The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-16 00:00:00

T.HZ ;UN 'LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JUNE 16, 1862.

have but to put the blade in and reap. There, in
those workhouses, are the very aged, the very help •
less, the suffering in mind and in body, men and
women worn out with the moil and toil of their
hard lives, tho bed-ridden, the heart-wearied, the
ignorant, and the utterly neglected. There are
fellow creatures, in fact, without, many of them, a

single personal friend, or near relative, or even

remote connection, left to them in the wide world.
There are those, in effect, who, of ail classes in the
community, would be the most grateful for any

token of interest that could be shown in their re•
gard. This is the very division of society, surely, that
the really and practically benevolent among the
Women of England have so long, and, in many

instances, hitherto so vainly, been in quest of.
There is no difficulty in finding its whereabouts.
It is ready to hand in each parish. It has there,
in each parish, its name and its local habitation. It
is that division, each member of which stands upon
the lowest rung of the social ladder—the division of
the classified and ticketed paupers (men, women,
and children) grouped together in our Union Work-
houses.

Very recently there has sprung into existence
amongst us a benevolent association of ladies, keep-
ing especially in view the, hitherto, in a great mea-
sure, overlooked and forgotten inmates of the
Workhouses. It is an association designated in plain
words, " The Workhouse Visiting Society." It has
its organ as well its organisation : the latter being
very simple, but, at the same time, very compre-
hensive and well considered—the former, a little
journal * (price sixpence) published by the
the great house of " the Row," the Messrs. LONG-
MAN and Company. This Workhouse Visiting
Society, it should be observed, is in connection with,
if it has not actually a recognised branch of, The
National Association for the Promotion of Social
Science. The President of it, is one of her MA-
JESTY'S present advisers, a Cabinet Minister who is,
moreover, step-son of the First Lord of the Treasury:
the Right Hon. W. F. COWPER, that is, the Chief
Commissioner of Parks and Palaces. So that, while
caring officially for the Parks and the Palaces, Mr.
COWPER shows also in this way that he can take
an earnest interest in the well-being of the Work-
houses, and in the promotion of the moral and
spiritual improvement of their inhabitants. The
laity and the clergy, ladies and gentlemen, lords and
commoners, share in the advancement of that last-
mentioned object—the one great and paramount
incentive to the labours of those who co-operate in
carrying out the humane design of this most
kindly association.
The avowed object of the Workhouse Visiting
Society is defined as" principally ;threefold." First
and foremost its proposal is, " for befriending the
destitute and o;phan children in the schools, and
after they are placed in situations." Secondly, " for
tke instruction and comfort of the sick and
afflicted." Thirdly, " for the benefikof the ignorant
and depraved, by assisting the officers of the esta-
blishment in forming classes for instruction in the
encouragement of useful occupation during the
hours of leisure, or in any other work that may
seem to the guardians to be useful and beneficial."
Under the first section alone—that relating to the
destitute and orphan children there are " room
and verge enough"—alas! that such can be avowed
thus with only too much reason—for the dis-
play of this particular kind of benevolence. For,
of these destitute and orphan children now shel-
tered annually in the workhouses of England and
Wales there are, in round numbers, not less than
51,000 altogether—half the whole number of the
inmates of the Workhouses. And out of these
51,000, as many as 12,000 are literally " orphans."
With a view to the better regulation of the
members of the Workhouse Visiting Society, there
are ten Rules set down, toyhich ten Rules every
member has, as a mere matter of course, rigidly to
conform. The First of these Rules runs simply
to the effect that "members shall endeavour, by local
action and individual exertion, to interest guardians
and chaplains throughout the country in the objects
of this society, and to obtain their sanction to its
operations, the names of all visitors being submitted
to the guardians and chaplains for approval." The
second very reasonably provides that " visitors shall
attend the workhouses at hours most convenient to
the inmates and officers and shall observe the rules
of the house." The third of these ten rules is one
of great and manifest importance, if only with a
view to the prevention of anything like prose-
lytising —namely, " that visitors shall abstain
from all interference with the religious opinions
of those who differ from them. The remain-
ing seven rules, which it is not here con-
sidered necessary to particularise, relate to the
practical working of the system upon which the
scheme of this kindly Visiting Society is based. The
practical good already resulting from the operations
of the society has been great. And it is increas-
ing. The "Ladies Bountiful" of the land have
now before them consequently the very opportunity
they have so long sighed for. Will they not avail
themselves of it ? Leaving the natives of Boorio-
boolagah to the Mrs. JELLABYS and the " Poll-
prying" to the Mrs. PARDIGGLES—wiII they not
now recognise the fact of this opportunity.

