The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-15 00:00:00

ENGLISH OPERA-HOUSE.

The season terminated last night with Genevieve, the
Mountain Sylph, and Cramond Brig. After John Barnett's
opera had been played to a crowded and delighted audience,
Mr. Serle, the stage-manager, came forward and delivered
the following valedictory address : . .

" LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,-At the close of a season it is
customary for the management to indulge in a few retrospec-
tions of the past, and a few hopes for the future.—( Applause.)
The proprietor of this theatre values such a privilege as some-
thing more than a sacrifice to habit. He looks upon it as a
means of stating his own views, of submitting them to the
public taste, and strengthening them by the support of public
opinion.
" During this short season a new piece has been produced,
on the average, once in every ten days ; and three of these
have been grand operas, requiring and receiving a degree of
preparation necessary to no other kind of dramatic production.
This has been accomplished under the disadvantages of a
theatre utterly unprovided with old material, where every revival
became, as to trouble and expense, a new piece, and of a com-
pany essential members of which could only be engaged for a
part of the term. We are not unaware that deficiencies must
have arisen from the latter cause, especially in the more com-
plicated parts of the stage business, which, though never
harshly reproved by you, we notice for the sake of assuring
you that in future the necessity will be obviated ; and it may
be urged, with regard to our competition with rival establish-
ments, that the condition of the license of inserting a given
quantity of music in every piece, whether benefitted by it or
not—a condition not imposed upon some, and freely neglected
by others—is no mean difficulty, if constantly complied with,
as it has been here to the very letter.—( Applause. )
" Of the musical pieces produced it is only fit on our part
to observe that they have been admitted on all hands to be
more than a step towards the establishment of a national Opera.
—( Immense applause.) Indeed we feel honestly coofident
that if the future can in this respect be made to keep pace
with the past, managers will not be oblged to pay a cold and
interested homage to foreign genius, but will be enabled
warmly to foster and encourage—to call, I might almost say_
into birth the native mind, which looks to them for its deve-
lopment.—( Great approbation.)
" In previous seasons the proprietor of this house trusts
that he may claim to himself the merit of having excited in
the public a taste for genuine music.—( Applause.) The
performance of foreign Operas was necessary to this end.
With an audience unprepared to receive and encourage them
the efforts of this season would have been made in vain. But
he most distinctly asserts that at no period were the interests
of English music neglected by him ; and it may be worth
while, as the question has been discussed with some degree of
intemperance (especially while the old Theatre was in ruins,)
to refer to the catalogue of what has been done in this way in
the late Theatre, which, with your permission, I will read—

FULL OPERAS.

Up all night . M. P. King.
Russian Imposter ......Addison.
Oh ! this Love M. P. King.
The Waltz Horn.
Plots, or The North Tower M. P. King.
The Maniac Bishop.
The King's Proxy T. Cooke.
The Devil's Bridge Braham and Horn.
The Americans Braham and Horn.
Frederick the Great T. Cooke.
The Privateer .H. Smart.
Persian Hunters Horn.
One o'Clock King and Kelly.
Woman's Will Davy.
Baron Trenck George Reeve.
Gil Blas 'Moss.
Witch of Derncleugh George Reeve.
" Other musical pieces were produced, which included the
names of Addison, Geo. Reeve, Moss, Goss, Hawes, Horn, A.
Lee, G. H. Rodwell.
" This enumeration must be k sufficient answer to such a
charge, and it is a complete justification to state that the public
patronage did not then answer the appeal made to it on behalf
of English composition. The establishment was compelled
to state what was excellent in foreign music, with the hope,
which is now beginning to be realised, of exciting a vigorous
native competition.—( Applause.)
" The Proprietor then is quite content that his future efforts
for public favour should be measured by what he has already
humbly endeavoured to effect. In a Theatre, unrivalled per-
haps for commodiousness and elegance—( Approbation)—with
a determination to employ its resources to the honourable in-
terests of the stage, he ventures, in the next season, to hope
for a successful career. For the present, I have only on his
part, and that of every one engaged in the establishment, re-
spectfully and cordially to bid you—Farewell."
Several rounds of applause were bestowed at the termination
of the address.

