The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-02-21 00:00:00

ton drawl, say he is "going up to the countess's box"—
a bit of sinless vanity for which I have never blamed him.
His writings on music and musicians sometimes charm
and instruct ; he knows music, which critics generally do
not, is a linguist, and has travelled; he furthermore has
been a constant attendant on the theatres for twenty
years ; has seen almost every new piece during that period,
—remembers their fates ; knows well when a new drama
ceases to edify and begins to weary. With all these advan-
tages, he presents a concoction of stale, common German
. diablerie—long drawn out. I might call it something
worse than mere devilry ; for all these pieces, wrap• them
up as a skilful vamper may, where the arch-enemy of
mankind, like a "blackleg," attempts to chouse us poor
short-sighted specimens, is just short of being blasphemous;
and lam not straitlaced. CHORLEY'S drama creeped
through four tedious parts, without one scintilla to raise
the expectation ;—to excite, save to risibility, where terror
was intended to be evoked, was out of the question. The
piece was damned. Mr. WIGAN, the lessee, who took the
drama in hand, laid out to my certain knowledge much
money in mounting it ; it was rehearsed many times and
attentively ;—did WIGAN not have some notion that all
might be, thrown away ? Not a bit of it. Here, again,
the truism with which I discursively opened this para-
graph is exemplified. You shall find a clever manager,—
author and actor rolled into one,—and he build the highest
expectations on trash. I really believe the foregoing
embraces all the novelty of the week. BROOKE continues
nearly as hoarse as a raven at Drury-lane,—plays nightly
to applauding crowds; new dramas are promised at every
theatre ; but some of the most fecund of the writers are
complaining of ill health. DOUGLAS JERROLD is ill at
Brighton, with rheumatism in his eyes, of all organs in
his little body ; MARK LEMON—Punch's Pilot (you might
make a pun of this)—is growling over bronchitis. But
both of these boys, and others I could name, write more
rarified when they are on slops. Arrangements going on,
apparently with success until a few days since, for the
opening of Her Majesty's Theatre, it appears now have
failed ; so we can have only one Grand Opera .this season;;
—LABLACIIE, Gram, and MARL) being the chiefs at
Covent-Garden, which opens in about three weeks. Il
fanatico par la musica was exemplified on Wednesday, by
a few of the musical people in London absolutely leaving
town for Paris, to be present on the following evening at
the first representation of MEYERBEER'S Star of the
North" ("L'Etoile du Nord") : they returned in time for
dinner on Saturday, high in their praise of the maestro's
last achievement. NAPOLEON and EUGENIA. were there,
and applauded much. The subject of the opera, concocted
by SCRIBE, is Russian—PETEß and CATHARINE : the
music learned, swelling, and heavy-ish. The idea of people
going from London to Paris, to hear the first of a new
opera, is certainly spirited. What next ? The repertoire
at the Royal Italian Opera is one of the best, if not the
best, in Europe : let us hope that the impresario will draw
upon it more frequently than he did last year, rather than
produce expensive novelties not worth preserving—works
which could not and did not live out a night.

COMMERCIAL 4, MONETARY NEWS

MONDAY NIGHT.

TIEE active preparations for war which have been
making during the week appear to have had
little effect on the value of public securities, which
have been maintained with but little fluctuation
until to-day, when Consols receded, owing to the
confirmation of the previous report that the
Emperor of Russia had refused to negotiate on
the terms proposed in Louis Napoleon's letter.
The returns of the Bank of England show a
decrease in the stock of bullion of £23,155, but
this will be amply compensated by the subsequent
receipts, which amount to nearly £BOO,OOO, chiefly
in gold, from Australia. There have, however,
been larger shipments to France, and no doubt
heavy remittances will be required for the army
in the East. _ _

Money for commercial purposes has, it is said,
been easy, but it would appear from the increase
in " other securities" and the decrease in " other
deposits," that money had been more in demand.
The Bank Directors, it appears, have also disposed
of part of their Government Securities.
The dividends announced by the various railways
show a general improvement on this description of
investment, and will, no doubt, create for them a
more favourable impression in the public mind.
The North-western will pay at the rate of 5 per
cent., the South-western 5 per cent., the Great-
western 4 per cent., the York and North Midland
3 per cent., the Ambergate, Nottingham, and
Boston, 21 per cent., the Oxford, Worcester, and
Wolverhampton, 31 per cent. on the preferential
stock, the Bristol and Exeter 5 per cent., the
South-eastern 4 per cent., the Great Northern 41
per cent., the Hull and Selby £2 9s. 6d. per £5O
share; the Gloucester and Dean Forest 4 per cent.,
the Dublin and Belfast Junction 5 per cent., the
North London £1 ss, per share, and the Eastern
Counties 7s. per share. .
The market for Cotton manufactures has again
been firmer, and prices have had an upward ten-
dency. This is 'partly owing to the favourable
advices received from India and China, and to the
firmness in the Cotton market. Woollen manu-
factures are still dull, but improvement is anti-
cipated when the season is fully commenced. In
the hosiery and lace trades there is scarcely any-
thing doing, but as a little time will now serve to
solve the problem of peace or war, improvement
is shortly expected.
Corrox.—The extent of business done during
the week has been larger than for a considerable
time past, and would no doubt have been still
larger, but for the unsettled state of political
affairs. For the week ending Friday the sales
amounted to 69,600 bales, of which 45,360 were
taken by the trade, 20,800 by speculators, and
3,440 for exportation. Prices have consequently
been in favour of sellers, and middling may be
quoted about 1-16 d higher. On Saturday the
sales were 6,000 bales, including 1,500 on specu-
lation and for export. To-day the advices per Asia
were received, but too late to have any influence
on the market. The sales reached 6,000 bales,
and prices were firmly maintained. The following
is a comparison of present rates with those of the
corresponding period of last year.

1863. 1854.
New Orleans, middling ...613-16d. 6 15-16 d.
fair 6O. 61d.
Uplands, middling
fair

The more decided tone in the Eastern Question'
taken by government, and the actual embarkation
of troops, has had a beneficial effect upon our
SHARE MA.RKET ; and it has been characterised by
increased firmness and scarcity of stock all week.
The amount of money waiting investment in this
market at the present time is very considerable ;
and, as the speculators succeed in producing a
momentary decline in prices, the opportunity is
eagerly taken by the brokers to buy up any stock
offered. Many are waiting for the intelligence of
the first brush of the battle, hoping that then a
favourable time may occur to buy, which may pro-
bably be the case, unless the number of this de-
scription of investers prevent. War or no war, it