The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-15 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE,—This Day,

Lisit—the Most Wonderful of Pianists.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

To the accomplished Secretary of the Crystal
Palace Company, Mr. George Grove, we are (in
common with all lovers of music and musical criti-
cism) indebted for the publication—in the Reader—
of a recent private letter by a gentleman well known
in musical circles, describing an interview with M.
Liszt, the eminent musician ! From this delightful
letter we are tempted to transfer to our columns
the following exquisitely-suggestive passages :
Piazza di Spagna, Rome, Feb. 19, 1865.
My interview with Liszt really was of surpassing in-
terest. He arrived here early, before I was out of my room,
and I heard him describing himself to our idiotic Italian
slavey as " lin Signor di Monte Mario" (on which eleva-
tion he has established himself, and lives part of the week
at a convent thereon, having a right, I believe—as a mem-
ber of some order or fraternity—to take up his abode at
any convent in Roman Catholic Europe he may choose to
select, and hence the reports as to his becoming a monk).
Having passed the ante-chamber, he found himself in the
presence of F. P., who received him with a kettle in one
hand and a "Euclid" in the other—weapons which were
doubtless taken up by that ready youth as being at hand,
and emblematical of some of the unrivalled characteristics
of the playing of the illustrious visitor—for instance, of
his power of making the piano sing, and of executing with
mathematical precision unheard-of difficulties. I heard
fragments of a dialogue, going on in the next room, partly.
in German, partly in French, partly in English, something
after this fashion, " Ich habe nicht die Ehre mit dem Herrn
0. zu sprechen?" " Nein, gnikliger Herr Doktor, ich heisse
P." " Ach, entschuldigen Sie mich." "Aber Herr 0. will
gleich kommen ; kann ich Ihnen cine Tasse The anbieten ?"
" Ich danke ; Monsieur parle Frangais pout-etre ? voulez,
vous avoir la borate de me donner une allumette, et, avec
votre permission, je fumerai un petit cigare. Monsieur
fume aussi ? Ah pas encore, c'est bien ! Monsieur aime
aussi la musique ? You are a compositeur also ?" "No-
but lam very fond of music." " Ah, very fond? It is
now long years since I speak the English, but I understand
him, and I beg it of you speak your tongue and I answer
in Freneh. Ah, here is a collection of Bach's fugues by a
pupil of mine, Franz Kroll, who is clever ; but I agree not
with him always ; ,for instance, the fingering here" (at the
end of the first prelude) might have been more facile ; but
this edition of Wohltemperirte Clavier is the best which has
been made." . . . About this time I appeared, and
after some talk he asked me to show him some of my
music, and to my intense delight, went to the pianoforte
and began to try a song of mine in D Flat, first striking the
common chord thereof with his left hand (the cigar was in
his right) in arpeggios from the bottom of the piano to the
top, and about as quick as any other hand could be passed
over the keyboard without touching it. He played every-
thing to perfection which he got hold of, and a prima vista,
for he had certainly never previously seen what he had
deigned to take up. Amongst other things, he played some
Church music in a style that convinced me he had played
the organ, which I found out was the case, for an organist
has since told me that he (Liszt) played to him—" with
independent pedals and all "—the A flat fugue, No. 17 of
Book 11. of the 48—no joke ! Nothing could be more
kind and charming than he was ; and what an intellectual
and accomplished person he is, so full of information and
enthusiasm ! I can quite understand the great powers of
fascination which he is said to possess over young men ;
so that, wherever he is, he is followed, and a kind of colony
is formed of his disciples. This is the case even at Rome,
wherein many musical students have taken up their abode,
solely to be under him, and I believe he receives no kind of
pecuniary remuneration from any of them, although I
heard (from Mr. Odo Russell, who is good authority) that
he is by no means well off. This reminds me to say, in
answer to your query, that I asked one of his pupils if he
had heard anything relative to the concerts to be given by
Liszt at Paris. The answer was, "He may possibly direct
a performance of some of his music, but I do not think it
the least likely that he will play." Before I received your
letter I had already entreated him to come again to Eng-
land, and urged that there were so many who were dying
to hear him ; but he does not seem to fancy England, and
said something about having forgotten how to play the
pianoforte—an assertion which was rendered of none effect
on Friday last, when I had the rare treat I have so longed
for, of really hearing him—and the pianofore—for the first
time. I believe that this was almost the only instance of
his really giving a performance since he has been in Rome.
The séance took place in the house of a Mrs. a (whose
clever bust of Liszt was in our Exhibition of 1862) at four
o'cloek in the afternoon ; the audience was limited to nine,
the number of the muses. The mystic number was even-
tually swelled to 12, three ladies unknown to me (charm-
ing enough to be the three graces) arriving at the last
minute. The great artist came after we were all in our
places, and after tantalising us by " conversing affably"
with each member of his audience, sat down to the piano-
forte. Here all description fails me. I will not waste your
time and small space still left me to attempt it, and will
only add that, after having heard all the great pianists of
the day, I can say that I had never heard the pianoforte
before. Imagine all conteivable difficulties so mastered as
to become child's play, the most ethereal and perfect touch
ever hoard, the greatest fire, poetry, tenderness, and senti-
ment, and most admirable management of the instrument
all the wonders, and a hundred times greater, of Thalberg,
the grasp of Henselt, the reading of Clara Schumann, the
science of Moscheles, the refinement of Halle, and the
mechanism and charm of Madame Davison—all these com-
bined and surpassed, and still a something else beyond all
description, as I just said—which is, I suppose, Liszt. No
wonder that the German musicians always said ho is the
first, and unapproachably so, of pianists. He played four
times—three of his own arrangements (one of which was
on Etude, that keeps me awake at night), and one a
Polonaise of Chopin's. Many of his audience were literally
in tears, and I have not got over it yet. He made Mrs, C.
sing " The last (but apparently eternal) rose of summer,"
in Italian, during each verse of which he improvised a new
and gradually developed accompaniment. In the last
verse there was a passage of sixes, pianissimo, in erpeggio,
when the two hands went together as a mower's, and Liszt
all the while looking about him,
and laughing good-
naturedly at the alteration and improvement of the melody
in its new and gorgeous dress, or at Mrs. C.'s dismay at
the change of harmony at every recurrence of the first
phmse—which, by-the-by, is no less than six times in
each verse.

