met Sir William Hamilton in Sicily, who, entering heartily into his plans, obtained for him from the King of Naples leave to engage for his service the painter Lusieri, who was then being employed by the King. Lusieri, with two architects, two modellers, and one figure-painter, followed Lord Elgin to Constantinople, and they were soon sent to Athens. For nine months they were not admitted to the Acropolis, even to make drawings, without paying the fee of five guineas a day. When, however, the English had succeeded in driving the French army out of Egypt, a change of feeling took place at the Porte, which Lord Elgin was not slow to profit by, and by degrees the number of workmen employed by him rose to from three to four hundred. To get rid of the opposition which was constantly being raised by the local authorities, a firman was obtained ordering the governor of Athens to see to it that no obstacles were put in the way of Lord Fgin's artists and workmen, who were to be allowed to make scaffoldings, casts, drawings, and excavations, and also, if they wished, "to remove any pieces of stone with old inscriptions or figures on them." To a Turk this last clause was a sufficiently accurate description of the finest sculptures in Athens, and Lord Elgin took it in that sense, as did also the governor of Athens. The selection of objects to be removed was left entirely to Lusieri, Lord Elgin having as yet never been in Athens, and being led in the matter solely by the idea that everything which an artist of high character like Lusieri might select would, when once in England, be of national importance. The difficulty was to get the objects to England, with French ships in the Mediterranean. Besides, one ship, as has been said, had gone down at Cerigo. In 1803 he was recalled from Constantinople, and on his way home visited Athens for the first time, leaving instructions to Lusieri to continue the work. In 1805 we find him a French prisoner in Paris, where one morning, on account of the doings of his agent in Athens, he was seized by a common gendarme, taken out of bed, and placed in close confinement, contrary to all usages of right in war, and simply to satisfy the grudge which certain Frenchmen of high position bore him for the success of his operations. He had been a prisoner apparently since 1803, but previously had been allowed to live with his family in Paris. It was not till 1812 that Lusieri was able, after many serious difficulties, to send to London eighty cases containing the results of his labours; and when they arrived here new obstacles presented themselves. Lord Byron exhausted the vocabulary of Billingsgate in denouncing the Earl, whose chief crime consisted in his being a Scot. But worse than that, Payne Knight, then the leader of taste in these matters, declared the sculptures to be poor stuff dating from the time of Hadrian. Fortunately a very different view of their value was taken from the first by some artists of reputation, particularly Benjamin West and Haydon. A paper war ensued. Meantime the costly operation of moving and erecting coverings for such large sculptures had to be performed four separate times, till finally they found a temporary resting place in Old Burlington House, and were there thrown open to inspection. Here Visconti, to whose judgment in regard to ancient art all bowed, paid them a visit and was highly enraptured. No less deeply impressed with their grandeur was Canova, who came to see them afterward. Two memoirs by Visconti and a letter from Canova were now republished by the indefatigable Earl, who was equally determined that his sculptures should become national property, and that he should in the process recover something like his expenses. So far was he successful that in 1815 a committee of the House of Commons was appointed to consider the purchase, and, after hearing a great deal of evidence, recommended it at the price of 35,000l. Then came the discussion in the House of Commons, in which there was no lack of cheap moral indignation. An amendment, for which thirty voted, as against eighty-two for the motion, was proposed, to give Lord Elgin 25,000l., and to keep his collection in the British Museum at the disposal of either the then or any future Government of Athens. Lord Elgin reckoned his expenses in forming and preserving the collection up to its acquisition by the nation at 74,2407., by no means, one would think, an overstated sum. For the balance between this sum and the 35,000l. paid to him, he obtained the position of a Trustee of the British Museum, and was allowed to hand down this distinction to his heirs. A. S. MURRAY. NOTES AND NEWS. AN excellent new purchase has just been made for the National Gallery. It is a head-andshoulder portrait of a Venetian patrician, painted in oil on panel by a Milanese hand, and in singularly perfect preservation. The picture is small life-size, and the attitude nearly full-face. The sitter wears a red cloak, showing a blue undersleeve at the left wrist, with a close black cap and