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TENOR OR TREBLE. SIR,-Now that the French have set us so good an example of musical unity in fixing, by regulation, the pitch of instruments, I beg to suggest that you would kindly lend your aid towards determining a point I have always considered to be a weak one in our musical notation-i. e., whether music to be sung by a tenor voice should be

written in the tenor or the treble clef?

I can answer for having found, in my own experience in teaching, great difficulty to arise from both clefs being made use of. My tenor singer, whose part I may be teaching him for Sunday's service, will stand me out, occasionally, that C sharp is D sharp, and, in consequence, views the system of semi-tones as a perfect chaos! He can ill spare one

night in the week for practice for Sunday, much less time to learn the whole system of clefs, being a hard-working man.

I

With regard to which clef is to be chosen for general adoption confidently recommend the use of the tenor C clef; and am surprised to observe that Mr. Novello, to whose better judgment I ought, perhaps, to bow, writes the treble G clef, which is likely to give a tenor singer a false notion of what he is doing. I am aware that an objection to this may be raised, that thereby treble voices would be shut out from singing songs originally intended for the male voice. But then, Mr. Editor, how much better this would be; for our taste would not be constantly offended, as at present, by hearing ladies render pathetic appeals from an Arturo to his loved one!

I feel I have already occupied too much of your valuable space, so will only add that if you can help in abolishing this musical grievance, I am sure you will receive the thanks of the whole existing musical world, in addition to those of,

Sir, your obedient servant,

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MR. RANSFORD'S CONCERT. SIR,-I shall be much obliged if you will allow me, through the medium of your columns, to request Mr. Wm. E. Ransford to read my letter a little further than the words he has quoted. He will find that what I said, was, Miss Ransford did not (as stated) sing an Italian aria and one or two English songs; by this I do not deny that she sang the Italian aria, I am perfectly aware of having had the pleasure of hearing her. I merely contradict the statement that she sang both, that and the one or two English songs alluded to; my letter then continues "but one solo only and the duet," this solo was Fatal Goffredo," that Mr. Ransford is so desirous of knowing what I call it. If Mr. Ransford will allow me to borrow his own words, I will advise him that before he attempted to "contradict or "correct my letter, it would have been better to be "first perfectly acquainted" with what I "actually" said. With thanks for inserting my former communication, I remain, Sir, Your obedient servant, London, April, 28th 1860. H. T. A. i

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EXETER (From a Correspondent)-On Tuesday evening (the 26th ult.), the members of the Exeter Oratorio Society, under the direction of Mr. Rice, the society's conductor, performed Handel's oratorio, Judas Maccabæus. The principal Vocalists were Miss Banks (soprano), Madame Laura Baxter (contralto). Mr. W. G. Way (tenor), and Mr. C. Jennings (basso). Miss Banks, an established favourite, delighted all by her chaste and intelligent singing. Madame Laura Baxter, who appeared in Exeter for the first time, displayed her fine voice and vocal skill to eminent advantage.

Henry Smart's-(Boosey and Sons, publishers).

MADAME CLARA NOVELLO. (Continued from page 266.)

THE father of this esteemed songstress, Mr. Vincent Novello, was among the most highly respected musicians of his generation in this country. first earned, some half a century since or more, is still due and Why should we say was? The respect he still paid to him, though the advance of years now checks the active

