New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-07-07

Royal Botanical Garden. Before these charming
walks, lined with mul.igenerous riododsndrO-s,
which one might easily take for elegant purple
draperies and with graceful azaleas, whose orange
pink, white. yellow or striped colors recall TO mind
glacier rejecting the last rays Of the setting SUM-
one cannot refrain from thinking that Nature alone
is endowed with pure and lasting beauty. Man
spells it, whatever enthusiastic bOtansts may say
to the contrary. To their ridiculous pedantry we
owe those terrible (if We had not such deep re-
spect for classic languages, We would almost say
barbarc) appclations which puzzle 50 sadly the iair
visitors Of floral exhibitions. They shudder while
reading the unutterable names affixed to the most
charming children Of the Spring. What attraction
can there be in an .fstiralis capriaora, an 1nran-
fiara eupred. a MOnstrosa faseieulars rdriabais,
Cahndulacta cOccinea, a Jiseosa foriJunda or Poa-
fica monsfrosa suiphurea, and other denominations
applied to our dear, sweet, blooming Azaleas Alas
"Who will rave us from the Greeks aud the Ro-
mansl"
"Qui ne devrcra des Grecs ct des Romsinsi -
"a the French poet, Berchoux, exclaimed, in the
bitterness of his heart.
But. not satisfied with borrowing epithets from
the apcents our florists put in contribution all the
heroes Of history romance, from AttiIa To Brutus
from Daphne to Wellington, from Jacques LATTE
to Louis Napoleon. There is Eugene Sue rose, a
Genie dc Chateaubrilnd rose, General Lamorciere
rore, a Duchesse dOrleans rose, without even
speaking of the numerous flowers to which Lord
Raglan Marshal Pelssier, Sir Colin Campbell, and
other Crimean " lone" stood gOdfathers. | do
not mention the graceful godmOthers, Alice, Agnes
Horteuse, Sydopie, Clementine, Angelina, Angus
tine and others because the most splendid and fra
grant roses in the world cannot find fault with the
hatteripg assimilation. But is it fit to christen a
fine lilac rose HiHiam Gri6fhs, or light rose
UiHiam Jesse to call an intensely glowing carmne
rhododendron, finely-spOtted and most abundant
blOomer, John Hoftrer whatever may be the de-
serts of the BagshOt nurseryman or to denom'
nate hardy azalea, Due d'Urso! We have no
objection against Gretry as musician or COrreg-
eio, POussin, or Rembrandt, as painters but as
names of scarlet rhodOdendrons they tell US as little
as Lady Eleanor Cathcart, Mr.. Hemsn'
Mrs. LOudOn, or the Belgian Madame Van
de Weyer. Why must the most imposing and
gorgeous exhibition ever witnessed be made field for
such morbid pedantry! However unusual the bril-
liancy of the floral display may be- our pleasure is
gone when we see the most rosy lips distorted by
the unspeakablc inscriptions which they are sem
fenced to read. Useless termincogy is a sad thing
in every art and science, but in horticulture 1t has
proved real misfortune.
In a musical point of view, the season" has like
wise been one of the most splendid ever remem-
bered. There is not a single day without being
marked by some matinee musicale" or " solree
musicale" or q concert of some kind. IT, more
over we add the undeniable fact that we cannot go
to any exhibition, be it of flowers or of criminals
the coronation at Moscow or the liOn.slayer's ELI
campment in South Africa, the Royal Colosseum or
the Royal Polytechnic, without meeting blazing
bands, fddling foreigners, or at least pmnofylng
gentlemen and ladies, we must acknowledge that
the English really abuse music; they put it, as the
French would say, tOute sauce. Music-halls and
concert.roons exist in all quarters and in every
shape, from the rich Hanover Rooms down to the
humble Marylebone pubic.house. Indeed, we
should be compelled to call the British the most
harmonic us nation upon earth, if there were
any harmony in their music. To enumeratc only
the programmes of this years concerts would take
more space than am allowed to use IN the columns
of THE TRIBUNE. l must, in consequence, restrict
myself to few general remarks and limited num-
Der of observations on the most shining new
"stars" II we are to Judge from the performances
in London, while instrumentalists are progressing IN
wonderful manner, good singers become more and
more scarce; for Clara NoyellO excepted it did not
fall to our lot to hear any singing lady or
gentleman who may be rcckOned as being above the
average. Mestnmes BassanO, RudersdOrf Ferretti,
Ransiord, Sedlatzeck and others have sung them
selves out; the newcomers, MesdemOselles A.
Manning, Jenny Baur, Augusta Stubbe, are very
young and pretty but the less said of their voices
will be the better. Herr Won der Osten, Herr Rel
chardt NJ. Frank BOdda, and other male artists, may
he musical enough, but they enjoy a mere thread o
voice, end prove, at all events unable to excite
genuine enthusiasm among their hearers. The quar-
tets sung by the Cologne amateurs 4" K0llner Man
Ier Gesang Verein proved alone successful in that
direction; and nothing could give higher idea of
the harmonious splendor of the human voice when
skillfu managed, than the songs executed by these
eighty powerful performers, with the most striking
ensemble. Why, then, have they made such a bad
selection of melodies Most of the composers
whose names appeared on the programmes are to-
tally unknown, and we are bound to admit, deserv-
edly so. A Lied originally intended for a tenor or
baritone solo, does not exactly gain much by being
set for four voices and it is certainly pity to waste
on mere musical trash such efficient power OF har-
mony as the Germans possess.
If we were to believe English newspapers, there
would be no reason to complain OF scarcity OF
grand singers, especially since most bright uml-
nary has appeared on the cloudy British sky, in the
person of Miss Victoria Bale, the daughter Of
the Irish maestro But this shining star somewhat
resembles that much-taked.Of comet OF the 18th
of June: everybody spoke of it, yet nobody could
perceive it. Miss Bales success is another in
stance of the British spirit of nationality, which has
become greater virtue than patience ITSELF She
made her debut in "La SOnnambula, and more
charming sOmnabulist could not be fancied in a
Summer nights dream. She has almost exactly
the age, the features, the figure Of Gris, when the
latter appeared in London some twenty-five years
ago. The "Nisetta" OF to-day recalled to mind the
"Diva Giulia" of former times in every particular
ity, one oily excepted-namely, the voice: Let
English Oyaists cheer and huzZa to their hearts
delight, and strike the big drum Of hattery with the
enthusiast devOtedness Of regimenta kette-drum-
mer we are Of the same opinion as the witty King
Louis XVIII. He once astOnished his Ministers by
the simple truth, taken from cooking book, that for
hare ragout the first thing required was hare; and
thus, we are inclined to believe that for singer the