black stole of office; on his left thumb is a turquoise ring, and in his right hand a pink. In the background is a landscape of low hills. The colour and quality of the piece are admirable, and the head a masterpiece of grave and accurate portrait design; the nose thin and somewhat aquiline, the chin long, the mouth somewhat wide and depressed at the corners, with thin lips beautifully cut and drawn, the grey eyes looking somewhat downwards to the left. There is no clue by which the name of the sitter can be identified. But the painting may, from internal evidence, be referred with certainty to the hand of Andrea di Solario, and probably to the period of his residence in Venice after 1490. The National Gallery already possesses a striking portrait by this master, but one in a much less pure state than the picture just bought. The nation is to be heartily congratu on the acquisition. FREDERICK WALKER, A.R.A. THE death of this estimable painter, which occurred on Saturday, June 5, closing some years of illness, is a loss to our art. Mr. Walker was a young man; had years and health been granted to him, he might have done almost anything he chose in the way of execution. We remember his early appearances as a woodcut designer: the very first of his drawings was, we believe, a little lamp-lit interior, with a ragged street-boy and two young men, one of them lighting a pipe, published in Once a Week some dozen years ago. We remember also how rapidly he progressed from pains-lated taking crudity to a most uncommon degree of skill," in which the equable balance of intention, expression, draughtsmanship, composition, colour, atmosphere, handling, and what not, was truly observable. In selection of subject-matter he was simply and solely artistic; never doing anything which had deep or inventively concerted meaning, or which drew upon the powers of elaborate thought or narrative combina tion. He painted the things that are seen with the eye; and required you to appreciate them in the picture just as they would have to be appreciated in actual life. A widow-lady going down the steps of an old family-house, and looked at by a navvy, or boys bathing, or old pensioners in their town-cinctured garden, or gipsy women and children, or a man ploughing all these, as one sees them in nature, appeal to one somehow or other, as appearances and on their own showing, without antecedent or consequent, foreground of future or background of past: on the same basis do they appeal to you in Mr. Walker's pictures. They possess their significance, but not anything is presented to you for the purpose of having its significance analysed, or with an added freight of meaning and ingenuity from the artist's own resources. Sometimes the subject was left by Mr. Walker so felicitously to itself, with nothing beyond save delicate and right art, as almost to have a certain Grecian character: the very simplicity of the fact and its presentment reached up towards the typical or archetypal. It may be that in coming years the name of Walker will be linked in memory and in art-associations chiefly with that of Mason, also lately deceased, and prematurely, though he was far older than Walker. There was some analogy in their art, both being contented with anything as a subject and a suggestion, and both working it out for its primary visual and hence artistic impression. Mason was more a painter of landscape than of figures, and Walker more of figures than of landscape; but each relied principally upon the combined effect of the two. Mason also had unquestionably more of the poetically idyllic, or directly beautiful in form and arrangement: yet Walker was capable, we think, of making quite as decisive a mark in the art of his time, with equal opportunity. W. M. ROSSETTI. THE restoration by Herr Mock of the tapestries and frescoes of the Town Hall at Cologne has been successfully completed, and the Grand Hall was re-opened for the inauguration of the new Ober-Burgermeister on June 5. FROM the report recently made by the Trustees during the past year the collection has been enof the National Portrait Gallery, we learn that most valuable and interesting of the donations is riched by six donations and ten purchases. The the small portrait of Sir Walter Scott, by Landseer, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy last year. It was purchased for 800 guineas at the general sale of Landseer's works, and presented to the national collection by Mr. Albert Grant. The other donations are:-A marble bust by Mr. Sir Thomas Lawrence of Samuel Rogers the Durham of Charles Knight; a chalk drawing by poet; a portrait in oils, by an unknown artist, of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, niece of Henry VIII., mother-in-law of Mary Queen of Scots, and grandmother of James I.; a portrait Queens of England and Scotland; and a likeness, by Hayes of Agnes Strickland, historian of the by an unknown hand, of Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke and Montgomery, A.D. 1589-1676, This last