The Sun.
London, England, 1851-06-23 00:00:00

ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA.

—— -
The first representation this season of Le Prophete,
and the rentree of Madame Viardot Garcia, attracted an
overflowing audience to the Royal Italian Opera on Sa-
turday. The Fides of Madame Viardot is one vf the
greatest pieces of acting on the lyric stage, and she
proved on Saturday that she bad not abated one jot or
tittle of her power. In the coronation scene she way finer
than ever we have seen her; she seethed to act
more impulsively than was formerly her wont,
to forget her personal identity, to give herself up more
completely to the part, and the consequence was, that we
had an increase of intensity and force with a diminu-
tion of exaggeration, which produced an effect perfectly
sublime. Never have we witnessed anything more
touchingly pathetic than her rendering of the beautiful
" Ala, mon file." Mario, who in the early part of the
evening seemed suffering from indisposition, warmed
with his part, and gave the superb finale of the second act
and the Bacchanalian song in the fifth with infinite
fire and spirit. He fairly shared with Madame Viardot
the honours of the representation, and was, at the con-
clusion of the opera, called on with her. The cast of
the opera was, with a few unimportant exceptions, the
same as last year, and it was consequently given with a •
completeness that left nothing to be desired. Her Ma-
jesty and Prince Albert honoured the performance with
their presence. The Queen and the Prince were at-
tended by the Viscountess Canning, the Hon. Miss
Paget, Lord Camoys, General Wemyss, and Colonel
Bouverie. The Duke of Bedford's box was occupied by
Lord and Lady De Leile, and Lady Foulis and party.
Miss Burdett Coutts, with Mr. Charles Dickens, and a
large party, were also present. Among the
fashionable company attending we remarked his
Highness Prince Demidoff, attended by M.
Octave Jaunez and suite, her Grace the Duchess
of hontrose and party, the Marchese Brancaleoni
and Madile. Brancaleoni, the Marquis of Granby, the,Earl
and Countess of Bessborough, Earl Bruce, the Earl and
Countess of Essex and Lady Adele, Capel, the Earl and
Countess of Strathmore. the Countess Dowager of Essex
and Miss Johnson, the Earl Cawdor, Earl Granville, the
Earl and Countess of Fingal' and Lady Henrietta Plun-
kett, Viscount Clifden, Viscount and Viscountess Vil-
liers, Viscount and Viscountess Maidstone, Lord and
Lady Carrington and the Hon. Miss Carrington. Lord
and Lady Macdonald, Lord Killeen, Lord Adolphus
Vane, Lord Henry Gordon Lennox, Lady Dinorben and
Miss Smyth, Lady Gleans and Lady Frances Lyon,
Lady Mectarlausi and party, Lord Colville, Mr. Baron
Petite, Lath Parke, and Miss Parke, the Baroness de
Steuz, I.4,Jrd Arthur Haye, Baron de Sternberg, Colonel
the Hon. Cecil Forester, M.P., &u.

ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.
FitENCII PLAYS.

Madlle. R whet r prated on Ssturtay the character of
in Lev Horuceg, with all the wonderful pow« r,
pathos, vit..lay wit n which sh.. alone has known how
; animate the Ilteleri I sins of the h.-roiues of French
elft,sic,il tragedy. We still adhere to he op.inon which
we express, d to noneing a tew drays since her pertorm-
unce ot Camille, that taken as a whole it is the most per-
fect and greatest of her &lineations of classical tragedy,
anti we therefore hope that sue will rep-at it at, leak;
once more before she leaves us. The hou,e was crowded.

