The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-06 00:00:00

TUESDAY EVENING. NOVEMBER Q 1849.

formed of him by his learned biographer. The
spirited and graphic description of " The Commeragh
Mounta:ni, their Lalcs and. Legends," is continued
and concluded; the ability with which these sketches
of the wild and beautiful have been executed induces
w to hops that the author will direct Lis step to
other un'rodden spots, unheeded and unknown, with
which his lovely island abounds. "Moorish Romances
and German Ballads," translated from the German,
and Spanish by D.P. M. C., are done in that gentle-
man's usual excellent style, and we by no means wish
to detract from M. C.'s merits, when we say we sadly
miss poor Mangan. " Ceylon and the Cingalese "is
concluded in this number. It was frequently our
pleasing duty to speak in terms of commendation of
the power and research with which these papers were
written ; and, now that the learned author has
brought his labours to a close, we cannot too highly
recommend them to the attention of all who feel
an interest in one of the most fertile, lovely,
but neglected islands of all our colonial possessions.
he next is a notice of novels by the author of " Two
Old Men's Tales," and of the " Protestant Reforma-
tion in France." The "Fairy Serenade" has con-
siderable merit. " Notes and Suggestions on Indian
Affairs" is a very comprehensive and important
document, and well worthy public attention. This
month's number concludes with an analysis of the
memoirs of Mr. Secretary Pepys, one of the annalists
of the Restoration. We regret our space, will not
at present permit us to enter into an:examination of the
interesting annals of that remarkable period.

FINE ARTS.
THE ART JOURNAL.

Sir David Wilkie's i.ainti,g of " The Fir3t Ear,
r!ng," (ngrawd by W. Grcutbach, and Sir A. W.
Calcott's licture of " X Dutch Ferry," engraved by
R. Wullis, are the two illustrations of the Vernon
Gallery collection in the Art Journal for November.
Thomas Sidney Cooper is portrayed both by a por-
trait and a biography. Scott and Spenser afford
themes for the grace ful pencils of the artists employed
from month to month in the delineation of " Passages
from the Poets." JDhn Thomas, the sculptor, yields
a subject not only for a woodcut, but also for a
very interesting memoir; and Flaxman's glorious
compositbm of " Michael and Satan " has been
vigorously sketched by the graver of W. R3ffe. Alto-
gether the Art Journal is fully equal to its repu-
tation.

COVENT-GARDEN OPERA.