exercise of those talents which have called it forth. Mr. Vincent Novello is one of the most highly respected English musicians of the age in which he flourished, and he lives in the full enjoyment of his honours, and the proud witness of those won by his daughter. He lives, one of the last of those worthies who maintained the art in this country during the first half of the present century. Attwood, Crotch, the elder Horsley, the still older Callcott, S. Wesley, F. Cramer, and his far more famous brother, J. B. (famous for playing and teaching the pianoforte, for his eternal book of studies, and for the embellishment of the facia of a great house in Regent-street with his name), Bishop, Cooke, and how many more of his co-labourers, have passed from the field of their activity. Mr. Novello is the composer of many admired, chiefly vocal, compositions; the best known of which are those written for the service of the Roman church. His name is even more familiar as an editor, his arrangements of Haydn's and Mozart's Masses being in use in every Romanist chapel throughout the kingdom, and in every family circle in which, whether with a religious or an artistic feeling, this class of music is practised; and his arrangements of Handel's Oratorios being in circulation by thousands and thousands of copies. He was one of the original members of the Philharmonic Society, an institution which has had an influence above all value upon the progress of music in England; in the old days, before the functions, or even the title, of a conductor were known among us, he used, in turn with his compeers, to "preside" at the pianoforte (as the phrase went) in this society's concerts; in later times, when, through his exertions and the efforts of others, music had made some advance, he filled the more honourable, because the more responsible, office of conductor. He has stood high among organists, having been engaged for very many years in this capacity, at one or other of the chief Romanist chapels in the metropolis, and having been one of those who filled the post at the great Westminster Festival of 1834. It is said that his father was an Italian, who came to London in the capacity of cook to one of the royal family; that, having set many a dainty dish before the king, he retired from office, into the privacy of a confectionery shop, gladdening there the taste of the British public by the fabrication of those same delicacies which had erewhiles delighted those princes and rulers, and that, while he still practised the art of pastry the infant Vincent emulated rather that of the blackbirds, which may or may not have been sung at the opening of the kingly pies his sire had been wont to amalgamate. It is said that in a back parlour of the confectory, young Vincent used to practice the pianoforte, and that being overheard in his pursuit of intellectual sweets, through the world of physical sweets that surrounded him, by a frequenter of his sire's emporium of dainties, this man of twofold taste perceived his talent and encouraged it, became his patron, and furnished the means for his receiving the best musical education the country could afford. We vouch not for the truth of either of these sayings, though we know of no reason to disbelieve them; if they be true, however, so much more creditable are they, both to the talent and assiduity of Mr. Novello, to whom such faculties have been as wings, whereupon he has soared into a position of high consideration in an art which makes the greatest demands upon the intelligence of its votaries. Mr. Novello throve in his profession, gained the esteem of men, married an English wife who was the very main-spring of the family activity, and begat sons and daughters. These, his progeny, are all, more or less, distinguished in one or more department of intellectual cultivation; Mr. J. A. Novello is known as a vocalist, still more as the secretary of the society for abolishing taxes on knowledge, and most of all as the originator of the reduction of the price of musical publications; Mrs. Cowden Clarke is a novelist of deserved repute, and she

has rendered a still greater service to literature, than by her clever original works, in the production of her elaborate "Concordance of Shakspere;" Mrs. Serle was a singer at the English Opera House, when it was directed by Mr. S. J. Arnold, and she closed her rising career, on her retirement into private life, when she married, but too early to prove to the world the extent of those abilities which her friends knew her to possess; Miss Sabilla Novello made considerable progress as a vocalist; since she resigned which profession, she has been successfully occupied in translating theoretical works upon music; and, chief of her fraternity, Madame Clara Novello needs no comment of ours to prove her pre-eminence in the art she brightly adorns, and from the practice of which she is too soon to retire. Thus much for the parentage of our heroine, which proves her to be both of English and of musical origin, which shows her family to have risen by the merit of its members to that most honourable of all aristocracy, the nobility of their own creation; and which evidences the influence they must mutually have shared, whatever it may have been, the influence that prompted all of them to aspire, and neither of them without success. It is now to pursue the third section of our preliminary investigation (having dismissed her birth and her parentage), the education of Madame Clara Novello.

Education-how all importantly comprehensive a chain of connection between a human being and the inner circle of his immediate social relationship,-hetween the same living and stirring personality, and the outer round of the world, with which though unknowing its manifold constituences, possibly unknown by them, he exchanges influence! It is quite beyond the limits of this notice to do justice to the circumstances and the surroundings which combined to develope the rare qualities, social and artistic, moral and intellectual, of the distinguished lady whose career we have undertaken, however imperfectly, to chronicle. We must briefly state then, as a point of far too great consideration to be disregarded, that her father's house was a gathering place of many of the most eminent literary men of that notable literary period in which her early years were passed, from whose sparkling, imaginative, and profound discourse, her mind must have received impressions that may well have affected its entire constitution. Leigh Hunt, Hazlitt, Keats, the transcendent Shelley, were the more or less frequent guests of her paternal home, and others, not less renowned for wit and wisdom were members of the brilliant circle; Charles Lamb, for one, as unmusical as he was humorous, enjoyed the meetings, though he had no sense for the occasional music, which, to some, was their chief attraction, and, in his wonderful "Chapter on Ears," describing these very reunions, has everlastingly immortalised his own unimpressibility by that art, of whose effects, poets as a race, are, as they should be, always most susceptible. In avowing his own total unorganisation for music, the exquisite Elia gives testimony to the character of the parties at the residence of Mr. Novello, (the N of his irresistible essay to which we have alluded) and proves them to have been the occasion of such an intermixture of all that a lover of intellectual beauty would most wish to have witnessed, that we may well believe them to have constituted the most valuable school for our young artist's budding mind. Reared in an atmosphere of which poetry, and music, and love were the component gases-the hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon of the soul-should it be wondered that the powers of the future songstress were stimulated by the nourishment they inhaled, drawing thence a quickening impulse which may well have induced their utmost expansion? (To be continued.)

SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF
FINE ARTS.

THE third conversazione was held last Thursday evening, in the Suffolk-street Gallery. The Hon. Sec., Mr. H. Ottley, to whose energetic exertions this society is mainly indebted for the position it has attained, read a very interesting paper upon the patronage and status of art in this country. It was with justness he proved that, although foreign States and Governments bestowed its honors and decorations upon suc

cessful artists, yet, that England did give somewhat more than its bare tribute of praise, and that something was reduceable under the vulgar initials, £'s. d. Mr. Ottley drew a comparison between the value of works of art in the year 1860 to what it was a century ago, detailing most forcibly the fact that portraits painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds were charged £25, being one-tenth of the amount that is now paid for similar works to any artist of eminence now. All this was owing to the public taste having been awakened to the charms of design, and the best interests of artists would be promoted by anything which would enable the public in greater numbers to flock to the exhibition of their works. That the artists were aware of this, that they wished to promote the growth of a feeling of sympathy towards them in the minds of the public, was evinced by the handsome readiness with which the directors of some of the principal exhibition galleries of the season had thrown open their doors to the members of this society at their reunions. This was their second visit to the Society of British Artists, whose works ornamented the walls around them; and, looking at them, he thought they could say that they formed a display of which the country had reason to be proud, and which evinced a marked and important advance upon the style of art of thirty or forty years ago. He referred delicately to the disputed points in the case of the Royal Academy, in which he suggested a conciliatory course of procedure, in the interests of the great fraternity of artists as a school-a school which, with properly directed energies, might hold its own in comparison with any in Europe.

These observations were listened to with great attention, and were greatly applauded; at the termination of which, Mr. Ottley then announced that the Earl of Ellesmere had become the President of the Society, and that a conversazione would take place in the Bridgwater Gallery under his Lordship's kind auspices, on Friday, May 25th; an announcement which was received with loud applause.

A concert followed, under the able direction of Mr. Alfred Gilbert, in which a numerous array of talent lent their assistance. The vocal department included the names of Mdme. Gilbert, who sang Donizetti's cavatina, L'Amor suo, as also a ballad composed by Wallace, with considerable expression and feeling. Miss Palmer's fine contralto was likewise much admired in Gordigiani's “Cangione speranza del mio cor" and Schubert's Ave Maria was classically rendered by Miss Teresa Jefferies. The remaining artists, M. Deprit, Mr. Wallworth, Mr. Freame Rielly and Mrs. Cunningham, Mr. Leonard, and Herr Herman, contributed much to the success of the concert. Mdlle. Marie Wieck and Mr. Alfred Gilbert performed Moscheles' grand duet for two pianofortes, Hommage à Handel, with spirit and brilliancy of execution. The fair pianist herself likewise interpreted the Cradle Song of Schumann (her brother-in-law,) and a Rondo of Weber, with much expression, and was deservedly applauded. Mr. B. Wills on the flute, and Mr. Scotson Clarke on the harmonium, added variety and effect to the entertainment.

PROVINCIAL.

of

Mr.

