The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-03 00:00:00

.77- 7.-

N I U, SleP T E t)" E R 3, 185

" LA TRAT-14TA," AT THE THEATRE ROYAL,
LIVERPOOL.

Last night (Tuesday) Mr. Copeland was rewarded for
his exertions to please the public by an ()ye:flowing au•
dience at the Theatre Royal, to bear Madlle. Piccolo
lomini in "La Traviata." We understand that a
thousand or more persons were turned away from the
pit and upper boxes. We hope fcr Mr. Copeland's sake
that he may be able to arrange for a repetition of this
opera on Saturday next ; it would go far to rest/luau-ate
Lim for the very great expenses be has incurred in his
spirited inauguration of his elegantly revived theatre.
We cannot afford to give up either of the other operas
advertised for to-night, Thursday, or Friday. Madlle.
PicolOcuini has too great opportunities in each of them
to allow of their being withdrawn. She is so
completely the star of this company, as she would
or any other, that we must take her per-
formance into principal consideration. Not that we
would undervalue Signori Gieglini, Beneventano, Ross,
Belleti, Madlles. Spezia, and Ortolani ; but the charm
of Madlle Picolomini, both as a singer and an actress,
place her before all the opera performers of the day. We
bear of her beauty as her principal attraction. We hope
she will forgive our saying that we cannot see it. Many
other performers have the advantage of her in figure and
face ; but, like Jenny Lind, she makes a confidant of her
audience, arrests their attention, and then chains them
by the exquisite taste and expression, added to the most
perfect and facile execution which she throws into every
part, with the most delightful tone ; au elegant manner
and an ease, grace, and animation that is unrivalled
by any owe on the stage at present—at least that has
been seen in this country. Giugliui in Alfred di Ger-
mont, and. Beneventano in II Corte di Germont were
very much applauded. Madame Porna was much more
satisfectory iu Flora Bevoix than she was in Azolene on
Monday; and the whole opera was rendered as effectively
as the compooition would admit of. We cannot think it
one of Verdi's successes, though there are some pleasing
parts in the music and the situations are dramaticly
effective. To-night Douizzetti's popular opera "La
Figlia di Reggimenie—the triumph of Jenny Lind, in
which•Maduille. Piccolourini has established a success-
ful rivalry—will be performed, and she will be sup•
ported 'by Sig,nor Belletti, as the Sergeant. The evil we
have complained of arising from the enthusiasm of the
audience encoring the principal performers during the
eXecuti, a of a piece of music was so annoying last night,
as to raire a considerable cry of " hush. We hope it
will be abated to-night ; and abolished altogether on
Thursday and Friday next as it is clear that Signor
Vaschetti, who conducts in first rate style, will not stop
the music to aliow for the reception, and as I have said
before, the beautiful openinc, of "Vigaro" and "Dan
'Giovanni" will be spoiled.—Liverpool paper.

VIE TONIC SOL-Pd ASSOOIATION AT TRW
CRYSTAL PALACE.

Yesterday was truly a " people's day" at the Crystal
Palace. The juvenile concert of the Tonic Sol-fa
Association had been announced, with a choir numbering
about 3,000 voice;, and fromeaa early hour it was
apparent the promoters of the fete had struck a chord
el public sympathy. The Palace, F, pacious as it is,
seemed crowded during the concert, and we never re-
member seeing an assembly more powerfully affected,
than was that yesterday as the concert proceeded. The
children occupied the orchestra erected for the Handel
feeeival, and when they rose together and sang simply
and sweetly the hymn, " My God, how endless is thy
love," the touch of nature was irresistible. The occasion
awakened a reminiscence of the annual gathering of the
children under the dome of St. Paul's, but the light
and graceful palace, with the trees and flowers,
and especially the popular audience, absolved from
the penalty of the sermon, suggested a con-
trast more striking than the resemblance. Many
of the 'pieces sung were of a cheerful' religious cha-
racter ; others embodied come healthy and pleasing
natural sentiment. The music, sung with a will, was
at the Fame time executed with a precision and truthful.
ness which reflect the highest credit on the gen leaven
who have trained the classes. The audience, in the ful-
ness of its delight, re-demanded a large proportion of the
pieces—Spofforth's "Hail, Smiling Morn," and Dr.
Callcott's "Stormy Winds" being among the numb( r.
On other occa,ione, we have described the peculiarities
and merits of the Sol-fa method as taught by the Rev.
John Cur wen, pr sident of the association : it will suffice
now to say that it seeks to develop the voice, ear, and
understanding, in connexion with the real nature of
music itself. With this view it introduces in the earlier
steps a simpler and more intelligible way of writing
music for the voice than that in common use, which
quickly becomes, however, the readiest interpreter of the
established notation, and sure key to its difficulties.
The success of yesterday's experiment must be most
gratifying to all who take an interest in the cultivation
of the faculty of vocal music.