* "Journal of the Workhouse Visiting Society." Bvo.,
pp. 30. London : Longman and Co.

Were we good sound Catholics we should regret
nothing more than such exhibitions as those which
have just come off at Rome. To all men of educa-
tion, it must look like an insult to the intelligence of
the age. We are always charged with unchari-
tableness if we assume that the Popery of the pre-
sent day is identical with that of the times of the
Reformation—and, we are most willing to accept
the view that the men have changed if doctrines re-
main the same. We wish to regard Roman Catholics
as very much like other men. That is that they
have two personalities—their religious one, and
their social one; ar.d that like other men the good
sense of the social personality keeps in proper
bounds the natural tendencies of religious dogmas.
But, for this very reason, we expect Roman Catholics
who share the general advance of Europe, to have
put an end by this time to the grosser extravagances
to which the ecclesiastics of every other sect are
in their respective modes equally liable.

Now we should like to know how many edu_
sated persons throughout Europe, those belonging
to the sect itself which has just made the exhibi-
tion included, will not regard the affair much as
the very tolerant correspondent of a contemporary,
himself a spectator, regarded, it. He was not in.
sensible to the splendour of the show. The music
almost overcame him, compelling his feelings to
sYmpathise. But he could not avoid the impres-
sion that it must in sober moments be characterised
as "humbug," and the very kernel of the -whole
ceremony as
writer " the great imposition of the day." The
so undoubtedly does his utmost to maintain
the most
charitable feelings he can, and to put the
most charitable
construction on everything, that we
cenannldfaninrltyhaasyseu
regarded
that we, had we been present,
the thing more favourably.
,
For the "humbug"
cardinal present was fully
of the affair—every bishop
and
that the Japanese martyrs—martyrs to inter-
meddlingon the conquered side in politics—were of
aware of that. He
ns wero not paid to advance these
knew
no consequence at all in the business. The 50,000
or 80,000 crow

poor men from the rank of Beati, to which a Pope
admitted them two hundred years ago, to that of
saneti. The money was spent to gather together a

great ecclesiastical council of Roman Catholics

from all parts of Europe to pronounce, as a last
hope, in favour of the POPE'S temporalities against

the Italians, who refuse to be his subjects, and the
other Italian. to whom the POPE'S Italians wish to
unite themselves. To victimise for a yet longer
term of years the unfortunate Romans, to enforce
Papal bondage on the bodies of those who are Willing

o let the POPE have their souls—this was the almost

undisguised object of the gathering—an object, but
for which the Japanese martyrs or criminals, no

matter which, might have remained Bea 6 world

without end. We set aside the real character of the

martyrs, and we must affirm that this making a
stalking horse of their canonization, for a purely
secular, worldly, ambitious object, justly brands the
whole thing with the epithet bestowed on I by the
writer referred to.

Then with regard to the chew—that it was a
"great imposition," few will deny it who look at the
facts and the doings. A very large sum of money
had been paid to dishonour the most splendid tem-
ple in the world with theatrical finery, and 15,b00
wax candles, weighing, it is said, 41bs eaca, and in
various other disbursements. All the preliminaries
being ready—the canonization being a perfectly
settled business, a thorough farce, as thorough as
was ever enacted in any theatre, was gone through.
We have all heard of the " Nolo _Eliscopari,"
by which the aspirants to thousands a year
declare their unwillingness to be bishops; but this
sacred farce beats all that out and out. The suc-
cessor of the Fisherman, in his gorgeous apparel,
being seated on his splendid throne, a Cardinal
comes up and demands that the beati may be cata-
logued with the saints. The POPE replies, that in
so grave a business he must have the "prayers of
the Church for Divine assistance." Forthwith all
present begin to chant a Litany. This over, up
comes the petitioner again, demanding canonisation
" instanter, or instantius." The POPE still hesitates,
and asks for further and "fervid prayers for the
Holy Spirit's guidance." The musical praying is
resumed. Again the Cardinal petitions this time—
" ' instanter, instantius, et instantissime,' as if irri-
tated with the POPE or the Holy Spirit," and then
the POPE replies that "assisted by a ray of divine
light he had determined on enrolling the beati in
the catalogue of the saints," and pronounces the
final word " Decernimus," and so the martyrs, or
whatever they were, became Roman Catholic