LIVERPOOL.-The fourth grand subscription concert the Philharmonic Society, took place on Tuesday night. The great feature in the programme, was Handel's Acis and Galatea, with Mozart's additional accompaniments; Madame Hayes, Miss Huddart, Mr. Perren, and Mr. Weiss, and a full and efficient orchestra and chorus. Madame Hayes took the part of Galatea; Mr. Perren that of Acis; Miss Fanny Huddart, Damon; and Mr. Weiss, Polyphemus. Mr. Weiss, in the recitative, "I rage, I melt, I burn," was most effective. Perren's "Love in her eyes sits playing," was tastefully sung. That charming air, "As when the dove," sung by Madame Hayes, was rendered in that rich expressive style for which she is so remarkable. The instrumental music throughout the serenata was of the very best description, and nothing could be finer than the manner in which the accompaniments to Mozart's duet from I Seraglio, (sung by Mr. Perren and Mr. Weiss) was performed by the orchestra. Miss Huddart, in Hullah's

"Storm," received a well-deserved encore. Of Madame Hayes' singing of "The last rose of summer," it is needless to speak. A "fantasia violoncello," by Mr. Collins, was very much applauded. The manner in which the overture to Dinorah was performed testified to the ability of Mr. J. Z. Hermann as conductor. DUBLIN.-The entertainment presented yesterday evening by the members of the Madrigal Society, drew together thronged and highly-fashionable attendance in the spacious hall of the Ancient Concerts. The Right Hon. the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress were present, and many distinguished patrons of the society well known as lovers of musical art. The leading vocalists included Miss Julia Cruise, Miss Herbert, Mr. John Keane, Mr W. Tracy, Mr. A. Talbot, Mr. J. O'Rorke, Mr. R. Smith, and Mr. W. Talbot. Mr. J. Keane assisted by Mr. O'Rorke, presided at the grand pianoforte. The opening madrigal, "Ye sinners all," was rendered in a most pleasing style, and "The Curfew," newly arranged by Mr. Levey, was brilliantly executed Miss Julia Cruise gave the aria, "Batti, Batti," from Don Giovanni, with effect, which was enhanced by the very tasteful violoncello obligato by Herr Ellsner. Mr. Richard Smith, in a ballad from the opera of Zurline, was loudly encored. The rare alto voice of Mr. Abraham Talbot was never heard to better advantage than in the favourite Scottish ballad "My ain fire side." The quintet from the opera of Lucia-"Chi mi frena," was rendered with great precision by Miss Cruise, Miss Herbert, Messrs. O'Rorke, Tracy, Smith, and William Talbot, with full chorus. We should not omit to mention the brilliant solo of Herr Ellsner on the violoncello. His execution of a difficult fantasia was marked by extreme sweetness and delicacy of touch as well as by a happy style, peculiarly his own, in the rendering of harmonic passages. Herr Ellsner was loudly and cordially applauded. One of the gems of the concert was Mrs. B. Mullen's song "Whither." It was sung by Miss Julia Cruise with pathos and feeling, and enthusiastically encored.

IBID.-The University Choral Society's Concert took place on the 17th instant; the programme was made up of Jephtha, the last oratorio of Handel; Spohr's 84th Psalm (first time in Ireland); Mozart's motet "Ave verum corpus" (adapted to English words), and also his fugued chorus "Pignus futuræ " (from the Liturgy in B), together with the following pieces by Mendelssohn," Da nobis pacem," "It is enough" (Elijah); "Be thou faithful" (St. Paul); three sacred songs with chorus, from the catalogue of Simrock, in Bonn, adapted to English words, by Mr. Broadley. Mr. Lockey was brought on to sing the tenor music; the soprano and bass were allotted to Miss Julia Cruise and Mr. R. Smith, of Dublin; Dr. Stewart conducted. As so much interest seems just now to be felt in Dr. Spohr's music at your side of the Channel, it will be pleasing to you to hear that his "Hymn to St. Cecilia," which was produced at the previous University Concert, and the 84th Psalm at the present one, were given with effect, and were hailed as great additions

to the stock of available choral music.

BELFAST ANACREONTIC SOCIETY.-The concluding concert of the forty-seventh season of this musical association took place on Thursday evening, the 19th instant. On this occasion the committee had decided that no professional musician, who was not connected with the society, should be engaged. The orchestra was conducted by Her Leo Kerbusch, with his usual ability, and played Romberg's symphony in E flat. The overture (Jessonda), by Spohr; overture, L'Italiana in Algeri, and the coronation march from Le Prophète. There was a solo for the piano, one for the flute, one for violoncello, and one for the saxophone, all of which were highly applauded by the audience. There were also several glees and a chorus, a vocal quartet and some songs, the entire being performed most creditably by the members of the society, and received with great approbation. The music hall was completely filled with a distinguished and attentive auditory.