TILE DIVORCE BILL DISSECTED.
LBY PUNCH.]

7 he Divorce Bill's an Act, the Divorce Bill is Law,
Old PAM has established a clerical raw,
Though C4—LADsTONE protests, and SAX WILBERFORCH

groans
That whst's good for a Duke is not good for a Jones.
The battle of tangled amendments is past,
The Royal assent is accorded at last ;
So, that DARBY and JOAN may be trapped by no fallacies,
Punch begs to offer this little analysis.
The Licence (you'd better have banns) is Still bought
Where with greedy-eyed touters your battle is fought:
Thuj 06.0. thy., kuvw elugle trout mamed men, thus,
He who, seeing them, scowls, hath said "better or wus."
As regards divorce questions, Punch gladly reports
We've abolished the Ecclesiastical Courts ;
All complaints matrimonial, for kill or for cure,
Are tried in LORD CuriD-PAat's new Coif/. tCAmour.
Its Judge (with 5,0001. a-year) is a cretnr
Whose title's true accent is hostile to metre :
But turn to your Litany--notice whose tongue
May command "other times" when that prayer shall Le
sung.

Before him may practise a herd of Inquisitors,
Barristers, proctors, attorneys, solicitors.
He takes Separations, and small things of course,
But a Fall Court (three judges) must sit for Divorce.
Now, DARBY, perpend. Should your JOAN go astray—
Well, you're right to look fierce—but some other JOAN may.
Her DARBY petitions this Judge (or my Lord
Of Assize) to estrange, her from bed and from board.
And if DARBY goes wrong, or he wops his poor JOAN,
Or for more than two years from her household has flown
The law has decreed, in its wisdom, to fence her
With the same Release-Order, d thoro ct mensa.
And while she's deserted, if DARBY (the beast)
Interferes with her poor little goods in the least,
She may go to a Beak, whose proceedings are quick,
And policeman Z 1 will administer Stick.
There ends, we must say, JOAN, as far as we see,
Any special relief that's allowed to the She,
For the Men make the law, and so please to observe
How it stands if you, Madam, from duty should swerve.
He may get a Divorce—that's a grave, solemn thing,
Annulling the marriage and melting the ring :
And though actions like those which disgrace us are barred,
He may claim from LOTRARIO what juries award.
But you have no right for divorce, JOAN, to stir,
(Save in cases so shocking they rarely occur),
Except he's so base as from virtue to draw
One he must not espouse—say, a sister-in-law :
Or unless he's been dreadfully cruel, so bad
That (without other sin) a divorce should be had :
Or unless in your note of his conduct appears
" Inexcusable absence for more than two years."
[What the law calls " excuse" must remain to be seen,
It may be mach Nagging, or much Crinoline,
Or a constant Piano, a Parrot's vile shriek,
Or Your Mother his guest more than three times a-week.]
That's the pith of the bill, but it likewise provides
That no parson need marry divorced men, or brides,
Where the party divorced was the sinner—but, still,
Any church must be free to a parson who will.
Let LOTEIARIO take note, ere with glances and smirk
He addresses himself to his dastardly work,
That he's not only fined for the wrong he has done,
But is mulct ie all costs—most infrequently fun.
So much for the Act—the mere naming its name
In one home of ten thousand, in England, were shame,
But while Masculine's vicious and Feminine's weak,
What help fur the wronged but appeal to the Beak I
One point it affirms let us chiefly lay stress --
That Wrong, and not Gold, gives the right to redress;
-Aid that iIkLEN, the Countess, no longer can buy`
What to NRLLY, the Laundress, tribunals deny.
Take heed whom you marry7—when married, take heed
That affection's the cue for each word and each deed;
And you'll care just as much for this act and its cases,
As Punch and his Judy—whom now he embraces.
[Suits the action to the word—gives her a cheque for her
milliner, mentions that he has engaged her a house at the
sea-side—adds that lie will take her and her dear mother
to Richmond to dinner to-day—puts a new bracelet on
her white arm—salutes her- and exit dancing, and de-
riding all the Divorce Bills in the world.]

