The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-07 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

Madlle. Joharina Wagner repeated the character of
Romeo in. the Capuletti ect i Montecchi, on Saturday
night, exhibiting throughout that fine' dramatic talent to
which we have already called .attention. She has not
played the part afore effectively than upori this occasion,
nor has it been watched by the patrons of the house with
greater sympathy and interest. The occunancy of the
Royal box by the Queen and P,rince Albert gave, too,
an additional piestige to. the e4nt, inasmuch as it was
the first time this season her Majesty had deigned to
honour the establishment with her presence. The Dins
trious party, which also _included the King of the Bel-
gians, the Princess Charlotte, and the Count of Flan-
ders, arrived at'the theatre about nine 6'clack, attended
by Lord Camoys, the Hon. Miss Macdonald, Lord Chas.
F.tiroy, and Celonel Seymour. The appearance of the
Queen in her old-place imparted a refreshing zest to the
enjoyment of the evening, for it at once demolished the
tiny rumours which had beta circulated as to the inten-
tional character of the absence of the Court from the
house which specifically bears her Majesty's name.,
Among the fashionables present were the following—
The Duchess of Mentrose' the Duke of Wellington, the
Duke ..f Leeds, Earl and Countess of Westmorland and
the Hon. Georgina Fane, Countess of Glengill and L-tdy
Margaret Butler, the Countess Villiers, the Earl and
Countess of 11. iiiebery, the Earl and Countess of Howth,
the M rquis and Mar.:laciness of Anglesey, the Earl and
Countess of Stamford and Warrington, Lord Gordon, the
Earl of Gal way, Lo -d Naas, Lord Ward, Viscount Curzon,
Lord C E''zabetti de Ross, Lady Ann Becket,-
Vise •entess Mayttini, Lord Roht. Dundas, Lady Georgi.
ana Codrington, Lord and Lad-r-eharles Wellesley,
Lady Htyes' Lady Bradford, Lady Bellew, Lady Lon-
deshorou4h6Earl of Malrnesbnry, the Earl of Cardigan,
-Earl of Pomfret, Sir Matthew and La ly Wyatt, S.r
John Lowther,-Bart, Sir William Price, Bart., General
Sir Alexander Woodford, Bart., Sir Henry Webb, Bart.,
Lord and Lady Rolle, Sir A. Campbell, Bart , the Hon.
-Mrs. Fremantle, 'Sir John Lester Kaye, Bart., Col.
Lockyer Freestun, M.P., and Mrs, -Lockyer Free tun,
the lion. Admiral and Mrs. Rous, Admiral Collier,
Major-Pole, Mi. and Mrs. Swan, Mr. and Mrs. Lock,
Mr. and Porter, Mr. and Mrs. Bell, Mr. and Mrs.
Jenkins, Mr. and Mrs.. Salamans, Mr. and Mrs. Sey-
mour, Mr. and Mrs. -Gosling, Mr. and Mrs. •Carden,
, C.ipt.'and.Mrs. Dickson, Mr. and:MiS-."-Giblis, Mr. and
Brandt,- Air. and Miss Severn, Mrs.' Colonel Hall,
Mr. C. aiid.Mrs. Davidson, Mr and Mrs! Goding, Ma-
jar. Graham, Mr. kvi Atkinaon, Mr. and Mrs.
Cilap'am, his _Excellency the Swedish Minister, Mr.
.Mund ty, Mr. arid Mrs_ Thernhill, Mr. and Mrs.-Tudor,
Mr. C. J. Palmer, Anil Mr,. James Palmer, Mr. and
-Mrs. ,Lennox, Mr. Varisittart, Mr. and Miss Duff,
Capt Sturt, Capt. Terry, Mr. and Mrs. Todd, the. Hon.
B. Disraeli, M.P., the Hon. Mrs. Cult, Mrs. Wheeler,
Mr. Gilbert, and Mr. and Mrs. Trelawny.

THE 2VATMNAG GALLERY AND TFIE
"ADORATION OF THE MAGI."