CHATHAM.-On Monday evening, Mr. Gilbert, of Maidstone, gave a performance of his new oratorio St John, at, the Lecture Hall, under the patronage of the High Constable of Chatham, Captain Brock and the Chatham Volunteers; there were also several of the Rochester Corps present. We must congratulate Mr. Gilbert upon his oratorio, of which he may justly be proud.

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There are many beautiful choruses, amongst which we would more particularly mention, "That was the true light," "His fulness have we all received," "In all thy ways."" He that believeth not the Son," "Great is the Lord," "I will sing unto the Lord," "The Lord is righteous." Miss Stabbach was suffering from a severe cold, but sung several recitatives and airs in excellent style, amongst which were, "There was a man," "He came to bear witness,' "And the Angel said unto him," "And thou child shall be called," "Jesus began to say unto the multitude," "What went ye out into the wilderness for to see," and "Thou wilt keep them in perfect peace," Mr. Armes, lay-clerk of Rochester Cathedral, sang "He was in the world," "He came to his own," (recit. and air), and "O generation of vipers" (recit. and air) was deservedly encored. Mr. Taylor sang several recitatives and airs in a pleasing manner, but he appeared to be suffering from a cold. The orchestra and chorus consisted of about fifty, amongst whom were several of the choristers of Rochester Cathedral, and the admirable manner in which the various choruses were given reflects great credit upon all who took part in them.-Maidstone Journal.

MAIDSTONE. THE NEW ORATORIO.-The new oratorio, entitled St. John, composed by Mr. W. B. Gilbert, of this town, organist of All Saints, was performed on Friday evening, at the Corn Exchange, and we are happy to say with, on the whole, decided success. The spacious apartment was filled in every part, and most of the leading families of Maidstone and its vicinity were present. As there were amongst the audience many gentlemen of acknowledged standing in the musical world, a more competent tribunal to judge of the production of our townsmen could not be desired. The orchestra included 107 performers, and the principal singers were Miss Stabbach, Mr. Lockey, and Mr. Armes, assisted by the members of the Maidstone and the Rochester and Chatham Choral societies. The bands also of the Depôt and of the Royal Engineers added much to the efficiency of the instrumental department. The words of the oratorio are almost exclusively those of Scripture, and the whole interest therefore, rests upon the music-the particular passages of Holy Writ being wedded, as it were, to music of a character which produces in the mind similar ideas. Thus the music of the passages "What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? -a reed shaken by the wind! &c.," would convey to the mind ideas at once of the fickleness of popular favour, and the nobility and grandeur of the prophet's character as described by our Saviour-" Yea, and much more than a prophet." The opening movement in D, which introduces the chorus-" Behold, God will send you Elijah"--both of which were well performed brings the subject on the stage with a solemn dignity which well befits the lofty mission of the Forerunner. We do not, however, propose to go through the whole oratorio-our space will permit us only to notice the execution of the various parts and choruses. Mentioning, then, that Mr. Lockey's first piece "And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers, &c., was well sung, and at once produced a favourable idea of the composer's success in the solo parts, which was by no means weakened by the way in which Miss Stabbach rendered the really beautiful music of There was a man sent from God." From this moment the failure of the oratorio was out of the question; and when the first part closed with "And thou, Child," splendidly sung by Miss Stabbach, and the chorus "To give light to them that sit in darkness," &c., both very striking compositions, the plaudits of the assembly announced its perfect triumph. The second part, opening with an adagio movement, introduces a recitative "The word of God," and the aria "O generation of vipers!" both of which were sung most effectively by Mr. Armes, and which deserve special notice. The chorus "And now the axe," is a beautiful composition, and was most effectively sung, and which we were surprised did not obtain an encore. In this part Mr. Lockey sang two arias and a recitative, which were much applauded. The recitative given by him "And Herod laid hold of John," introduced the " Funeral march," which must be spoken of in terms of great satisfaction. It is most expressive and solemn, and had the advantage of being admirably performed. The recitative aria "What went ye out for to see?" sung by Miss Stabbach, was admirable; and the selection of those eulogistic

words of our Lord following the final scene in the life of St. John appeared to come in most appropriately, as, indeed, did all the succeeding selections. In this part, however, we must give the pre-eminence to the aria "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace," and the chorus "The Lord is righteous in all his ways," The oratorio of St. John will, we doubt not, at once take a good place amongst the standard compositions of the English school. It has many beauties, and but few faults. Some of the choruses appeared to us to want breadth; and there were one or two parts open to criticism, but as they suffered from defects in the rendering, we pass them over. These, however, were exceptional faults, and on the whole the performance was excellent. We trust that Mr. Gilbert wiil give us another opportunity of hearing this beautiful composition.-Maidstone Journal.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.-To-Morrow

