The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-24 00:00:00

15.18.9
110.17.6

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, JUNE 24 1F65.

THE HANDEL FESTIVAL,

The Grand Full Rehearsal.

Yesterday afternoon's superb performance in the
Crystal Palace at Sydenham might be described
(and in no way extravagantly) as a magnificent
flourish of trumpets, announcing the approach of
the Three Grand Days set apart next, week for the
Handel Festival. Everything connected with the
celebration yesterday of the advent of this Triennial
homage paid to the incomparable genius of Handel
was again, as usual, carried out upon a scale of
most appropriate, or, it may be said, of simply pro-
portionate grandeur and magnificence. The wea-
ther itself could hardly by ally possibility have been
more propitious. Our English midsummer in all
its glory rendered the Crystal Palace itself radiant
with sunshine, while filling the green branches
of the " leafy month of June" more pro-
fusely than ever with the gorgeous colouring
of the rainbow in all the abounding blossoms
of those flowering trees and shrubs and efflorescent
plants, that are of themselves so complete an adorn-
ment, so matchless an attraction among the count-
less other attractions and adornments lavished by
Nature and by Art, by the gift of God and the
ingenuity of Man, upon the glorious Palace of the
People down at Sydenham. The attendance, again,
was yesterday of itself a sight worth seeing.
So vast a multitude, even with the vivid remem-
brance before us of past occasions of the like kind,
was such as could scarcely in reason have been
anticipated. Gigantic as the attendance has been
before now upon the three preceding celebrations
of this Triennial Handel Festival, it was yesterday
altogether surpassed. Much of this astonishing
increase in the number of the visitors is attributed,
of course, to the greater facilities of rapid commu-
nication by railway with all parts of the United
Kingdom. But, 'coupled with that fact, there
is another that appears to us to be equally
obvious and equally noticeable namely,. the
fact of the extraordinary fame of these un-
rivalled, nay absolutely unprecedented perform-
ances—awaking an eager curiosity among thousands
who must have merely heard of them or read about
them, until now, when, the opportunity again re-
curring, the desire at last to participate in the en-
joyment themselves, because (with these additional
thousands) just simply irresistible. Triennial fes:-
tival after triennial festival, it has been thus in re-
gard to the appreciable increase in the multitude of
visitors swarming up to London from all quarters
of the United Kingdom. Occurring, moreover, as
these wonderful performances do, triennially, and
not annually (their annual repetition, if only
by reason of their magnitude and com-
plexity, would, in fact, be an achievement
incapable of realisation, if attempted),
they possess always the charm of Novelty—the
charms of a Freshness, that is that never palls by
too frequent repetition. Every successive occasion,
besides this, gives evidence, on the part of the great
bulk of the performers, that their hands and voices
get more " in" to the adequate production of the
colossal work before them ! Practice, here as else-
where, tends, more and more, towards the all-
desirable goal of Perfection. Turning, however, to
the great preliminary performance which yester-
day signalized the inauguration of the Fourth of
these Triennial Festivals, this henceforth especially
memorable Festival of 1865, we would here remark,
to begin with, that the wondrous Orchestra never
looked more magnificently ! Yonder, in the central
position of all, confronting thatmarvellous gathering
together of Four Thousand Singers and Instrumen-
talists, was the Prince of Conductors—Mr. Costa.
Seated far above him before the triple keyboard of
the stupendous organ, himself a mere dot amongst the
multitude, was the organist of the day—doubly typi-
cal, one is tempted to say, through the simple oddity
of his name, of the intensely English character of the
performance throughout—Mr. Brownsmith ! Ex-
tending to .the right hand and to the left in the
noble sweep of the concave semicircle of the orches-
tra—a structure so gigantic that it is actually in its
dimensions twice the diameter of the dome of St.
Paul's Cathedral—extending to the right hand and
to the left, we say, from those two imp'ortant, con-
spicuous, and central figures (above, the Organist !
below, the Conductor !), like the wings of a very
army of performers, were ranged the ,500 instru-
mentalists, as many as 400 of them artists armed
merely with stringed instruments, aided by another
hundred wending the varied sounds that flow from
auxiliary instruments of metal, wood, leather, and
parchment—drum, and cymbal, and trumpet, and
ophicleide, and serpent, flute and bassoon, clarionet
and trombone, hautboy and triangle, horp, and
harp, and flageolet—backed, surrounded, encom-
passed by the serried ranks of the huge chor* or
rather choruses—singers numbering the occupants of
that lovely and symmetrical orchestra, up to the grand
total, already mentioned, that wondrous total never
approached by any other choir upon record, the
almost inconceivable total of Four Thousand Per-
formers ! Eleven years have sufficed to lead to this
marvellous combination. Sixteen hundred of the Four
Thousand, it should be remembered, too, are fur-
nished by the Metropolitan Division alone of the Han-
del Festival Choir, that important division, that most
important of all divisions, having been drilled with
so much regularity, from time to time, in the area
of Exeter Hall, under the master-baton of Mr Costa!
Co-operating with these sixteen hundred amateur
members of London, there are here, besides, chora-
lists gathered together from all the principal cities
of England, Ireland, and Scotland—from Birming-
ham and York, from Dublin and Edinburgh, from
Exeter and Aberdeen, from Oxford and Cambridge,
from Gloucester and Limerick.

