company, for it has become a clear and painful truth, that there is no hope of the English lyric drama ever succeeding for many weeks in this vast metropolis, and yet there are few disposed to admit that we are not a musical nation. Hopes have been raised that Mr. Macready, who has done so much for the advancement of the national stage, will step forward and rescue the native opera from the impending neglect. Few men are capable of achieving greater theatrical effects than "the regenerator of Shakspeare," but the lesson he experienced in producing Rooke's Henrique will scarcely fail in deterring him from such hazardous speculations as the production of English operas. The native artist will therefore have to seek in vain for an engagement in London, and for subsistence he must become a tourist, and forego the sweets of home. COVENT GARDEN THEATRE.—Mrs. Charles Mathews is busily engaged in preparing an attractive budget for the re-assembling of her Parliament in September. Several popular members have retired, but we hear of new candidates (for fame) being elected. The first measures brought forward next session will be from D. L. Bourcicault and Leigh Hunt, and will, no doubt, become highly popular with the people when presented to the house, and the details become known. The administration of the fair lessee continues to give the most general and lively satisfaction.

HAYMARKET THEATRE.—Mr. Webster has endeavoured to dispel the gloom which has been thrown over this delightful theatre from the unfortunate loss of Mr. Power, by engaging, at a great expense, Mr. Charles Kean and Miss Ellen Tree; but these attractions have not met with the numerous audiences that might be expected. Mr. Charles Kean's attitudinizing, gesticulation, and guttural accents are now witnessed in London almost as tamely as they were in Newcastle. His Hamlet is the most perfect of his personifications, it contains a vigour and freshness we look for in vain in his other performances. Miss Ellen Tree appeared as Ophelia, and was most effective; but for the cruel and subtile Lady Macbeth she is too gentle and innocent. Mr. Macready's return to this theatre, on 3rd instant, after a most brilliant tour in the provinces, will be gladly hailed by the play-goer. The latest new production is Mr. Lunn's new comedy of Belford Castle, or the Scottish Goldmine, evidently written for the display of Mr. Maywood's peculiar abilities. He personifies an old Scotch millionaire (Muckle), who from humble circumstances has attained great wealth, but under a surface of waywardness and strong self-will conceals a heart open to every generous impulse. He has an orphan nephew and niece, children of his two sisters, dependant on his bounty. Emily Connor (Miss P. Horton), the niece, falls privately in love with Frederick Oswald (Mr. Howe), a young military officer; and Charles Mortimer, the nephew, in like manner becomes smitten with the charms of Lady Grace Lorimer (Mrs. Stirling), the daughter of the proud Earl of Belford, who, for his adherence to the Pretender, had twelve years before abandoned his country to save his head. Lady Grace, after her father's flight, had taken refuge with Mr. Stapleton (Mr. G. Bennett), the earl's steward, who becomes a second father to her. It was in this retirement that Charles Mortimer met and became enamoured of the fair recluse, and awakened a reciprocal passion in her breast; he succeeds in gaining his uncle's consent, when the earl returns, and forbids a union he deemes derogatory. The contest between pride and wealth is carried on with determined resolution on both sides. At length the power of gold, and the inflexible perseverance of the cannie Scott, triumph; the haughty peer yields reluctantly, and the union of Charles and Emily with the objects of their choice completes the happiness of all parties. There is scarcely sufficient interest in the piece, but a judicious curtailment has much improved it. Mr. Maywood played the part of Muckle admirably; Mrs. Stirling's Lady Grace was played with great feeling; and

Miss Horton exhibited her accustomed naïveté. Mlle. Celeste continues to attract in Marie Ducange.

DRURY LANE THEATRE.-The German company at this theatre has been greatly and generally patronized, and although the speculation may not have realized Mr. Andrews's expectations, the audiences have, nevertheless, been more uniformly numerous than the most sanguine could have anticipated, notwithstanding the disgraceful conduct of the manager at the commencement of the season, in holding forth to the public a long array of talent, which it is but too evident was never intended to be brought forward. Our advices from Germany testify that Mlle. Lützer and Meyerbeer did not intend visiting England. The letters from Madame Schröder-Devrient are before the public, who will sympathize with her; while the conduct of the management towards Madame Schödel has been the means of arrangements by some of the leading performers with other parties in London for the establishment next winter of a German company, which promises to be very superior in talent and resources to the company now leaving our shores. The first of the successful performances of the German company was Die Zauberflöte, which opera was produced with greater care than usual. The Sarastro of Staudigl was a most brilliant performance; his graceful person, appropriate action, and his matchless voice drew loud and rapturous applause; his lower notes are rich, clear, and mellow; and his voice has great compass and ponderosity: the magical effect of his "Iris and Osiris" was most thrilling. Madame Stöckl Heinefetter sang as usual with exquisite judgment, but her voice is thin. Meyerbeer's Robert the Devil has also been most successful. The beautiful opera of Euryanthe afforded another opportunity for the display of Staudigl, Heinefetter, and Tichatscheck's abilities. The vocal parts were given most brilliantly, particularly the finale to the first act.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.-The Italian Company have determined that no operas, save those of Donnizetti, shall be produced this season; his Fausta and his Roberto Devereux have been brought out and met with a very equivocal reception; the applause that has been awarded was intended for the leading performers, Grisi, Tamburini, and Mario. Fortunately, this is the last season under the present management.