TO. THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

• Sir,—On the 7th of April, in the debate on the estimates
for the Nationar.Gallery during 1156-7, Mr. Wilson, the
Secretary of the-Treasury, having buckled on his armour
in defence of "the Adoration of the Magi," amused the
house with the tale " that he had seen a letter from Paris
in which 60,000 francs (2,10014 was offered for that pic-
.ture." Now, Sir, I too have seen a document—indeed I
have ono now before me, kindred in subject to the famous
letter of Mr. Wilson, inasmuch as both treat of the pecu-
niary pretensions of the same masterpiece. By a coinci-
dence which cannot fail to strike the imagination of so ro-
mantic a personage as our Secretary of the Treasury, my
document also is from a French source. An hour has not
elapsed since J received it from a gentleman who attests
the accuracy of its contents from information obtained by
himself, not many weeks ago, in ;Venice. The following
is a translation of the document in question:—
" In the church of. San Silvestro, in Venice, there were
10 pictures by various masters, and, as they were in a very
bad state (en tree mauvais &at), the curate of the church
had been endeavouring for 20 years and more to sell these
'pictures, which were useless to'him. Nobody bought them.
It was only last, year (1855) that a certain M. Toffoli made
the acquisition of the 10 pictures for the sum of 10,090 f ,
and he had one of them (`the Adoration of the Magi'),
which was-said to be by Paul Veronese, restored. It was
Tagliapietra, Re,tautaterir do l'Acadenaie der Beaux Arts
de Venise, who for the sum of 100 Napoleons restored this
picture, which was afterwards sent to Paris."
The gentleman who gave no this document told me,
likewise, from information. gathered in Venice, that the
payment for the restoration was to be contingent upon the
sale of the picture So grateful: however, was Signor
-Toffoli to Providence for having led to his door the art
representatives of. this gifted nation, that, to mark the
epoch of the Divine interposition, ho not only paid his re-
storer's bill, liut actually dVitributed, it is said, 500 piastres
among the poor of Venice.
It will,have been seeh that the average cost of the 10
pictures, formerly the property of the curate of San Silves-
tro, was 101. Mr. Bowyer, therefore,
.was not very wide
of the mark when he so shocked Mr. Wilson by stating,
that he bad bean "told that the picture which had cost
the hatio'n 1,9771.;" and only " 2/. 2s. 2d.," as Mr. Wilson
triuraptaihtly informed the house for carriage, " was
offered .for: sale a• shed time ago for 501., and that that
was alaput its worth." The difference between Mr. Bow-
yer's p.piutaisement, and the average cost of " the Adora-
tion of the Magi" "unresteted," is 25 per cent., a consi-
deratati.which a,persionage,aLMr...Wileon's towering spirit
might d;isdain' but for which gentlemen in a humbler line
Would be well satisfied to transact business.
Stich I have good authority for believing to be a true
and untonaantic history of the production secured• to us, by
the Combined connoisseurship of Sir C. Eastlake and the
German travelling agent, who emblazons on' his card,
-" Exiet4-tbe la Galerie Araion- le cl'Angleterre," the daub
whickAli the authority of our official catalogue, page 207,
could only be had " after much delay, by a Papal decree,
anti by an order from- the local authorities."—'Yours obe-
diently*, MORRIS MOORE.
27,,50h0-square, July 6.

• -
TRIDNATINOAL GA GtERY-A PLEA FOR
'44 CO UN T RY- FO LK.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sitt,—The question of the removal of the National
;Gallery from its present site has been debated, so far as
I have observed, without reference to the convenience
of nsideots in the provinces. I am' one of many thou-
sandf Who daily, more or less, frequeritlY go to town on
busines.. Thousanle, like me, embrace the opportunity,
of a spare hour to visit the collee ion of pictures in Tra-
falgar 4 quare. If situated on Hounslow Heath it would
be ab oit as convenient to all such as at Kensington
Gore; io fact,.the great proportion of country visitors
Whorli it now instructs ind refines would be practically
excluded. Most constituencies will . see their represen-
tative 4 during the recess. Let them be' reminded the
National Gallery is for
the use of the nation, and is not
to bo moved from's, convenient locality to indulge the
caprice of any man, however exalted his position. The
only sufficient realon for. removal would be unquestion-
able pFoof of damage to the pictures. After many years
attention to this subject, I aim convinced that a paint-
ing, properly varnished, cone's to no more harm in a
Landon atmosphere than the glass of the windows, and
that settlements upon the surface can, with care, bp as
safely removed in the one case as the szo her.

I am, Sir,
A COUNTRY READER.

the erection of a fivireraing
ROYAL NAVAL 'SCROOL, YEIV _Caoss.—The fund for
bath :btesi this school has re-
cently been augrpe4ted . several additional subscrip-
4.
Qf 136°1
tinas. The araokint rbetqen tlbauired is 450/. of which upwards
:11aVc' already Ei

. ~ i'l ~

LATEST NEWS.

TURIN, SUNDAY, JULY 6...

-The official Gazette of Parma announces the
arrival at Parma on Friday, the 4th.of July, of
the Marquis of Normandy, who immediately went

,o wait upon the Duchess:

M IRSEILLES, SUNDAY, 7.35 r.m.

