Birmingham age-herald., 1895-08-13
PAUL PRY IN LONDON.
VERY ATTRACTIVE THEATRICAL SEASON.
A Peep at the Prince and Princess of Wales. The Duchess of York and
 the Children.
London, July 20.

| present season in the way of theatrical 1 stars. Lottie Collins draws enormous houses. and it is amusing to see the long l line of pedestrians waiting for admls- sion then, too. our own Ada Rehan has | her own share of theatre-goers and their | ready cash. Madame Rejane, who spent last winter in New York, is also here, though she has been considerably criti- cized.
 Of course we attended Convent Garden to hear the Grand Italian Opera, and
 had the pleasure of hearing Calvi, Milba and Alvarez Calvi Is considered an ideal Carmen, and, while her singing was ex- quiste and sweet in the extreme, her acting was still better, so many charm ing, persuasive, cunning little ways that fully declare her to be the greatest living Carmen. Then Covent Garden itself was a great sight to us. It is quite hand some theatre, and on these closing nights was filled to the utmost limit. There were many handsome and beautifully dressed women, whom we could easily recognize as Americans; then there were gorgeously dressed women, ablaZe with diamonds and jewels and wearing the
 most sumptuous of coronets, whom we supposed to be duchesses and ladies or varying degree of nobility, some young and attractive, some fair looking, leaning toward embonpoint, and women exceed ingly homely and conspicuous.
 The Prince and Princess of Wales came in just before the second act, accom- panied by their guests, two. young prlh- cesses from Germany believe-Very quiet genteel looking, but nothing apout them to suggest their station in lie nad they not been pointed out to us. Ihey seemed to enjoy the good music Just ike other people, and the Prince Of Wales encored feebly, no doubt evincing great appreciation. The last scene closed amid an uproar of applause and we regretted that it was over, it was all so peautlIui. Of course we went to see Sir Henry lrV- ing and Miss Terry in Nance Oidhelu at the Lyceum. I was very much sur prised and disappointed in the tnealef itself to begin with. It seemed very tawdry and small, and old and wornout in comparison with any Of our leadiiis theaters in New York. However, the house was of small moment when the curtain which was very ordinary, went up and Ellen Terry soon appeared. we were perfectly charmed with her acting, her personality, the play ct al.; in 1ac-' she completely bewitched us. She IS splendid in the character of Nance oId- field, and they have an excellent sup port. We longed to see her ln Laus ots Macbeth, but 1t was peyohd our u"''
 "The Corsican Brothers was beaut- fully staged and I've no doubt MT. nv ing plays the parts of the two brothers well, but we were disappointed III nm, Oh he can't near reach the perfection of genius and dramatic art as found III our own Booth; his walk IS so stliI anu stagey and enunciation so lndlstlnct' However in many parts we realized ms acting was very fine. The deluSloh oL the visions was more perfect than h&Vo ever seen and seemed like real spectres
 and all in all a splendid performance
 Another pleasant afternoon was spent in the Albert hall and delighted the hearts of the school teachers in our par ty, though one said it was the first tune she ever got too much for her money, the admission being only pence, gal lery). so we charged her tuppence all around for the unpaid for part. IL was competitive calesthenic drill by the pup lie school children of London, about four different classes of girls, with about Tor ty in each class, and three classes of boys The three banners were presented by the Duchess of York.
 I guess I might just as we'll admit we had some curiosity to see the Duchess of York, and I say this much, she was lots better looking than her very ordi- nary husband the Duke of York. The children drilled well, evenly and prompt ly, but I won't admit that they drilled better, nor more promptly than our Blr- mingham public school children, because we just think we have the best super1n- tendent. professors, teachers and chill dren to be found anywhere, London not excepted. However, we were very much fatigued over the various classes march ing out and going through with the iden- tically same thing, but we had to see the duchess award the banners, so we stayed. Next the boys came. They were di- version as they marched out with band of thirty pieces, and I'm sure the oldest performer did not exceed 13 years. The sweetest music, and they played pieces
 ant 0nd played "Alabama Coon." Now, wonder how that ever got away over here? F1- nally the duke and duchess walked Tn and everybody arose (and we dld too through curiosoty) and the band played God Save the Queen," and the duchess sat down where we could have a look at her. When it was all over we went over to the Albert Memorial, an atrociouS af- fair from the standpoint of art but It cost an enormous amount or money Then we seated ourselves in Hyde park, it being o'clock, to see the nobility drive by.
 It's real accommodating in them to drive by for our inspection that we may decide how we like their looks, but really we found we were very much interested in the fine horses and mobile faces of the footmen, with their stiff, powdered hair. looking suspiciously like soap; but altogether we liked the nobility very well.
 No doubt all readers of the Age-Herald are familiar with "Kensington embroid- ery' and it's beauty. Well, it was inter- esting to visit the headquarters of the art in London. It is in a quaint little building, entered by descending some five or six steps. In addition to their art work they display curios of all kinds, and we walked through elaborately dec orated and furnished room after an- other and enjoying the treasures. The very pleasant lady in attendance seemed to appreciate the little sentiment that made us enjoy the visit She said she knew America had admired and patron ized the Kensington school very much. We saw work from royal hands that was very prettily done, and I fancy expected to bring fabulous price. We longed to say we saw handsomer work at the Worlds fair, but dared not mention it. Then we went on to the Kensington mu- scum, magnificent structure, and were lost in the labarynth of enormous rooms and collection of everything almost one could think of-old pottery, laces, furni- ture coaches and art treasures of all kind Positively if would take weeks to