painting, which represents the countess at the age of eighty-one, was formerly presented to the gallery by Mr. George Scharf, in the collection of General Fox, and was Keeper and Secretary to the Board of Trustees. The purchases include the following portraits:--Edmund Burke, "painted in the school of Sir J. Reynolds;" Warren Hastings at the age of seventy-nine, by Sir Thomas Lawrence; Lord Chancellor Loughborough, afterwards Earl of Rosslyn, by William Owen, R.A.; Lord Nelson, bably painted by Richard Evans, in the studio of by L. F. Abbott; Lord Chancellor Thurlow," proSir T. Lawrence;" John Zoffany, R.A., by himself; Miss Mary Russell Mitford, Authoress of Our Village, by John Lucas; and three plaster Cathedral, of Edward the Black Prince, King casts by Brucciani, from effigies in Canterbury Henry IV., and Queen Joan of Navarre, second wife of Henry IV. These casts are to be conmingham, by means of the electrotyping process. verted into bronze by Messrs. Elkington, of Bir The Trustees complain much of want of room suggest different modes by which additional space for the advantageous display of the portraits, and might be secured for that object. MR. SEWALL BARKER'S collection of pictures was sold at Christie's on Saturday, as was also the small collection of Mr. Edward Storr. The first came from Manchester; the second from Liverpool. Among Mr. Barker's water-colours was a wellknown work of Duncan's-The Lifeboat; it sold for 3571. Among the oils were-Fishing in Wales, by Creswick and John Phillip (3047. 108.); The Soldier's Return, by J. Faed, R.S.A. (1667.); Up the Hill, by J. T. Linnell (2781.); Harvesttime, by P. Nasmyth (1317.); Ordeal by Water, by P. F. Poole, R.A. (1411.); A Woody Landscape, by Constant Troyon (1681.). Mr. Storr had only twenty-five pictures. The Proposal, by T. Faed, R.A., fetched 2627. 10s. ; a River Scene in the Tyrol, by Nasmyth, 2361.; the Scotch Fair, by J. Phillip, 7351. A William Müller-The Noonday Meal: a view near Gillingham-sold for 1,6277. 10s.; Across the Common: a breezy day, by David Cox (painted in 1852), 1,155.; and Sir Augustus Calcott's View near Southampton Water (exhibited at Burlington House last winter) for only 607. 18s. by the conditions that produce it-"L'œuvre d'art est déterminée par un ensemble qui est l'état général de l'esprit et des mœurs environnants "—is true so far, that the work of the artist is often forced to take a wrong direction when the "ensemble" is unfavourable to its free growth, but no amount of favouring circumstances ever proinduced a great work of art. We see this strongly exemplified in Germany at the present time. The great heart of the nation has been stirred by its glorious achievements in war, and it would willingly embody its thoughts and its triumphs in great, and noble works of art. But in spite of all its strivings the numerous war-monuments that have been de MR. A. C. MERRIAM, of Columbia College, New York, sends us the details of a very thorough examination which he has made of the pottery in the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus, with reference to the points of resemblance between it and the pottery obtained by Dr. Schliemann from Hissarlik. The results, however, do not differ from those repeatedly put forward these columns on the occasion of Dr. Schliemann's discoveries. Of course the argument has now a wider basis in proportion as the Cesnola collection in New York is more extensive than the collections of Cypriote pottery in European museums on which it was formerly founded. But when all is done-when A is proved equal to B, while B is only assumed to be equal to C-it cannot be said that the question is settled, though no doubt it is advanced an important step. THE death is announced at Rome, on May 30, of the well-known engraver Aloysio Juvara, at the age of sixty-seven. In 1868 Juvara received the second gold medal of the Berlin Academy, and besides this, he had obtained seventeen other medals in recognition of his artistic skill. His plates of the Madonna della Regia, and of Mancinelli's S. Carlo Borromeo, are among his best compositions. THE sales of old decorative furniture, on Saturday, were interesting. There was fine French marqueterie and buhl of the periods of Louis XIII., Louis XIV., Louis XV., and Louis XVI., and there were several good specimens of Italian cabinets. Among the china sold on Thursday and Friday were a set of three jars and covers, and a pair of beakers (Dresden) painted with Chinese figures and bouquets of flowers, 16 inches high, the centre jar 22 inches, from the collections of the late Mrs. Dent and Mr. W. Angerstein. A Vienna The price realised was 4097. 10s. THE Levant Herald announces that the Turkish cabaret, painted with classical figures in brown, Government is about to send Aristokles Effendi, after Angelica Kaufmann, 1157. 