At a quarter-past Ip.m. the performance of yester-
day commenced—a performance exceptionally inte-
resting, even as compared by anticipation with the
three grand days of the " Handel Festival" proper,
for inasmuch as its Programme may be said to em-
brace within it the very pick of all the rarer choruses
and solos of the Monday, and Wednesday, and Fri-
day—of the Day of the Messiah, of the Day of the
" Israel in Egypt," and of the intermediate Day set
apart for the Selectiors. The semi-chorus from
Saul, " Along the Monster Atheist Strode !" gave
the first taste of the quality of the performers
grouped together in that vast concavity of the
Grand Orchestra. Afterwards the full choral chant
from the same great masterpiece, " How Excellent
Thy Name !" evidenced in a remarkable manner the
majestic concordance of sounds that in all the
grander choruses of these Handel Festivities seem,
so to speak, to fill, to satisfy, to satiate the sense of
hearing—sounds that so entranced the soul of the
great composer, Meyerbeer, when, upon the occa-
sion of the last festival, he then for the first time
listened to them with an eager avowal of grateful
and wondering admiration. Madame Sainton Dolby
led the way among the soloists by her sympathetic
and refined rendering of the air in Saul " 0 Lord,
whose mercies !" Chorus after chorus then fol-
lowed, in no way, however, according to the
sequence marked down in the Programme—which
same printed form, by the way, was expressly
entitled, as if from a consciousness that no pre-
scribed order could very well be attended to upon a
preliminary occasion so purely and essentially that
of a REHEARSAL—" Probable Programme." After
the fairy-like sidonia of chiming bells, preluding
the Recitative " Already see the Daughters of the
Land," given with brilliant effect by Madame
Parepa, came the deliciously-harmonious semi-
chorus of " Welcome, welcome, Mighty King !"
woven about, or intertwined, so to express it, by a
continuation of the delicate accompaniment of those
chiming bells 1 The momentary sound of the brief
and almost interjectional recitative, by Saul,
" What do I hear ?" introduced Mr. Santley to the

recognition and applause of the enor-
mous audience. Their applause, however, the
great English baritone, had immediately
afterwards a better opportunity of earning
by his delivery of the pathetic air of Manoah,
How willing my Paternal Love !" from Samson.
From the same stupendous oratorio we had the de-
light of listening to, in sequence, the aria " Let
the Bright Seraphim," sung most exquisitely by
Mdlle. Adelina Patti—deliciously accompanied by
Harper's wonderful trumpet obligato. The triumph
thereby achieved was complete and instantaneous,
signalised by a crashing round of plaudits, plaudits
so sustained in enthusiasm as to necessitate an

