The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-12 00:00:00

CROSBY HALL.

MISS CLARA SEYTON'S LECTURE ON
ENGLISH COMIC OPERA.
Miss Clara Seyton delivered, for the first time, her
new entertainment on English comic opera, on Tues-
day evening, at Crosby Hall. This new lecture, like
her former one on comedy, is distinguished by its
accuracy, its research, and the delicacy and discrimi-
nation of its criticism. It embodies an immense mass
of useful information in a small compass, and is
copiously illustrated by anecdote and song. As a
literary composition it reflects the highest credit on
this very talented young lady, and as an effort of
memory it is perfectly marvellous. The lecture
occupies about two hours in its delivery, and she
recited the whole of it without having recourse to a
single note. After giving a rapid sketch of the
history of music, and of English opera in particular,
up to the time of Handel, she dwelt somewhat at
length on the compositions of that divine master, and
gave as a specimen, " Heart, thou seat of soft delight,"
from the Ads and Galatea. Her next illustration

was " Can love be controlled by advice," from the
- -

Beggar's Opera, and after relating several most
amusing anecdotes connected with the production o
that opera, she sang " Cease your funning" in ex.
cellent style, and was encored. After paying an ele.
gant and well merited tribute of eulogy to Bishop
Percy, who was the first to revive a taste for genuine
English poetry in an age corrupted and spoiled by
the imitators of Pope, and who may be considered as
the literary parent of Walter Scott, she
gave us the exquisite old ballad, " Oh, Nanny,"
as a specimen of Percy's poetical powers. This ballad
was certainly the gem of the evening—nothing could
exceed the feeling and expression which she infused
into this exquisite old air—there was no attempt at
the introduction of misplaced ornament for the mere
sake of display—all was simple, all was beautiful.
Since the days of Miss Stephens we have never heard
any of our delightful old English ballads so exqui-
sitely given. This part concluded with the song of
the " Country Wedding," composed expressly for the
fair lecturer by Mr. Masters, and which was given
with a degree o' espieglerie, which told admirably.
The second part commenced with a rapid review of
the history of the ancient minstrels, among
whom Blondel was not forgotten, and his song,
" Your beauty, Ladye fair," the song by which he
discovered the lion-hearted King in his captivity, was
the illustration. The words have been preserved by
Dr. Burney ; the air has unfortunately been lost. Miss
Seyton sang the words to a very expressive and beau-
tiful air, composed for the occasion by Tom Cooke,
in which she accompanied herself on the harp. She
then gave a history of the Court Masques, the original
of the English Opera, which was brought to perfec-
tion by Arne, as a specimen of whose style she gave
us " Pray Goody," in which she was rapturously en-
cored. "Lullaby," which was also encored, was given
as a specimen of the compositions of one who, had he
lived, would have founded a school of English opera
worthy of the character of England— Stephen
Storace. "Love among the Roses," by Doyle, and
"I once was a maiden," by Jackson, of Exeter, were
given as illustrations of The Lord of the Manor,
one of our best comic operas, on the author of which,
General Burgoyne, Miss Seyton passed a high and
merited eulogium for his literary talents, which have
scarcely had that justice rendered to them which they
deserve. His military failures have been chronicled,
whilst his literary triumphs—more worthy of being
held in remembrance—have been forgotten. He was one
of the most accomplished men of his day, and his works
are those of a gentleman and a scholar. His Lord of
the Manor is one of the pleasantest of our ballad
operas ; and his Heiress is the best of our sentimen-
tal comedies. How comes it that this delightful co-
medy has never been revived ? After some interesting
anecdotes of Sheridan and the Linleys, the lecturer
concluded with a sketch of the career of Charles Dib-
den, the beautiful old song, " Wapping Old Stairs,"
being given as the finale. This is a most difficult
song for a lady to sing—it is literally steering be-
tween Sylla and Charybdis—for if the singer seeks on
the one hand to avoid maudlin sentimentality, there
is danger on the other of degenerating into
vulgarity. If, however, the happy medium
is hit, Wapping Old Stairs" is one of the most
beautiful, one of the most truly poetical, of nautical
ballads, and such was the case last evening. Miss
Seyton exhibited exquisite taste and great judgment
and discrimination in her manner of giving this beau-
tiful ballad, and was rapturously applauded. At the
conclusion bouquets were showered upon her from all
parts of the room, which was crowded to excess, not a
single seat being unoccupied.

NUMBER OF IRISH IN MANCHESTER.—The Leeds
Mercury of Saturday last, in a communication from its
Manchester correspondent, on the reversal of O'Connell's
sentence, says, " What course the Irish part of our
town [Manchester] population, supposed to be fully
one-fourth, purpose taking, to express their joy at the
news," &c. Now, it is one of the important uses of the
recently published census returns to expose and put
down those loose and exaggerated statements of num-
bers which are too often put forth by the press. So far
from the statement of the Leeds Mercury's Manchester
correspondent being true, that the Irish are " supposed
to be fully one-fourth" f the population of Manchester,
they are known to be not quite one•eighth ! The total
population of the borough of Manchester, in 1841, was
242,983, of which 30,304 were Irish ; 14,3.53 males, and
15,951 females. The Irish population of Liverpool is
1 49,639 ; and the Irish population of the entire county,
105,916. About four-fifths of the Irish people in Lan-
cashire are therefore to be found in Liverpool and Man-
chester. In Salford there were 3,996 irish in 1841.—
Mancha* 04ard1art,

COURT CIRCULAR.

A deputation from the South Wales Railway, con-
sisting of R. Frederick Gower, Esq., J. K. Brunel,
E,q., Mr. Hunt, the Solicitor and the Secretary, had
an interview with the Earl of Dalhousie yesterday, at
the office of the Board of Trade.