10s. A pair of an employé in the Department of Public Instrucvery fine flat-shaped Old Chelsea vases, from the Countess of Portsmouth's collection, sold for 4407. tion, to Crete on a twofold mission, of inspection of all the schools in the island, and of archaeoloA pair of beautiful dark blue and gold oviform vases, painted with allegorical subjects and pas-gical enquiry to guide future excavations on the sites of ancient cities. toral figures and medallions of birds, 7501. A fine pair of cassolettes (Sèvres) of old gros bleu, 6937. A pair of fine tulip-shaped vases, painted with Cupids in medallions, on green ground, by Dodin, richly gilt, 9701. The Barberini vase, the fifth made from that known as the Portland vase and a perfect specimen of Wedgwood-fetched 2947. MRS. NOSEDA has just published an etched portrait of Miss Fowler, the now well-known actress of comedy. The work is by Mr. Percy Thomas, and is harmonious and graceful in arrangement, and fairly good as a likeness. Firmer modelling in the cheek, and a more generally decisive touch, would have raised it to a higher level among the few good etched portraits. THE administration of the Louvre has suffered a very great loss by the death of its general secretary, M. Frédéric Villot, which took place on May 27, after a long illness. M. Villot is chiefly known to foreigners by his admirable Catalogue of the Louvre, the first edition of which was published in 1848, and the eighteenth last year. This laborious work, which was for the time in which it was written a perfect monument of research and learning, not only drew attention to the vast treasures that it enumerated, but likewise gave an impulse to this branch of knowledge, so that it is not perhaps too much to say that the excellent catalogues now offered to the visitor and student of most of the great galleries of Europe are due in a large measure to M. Villot's initiative. During the siege and Commune of Paris his responsibilities were overwhelming, and it was greatly owing to his effective system of surveillance and wise precautionary measures that the treasures cf the Louvre were preserved intact through that terrible period. M. Villot was sixty-six years of age at the time of his death. "Art loses in him," says the Chronique, "one of its oldest adepts, and the Louvre an old and faithful servant." THE death is also announced of the eminent archaeologist the Abbé Cochet, Director of the Museum of Antiquities at Rouen, and member of the Committee of Historic Works. The Abbé Cochet is known by his numerous works on French archaeology, among which may be cited La Normandie Souterraine, Les Sépultures Gauloises, &c., Le Tombeau de Chilperic; and also by his constant contributions to reviews and journals. "THE Political Value of Art to the Municipal times, ought it not to be the aim of the philosophical "I cannot but think," says the lecturer, "that if in Doubtless; not Liverpool only, but the whole signed and erected have proved for the most part miserable failures. The tout ensemble, one would imagine, was favourable enough, only there is no great artist to take advantage of it. And is it not the great teacher to arise in art, as in other the same in England? We are still waiting for matters, and until that time arrives Liverpool, it is certain, will get no Pallas Athene to preside over her Exchange. Is she quite sure, indeed, that such a figure would really represent her national life with its turmoil, jobberies, and money-making desires? Meanwhile it is a worthy undertaking to decorate her Council Chamber with mural paintings, as we stated last week is proposed to be done, and we trust the result gained by the artist, whoever may be chosen for the work, may prove the full value of the favourable conditions that are thus offered for the display of his powers. A NEW catalogue of the Suermondt collection of pictures gained last year by the Berlin Gallery has been lately prepared by Dr. Julius Meyer, the director, and Dr. Wilhelm Bode, the assistant director, of the gallery. This new catalogue, unlike such works in general, deals almost too ruthlessly with established names. Thus, out of five Rembrandts that formerly appeared in the catalogue, it only allows of one being genuine, setting aside even the St. Jerome in the cave, etched by Vliet, as a copy from an original that has disappeared. In like manner, a celebrated picture, hitherto assigned upon strong evidence to Franz Hals, is set down as a copy by Dirk Hals, and other pictures are transferred without hesitation from masters to pupils; indeed, the searching criticism of Dr. Julius Meyer, which is well known as never taking any fact upon trust, has done much to lessen the commercial value of the great art collection recently acquired by his nation, although it has placed its real artistic worth upon a surer basis. "L'AFFAIRE Frédéric van de Kerkhove," as the strange complexity arising out of the exhibition of the works of the youthful Fritz van de Kerkhove has got to be called, has not as yet excited much attention in England, although the Belgian and one or two of the French papers have been occupied with it for months past, and have been in the most bitter personal attacks and recriminaled under the