The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-04 00:00:00

ADELAIDE GALLERY.

Amongst the Easter attractions here, one of the most
amusing is the afternoon performance of the Infant'
Sappho. She used to amuse us most of all in her ex-
pressive delivery of the Irish national planxty of " Pa-
trick's Day," but she has now deserted the Emerald
Isle, and exhibits .an unaccountable predilection for
Scotch music. She sang on Saturday a melody, de-
cidedly Scotch in sentiment and cadence, for which we
heard no name, but which the audience (numerous and
fashionable) was informed her father composed
from the suggestions of her own dreamy war-
blings. Mr. Vinning states that the current of
her melody. flowed - northward. But he mistakes.
Hers is an ocean' Of music, of which the bosom
heaves, and the tides 'ebb and flow, in sympathy with
" the waters above." There is no local preference. It
is all love. The instinctive attraction of a preferred
spirit to Him who is-the centre of all love, and the foun-
tain from which all music flows. In her the difference
between acquired and instinctive melody is emphatically
marked. The little she has learned is easily observed.
The powers are obvious which she possesses in common
with that large portion of the human race who
fall not within the anathema of Shaltspeare,
and are pleased with concord of sweet sounds.
But far different and far beyond is that miraculous de-
velopment which makes Louisa Vinning, at five years of
age, an object to hear and wonder—something to bow
down before, saying " The works of God are great."
It was with this sentiment, grossly perverted, however,
Catalani said that a critic, who spoke contemptuously of
her, " blasphemed God." The vast powers of Catalani
were only those of physical structure, and merely me-
chanical. In the perception of music she was at least
equalled by many of her contemporaries. But Louisa
Vinning sings from..beself, and the part that imitation
bears in the performance is trifling. Have you ever
robbed a skylark's -nest ? Have you taken home the
unfledged nestling, and fed him wills a mother's care ?
Then, in the next spring, have you seen him expand his
wings, and swell his throat, and strut upon your new
cut sod, in his narrow cage, as he poured out, with un-
impaired melody and 'force, that selfsame " spread song"
with which his father soothed the pains of the sitting
mother, whilst you lay, gazing upon him as he was poised
in mid-air, and you were planning how to rob him of the
young one, whose love was to repay him for his music of
the skies ? If you have, then you can understand some-
thing of the instinct which breathes through the lips of
the Infant Sappho, );1,2.1-m is perhaps disparaged by the
comparison with our homely skylark, when she more
resembles the mocking-bird of the New World, surpass-
ing the songsters around her in their several kinds of
melody, and possessing one far richer of her own, which
none could imitate, if any could comprehend.

MADAME ]L'USSAUD'S EXHIBI-

TION.

Among the varioWpleasant lounges of the metropolis,
there are few of grealer interest than Madame Tussaud's
exhibition of wax figures, in Baker-street, Portman-
square. This collection is, in fact, a gallery of histori-
cal portraits, and will in aftertimes becoine invaluable
from the extreme fidelity of the likenesses. What, for
instance, can be more faithful and more life-like than the
figure of that impersonation of strong common sense,
the late William gobbed. who sits, with snuff-box in
hand and spectacles. on nose, regarding the gorgeous
group of Allied Sovereigns before him with the same smile
of quiet sarcasm which we may imagine played upon his
features, while writing his celebrated gridiron prophecy,
or while christening: the Westminster renegade " bir
Glory." Among the:more recent additions to the col-
lection we particularlY'noticed the portrait of Commis-
sioner Lin, the originator of the war between the Chi-
nese and " the red-haired barbarians "—the man who
insulted the British' flag and persecuted the British mer-
chants, " not because he loved Epinal less, but because
he loved Sycee silvo more." By his side, balanced upon
certain little knobs, .which in China do duty for feet,
stands his wife ; the nails of " the charming couple"
are most remarkable extending for several inches
beyond the tips of: the fingers. The length of the
nail is, it seems,,.. the distinguishing characteristic
of aristocracy in China. But is not alone as a historical
portrait gallery thiii
,this collection is so interesting ;
there are many most extraordinary articles of curiosity
exhibited in this elegantly fitted up saloon, for instance
here are the gorgeous robes worn by George the
Fourth on the occasion of his coronation, and the idea
ti cal throne under which he received the Allied Sovereigns.
These magnificent and. costly articles are most tastefully
displayed in a recess' fitted up as a fac-simile of one of
George IV.'s own superbly-furnished Apartments. Per-
haps, however, the most interesting portion of the exhi-
bition, is the unique: collection of portrait-masques of
the heroes of the first'French Revolution. The eloquent,
strong-willed Miraheau, the wily, cat-like, perfidious
Robespierre, the wholesale murder-monger, Murat, the
cruel Carrier, thO' cold-blooded Fouquier-Tinville,
the sarcastic Hebert, are all here—a study for the his-
torian, the physiognomist, and the moral philo-
sopher. Madame,, Tussaud has also provided at-
traction for thoso,who delight in vulgar horrors ;
and in this room ;tare accurate portraits of Gould and
Courvoisier, of Burke and Hare, and of Blakesley and
Ward. The exhibition has been thronged both morning
and evening during the holidays, and we are not at all
surprised that such-,should be the case. It is one of
great and varied interest, and will amply repay the
trouble of a visit.