The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-11 00:00:00

MONTENEGRO.

A letter from Dalmatia in the Post Ampt Gazette
of Frankfort, states that in the proclamation which
Omer Pasha has addressed to the Montenegrins, he
promises them liberty of conscience, and the free
election of their magistrates. They are to be under
the authority of the Pasha of Scutari, and are to pay
no taxes or custom house dues, but the magistrates
are to be paid by the aid of special taxes. The in-
telligence respecting the military operations is very
meagre. Omer Pasha has sent 25 Piperanian chiefs
to Scutari as hostages. The Montenegrins are said
to have-atta,cked the camp of Dervish-Pasha during
the night, to deliver the voivode of G-rahovo ; many
Turks, it is said, fell on the occasion, but the ob-
ject in view was not attained. The Turkish fleet
is anchored off Butrinto. .

The Osservatore Dalmato, in recapitulating the
ast intelligence from Montenegro, observes that
luring the 20 days the campaign has lasted, the
Lurks have not gained one foot of ground except-
ng taking Grahovo, which -is not included in the
)rincipality.

OUR MUSICAL CORNER.

(From Eliza Cook's fourn,al. )

We have great respect for social gatherings and sea-
sonable festivities. We approve the animated dance
and desultory gossipping of an occasional " evening
party," provided the pretensions of the affair are kept
within becoming limits as regards position and means,
and the Brownes of Bedford-place do not ape the enter-
tainments given by the Cecils in Belgrave-place. We
have due appreciation of the cordial and humanis-
ing sympathies which now and then induce a
little tomfoolery, and perhaps a considerable de-
gree of domestic disarrangement. We believe the
stirring up of household systems to be very whole-
some, when the heavy brigade of chairs in. general
service are stowed away in some remote region, and the
light infantry of rout-seats take their place. We think
it good, on a sanitary principle, that massive sideboards,
solid tables, and Turkey carpets, are transported nobody
knows where, in order that the dining-room may be
astonished by the polka and schottische ; and even if
"papa's office" should be sacrilegiously appropriated to
" wallflowers" and whist, he must endure it like a
Christian, and think it quite right. We repeat that we
have great faith in the propriety of "upsetting every-
thing in the house" now and then ; but in the middle
classes there are two grand mistakes often made in the
matter, and we shall venture to allude to them, on the
score of personal outraged feelings during the last month.
The sources of the mistakes we complain of lie in the
" refreshments" and " music," both being rather impor-
tant items if a party is intended to "go off " well. We

decidedly object to those showy, meretricious suppers,
where the viands are generally either inferior or scanty.
Sugar-temples, bonbons, bedizened cakes, half-withered
flowers, and such trumpery, are worse than ridiculous,
if the tongues be hard, the fowls tough, the ham dry,
the oyster-paties in beggarly quantity, the jelly rather
poorly, and the Blanc-mange very bad indeed. Shining
decanters and troops of glasses become contemptible if
the sherry be hot and acid, the port,black and thick,
and the champagne nobody knows what, excepting that
it reminds one of an effervescing fever draught with a
bit of sugar in it. We are no epicures, and can enjoy
bread and butter or a plain cut from a plain joint with
ready gusto. We are easily satisfied if no attempt is
made to cheat us, but we cannot tolerate the trickery of
covering a table with bottled cholera and dished emetics
for the sake of a grand display.
We remember being at a large party given by some
young married friends, who were hospitable to a fault,
but not very rich, and they informed us afterwards in
confidence, that they had had serious discussions as to
whether the supper should be plain or ornamental.
Luckily the first was decided on, and the fare consisted
of the following edibles : A noble round of boiled beef,
a leviathan turkey, a York ham, a pheasant pie, sausage-
rolls, scalloped oysters, and Stilton cheese, flanked by
pale ale, "Barclay's best," sherry and negus ; with fruit,
cheesecakes, and greengage-tarts ad libitum. Each and
all were of the finest quality that could be procured • and
the quantity consumed and the hearty satisfaction of the
guests, proved that a substantial supper was no "mis-
take." Now the cost of this entertainment was insigni-
ficant to what it would have been if our friends had in-
dulged in the injudicious extravagance of ornamental ele-
gance, unwholesome confectionery, rech,erch,6 composi-
tions, ices, and champagne. " But what has all this to
do with the Musical Corner ?" some gentle or ungentlo
reader will exclaim. Well, nothing, we admit ;it only
happened to be in immediate conjunction with what has
to do with it, viz., the music prepared for the dancers :
and we just mentioned the matter for the benefit of
those wh o
part of theeantake question‘€broad h:
:how ' hints." Now,ase i
to the
"music"
often are we
to form one •of thirty or forty people with no other har-
mony for the company to step to than the volun-
tary performance of some benevolent individual on a
solitary piano. This always strikes us as being
in-
congruous and in bad taste. In the first place, it is a
laborious tax on the visitors, which is•perfectly unjus-
tifiable ; and, in the second, it excludes all certainty
of " time and tune." Many who may be excellent
theoretical musicians have no more notion of playing
dance music with proper accent than a sailor of
riding on horseback ; and many who are no musi-
cians at all are invariably found to be amongv
thosewho
are most ready to "play again." We Nere among
seventy fellow-creatures the other night where this
plan was adopted, and we amused ourselves with watch-
ing the progress of the " band." As we entered, Mrs.
Peacock commenced a polka with as much precision as
she would the " Dead March in Saul." She had evi-
dently never lost the early impressions left by nos_
seaa's Dream" and " God Save the Emperor ;" then Miss
Strike-a light, after unimaginable difficulty in getting off
her gloves (she will wear " sevens," though her size is
" seven and a half"), essayed a Cellarius on anything but
a " sliding scale," and the consequence was that the un-
happy dancers had to turn the graceful figure into some-
thing which induced is lookers-on to fancy that
they were playing at a strange sort of " Hop Scotch."
After some cold punch had wandered about the book-
muslin maze, Master Slowman was introduced to
the piano by his admiring mamma, who informed the
company that Adolphus would be delighted to do his
best. Adolphus muttered some unintelligible words
over the keys, struck the chord of C natural very ner-
vously, and, after five minutes' debate between himself,
his mamma, and a bad memory, declared he could re-
member nothing, but one of Czerny's exercises, which
not being quite the thing for the "Deux temps," he was