-
fusion there. There is no such wild and extravagant abun-
dance here. It was as if the flower angel had sounded the
trumpet, and a prairie of flowers had rushed to camp to be
brigaded and marshalled ; and now, in ranks and squadrons,
in files or companies, they carry their floral lances to this
innocuous worof beauty! Lakes, fountains and pools abound.
The most gorgeous dream of the Arabian Nights would turn
pale and fade out in the presence of the substantial glory of
horticultural skill. If I had had time, I should have been
amazed at the literature of colour spread out here.
These flowers I had seen, all of them, growing loose and
disconnectedly. Here they were gathered into artistic
groups by similarities or contrasts. I had seen them a
scattering alphabet of beauty, every letter by itself. Here
they were composed into words and sentences. My eye
drank and was drunk with colour. I turned from the
grounds to the building, and from it again to the grounds.
0 happy people, who can come hither so easily 1 For the
immortal glory of this enterprise is this : that this palace
and grounds, that have no parallel or equal in the world,
are presented by the wealth of London to the common
people I Ido not believe that so extraordinary a combi-
nation of rational pleasure for every sense and sentiment of
a man was ever before combined. Not for the Government,
not for kings or nobles, not for a rich and refined class, but
for the great common people, has this miracle of beauty
and use been wrought 1

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Every
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er affordon:
Egypt and walk in the temples. You stand in
wllvcGiiaivtorsptWeemilioeetink:naitnalhilHalls. You see the altars and statues, the Parthe-
non, the friezes, the gods. You enter a Roman dwelling.
All is re-produced as in the days of Augustus. You stand
in the gorgeous Alhambra, in the Pompeiian house, in the
Byzantine court, in the Norman, the early English, the
full Gothic buildings or courts. The illusion is complete.
Time is dead. The old has come back, and is new. Nay,
distance is ended. You seem to be in different ages and
widely different countries, all at the same time. You lose
your identity, whether you are ancient or modern—whether
you are at Athens, or Rome, or Byzantium, you cannot
tell. Or is it a gorgeous dream ? Is this some sorcerer's
kaleidoscope, whose every turn rattles the elements of
various ages and countries into strange conjunctions?
The illusion is increased by the unity of all climates in
' the vegetable kingdom. Under this glass hemisphere the
temperate and torrid zones dwell together in peace. There
is room for everything. As you stand at one end, you look
down through a crystal aisle more than 1600 feet, and over
this long, luminous path there is no roof until you rise a 174
feet in the centre, and 110 on either side of it. Along this
vast track are gathered the rarest vegetable productions of
the globe, growing in soil, air, or water. Vines cover the
iron columns, and spread out their filmy branches along the
connecting rods. Huge pendant baskets, filled with trailing
plants, swing in the air at heights that hide their support,
and cause them to be supported. Marble-lined reservoirs
of water, artificially heated, are covered with aquatic lilies,
From step to step, all the way down, you come upon the
most magnificently grown shrubs and plants and trees.
They line the whole long interior, so that you imagine your.
self looking down an avenue of some extraordinary forest,
filled with undergrowth, shrubs, vines, and mosses. Out
of these green mosses. at every step, peep the most exquisite
creations of art. There are casts of almost every re-
nowned or beautiful statue in Europe, arranged in long

sequence.
All the sculpture that you have ever seen in engravings,
read of in books, heard of in conversation, meets you in this
palace of miracles. The treasures are endless. You cannot
in a day even glance at them. You leave more things un-
seen than you look upon. Every step opens recesses full
of wonders. Picture galleries flow along the sides as if
they would never end. The portrait gallery presents you
with almost every historic face. Do you need to read of
these things? Turn aside into the library, with thousands
of volumes. Sit down in the reading room, which, though
several thousand people are threading the building, is as
quiet as if it were a lonesome bower in the woods I Or,
axe you tired in eye or foot ? Sit down and listen to a very
noble band that yonder is rendering classic music skilfully.
This marvellous variety gives you rest by change. If
sculpture fails, there is architecture, and of that variety
running through all the schools of time. Are you weary
of this ? Try colour ou the canvas. Do you weary of
this ? Will you take a walk around marble-bound lakes, or
among palms and gigantic ferns, or among clove and
cinnamon, pepper and ginger, tea and coffee plants? Or
would you rid yourself of company ? Go out into the
grounds.

