The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-09-19 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE,

CELLARS.—On Wednesday twenty-seven persons were
fined 245. 6d. each for letting or occupying cellars.
AN EXPENSIVE PARROT.—On Wednesday two sailors
named Anthony, were brought up at the Police-court,
charged with having stolen a parrot. It appeared that
the prisoners had been lodging at the house of Mrs.
Parry, in George-street and stolen " polly" whom they
disposed of for seven shillings to another party. Poll was
produced in court, and gave her " evidence" in first-rate
style. The case having been clearly proved, the prisoners
were ordered to pay the penalty of 40s. each, or to be
committed for 21 days each. The purchaser wanted to
have either the bird or his money. Mr. Rushton : Oh !
no, no. No property passes by fraud or felony. The
parrot belongs to the old lady : let her take it.
ACCIDENT FROM FURIOUS DRIVING.—On Wednesday
Ralph Leyland, Benjamin Pearson, and David Roberts,
were charged with driving furiously in the public streets,
and running over a man, by which he was seriously inju-
red. It appeared the prisoners were coining from Orms-
kirk fair in a gig, and when they arrived in Naylor-street
they drove against a poor man, knocked him down and
ran over him, lie had several cuts and bruises on his
person, but they were pronounced by the surgeon not to
be dangerous. The prisoners were in liquor, and after
the accident they drove on. Mr. Rushton fined the pri-
soners 40s. and costs, and told the man to lay information
against the offenders for the damage he had sustained,
and expenses.

THE LI

ITALIAN OPERA AT THE THEATRE-ROYAL.

By the enterprise of Mr. H. F. Aldridge, we have been
treated during the past week with a series of operatic
performances of a first-class character, the success of
which, we trust, will insure us an early repetition of the
experiment. There is now no longer a valid reason why
the first commercial community of the empire should lie
under the stigma of being unable to comprehend and
appreciate music of a high order, and no further excuse
for our Grisis and Marios expending all their rare gifts upon
the blas, loungers who frequent the boxes and pit of,
par excellence, " her Majesty's Theatre."
Of the first two evenings' performances we shall not
fatigue our readers and ourselves by saying much. The
memory of a first and a second delight is soon erased by
a third and a fourth ; and our contemporaries have pretty_
well fulfilled their duties in recording the evenings of
" Norma" and " Puritani." In the former it was evi-
dent that the great stars, Grisi and Mario, were suffering
under some depression, either of spirits or of health.
Yet we could not have mistaken, in their rather unequal
performances, the presence of inimitable talent, which
flashed out at intervals in its wonted brilliancy. In the
" Norma," Tagliafico astonished his audience by his
power and the quality of his voice ; but his merits were
best tested by the exquisite impersonation which he gave
of Don Pasquale on Friday evening. In " Puritani "he
was great ; and in " Suona la tromba" he was cheered to
the utmost. Madlle. Vera is an acquisition to our ope-
ratic boards. Her Adalgisa was very fine; and her voice
and acting throughout superior to any which we have
observed in the same character.

The " Puritani" of Thursday was throughout an exqui-
site performance. The singing of Grisi and Mario was
especially beautiful.
On Friday evening the opera was " Don Pasquale,"
and we believe the first time that it has been played in
Liverpool ; at all events, the first time that it has been
placed before us by such distinguished artistes. We have
already referred to Signor Tagliafico's rendering of Dan
Pasquale. It was superb, and established that perfor-
mer's claim to the first place as a comedian. Nothing
can be finer than his rendering of the whole of scene 2nd
in the third act, or the

" Cheti Cheti immantinente"
in scene sth of the same act. The whole of this scene
indeed, and especially the conclusion, was splendidly
given by Tagliafico and Signor Ciabatta, who played the
Doctor Malatesta with very great ability. Grisi was very
rich in her impersonation of Norina. She entered fully
into the spirit of the character, and her vocalisation was
of the rarest order. The last scene especially was a tri-
umph, which we regret was a little marred by the absurd
custom, on the part of a fashionable audience, of parties
getting up to leave before the conclusion. Mario has
little to do in this opera. His song, however, " Com' e
gentil," was of itself a treat worth hearing, and was twice
encored most enthusiastically. His duet with Grisi,
" Tornami a dir," was also an inimitable performance.
No other duo could sing it so finely.
The houses were crowded during the whole series of
performances by fashionable audiences, notwithstanding
the numerous attractions so liberally provided elsewhere.
We never, in fact, remember seeing a treat of the kind so
apparently successful in our town.

THE YACHT CLUBS.