The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1843-09-25
Correspondence qfas .Nl.iioaai fatsillgsnesp.


he debut OF the Italian Opera has been the event
OF the last week and, though the Park offered the
traction OF Wallack's benefit, the demonstration Of
white gloves on that night at Niblos And this
Is but one brick IN the steadily built prosperity of the
Garden theatre. MIR. Nbo is a tactician of the first
order, and knows his g dear public"
l saw only the first act OF Lucia de Lammer-
moor" and found little to admire except the per-
Torrance of the orchestra. SIgnor Antognine GER
lanly did not come up to his reputation as a tenor,
and he is the great star of the company He is
rious looking man to play the lover The muscles
OF his face pull, every one, upon his nostrIs like
g taut haards," and with eyebrows pointing hercey
at the bridge of his nose and mouth like angry
dash OF pen under emphasized word, he looks as
MephisophIlish of RetZchs drawings. Ma
dame MajocchI, the prima donna, is fat woman
with fat voice. She has good coDtralto footing
in her throat, but her soprano notes are painfully
tptoe, and you are glad when she is comfortably at
the bottom of her caden=a. The company appears
pretty well drilled but they want prima donna, and
if they could find prima donna III want OF Them
CASTELAR,, for instance-we might have good opera
They say that Antognne's voice is only grass grown
from neglect and that he would do brilliantly after
little practice Considering the certain fortune that
waits upon fine tenor, it is surprising that there
should be SO few aspirants for the honors OF Rubin
for it cannot be that there only half dozen OF
SO many OF human voices possessing his capabilities
Of tone and cultivation. There is probably {" full
many a" postion de Lonjumeau I" born tor f" waste
his sweetness the desert air !" and it would be
good speculation to look them up and buy lifeinte-
rest in their thoracic capabilities
A gentleman has written me very courteous let
ter demonstrating my misuse Of the word setting
as it appeared in the following sentence of last
weeks lntellgencer: " Yesterday several gentlemen
were setting round an excellent fire." Now, call
upon the magnaniny OF your type setter to make his
'davy to an in the manuscript The third Editor of
my in direct line, and accused Of that blunder
But shame to that in the same letter this crit
cal gentleman fastens an ellipse upon that will
hardly "hod water" j did write, " hot sings
usurped (-) the iced julaps and cobbers" emitting
the places of-but not through ignorance My cores
pondent gives me also an amusing account of his los
ing bet to some English gentlemen who had declar
ed that the distinction between the verbs " to lay
and " to lie'' was almost unknown to American VIII
tiers. The day after the remark made, Alba
ny paper said Of steamer that she laid too during
storm" Twenty dollars were wagered that if the
sentence were pointed out to the Editor erroneous
he would only correct the latter of its two
The note SENT and corrigerdonl appeared in the
next days paper, abiding only TO the supertluous
"o"! The Englishers walked off, Of course, with
the triumph and the money. comparison between
the presses of the two countries would be very unfair
however. In every English printing establish
ment there is employed, for proof-reader,
complished linguist and grammarian He has
library-room TO hims elf, and reads his proofs sur
rounded with dictionaries, books of synonymes, and
all the classic authors for reference and comparison
He not only corrects any lapses or errors in gram
against faults in the style and, in instance the
proof-reader of celebrated London publisher came
down to me- ten miles in stage COACH TO submit
what he thought an instance Of bad taste 10 book OF
mine then publshing-the press having been stopped
meantime" With such diilgent supervision this
there need be little wonder at universal good gram
mar in English books and with the almost total de-
pendence hasty memory with which Ameri-
write and go to press, there need be as little
wonder if our literature is full of errors. And no.
hap If Io,exu
enable US to bear the expense of the careful proof
reading and supervision instanced above.
And apropOs of my sins Of correspondence find that
proprety begins to require that all words signifying
exhilarating drinks must henceforh be decenty dis
emboweed that cobblers must be written c-s,
and ulaps is, sings SIS, and punches
p--s. ] have had three letters and one poetcal
appeal addressed to me, remonstrative against my
shameless mention Of these Ubiquitous beverages III
so exemplary a paper the lntelligencer. consi-
der this an exponent of the leading enthusiasm of the
era and willingly gave way. One of my rebukers
attacked me more particularly for what he consider
ed sighting allusion to the coming OF Father
Matthew 10 America. To this, in intention at least,
plead not guilty. | revere the character of that
great reformer and consider his mission sacred and
sauary My submission shall be emphatic, if
necessary.
| wish some of your particular troop of we'll
informed occasional correspondents would give US the
philosophy of the decline II peaches have seen only
toerabc peaches this year for the last few years
indeed, and the magnificent fruit used TO get in
stage-coachng through Jersey is vanished with the
lost Plelad. man would deserve well of his coun-
try who should faded glores in this par
ticular.
am mnistered to while writing to-day by the most
deliciousy tempered autumn air that ever intoxIca-
ted the heart Of a rpenng grape. only lament that
the distinct pleasure feel in every pore and fibre
" i'll no, channeed into the nib Of my pen and flow
to you in rhetoric The wind is little northery,
however and it may bring you sample. Yours, &c