excitement of "a cause to indulge tions. The last development of this eventful history is the gift by the father, Jean van de Kerkhove, of 2,000 fr. to the town of Bruges, this being the proceeds of the exhibition of his son's works at Brussels. The donor stipulates that the sum, "given in the name of his son Fritz, artiste peintre, shall be inalienable, and shall be placed in security by the town of Bruges, and the interest devoted to the distribution of clothing to the poor children of the communal schools." The difficulty arising out of such a gift is apparent. Several members of the town council, while admitting the generosity of the donor, were of opinion that it could not be accepted unless the authenticity of the works that had produced the sum in question could be proved; but others considered, on the contrary, that the question was not one of art or authenticity, but simply of finance, and that the donation ought to be accepted in the interests of charity and education. This opinion carried the day by nine votes against one. Seven members of the council, however, declined to even appear to sanction the disputed works by their presence. In fact, as will be seen, the affair becomes every day more and more complicated, and it is doubtful whether it will now ever be satisfactorily settled. At first it only bade fair to be a nine days' wonder, but various artifices and the noise of violent partisans have contrived to keep up the excitement, and we are even threatened with an outburst of it in England, for it is proposed to exhibit the disputed works over here, when no doubt the loud trumpeting of the poor child who is supposed to have painted them will be renewed. We received an indignant remonstrance a short time ago from the Journal des Beaux Arts for having spoken of the Kerkhove affair as a "com Mr. Carr intends to continue his study, for he has THE STAGE. LA GRAND'MAMAN AT THE THÉÂTRE FRANÇAIS. some resemblance to that of the Messrs. Erck- say fare piece is due, as everyone admits, to the acting of plete deception." Perhaps this was a hasty judg- M. CADOL's reputation as a writer of plays bears thing for her reputation, and for our remembrance ment, but after reading the inflated panegyric and verbose declamation of the Brussels journal, we can only say we find our opinion confirmed. The spirit of the unfortunate Fritz, if there be any truth in his story, had indeed need to pray, Save me from my friends. AN interesting collection of engravings and etchings belonging to Mr. James L. Claghorn, President of the Fine Art Academy of Philadelphia, has been recently exhibited in that town. The collection is particularly rich in works by the old German masters, including Martin Schongauer, by whom there are several rare examples; and Albrecht Dürer, represented by the complete series of the Life of the Virgin and other plates. Of we may mention-Léopold Flameng, Jacquemart, Daubigny, Rajon, Meissonier, Fortuny, and John Sartain, a Philadelphia artist not quite so well known to fame as the others on this side of the Atlantic, but who has executed several excellent works. modern masters AN equestrian statue of Norodom I., King of Cambodia, has lately been completed by the French sculptor, M. Eudes, and successfully cast in bronze. It represents the Eastern monarch in the uniform of a French general of division, wearing the cross of the Légion d'Honneur and several Cambodian orders. It is intended to exhibit it for a short time in the Champs-Elysées before it is sent out to Panopim, the new capital of the Cambodian states, where it is to be erected. won, like Erckmann-Chatrian's, by qualities nega- And being a safe man, and writing fair French, The story of La Grand'maman is hardly of a kind to tell in detail. It concerns itself with a FREDERICK WEDMORE. WE hear that M. Charles Monselet is about to make-and somewhat late in life-his first appearance as a writer for the stage. He has written a short play, in which Mdlle. Reichemberg, of the Théâtre Français, will have a character out of her common line. WE hear that a new piece by M. Gondinet will be played at the Paris Vaudeville in September, for the first appearance there of M. Pierre Ber ton. MUCH interest has been excited by M. Alex. grandmamma's efforts to see her grandson married towns. THE Portfolio of this month contains a thoughtful and interesting criticism of the drawings by Albrecht Dürer in the British Museum, written by Mr. Comyns Carr. The collection of Dürer's drawings in the Museum is, with the exception of the celebrated Albertina collection at Vienna, the richest and largest in existence, and it is impossible to overrate its importance in studying the mind and work of the great German master. Mr. Carr is surprised that Dürer's biographers have not made greater use of this material. It certainly escaped the industrious Heller; but Dr. von Eye was well acquainted with the British Museum drawings, and besides Mr. Scott, who catalogues them, Mrs. Charles Heaton has given a history of the big folio in which