expressly by M. Scribe, entirely new recitatives, and has added three pieces to the original score." These last may be the same already interpolated at Dresden, some weeks past. We have only one doubt on this head. The opera is already too long; and the change of the dialogue into recitative, together with the addition of three pieces, adds still farther to its length. Now "longer than too long" would be hardly advisable at a theatre where Guillaume Tell, the Huguenots, the Prophète, and Robert le Diable, with all their manifold beauties, have tried the patience of the audience. Nor, if the new pieces are displays for particular singers, will that mend the matter.

The second promised novelty is Il Trovatore-the last opera but one of Signor Verdi, and considered by many his best. The success of Il Trovatore at the Italiens in Paris warranted its production here. A third opera, "from the classical répertoire," is mysteriously suggested.

The company, though deprived of Mad. Grisi and Mdlle. Sophie Cruvelli, is strong. At the head of the soprani stands Mad. Angelina Bosio, an incomparable singer in her line, and a great favourite. Mad. Bosio, we presume, must be regarded as prima donna assoluta. Of Mdlle. Jenny Ney, we only know that she is a dramatic singer of high repute at Dresden and Vienna. Her specialty is the same as that of Mad. Grisi. The re-engagement of Mdlle. Marai will be accepted with pleasure; nor will that of the gentle Mdlle. Albini give pain to any one. Although Mad. Viardot appears in the list of soprani, she might as well be classed with the contralti, since she is to appear in Il Trovatore, as Azucena, the gipsey, in which part-a contraltoshe succeeded Mad. Borghi-Mamo at the Italiens. With Mad. Viardot we may reckon upon the Prophète, the Huguenots, and Otello, if not Cenerentola, which, with Signors Gardoni, Ronconi, and Lablache, as the Prince, Dandini and the Baron, would offer a very attractive cast. It is more likely, however, that Mad. Viardot is destined for the "classical" opera alluded to.

Mad. Nantier Didiée remains sole contralto. Useful and painstaking for general business, a better could hardly have been selected. Mdlle. Bellini is the seconda donna.

The tenors would show as powerful as ever, but that Sig. Mario is only engaged "for a limited number of nights." The list is even stronger than ever, since to Signors Mario and Tamberlik is added Signor Gardoni, who will make his first appearance at the Royal Italian Opera. The others are Sig. Luchesi, a thorough artist, Sig. Albicini, a new importation, Sig. Soldi, the vociferous, and Sig. Luigi Mei.

The barytones are Signors Ronconi and Graziani. The first is one of the mainstays of the establishment. Of Signor Graziani we hear good reports. A barytone of the Tamburini school is needed, if only for those mines of wealth, Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro. The Directors allude hopefully to Signor Graziani. We trust their expectations may

be realized.

The ballet exhibits signs of new life. Mdlle. Fanny Cerito will make "her first appearance at the Royal Italian Opera"-a welcome and significant fact. The list of principal dancers comprises the names of Mdlles. Esper, Leblond, Kolembert, Battalini, etc. M. Desplaces is once more balletmaster, and Mr. W. Payne at the head of the "grotesque" department.

Old places are filled with old hands. Mr. A. Harris reappears as stage-manager,—with whose business no one is more thoroughly acquainted, Mr. Beverley as scenic artist, Sig. Panizza as maestro al piano and ballet-composer, Mr. Smithson as chorus master, Signor Monterasi as prompter, and Signor Maggioni as poet; and we suppose, though it is not mentioned, Mr. Alfred Mellon as leader of the ballet.

The theatre is announced to open on Tuesday, which Tuesday will probably be Thursday, if not Saturday. The name of the opera is not disclosed; that must depend on the arrival of the artists. That the season may be prosperous, we hope; that the Directors have done their best, all considered, we believe; and that Italian Opera may advance a step in the season, 1855, we shall be glad to have to record, after the 10th of August, on which day, we understand, the Royal Italian Opera is to close.

A CORRESPONDENT with a well known signature has addressed a letter to the office of the Musical World, which we think of sufficient interest and importance to merit a place in our leading columns.

To the Editor of the Musical World.

SIR, I read with much satisfaction your leader of last Saturday on the subject of Her Majesty's Private Band. You are wrong, however, in some trifling particulars, while others are set forth incompletely. As I am in a position to do so, allow me to correct you.

M. Sainton (solo violin) receives 110 guineas annually, it is true; but you should have stated that the surplus (not superfluous) 10 guineas are in consideration for instruments and repairs of instruments.