What is to become of the Covent- garlen Opera I
during the next season ? The procedings in the
Court of Bankruptcy on Saturday last in Dclatield's
case do not furnish us w:th an a!,s wer to this inter-
esting question. The report of Saturday is merely
in the nature of an historical retrospect of the extra-
vagance and folly of the bankrupt during two or
three years of a feverish splendour. It is but another
comment upon the old theme of—how fortunes may
be lost. There are various ways of arriving at this
desirable conclusion. A stud of racehorses, a kennel
of hounds, a newspaper, a review, a contested county,
a steady series of land speculations, will soon produce
such a result. Within our own experience we should
say, that a "man of busimess" and a theatre are the
two best roads to ruin. The man of business is the
slow chronic disease. He cuts down your timber
here, runs up a row of cottages there; ousts one
set of tenants and imports another without your
knowledge; and just at the moment you
conceive your fortune at its zenith, you
find yourself with nothing left but a dry
legal interest in your own estate. That, however,
is a slow process, and admits of Alnaschar dreams
for a certain period of years. Not so with the
theatre or opera-house. -That is the burning fever
fit that consumes a man's vitals, and leaves Mtn be-
yond all hope of rally in an infinitesimally brief
period of time. Italian vocalists and French ballet
dancers make short work of 100,0001., as is shown
plainly enough by the balance-sheet in the case of
poor Mr. Delafield. Think of what such a sum as
100,000/. is when cast upon a man by the mere act
and operation of the law. Had he laboured for it,
it might have been a different matter. Had he toiled
at the Bar; or worked sums in his head on the
Stock-Exchange; or spent the best years of his life
in a tropical climate indigo-growing, or in an out-
lying settlement of the Hudson's Bay Company
contending with the bears for the possession of their
furry drapery, the acquisition of the 100,0001. in
question might turn out a speculation of dubious
propriety. There is a heavy tale of shattered nerves,
sensitive digestion, and sluggish liver, which must be
set off against the gratifying politeness of the part-
ners in the bank where the favoured child of fortune
keeps his account. How many successful hunters
after 100,0001. envy their own coachmen ! But this
was not Mr. Delafield's case. The chances are he
never did a turn of work in his life ; and yet, in the
balance-sheet handed in the other day at Basinghall-
street, there is found what Mr. Lawrence very aptly
termed the following impressive entry :—"November
7,1845—8 y amount at credit in the books of Messrs.
Combe and Co. 100,0001." As nearly as may be
four years ego Mr. Delafield was the happy person
interested in this delightful minute. Rightly handled,
here was enough to have kept the civilized world a 1
tributary at his feet during any number of years
his life might have been prolonged. We purposely
leave out of the questions all higher principles of
action, all holier aspirations. We will not dwell
upon the hundreds upon hundreds of aching hearts
that might have been relieved; of the tears that
might have been dried; of the valuable lives that
might have been preserved ; of the families that might
have been supported by one who, with such means at
his disposal, should have considered that one day he
must render up an account of his stewardship. Let
us pass by all such thoughts as irrelevant, and adopt
for a moment the philosophy of Pall• mall, as expounded
by an aged Pundit to a knot of irreproachable dandies
in the bow-window of a London club :—" Any species
of property but money is a mere nuisance. Of money
you cannot have too much. With decent management
however, there is nothing in reason that a man with
four or five thousand a-year, with no incumbrances,
no claims, no drawback, need deny himself. With
such a sum, and a good digestion to start upon, so he
have the fixed determination never to speculate and
never to eat a bad dinner, a man may be pronounced
happy." Now, judged even by this code of ethics,
such as it is, w hat can be said of Mr. Delafield's
proceedings ? We turn again to the Basiughall
balance-sheet and we find—a few months back, at
the date of the fiat—under the head of as•
sets, the following words, quite as " impressive "
to our mind as those we have already quoted :
" Good debts, 31. 14s. 6d. Property, value not as-
certained, but supposed to be worthless." There is,
however, even a set-off against these vestiges of su
handsome an independence—these poor seventy-four
shillings and sixpence. It is stated that the whole
sum due to unsecured creditors is 33,3371., and that
there are, in addition, liabilities to the extent of 3,0001.
Now, what would be the verdict of "the lowest hog
in Epicurus' stye" upon such a state of facts ? He
would naturally inquire what amount of gratification
did Mr. Delafield extract from the expenditure of this
sum ? If short in duration, was it intense in degree?
The answer is, that during the three years and nine
months of the bankrupt's short existence he only con-
trived to get rid of 22,228/. upon his own personal
expenses. But as he might in the shape of mere in-
terest upon his capital have wasted nearly the same
amount of money without diminution of the capital
itself, it is tolerably clear that by this test he cannot
be acquitted. All his fortune, then, has been sacri-
ficed for the mere pleasure of signing the engage.
ments, and presiding over the squabbles of a parcel of
dancers and singers for the short space of something
less thon four years. The fate of theatrical lessees
is proverbially a precarious one. A man who
engages in such a pursuit must have nerve sufficient
to keep one wheel ever spinning over the verge of
bankruptcy, without absolutely suffering his chariot
to fall into the abyss throughout his career. The
footmen behind his dinner chairs are sometimes ser-
vants, sometimes bailiffs. Season follows season.
The presumptive ruin of one year is not much more
fatal than the presumptive success of its predecessor.
So he lives, and so he dies—whether insolvent or the
reverse is a mere matter of chance, and entirely be-
neath his serious consideration. For such a course
of life as this Mr. Delafield was clearly unfitted. He
was too weak headed, and with too little capacity for
his strange vocation. We think of him rather as a
bold young man, who goes in with his pockets full
of money to break the bank at Homburg or at.
Baden, and comes out without a thaler in his pocket.
Such a one is not a gambler, but a " pigeon ;" and
that is just poor Mr. Delafield's case in his operatic
concerns. There is, however, far too much real
trouble in the world,—far, far too many of our poor
countrymen who are fighting an adverse batte against
fortune day after day and night after night, and who
cannot reach dry ground let them struggle as man-
fully as they will—for us to affect or express much
sympathy or sorrow for so ridiculous a conclusion to
an operatic speculation. When a man is placed by
fortune in so favourable a position as Mr. Delafield