Saints.
Of the splendour of the show, of the power of
the music, of the appeal it makes to ignorance, we
do not doubt ; but in a day of railroads, telegraphs,
newspapers, and of rapidly approaching universal
education, what are we to say to such huge
impostures as these in the very centre
of Papal Christendom—of impostures which
carry their character on the face of them.
That all respectable English Catholics blush for
such performances, we may feel quite sure, although
they are dutifully silent—they can have no effect
but on the peasantry of France and Ireland. Per-
haps the story distilled for them by bishops and
priests, who laugh at it at home, may help ultra-
montanism in the lowest quarters—that it will
cover it with contempt in all others is equally cer-
tain. It must, we should think, be regarded as the
near precursor of the downfal of the temporal
power.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

" ROBERTO IL DIAVOLO."
The playgoer who is old enough to remember
the great sensation drama that was popular forty

years ago, and which under the title of " the super-
natural," commenced with such concoctions as the
Vampyre" and " Frankenstein," will easily recall
the great excitement created in 1824 by
the production of " Der Freischutz" as
its first illustration in opera; and again,

some seven years later, by that of " Robert the
Devil," which may, be regarded as its last. It was
in 1831 that a subject which was originally treated
at the Porte St. Martin, in Paris, obtained its highest
form on the boards of the Grand Opera, and became
a vehicle for some of the earliest, and certainly
loveliest, music of Moyerbeer. If the " Crociato
in Egitto" served to introduce his name to Europe,
it was the "Roberto" that immediately and decisively
established it. It must also be remembered that
if the temporary excitement of the subject
conduced not a little to the success of the
work at first, that circumstance must also be re-

garded as its test, since the music still remains as
fresh and popular as ever, whilst the excitement
which introduced it has entirely passed away.
Nay, the test is a great deal stronger, for so far
from being interesting, we have grows, to consider
the subject as excessively monstrous and absurd,
and yet such is the strength of the music it can
still render it attractive, and not only serve to re-