The salary of Mr. Betts (second violin) is £90-not £80. The first clarinet, Mr. Williams (ex-leader of the band), also receives ten guineas for instruments and repairs.

You are unacquainted with the name of "the other tenor." No wonder, there is no other. Mr. Hill stands alone "in his glory."

Mr. Egerton, senior (second clarinet), an old member of the band, is paid, not £100, but £130-the highest salary. Mr. Larkin (second bassoon) is paid only £80, on account of "privileges," which no doubt bring him in £50 more. I hope so.

The supper-fee of 1s. 6d. a-head, for each performance, you say, "is put into the hands of the musicians " after the concert. No such thing. It is paid quarterly, with their salaries, according to the number of attendances.

"Musician in Ordinary to Her Majesty" is one thing; "Member of Her Majesty's Private Band" is another. They are distinct offices, and have distinct duties. Every "Musician in Ordinary," or 66 Member of the State Band," is entitled to £45 a-year. It should be a band of wind-instruments, should perform at coronations, and, I believe, but am not sure, at other grand national solemnities. Thus, you perceive, it is a sinecure, and like all sinecures, may be "jobbed" conveniently. The only "Member of the Queen's Private Band," being a "Musician in Ordinary," who gets

alternative.

Mr. Edmund Chipp has been dismissed from the Queen's service! He received his dismissal at the hands of Colonel Phipps. The pretext was that he was supposed to have written the letter signed "Truth ;" but the real offence, or I am mistaken, was the other letter signed "Chipp," which he did write. You best know the author of the first. For my part, I fully believe it was not Mr. Chipp; and I never met any one who thought otherwise. He is, from all I have heard, incapable of an untruth; and I believe there is not a member of the musical profession more esteemed for his talent, or more respected for his gentlemanly manners and excellent disposition. He is, moreover, the eldest son of one who has lived very many years amongst us, and maintained an honourable position, without ever losing a friend or making an enemy. The son of Mr. Chipp deserves consideration on his father's account alone, and should not have been dismissed like a peculating valet or disorderly butler. My impression is, however, that Her Majesty is unacquainted with all the circumstances of the case, and that, when the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, is laid before her, she will reinstate a diligent and able servant in the post from which he should never have been dismissed.

Another word. I have accidently heard of an incident which is calculated to do as much for Mr. Edmund Chipp as any diploma for ability, uprightness, and general good conduct that could be awarded to him. The fact of his dismissal becoming known, Mr. Costa sent for him and expressed much interest in his case. This was not all. Mr. Costa's sympathy was better than mere words.

He was personally active in his behalf, and succeeded in making arrangements with the manager of the Royal Italian Opera to place. Mr. Chipp among the violins in the orchestra, to which he had never previously belonged. I have no personal knowledge of either Mr. Costa or Mr. Chipp, but I think this anecdote, for the truth of which I can vouch, tells equally in favour of

one and the other.

London, April 5th, 1855.

AN ENGLISH MUSICIAN.

M. JACQUES BLUMENTHAL, the well known composer and pianist, has returned to London for the season.

MISS CATHERINE HAYES has given a concert at Calcutta, in aid of the Patriotic Fund. It realised upwards of £200. MISS MARIA B. HAWES.-It is rumoured that the lady who formerly bore this maiden name, and who enjoyed high consideration as a concert-singer in this country, is about to return to the profession which she has quitted since her marriage.

MISS MARY ANNE KEELEY.-This promising young singer, daughter of the celebrated comedian, is, we understand, to be placed at the vocal academy of M. Duprez, in Paris, where she will pursue her studies for some years.

HAYMARKET THEATRE.-The engagement of Mr. and Mrs. Sims Reeves will not commence till Monday the 16th instant. It will continue for five weeks only. Miss Cushman will perform on the alternate nights. The conductor, we believe, will be the talented chef-d'orchestre of the theatre, Mr. Edward Fitzwilliam,

the Orchestral Union, of which Mr. Alfred Mellon is conductor, except two extra horns and two extra trombones-were chiefly and about twenty additional performers. The reinforcementsin the stringed instrument department. Eight more, thus divided-one first violin, one second violin, two violas, two violoncellos, and two double basses-would realize the model Beethoven band, which we suggested to Mr. Mellon last year in an article relating to the Orchestral Union. As it was, the performance of more than one of the pieces included in the projustice to the instrumentalists under Mr. Mellon's control to gramme of Monday night was so remarkable, that it is only publish their names in extenso:—

First Violins-Messrs. Sainton, Dando, H. Hill, Doyle, Watson, Zerbini, Bezeth, Carrodus, Thirlwall, and Kreutzer. Second ViolinsMessrs. Thirlwall, Sen., Newsham, Mori, Payton, Spillane, Love, Turnour, and Levason. Violas-Messrs. Hill, Glanville, Trust, Thomas, Aylward, and Shepherd. Webb, and Waud. Violoncellos-Messrs. Lucas, G. Collins, W. Reed, Double Basses-Messrs. Howell, Severn, Winterbottom, Reynolds, and Castell. Flutes-Messrs. R. S. Pratten and Rockstro. Oboes-Messrs. Nicholson and Horton. Clarinets

Larkin.

