The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-20 00:00:00

PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY.

The second Concert for the season of the above Society,
took place at Hanover-square last night. Although a longer
Concert than usual at these meetings, not terminating till
long After eleven o'clock, we do not consider it, on the whole,
either in point of selection or execution, so good as that with
which the season commenced. The opening piece was Beetho-
ven's Sinfonia No. 8, in F major, the last but one of those
immortal productions to which there can be found no parallel
in the whole range of the art. There is a peculiar simpli-
city E;nd playfulness of style in this sinfonia, and a singular
originac.'ty in the motivo of the allegretto, evincing the won-
derful resi:mrces of the author, who appears not only to escape
the intrusive ideas of other writers, but never to fall into the
too common fault of repeating his own. There is also scarcely
auother instance of a composer who has written pieces of a
distinct character. The style of Handel, of Haydn, and
of Mozart, may be always immediately recognized, but each
one of the works of Beethoven stands alone, as it were a dis-
tinct picture. With all the uncertainty of their going at these
.concerts, (the only place, by-the-bye, where they can be
hoard at all,) they are still a great intellectual treat. On this
occnsion, the scherzo was encored. In the first part of the
concert, Mr. Willman played a concerto on the clarinet, with
all that beauty of style, fine quality of tone, and perfect exe-
cution, for wi2ich he is so deservedly eminent. The concerto
waslby Mozart, but, we should think, one of the early works of
that composer, all of which are not worthy of his name. It
was a very insipid production, even in the hands of Willman,
and if left out altogether, many amongst the auditory would
not have been altogether displeased. An overture of Mendel-
sohn (the Isles of Fingal) concluded the first part. It is
throughout very beautiful, but is deficient in that energy
usually displayed by this very successful composer. Sinfonia,
No. 8, of Haydn, which commenced the second part, is an
Acknowledged fine composition, but either in consequence of the
4orchestra not executing it so well as they might have done,
Alr from the superior character of the splendid effort of Beeth-
oven at the commencement of the evening, its effect was fiat.
The leader and the conductor, Messrs. Mori and Bishop, did
not ~,cem to act cordially together. There wants some " re-
format:ion" in respect to these leaders and conductors; the
present system does not answer. Marschner's overture to the
which concluded the concert, is a noisy, un-
Vampyr.g,"
meaning affair. A quartett of Beethoven's for two violins,
tenor, and violoncello, was played in the course of the even-
ing, by Messrs. Loder, Watts, Tolbecque, and Lindley. It
was the very beautilul quartett in A, so well known, and so
wreat a favourite amongst the amateurs. Loder played well,
Lad was much applauded; but, with all deference to those
I,lplo expressed so much enthusiastic delight, quartetts have
heott recently heard far more effectively in other places
:04 at the Philharmonic Society, and with other gentlemen
Pall Mr. Loder at the leading instrument. Besides, at the
hil.harmonic they might have treated us to a quartett not
quite so much hacked as this has been. The vocal music
,t theses concerts is never of the first-rate order ; at this
it Was scarcely second-rate. The best thing of the night,
hl,°_wever, ill this department was Winter's quintetto, from
" OpferPest," by Miss Birch, Mrs. Shaw, Mr. Sapio,
Parry, jun.., and Mr. E. Seguin. Miss Birch is making
:el): rapid progress; so is Mr. Sapio, but in a contrary di-
rection. The terzetto, Tremate." of Beethoven, in which
Alms Birch also sustained the principal part, was much ap-
plauded. His Royal Highness-, the Duke of Cambridge, was
present tht this concert. He sat in the Royal box, but came
driven into the room, and sat near the orchestra, expressly for
the purpose of hearing Beethoven's quartett.