By some one of the walks you can in a moment be bidden
in the secluded leafy covers, or you may seek the lake and
artificial island, and see the geological periods represented
in strata, and the antediluvian animals reproduced in form
if not in life. From such a stroll I returned and dined. I
could not make up my mind whether I was an Egyptian
dining at Cairo with the old Copts, or a Greek, or a Roman,
or Goth. I never once suspected I was a Yankee, eating
stout English beef and pastry.

This duty done, we go now to the Renaissance Court to
see the statues by Michael Angelo I Here are day aad
night, with Julius de Medici sitting nobly above and be-
tween them. Opposite are Dawn and Twilight, with
Lorenzo de Medici sublimely thoughtful between them.
There is the slave; opposite to it the Madonna and child,
a Piata, a Christ, but most grand of all, the Moses I These
are of the full size of the originals, and fill you with more
pleasure and wonder since they are gathered into one grand
company, and fill the whole air with the spirit of their
artist-creator.

While thus walking and musing, the grand organ in the
nave is filling all the air with its solemn harmonies! Where
else did any one ever gaze upon Michael Angelo's collected
sculptures to the sound of grand organ music ? We never
know to what proportions our joys may rise until we have
experienced them in the midst of solemn music. At such
a distance that all sense of the material instrument is lost,
solemn music seems to have a voice out of the spirit world.
It brings to us a call from the infinite, and connects us with
it. Our joys seem no more mortal. They are related to
the eternal and spiritual, and partake of their nature. They
are preludes and presciences of immortality. The soul
takes assurance that its most precious experiences are not
transient and perishing. However silent for a t me, joy
shall come again, and in the harmony of a better
sphere, and roll for ever in undisturbed and inseparable
harmonies I

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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC .JOURNALS.