they are contained, derived originally from the Imhof family collection, and a somewhat detailed description of all the more important drawings in her Life of the artist. No doubt But it is not the husband and wife that interest us the most, either in the piece of M. Cadol or in the acting at the theatre. M. Febvre and Mdlle. Madeleine Brohan represent these persons: M. Febvre with less than his usual impulse; Mdlle. Brohan with the wonted coldness of her grace. Nor is the girl of any definite value to the piece. As a French daughter, she has nothing to do; but that is a fate to which Mdlle. Reichemberg is pretty well accustomed; having now been for many years the chosen representative of ingénues so colourless that Mdlle. Tholer herself could hardly make them paler. But the quiet and accustomed charm which one does look for in a performance of Mdlle. Reichemberg's, is somehow wanting to this. The success of the MDLLE. DELAPORTE is now in London, giving a few private representations, principally in large houses. It is as the heroine of a new play of Sardou's that she will make her rentrée at the M. EMILE AUGIER is engaged, we hear, upon a CRITICISM has by no means had its last word with reference to the work of Dumas fils, and the Dame aux Camélias—an English version of which was produced at the Princess's on Saturday-will some day come to be pronounced to be neither the indecent nonsense which some declare it to be, nor a piece so profoundly moral as M. Dumas himself believes it. But discussion is closed for the moment by the wholly altered situations in the English version prepared by Mr. Mortimer, for in this version the heroine would appear to have been always blameless, and the hero, instead of throwing himself away upon the original Marguerite, is respectably in love with a young woman who has nothing wrong about her, except consumption, and whose devotion to her art of the theatre is a lesson to unoccupied girls. The work, as work of art, is necessarily maimed, since the action loses much of its motive. In the original, at the father's objection to the match on many grounds-and above all on the ground that whatever became of his son, it must spoil the future of his innocent daughter-was least a natural thing, and it was at least conceivable that Marguerite should yield to his persuasions. But in Mr. Mortimer's version the old man's objections are less reasonable, and the young woman's scruples more entirely chivalrous. To be the sister-in-law of an actress will hardly in our day involve that social ruin which the characters fear. Thus the motive of much of the action is, as we said, weakened. But the strong scenes remain, or have for the most part been delicately handled. Of these, a great actress and a good actor could still make much. It is true that Mr. William Rignold is often a good actor: in Two Orphans he was an unequalled representative of robust villany. But as Armand-they give him a new name in the new version as Armand he is out of place. Nor is Miss Helen Barry competent to deal with such a character as Marguerite. She is earnest and vigorous: at times even sympathetic. But in this part she displays little of the variety, the invention, the illustrative by-play which the character requires. She has force, without finish. Her performance of the tempted wife in Mr. Boucicault's Led Astray was more artistic and satisfactory. Of the remaining characters, few are adequately acted. The free and easy supper party, in the first act, is on the whole the best realised. The gentleman who in the next act sustains the part of the hero's father, and comes to supplicate the heroine to make her lover miserable so that the lover's sister may be married prosperously, is unequal to his task. Reality and intensity remain to be given to the performance. If these be given, Mr. Mortimer's adaptation-which is quite as good a one as circumstances will allow-will have a better chance, and the success secured may be equal to that very creditable one of the School for Intrigue at the Olympic. To praise Mr. B. Rowe and Mr. Arthur Sullivan, it is not necessary to abuse opera bouffe, and least of all is this necessary when their new little piece, The Zoo-at the St. James's Theatre-contains such a song as that of the "simple little child: " a song which has much of the spirit of the much decried opera bouffe. The merit of Mr. Rowe and Mr. Sullivan, in this their most recent performance, is that they try to see the funny things in common English life, and a day at the Zoological Gardens supplies them with a subject, as good perhaps, perhaps even better than that which other musicians and librettists have found in German Courts or in Spanish America. Musicians must judge of the quality of the music; the rest of the public may amuse themselves in settling the question of how near the dialogue approaches to wit. Mr. Carlos Florentine, Mr. Edgar Bruce, Mr. C. Steyne, Miss Henrietta Hodson, and Miss Gertrude Ashton are engaged in the piece, to the satisfaction of an audience which