EXPERIMENT IN CAUSEWATING AT EDINBURGR.—The
North Bridge, as our greatest thoroughfare, has just
been made the subject of an experiment in causewaying
which it to be hoped will be successful, seeing that it
.is
evidently a most expensive operation. The traffic in
coaches, carts, and other heavy carriages is prodigious
mode of
across this street, and hitherto the ordinaryTu
causewaying with the block of whineturethie
courses has been found quite insufpcie
experiment now
scarcely being over off the road. The pnievgnioularre
put in action consists in makling
Willett of roacadami,ed metal converted
ebretdeddi niegt4f3o re tahoel
ipdatev paving
d over. it.
, The paving
atones are
by heavy
ten aarsrpahuagletde
in wide courses, and the inter-
ui
vt
ee ldy re
melted asphalts.—/fort
sti c e s are filled
hot hilnecresi,ati,mahne
dpmaominleyi
yr mineral
nsancieblo.s tdaunrcie:gv
mi z .y,
A WRITE Nzano.—
iln2intghetnreinl
entirely w
life, I havehibteadueagnroo.ppolretutnhitey.
yoefaerxalmB
the town of Stabroek, the cspAal of Demerara, a man of
this corrplexion. Ho was a robust young fellow, by no.
means what they called an Albino, as his eyes were just
of the same colour as those of his trite. He weft by
the name of Bocbra Jem, or White Jemmy, and was a
tailor by trade. I found his skin in all respects the
same as my own, saving that where the sun had given
mine the appearance of mahogany, his was blotched with
()toad freckles of a lighter tint. In other respects he
was in reality a negro from head to foot. He stood ap-
parently about 5 feet 9 inches in height, with a finely
expanded chest, and a back as strai,ht as an arrow ; but
he was deficient in the calves of his legs, while you could
not help remarking the protusion of his heels, so noted
in the negro. Both his father and his mother were
healthy jet black negroes. He appeared to be about 20
years 01(1, and was probably the only white negro ever
een in Demerara.— Waterton's Essays.

