The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-13 00:00:00

FES.

GLOCESTE.

GLOCESTER, SEPT. 14.
The 136th meeting of the three choirs of Gloces-
ter, Worcester, and Hereford, the origin and his-
tory of which have repeatedly been detailed, begins
to-morrow under auspices more than usually propi:
tious. The fine weather is bringing numbers ot
visitor s to the city,and the sale of tickets has already
been so large as to place success almost beyond a
doubt. For the morning performance on Friday
the reserved seats in the Cathedral (nearly 1.000
places) are nearly all disposed of—the Messiah being,
according to precedent, the oratorio on that day;
A brief summary of its principal featu
whole
res
suffice. There is little novelty, but on the h
both
the selection of pieces, sacred and secular, is
well made and attractive. At the full
esides Cat ral
hed
service which inaugurates the festival,
preces and responses of Tallis, the Dettingen Te
Deurn" of Handel and Mendelssohn's magnificent
setting of the 42d Psalm are included. The sermon
will be preached by the Rev. Richard Harvey,
canon of Glocester. The other oratorio is "
on Wednesday; Beethoven's " Mount of Olives,'
Rossini's " Stabat Mater," and Spohr's " Last
On the
Judgment" being combined on Thursday.
Thursday
evenings of Tuesday, Wednesday,
and
place
miscellaneous concerts are announced to take
in the Shire-hall. At each of these entertainments
the first part is to be devoted to the music of one
composer—on Tuesday a selection from Mozart's
Don Giovanni," on Wednesday Professor Stern-
dale Bennett's " May Queen," and On Thursday a
selection from the operatic works of Rossini. The
remainder of the time will be devoted to the ordi-
nary " leather and prunella."
The list of solo singers is ample and powerful,
liqadame Clara Novello, Mrs. Clare Hepworth,
Misses Dolby and Lascelles, Messrs. Montem Smith,
Sims Reeves, and Thomas being largely called upon
for the oratorios ; while the evening programmes
derive great additional interest from the promised
co-operation of Mr. E. T. Smith's Italian Opera
company—uniting the talents of Mademoiselle Tiet-
jens, Signors Giuglini, Vialetti, and Badiali--
Signor Belletti taking part in both sacred and
secular performances. The absence of Mr. eiss,
one of the greatest favourites at the meetings of
the choirs (and deservadly so), has created consi-
derable disappointment in many quarters, and the
more so inasmuch as it is staled he was engaged at
the outset. No explanation has been offered. At
Glocester, as at Bradford, the evening concerts will
be agreeaoly interspersed with instrumental solos
by M. Sainton and Mr. Blagrove on the violin, and
by Miss Summerhayes, a performer of growing r-
putation in the provinces, on the pianoforte. Th iS
young lady is set down for the " Choral Fan-
tasia 'of Beethoven. An excellent band of seventy
executants, picked from the ranks of our best Lon
"
Lon-
don players, and headed by Messrs. Sainton, 131,a
grove, and. Willy, as principal fiddles, will supPer`'
a choral phalanx of 60 trebles, 48 altos, 56 tenors,
and 60 basses (224 in all), levied from the ordinott,l
sources, the whole under the direction of Mr. Am
organist of the Cathedral. Mr. Amott, as usual!
will be assisted by his brother organists of Hereford
and
and Worcester—Messrs. Townshend Smith
Done—the former taking the organ in the morn-
ings, the latter the piano in the evenings.
A large and energetic company of stewards, h
the interim between this and the last festival, have
been exerting themselves to forward the prosperity
of the meeting, and there is every reason to believ.ef
the rich and noble families residing or
they will none of them be out of pocket ; if
the
estates in the three counties come forward "w
their accustomed liberality when the plateholdera:
make their eloquent (not always mute) aPPeal tie
the termination of the oratorios, there can be lit
doubt that the fund for the benefit of widows and
orphans of clergymen in the dioceses (which dei
rives its whole support from the collections an,
donations) will be enriched by a handsome centrL-
bution. The stewards' secretary, Mr. Jas. lien".
Brown, has been as indefatigable as formerly fo
'h
r
marshalling things in order and providing
every one's accommodation. Among other imprcire-
ments, he has widened the spaces between the re-
served seats in the Cathedral, which will 110,v1
admit of the performances being listened to W 47,
out the drawback of personal discomfort—for whi'.,;c''
concession, however, he has imposed the small aa',-
tional tax of ls. 6d. on each seat, the reserved gene'
°
previously at 12s. 6d., being now let at 14s. -1-'4
complaints have been made at this innovation ;
was it at all probable, only the wealthier doss"
being mulcted in the extra fine, which is exclu-
sively attached to the secured places. The railway
companies have afforded every facility to visitors ;
and never perhaps did the prospects of a Glocester
is
Festival look brighter. The fact is consoling, inas-
much as there are now no fewer than 32 applican
to the fund for relief-18 orphans and 14 widows.
All the artists, singers and players, have arrived.
To-day there was a rehearsal of sacred music in the
Cathedral; to-night the secular music, or at least S
great part of it, will be gone through in the Shire'
hall. Devoutly disposed persons are pleased to
know that the festival becomes no hindrance to
the
ordinary church service in the Cathedral. At S
o'clock a.m. on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday,
morning service, and at 5 o'clock p.m. evening ser-
vice, will be held. This judicious step, now of
some standing, has helped to silence much Purita-
nical clamour.