has already laughed at the mock heroics of Tom Cobb. THERE is to be a morning performance of Sweethearts, at the Prince of Wales's Theatre to-day of course with Mrs. Bancroft in her accustomed part, Mr. Theyre Smith's comedietta, A Happy Pair, will also be played; Miss Ellen Terry and Mr. Bancroft being the performers. THE same evenings on which La Grand'maman is played at the Théâtre Français, there is played there a fanciful comedietta by the poet Théodore de Banville. It is called Gringoire. The scene is laid at the time of Louis XI., but M. Théodore de Banville's contribution to our knowledge of that monarch's character does not profess to be of profound value. It falls a little short of the studies of Sir Walter and of Casimir Delavigne. Coquelin plays the part of the ungainly hero, whom Louis is kind. Maubant with dignity, but without subtlety, represents Louis Onze; and Mdlle. Reichemberg has no other task than that of looking very naïve in the character of Alice, whom Gringoire finally weds. THE Gaiety has continued its performances of light French opera, and the Criterion has given every evening, with the aid of its Brussels company, M. Vogel's opera, La Filleule du Roi. MISS FOWLER gains in confidence. She is to play Lady Teazle for Mr. Coleman's benefit on June 30. Recent comedy performances by the actress have given her some right to essay the part. THE new version of Madame Angot now played, and to be played for the brief remainder of the season, at the Royalty Theatre, serves its purpose of introducing to us Mdme. Dolaro as Lange. Mdme. Dolaro's performance is distinguished from that of many of those who have gone before her, by her possession of genuine comedy powera thorough understanding of the requirements of her art. M. FRANCISQUE SARCEY has begun, in his feuilleton, what he calls his "théorie des expositions et des dénouements au théâtre." As he begs his readers' most respectful attention, and good-naturedly hints that his papers will be worth preserving, and that the value of the first will be fully understood when we have read the last, we shall abstain for the present from commenting on a work, frankly written, as he avows, not for the general public, but for "un petit nombre de jeunes gens, d'un tour d'esprit philosophique, qui se plaisent à creuser un sujet et à savoir les raisons des choses." opens both to composer and actors. Its performance by the excellent company of which mention was made last week in these columns was simply as perfect as it could be. In mentioning the singers, the place of honour is due to a débutante, Mdlle. Emma Breton, who undertook the part of Isabelle. In the first act this young lady was evidently suffering severely from nervousness, but she nevertheless sang her first air, "Souvenirs du jeune âge," with such taste as to call forth Her song hearty applause from the audience. "Jours de mon enfance which act, was even more successful; and the plaudits the second she received seemed to set Mdile. Breton quite at her ease, and enable her to prove that she could act quite as well as she could sing. The young lady is a valuable addition to the already strong company. Mdme. Naddi was an excellent Marguerite, and Mdlle. Marie Albert was also capital as the saucy and vivacious Nicette. The gentlemen were without exception so good that it is almost invidious to signal out any for special notice; yet we must say a word in praise of M. Borrés as Cantarelli, master of the revels, of M. Herbert as Mergy, and of M. Joinnisse, whose delineation of Girot, the innkeeper of the Pré aux Clercs, was truly comic. But, as was remarked last week, the great strength of the company is its excellent ensemble. It is not too much to say that the whole cast contained not one part inadequately represented. The orchestra, too, was most satisfactory; and particular mention ought to be made of the violin obbligato in the song "Jours de mon enfance," which was most artistically played (though on a very indifferent instrument) by M. von der Finck. This evening Hérold's Zampa will be appearance. THE Odéon Theatre has not satisfied the authori-produced, when M. Tournie will make his first ties in the matter of the pieces it has recently THE third of the summer concerts at the Crystal been playing, and M. Duquesnel, if he desires to retain the subsidy which the theatre has hitherto Palace took place last Saturday. The orchestral works performed were Mozart's symphony in E enjoyed, will have need to be on his guard. For many months last year, a troop of dogs-adding, flat and the overtures to the Midsummer Night's doubtless, to the vividness of the stage picture Dream and Semiramide. The instrumental soloist were among the chief attractions of his house. was Herr Wilhelmj, who gave a very fine rendering The Odéon has now just closed for the season. of the first movement of Beethoven's violin concerto, with a cadenza of truly extraordinary difficulty AT the Théâtre Français the Fille de Roland-written by himself. By giving merely a fragment M. Henri de