----
TO THE SECRE CARY OF -um: BRADFORD
REFURNI ASSOCIATION.
(EVERY MONDAY AND WEDNESDAY.)
Sir,—Ou s essueesray the 18. n, to bunday Trading
Prevention Bit for the Metropods was thrown out on the
proposal for going into Committee, by 77 to 42. It was
not on the whole a bad composition between the coisfiseting
parties; but the elements opposed to it had received so
much strength of late, that there was manifestly no use
in a trieud to comp esition endeavouring to support it, et
the risk of being considered as stalking his principles
to a desire to avoid offending the SAbbatarian heresy.
On Thursday the Smithfield Market Removal Bill
was gone through in Committee, though it is not clear
it is altogether done with. The folly of holding a huge
live beef market in the centre of a metropolis, would be
only to be marched by an agricultural gentleman's tak-
ing a fancy to exnibiting his prizs cattle in his drawiug-
room.
The House was afterwards counted out, on a proposal for
resolving itself into a Committee on the religious tests
in the Universities. Counting out, in the House, is what
going to sleep at sermon is to individuals. Like that,
it does not necessarily i.nply fault either in the subject
or the handling of it; but only that somebody wants to
be somewhere else. This place may be a good one for
repeating, that it the Dissenters are in earnest in desir-
ing collegiate education, the way to succeed is to estab-
lish a college of their own in one of the two English
Universities. If they are nut rich enough to do :this,
they are not rich enough to complain; they might as well
complain that they had not their box at the Opera. There
would probably be no insuperable objection to their
effecting this purpose; particularly if in return for having
their own way in religious matters within their own
walls, they proffered to forego the right of voting in
the Senate on subjects connected with religious discipline
elsewhere.
If the Dissenters succeeded in this, they would of
course not begin by setting up an Inquisition of their
own, but would leave an open door for the general exten-
sion of religious liberty. There would ba an end, for
instance, of such scandals as Members of the University
of Cambridge will recollect some years ago, when a young
Egyptian sent by Mohammed Ali to study law with a view
to being his future Lord Chancellor, was seen passing his
time under the tutelage of a Professor of Italian, in
consequence of the abhorrence of a Christian Univer-
sity to open the door of law to a Moslem student.
Fancy the counterpart to this to have happened in the
Ussive-raity of Cordova, when it was the centre t.f kuow-
led^e in the existing world, and calculate the outcry
which would to this day be raised against the bigotry or
the unenlightened Moor.
On Friday the Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Bill
was further considered in Committee. Tne amendments
in the Papal direction were negazitred by what int au ave-
rage
may be celled a majority of 4 to 1. Sir R. 11.
Inislis'a amendment ior making it unlawful to give rank
or pr, cedence &c. to any person • not having her Ma-
jesty's !incase, was neg stived by 166 to 121.
Iu the course of the debate thete was something like
a scena, arising out of the fervid temperament of Irish
Metnners. In fact they set up
not supporta claim, which on re-
it etion they
in carr) iug out. Aud the claim, to
must be conscious the public opinion will
put it to a somewhat exliggel ated form tur the slake of
greater clearness, would amount to this. There are
certain forms of expression from one Member to another, •
which the blouse,
fur the sake of peace and order,
zealously
prohibits; and the Hibernian claim, if carried
to she extreme, IA
would amount to demanding that any
Honourable Gentleman shall tell any otner Honourable
Uentleman he is anything
tohie,eHuosuesse,
tphieovpidereidp
hi tr. easHuu
16
to the rules of
contrary to the rules of the nuuse,
°onfmarasoybatite Gugu,nePn"ll2;main N
ntt to
the
Honourable Gentleman and most contrary
umber
I would tell the
Honourable ntlern an so and ste" Now .this is
au invention from the far West, which it needs
no extraordinary prescience to say the House will.
not tolerate; for instead of making If a peacemaker, it
wend be the way to endless war. Toe sooner there-
fore it is either abandoned or repressed by the authority
for such cases provided, the better. In truth it only re-
quires the exertion of the good sense and tact which lie
at the bottom of the Irish mind, to• demonstrate the
desirableness of not moving the point again.
I am, Sir, yours very sincerely,
AN OLD REFORMER.
Londcn, June 23, 1851.