Messrs. Lazarus and Maycock. Bassoons-Messrs. Baumann and Horns-Messrs. C. Harper, Rae, Kielbach, and Bean. Trumpets--Messrs. T. Harper and S. Jones. Trombones-Messrs. Cioffi, Winterbottom, and Horton. Ophicleide-M. Prospère. Drums— F. Horton.

The selection, principally made from "classical" sources, was not, however so exclusively "classical" as at some of the concerts of the Orchestral Union in Hanover Square. We subjoin it :—

The overture to Ruy Blas was executed with admirable precision, and displayed the quality of the band to great advantage. The new solo of M. Sainton is one of the most brilliant he has composed, and one of the most difficult in execution, being beyond the reach of any but players of the first class. Some of the best passages in Verdi's opera are taken as themes, and the popular "La donna è mobile" brings the piece to an effective climax. The fantasia is very musician-like, and will be highly acceptable to players of the bravura school. M. Sainton performed it with masterly effect, and was enthusiastically applauded.

We have seldom, if ever, been more entirely satisfied with a performance of the" Pastoral Symphony," than on Monday night. It was, indeed, almost perfect. Every member of the orchestra did his best, and as they are all good players, that is saying a great deal. The same vigour, precision, and point was everywhere observable; the same delicacy and care for nuances and details. Nor was it at all mere mechanical work. Although Mr. Mellon never departed from the intentions of the composer, he gave a reading of his own, and a good one, to each movement, controlling his executants with the utmost ease. There was no hesitation, no confusion, no false intonation in "wind" or string." There were "pianos" and "pianissimos," fortes" and "fortissimos," with the difference so often sought, so rarely obtained, between them. In short, the execution was worthy of the music. The fact deserves to be emphatically recorded. Mr. Alfred Mellon and his enlarged band made a reputation in one night-nay, in one performance. May they continue to

deserve it. The symphony was heard with unabated interest to the end, and continually applauded.

The new overture, Heloise, the work of a careful and intelligent musician, was executed with extraordinary animation; a decided "encore" followed, which Mr. Mellon had the good taste and modesty to decline. The overture of M. Berlioz was by no means so well performed as the other pieces. If there was not time to rehearse it thoroughly, its difficulties being remarkable, it would have been more politic to choose some work more familiar to the executants. Had the composer been present, he would have said " Bravissimo!" to the Pastoral Symphony, but nothing to the Carnaval Romain.

In Mendelssohn's Andante and Rondo, Mr. W. G. Cusins took great pains to make the pianoforte effective. This is one of the most recondite of Mendelssohn's compositions, and one of the most perplexing to make display in. Like Herr Wagner's music, it is addressed, perhaps, to a few.

The vocal music was famously sung by Mad. Clara Novello and Herr Formes. The lady was encored in Mozart's song; the gentleman in Rossini's. The fine duet of Meyerbeer is not

fitted for a concert-room.

The Hall was not crowded. The concert, however, was in every way more entitled to support. The next, we trust and believe, will secure a more liberal share of it; if not we shall begin to believe that English amateurs care nothing for the first instrumental music, however well executed. That will be no consolation to Mr. Mellon.

MR. STERNDALE BENNETT'S SOIREES. THE second of these Classical Concerts took place on Tuesday evening, and, like the first, was honoured with a distinguished and fashionable audience. The programme was, perhaps, even better than the first, as the reader may see:PART I.

Trio (in B flat), pianoforte, violin, and violoncello
Solo Sonata (No. 2, Op. 40, in B minor), pianoforte
Morning Hymn

Sonata (in G major), pianoforte and violin, Op. 30

Studies, pianoforte.

PART II.

Duo, pianoforte and violoncello, Op. 58, in D major Sabbath Song

Selections from Preludes and Lessons, Op. 33

Mozart. Clementi. Purcell. Beethoven.