TIMES.—Mr. Seward's Diplomatic Circular,
which we published yesterday, consists of a pro-
position, an argument, and an application. His
proposition is that the statesmen of England and
France, having conceived at the beginning of the
American war a belief that the restoration of the
Union was an impossibility, persist in that belief
to the present hour. His argument resolves itself
into a long: narrative of the campaigns of the
last twelve months, and this historical compen-
dium is then applied to the purpose of correcting
the prevailing belief, and impressing the two
Western Powers with convictions more favourable
to the Federal cause. In its object this State
Paper is certainly intelligible. Mr. Seward is
perfectly accurate in his presumption that the
statesmen of France and England—he might have
included, indeed, those of the rest of Europe—do
consider to this very day that the old American
Union can never be reconstructed. It is natural,
too, that he should be desirous of removing this
conviction, but the argument which he employs for
this purpose is both ineffective and needless—need-
less because we all knew beforehand every particle
of his story, and ineffective because, even if we ac-
cept it exactly as it is presented to us, it leaves our
conclusions just what they were. The truth is, the
course of the American War has taken us by sur-
prise. When we first arrived at the conclusion that
the South could never be coerced into reunion a
the point of the sword we still ,anticipated prompt
military success on the part of the North. The only
reserve affecting our judgment was a doubt about
the earnestness and unanimity of the South in
claiming independence. That condition being
satisfied, we considered that though twenty mil-
lions of men were certainly stronger than nine
millions, they were not so much stronger as to
have any chance of subjugating these nine millions,
dispersed as they were over an almost illimitable
territory. We hardly doubted the immediate
superiority of the North in the field. The general
expectation of Englishmen was that the South
would soon be overrun,that its sea-ports would be all
captured andoccupied, and that strong Federal garris
sons would hold its chief towns. In short, we antici-
pated that the first six months, or, at any rate, the
first year of the war, would sue the prostration of
the Confederates thus far completed ; but it was
then that we thought the hopelessness of the work
would begin to be felt. If at that time we could
have foreseen that the successes of the North after
more than two years of' desperate fighting would
amount only to the achievements now recounted
with so much complacency by Mr. Seward, we
should have thought the task of the Washington
Government more impracticable than ever. We
venture to add that Mr. Seward himself would have
been very much of the same opinion. We think
it may be said with some truth that it the Federal
Government had, at the beginning of the year 1861,
foreseen that in the middle of the year 1863 the
seceding States would still be free, Richmond and
Charleston still safe, and Washington in some little
danger, the war would never have been undertaken
at all. That Mr. Seward, at this period of the
strife, should be reduced to sing a mats over the
deliverance of the North from the invasion of a
Southern army is about the strongest possible proof
of the hopelessness 'of his cause. The Federals
thought to sweep the Southern States with their
irresistible forces. At first they actually imagined
that three months and 70,000 men would suffice for
the work. A single battle taught them the extent
of this miscalculation, and though they still limited
the time to " ninety days" they expanded the arma-
ment to 700,000 soldiers. The 700,000 did no more
than the 70,000—in fact, they were defeated in the
East, and evenly matched in the West. All that
can he said at this moment of Northern exultation
is that the Federals have taken two places on the
Mississippi after sieges three times as tedious and
as costly's:ls they were expected to be, and that they
have not bad their own capital occupied by the
enemy, as seemed highly probable two months ago.
Mr. Seward, while colouring his history as favour-
ably as he can, is compelled to talk of drawn battles
as events creditable to the Federal arms ; and the
very paper which is designed to show the unques-
tionable ascendancy of the North speaks of the
" necessity of covering the national capital," and the
absolute equality of the belligerent forces in its im-
mediate vicinity. There might be some purpose in
Mr. Seward's present exposition if either we in this
country or the Americans in the Federal States had
begun by regarding the belligerents as equally
matched, and the war as likely to be protracted on
even terms for a long series of years. This, how-
ever, was not the case, and we are therefore not
much impressed with the moderate balance of suc-
cess which Mr. Seward claims for his own side. In
point of fact, taking one field with another, the South
has had a greater share of victory than the North,
and its only conspicuous failure, indeed, was in an
attempt to bring the war to a close by the capture
of the Northern capital. Even now General Lee is
by all accounts more likely to resume the offensive
than General Meade; and though we do not hear
that the Federals are preparing immediately to in=
vade the territories of the Confederates, we do hear
that the Confederates may be expected at any mo-
ment in the country of the Federals. This is not
much of a case for a Power pretending so distinctly
to superiority as to complain that the character of a
belligerent is accorded to its rival. On that point,
indeed, let any one read Mr. Seward's own descrip-
tions, in this very document, of the strength, the
numbers, and the bearing of the Confederate armies,
and then say if the South be not entitled to the
designation of a belligerent. Why, in recording the
battle of Antietam, the Federal Secretary is actually
compelled to expatiate on the identical qualities of
the contending forces, and to add that the Northern
soldiers were then proved, for the first time, to be
not inferior in heroism and valour. Practically, then,
the very gist and essence of Mr. Seward's argument
is fatal to its object. If all is true that he tells us,
that all is infinitely short of what we were prepared
to take for granted two years ago, without being any
the more sanguine of Northern success. We thought
the North would overrun the South in a brief cam-
paign, but would then find its difficulties begin. Mr.
Seward tells us that after two years of mortal struggle
the North has not overrun a quarter of the South—
having the real difficulty stili in prospect as before.
We only conclude from this that the Federals
have not even that superiority for which we gave
them credit; and that the relative strength of the
Confederates is by so much the greater. If Mr.
Seward really wishes to make converts of French
and English statesmen, be must adopt a very diffe-
rent line of argument. He must show us either
that the South is evincing a readiness to yield, or
that the North has a policy which will admit of the
restoration of the Union without this submission.
But he shows neither of these things. On the con-
trary, he tells us that the Southern President has
just proclaimed a levy en masse, while of his own
Government he says nothing, except that it is pre-
paring to prosecute the wer as before. But what is
to be the end ? Europe thinks that the reconstruc-
tion of the Union by force of arms is an impossi-
bility, and a very great number of Americans are
of the same opinion. Europe also sees distinctly
that the South gives not the slightest sign of con-
cession, while even the fortunes of the war are not
upon the whole very unevenly balanced. Not,
therefore, without reason do we persist in our
original opinions on the subject; but though Mr.
Seward has thus lost his pains, we can console him
with the assurance that, so far as we are concerned,
they were needlessly expended. It his object was
merely to deter us from intervention, it is safe in
spite of the failure of this argument. In the "do-
mestic controversies" which have cost upwards of
500,000 lives and at least 500 millions of money in
two years, we have not the least design of inter-
fering. The "adjustment" of these little matters
we are ready to leave to Americans themselves as
"exclusively" as Mr. Seward can desire; and if we
odd another remark upon a point so certain, it is
merely to suggest that people who thus busy them-
selves even superfluously in deprecating our inter-
vention might be a little less forward in threatening
us with the extremities which would drive us to
intervene.