press our ridicule, but actually to excite our
sympathies. A still further evidence of its power
is that the interest of its story being one of incident
rather than character, it was supplied with no
materials for duly interpreting human feeling (such
as was afforded in the " Hugenots"), and therefore
was compelled in a great degree to create the
human interest which is developed in this work and
which creation is just the element that gives its
vitality. It is the natural and enduring emotions of
Alice, Isalel, and Robert, as expanded,in the music,
that continue to attract and affect us, when all the
romance of the incantation, and that of the ordeal
of the Demon-Father have deservedly died out. A
greater test, therefore, than this work affords of the
essential genius of a composer, it would not be easy
to adduce. The popularity which it won in Paris,
on its original production, when it achieved the un-
parallelled run of 160 successive nights, was soon
extended to this country ; and under Mr. Monk
Mason's management it was transferred to her
Majesty's Theatre in 1832, with Nourrit Levasseur
and Mdlle. Cinti in their original and principal
characters. It was also given, but not completely,
at both Drury-Lane and Covent-Garden, and years
afterwards was produced at her Majesty's, in order
to furnish, in the character of Alice, a debut for
Jenny Lind. If the music and sentiment of
the young Normandy peasant had an
attraction for the " Swedish Nightingale,"
which determined the revival of the opera, its re-
production was certainly no impolitic experiment,
when its peasant heroine could find an exponent in
the person of Madme. Titiens. It naturally pre-
sented itself, therefore, to the management as the
chief feature of the season ; and, after some weeks
of preparation, was produced on Saturday evening
with unqualified success. Three circumstances may
be referred to as conducing to this result. First,
the interest connected with the debut of Mdme.
Titiens in Alice; secondly, the careful and effective
production of the opera as a whole ; and, lastly, its
animation and richness as a spectacle. Of the per-
formance of Mdme. Titiens no praise can be too
great. Assuming the simple Norman girl with a
naturalness that seems as easy to her as the dignity
of Lucrezia, she addresses herself to the music
—with a depth of emotion as well as a massive
felicity of tone—that places her effort far be-
yond all cotemporaneous rivalry. In the great
scene with Bertram, where the religious sen-
timent of the young peasant is made to illus-
trate so powerfully their respective positions as
the good and evil genius of Roberto; her fervor
obtained the fullest scope, and certainly nothing
could be finer than the horror with which she en-
countered. tho Damon Father, or grander than her
repulse of him, on flying to the cross. Here her
attitude alone alone was the happiest testimony to
her genius. Whilst Jenny Lind in this great posi-
tion flung herself at the foot of the sacred emblem,
expressing terror at her enemy, quite as much as
confidence in her safeguard, Mdme.Titiens springs to
its side and by the sudden grandeur of her look
and bearing, suggests the action of a seraph defying
the power of the arch fiend. The conception of
the one was perhaps the more rustic and the more
actual; but that of the other, we consider, not only
the more natural but more poetic. Her treatment
of the music was in accordance with this deeper
sense of the character. It made the ardour of the
young peasant, both personal and religious, the key
to a more impressive, because a more passionate de-
livery. It was this feeling which gave such depth
to her rendering of the pathetic air, "Va mi
disse," of the first act, in which she describes
the mission she received from her mother
to become Roberto's guardian genius. It was
was this feeling also gave such interest to the
rustic simplicity of the charming melody with
which she Vies to reassure herself whilst waiting
on the mountain for Raimbaut. Her share in the
masterly trio, "Lo Sguado immobile" contributed
chiefly to its great impression, and won her the
honour of a recall, and not less admirable was her
singing and general expression in the last scene,
the concluding trio of which—between Alice, Ber-
tram, Robert—is one of the very finest to be found
in modern opera. After successes such as
these, we think we are authorized in pro-
nouncing Alice as one of the characters
which hereafter will be regarded as her own.
Only second to that of Mdme. Titiens was the im-
pression produced by Signora Carlotta Marchisio
in the character of Isabel. This charecter, which
requires a vocalist who can unite the opposite styles
of a passionate and brilliant expression, has rarely
met with an adequate representative since its ori-
ginal, and very rarely indeed eny one so sufficient
as the Signora Carlotta. If she did not de-
liver the celebrated " Robert toi que j'aime"
with all the emotion it demanded, nothing
could surpass the ease and brilliancy of the
cavatina in the second act, "In vano it fato."
Of the Roberto and the Bertram we can speak re-
spectfully, if not in terms of the highest praise.
Signor Armandi, having recovered from his illness,
displayed a very welcome increase of energy, his
stately • and chivalric bearing throughout
the opera adding not a little to the illusion.
His voice, however, appears to have suffered
either from illness or over exertion, and was
scarcely able to second his frequent sound
intentions. The Bertram of Signor Vialetti was a
highly artistic impersonation, and in the great scene
with Alice displayed a power that was on the verge
of genius. The Raimbaut of Signor Bettini was
very pleasantly sung and acted. The chorus
throughout the opera was very steady and effective,
very spirited in the opening music, and very im-
pressive in that of the Fiends. The band, under
Signor Arditi had a force and precision at every point
that left nothing to be desired. The spectacle, as we
have already said, was very rich and brilliant the
incantation scene especially affording Mr. Calcott
a happy opportunity to evidence his powers.
The house, we need not say, was crowded to the
roof, and the satisfaction of the audience was mani-
fested by the warmest demonstrations.

THE DEATH OF Two VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY-
MEN.-SIIIELDS, Saturday.—The horrible death of Ser-
geant Manners and Private Meggison, of the 3d Northum-
berland Artillery volunteers, by being blown away by a gun
at Blyth on Thursday night has caused a very profound
sensation in the north, and the explanation that is given of
the sad affair is this. On Thursday two daughters of Mr.
Watts, the commander of the corps, were married, and the
firing of the 32-pounder gun at the battery was partly in
honour of the event. The stated number of rounds had
been fired. but unfortunately the men resolved to try another
shot. The drill sergeant, who had loaded all the previous
charges, protested against this, but the deceased men, who
were in high spirits, playfully took the ramrod out of his
hands, and in spite of his remonstrance proceeded to charge
the gun again, and were in the act of ramming the chargo
home, when the gun went off, it is thought, from the vent
not having been properly attended to. in their eagerness
to ram the charge home the p ,or fellows had brought their
heads to a level with the ramrod and directly in front of the
muzzle of the gun. Both the young men wore unmarried,
and were highly esteemed in the town.