THE KNlFE.—Cunious CASE.—Mary King, who de-
scribed herself as a servant out of place, was charged be-
fore Mr. Knox with assaulting with a knife Police-con-
stable Wm. Camps, 99 C.

The constable said—A little after two o'clock yester-
day afternoon, I was requested by a person connected with
Gloucester House, Park-lane, the residence of the Duke of
Cambridge, to remove the prisoner from the doorway.
The prisoner refused to go away, and made use of very
abusive language and threatened to let me have the knife
she had in her hand if I touched her. I tried to remove
her and she then made a stab •at me, but the knife only
went through my coat, and did not injure my arm. I
then with assistance took her into custody, when she
again said she would rip me open.
Mr. Knox—Was the prisoner drunk ?

Constable—No, sir.

Prisoner (who had a rather vacant toek.)—l had been to
church in the morning, and walked, about and lost my way.
I asked a woman the way to Reient-street, and she told
me. I then went and stood in the doorway, and after-
wards sat down on the steps and ate my bread and butter,
using a knife, when a man came up and told me to leave,
when I refused, as it was raining. I said I would leave
when I liked. The constable then came up and took off
hiki cape and doubled it up, and, thinking he was going to
strike me, I used the knife. I had no place to go to, as I
sleep in a refuge at night, and my clothes were all wringing
wet. I Imew no reason why I should be compelled to go
into the rain.

Mr. Knox—Why did you strike the constable with a

knife ?

Prisoner—Because he took up the thing he had on his
back.

Mr Knox—Have you any friends ?

Prisoner—No, sir.

Mr. Knox—Yours is a dismal story, certainly.
Prisoner—Am I to be prevented standing out of the
rain when I have done nothing? The knife was my own.
I bought it.
Mr. Knox—Have you been in service ?
Prisoner—l have, and totally cleaned a house for Mrs
Connorty, of 47, Lower Belgrave-place.
_ _ _

Mr. Knox—l must have some inquiries made 'about you,
as it is a serious matter using a knife. I will send you to
the House of Detention ; and, as I have some doubts as to
your being in a sane state of mind, I will mark the com-
mitment so that the medical officer may have his attention
directed to you.

WESTMINSTER

A VERY OLD OFFENDER.—Martha llumphreys, a woman
upwards of 60 years of age, was charged under the follow-
ing circumstances.

On Thursday night, a boy named James Grove was
passing College-street, Chelsea, when he saw the prisoner
carrying four pewter pots, partially concealed by her shawl
He asked her where she had got them all from, and the
accused was so much alarmed at the inquiry that she threw
them down and made off as fast as her age would permit
of. The boy then called the attention of the police to the
subject.