DAILY NEWS.--After having haughtily rejected
the temperate remonstrances of the three Powers
on behalf of Poland, and continued to perpetrate in
that unhappy country atrocities that would have
disgraced any civilised power, Russia has, it is said,
become suddenly impressed with the truth of these
zemonstrances, and determined at length to do an act
of tardy justice to the Poles. Acecording to the
rumour, the ruthless military despotism which drove
the Polish nation to despair is to be replaced by a
systemof virtualself government. 'fhekingdom is to
have an. independent political organisation, with a
Diet of its own assembling at Warsaw, in a word,it is
to possess representative institutions and a national
government, its political connexion with Russia
tieing represented by an Imperial Viceroy at the
head of the executive. But according to the mar-
vellous rumour, even this is not all, or nearly all
in the way of constitutional reform, that Russia is
prepared to grant. If the Paris journals may be
trusted, the Poles in their gallant struggle have
achieved constitutional freedom not only for them-
selves but for the whole Russian Empire. The
Emperor is said to have matured the project of a
liberal constitution for the whole empire, with a
central Organ, consisting of two chambers—a Senate
and Representative Assembly. The plan includes,
besides this central organisation, separate liberal
constitutions for the provinces, which are to be
divided into nine districts, each having a local
Diet or Provincial Assembly of its own. The
plan is in appearance vast and imposing enough,
no doubt. But it is impossible to avoid being
somewhat sceptical as to its real value and probable

results. It is difficult to believe that the Emperor
or his Council sincerely desires to inaugurate a
system of popular government, and the circum-
stances under which the attempt is made are pe-
culiarly open to suspicion. Though it is compara-
tively easy in seasons of peril or pressure to make
temporary or nominal concessions to popular de-
mands, the habits and instincts of arbitrary power
are not so easily thrown off. And the proposal to
convert a gigantic military despotism, an elaborately
organised system of pure force, into a free political
federation, certainly looks much more like a mise
en scene than a scheme of sincere and practical re-
form. Even were the sincerity of the Russian Go-
vernment less exposed to just suspicion, and the
scheme in itself more feasible, the moment selected
for its promulgation, as well as the circumstances
under which it appears, are peculiarly unfavourable
for its implicit acceptance. The scheme is avowedly
projected in the interest of the Russian Govern-
ment rather than of the Russian Empire—in order
to get.rid for the time of the Polish difficulty. And
it is very clearly designed even more for Europe
at large than for either Russia or Poland. It is in
fact but too clearly designed as a temporary expe-
dient to meet the urgent requirements of European
opinion and conciliate foreign support, rather
than as a bona fide attempt to solve in a satis-
factory manner the real difficulties of the Polish
question.

