The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-17 00:00:00

belongings ; and any other public than those who have made
their boatmen linger on the lake of Como, hard beneath the
garden walls of her villa, with the hope of catching a
glimpse of one who in her prime had enthralled so many.
Her voice, which, at its best, had required ceaseless watch-
ing and practice, hid been long ago given up by her. Its
state of utter ruin on the night in question passes descrip-
tion. She had been neglected by those who, at least, should
have presented her person to the best advantage admitted
by Time. Her queenly robes (she was to sing some scenes
from " Anna Bolena") in nowise suited or disguised her
figure. Her hairdresser had done some tremendous thing
or other with her head—or rather, had left everything un-
done. A more painful and disastrous spectacle could hardly
be looked on. There were artists present. who had then,
for the first time, to derive some impression of a renowned
artist—perhaps, with the natural feeling that her reputation
had been exaggerated. Among these was Rachel—whose
bitter ridicule of the entire sad show made itself heard
throughout the whole theatre, and drew attention to the
place where she sat—one might even say, sarcastically enjoy-
ing the scene. Among the audience, however, was another
gifted woman, who might far more legitimately have been
shocked at the utter wreck of every musical means of ex.,
pression in the singer—who might have been more natu-
rally forgiven, if some humour of self-glorification had made
her severely just—not worse—to an old prima donna ;—I
mean, Madame Viardot. Then, and not till then, she was
hearing Madame Pasta. But truth will always answer to
the appeal of truth. Dismal as was the spectacle—broken,
hoarse, and destroyed as was the voice—the great style of
the singer spoke to the great singer. The first scene was
Ann Boleyn's duett with Jane Seymour. The old spirit
was heard and seen in Madame Pasta's " Sorgi I" and the
gesture with which she signed to her penitent rival to rise.
Later, she attempted the final mad scene of the opera—that
most complicated and brilliant among the mad scenes on
the modern musical stage—with its two cantabile move-
ments, its snatches of recitative, and its bravura of despair,
which may be appealed to as an example of vocal display,
till then unparagoned, when turned to the account of frenzy,
not frivolity—perhaps as such commissioned by the superb
creative artist. By that time, tired, unprepared, in ruin as
she was, she had rallied a little, When—on Ann Boleyn's
hearing the coronation music for her rival, the heroine
searches for her own crown on her brow. Madame Pasta
wildly turned in the direction of the festive sounds, the old
irresistible charm broke out ;—nay, even in the final song,
with its roulades, and its scales of shakes, ascending by a
semitone, the consummate vocalist and tragedian, able to
combine forin with meaning—the moment of the situation,
with such personal and musical display as form an integral
part of operatic art—was indicated : at least to the appre-
hension of a younger artist, " You are right I" was
Madame Viardot's quick and heartfelt response (her eyes
full of tears) to a friend beside her—" You are right I It
is like the Cenacolo of Da Vinci at Milan—a wreck of a
picture, but the picture is the greatest picture in the
world I " _ _

Of Grtsi and Mario Mr. Chorley speaks highly, but
without much enthusiasm ; indeed the latter, he
considers, has never wholly got beyond amateurship.
He gives an amusing account of the Lind fever, from
which he seems to have escaped, and his summary
of the characteristics of the chief modern operatic
composers will be read with interest. Indeed the
value of the work to all of musical taste is unques-
tionable. Upon some points they will necessarily
differ with it; but they nevertheless cannot fail
to derive from it considerable information as well
as amusement.