Police-constable Alfred Matthews, 60 B, said he was in-
formed by the boy Qf what had occurred. On the prisoner
being pointed out to him he followed and took her into
custody, when she said she picked up the pots in a passage
close to her house, and nearly fell over them. The pots
respectively belonged to Mr. Cornwall, of the Crown,
White Lion-street, Chelsea, Mrs. Freer, of the Monster,
Pimlico, and Mr. Sergeant, another licensed victualler at
Pimlico. The prisoner was quite sober at the time.
Mr. Selfe—Are the owners of the pots here ?
Constable--There is somebody from each of three houses.
Mr. Selfe—My object is to ascertain whether she is
known at any of these houses.

Representatives of three of the owners stood forward and
identified the pots, but only in one instance was the pri-
soner recognised as having been at the house.
Mr. Selfe—What is known of this woman ?
Dennis (the gaoler)—She had three months a little while
ago for stealing pots from tavern-keepers.
Prisoner—Ah ! they said so.

Dennis—She has also been here repeatedly upon other
charges, and was committed for trial not long ago for
felony.
Prisoner—But I was innocent.
She was remanded.

EXECUTION OF POLISH PRISONERS.—Thq Invalide
Russe says :—' The Polish political prisoners Tchi-
barowski, Kaminski, Ostrowski, and Kaspjak, employed
in the tile factory, having been found guilty of assassinat-
ing their guard, the soldier Kourganoff, and of attempting
to escape, were condemned to death, and shot at Kosarkoff

in presence of a large number of the inhabitants. The other
political prisoner; named Pawlowsk, Tischer, Wysochi
(Thomas), and Gutivinski, who took part in this plot, and
escaped from the disciplinary companies, have been sen-
tenced, the first four to 12 years' hard labour in the mines,
and the fifth to 15 years of the same penalty."
TERRIBLE BOAT ACCIDENT.—THIRTY PERSONS
DROWNED.—The village of Sziget-Monastar, situated on
an island in the Danube, has been the scene of a sad dis-
aster. The vineyards of some of the inhabitants aro on
the opposite side of the river, and a ferryboat conveys the
workmen backwards and forwards. On the 6th, 36 or 38
persons were returning across the river in the evening,
and the boat, being heavily laden and deep in the water,
became submerged, and all the
excep-
tion of six or eight, who contrived to reach the shore by
swimming, lost their lives. passengers, with the
DYEING.—The new colours extracted from coal,
such as aniline and other phenic compounds, have
effected a revolution in the art of dyeing; this revolution
was, however, so far incomplete, that it entailed a heavy
expense, owing to the necessity of employing alcohol as a
solvent ; for the colours alluded to are not soluble in
water. Moreover the alcoholic dissolution, when diluted
with water as it always is, and left to stand, deposits a large
proportion of the colour, only keeping the red; the neces-
sity of warming the liquid before the immersion of the
stuffs is another cause of inconvenience, since a portion of
the alcohol is driven off by evaporation, and more colour
precipitated in consequence. Hence it often happens that
the stuffs do not take the colour equally all over but in
patches, and moreover they stain the linen when they are
dyers have tried to
swuobrnstitutTeospdiirmitinoifshwotehde, ccoomst'monirlyycalled methylene, for
alcohol; but in most cases, this has had to be abandoned;
the workmen refusing to use it on account of its bad effects
on their constitution. When they are exposed for whole
days to the emanation of this substance, they soon expe-
rience great weakness and other alarming symptoms. In
a paper addressed to the Academy of Sciences, M. Gaultier
de C]aubry describes another process of his invention by
which all these defects are obviated. It shows that many
substances impart to water the property of dissolving the
colours which until now could only be dissolved
almond-soap, glucose, dextrine, the
j
in alcohol. Such are the gums and mucilages,
especiallyvarious feculas, lichens and fuci, especially the
Eu e
glycerine, gelatine, and animal jellies; but
soap,eollci jellies of
ar isp us,
those which offer the most satisfactory and practical results
are the decoctions of the bark known in trade under the
name of Panama (Quillaya saponaria) and the root of Egyp-
tian soap wort (Gysophila strutium), The Saponaria offici-
nalia may also be used, but is less energetic in its action.
All these substances give a certain consistency to water
and make it froth; and their solutions, poured in a state of
ebullition on the colouring matter in powder, will dissolve
them. If, after stirring and decanting, there is an undis-
solved residue, the operation may be repeated. In the solu-
tions thus prepared no precautions are requisite for dye-
ing ; the stuffs take the colour quite uniformly, and are
much more permanent than with the old process.
PETER'S PENCE.—The official journal of Rome
announces that, according to the last report of the receipts
of Peter's pence, a sum of 5,376,000 f. has been paid into
the Pontifical treasury. The total amount received since
the month of September, 1859, up to the present time, is
43,010,400 f. Tho same journal adds, that at no time have
so many foreigners been seen in Rome as at present
and says that this immense concourse furnishes a proof of
the constantly increasing veneration of the Catholics for
Papal Rome.