a hr''''r Majesty, Queen Adelaide, has been pleased to
cl?Pooint' Messrs. Buckley and Dickenson, of George-street,
svei tor-square, ale-brewers to her Royal Household.
f The Select Committee of the House of Commons,
the R eduction of Postage, of which Mr. Wallace is Chair-
man,)), sits three times a week to take evidence on this im-
_rttnt subject:. The principal part of the testimony during
the
last week ws‘s given by witnesses brought forward at the
,iVestiort ,of the London Mercantile Committee on Postage.
de, Mercantile Committee is busy seeking for the best evi-
Ca throughout the whole of the United Kingdom. It is
han r,et that
the evidence on the frightful extent of illicit conveyt-
s-e of teteers, comparatively unknown to the Post-office, and
of e,Wants •of the commercial community for a great reduction
Postage are unanswerable.
,14811 lONABLE ON DIT.—It is currently stated in
Ce. rashioi table circles, that " England's richest heiress" ( Miss
. •• s 13
i f • • n, grandson of the Premier Duke of England. It
fur
said that a Duchess (mother of the wealthy Duke of
aar2,:—•d) b,as been instrumental in bringing about the match,
tard'ila't the families, who have not until lately passed a visiting
Mil Pay visits daily. The Noble Lord, besides being an
shi i.s handsome, and it will be recollected by our fashion-
Jatne readers had the honour of opening the ball, at St.
James's alace, with the then Princess Victoria, in May last.
,„
estemia.T morning, about half-past ten, J. Holmes,
k Eaqof North-street;Lamb's Conduit-street, was riding on
ale
horse along Bernard-street, Russell-square, when
me .aitilnal stumbled, and came down with such violence, that
r
Mathi Holmie s sustained a compound fracture of the rig
Li ht
I-se was removed, in a state of severe suffering, to
reside rhea •
I)Rltelit OF CoALe.— The Sunderland Herald,
announces,,,,,, a rk iduction of two shillings per ton in the price of
1 from the, Earl of Balcarrie's pits, at the several stations
of 0a
Kendal, Te'sv itfield, and Crooklands.
CLERK or THE ORDNANCE.—A new writ was
ioved last .eight for Devizes, Captain Deans Dundas having
tibeen appointed Clerk of the Ordnance. Now that his ap-
Pointment is completed a multitude of pretensions and reports
oe at an end . We do not believe that it was ever contem-
plated to appoint Colonel Evans to this office.
1 PAIRS THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.—A long
Jett" appears in the Morning Prints, as the Times, attempt-
-I?. to make a joke, calls its contemporaries,
ifrom a Lord
ItillsaY, complaining of a Lord Douglas Hailyhureo.n! for
,41g voted in the House of Commons on the late division,
till he had ag reed to pair off with the said Lord Ramsay
.1 after Eas to r. Honour is honour even among Members
Parliament, .as well as among thieves; and if Lord D.
41:!yburton had broken his word, we should have thought that
iivleo Lord Rameay might have been justi.fiefd in
which should complaining,
°llgll eve cannot possibly conceive the grief
jus-
tifyst this Lord in wailin, through more than half a column
of
ofall type. Lord Ram'say is, we believe, the representative
lha:addingtonshire, but so nnknown is he to the world,
aai w e had to 3ook at our ParKamentary companion to ascer-
V: yri‘lo. and what he is. Lord Brougham or the Duke of
it, gton might be excused for discussing a personal matter
half a column of small type, but Lord Ramsey should be
°re Modest. He defines and discusses pairs with all the
heety oa* a Scotch metaphysician. What is a pair? says
e
atist.N°l-11 e Lord ; and with logical accuracy the Noble Lord
two"ers'iris own question. "Itis an arrangement between
at gent lemon of different politics, by which they
tree,„s foe. their mutual convenience, to neutralise their
re"eetire .votes and for a stated time to absent them-
,,,v Aes from' Parliament." What is a representative ?
to man who ought to look after the interests of his
tienituents, whi,ali such Noble Lords as Lord Ramsay ne-
k,s:t for their " mutual convenience." The point, however, at
is the pledged honour of Lord Hallyburton? And we
t 5 I:._:heen given to understand, ti lough Lord Ramsay seems
teicr"?, been ignorant of the fact, ti.:at a Call of the House sets
pairs for " mutual" neglect of public duty. Well a Call
ipt,d e .House took place, and released both Lords from their
If ilge; but some domestic calamity kept Lord Ramsey from the
as'tbse, while Lord Hallyburton was obliged io attend ; and
kith e 15 tter voted, though the former could not, h. e is filled
of Print and eloquence, which flows over into half a column
'lt The Chronicle supplies an instance of a Tory Lord
acted(" Alford, having acted precisely as Lord Hallyburton
seems to confirm the received opinion, that
he al.(' put an end to by a Call of the House. If' it
is'r'reri°t So, and if Lord Douglas Hallyburton have trans-
toP .rliamentary privileges—those sacred contrivances
ra.n.l4e it apunity for neglecting the people's service,. and for
141 ittinß perjury and other little immoralities—let Lord
I fa-‘„°Y, venen he can resume his Parliamentary duties, corn-
' -t° the House, a-la-Maidstone, and get the majority to
1 )OTe that the Speaker be ordered to repiimand Lord
al4 Hallyburton in his most solemn manner.