2he English at Home. By Alphonse Esquiros
Second series. Translated by Lascelles Wraxall,
Chapman and Hall.
Differing widely from the burlesque descriptions
of our manners and customs, with which
foreign visitors usually regale their friends at
home, these essays, contributed by M. Esquiros to
the Revue des Deux .blondes, contain a large amount
of curious information respecting our institutions
and amusements, are full of anecdote, and are cha-
racterised, in the main, by a sound judgment. Thus
speaking of our clubs he observes, "Any person who,
has lived in England very speedily perceives that
nothing resembling the English clubs exist, or can
exist, on the Continent, for these assemblies pre-
suppose rights, guarantees, and, before all, a
lengthened training in liberty, which are not found
in other countries." This, for a Frenchman, is
admitting a great deal, and we find the same spirit
of impartiality running through the book. Thus,
speaking of theatres and actors, he admits that the
French "know nothing of Shakspeare, at least of
the acted Shakspeare ;" and says, " I confess it is
ever a mental festival to me when I see one of the
plays of the Great English Poet interpreted by
English actors." Occasionally, however, he is
startled from his propriety. "I stopped," he says,
." one day in a street off Deptford, in front of a shop,
all covered with inscriptions and hieroglyphics ;
about 15 feet from the ground and over the door a
fearful mannikin was hanging from an iron bar.
It was a sort of monstrous doll with three heads,
painted black, and crowned with a horsehair wig.
On this clumsy-carved wooden face the hatchet or
the chisel bad exaggerated the features of the
Ethiopian race, a flattened nose and blubber lips.
There were neither legs nor arms, but the body
was indicated by three hoops covered with canvas.
It looked like an idol, a fetish cut out of the trunk
of a tree by the Congo negroes. Another circum-
stance attracted my attention : it was an enormous
bone fixed to the shutters by an iron bar, and which
was a fragment of some antedeluvian colossus.
On this relic—which was worn by wind and rain,
but which, on reflection, might have belonged to a
horse or an ox—was written in red letters, ' make
haste and sell me your bones.' I also read on a piece
of cardboard—' Sell me your fat.' These inscrip-
tions had nothing very reassuring about them, and
had 1 been in that Fair Village where M. du
Chaillu must have spent a very uncomfortable time,
I should have fancied that designs were entertained
on my life." Observing, however, a man and woman
enter this den and emerge with no worse losses
than a pair of cracked shoes and a shawl with a
hole in its back, M. Esquiros plucked up courage,
went in, gained the heart of the owner by disposin
of a silk handkerchief ruinously low, mastered the
details of the rag and bone business, and then pro-
ceeds to describe paper making, and to touch on
some of the characteristics of the English press;
and the volume concludes with a dissertation on
sporting life, and a description of the Derby Day.

Sketches of Faroe and Iceland. By Andrew James
Symington. Longman and Co.
This is an interesting little work, nicely got up,
and profusely illustrated with woodcuts of the re-
markable scenery in the remote isles Mr. Syming-
ton was adventurous enough to visit. " The greater
part of the volume," he says, " consists of a diary
jotted down in presence of the scenes described, so
as to preserve for the reader, as far as possible,
the freshness of first impressions, and invest the
whole with an atmosphere of human interest."
The accuracy of the descriptions is thus guaranteed,
and the author evidently lost no opportunity of
acquiring information respecting the customs of
the inhabitants, their traditions, and the peculiar
natural features of the country. His work will
thus be peculiarly useful to those who may feel a
desire to follow in his track ; and the appendix,
moreover, contains thirteen Iceland stories and
fairy tales, translated by the Reverend Olaf
Palsson ; specimens of old Icelandic poetry ;
poems on northern subjects in English
and Icelandic ; information for intending
tourists ; a glossary ; and lastly, a chapter on our
Scandinavian ancestors—treating of race, history,
characteristics, language, and tendencies."
the volume contains something to suit all tastes
delight
will be peculiarly acceptable to those who
in northern traditions and literature. Thus

The Pope and his Patron. By the author of
" Horace at Athens." Longman and Co.
The.shafts of the author of this political satire, in
rhyme, are especially directed against Disraeli, for
his advocacy of the Pope's cause on the evening of
the Bth of May ; as a reward for which " His Holi-
ness" is here supposed to enrol that politician in
the noble army of martyrs. The list of dramatis
personae is a tolerably diversified one, and the
writer'is evidently no friend to the retrograde party
in Italian politics.

Accounts from Burgundy state that the vineyards
the blossoming commenced only on the 20th of
in that diffitrict have n.ot been so form ard since the year
wwhheerneas this year more than two-thirds of the gra
formed previous to the Ist of June. None of the vines
remained in blossom at that period except those planted in
unfavourable situations. A very abundant crop is to be
remarked in addition to the unusual forwardness of the
grapes. An additional fact greatly in favour of the vine
growers is that. the most delicate descriptions are more
heavily laden with bunches of grapes than the common
vines,
Map,wl Be22e