rnE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVEMNO, APRIL 15, 18M

We observe that the Protectionist vagaries which
have of late formed so large a portion of our colonial
politics have drawn some attention on the other side
of the world. . . . Our own late Ministry, which is
the first we have had that openly courted and rested
on the support of the Protectionist party, has
been defeated, after a general election, by the
largest majority by which any of our Minis-
tries have ever been turned out of office. This
result has not been all due to the overwhelm-
ing force of free trade convictions, and we should
be receiving more credit than is our due if we
were to be complimented on that supposition.
A number of circumstances combined to make
the Ministry unpopular ; but the central grievance
around which the others clustered was undoubtedly
its perverse and determined attempt to introduce a
tariff which had a Protectionist tendency. . . .
An allowance in the opposite direction must be made
by our distant critics in speculating on the state of
affairs in Victoria. Protection there seems to be
almost as popular as free trade is here. But the
appearance is largely delusive. The Ministry which
proposes Protection is popular there. Local rea-
sons exist for keeping it in, and keeping out its
possible successor ; and thus many persons wink at
the Protectionist proclivities as an evil of smaller
magnitude than a Cabinet crisis. The Protec-
tionist party there has gained by a fortunate al-
liance, just as here it lost by an unfortunate one.
At the same time, even in any case we might
have hoped for a protest in the right direction, and
this, not so much because there is widely diffused
any comprehensive appreciation of the principles of
political economy, as because local circumstances
tend to make all persons actually engaged in busi-
ness see that, at-present at least, a free commerce is
most profitable to us. Our non-insularity has pre-
served us greatly from the effect of Protectionist
arguments. In New Zealand, which is an island,
package duties have been for some time imposed,
and have lately been increased as the readiest
means of increasing the revenue. In Tasmania,
which is an island, ad valorem duties were
imposed to make up the revenue, and were only
attacked because the Ministry was declining in
popularity, and the new duties made a good cry
at the elections. In South Australia, the chief port
of which is unsuited for an entrepot trade, ad valo-
rem duties have been for some time in existence.
But in New South Wales the case is different. The
port of Sydney drives a large trade with the inte-
rior, for a considerable portion of which it has to
undergo a sharp competition with other ports, and
has of late years been rather losing ground than
gaining. It also carries on a considerable coasting
trade, to which precisely the same remarks apply.
It was necessary absolutely to try the experiment
of Protection to see the consequences of it, although
a small taste was given during the few weeks in
which, pending the decision of Parliament, the
Government enforced its proposed tariff. When
business men of all classes came to look in the
face the obvious effect on their trade of the pro-
jected duties, they saw at once that it would in-
volve diminished business, and therefore, without
troubling their heads with abstract theories of poli-
tical economy, they came straight to the conclusion
that whatever community Protection may suit, it
_ _

was clearly unfitted for New South Wales in its
present stage of development, and so they polled
heavily against it. It is fortunate, too, that the
Protectionist scheme in Victoria was not launched
till ours was disposed of. Had our neighbours taken
the lead and established their proposed tariff, the
competitive objection to its adoption by us would
have been so largely diminished that, pressed as we
we were for revenue, we should have been in far
greater danger of being drawn into it than we were. It
may be said that Protection is as suicidal in Victoria
as it would be in New South Wales. So it doubtless
is, and the mercantile class does not fail to note the
fact. But there is a feeling abroad in that colony
that it can afford to weight itself in the race, and
yet win. It is the most populous, the most wealthy,
and perhaps the most enterprising of the Australian
colonies ; and there is a sort of proud feeling extant
that it can go to a certain length in protecting ma-
'nufa-ctures and yet take the lead in intercolonial
commerce. However, it is a dangerous experiment
to try, especially with its territory enclosed by
colonies in which free trade is now in the ascen-
dant. New South Wales may be considered as
guaranteed against any serious leaning towards
protection for some time to come. On the other
side of Victoria, the colony of South Australia is
tending more and more in its policy towards free
trade. It has had the good sense to nurse its land
revenue and to avoid extravagant expenditure, and
is about to enjoy its good fortune in this respect by
a reduction of taxes.—Sydney Morning Herald.