encore. Completing the selections from the Samson,
there came next the intricately-linked and winding
chorus, " Let their celestial concerts all unite,"
terminating with a giant flood of har-
monies ! A burst of applause, after a brief
interval, signalled the appearance in the
foreground of the platform of the great Eng-
lish Tenor, Mr. Sims Reeves, who sang, as no one
but himself could sing, so tenderly, so deliciously,
with such pathetic warblings of the master-passion,
" Love in her Eyes sits Playing," from Acis and
Galatea. Surely-, never was there such a choral
lullaby as the dulcifluous one that followed, in-
stantly upon the close of that delectable love-song
—" May no rash intruder"—with its whispering
zephyrs, and breathing flowers, and melodious
nightingales ! Afterwards, from Judas Maccabeus,
Madlle. Adelina Patti gave the " linked sweetness
long drawn out"—drawn out at last into a pro-
longed trill—" From mighty Kings he took the
spoil !" Then came that magnificent protest
against idolatry, We never, never will bow
down !" pealed forth almost, it seemed, at
times simultaneously from every pipe in the
grand organ, from every trumpet in the huge
orchestra of 500 instrumentalists, from the throats
of all those 4,000 choristers singing together, as
with one voice at the beck of Costa's magic baton.
As a fitting close to the selections from " Judas
Maccabeus," came the grandest paean of triumph
ever conceived by the imperial imagination of a
Composer—" See the Conquering Hero Comes !"
given this afternoon with a pomp of sound on
drums, trumpets, and choral voices as it, surely,
never was given before ! In presiding over the
terminal passion and fervour of it, Mr. Costa must
have felt, as he waved his baton over that storm of
harmonious clangour, almost as though he were the
leader of an army ! It was nearly enough one might
have fancied to have summoned the soul of Handel
back to earth ! Part Two began at about a quarter-
past four p.m., with a Cyclopcean rendering of the
National Anthem, followed by the two sublimest
choruses ever composed by the sublimest of all
composers :—" For unto us a child is born," and
the immortal " Hallelujah !" In the former we
cannot, for one moment, imagine that those adoring
cries of love, and veneration, and awe, have ever
before this day been so majestically raised by
human voices and hands to Heaven—those impas-
sioned apostrophes addressed to the Redeemer of
the World, whose name was called as though
through an angelic trumpet by Handel—" Emanuel !
Wonderful ! Counsellor ! The Mighty God ! The
Everlasting Father ! The Prince of Peace !" After
the " Hallelujah " came no less than
six of the majestic choruses from the
mighty masterpiece of 6c Israel in Egypt,"
with the selections from which most wonderful
Oratorio the Grand Full Rehearsal was brought to
a glorious and affecting conclusion. Beyond the
reverent, almost exultant, chorus, "He spake the
words"—beyond even the impressive "He gave
them hailstones"—far beyond them all, to our mind,
was the sombre, muttered, terror-stricken, "He
sent a thick darkness !" Altogether yesterday at
the Crystal Palace was a noble and more than
simply auspicious, as it was a signally trium-
phant, inauguration of the Handel Festival of 1865
—a Festival marking, we will hope, an epoch of in-
creased and still increasing prosperity to the grand-
est Home of the Arts in England.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