was four years ago, he should have had the sense to
keep his footing, even if he were not inclined to move
forward. We turn rather to the question in which
the._ public are more immediately interested—the
chances of a second operatic entertainment during
the ensuing season. As we said before, Mr. Dela
field's bankruptcy proves nothing in this matter,
except that his failure arose in some degree from
general carelessness of man&gemei.t, but mainly from
the extraviigant salaries paid to the singers and
dancers in compensation for their services. In corn
menting upon this subject some months back we
quoted from the balance-sheet the abstract of salaries
paid to these gentry during the late Covent garden
campaign, but the list is so edifyingt that it will well
bear reinsertion here.
" Artistes' salaries, 1848 and 1849:—Mdlle. Alboni,
IS4B, 4,000/. ; Dldlli. Angri. 1849, 2,500/. ; Madame
Castellan, 1843, 1,7281. c Mdlle. Corbari, 1848, 4321 ;
1849, 4801 ; Doras Gras, 1849, 1,5001. ; Catherine

Hayes, 1849, 1.3001.; Do Meeic, 1849, 5001 ; Grisi, iL
1848, 3,1061.; in 1849, 2,8001; Persi,,lni, in 1848, 6401.;
in 1849, 5001.; Ronconi, in 1848, 4801.; in 1849, 480/.;
Steffanoni, in 1848, 6001.; Viardot, in 1848, 4,0001.;
in 1849, for two months, 1,213/.; Signor Corradi had,
in 1848, 880/. Mario, in the same year, 2,2351.; and
in 1849, 2 720/. Roger, in 1843, 2,110/. Ronconi, in
1843, 1,1201.; in 1849, 1,1201. Stivi, in 1848, 1,520/.;
in 1849, 1,0401. Tamburini, in 1848, 1,7001; in 1849,
the same sum.
" The whole amount expended in the vocal depart-
ment was, in 1848, 33,349/.; in 1849, 25,644/.
" In the ballet accounts the two Bretin received, in
1348, 967/. Lucille Gratin, in 1848, 1,1201; in 1849,
1,000/. The two Casati, in 1843 and 1849, more than
1,000/. Mark net, in 184 S, 6501. Silvani, in the same
year, 4501.
" The whole expenditure in the ballet department
amounted, in 1848, to 8,105/.; in 1849, to 2,526/.
" The orchestra department shows an expenditure of
10,018/ in 1843, and of 7,398/. in 1849."
It is quite clear that this list is sufficient to account,
in chief measure, for the failure of the concern under
Mr. Delafield's management; but the failure under
such circumstances is no proof that the town is not
capable of maintaining a second Opera, and affording
a fair remuneration to the persons engaged in carrying
on the performances. Now, to whatever series of
causes the fact may be referred, it is abundantly
proved that the relish for the acted drama is just now
in England far less than the taste for operatic per-
formances. If, then, we are to have music as the
principal public amusement, let us have it as
good and as varied as possible. We are fully pre-
pared to admit the humanizing influences to be
derived from the cultivation and diffusion of this
exquisite art ; hut it would be a pity that
the works of modern Italian composers, and
those not always the best eho;en, should be set up as
the fixed standard on which the public taste is to be
modelled. To accept stale repetitions of musical ex-
pression that at its outset was not worth much, as a
substitute for what can be accomplished in music,
would, indeed, be a short-sighted policy. If they can
both be fairly maintained, as far as the public are
concerned, two operatic establishments are better
than one. Even in the interests of the proprietors of
the rival establishments it is preferable that there
should be an opposition. The diffusion of musical
taste by the performances at one house must, in the
end, be beneficial to the proprietors of the other. We
see no reason why either establishment should be