The accounts received in town yesterday morning
from Drayton Mlnor, Staffordshire, respecting the
health of Miss Peel, were slightly favourable. At
seven o'clock on Tuesday evening there was some
very slight amendment in Miss Peel's state.• The
pulse WeIS lower, though still at 120.
Dispatches were received yesterday at the Colo-
niAl-office from the Governor of Hong-Kong.

PROGRESS OF THE ROYAL
SQUADRON.
CROMER, MONDAY, MIDNIGHT.—The royal squa-
dron passed Cromer coast-guard station precisely at
forty-five minutes past twelve. Her Majesty's yacht
was well guarded to prevent accident from collision;
the weather fine, the atmosphere rather hazy, with a
light wind from the north, and her course was
N.N.W. for the Dudgeon Light (twenty-eight miles
distant), and outside of the Hasborough Sands.
At daybreak, on Tuesday morning, the royal yacht
was abreast of the new Sand Light, near the entrance
of the Humber ; and at precisely nine o'clock the
royal cortege passed Flamborough-head, the extreme
east point of the coast of Yorkshire. A letter states
that her Majesty's yacht passed within a mile and a
half of the land, two steamers following close in the
rear. The weather was very hazy at the time, and
very few persons assembled to witness the sight, as
the squadron was not expected to pass until two or
three hours after. There was a fine breeze blowing
from the westward, but none of the steamers availed
themselves of it by setting canvas.
At Scarborough considerable preparations had been
made to welcome her Majesty, and a number of vessels
had left the harbour at an early hour to meet the
royal yacht. At ten o'clock the squadron was ahead
of the Castle, within two miles of the land, headed by
her Majesty's yacht, when a royal salute was fired
from the fort.
After leaving Scarborough, the royal yacht con-
tinued the north-west track close in along the coast,
passing before twelve o'clock the Great Yorkshire
Cliff, Robinhood Bay, and Whitby, where similar
demonstrations of loyalty were exhibited. The
squadron bore away in the direction of Sunderland.
TYNENIOUTIL NEAR NORTH SHIELDS, TUESDAY
AFTERNOON, FIVE o'CLocx.—(Extract of a letter.)
—lt being well known at Newcastle that her Ma-
jesty and the royal squadron would be off Tynemouth
Bar in the course of this afternoon, caused thousands
of persons to come down the North Shields Railway,
and by noon the entire beech, fortress, cliffs, and
ruins of the venerable abbey, were crowded with
spectators. The day was truly beautiful—a brilliant
sun, with a gentle westerly wind, and the sea, as
smooth even as the Thames at London-bridge,
covered with a large number of boats, and several
steamers, crowded with people who had gone out to
greet her Majesty and her illustrious husband. At
about half-past two o'clock two steamers were seen
beating up the inner channel, and on their nearing
the most intense interest was manifested, as they
proved to be the royal yacht, and the standard of
England flying at the mainmast, and another large
Government steamer. The latter was apparently
picking out the track, and the steam yacht was
following about a mile astern. A company of
the 26th Regiment, under the command of Colonel
Moltram, stationed at Tynemouth garrison, were
drawn out on the esplanade, and presented arms as
the Royal yacht passed, but, to the astonishment of
all, no salute was fired from the fortress. The fisher-
men of South Shields did exhibit all the loyalty they
could muster, and fired several guns from their frail
crafts, at the same time lowering the colours they
had hoisted. The Tyne steamer went close alongside
of the royal yacht (which was abreast of Tynemouth
Bar precisely at half-past three), and loudly cheered
the Royal party. To the great disappointment of the
visitors neither her Majesty nor Prince Albert were
on deck, nor could they be observed through the
cabin windows. Lord Adolphus Fitzclarence, how-
ever, acknowledged their loyalty on the part of her
Majesty. The two steamers came close in shore
within about a mile, and it was a most beautiful
sight. They were apparently passing through the
water at the rate of twelve miles an hour; and the
general opinion amongst the pilots was, on account of
the fineness of the weather, the steamers would go
inside the Fern Islands, and reach Bamborough at
about nine o'clock at night. The passage from London
to Tynemouth effected by the Royal yacht is the
quickest on record ; the distance, 320 miles, was ac•
complished in about twenty-nine hours.

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE.

ARRIVALS.

The Earl and Countess of Arundel and Surrey, in
Chesham-place, from Arundel Castle; the Hon. Mrs. G.
A. Cravan, at the Grosvenor Hotel, Park-street; Lord
Seymour, M. P., in Spring Gardens; Gomersal,
Esq., and Mrs. Gomersal, and Miss Jones, at the Caven-
dish Hotel, Jermyn-street, from Italy; the Earl of March,
from the Duke of Richmond's, Gordon Castle, N. B.;
Earl and Countess Cadogan and the Ladies Cadogan,
at Queensberry House, Piccadilly; Mansfield Forbes,
Esq., and Miss Forbes, at Nelson's Hotel, Great Port-
land-place, from Aberdeen ; the Misses Sutton, at ditto,
from Birmingham ; Mr. and Mrs. White, at ditto, from
Reading ; T. Watson, Esq., at ditto, from Havannah ;
S. Richards, Esq., at ditto ; M. Koudriaffsky, from a
visit to Count Nesselrode, at the York Hotel, Brighton;
Mr. Wombwell, from the George Hotel, Portsmouth ;
Baron de Talleyrand, at Manchester House; Sir Richard
Jenkins, G.C.8., from a tour ; Schwabey, Esq., and
Mrs. Schwabey, at Fenton's Hotel ; John S. Harford,
Esq., M.P., at the Waterloo Hotel, Jermyn-street, St.
James's, from Blaise Castle, Bristol.