THE MURDER IN THE QUEEN'' FRL N

IThere appears to be no doubt that the Italian,
Antonio de Salvi, against whom the coroner's jury
have returned a veiclict of wilful murder, will have
to take his trial for that offence at the ensuing '5,33.
sion of the Central Criminal Court, notwithstand-
ing the fact that he is at present -under a senten ea
of fifteen years' penal servitude upon a convict ion
of wounding the deceased gentleman with intent to
do grievous bodily harm, arising out of the s me
circumstances. The transaction appears to be one
of an altogether unusual kied. The attack made
by the prisoner upon the unfortunate deceised. was of
the most deadly and premeditate 1 character, and tl ie
Solicitor to the 'Treasury, upon a suggestion mad_ by
Mr. Combo, the magistrate before w ho m the affair Wes
inquired into, received instructions to prosecute on
behalf of the Crown, and when the last se ;sion of
the Central Criminal Court came on he had no al-
rnative, as the deceased was still alive but to pre-
fer an indictment against De S.slyi in the usual
form, for feloniously wounding, the first count
charging the intent to murder, and the second to
do grievous bodily hirm. It was certain at this
time that the injuries the deceased had received
must prove fatal, and the general understanding,
both on the part of the prosecution and the counsel
for the defence, was that the indictment against the
prisoner should stand over to the follo wing session,
as in the event of the death tatting place a verdict
of wilful murder must inevitably ba returned by
the coroner's jury, and any proce 2dinga that might
be taken under the indictment for feloniously
wounding would be rendered altogether nugatory.
Mr. Baron Martin, the presiding judge, however,
resisted the postponement of the trial, and De Salvi
was consequently tried upon the indictintnt that
had been found by the grand jury, and being can_
victed upon the minor count of wounding with in-
tent to do grievous bodily li inn ho was thereupon
sentenced to be kept iu penal servitude for 15
yews. On the following day the unfortunate man
Robertson died of the injuries he had received, and
the coroner's jury hal no oilier course left open to
them upon the &els of the case than to return a
verdict of wilful murd. r against the pri,oner, and
in duo course Mr. Payne, the coroner, lodged his
warrant at the gaol of Newgatb for the detantiou of
the prisoner upon that charge. A similar state of
things has very rarely occurred, but it has never
been the practice in any such case to allow a charge
of wilful murder to merge into one of felony merely,
and the prisoner will consequently, no doubt, have
to undergo the painful ordeal of a second trial, iu
the result of which his life will be at stake. The
prisoner appears to be a most mild and inoffensive
young man ; indeed, the last person who would be
thought capable of committing such a dreadful act,
and almost from the moment ofcerumitting the deed
he has never failed to expres i the deepest sorrow and
regret for what lie had done. It appears that
he has no relations iu England, but during the last
few days he has received a communication from a
brother in Paris, and the necessary preparations
are being made to defend him upon the charge of
murder.

ARREST OF THE NORTHAMPTON POST-
MASTER.

.N ORT H A.MP TON, TUESDAY.

This morning Mr. Butcher, the Northampton
postmaster, was arrested on a charge of stealing a
half-rovereign from a letter.
Complaints have keen made for some time about
letters that were posted in Northampton, contain-
ing money, not reaching their destination, and at
last it was determined, it po sible, to see where the
fault lay. A gentleman named Mole, connected
with the London Post-office, posted a letter at
Ouuclle, Northamptonshire, containing a half-sove-
reign, which had been marked in the presence of
witnesses. The letter was sent to the postmaster at
Northampton, with a request that he would for-
ward it to a lady at Macc'esfield. In the meantime
the mail guard had orders that as soon as the bag
containing the letters was delivered to• him on
Tuesday morning he was to open it and see if it
contained this letter. According to instructions
the bag was opened, but particular letter was
mis,ing. Mr. Mole then went to the post-office,
and asked Mr. Butcher if he had seen a letter ad-
dressed as above, and the postmaster said he had
not. Mr. Mole next inquired who was
_in the
post-office on Monday evening, and Butcher said
that he was, but there were others also with him
during a part of the time. Mr. Mole then asked the
postmaster if he bad any objection to be searched.
Mr. Butcher said "No," and on turning out his
pockets the half-sovereign which had been previ-
ously marked was discovered, and identified by
Mr. Mole.

Mr. Butcher was then given into custody, and
taken before the magistrates, w:.en, after a prelimi-
nary examination, he was remanded until Tuesday
next.

The arrest of Mr. Butcher, on the above serious
charge, has created intense excitement here, as he
was a man highly respected, and by his assiduity
and strict attention to business, from a humble
letter-carrier, has attained the proud position of
postmaster.—Cheltenham Chronicle.

TILE " GREAT EASTERN" STEAM-SHIP.

(Prom the Canadian Nays of yesterday.)

We are authorised to state that this ship will be
launched in the first spring tides of next month (Oct).
The day is not as yet absolutely fixed, but this important
event will probably take place on Monday, the sth of
that month. The tides will be highest on that day.