The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-04-16 00:00:00

THEATRE ROYAL,

The young prima donna, Miss Delcy, whose first appear-
ance we noticed in our last, has proved a loadstone to the
iron-hearted public, by drawing excellent houses. Miss
Delcy has 'excited much attention in the musical world, and
the amateurs of this town have had their anticipations raised
by the reports of her excellence, that have reached them.
Their expectations have been quite realized, and we can
safely pronounce her as the most successful debutante that
has appeared since the time of Miss Inverarity, whose pro-
mise of excellence was quite equal to Miss Delcy's. Taking
into consideration her extreme youth, and want of experience,
bright hopes may be indulged in, that she will achieve the
very highest step in the professional ladder, which many es-
say to climb, but few surmount. Nature has commenced a
goodly work, which science has continued, hut which time
only can complete. Miss Deley's voice is of a fine quality, full
and round in tone, and of good compass. Her execution is
brilliant and effective, without appearing forced or strained;
her style is chaste, without that extreme mannerism per-
vading more or less in artists of every degree. In person,
Miss Delcy is petite, her face is pretty and expressive, her
eye brilliant, and her carriage graceful. Her knowledge of
music is great, she shews excellent tuition; but to compare
her with Mrs. Wood or Miss Sherriff would be unfair; they
have reached that summit which Miss Delcy must climb—
that she will do so and maintain her position, there can be
no doubt of, if health and strength permit. Miss Delcy has
faults—and who is without them—all of which a further in-
timacy with her art will cure. " Cinderella" was delight-
fully done; Miss Delcy's Cinderella was tasteful, natural, and
unforced. Her " Now with grief" was a delicious effort of
skill. The other parts in this opera are too well, known in
Liverpool to need comment. We ought not, however, to
avoid noticing two features in it, the first, Mr. George Horn-
castle's playing Baron Pompolino, and secondly, the intro-
duction by Mr. Templeton of " I love her, how I love her."
The former was inimitable, and deserved the highest praise;
the latter was a sample of bad taste. It is most vile to introduce
a.vulgar clap-trap gallery ballad into an opera of high pre-
tensions, and ought to be reformed altogether.. Although
the song was encored, it was in our opinion undeserved, for
Mr. Templeton did not sing—but shouted—it ;
,a habit, by
the way, we have noticed during his present engagement.
On Wednesday Bellini's exquisite opera of " Sonnambula"
was performed. Miss Delcy, as Amina, fully sustained the
favour won by her in Cinderella. Without the passionate
fervour of Miss Sherriff, or the vigour of Mrs. Wood, Miss,
Delcy seemed to take a line of her own, bringing out the
character by simplicity and artlessness most touching and
winning. She occasionally electrified the audience by
startling effects, shewiug plainly what she will do when time
has matured her powers. One drawback is, that Miss Delcy
does not clearly enunciate her words—she is all tone : this
we particularly remarked in Amina. Some pretend to like
it ; we cannot say we " follow on the same side." Mr. Tem-
pleton does not sing Elvino so well as he was wont ; he
has lost a great deal of that purity 'of manner which he once
possessed. His ".All is lost now" was very clever and beau-
tiful, and was encored ; but we have heard him sing it in-
finitely better. The effect of it was much marred by the
absurdity of the audience, in encoring and applauding before
it was half over : really the frequenters of the Theatre-Royal
have heard " Sonnambula" often enough to know better.
Mr. George Horncastle dressed, acted, and sang the Count
1?odolpho excellently. He sang the scena, " When 1 view
these scenes," very well. We like him in it as well as
any one we have seen. Mr. Eaton, as Alessio, made his
first bow before a Liverpool audience on this occasion ; be
possesses much humour, and reminds us strongly of Buck-
stone in voice and manner. He played Alessio well, but
dressed it most ridiculously and injudiciously. He wore a
monstrous tall straw hat, like a Kentuckian's, and a dress
which was more fitting for an amphitheatrical buffoon or a
Chinese morris dancer. The eye must be pleased ; the
" monstrosity" of the dress may make the unskilful laugh,
but it will cause " the judicious to grieve." Miss E. Honner
played Lisa very prettily, but it was evident that she has not
the power to sing the difficult songs in the part as they ought
to be sung. Miss Honner tried to do her best. We have heard
her sing ballads, and think she will step upon " Kate Kear-
ney's" heels in warbling them. This is not said in dispa-
ragement; Miss Honner is a great acquisition to the theatre.
The songs of Lisa are difficult, and require a voice of no or-
dinary compass. Taken altogether, " Sonnambula" was
capitally done, and will prove a Treat to all who listen to it.
An excellent farce, called " Lodgings for Single Gentlemen,'►
has been produced, in which Mrs. Clarke, as an inquisitive
and meddling landlady, kept the house in a continuous and
positive roar of laughter. Mr. Holl's Captain Postlethwaite
was very good, and full of vivacity. This evening" Son-
nambula" will be repeated.

EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT AT SEA.—On Thursday last,
during the passage of the John Bull, steamer, from Ham-
burg to London, an accident of a most singular nature hap-
pened to a young man, named Clark, an apprentice on board,
who is nearly out of his time. Clark was sent into the main
chains, some hours after the vessel left Hamburgh, for the
purpose of heaving the lead. He was on the larboar'd side
of the vessel, and had been engaged for some time in taking
soundings, when he was suddenly missed by the mate, who
was at the wheel. and who heard a noise resembling that of
a man splashing his hands and feet in the water. The vessel
was immediately stopped, and backed a-stern, the boat
lowered, and the men who rowed it looked about for nearly
20 minutes, but without being able to find him. The boat
returned to the steamer, and was hoisted up, and the vessel
proceeded on her voyage, every one supposing he was lost.
Directly afterwards some of the men went to the side of the
vessel, and hauled in the lead line, and to their great surprise
pulled up the body of Clark, who had been for nearly 20
minutes in the water suspended by the line, which had made
a complete hitch-knot round his kneck. Captain Corbin, the
commander of the ship, Mr. Gibbs, the mate, and all the hands
that could be spared, lost no time in using every means in
their power to save him. He was conveyed to the fore-cabin,
stripped, and placed in a hot-bath, water having been pro-
cured from the boilers for the purpose. Captain C. and his
mate applied the means recommended by the Royal Humane
Society for saving life, but it was long before the young man
exhibited the least signs of animation. The Captain and his
men would not despair, they continued their exertions, and
exactly one hour after the sufferer was taken out of the water
he began to show some signs of lite. Stimulants were then
judiciously supplied to him, and he soon afterwards became
conscious of his situation. His neck and throat were much
swollen, and inquiries were made of the passengers on board
for leeches, and at last a man agreed to supply a few from a
case in his possession, on being paid 2s. 6d. for them. There
was no time to resist such a demand, the necessity for the
leeches was urgent, and the money was paid. The swelling
was soon reduced by the application of the leeches, and by the
time the vessel reached London the young man appeared to
be out of immediate danger. He is now doing well. It ap-
pears that when he fell overboard his head was kept above
water while the ship was moving, and he was dragged through
the sea with it, but when the vessel stopped he sunk and re-
mained suspended under water with the rope round his neck.
Perhaps a more singular occurrence never happened. The
passeuger who exacted 2s. 6d. for his leeches was very pro-
perly served by Captain Corbin, who made him pay 10s.
freight for the case of leeches, which would bate been passed
among his luggage in the usual manner, but for the hard
bargain he drove while a fellow-creature was suffering.