Yesterday morning there was a field-day at ,
Wormwood Scrubs, at which Field-Marshal the
Duke of Cambridge, Commanding-in-Chief, and a
large staff, including the Adjutant.-Gen., the Hon.
Sir James Yorke Scarlett, K.C.B. ; Col. Tyrwhitt,
aide-de-camp ; Col. Hon. James Macdonald, &c.,
were present. The Prince of Wales and the Duke
of Brabant were on the ground in plain clothes as
spectators. The cavalry consisted of the 2d Life
Guards, the Royal Horse Guards, and the 13th
Hussars ; the infantry consisted of the 2d battalion
of Scots Fusilier Guards, the 3d battalion of Grena-
dier Gnarls, and a.battalion made up of men clear
of duty of the Ist Grenadier Guards and of the 2d
Coldstream Guards. The troops returned to their
respective barracks shortly after 12 o'clock.
The annual review of the Artillery and Rifle Vo-
lunteer corps of the county of Kent took place yes-
terday afternoon on Chatham Great Lines. The
whole of the regular troops now in garrison took
part in the day's proceedings. The corps arrived by
the various railways converging at Chatham shortly
after noon, and at once marched to the inner lines
of fortifications, the ample space of which allowed.
the entire body to be massed by battalions prior to
the commencement of the review, each man carry-
ing with him ten rounds of blank ammunition.
By 3 o'clock the whole of the Volunteers had
arrived on the Great Lines and taken up their
positions by battalions, the total number of the
corps being computed at slightly over 4,000,
with between 3,000 and 4,000 of the regular
companies of Royal troops, consisting of a battery of Royal Artillery,
the depot and other pan
Engi-
neers, now at head-quarters, together with three
battalions of infantry, comprising the depot com-
panies of most of the regiments now in India. The
command of the entire force was taken by Major-
Gen. Sir Robert Walpole, K.C. 8., who inspected
the Volunteers at the Brighton Review. The Volun-
teers on reaching the lines took up their position on
the crest of the hill overlooking the town, with the
fine open plateau gently sloping to the Medway
before them, and the regular forces in the rear, the
left of the ground being reserved for spectators, of
whom several thousand were present.. Shortly after
3 o'clock Viscount
Sydney, G.C.8., Lord-Lieuten-
ant of Kent, accompanied by Sir Robert Walpole,
and attended by a numerous staff, arrived on the
ground, and was received by the combined force
with a general salute. After riding along the front
and rear of the line of Volunteers, one of the most
interesting proceedings of the day followed—the
distribution of the prizes to the successful competi-
tors at the recent county rifle match. Previously
to the presentation of the prizes Viscount .Sydney,
addressing the assembled Volunteers, said he was
much gratified to find that the Volunteer corps of
Kent had persevered in their endeavour to become,
as was the first duty of every Volunteer—a good
marksman. The first County Prize of £5O, with
the bronze medal of the National Rifle Association,
was presented to Private Andrew, of the 26th
(Woolwich) Corps, this being the second time he
has taken it ; Sergeant Revell, 21st (Woolwich)
Corps, taking the second prize of £l5 ; and Private
Clark, of the 41st (Gowthurst) Corps, the third of
£4O. The first prize of £lO of the County All-
Comers was taken by Sergeant Winser, 3d (Lee)
Corps. The Ladies' Challenge Cup was won by Ser-
geant Revell, who also carried of the All-Comers
from Kent and Sussex Prizes. After the whole of the
prizes had been distributed preparations were made
for the review. Lord Sydney, Major-Gen. Sir Robert
Walpole, and other distinguished officers taking up
their position at the saluting flag, when the entire
force of regulars and Volunteers defiled past in close
columns of companies at quick time. The Artillery
were the first to pass the saluting flag, followed by
the Royal Engineers and the battalions of infantry,
which, though for the_ most part composed of very
young soldiers awaiting embarcation for India,
acquitted themselves most creditably. The battalion
of Royal Marines Light Infantry followed. The
several Volunteer corps next marched past, preceded
by the Volunteer Artillery, each corps coming up to
the saluting post well in line and regularly. The
marching past occupied half-an-hour, and at its
termination followed the usual manoeuvres incidental
to a field-day. The proceedings were brought to a
close shortly of ter 6 o'clock. Lord Sydney expressed
his great satisfaction with the manner in which the
Volunteers had acquitted themselves. Notwithstand-
ing the great heat of the weather, only some two or
three men fell out of the ranks, and although a party
of the Ambulance Corps, wit:: their necessary appli-
ances, were on duty, their seri, ices were scarcely
brought into requisition.
The Middlesex, hired sailing transport, Comman-
der Cammell, R.N.R., sailed yesterday from Ports-
mouth for Calcutta, with the following troops on
board, belonging to regiments now serving in India :
—2d battalion 19th Foot, Capt. Knight and 12 men ;
2d battalion 21st Foot, Capt. Gilmour, wife. and
C