The Borysthene has arrived, with advices from
Constantinople of the 26th, and from the Crimea

of the 24th ult.
Despatches leave at 10 p.m.
The liner Napoleon, the frigate Panama, and
the transport Birkenhead have arrived with troops
from Kamicsh.

BERLIN, JULY 5.

The conferences relating to the customs are not
,o be held at Warsaw ; the tariffs will be revised

at St. Petersburg. Denmark has protested against
the interference of foreign powers in its internal
affairs. There is some question of a law for im-

posing certain restraints on joint stock companies,

MADRID, JULY 5.

An attempt at insurrection at Arvanila has been

put down. M. Font has given up his contract for
the works at the Pueta del Sol, abandoning two

millions of reals of caution-money ; a new adjudi

cation will take place on the 12th inst.

FRANCE.

PARIS, SUNDAY.

A private interview will take place between the
Emperor Napoleon and the Emperor of Austria
before the return of the former to Paris. The
meeting is to appear quite accidental, and to take
place in the middle of the Lake Constance. Aus-
tria evidently is anxious to draw closer the alliance
with France as a safeguard against Italy as well as
Russia, and the Emperor Napoleon would feel
flattered at the idea of being thus courted by the
son of the Cm;ars. _

ry
The letter of the Princess Clementine, Duchess
of Saxe-Coburg, has at last made its appearance,
and though it is to a certain degree a "protest,"
yet rsfusal of the money cannot be detected. It
is addressed to M. Becher, the agent of the family,
and is as follows :

"I learn from the newspapers, Sir, that the Emperor
has just proposed to the Legislative Corps to vote a
600,0.0 f. rents for the children of the Princesses,
daughters of Louis Philippe. I lose no time in de-
claring that the Prince, my husband, and myself, have
made no compromise with the Government of Louis
Napoleon, have claimed no favour, no indemnifi-
cation. Since the decrees of the 22d of January,
which de-Toiled my brothers, the children of my siste►s,
and myself, of the heritage of my fathers, I have
taken every opportunity of protesting against that viola-
tion of my rights. I have claimed the property which
was guaranteed to me by my marriage contract, the
sum of property which had been left to me by the King;
my well-beloved father. I asked for justice : I demand
it still.—Bslieve, &c.,
" CLEMENTINE D'OELEANS,
Duchess of Saxe-Cobuig."

It may be inferred, from the above, that the
Princess Clementine does not entirely refuse the
money. If she accepts it, it is, of course, oily as
au instalment of what is her right ; but her letter
to M. Bocher is certainly far from what we were led
to expect by the friends of the family.
Some of the ex-Fusionists seem offended that the
Princess should make use of the word " Emperor"
in her letter. " Monsieur Bonaparte" is the ut-
most courtesy they will allow.
The Moniteur of yesterday states that the Senate
voted on Saturday, without discussion, a credit of
10 millions-for repairing-the damages caused by the
floods ; and the inscription of three Rentes in the
name of the heirs to the Queen of the BAgians, the
Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and the Duchess
of Wurtemberg:
Monsieur the Count Pariahs read his report on
the project of senitus-consultum concerning the
regency of the Empire. "The reader," says the
ioniteur, " was interrupted and followed by fre-
quent marks of approbation."
The Moniteur contains, in its number of Satur-
day, a long report of the Minister of Marine on the
organisation and reform of the French naval ser-
vice., The decree founded on this report consists
of 271 articles, and is of too great length, says the
oniteur, for publication in its columns, but will
appear in the Bulletin des Lois.
The Debats of Sunday has no news of general
interest on this side the Channel.

Count d'Argout, the governor of the Bank, is
reported to be so seriously ill that several ministers
are canvassing for his place.
General Fleury, who accompanied the Emperor
to Plombieres, has returned to Paris.
The Mayor of Algiers, who came to Paris for the
baptism, was assured by the Empress, at a private
audience, that both the Emperor and herself intend
to pay a visit to Algiers before very long.
There have been several political arrests at Sables
d'Olonues, near Rochelle.
BOURSE, July s.—The following were the last
quotations :
Cash. fr. s. End of Montt
it per Cants 3 75 —f. —O.
3 per Cents 7i 60 72 5
New Loan 7l 65
Bark Shares 4,151 Roman
Cr&lit ILlobilier 1,590 . ‘.ustrie.n
Belgian Fives ...... .. 118 i--, Slanish Throes...... 441
'ie.lniontos,(s) —„. 91 4otne. D,)bt., . , ~. „ 39