(Saturday), First Night of IL DON GIOVANNI. On Tuesday, May 8, will be performed (for the first time this season) Bellini's opera of NORMA. Pollione, Signor Mongini; Oroveso, Signor Vialetti; Flavio, Signor Soldi; Adalgisa, Mdlle. Vaneri; and Norma, Mdlle. Titiens. To conclude with the new Ballet Divertissement, in which Mdlle. Pocchini, Mdlle. Morlacchi, and M. Durand will appear. On Thursday, May 10, will be repeated (second time this season) Mozart's chefBrunetti has arrived, and will make her first appearance on Saturday, May 12: Box-office open daily from 10 to 5.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.-First Night and Giuglini.-To-morrow Evening, May 5, will be performed (for the first time this of DON GIOVANNI-Titiens. Borghi-Mamo, Vaneri, Everadi, Vialetti, season) Mozart's chef-d'œuvre, IL DON GIOVANNI, with the following cast: Donna Anna, Malle. Titiens; Donna Elvira, Mdlle Vaneri (her first appearance this season); Zerlina, Madame Borghi-Mamo (her eighth appearance in this country); Don Giovanni, Signor Everardi; Leporello, Signor Vialetti; Masetto, Signor Aldighieri; Il Commendatore, Signor Castelli; and Don Ottavio, Signor Giuglini. Conductor M. Benedict. The Minuet will be danced by Mdlle. Pocchini and Malle. Morlacchi. Pit tickets, 8s. 6d. ; gallery stalls, 5s. ; gallery, 3s. The opera will commence at 8 o'clock.

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d'œuvre, Il Don Giovanni, with the powerful cast of to-morrow. Mdlle. Maria everybody's fortune. In our musical sphere this persuasion IT is generally conceived that the year 1860 will make obtains more strongly, perhaps, than in any other. With how much reason time will show. For our own part, we have no great faith in the result. Out of the vast tribe of period of the Great Orpheonic Gathering at the Crystal foreign artists who project a trip to London, during the Palace, how many will return home satisfied? How many indeed, will realise even so much as would amount to the expense of their journey here and back? A contemporary prints a list of composers, singers, and instrumental performers who have expressed their intention of coming to London this season. We shall not reproduce it, since it would occupy nearly a column of our space, and further, because the advent of not a few of them is, to use a mild expression, apocryphal. Imagine Mdlle. Clauss, Madame Schumann, Mdlle.' Marie Wieck, Liszt, Leopold de Meyer, Rubinstein, Lubeck, Thalberg, Henselt, Dreyschock, Döhler, Wilmers, Bulow, Prudent, &c., all in London at the same time! What an army of pianists hors ligne! What a shower of fantasias.

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JULLIEN

FUND.

HE illuess of M. Jullien having, with fatal rapidity, terminated in death, it has been resolved that the donations to the JULLIEN FUND shall be applied in the manner which would have been most in consonance with the wishes of the deceased, had it been permitted him to express them, viz., to the relief of his widow and family, who, by his loss, are left totally unprovided for.

Committee for the distribution of the Jullien Fund.

Mr. John Mitchell; Mr. W. R. Sams; Mr. Thomas Chappell; Mr. W. Duncan
Davison; Mr. Jules Benedict; Mr. A. Blumenthal.
Honorary Treasurers.

Mr. John Mitchell, 33, Old Bond-street; Mr. Thomas Chappell, 50, New Bondstreet; Mr. W. R. Sams, 1, St. James's-street.

Bankers,

Messrs. Coutts and Co., Strand; Heywood, Kennards, and Co., Lombard-street;
London and County Bank, Hanover-square ;-who, as well as the Honorary
Treasurers, have kindly consented to receive subscriptions.
410 10s. 10d.

Subscriptions already advertised

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Additional Subscriptions.
£ s. d.

5 5 0

20 0
1 1

J. Williams, Esq., Debden
Hall, Essex

Thomas Fairbairn, Esq.

1 1 0 C. R. N.

Lea Richardson, Esq.