HERALD.—Again have we to chronicle an altera-
tion in the aspect of affairs in Lancashire. Daring
the last month there has been a small but steady
increase in pauperism, but now an unexpected
change has taken place, and once more there is a
diminution reported. Mr. Farnall's return for the
22d ult. shows that during the seven days ending
at that date, the names of 1,251 persons were re-
moved from the parish books, making a total
decrease since the 6th of December last year of
127,003. It would have been satisfactory if some
information had been furnished as to the cause
which led to the deduction of over 1,000 persons in
a single week, as it is only three weeks since it was,
we may almost say officially, announced that the
cotton trade could this year do nothing more
towards lessening poverty in the North ; neither
have we received intelligence of the commencement
of any public works to account for the improve-
ment. Under these circumstances we can only
come to the conclusion that the change is in a great
measure duo to the transfer of a number of appli-
cants for aid from the care of poor law guardians to
that of relief committees. We may be wrong, but
we certainly have no news from Lancashire to
warrant us in taking a more hopeful view of the
matter. In point of fact, as we are now put in pos-
session of information relative to the works pro-
posed to be carried out under the provisions of the
new act, we are more than ever convinced that the
coming winter will witness a terrible amount of
misery in the cotton districts. This time last year
the effects of the cotton famine were considered to
be so distressing, and even alarming, that the sym-
pathies of the entire nation were enlisted on behalf
of the operatives. What was done for them it is
needless to state; but now let us see what are the
results. In place of any decrease in poverty we find
that after the lapse of a year pauperism has abso-
lutely increased. The return for the week ending
the 22d ultimo states that in the 27 unions there
were 144,980 persons in receipt of parochial
relief, while in the corresponding week of 1862
the number was 134,702, so that there is an addi-
tion of 10,248 persons. We roust also take into
consideration the operatives who are now being as-
sisted by local committees, and Mr. Farnall reports
78,980 persons so relieved. We see, then, that on
the 22d of last month no less than 223,930 persons
were dependent upon poor rates or public charity
for support. We have not at hand the return of
the numbers assisted by relief funds in the corres-
ponding week of 1862; but we find that on the 13th
of September last year the total of distressed
persons in the cotton districts was, in round num-
bees, 260,000, or only 36,070 in excess of the
number requiring aid on the 22d of August this
year_ It mast be remembered, also, that in 1862
the cotton trade was in so miserable a condition
that virtually it was ruined. Since then there has
been a revival; many mills have re-opened, and the
calculation as to the supply of cotton being sufficient
to employ the operatives on half-time has proved
correct. This year, also, the attempt has been made
to find temporary employment on outdoor work for
the hands, and the experiment has been attended
with a certain amount of success ; nor must we
forget that during the year emigration has taken
away some of the hands. Yet we see that pauper-
ism is at a higher point than it was at the corres-
ponding period in 1862, the truth being that the
rapid increase of poverty in Lancashire which took
place last autumn has created such disasters that we
can discover little prospect of any permanent good
being effected for some time to come. It is very
well to speak of the elasticity of the cotton traoe,
and of its ultimate revival we have no fears, but
what is to be done in the meantime ? That is the
question which must be faced, and it is useless
hoping to get over the difficulty by attempting to
carry out schemes which have the effect of keeping
the operatives in an unsettled state. How far the
great Government labour scheme is likely to answer
we have ample evidence in the discussion which
took place at the last meeting of the Central Com-
mittee. That the money will be borrowed by the
local authorities is certain, but to what use will it
be devoted? Mr. Rawlinson has furnished the
reply. He stated on AI mday last that a consider-
able portion of the money asked for was to be
applied to the erection of public buildings. That is
to say, the sum set apart for the express purpose of
ministering to the wants of the operatives, by em-
ploying them as unskilled labourers, it is in con-
templation to devote to works which will specially
bentflt skilled labourers, i.e., stonemasons and
bricklayers. Indeed, the fears now expressed in
the North are not on account of the unfortunate
mill hands, but on account of there being a scarcity
of trained workers. The Poor-law Board, has, we
know, a voice in the matter, and we trust that it
will use its power and oblige the local authorities to
undertake such works as drainage, road-making,
laying out parks, and other improvements which
require the maximum amount of unskilled labour.
Unless this be done, even the small amount of
good which the new act is capable of effecting will
be materially lessened. We are glad to see that
Mr. Rawlinson takes this view of the case; and we
feel certain that Lord Derby, in his capacity of chair-
man to the Central Executive Committee, will em-
ploy his powerful influence to protect the interests
of the mill-hands. We must not omit to point oat
that the very fears entertained as to the possibility
of obtaining skilled labour to assist in carrying out
the contemplated works show that the labour mar-
ket in England is by no means overstocked. In
fact paucity of hands is a difficulty with which
many trades have now to contend. Since the com-
mencement of the crisis in Lancashire we have on
several occasions heard complaints of a scarcity of
labour. In the West of England we believe that
textile weavers are needed, and Mr. Baker, one of
the inspectors of factories, has reported that the shoe
manufacturers of Leicester are in want of work-
people. We know, also, that in:some of the agricul-
tural districts there is, at the present moment, con-
siderable difficulty in obtaining hands for field-work.
We believe, therefore, that if some systematic plan
were only adopted, it would shortly result in ob-
taining from various districts applications for work
people; and unless the training the Lancashire
operatives have received in the mills has only had
the effect of converting them into mere machines,
capable of performing but one kind of work, we see
no reason why they should not be able to turn their
hands to other occupations.

