The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-22 00:00:00

COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.

Monday night the German Company performed, for the first
time in this country, Meyerbeer's opera, The Huguenots; and
if an overflowing house, an attentive audience, and repeated
and enthusiastic applause, be the test of a composer's and the
vocal and instrumental performers' merit, then we may indeed
say that Meyerbeer is a great composer, and that Messdames
Lutzer and Heinefetter, and Messrs. Staudigl, Mellinger,
Breiting, &c., are unrivalled in their art, for the house was
crowded to excess, and we never heard more constant and rap-
turous applause. But it appeared to us a great part of the au-
dience came ready prepared to admire, as if the fiat had gone
forth that Meyerbeer's Huguenots was an admirable composi-
tion, which every person of taste must admire, and thus
every individual derived an additional impulse in the rap-
ture of his neighbours. When compared to the scenery and
all the other accessories to theatrical representation hitherto
employed by the German Company, the scenery and embellish-
ments prepared for the Huguenots was indeed splendid, and so
far justice was done to this opera, hitherto unknown to an
English audience. Fraulein Lutzer, the new star from
Vienna, our old favourite Heinefetter, and the ever new and
ever delightful Staudigl, could not fail to do justice to
any music they might undertake to sing. But here our
praise of individual performers must stop. Herr Breiting,
the new tenor, can never be a fit or pleasing ErsterLeibhaber.
It is true he sings with taste, and his falsetto is sweet, but his
singing wants vigour and expression; and then his figure, his
whole appearance is as unsuited to the part of Raoul, or indeed
of any lover, as can possibly be conceived. Herr Mellinger
( delightful as Papageno) is not capable of representing the fiery,
energetic conspirator, who, by his strong mind, induces
others to follow where he leads. Thus all the points necessary
to bring out the story, and put something like coherence into
the disjointed mass—for such the opera is—were lost on
the audience. Fraulein Lutzer well deserves the epi-
thet " Nightingale," which her countrymen have bestowed
on her, and she delivered the endless flowery pas-
sages in her two ,great scenas with a flexibility of voice
we never heard excelled except by Sontag. She acts well,
and with her coquettish archness and goodnatu re, gave a
glimpse of the character she represented (Marguerite ee
Valois). Heinefetter sang delightfully; and Staudigl appeared to
greater advantage than ever in the first scene; indeed his Hymn
( Luther's Hymn) was grand, and the following battle song, so
charaeteristic, so almost savagely expressive, that it reminded
us at once of Balfour of Burleigh, the very best proof of his
correctly representing the character. Thus much of the per-
formers. The music is so much admired and praised, that we
are almost afraid to say that we cannot give it unqualified
praise. It contains some exquisitely beautiful passages and airs,
but its grand and overwhelming fault, the constant striving
after effect, and seeking after now combinations of
sound, causes those beauties to be obscured, and all

admiration to be absorbed in a feeling of painful fatigue and
exhaustion. The instrumentation is generally noisy, and only
now and then, as in the introduction to the second act, do we
recognise the hand of title great composer. It is impossible to
give an outline of the plot, as the opera has no story, but con-
sists of a seriesof scenes representing events occurring imme-
diately heft re and during the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, in
the last efw hich the three principal characters are slain. The only
idea we could trace throughout the whole opera, was an attempt
by the composer to represent the character of the two opposing re-
ligious parties by means of music, but the confusion which
prevails through the whole, and the noisy character of the
music, which proved to us quite overwhelming, did not perhaps
allow us to do the opera justice. While attempting to do too
much, we think, Meyerbeer has not even done as much as he
might do; but if, after a second hearing, we should find cause
to alter our opinion we will not fail to inform our readers.

THE LATE MELANCHOLY OC-
CURRENCE AT ISLINGTON.
INQUEST ON THE BODY

Yesterday, at eleven o'clock, Mr. Wakley, M.P., Coroner
for the Western Division of Middlesex, and a most respectable
Jury, assembled in the large room of the Sutton Arms Tavern,
Chalk-road, Islingtcn, on view of the body of Martha Carter,
aged, thirty-nine, who was found in a well, in Mr. Backing-
ham's rope, ground, 155 feet deep, with very dreadful injuries
to the head, and serious bruizes on other parts of the body, on
the morning of Monday last.
Several witnesses were examined, and among the rest Joseph
Carter, husband of the deceased, who stated- that he last saw
his wife alive between one and two o'clock on Monday morn-
ing in bed. She had been very ill, and he missed her shortly
after five. He then searched for her and finding the well much
broken, he had suspicions that she had fallen down there. She
was very bad in her head and mind for some time, and was at-
tended by Mr. Taylor, of King's Cross.
Sarah Carter, niece to the deceased, proved that the de-
ceased was in a bad state of mind, and after some further con-
sideration, the Jury returned a verdict—" That the deceased
destroyed herself, being in a state of unsound mind, and that
there was not the slightest suspicion attached to the husband of
the deceased."