20 Shilling subscripton, per T.

1

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1

0 0

100
0.10 0

Mr. Austin, sundry small

subscriptions

Mr. Hammond

Mr. D. Dewison

Messrs. Cramer and Co.

Messrs, Keith & Co., per J, N.

0 10 0

050

017 6
1 20

040
0,5 0
020

Burbidge, Esq.

Ditto A. Hyam, Esq.

Ditto Bankers' Clerks, per
Deposit Bank

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Ditto from gentlemen at
St. Paul's Churchyard,
per J. Anson, Esq.
Ditto from gentlemen at
Waggon Bar, Longsigt,
Manchester

Ditto

Ditto

Small subscriptions, per Mr.

Hammond

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Messrs. Keith, Prowse, & Co.

0 1 0 Mr. Austin

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Sunday Times Offices

130

Messrs. Keith & Co...

0 12 0

Messrs. Bailey, Brothers

1 2 6

Mr. Mitchell

Deposit Bank, Leicester-sq.

0 7

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Messrs. Bailey, Brothers

Parkins and Gotto

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Parkins & Gotto

Messrs. Boosey and Sons

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Mrs. John Hill

A Washington Friend

5 0 0 220

"
"

Cramer & Co.
Chappell & Co.

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But where will they give their concerts ?-where find their pianos? Ay, and where find their audiences? When they come-if come they do-they will find the Hanoversquare Rooms, and Willis's Rcoms, and Wornum's Rooms, and Blagrove's Rooms, and the Princess's Concert Room, and Collard's new Concert Room, and Exeter Hall, and St. James's Hall, and St. Martin's Hall, and even Crosby Hall, already engaged for entertainments of various kinds well nigh up to the end of September. The "natives" will have forestalled them. They cannot hire a church, like Barnum. Mr. Gye will not let them Covent Garden, nor Mr. E. T. Smith Her Majesty's Theatre; while the last-named impresario keeps the keys of Drury Lane, doubtless ruminating, even at the present moment, on some gigantic scheme, some embryo triumph of his teeming imagination, which, once busy, acts upon events as the Sun of old upon the muddy Chaos, breeding monsters. Allowing all the music-rooms of London to be open to their disposal, where, we repeat, are their pianos? Will Broadwood, or Collard, or Erard, with generous zeal, submit their instruments to the wear and tear of ninety fingers, each as finger as ten? It is scarcely probable. Enough to withstand the brunt of one lion-pianist at a time, as any tuner will attest. The hammers themselves would rebel at fuse to assail the wires; while the sounding-board, struck the reiterated thumps, and, not waiting to be disabled, remute with wonder, would cease to be a conductor-like the

haunted Rhenish cliff, under the influence of a thunderstorm.*

However, to drop metaphor, let the pianofortes be accorded. Broadwood empties his vast manufactory of its choicest wares; Erard sends to the Paris establishment for foreign reinforcements: allow this for argument's sake; and where are the audiences?

Some new Madame Pleyel, in all probability, would “make the town run," as the French say (faire courir la ville), as the famous pianist, of then not more than thirty summers, did in 1846, and divert the attention of some thousands of amateurs from the doings in the Park and Rotten-row. But Madame Pleyel, who was a handsome woman, and a woman of esprit, her prototype, without venturing on comparisons, which might tell equally in her favour, would have the game all to herself. The remaining pianists, unless inclined to exhibit themselves as "echantillons" of modern mechanical skill, at the Scientific Department in the Crystal Palace, would be compelled to walk about London with their hands in their pockets, or to give lessons to aristocratic young ladies, ambitious to shine in the drawingroom, by scrambling through impossible fantasias, for the edification of their friends, admirers, and parents. It is true, this pays better than concert giving; but there is no glory in it, and a "lion" biped without glory, is no better than a lion quadruped without a tail.