Mdlle. Rachel has appeared before a British audience, and has fully equalled all that has been written about her. Her abilities are of the highest order of dramatic talent. She has a perfect conception of the character she is to depict, and she possesses sufficient powers of look, utterance, and gesture to convey her conceptions to her auditors. She has a good stage figure, being tall and elegantly formed, possessing the requisite dignity of manner to represent the higher characters in tragedy. Her face is intellectually beautiful,—she has too much meaning in her expression to be called a pretty woman, and she can scarcely be called a handsome one. Her features are regular, classic, and not exaggerated, they are rather small than otherwise. Her eyes are splendid, full of fire, and capable of the strongest expression. In addition to these qualifications, she has a fine tone of voice, a most correct pronunciation, and a good knowledge of the power and use of emphasis. She made her debût in Racine's tragedy of Andromeque, and gained further laurels as Camille in Corneille's tragedy of Les Horaces, but her complete triumph was reserved for Pierre Le Brun's Marie Stuart. In the interview scene between Marie Stuart and Queen Elizabeth, she bore the cold taunts and bitter sneers of Elizabeth, her "kinswoman" and foe, until nature could endure no more, and then she burst forth with a flood of denunciation which, great as we have hitherto recognised her to be, we had never before seen equalled; it was free from rant, and yet it was terrific, and electrified the house.

THE STRAND THEATRE, under the able management of Mr. II. Hall, has risen considerably in public estimation. The attraction of Mrs. Keeley is alone sufficient to fill this miniature theatre when the pieces are well selected for their novelty and humour. The Rubber of Life, Aldgate Pump, and The Mission of Mercury have been successful productions, and have been got up with great care. The scenery is much superior to that of Drury Lane Theatre.

SURREY THEATRE.-The English Opera is now cultivated in a soil that has hitherto been considered uncongenial to the "divine art." M. Adolphe Adam's new opera of La Reine d'un Jour ("The Queen for a Day") has been produced for the first time in England at this theatre, and has been performed fourteen nights to crowded audiences. The translation is by Mr. J. T. Haines, the plot may be thus described :-The wife of Charles the Second is desired to land secretly in England or Scotland, and in order to elude the vigilance of the government, a stratagem is resorted to, Francine Camusat (Miss Romer) a pretty milliner who is in love with Marcel (Mr. Wilson), is induced to personate the queen, and to land at Dover, while the real majesty effects a landing in Scotland. Marcel, not knowing the circumstances, grows jealous and disconsolate, and follows to Dover. Francine is seized and conveyed to Dover Castle, from whence her lover is on the point of effecting her escape, when Charles arrives triumphant and the lovers are united. The opera is very creditably got up, and the music is light and pleasing, displaying considerable originality.

The QUEEN'S THEATRE continues to be profitable to the managers, a sure proof that the public are pleased with his exertions. Mrs. Honey has entered on a short engagement, and is now performing a series of her most favourite characters to crowded houses.

ENGLISH OPERA HOUSE. This theatre, we regret to say, is not paying its expenses; a theatrical commonwealth, as Mr. Bunn has rightly observed, "is common without the wealth."

The PRINCE and PRINCESS THEATRES remain closed.

Mr. Eliason is preparing to enliven us with Concerts D'Eté, a là Julien, at Drury Lane Theatre.

The Concert season is now drawing to a premature close; Madame Dorus Gras, Liszt, and several other stars are preparing for departure. London is decreasing; for the coming elections have absorbed all other interests; the concert-giver finds tickets must be given away, and that the supplies are stopped.

VOL. XXVII. NO. LIV.

H H

MISCELLANEOUS LITERARY NOTICES.

FRANCE.

Provincial Libraries.-The Chambers grant considerable sums for the en dowment of libraries in the different Departments. This year they voted 200,000 francs for this purpose. Great complaints are made of the manner in which the books are selected. Worthless romances and books of a very inferior description are said to form the chief mass of the accessions to these libraries by order of the ministers. This reproach seems to us the more extraordinary, as there can be no doubt that M. Guizot, at least, has a sincere desire for the moral improvement of his countrymen. The salaries of the librarians are remarkably low, 800 francs per annum for the head-librarian, and 600 francs for the sub-librarian. The arrangement of the books is said to be very defective, and it is with the greatest difficulty that strangers can obtain a sight of the manuscripts and rarer works. The buildings are many of them roomy and spacious, having been cloisters which were declared national property during the French revolution. The number of readers is very small; at Rouen, Nantes, Lyons, the most literary cities after Paris, nine was the average number; in smaller cities of 30,000 to 40,000 inhabitants, as Tours, Angers, Bourges, more than three were seldom found. We copy this from a German journal, in which the writer says that he speaks from long experience. If his statement be correct, we hope that measures of improvement will be adopted.