It is quite decided that Mr. Nicholls does not re-
turn to this country, in capacity of Poor-law Commis-
sioner. Indeed, the whole system is about to be revised
and remodelled. Next to the Poor-laws, we look upon
the Board of Wt rks as standing number two of the
" Miseries of Ireland."—Dublin Evening Mail.
THE INCREASE OF THE BAPTISTS IN MONMOUTH-
sumE.—The Monmouthshire Baptist Association held
their annual Meeting at Pontypool, on Tuesday and Wed-
nesday last, the 31st ult., when it is supposed that nearly
four thousand persons were present. By the reports re-
ceived from the churches belonging to the Association, it
appeared that fifteen hundred persons had been baptised
during the past year, to which might be added at least
one hundred more, in churches from which no account
was received at the ineeting.--Monniouthshire Merlin.
The Marquis of Tweeddale's family arrived on Mon-
day morning 1 rem Edinburgh by, the General Steam Na-
vigation Company's new ship Princess Royal, Captain
J. W. Morris, after an excellent passage of 39 hours.
The Chancellor has nominated the Chief Justice of
the Common Pleas, Mr. Justice Burton and Mr. Baron
Lefroy, Commissioners for the custody of the Great
Seal, during his Lordship's absence in England, which
is to extend to the first day of next Term. The
Queen's letter having arrived, the seal was delivered to
Judge Burton on Wednesday, on the evening of which
day Sir Edward and Lady Sugden, and all their family,
left for Boyle Farm, their beautiful and picturesque resi-
deoce in the neighbourhood of London.—Dublin Evening
Post.
THE WEATHER AND CROPS.—Although we have
had a few days of cold north-easterly winds, The present
season is, beyond all comparison, the finest we have had
for many years. Never were the fruit-trees hovered
with a gayer load of blossom ; and never was the attire
of the forest more gorgeous, or of a more luxuriant
green. There have been no blighting winds or destruc-
tive insects to mar the progress of vegetation. Wheat,
barley, and, in a few instances, oats, are in the ear ;
and although the straw will not be very abundant, and
the oats in several cases have suffered from the grub-
worm, the promise of an early and abundant harvest is
more ample than for a number of years past. The tur-
nip sowing is nearly completed ; and many fields of
early-sown Swedish are already singled out. The crop
of hay is light, but of excellent quality, and to the
south and east of this city a considerable portion is cut
down ; and the farmers, availing themselves of the fa-
vourable weather, have studded their fields with ricks.
The potatde crop looks well, and, although sadly in want
of mois*ure, there is no appearance of failure.—Scotswan.
CURIOUS PHENOMENON—AIoNziE, JUNE 15.—0 n
Monday, the 13th inst., at two o'clock in the afternoon,
while enjoying the heat and splendour of an almost tropi-
cal sun, we were roue-id by a loud clap of thunder nearly
overhead, very much resembling a discharge of musketry.
To this succeeded many other peals, accompanied with
vivid flashes of lightning. A neighbouring hill, covered
chiefly with heather, and having an elevation of about
1,000 feet, was ignited near the top by the lightning.
The smoke, which rose slantingly in an unbroken wreath,
when seen in contrast with the black thunder cloud be-
hind, produced a striking effect. The conflagration con-
tinued to spread, throwing out immense volumes of
smoke, until checked by the rain, which soon began to
fall. No longer upborne by the atmosphere, the smoke
now shrouded the summit, and subsequently covered the
side of the hill, and sunk into the valley. We had here
several adjuncts of a volcanic eruption—the conical hill
towering above the surrounding heights—the thunder—
the lightning—the pillar of smoke, first rising into the
air, and then settling down in a dense mass upon the hill,
and falling into the valley below ;—there seemed to be
nothing wanting but a shock of an earthquake from
Comrie (six miles distant) to complete the representa-
tion of a veritable burning mountain.—Perth Paper.