We shall not discuss the claims of the violinists, vocalists, harpists, flautists, cornists, oboists, trombonists, violoncellists, contrabassists, &c., who are all packing up their instruments and preparing for England. Let them rest assured, however, that the only part they will be able to play, in the great gathering, will be the simple one of spectators. If they be fond of sight-seeing let them come. But, if they look for gold in exchange for their notes, let them go to Australia, where the "diggins" hard by will doubtless present a far more curious spectacle than anything to be found in the Crystal Palace. If one out of twenty return home richer

of pain from his eyes, that they may repose brightly and broadly upon thy volcanoes, and thy springs, and thy suns." The above rhapsody, which is translated with tolerable fidelity from the "Titan" of Jean Paul, was uttered by | Panurge, in no very low tone of voice, as he stalked through Great St. Andrew's-street, and felt his ears titillated and his heart refreshed by the songs of the innumerable warblers that decorated the doors and windows of the bird-fanciers. Another manifestation of nature was the strong scent of the rabbits and guinea-pigs, that inhabited the same premises, very comfortable to his nostrils. Of such consolations did he stand greatly in need, for his life, and the life of all our friends had been much less happy since the discovery of Carpimon,-who had a very ugly habit of borrowing small sums, and if he had set his mind on half-a-crown or half-a-sovereign, would resort, not only to supplications, but even to tears and menaces, in order to gain his object. At one time, his favourite menace was of suicide, and be threatened, in the presence of Pantagruel, to swallow a dose of prussic acid, on a stern refusal of the latter to advance him 158. 6d. ; but Pantagruel's conviction, that Carpimon's self-extermination would be rather desirable than otherwise, was so strongly expressed in every line of his princely countenance, and so completely were the views of their master entertained by Panurge and Epistemon, that Carpimon abandoned this mode of proceeding as diametrically opposite to his interests. Instead of the prussic acid, which, by the way, was only a solution of cream of tartar, he would now produce the first six books of his epic poem "King Lud,” which opened:

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Muse, with vast London's king make thine exord,"

and begin to read it aloud in an exceedingly dolorous voice, till his unhappy auditors were fain to purchase their freedom lines of "King Lud," and buying himself off from the rest at his own price. It was just after enduring five hundred with half a-crown, from which he had promised himself many plates, pints, and quarterns of exquisite enjoyment, that Panurge began to "Jean-Paulize poorer

than he came-if one out of ten do not find himself if one out of five can boast of having earned a hundred pounds or if one alone be lucky enough to reap a harvest worth his "travel" and his honour, we consent to break our wand, like Mother Goose, scatter the pieces to the winds, and give up prophesying. Time will show.

"SUBLIME Nature! when we see thee and love thee, we more warmly love our fellow men; and if we are compelled to mourn or forget them, thou remainest near us, reposing before our tearful eyes, like a verdant chain of mountains tinted with the ruddy hue of evening. Ah, for the soul that has seen the morning dew of its ideal change into a cold dreary rain; and for the heart that, in the subterranean passages of this life, regards the men it meets as dried crooked mummies leaning upon their staff in a catacomb; and for the eye, that is bereaved and deserted, so that the sight of no human being can give it joy; and for the haughty son of the gods, whom his unfaith and his solitary unsympathetic heart, have riveted to an eternal irradicable pain; for all these, dost thou, invigorating Nature, with thy flowers, and thy mountains, and thy cataracts, stand as a faithful consoler, and the bleeding son of the gods mutely and coldly dashes the drop

* Lorelei, on the Rhine, celebrated for its echo, and which promised to acquire a still higher renown, had Mendelssohn lived to complete the opera which was to bear its name.

described.

in the manner above

With what amazing facility can everybody fit the words of a favourite author to his own case! When Lobscum- Briggs, Esquire, sees the well-known lines of Horace:

"Exegi monumentum ære perennius."

he thinks it perfectly applicable to his own farce, though the week's duration of that miserable production was simply occasioned by the economy of the manager, who would not incur the expense of printing a new bill. And in the same manner did the rhapsody of Jean Paul, though supposed to be uttered on one of the islands in the Lago Maggiore, seem to Panurge a perfectly apt expression of his thoughts, as he wandered through the lovely, but less romantic region of Seven Dials. He was himself the son of the gods, and Carpimon was the incarnation of all the woes for which nature was to supply a balm. Thus, while the half-crown was the morning-dew of the ideal, the expenditure of that precious coin by Carpimon was its conversion into an unseemly drizzle. Carpimon waiting on the mat, was the crutched mummy in the catacomb; indeed worse than the mummy, for the stick which he invariably carried seemed to have been procured, not so much for the support of his person, as with a view to the enforcement of his demands. Carpimon was also one of those human beings, the sight of whom affords no joy.

Followed by a considerable train of blackguard boys, who composed a perpetual, but by no means elucidatory, comment

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