BRITISH ARCHEOLOGICAL ASSOa
TION.

N EWBURY, MONDAY EVENING.
Yesterday afternoon this association opened its
16th annual meeting in the town of Newbury,
Berkshire. At two o'clock the officers and com-
mittee met at the Mansion-office, where the arrange-
ments for the week were determined on. At three
o'clock there was a general meeting in the Man-
sion-house, which was elegantly fitted up for the
occasion, the walls being decorated with valuable
paintings, while the platform contained several
splendid pieces of antique furniture and many orna-
ments of value, such as wassail bowls, horns, &e.
There was a very large and fashionable circle pre-
sent, among whom were the Earl of Carnarvon (the
president), the Bishop of Oxford, Rev. Charles
Kingsley, Archdeacon Randall, Mr. W. W. Beach,
M.P., Mr. W. S. Portal, Mr. H. R. Eyre, Dr.
Palmer, Mr. T. J. Pettigrew, F.R.S., &o.
The Earl of CARNARVON' delivered a most inte-
resting and eloquent address. He said he thought
he should best fulfil the duty devolving upon
hadebale, ca
su
secondlysoefs t
h•e,e' hi,Nvcehe
the abdtehf
obe
rr
eopu ght them together
him by calling their attention, in the first places
ttt, hoh
ea tti
to the character and objects of
themt articular
their
parnodoe, sphereedin g lastly,
jects ofs•
In his opinion, nowhere in England could this
meeting have been called together with greater
advantage than in Newbury. They occupied as it
were a central position, standing upon the borders
of two counties—Hampshire and Berkshire—both
of them very rich in historic associations, both of
them counties whose historic associations had never
been properly worked out. The difficulty the asso-
ciation would experience would not be in finding a
field of labour for their researches, but where to
limit them. His Lordship then proceeded to dwell
on the legends connected with the counties, how
many of them were- waning away, and how im-
portant it was that they should be preserved to.
society, for in many instances they bespoke the real
character and traits of a people. The character of
the Romans was glanced at, their progress in civi
lisation, their grand and noble roads,
and particu;
lady the ruins of Silchester, that once noble Boma
city. The Civil Wars—particularly their conll,
ti:m with the counties—in which a distingii.
relative of the noble lord played no unconspicuous
part, were also vividly sketched. His lordsliik!
after referring to many objects of interest
the association in their forthcoming rambles 'Nun.'
visit, concluded by saying that he thought
he
should not be discharging his duty were he to
neglect saying a few words with regard to the.
general character and objects of archaeology, and
allow him to say in the first place, it was
not of that dry, musty character which
the dilettanti of the present age conceived
it to be—it was not the mere husk and chaff of
literature, it was rather that study which preserved
as it were the golden thread of romance and poetry
in a practical and sometimes utilitarian age, and,
yhich furnished the man of letters with data ens
facts on which to found his history.
The Bishop of OXFORD proposed a vote of thanks,
observing that he thought the address had come
with peculiar gracefulness from his lordship, the
bearer of a name than which no name bore a brighter
aspect in English annals, whether in war, in letters,
or in those gentle acquirements which appertain t°
the old English country gentleman.
Mr. H. R. EYRE, of Shaw-house, seconded the
vote of thanks, which was carried by acclamation'
Mr. T. J. PETTIGREW then read an interesting
paper on the antiquities of Berkshire, after which-
the association visited Newbury Church, the Ma"
scum, alms houses, &c.
At half-past 6 o'clock there was a table (note at
the Pelican Hotel, and at half-past S o'clock there
was a meeting at the Mansion-house, when papers
were read, followed by a discussion.

It is stated that Colonel Shaffner, who starteu.
from Boston on the 29th of August, in the barque Wyman,
to explore the Northern Atlantic for a telegraph rout°, ha°
received from the king of Denmark the exclusive
ourse right
of to
lay a cable in Greenlad and Iceland. The c-
templated is from the shores of Labrador to South Green-
land, thence to Iceland, and thence to the Faroe Islands,
where the wires will branch—one According to Sc?tland,
the other to Bergen, in Norway. to this plan
the longest stretch of cable will be from Labradt r to Green-
land—about 500 miles.