Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1845-10-30

nary skill whilst incarceraIed in dungeon
at Naples for some horrible crime; and
there were not wanting those who limited
that the devil had lent him his violin, on
the stern condition that after playing on il
for number Of years, he should person
ally return it, and deliver up himself into
the bargain, to the father of evil. OF course
great anxiety was manifested to see and
hear him; SO, having paid seven and six
pence for a ticket, and it was hard TO pro-
cure it at that price, got tightly packed in
the pit of the Reading Theatre, where
waited anxiously for the appearance of the
lord of the 'unerring (fddIe) bow
Several pieces were to be performed be-
fore Paganini made his appearance, and
these, like oysters and lemon JUICE, before
a Partisan feast, served only as sharpeners
of the appetite for what was to follow.
The preliminary playing and singing was
doubtless very fine, but it passed off heavily
enough, and glad was to discover, by the
aid of the programme, that The Carnival
of Venice" by Paganini, was the next piece.
An interval of few minutes. The gods
of the gallery have sobered down. Nuts
are no longer cracked and the shells show
cred down on the heads of those in the
pit. The popping of ginger beer corks has
ceased, and the cry Of apples and oranges
is heard no more. The pit folks have
squeezed themseIve into as comfortable
positions as possible, and along the boxes
lis seen a row of anxious faces, and line
of ready opera glasses. There is dead
silence in the house. The musicians in the
orchestra are all on the gu riUe; the first
! fiddle looks amazingly anxious, as if he
knew that an eXlinguisher was about to be
pu, on him; the flutes rest with their lips
| half puckered up, and fingers resting light
lily on their orlices; the ClarIOnets stand
with their reeds ready for vibration, and the
! drum sticks describe an angl Of foriy-five.
There is a waving of the curtain. and pro-
longed sh- goes round the house lit
! tie bell rings once, and the musicians fix
their eyes intently on their books, all but
the flutes, who squint at the stage-another,
and louder ring-and up goes the green
baize. Up-up-up-till the last fold Of
| the curtain is invisible, and there is the
broad open Stage, with grand piano in it,
midst A gentleman, dressed very neatly
! in black, with music book in his prim-
rose-gloved hand, enters, bows, and takes
! his seat at the instrument. He looks first
at the audience, with quite an air Of uncon-
Germ, as if he had already seen and knew
| every thing about the great man; he has
i all the calm consequence of man who
knows what others do not know about him.
| Now he hens, looks intently at the wing,
and as he gives a jerk on his chair, and
takes off his gloves, it is evident some one
is coming. How death like is the silence !
| With the slow and slealthy step Of IL
| ger drawing near enough to its victim, III
order to make the sure and fatal SPRING
InoiSeIesslv, and with horribly sardonic
smile on his conntenance, gIides sideways
from behind the wing, being who slartIes
! every one who behods him. He is very tall,
and so remarkably thin that his black close
( fall loosely about him-his trousers baggng
as ifthey hung upon poles. These trowsers
were SO large, that, at their termination,
where they came in contact with his small,
/ IadvIike shoe, the polished leather of which
seemed just to cover the lips of his toes,
| they seemed of exactly the same width. u
nited. as his shoulders. His hips did MOI
in the least project, so that he seemed, from
| his arm pits, to be exactly the same breadth :;
there was no projecting point to disturb the
straight line His double breasted coat
had long skirts, and was bStoned up close
to his chin, round which was white era
vat. and a turned-down collar But, extra
ordinary as was his figure, his face and
head were the great points of attraction and
wonder; SO much SO were they, that, when
first glimpse of the face, especially, was
caught, the people in"oluntarily drew back,
as if they had seen a spectre.
He was CHASTITY pale. In the centre Of
! his forehead. which had nothing very re-
markable as to its developments, that !
could see, at least, his jet black hair was
parted, and from thence il fell down in curly,
frowsy masses over his shoulders. His
eyebrows we're dark, and, where the outer
parts terminated, there were deep tosSG
IN the temples. His nose was slightly beak
ed, and on either side of it were the most
remarkable eyes that, believe, mortal ever
possessed. They were small, dark and
sparkling, hut of lustre more resembling
that OF polished steel, when seen in dimly-
lighted room, than any thing else ! can
compare them to. Their expression as he
smiled horribly at the audience, in recog-
milton OF their plaudits, and as he bowed
'lhls long back, was absolutely snake-like