The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE 8, 1854.

CO WES, ISLE OF WIGHT.—June 8

ST. JAMES'S THEATRE,

The Theatre Lyrique company, from Paris, com-
menced a series of performances of French Opera
Comique last night at the above theatre. The season,
it is said, will be a brief one ; and yet the are no less
than 22 works promised in the prospectuser . The real
object of the troupe from the Thatre Lyrique in coming
to London, was to give the English public an oppor-
tunity of hearing Madame Marie Cabel, a singer who,
within the last twelve months has made an immense stir
in the musical circles of Paris. The history of Madame
Cabel is somewhat curious. About four years ago she
appeared at the Opera Comique with such equivocal suc-
cess that her engagement was very soon cancelled by the
direction. It is to be presumed that after this, being
satisfied of her inefficiency, she studied her art with zeal
and assiduity, for subsequently in a short time we find
her creating a considerable sensation in Brussels and
other towns in Belgium. Last October the management
of the Theatre Lyrique had the good fortune to secure
the services of Madame Cabel for the theatre ; and up
to the present moment she has proved the principal at-
traction of the establishment. Madame Cabel is a vo-
calist of high pretensions. Her voice is a true soprano,
clear and bright, exceedingly managable, but not of the
most beautiful quality. Her method and style are de-
cidedly French, and she possesses some of the defects of
the worst school of singing. But the vocal excellencies
of Mine. Cabel outweigh her defects. Her voice is
always in tune, she executes the most rapid passages
with the greatest precision and facility, and her manner
is prepossessing to a degree. Unfortunately Mme.
Cabel had not the best opportunity of signalising herself
last night, the opera chosen for her debut having so
little merit as to prove anything but agreeable to the
audience. Besides this, the music of the opera—written,
we believe, especially for Madame Cabel—is singularly
unvocal, and extremely difficult. Notwithstanding
these serious drawbacks, the talents of Madame Cabel
could not be concealed, and we have seldom witnessed
more genuine and well-merited success in any theatre.
The opera selected for the occasion of Madam Cabel's
first appearance in England was Le Bijou Perdu of M.
Adolph Adam, a composer who stands high in the es-
timation of the Parisian public, but who, out of his own
country is little known or little admired. It is enough
to state that Mme. Cabel played a young flower mer-
chant, Toinon, who is assailed by a host of gallants,
wealthy and noble, and that amid all her temptations
she is true to her lover, a gardener by trade. One of
her would-be adorers entices her to his house, for the
purpose of winning a wager, by premise of an engage-
ment at the Opera—for Toinon has a charming voice,
and is ambitious of distinguishing herself on the stage
—but the faithful gardener steps in to her rescue, and
triumphs over all his antagonists. The name, Le Bijou
Pardu, is taken from an incident which tends to the
adjustment of matters at the end. It is, however, quite
useless to describe. Madame Marie Cabel was but
tolerably supported. The troupe is not the elite of the
Theatre Lyrique, although the distribution of charac.
tern embrace for the most part the original cast when
Le Bijou Perdu was first brought out in Paris.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON INTELLIGENCE.—ArrivaIs—
June 3. Virginia (yawl), Jos. Gee, Esq., from South-
ampton river. 4. Plover (yawl), Lieut.-Colonel H.
Brown, from eastward. 5. Nymph (cutter), Sir John
Bayley, Bart., from Portsmouth. 6. Resolution
(schooner), Duke of Rutland, from West of Scotland.
Yachts at and about the station—Schooners Resolution,
Titania, Coral Queen, Fancy, and Myrtle ; cutter
Nymph ; yawls Virginia and Plover. Members at the
Royal Yacht Squadron House during the week—Sir
John Bayley, Bart. ; H. B. Baring, Esq., M.P. ; Geo.
Bentinck, Esq., M.P. ; Lord Dufferin ; Lieut.-Colonel
Brown ; Lord Colville ; Sir H. Edwards, Bart. ; Mar-
quis of Bath ; Earl of Selkirk ; A. Fountaine, Esq. :
Rev. R. P. Hartopp ; Viscount Sornerton ; Hon. H.
Corry ; the Earl of Shelburne ; Viscount Ebrington ;
and the Earl of Mulgrave. The Marquis Conyngham
has purchased the Fairy yacht, built by Ratsey, for Mr.
Peareth.
FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE.—Lady Caroline Morant
has taken the third cottage on the West Cliff. Thos.
Thornhill, Esq., is in treaty for Sir J. S. Hippesley's
house ; the Hon. W. Baring for Earl de Grey's. Mr.
Stephenson has taken No. 1, Solent-terrace ; Mrs. Barn-
ford, No. 2 ; Mr. Bidder has taken Cambridge House ;
Mr. Esdale, the first Cliff Cottage ; Captain Harby,
Elm House ; Mr. Marsh, Oakfield Lodge. Lord Clan-
ricarde, Lord Shelburne, and several other noblemen,
have applied about summer residences, and there appears
every prospect of an early and full season.