The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-09 00:00:00

SURRE Y SESSIONS.-(T

IS DAY.)

These sirs-ions commenced this morninz, at the Court-
house, Newingt,n causeway, before Thomas Puckle,
E:q., and a fug bench of magistrates.
Mary Donovan. alias Coleman, aired 40, was indicted
for st. alaig, at Croydon, a shawl, the property of Jesse
Old field. the well known opponent of Mr. Cohbett.
On the prisoner being p'aced in the dock none of the
witnesses were present; although the Court a aited some
time, neither the policeman nor either of the others came
forward.

Mr. PIICKLE slid such conduct could not pass over
without some punishment on the part of the Court. He
should order the rccognizances of all the witnesses to be
estreat,d, and some complaint to be made against the
constable. There bring no prosecutor in attendance,
the Court ordered the prig ner to b. discharged.

HER MAJESTY'S TIJEATRE.
On Saturday evening it seemed as thouJi the Jenny
Lind furore bad revived in all its intensity; the crush
the doors was as terrific and the theatre was as crowded
as ever it was on those memorable Jenny Lind nights: The
occasion was one to create a furore—it was the rent,*
of Madame Sontag, who, 20 years since—then a mere girl,
many years the junior of what Jenny Lind is now—had
created quite as great an excitement on the lyric stage
as Jenn) Lind has done since; and who for purity of
voice, correctness of intonation, and brilliancy of execu-
tion, stood unrivalled— who was, in fact, the originator
of the school of which Grisi and Persiani, and,
in some respects, even Jenny Lind herself,
can only be considered the disciples. Those 'who re-
membered S ,ntag were anxious to observe what effect
time had produced on one of, perhaps, the rest perfect,
but at the same time the most delicate of vccal organiza-
tions while the younger habitues of the opera to whom
Sontag had hitherto been merely a myth,
were anxious to ascertain for themselves whether
all that had been said of the marvels of her vocalization
was only exaggeration, or whether she really was that
which her tomer admirers represented her to The
opera chosen for her rent,* was Linda de Chamouni,
the music of which is admirably suited to
her exquisitely finished style of vocalization.
[ler reiceptian w superb, for upwards of five 'minutes
was the applause renewed, and renewed again Until the
debutante, for such we may consider her, was affected to
tears by the cordial greeting with which she was
we!comed back to the sce!ee of her many former
triumphs. We all remember the story of the
•‘ sleeping Beauty in - the Wood," on wh,ese
appearance time, after the lapse of a century, produced
no effec.; most as-uredly Madame Sontag must be a de-
scendant from this far-famed lady. There she stood on
Saturday, on the same spot on which she had stood 20
pars be ore, looking as beautiful, as interesting, aye I
and as young, as when she took her last farewell of the
English musical public.