AN EXCELLENT PHOTOGRAPH OF MULREADY,
taken not many months since by Messrs. Cundall and
Dowries, has recently been published. He is represented
seated in that attitude known to all his friends as charac•
teristic, with his knees crossed, his hands in the lap, the
chin a little advanced, the eyes peering in the manner he
had.

POULTRY FOR THE MILLION.—The marvel and
mystery of our importation of eggs and poultry
from the Continent are as great as they were 10 years ago.
We tire always saying, all over the country, that we cannot
conceive why we do not raise fowls enough to supply our
own needs,—seeing how cheaply they may be managed,
and how little trouble they give. It used to be sup-
posed that every cottager on any common, or in any lane,
had fowls stepping and picking about his gable-end ; and
it has been considered an evidence of the dullness of the
labouring class in the rural districts that they have not ex-
tended their poultry-rearing as the demand from the towns
increased. We see fowls swarming in every farmyard, and
round the maltster's and distiller's granaries ; and here and
there we hear of an establishment for the rearing of poultry
alone : but the wants of the population are very far indeed
from being met. Even if we raised fowls enough to supply
the tables of the gentry as at present, we should have to ask
why other people should not eat poultry as well as the gen-
try. If there were poultry enough raised, every cottager
in the country, and every town-labourer, might as well have
a fowl for his dinner as a rasher of bacon. The high price
is altogether artificial, as any traveller in a variety of coun-
tries can tell. It is the scarcity which makes the high
prices, and it is the desultory and unprogressive way in
which the rearing of fowls is managed which makes the
profits of that department so precarious as we are assured
they are. The experience of foreigners justifies us in this
conclusion.—Once-a-Week.

Full benefit of reduced duty obtained by pur-
chasing Horniman's pure Tea; very choice at 38 4d. and
48. " High Standard "at 4s. 4d. (formerly 4s. Bd.), is the
strongest and most delicious imported. Agents in every
town supply it in packets,

Reminiscences of the Opera.

