The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-16 00:00:00

Gallery of Illustration, } egent-street.

Mr. German Reed has commenced his third

Opera di Camera" season with great eclat.

has produced two new operas—the one " Widows
Bewitched," by Miss Virginia Gabriel ; and the
other, partly in Chinese (! ), entitled " Ching-
Chow-lli," by Offenbach, adapted by Mr, William
Brogh and the talented manager. The little plot
of the " Widows Bewitched" is told in a few words.
Two charming young widows, who have turned half
the heads of the courtiers at Versailles, suddenly.
quit the court, and take up their residence at a villa
near Fontainbleau, with the intention of passing the
rest of their lives in quietness and seclusion. Two
of their lovers—De Fremont and D'Albretfind
out the retreat of their sweethearts, and determine,
by stratagem, to secure their hands, and convey them
back to Paris as their brides. D'Albret accordingly
disguises himself as an Abbe and Fremont as a
Professor, and in this manner they obtain easy
access to .the retreat of the ladies. The Professor's
first lesson in Italian to his pupil, Marie Marquise
de Montaul)ry, is a conjugation of the: verb, to love;
She next takes a- singing lesson, and finally one in
dancing ; the result is, the widow is subdued, and

Fremont gains his prize. The Abbe has attacked
his widow in a more quiet way, by talking of eccle-
siastical services, more particularly that of marriage.
lie succeeds to his heart's desire, and then he dis-
covers himself to D'Albret, the adorer of the charm-
ing Countess de Berg. The vocalists engaged in
this petite opera were Miss E. Pitt (Countess de Berg),
Miss A. Thompson (Marquise de Montaubry), Mr.
W hiffin (Fremont), and Mr. Shaw (D'Albret), each of
whom have some very telling music allotted to them.
The opera, taken as a composition, is not of a re-
markabl2 or novel description ; there arc some
pretty airs in it, but, truth to say, we have previ-
ously heard strains very much the same. The best

mid most original pieces in the opera are a'song by
Miss Pitt, " There was a maiden," and the quartet
" Who will come into the merry-go-round ?" The
opera was a complete success, and it deserved
'the applause it evoked. Then followed " Ching-
chow-Hi." This opera, we believe, is only intended
to create a laugh, and, therefore, we suppose, any
nonsense is pardonable. As a specimen of the
Chinese part of the libretto we extract the fol-
• lowing ; it is a portion of a quartet sung by Ching-
chow-Hi, the brother of the Moon (Mr. Shaw) ;
his mandarin, Tee-to-turn (Mr. Whiffin) ;. Pet-
ping-Sing (Miss Thompson) ; and Ba-ba-Whang
(Mr. Wilkinson) :
Ba-ba- Whang—Booriboo goo ! Whang ko-too
Goori Bang choo ! o'ong tong kitch-kee koo!
Haug-ee-Bain boo ID Hi cum loa!
Slashee clashey skew cum Bang she-loo!
The conspirators listen attentively to these words, and ap-
pear deeply moved by their meaning.
Chin, (rising)—Ah ! sago ! Tapioca macaroni sa fago,
Archipelago-ah Tic-dol-roo Lum-bago !
There is, however, some better things than this in
the piece, and that which pleased best was the comic
trio; on the discovery that all the characters
are not Chinese, beginning "I'm English too."
The audience laughed heartily at the trifle, so we
suppose the object for which it was produced is at-
tained. The dresses and scenery are really splendid,
and forcibly remind one of those beautiful little
displays in stage illusion made by the late Madame
Vestris during her reign at the old Olympic Theatre.
The operas will, doubtless, prove highly attractive,
and bring the third season to as satisfactoey a ter-
mination as the two former ones. The gallery, it is
almost needless to say, was crowded in every part.

Exhibition of Art mid Manufactures for

North-Eastern London—This Day.