Bornier's poetical drama-continues, about three nights in each week, its successful career. It bids fair to detain in Paris until after Midsummer the artists-Maubant, Mounet Sully and Sarah Bernhardt-who are engaged in its performance. MDLLE. AGAR has just concluded a long tour through the French provinces, in which she has been more successful than she was last year in London in interesting her audience in the works of classics so old-fashioned as Racine and Corneille. Speaking of Corneille by the by, a paper has gravely suggested that a theatre should be erected in Paris for the exclusive performance of his works, which are calculated, it avers, to encourage other virtues in which patriotism and some modern Parisians are more notably deficient. THERE are three important theatrical portraits in this year's Salon. The least good is that of Mdlle. Bernhardt, this time by an artist of no great note. There is a strong portrait of Mounet Sully, while Bonnat's skilfully treated picture of Mdme. Pasca is among the works most spoken of in the whole exhibition. of an important classical work, Herr Wilhelmj confirmed the impression produced by his unwarrantable mutilation of Rubinstein's concerto at one of the recent Philharmonic concerts that his artistic feeling is by no means on a par with his wonderful execution. A miscellaneous selection of vocal music was given by Mesdames SinicoCampobello and Patey, Mr. Sims Reeves, and Signor Campobello. AT the sixth Philharmonic Concert, at St. James's Hall on Monday evening, Herr Alfred Jaell brought forward Raff's pianoforte concerto in C minor, which was recently performed by Dr. Bülow at the Crystal Palace, and noticed on that occasion in these columns. It is, therefore, needless to speak of it now; that Herr Jaell, who is an old favourite in London, did it full justice it is almost superfluous to add. The symphony happily there were not two-was the "Eroica," and the rest of the programme consisted of Benedict's Festival Overture, composed for the opening of the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, the overture to the Freischütz, and vocal music by Mdlle. Thekla Friedländer and Mr. Santley. MDME. STOLZ, whose admirable singing in Verdi's "Requiem" will be fresh in the memory of our readers, has just been engaged for the Italian opera at St. Petersburg. A MILANESE paper announces that among the manuscripts left by Donizetti there have recently been found at Bergamo two operas with French text, one by Scribe, entitled Le Duc d'Albe, the other, in one act, by Gustave Vaez, entitled Deux Hommes et une Femme. These two works are unpublished, and have never been represented. The libretto of Le Duc d'Albe is to be translated into Italian, and the opera will be produced at Bergamo next season. M. GEORGES BIZET, the composer of L'Arlésienne and Carmen, a son-in-law of Halévy, and one of the most promising of the younger generation of French composers, has just died in the thirty-seventh year of his age. THE Royal Philharmonic Academy of Rome is preparing a grand concert, at which Mendelssohn's St. Paul and his octett for stringed instruments are to be given. THE lower orchestral pitch has just been introduced at the Stadttheater in Leipzig. The necessary expenses of the alteration have been borne by an enthusiastic amateur residing in the town. HERR CARL KREBS, the father of the wellknown pianist Mdlle. Marie Krebs, celebrated at Dresden on the 1st inst. the twenty-fifth anniversary of his appointment as Capellmeister to the King of Saxony. IMMEDIATELY, PRICE SIX SHILLINGS. QUEEN MARY: A DRAMA. BY ALFRED TENNYSON. MR. TENNYSON'S WORKS, AUTHOR'S EDITION, in FIVE VOLS. Cloth gilt, 68.; half-morocco, Roxburgh style, 7s. 6d. each. Vols. I. and II. now ready. HENRY S. KING & CO., 65 Cornhill, and 12 Paternoster Row, London. THE GREVILLE MEMOIRS. The Fifth Edition now ready, in 3 vols. 8vo, price 368. ADOLF HENSELT, the distinguished pianist, has A JOURNAL OF THE REIGNS OF KING GEORGE IV. had the misfortune to suffer a compound fracture of the arm. CORRESPONDENCE:- SELECTED BOOKS By Major W. F. BUTLER, C.B., Author of "The Wild North Land," "The Great Lone Land," &c. By THOMAS LEWIN, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., of Trinity College, Oxford, Barrister-at-Law' "The first glance tells us that the book is one on which the small compass. It is a series of galleries of statues, gems, coins, 4to, 31s. 6d. LETTERS FROM INDIA AND KASHMIR. One Volume, Illustrated with 90 Engravings. "Thoughtful and amusing letters....The most explanatory account of India which we have yet seen."--Spectator. "Written with admirable taste. This volume is a beautiful specimen of typography, and the illustrations are models of their kind. We can but recommend our readers to get the book, and judge its merits for themselves."—Academy. "Charmingly illustrated."-Athenaeum. "This very pleasant and interesting volume is distinguished in an unusually high degree by vividness of description, intelligence, common sense, and lively humour." |