Mendelssohn. Meyerbeer.

W. S. Bennett.

In Mozart's graceful and melodious trio, Mr. Sterndale Bennett had Herr Ernst and Sig. Piatti as coadjutors. The performance was irreproachable. Clementi's sonata-his finest was executed with appropriate fire and impetuosity by Mr. Bennett in the quick movements, and with exquisite taste in the short and singular Largo, Mesto e Patetico. Purcell's Hymn was well sung by Mad. Clara Novello, who is always at home in our old English music, of which this is a capital specimen.

With Herr Ernst at the violin, and Mr. Sterndale Bennett at the piano, the very original and charmingly capricious Sonata in G could not have enjoyed a more genuine and poetical interpretation. The studies-all delightfully played. were by Steibelt (in F and A), Cramer (in F), Cipriani Potter (in A minor), and Moscheles (in E flat-the one called The Nursery Tale). Mendelssohn's splendid duet taxed Mr. Sterndale Bennett's and Sig. Piatti's utmost skill. The playing of both was wonderfully fine, especially in the quaint and lovely Allegretto Scherzando in B minor, one of the composer's most inimitable and tantalizing movements.

The song of Meyerbeer was as well sung as that of Purcell's, and Mr. Bennett's own graceful and attractive pieces, from his new Practises and Lessons, performed by himself, brought the concert to a close with effect.

LONDON SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY.-Mendelssohn's Elijah was performed on Tuesday evening before a numerous audience, under the direction of Mr. Surman. The principal singers were the Misses Birch, J. Wells, M. Wells, Clara Henderson, Messrs. Lawler, Dawson, G. Perren, Cotterille, Tillyard. The oratorio went off very well, and the principal singers, as well as many of the choruses, were much applauded.

OLYMPIC THEATRE.

THE long-expected amateur performance, for the benefit of Mr. Angus Reach, about which all the fashionable aristocratic literary and artistic circles of the metropolis have been busy for the last two months, came off on Saturday evening. Such an audience has rarely been witnessed inside of any theatre, much less the theatre-in which street?-Wych-street. Such a triumph has rarely been achieved by actors, much less by amateurs. not stop to say who was there. Suffice it, the company of gods As everybody was there worth naming, we shall and goddesses which used to assemble on Olympus, with Jove in the chair, Venus on the cloud, Vulcan at the crater, Hebe at the cup, and Apollo at the Muses, was nothing to it in dignity, beauty, and correct costume.

First there was Poet Bunn's racy translation of a French farce, which, under the name of My Neighbour's Wife, used to be roared at, at Drury, twenty years ago, with Bartley, Meadows, and Cooper as the mirth-impellers. This was quaintly and vigorously acted by Mr. Marmaduke Hallett (Mr. Brown), Mr. Edmund Yates (Mr. Smith), and Mr. Palgrave Simpson (Somerton), who were assisted by pretty, good-tempered Miss Mary Oliver (Mrs. Somerton), Miss Ellen Turner (Mrs. Smith), and Miss Fanny Maskell (Mrs. Brown). The farce went off well: the amateurs were laughed at, as they appeared in succession; and the audience were fairly convulsed when Mr. Marmaduke Hallett remonstrated with his friend and rival, Mr. Edmund Yates, for walking about "the stage" (instead of "the room") so much. The ladies were quite loveable, ospecially Miss Oliver. In short, no "neighbour" has any right to such a pearl of a "wife," unless prepared to encounter no end of Smiths, from Albert downwards, and no end of whiskers dyed Brown, from Burnt Umber to Burnt Sienna.

After the farce the performers were recalled, appeared, and bowed with elegance. Then you saw through the disguise. They bent like men accustomed to drawing-rooms, Turkey carpets, and "My Lady"-especially Mr. Palgrave Simpson. A polka, called The Fielding Polka, dedicated to the members of that extremely distingué club-which draws its humour from Mr. Thackeray, its mirth from Mr. Charles Taylor, and its esprit from the Cyder Cellars-and composed by G. R. Cooke, Esq., chef-d'orchestre at Mont Blanc, was intolerably well executed by the Olympic orchestra, which, by its subsequent execution of the pantomime tunes, disconcerted the Acrobats, and proved itself "tolerable and not to be endured." This Polka was applauded by the members of the Fielding à l'outrance.

The overture to the pantomime put everybody in a fidget. "If," said a lady in a private box, "the harlequin is as ricketty as the second violoncello, Wigan had better send at once to Percy-street for Oscar Clayton."