" I do remember it
As though it were a thing of yesterday."
And on Saturday she appeared as though the Saturday
had been but the morrow of that yesterday—beautiful,
lovely, interesting, the same llenriette Sontag, who, in
1828, fascinated all Paris, and all London, and all Berlin.
But time, which had not touched the person, might have
revenged hieeself upon the voice. No such thing; the
voice is even better than it was at the time she quitted
the stage; there is the same purity, the same 'delicacy,
the same flexibility, the same unerring accuracy et in-
tonation ea marvellous qualification to find in a
pure soprano), with greater, much greater
power. Her aria d'intrata at once brought into pl ,y
all her marvellous powers of vocalization, and convinced
her old friends and admirers that licnriette Sontag was
fully able to maintain, and to add to her former repu-
tation, whilst those who had never heard her were
forced to confess that those praises, which for years they
had been wont to sneer at as exaggerations, were the
mere simple unadorned truth. The utterance of the first
words of the recitation, " A tante( troppo," I at once
proved that the voice was as perfect as ever, and that
brilliant execution or the aria which immediktely fol-
lows, " Ah Luce di quest' anima," demonstrated that not
only was .the instrument as perfect as ever, but
that the command of the performer over it was as
complete, and the production of the effect aimed at as
unerring, as ever it had been. The marvellous execution
of this aria produced a pertect furore; the ap-
plause was he arty (a word weich is seldom
applicable to the applause of an aristocratic audience, and
never was an audience more aristocratic assembled
within the walls of a theatre), and enthusiastic, and
bouquets innumerable were showered on her. An
encore was demanded, but the supplicating look of the
artiste, as she came forward to make her acknowledg
ments, was at once understood, and the encore was
not persisted in. From this moment the ques-
tion was settled. Sontag was Sontag still.
and had she sung nothing more than that one aria, her
fame would have been re-established, and the furore would
have gone en.. lu the duet with Gardoni which imme-
diately follows, the furore increased and the "A conso-
larmi was re-demanded with a vehemence to which
Sontag—who now herself, the nervousness of her
debut over, fully shared iu the enthusiasm she had ex-
cite el, at once gave way, and its repetition brought
down fresh thunders of applause, and fresh showers of
boucpets. At the conclusion of the act she was twice
called before the curtain. The second act of Linda
makes greater calls upon' the histrionic than upon the
vupat powers of the representative of the part, and it wa
of old averred by the carpers (albeit we ourselves never
saw any good reason for the reproach) that Sontag was
cold as an actress. We were therefore curious to see
how she would get through the second act of the opera.
In the earlier scenes she was graceful, g• ntle,
and lady like, as might have been expi.cted. At the close,
the interview with her falter calls forth all the puaers
of the artiste, and here Madame Sontag achieve d a most
perfect triumph, meking her exquisite sotto voce minister
to the heightening tie effect of the scene in a manner
which none of her prede2esseers have di ale, or perhaps could
do, seeing that none who have hitherto attempted the
part posse sa her marvellous sotto voce. The whole scene
with the father was one of the mo-t touching and pa-
thetic pieces of unexaggerated natural acting ever wit-
nessed. We trust that Madame Sontag is des-
tined to give the coup de grace to the
windmill school of acting, which has already re
ceive d such severe blows from Jenny Lind and Parodi.
Thu last act was beautit ally rendered; the sudden shudder
which she gives as she becomes revived to consciousness
by the " old familiar tune " was an exquisite touch
of nainre. The finale was one of the most brilliant
and wonderful pieces of execution ever witnessed. Her
fioriture was showered with a lavishness and grace that
only those who heard could imagine. The furore had
reached its height; she was applauded to the echo,
called and recalled, and at length only per-
mitted to leave the stage amidst showers
of bouquets. It is evident that the Sontag
nights will be what the Lind nights were. The opera
was strongly cast. Gardoni was the Carlo, and his rich
and silvery tones mingled deliciously with those of the
Sontag in the duet " A consolarmi." Coletti was the Lou.
stalot, and in the malediction scene of the second act was
absolutely terrific in his impassionedness. Mademoiselle
Casolini was the Piettro, and performed the part care-
tully, and without any pretension, and, therefore, ex-
cellently well. This lady is an excellent musician,
a good actress, and an accomplished artiste,
and seems entirely free from those besetting
sins of artistes in general, vanity and pretension,
whatever, she undertakes she does conscientiously, and,
therefore, excellently. Beletti, as the Prefetto, was ad-
mirable, and F. Lablache was very quaint as the Mar-
quis. The orchestra was admirably conducted by
Balfe. We congratulate Mr. Lumley on having se-
cured the services of Madame Sontag, and we congra-
tulate the subscribers on having an impressario, who
during the course of the same season, has secured for
them the services of three such prime donne as Jenny
Lind, Alboni, and Sontag.

Tuckerfrwoill
TUCKER'S EXPLOSIVE SHELL.— We learnm
undoubted authority that Mr. Douglass
shortly make another experiment with his explosive
shell, agreeable to an order from Government to that
effect, he having received a number of shells of various
calibres, from Messrs. Walker's, of Tipton, Stafford,
the Government contractors, for the purpose of altering
and loading according to his system. Two experiments
were made with these shells in August last, one from
her Majesty's ship the Excellent, at Portsmouth, and
another at Woolwich; when the results proved most sa-
tisfactory, and gave rise to a great deal of discussion in
the military and naval circles. The ensuing experiment,
which is to come off at Portsmouth, is to be upon a very
large scale, and as it is to be the final test of the extra--
ordinary powers of this shell, the result is looked for-
ward to with great interest by the naval and military
world.

--
FISHERIES AND THE FOREIGNERS.—In conse-
quence of the complaints made last year, of the en-
croachment of foreigners on our fishing grounds, the
Board of Trade have conferred on the various officers of
the Scotch Fishery Board powers to search and seize
any vessel fishing within the limits proscribed by treaty.
—BangAhire Journal.
PRESTON AND LONGRIDGE.—The directors of the
Fleetwood, Preston, and West Riding Railway have
main leasPd the line from Preston to Longridge to Mr.
Moult. The period of the present contract is three
months.—Preston Chronicle.