child ; 3d battalion 60th Foot, Lieut. Croft and 31
men ; 76th Regiment, the bandmaster, and wife,
and 1 man ; 105th Regiment, Capt. Higginson,
Lieut. Raikes, Surg. Macbeth, 158 men, 4 women,
and 4 children. The Middlesex will call in at Queens-
town, and there embark Lieut. Barclay, wife, and
child, Lieut. Rainsforth, Ensign Harvey and 123
men of the 2d battalion 24th Regiment, and Ensign
Weigell and 12 men of the 76th Regiment.
The labours of the Turret Ship Committee, now
sitting, under the presidency of Admiral the Earl of
Lauderdale, K. C. B. , are, we understand, in danger of
being brought to a dead lock froth some miscon-
ception on the part either of the Admiralty, the
committee, or of Capt. C. P. Coles, R.N. It ap-
pears that the committee, on the evidence given
before them for and against the turret principle,
have raised 36 objections to it, which they forwarded
to Cape. Coles, and requested him to furnish replies
to them. In acknowledging the receipt of 'this com-
munication from the committee, Capt. Coles demurs
to the course proposed, referring to the very vague
form of the objections that have been thus raised on
the evidence, and requests permission to read the
evidence itself (which has been printed daily), in
order that he may be enabled fully to meet evidence
unfavourable to his invention, in accordance with
the Admiralty instructions on the subject, " that
every facility shall be given Capt. Coles to fully
meet amid answer any questions," &c. The com-
mittee, in reply to this request of Capt. Coles, state
that they must decline to allow him to read the evi-
dence, as they considered it confidential until pre-
sented to the Admiralty in a completed form with
the committee's report. They further observe that
" Capt. Coles could gain no information fromseeing
the evidence." The latest communication is a re-
joinder from Capt. Coles to the committee, calling
their attention to the fact that both the turret prin-
ciple and his own reputation are on trial ; that for
him to reply to objections created from evidence be
had never read would be unwisely defendinghis case
at a great disadvantage; and that the turret ques-
tion being essentially national, should be tried in
open court ; and that he should, on principle, de-
cline to entertain any consideration of objections to
the turret principle " raised on evidence" that had
been given in secret committee.
The Royal Sovereign, 5, turret ship, Capt. Her-
bert, was placed in the Warrior dock at Portsmouth
yesterday, to clean copper and repair the slight
damage to its false keel caused by striking on the
Princessa shoal.

The Wivern, 4, iron turret (2) ship, 1,857 tons
and 350'nominal horse-power of engines, one of the
celebrated "rams" built by Messrs. Laird, of Birken-
head, and subsequently purchased by the Admiralty,
arrived at Spithead from the Mersey on Wednesday
evening, in charge of Capt. Paynter and a party of
officers and seamen from her Majest's ship Donegal.
The vessel is reported by Capt. Paynter to have
behaved exceedingly well during the passage round,
and to have made an average speed of ten knots.
Yesterday morning she steamed into Portsmouth
harbour from Spithead, and will be at once taken in
hand by the authorities of the port to prepare for
trial and commission. The Wivern is bark-rigged,
with the fore andmain masts on Capt. Coles's tripod
principle, this being the first introduction of the
tripod mast into her Majesty'snavy. The vessel will
spread a large area of canvas. Her hull and spars
above the water line have an appearance that cannot
fail to modify the opinion of those who have hitherto
contended that turret vessels cannot be made ocean
cruisers.