The curtain went up at last upon, not the pantomime, but the prologue to the pantomime. This most graceful episode in verse, from the pen of Mr. Tom Taylor, poet to the Board of Health, was distributed among Mr. Cole, Coke, or Coal-les trois se disent-Mr. P. Simpson, and Miss M. Oliver. Mr. Cole, Coke, or Coal-les trois se disent-has a fine bass voice, and is a capital declaimer. Mr. Palgrave Simpson was a very gentlemanly Shade of Shakspere; and some touching allusions to the home of him in whose behalf the amateurs had resolved to put on motley, fell from the innocent lips of Miss M. Oliver-who impersonated most handsomely the Spirit of Pantomime, like fresh water from a hill-spring when the weather is sultry in Wales.

But now the great event-the "rub," indeed-the Pantomime was "looming" in the near. We have all read, in Oxenford and Hastings, how nobody believed a gentleman-pantomime was possible, and we have seen how some one wrote to some paper, saying that a pantomime had already been essayed somewhere, by the reporters for the morning journals-as if penny-a-liners and " gentlemen meant the same thing. We shall say no more, then, than that we never believed it impossible, having been present at the rehearsal where Mr. Tom Holmes hurt his ankle, and Mr. Collingwood Ibbetsen (not Captain, and not Ibbertsen, but Ibbetsen) strained some of his nerves. We also witnessed a somersault of Mr. Bidwell, a broad-grin of Mr. Joe

Robins, and a fall of Mr. Arthur Smith—all of which, including the hurt, the sprain, and the fall, inspired confidence rather than distrust. Next, we were aware that the "Fielding" could do anything, if it only went about it, with Albert Smith for a leader, and William Hale for a secretary. The result showed that it was not only possible but probable, not only probable but inevitable. The pantomime is entitled Guy Fawkes, or a Match for a King. The opening-a burlesque full of point and intimate allusions is from the wedded pens of Messrs. Albert Smith and William Hale and Strong. The curtain rising, showed Mr. Albert Smith, as Catesby, seated on a barrel of gunpowder, and smoking a pipe (for the first time). Guy Fawkes, in the person of Mr. Thomas Knox Holmes, then appeared; and between the two conspirators, whose costumes were "impayables," one of the most admirably conceived and acted scenes took place that ever invigorated an eastern extravaganza. Mr. Smith and Mr. Holmes are first-rate actors. The nose of the latter was worth a crown, the brass of the other its weight in promissory notes. The subject is a dispute about Lord Monteagle (Mr. William Hale), a friend of Catesby whom Catesby wants to save, an enemy of Guy whom Guy wants to blow up with king and parliament. It ends in a fight, first with doubtful swords, then with rebounding bladders-much droller if as much less less terrific than any of the sanguinary combats of old, between Blanchard and Bradley at the Coburg. The upshot is that Guy Fawkes is "done" Lord Monteagle (in which character Mr. Hale had a beard worthy of Nestor, and looked as old as Methuselah) communicates with the king, and the conspiracy is frustrated.

And now for the transformation. Everybody began to tremble once more. The band, by which a less expert singer (Mr. Holmes is a musical amateur, acquainted with Puritani and Huguenots) than Guy would have been fairly disconcerted, had given the audience the fidgets again, in the two mock "bravuras;" and there was a general shudder lest Mr. Bidwell should bide ill, on beginning to be active. There was no occasion for fear. A more likely Harlequin, a straighter and more supple, one better dressed or better skilled in dancing and making of postures than Mr. Bidwell has seldom incurred the danger of breaking his neck. Then he had the most winning, most agile, most sprightly, and most zealous of columbines in Miss Rosina Wright, the best dancer, comic or serious, on the English stage, and better than half the foreigners. And they went at it, heart and soul, lady and gentleman, amateur and professional, Rosina and Johnny, or "Giovannini." The audience were amazed and delighted. As for Pantaloon, he was, of all the pantaloons since Barnes, the most decrepid, and therefore pantaloonish. It was a well-sustained piece of acting throughout, and showed Mr. Arthur Smith an adept and an artist an actor rather than buffoon. For Clown we cannot find words to express our approval. The mantle-no, not the mantle-the spirit of Grimaldi has descended upon Mr. Joe Robins. The face eager and unctiously funny, the grin grotesque, the walk clownish, the habits thievish, a sort of clumsy knavery sticking to him from first to last, he was the model clown we have dreamt of, but not seen, for many years. These gentlemen (Messrs. Smith and Robins) are none of your tumblers; they are genuine (and genial) Pantaloon and Clown. Mr. Edmund Yates was an exquisite exquisite, a jewel of a dandy, a perfect lover-a lover of the old school of pantomime, worth a million of your unmeaning sprites.* What they all went through we shall not stop to describe. Is it not in the Times and Herald? and Sunday Times and Observer-not to say where else? It is. Suffice it, then, without a trick or transformation, without a wave from the wand of Harlequin that meant mischief, or change, or magic, or what not-Guy Fawkes was one of the best and most amusing pantomimes we ever witnessed. Harlequin was active without being Acrobat; Pantaloon was active also in his way, Clown in his way, and Lover in his way; but none of them were Acrobat. They went successively, with undiminished zeal and constant success, through a series of scenes-a Barber's Shop,