--o-

This exhibition was opened at the Agriculturall Hall,
Islington, to-day by the Lord Chancellor, assisted by the
Lord Mayor and the Marquis of Salisbury, the lord-lieu-
tenant of the county of Middlesex. The articles have
been for the most part furnished by the local tradesmen,
manufacturers, and gentry, but assistance has not been
refused from remoter quarters for the purpose of complet-
ing the specimens of any particular baranch of art, or in-
creasing the mere general attractiveness of the scene. The
exhibition is divided into three main departments—viz.,
arts and manufactures, fine arts, and a loan collection.
In the centre of the great hall, in a court of their own, are
the contributions from the Kensington Museum, further
enriched by one or two articles sent in by her Majesty. They
consist of specimens of Indian goldsmith's art, silks, and
carved oak cabinets and muniment chests, which aro, it is
true, all good of their kind ; but, looking at the praise-
worthy object of the present exhibition, it may be ques-
tioned whether the South Kensington authorities might
not have been a little more liberal in their contributions.
Round them, at different stands, are the scientific and
horologieal instruments. There are some very good paint-
ings, and in one of the galleries a small collection of statues
arranged hero and there. A large space iu another gallery
is appropriated to an aoinairablo photographic eollQction.
Over the body of the hall are scattered a number of small
courts, containing works in the precious metals and jewel-
lery, philosophical instruments, articles of architectural
decoration, fabrics in cloth, and ornamental hair work.
The trustees and committee met the Lord Chancellor
and the Lord Mayor at the entrance in Liverpool-road,
and conducted them to the platform, at 3 p.m., the band
playing the March from "The Prophet."
On arrival at the platform the choir sang the Old
Hundredth Psalm.

The chairman of the general committee then invited the
Lord Chancelljr and the Lord Mayor to inspect
the Exhi-
bition, during which operatic selections were played by
the band.

On their return the Ilight Hon. Lord Mayor requested
the Lord Chancellor to declare the exhibition open, which
was done.

The National Anthem was sung by the assembly.

Greenock, for the loss of said ship on the Crocus,
i.e., Croker Reef, off the coast of Florida, on the
21st of February, 1865, which investigation took
place in Greenock, within the Court-hall, Bank-
street, on the Bth and 9th days of August, 1865,
in presence of Andrew Tasker and John Neill, two
of her Majesty's justices of the peace for Renfrew-
-shire; and of lienry Harris and Robert Baker, As-
sessors of the Board of Trade. 'The said J.
Macdonald appeared, along with Lewis,
solicitor in Greenock, as his agent, and the investi-
gation on behalf of the Board of Trade was con-
ducted by Hargrave Hamel. The said James
Macdonald having been called on to produce his
certificate, stated that he could not do so, and
that said certificate was on board the vessel Ad-
vance, of Port Glasgow, in which he had engaged to
go as mate when the proceedings connected with
the investigation were intimated to him, and which
vessel is at present at sea. The witnesses examined
were—Robert Cuthbert, lately mate, and Joseph
Brunsden, able seaman, both of the Margaret Kerr.
The mate,. in his examination, stated that he was
mate of the vessel on the voyage on which she was
lost ; that the vessel sailed from Matanzas on Mon-
day, the 20th February last, at noon, laden with a
cargo of sugar, for Greenock, well found, and draw-
ing 17 feet 10 inches of water aft and 17 feet forward,
the wind being from the S.W., squally and unsettled;
that after leaving the .harbour the course was N.E.
by N. until. 8
.o'clock, when the wind shifted to
E.N.E., and the course of the vessel to N. E.,
the speed of thcf vessel being about three knots per
hour ; that at 8 o'clock, p.m. there was a violent
head sea, the ship straining and labouring, and on
sounding the pumps. 14 inches of Water were found

in the hold ; that the water gained rapidly about 9
o'clock, and, although the pumps were kept con-
stantly.going by hand and steam, there were three
feet of water in the well about four hours before
the vessel struck ; that the wind and sea increased,
and abbut midnight they took in all small sails and
double-reefed the topsails ; that at four a.m. of the
21st February the. course was shifted to N. by E.
E. till six o'clock a.m., the vessel making a point
and a half lee way ; that from six o'clock a.m. to
eight a'clock. a.m. the course was N.N.E., and
from eight o'clock till noon it was N. by E. E.,
and this course was kept till the vessel struck, the
wind and weather being the same as formerly ; that
at noon of the 21st an observation was made by the"
master, and the ship's latitude was found to be 23
27 N. ; that at four o'clock another topsail was
bent, and about six o'clock land Was seen on the
lee bow about 9 miles distant ; that about seven
o'clock he suggested to the captain to put the ship
about, but the captain said he would clear the ree
-