..--

My earliest recollections of the opera are of the days
when Sontag was the madness of the hour—the Jenny Lind
of an aristocratic public. But these memories are vague.
Burningly vivid is the memory of Pasta, the unapproach-
able; she stands out, like Kean, Paganini, and Rachel,
among my artistic experiences, as something quite special
and unforgettable. Merely because he sang with her, I also
remember Curioni, who, I fear, was a stick. It is with
Grisi's first season that my steady vision of the past begins :
and what a succession of triumphs were those seasons in
which she conquered and held ber public, aided by Rubini,
Tamburini, and Lablache I Suffer me for a moment to call
up those vanished images with which so many readers must
connect enchanting memories. It was unfortunate for
Grisi's fame with the present generation that she continued
on the stage many years after the glory of her voice and
person had faded. She was to the last deservedly a great
attraction ; no one could rival her in her own parts; and
" old Grisi," as she was half affectionately called, proved
better worth'seeing and hearing than the younger rivals who
tried to wrest the sceptre from her. Nevertheless, it is only
those who heard her between the years 1834 and 1844 who
have a real conception of that matchless voice and superb
beauty which placed her above all the operatic heroines of
our time, 'I hero have been finer singers and greater actresses,
but no one has been at once so beautiful arid impassioned ;
no one has united her excellencies ; no one has been so
thoroughly satisfactory. Elvira, in " I Puritani," has since
been played by Persiani, Lind, and Bosio ; nevertheless the
opera has been a failure since Grisi ceased to play in it. The
part of Lucrezia Borgia was written for Caroline Ungher ; I
saw her play it many times, and thought no one could
surpass her in it ; but when the opera was produced in Lon
don, I confessed that the feverish passion of Ungher was
many degrees less admirable than the terrible beauty and
large style of Grisi. Norma, Donna Anna, Semiramide,
Nina, Norina—what visions they were I . . . Rubini, so
indelibly associated with her, was a marvellous singer, and,
until his failing voice made him resort to a provoking sys
tem of alternate shout and whisper, no such tenor was to be
heard. But as an actor he was null. He had no idea of cos-
tume, and was often saved from being "a guy" only by his
unaffected bearing. He had neither grace nor energy;
moving about the stage with an indifference which was at
times exasperating, and which you may now see reproduced
in the dreary languor of Giuglini, without the compensa-
ting charms of voice and style. Rubini, in great moments,
made his voice act for him ; and I doubt whether Rachel
herself ever threw more intense expression into a passage
than Rubini threw into the curse in "Lucia." As I said,
he was a consummate singer, and in grand bursts of bra-
vura he carried us to the seventh heaven of rapture, Never-
theless, on the whole, I think Mario would have been pre-
ferred by most people, when Mario had learned to act, and
had not lost his delicious voice, He is undoubtedly the tenor
to pair off with Grisi, for the rare union of qualities. So pic-
turesque, so handsome, so graceful a tenor, who is also so
admirable an actor, has not been seen ; and if he could never
sing like Rubini, still one cannot imagine Rubini as
Raoul, John of Leyden, or Gennaro satisfying the public
which has seen Mario. Tamburini was a very handsome
man with a superb voice, and great power of florid execu-
tion. He was a capital favourite with the public, but I do
not recall him with the same fervour as the others, His
acting was animated and respectable, never above the line.
In Assur and Fernando he was very fine, In Don Juan he
was rather vulgar, and in Figaro fussy, not funny. The
acting of Ronconi as far transcended the acting of Tam-
burini, as the singing of Tamburini transcended the singing
of Ronconi. And what can be said of thee, incomparable
Lablache ? Other singers had been admired ; Lablache was,
loved. He was certainly one of the grandest-looking men
ever seen, and had the most superb voice that has been
heard in our time, so full, resonant, and equal, blending so
perfectly with other voices,supporting them with firm stacato
notes like notes of an organ, and leading them like a clarion.
Great in tragedy, and great in riotous humour, the grandeur.
and passion of the one never prevented the most fanciful
exaggeration in the other; and he had the Immense superi-
ority over Ronconi that his lazzi never descended to vul-
garity.—Cornhill Magazine for September.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

,__~.

BRISTOL-THURSDAY.'

At this day's market the supply of English wheat was
moderate, which met a fair sale at prices billy as high BS
last week. In foreign more doing, arud quite as dear.
Some fine samples of new malting barley changed hands at
38s to 395. Grinding sorts scarce. Oats inactive, and Ed
to is cheaper. Scareely anything doing in beans.