* And a thousand of his own Mr. Smiths.

Furnished Apartments, Belgrave Square (who would have thought it ?), Epsom Downs (not very like them), where the Fielding Derby took place-all the members, headed by Sir George Hermitage or Armytage, the "Leviathan" among aristocrat bettingmen, and tailed by Mr. Cole, Coke, or Coal, les trois se disent, assisting in the race-and other tableaux leading through the gloomy cavern to the gaseous climax, from a "Desolate Spot," where the Spirit of Pantomime says something particular, to Realms of Rapture, where a "dance of delight" accompanies a "chorus of congratulation." There were, also, real AcrobatsMessrs. Collingwood Ibbetsen, Edmond Yates, and Marmaduke Hallett who exhibited the most unexpected postures, and gave the direct lie to every succeeding explanation offered by Mr. Albert Smith of their achievements. There was the "Dying Gladiator," which might have stood for the "Bridge of Sighs," and the "Tree of Vishnoo," which could easily have been taken for a configuration of the dog, Cerberus, which had three heads, and ate three portions for one. The Acrobats (suppositious Arabian gentlemen) were inimitable; and so was Mr. Yates, who danced on a line chalked upon the stage, with the contortions and trepidation of one perilling his reputation and his back upon the high suspended tight rope. They were inimitable, and may be likened to the Shiboob family, who swallowed knives, and drank beer upon their heads.

Albert Smith was everything, and everything well, from Catesby to the thimble-rig-man. In the patter-song, as in the description of the fair, he was himself, Albert the " sans pareil." Among the raciest pieces of sustained caricature in the pantomime must be named an old woman with a young bonnet and flaxen hair, personated with admirable eagerness and probability, with as much fun as propriety, and as much screaming about nothing as running after and away from everything, by Mr. Charles Lamb (Kenney), who was anything but a lamb in deportment towards Clown and his associates. There were some dozen ghosts-tall ghosts, famous ghosts, who frightened Pantaloon into fits-represented with great tragic power by Messrs. Langford, Hale (who also sold pies, in another scene, as if he had been all his life a pieman), Hallett (elsewhere such a barber as never was made to shave a customer-a blade of a barber, full of quips and quirks), Morgan John O'Connell, "member for the Fielding; Daniel O'Connell, "member" for Mayo; many others; and last, not least, Cole, Coke, or Coalles trois se disent. In short, to say no more, we have said enough. The absolute ecstasy of the audience, who at the conclusion raised one shout for the performers, was easy to be accounted for, and if the pantomime does not have a long we shall be disappointed grievously.

run

Mr. W. H. Payne, who guided the rehearsals-and, as Omar Pasha made an army out of nothing, created pantomimists out of "gents"—had good reason to say "I am proud of my children;" the head carpenter was not thinking of a bad bargain when he muttered to a fellow, "I'd give these chaps a hundred pound to play for my benefit;" and Lord Palmerston must have been satisfied with the answer he obtained, when he asked Lady how "his Harlequin got on ?"

And better than all was the reflection that this strange pantomime was projected and accomplished for so excellent and praiseworthy an end

"To make a sad home jolly,"

as Mr. Tom Taylor, with such true feeling, has expressed it in his Prologue.

spirator (Mr. Langford), in the vault scene, was only surpassed P.S.-We stop the press to add that Rookwood, first Conby the second, and Piercy, second Conspirator (Mr. Morgan John O'Connell), only surpassed by the first; indeed, they surpassed each other. Miss Martindale, too, looked very nice, and sung a pretty song, prettily, as the "Spirit of the Thames." If there is anything else omitted we cannot help it. Nor can we help recording our opinion, that the late Grimaldi père would not have sung and acted "Hot Codlins" more pungently than Mr. Robins. He, as it were, dissected it.