A full account of the Aylesbury Steeple Chase will
appear in Bell's Life in London and Sporting Chronicle of
to-morrow. The price of Bell's Life in London is seven-pence.
Office, 170, Strand.
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL FOR 1835.—The cha-
racter of this beautiful volume is thus described by the leading
reviewers :—" This volume is even more splendid than its
predecessor."—Morning Post. "It dazzles and enchains by
the beauty of its engravings."—John Bull. "Itis a decided
improvement on the last year."—Athenceunz. " Almost every
page furnishes some powerful description."—Spectator. "The
engravings are perfect gems."—Bell's Messenger. "Itis a
book of %,?ry valuable observation."—Examiner. " It will be
read with ei:rluring interest—every page of the book affords
matter for extract?"—Atlas. " It is one of the best, perhaps
the very best, of the Annual family."—Dispatch. " There is
much to instruct and amuse—much also to excite our best
feelings in favour of an extraordinary people over whose des-
tinies our country exercises an awful influenoc."—Morning
Herald. " Every page is replete with the most entertaining
details."—Court Journal. "It is one of the moss splendid
works of the kind."—Bell's New Messenger.

At the meeting in West Kent, on Tuesday last, for
the formation of a society against incendiarism, the Earl of
Darnley, who presided, in alluding to the examination before
him of some persons suspected of setting fire to the premises
of Mr. Smith, at Hoo, observed, that it was impossible to
conceive, without witnessing it, the gross ignorance of the
labourers in that district, and which could arise only from the
to tal want of all religious instruction. This district, the
hundred of Hoo, to which so little spiritual assistance is
afforded, comprises that tract of fertile land between the
Thames and Medway. It contains eight or ten parishes ; and
perhaps in no part of the kingdom are tithes higher or more
rigorously exacted. The observations of his Lordship have
created a. great sensation, and are considered to be highly to
his credit, as proving the great interest, as a magistrate, he
takeis in the welfare of the neighbourhood.

FIRE NEAR I:O,.TIAES TUNNEL.
. -
Yesterday mornin,,'",c6;tint-nne-o'doc)f, a firi broke out
in the works of the T frtinnel, leaaing to the shaft at
Rotherhithe, about a 11443-, yO,Tils from ;hit scene of the
late disastrous conflagr
,„.;kt!reh-street. In a few
minutes after the first • .--0,K!,,,n-Several workshops
and sheds were in flames, a "ek,.,,fire Lsoon extended to
other buildings and erections connected wit' the works of
this great undertaking. The inmates of tO adjoining
houses, principally inhabited by poor families, con:`menced
removing their goods, and a scene of great confusion en-
sued. The engines arrived in quick succession, but owing
to the want of water-mains and plugs, no water could be
procured except from the river, which caused great delay,
and the fire was raging uncontrolled for nearly three-quar-
ters of an hour, by which time it had extended to the large
private residence of one of flue principal inhabitants in
Church-street. The greatest exertions were now used by
the firemen to save the dwellings of the poor inhabitants,
in which they succeeded, although the supply of water to
the last was very scanty. A long range of workshops and
buildings belonging to the Thames Tunnel Company was
reduced to ashes, and the private residence, which was very
elegantly furnished, was gutted, and very few articles•saved;
and some outbuildings and stables adjoining were also de-
stroyed. Three houses on the opposite side of Church-
street were scorched, and the shutters were several times
on fire, and the firemen had great difficulty in preventing
the flames from entering the interior of the houses. A wide
area has been left vacant by the destructive element, and it
is said the loss of the Thames Tunnel Company alone will
exceed 2,000/. The owner of the private mansion, a large
spacious house, is insured for 1,1001., but it is not suffi-
cient to cover his loss. The Tunnel remains uninjured, nor
will there be any suspension of tho works on account of the
fire. The Sun river-float, a powerful machine was set to
work early by the Thames police.