The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-18 00:00:00

ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA.

On Saturday evening, as is always the case when
Grisi and Mario are announced, there was an overflow-
ing audience to witness their appearance in La Favorita,
performed for the first time these two years. The
opera itself has no extraordinary attraction ; it has
merit, but is not comparable to several of Donizetti's
other works. It was written towards the close of his
life, and for the French stage—circumstances which
may account for its comparative want of freshness and
flow of melody, and for its full and elaborate style
of instrumentation. Its airs have not taken posses-
, sion of the public ear ; one of them only—" Ange si
pue—bas found its way to the concert-rooms, the
surest test of popularity. On the other hand, Donizetti
took more than his usual pains to make his music
dramatic, a quality more prized by a French than an
Italian audience. The concerted pieces, in which much
of the dioalogue is carried on, are skilfully constructed
and sometimes strikingly effective ; and the French
original shows the care bestowed in adapting the music
to a correct and emphatic declamation—though this fea-
ture has been much impaired in the Italian version. The
drama, notwithstanding the objection to the character of
the heroine, is interesting. The scene in which the lover
indignantly rejects the hand of the object of his passion
when he discovers that she is the mistress of the king, is
finely worked up, and there are few things on the
stage more mournful than the final meeting of the sepa-
rated pair, who, in the gloom of the cloister, see each
other again, only to die. But this opera is one of those
things which depend more on the performers than on the
author ; nothing less than transcendant powers on their
part will give it effect. During the last ten or twelve
years it has been repeatedly performed at both our Italian
theatres, but Grisi and Mario only have made it the
means of achieving a triumph.
And this triumph never was greater than on Saturday
night. Our incomparable pima donna never was in fuller
possession of her powers. Her voice had all its richness,
beauty, and thrilling sweetness, which goes at once to
the heart ; and she acted 'with that natural simplicity
and feeling which constitute her peculiar charm. Mario
was equally felicitous, and in the pathetic scene which
forms nearly the whole of the fourth act (the finest part
of the opera, which Donizetti is said to have composed
in a single night), they produced an effect which we
have rarely seen surpassed..

When the curtain fell the audience expressed their ad-
miration and delight, not by applause merely, but by
shouts and acclamations.

Yet now that this highly-gifted pair have reached the
very summit of their art, while their faculties are unim-
paired, while they enjoy an unparalleled amount of pub-
lic favour, and are the great objects of attraction in the
theatre which has the good fortune to possess them,
they are abandoning, one by one, their principal parts,
in which it is found by experience that no one can re-
place them. Only the other evening Don Giovanni was
produced without Grisi as Donna Anna, and without
Mario as Otta,vio ; and their absence (especially that of
Grisi) marred the performance, and disappointed the
hopes of those who had been looking forward the whole
season to the enjoyment of the chef-d'ceurre of the mu-
sical stage. Why this should be it is difficult to under-
stand—we can only regret it without attempting to
account for it.

ANOTHER AFFRAY BETWEEN THE IRISH
ROMAN CATHOLICS AND THE ITALIAN
REFUGEES.

Another serious disturbance occurred last night in the
neighbourhood of Gray's-inn-lane, between a number of
the lower order of Irish Roman Catholics and a party of
Italian refugees, resident in Baldwin's-gardens and its
vicinity. On this occasion, as on Monday last, the Irish
were the aggressors, and owing to the admirable pre-
cautions taken by the police of the G division several
men have been apprehended and lodged in the station-
house, on the double charge of assaulting unoffending
Italians, and resisting the police in the execution of
their duty.
It was about half-past seven o'clock when the first
disturbance occurred. Information to the effect that
a large number of Irish Roman Catholics had left
the various localities of Whitechapel, St. Giles's,
Lambeth, and the Borough, in parties of two
and three, all directing their steps towards Gray's-
inn-lane had previously been received, and the
reserve constables from the chief police station in
Bow-street, as well as those at Islington and other dis-
tricts, had been summoned to the spot. At seven o'clock
an Italian boot and shoe maker, named Daniel Staurenghi,
a resident in Baldwin's-gardens, was returning from a
house in Greville-street, used as a resort by many of the
refugees, to his own residence, when, while passing
through Fox-court, a paved thoroughfare leading from
Greville-street into Gray's-inn-lane, he was assaulted by
an Irish costermonger, named James Neale, who threw
a round paving-stone weighing several pounds at him
from behind, and then hastily retreated into his house
—a small tenement in Fox-place, an outlet from Fox-
court. It does not appear that Neale had any previous
personal knowledge of Staurenghi, but as the latter
wore a red cap of liberty and possessed strongly-
marked Italian features the Irishman considered

him a fair object of attack, and, as stated, threw
a stone at him with so much violence that it rolled
several yards in advance of where he was walking.
Staurenghi, being an active man, turned suddenly round,
and seeing his assailant running away he followed him
as quickly as possible and marked him enter the house
No. 1, Fox-place. One of Mr. Martin's constables was
fortunately passing down Fox-court just as the stone
was thrown by Neale, and the missile actually rolled
close up to where the officer stood ; his attention was
instantly directed to Staurenghi running after Neale,
and calling to his assistance two or three other officers,
they followed the Italian into Fox-place, where they
found the house Neale had entered barricaded against
them. After attempting to effect an entrance by the ad-
joining house, in which they failed, the officers called
upon Neale to surrender. The summons was answered
from the second floor window by hurling down a
variety of missiles, and among the rest an iron-mounted
plasterer's hammer, which narrowly escaped falling upon
the head of one of the constables. A renewed sum-
mons to surrender himself, and a threat that if he did
not do so the door would be forced, brought Neale to
the window with a kettle full of boiling water, the con-
tents of which the miscreant threw out upon the officers,
one of the sergeants receiving a considerable quantity
over his head and face. It was now felt that further
parleying would be useless, and a reinforcement of
constables having arrived an entry was effected, and
Neale's apprehension, after some difficulty, secured.
A second Irishman; named John Carroll,who assisted
Neale in barricading his house and assaulted Mr.
Staurenghi, was also safely lodged in custody.
The greatest excitement prevailed in the neighbour-
hood during the progress of this affray, and but for the
presence of an overwhelming force of police, all of
whom behaved admirably, there can be no doubt very
serious consequences would have occurred. Up to H
o'clock only four arrests had been made—all Irishmen
—and although it was thought desirable to retain the
police on duty there appeared every probability of the
night not being further disturbed.

THE YUCCA GLORIOSA, OR ADAM'S NEEDLE.—It may
perhaps interest some of our readers to learn that a fine
specimen of this plant, in the flower-border on the west
side of Kensington Gardens, will shortly be in blossom.
The flower-stalk is at present about three feet high, and
covered with flower-buds ; but ere it be in full blossom
it will attain a height of eight or nine feet. It is one of
the most beautiful and majestic of flowers ; and, apart
from this, the rarity of its blossoming always makes it
an object of much interest.