It has now been clearly ascertained that the words Anglois, François, j'amois, j'étois, &c. were formerly pronounced the same as moi, toi, &c. The change in pronunciation took place after the marriage of Catharine de Medici, in 1553, when a number of Italians became attached to the French court; these persons could not pronounce the oi, and it became fashionable at court, in deference to the queen, to pronounce it as ai; Voltaire was the first who introduced this system in his writings, after which it became general. Boileau, Racine, and Molière followed the early and correct method.

M. Biot has announced a Dictionary of the ancient and modern names of the towns, &c. in the Chinese empire.

The British government having removed the restrictions which, under the post-office regulations, prevented the admission of Galignani's Messenger into Great Britain, except under a high rate of postage, it may now be received in the same way as the other Paris newspapers, viz. by payment of only one half-penny postage.

That interesting and elegant writer, the Marquis de Salvo, has commenced a series of anecdotes, sketches, and tales, under the title Papiers détachés; this work will no doubt have an extensive sale.

A valuable historical poem of the sixteenth century, entitled De Tristibus Francia, from a MS. in the civic library of Lyons, has been published at Lyons and Paris; the poem gives a minute description of the civil and religious wars of France under the sons of Catherine de Medicis, and represents, by a variety of illustrative tracings, the costumes, &c. of that eventful period.

Two literary novelties are announced, and are the subject of much conver

sation at Paris. The first, Sentiment de Napoleon sur la Divinité de Jesus Christ, is from the pen of M. de Bauterne, and will contain some hitherto unpublished papers written by the Emperor; the second, is a Dictionnaire de l'Armée de Terre, which occupied the late General Bardin during the last thirty years of his life. The first part of this highly interesting work is now ready.

GERMANY.

Baron von Hügel has published two volumes of his travels in the East, under the title of Kaschmir und das Reich der Siek, in which he relates his travels in a pleasing style. He appears to be an amiable man, and to have made a good use of his fortune, and, with all the bonhommie in the world, he contrives occasionally to direct the reader's attention. It would not be uninteresting to compare his report with that of our countrymen travelling in this direction. The work is to extend to four volumes; the two last will probably contain the history of Cashmir.

A work has been lately published under the title of Der Religions-Krieg in Deutschland, oder Elisabeth Stuart (The War of Religion in Germany, or Elizabeth Stuart), which contains an account of the fortunes of the Prince Palatine, son-in-law to James the First of England. The residence of the unfortunate pair in Holland is very interesting.

The Leipzig Easter Catalogue contains 4513 books that have already been published, and 424 that will be published in the course of the present year. The former were published by 527 booksellers: 650 works issued from the press for 74 Leipzig houses; 70 for 7 in Dresden; and in the rest of Saxony 10 publishers published 85 works; 165 Prussian booksellers published 1173 works, not one-third more than in Saxony. There were 449 works published in Berlin by 48 booksellers. In Vienna 183 books were published by 19 booksellers; the other cities of Austria contributed 108 works, (14 publishers.) Thus the whole number of works published in this extensive empire amounts to little more than one-third of those issued in the small kingdom of Saxony.

THE CENSORSHIP. During the Easter booksellers' fair, the two general meetings were held, at which the difficulties under which the trade laboured in consequence of the injurious restraints of the censorship were discussed. M. Reimer, one of the most respectable booksellers of Germany, whose publications are almost all of a highly valuable character, proposed a resolution, to the effect, that no bookseller should publish any works written by a person holding the office of censor. This extreme measure met with considerable opposition, and was finally declined. It was at length resolved to present a petition to the Saxon government, requesting it to use its influence with the Diet at Frankfort for the removal of the present provisory restrictions of the press, for bringing into active operation the 18th section of the well-known decree of the Diet, and for allowing in the mean time at least such a limited freedom of the press as had been granted by the Diet in 1819. A committee was appointed to conduct this affair.

A new edition of the works of Jacob Böhme is now in the course of publication in Leipzig. It will consist of six volumes, three of which have already appeared.

Several biographical accounts of John Brentz, the apostle of the Reformation in Würtemberg, have recently been published, the best of which is undoubtedly that edited by Messrs. Hartmann and Jäger, and published by Perthes.

Professor Haupt has just published the first number of a new periodical for German Antiquities (Zeitschrift für Deutsches Alterthum). Its contents are principally philological, and, judging from this first number, likely to prove