The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty :—Staff-Commander J. G. H. Thain,
to command the Hesper, vice Boxer ; the appoint-
ment of Mr. C. Fox, master, .to command the
Hesper, has been cancelled; Lieut. Rodney M.
Lloyd, to the Impregnable ; Lieut. Howard Kerr,
to the Wellesley, vice Gayer ; James Carlisle, chief
engineer, to the Indus, additional, for the Amazon ;
W. Smiley, chief engineer, to the Asia, additional,
for the Rinaldo ; W. F. Capps, chief engineer, to
the Cumberland, additional, for the Foxhound ;
Philip Thomas Gruchy, chief engineer, to the Cum-
berland, additional, for the Barracouta ; and G.
Mackney, acting 2d-class assist.-engineer, to the
Sphinx.

MARKETS—This Day.

COVENT GARDEN.

The supplies of fruit and vegetables are seasonably ex-
tensive. In most kinds of produce a fair amount of busi-
ness has been transacted, as follows :

FRUIT.

S. d. s. d. s. d. sCI
eine apples 8 otolo 0 Mu boreies,pr pt 0 oto 0 0
Foreign do., each 0 oto 0 0 Cherries, per lb. 0 4to 0 9
iirapes,per lb 6 oto 10 0 Foreign ditto, pun() oto 0
Foreign do 1 6to 2 6 Filberts, per lb .. 0 9to 1 0
Melons . 0 oto 0 0 Walnuts, per 100 0 oto 0 0
Nectarines, per dz 0 oto 0 0 Cobnuts, per lb .. 0 oto 0 0
Apples, per hf-sv. 2 oto 3 6 Almonds, per bus 0 oto 0 0
Pears, per do
Oranges, per 100..6 oto 12 01 Peaches, per d 0... 0 oto 0 0
Lemons, per 100 4 oto 8 0 Currants, per h.sv 4 oto 4 6
Gooseberrieshf sve2 oto 3 0 Plums, per do. 00to 0 0
Strawberries pr pt 0 6to 2 0 Damsons, pr d 0... 0 oto 0 6

VEGETABLES.
Greens, dz but:telt 2 oto 2 6 Shallots, per lb .. 0 oto 0 0
Cabbages, pr doz 0 9 •do 1 3 Horseradish, pdn 1 oto 2 0
Rsd ditto 0 oto 0 0 Parsley, per ditto 0 oto 0 0
Savoy do., pr dz 0 oto 0 0 Celery, per ditto 1 6to 2 0
Cauliflowers, pde 1 6to 3 0 Beet, per doz. .. 0 oto 0 g
Brocoli 0 oto 0 0 Parsnips, per do. 0 oto 0 4.
Potatoes, per ton 60 0 to :20 0 Small salad, p. pn, 0 oto 0 0
New ditto, pr lb. 0 2to 0 6 Mushrooms. p pt. 0 oto 0 0
Turnips, dz bunch 3 oto 3 6 Artichokes, each 0 oto 0 0
Carrots,pr do 5 6to 6 6 Cos lett, score .. 0 Bto 1 3
Cucumbers 0 3to 1 61 Mint and savory..o oto 0 0
Garlic, per lb
Sorrel, per sieve 0 oto 0 0 Turnip Radishes 0 Bto 0 1,1
Green peas, b.-sv. 1 3to 1 6, Tomatoes, doz... 0 oto 0 0
N'rench beans,h.s. 0 oto 0 0 i Chillies, per ditto 0 oto 0 0
Onions, doz. h.s. 1 oto 1 6 Capsicums, per do 0 oto 0 0
New Do., dz bun 010 to 1 6 Rhubarb, per bun 0 3to 0
Spinach .. 0 oto 0 0 Asparagus, pr do. 2 6to 4 "
Brussels sprouts 0 oto 0 0 Seakale, par bun. 0 oto 0 "
0