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    Attg. 10, 1850.] ©!> « %,eali*t. 476

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    THE LYRIC DRAMA. This week we have been ...

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    STRAND THEATRE. A pretty domestic drama ...

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    — "~ „ , * -? ? TtflffllTrWfW HT SfflWP JGHrliyvuxi U4- tiftUrUtW ?

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    THE ATMOSPHERE OF LONDON. It is a curiou...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Attg. 10, 1850.] ©!> « %,Eali*T. 476

    Attg . 10 , 1850 . ] ©!> « % , eali * t . 476

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    The Lyric Drama. This Week We Have Been ...

    THE LYRIC DRAMA . This week we have been treated to some music . Halevy and the •« French school " may split the ears of the groundlings for awhile , but the groundlings are not grateful , and hunger for something more like music . Instead of the noisy Juive and Tempesta we have had the Nozze di Figaro , the Huguenots , Norma , and Sonnambula . It is astonishing how fresh , youthful , and poetic-Bellini appeared after the laborious inspiration of Halevy . The grace and tenderness of his melodies , the broad simple outlines in which he delights , the mingled sensuousness and

    dreaminess of his style , stood out in strong relief from the unmelodic , broken , frittered , and ponderous style of that writer , whom a venal press has not hesitated to compare with Weber ; even Bellini ' s commonplaces —and they are abundant—and his meagre instrumentation had something respectable in them , given by the contrast . Mozart we name not . Neither , perhaps , is it quite fair to name Meyerbeer , whose Huguenots never pleased us so much as on Saturday ; or , if we name him , it must be to point out the difference between grandeur and noise — between massive writing and clanging of brass—between

    dramatic effects and theatrical surprises . We beg to assure the writer in La Revue des Deux Mondes ( if this should meet his eye , which is so probable ! ) that Halevy ' s success in England has not been owing to our " national vanity , " which Halevy is somewhat strangely supposed to have nattered in La Tempesta ; firstly , because it has been no success at all ; secondly , because the " national vanity " is at a loss to discover how it has been flattered . But stay ! let us reconsider this . Shakspeare is our national idol : every British man swells out his chest and walks an inch higher when he reflects that he , too , is a

    countryman of Shakspeare , and probably had s- une unexplained influence on Shakspeare ' s genius ; therefore , when a transcendant French genius—a Weber , Mozart , Beethoven , Meyerbeer in one , possessing all their qualities save invention , melody , and sciencewhen this composer for le premier theatre lyrique de l'Europe" condescends to wed the verse of Shakspeare ( in Scribe ' s crambe recocta ) to his music , of course the national vanity is in ecstacies , and we are so grateful to Halevy that we proclaim him the first of composers . That is the Frenchman ' s theory . Unhappily , in spite of the combined attractions of

    spectacle and novelty , the public will not crowd to hear this music . They prefer Mozart , they prefer Meyerbeer , they prefer Rossini , they prefer Bellini , they even prefer Donizetti , —the old operas of these composers are younger , fresher , more exhilarating than the antique novelty of a few days ! The fact is , genius is perennial : a thing of beauty is a joy for ever , its loveliness encreaseth—we have a poet ' s authority for saying so—and a genuine melody , a true musical expression of emotion , such as the great duo in the Huguenots , or Qual cor tradisti in Norma , carries greater effect than four hours of

    French school ingenuity . We had not seen Norma this season , and — shall we confess it ? — had a slumbering suspicion that we were tired of it . Error ! It came upon us like a dulcet memory of the past , it stirred us to enthusiasm twenty Halevys could not effect , and made us deeply sensible of the difference between music and orchestral ingenuity . Tamberlik in the finale sang with an intensity of expression which assured us that if he would only steady his magnificent voice , instead of cultivating the Rubini tremulousness , and learn to express by his face and gestures something of that emotion

    which thrills in his voice , he might take the very highest rank on the lyric stage . His success has given Mario unsuspected energy . Can he not learn from Mario to act as well as to sing ? Grisi ' s " Norma" remains her greatest creation . No other singer approaches her in that character ; and even now , when maternity and fifteen years of laborious singing have destroyed the exquisite perfection of her form , and robbed her voice of its freshness and power , she is still the grandest Priestess on the stage . Ah ! what a Norma stood before us fifteen years ago ! Who can forget the magnificence , the dignity , the divine beauty of Giulia Grisi as she

    stood at the altar , worthy to be a Priestess and to give laws unto a savage race who looked upon the perfection of her form as the temple of some superior spirit . Then her voice was worthy of her beauty : it was among voices what her form was among formsthe ideal of womanly grace , strength , and tenderness . It is something—it is much to say that on Tuesday she recalled the Norma we speak of , that at times she made us forget her forty summers in the inspiration and Hashing beauty of her countenance and in the impassioned accents of her voiceshe was pathetic , she was terrible , she was beautiful , she was young !

    Strand Theatre. A Pretty Domestic Drama ...

    STRAND THEATRE . A pretty domestic drama by Shirley Brooks , entitled Tho Daughter of the Stars , was produced on

    Monday . The incidents and situations are stagey , but the writing has a flavour and a freshness which raises the piece into the rank of comedy ; it sparkles with wit , and telling points , such as when the " Honourable Antony Ha wkstone " asks the "Gipsy " if she is unmarried and free from incumbrances , the wild girl replies " Incumbrances ? Oh , that is the name you Christians give to children , is n ' t it ? " The plot is somewhat difficult to handle ; unless we were to make a very long story of it we know not how we could do justice to the author . In this dilemma we quote the outline given in the Times . " An unsuspecting instru

    gipsy girl is used by a crafty lawyer as an - ment in a stratagem practised against a testy old gentleman , who shuts his door against his nephew , and looks out for another relative . The gipsy , who has been rescued by the nephew from a ruffianly farmer , and who , moreover , conceives a secret passion for him , joyfully asserts her supposed claim to the family estates , in the hope of ultimately restoring them . Her devotion is ill-rewarded . The governess who is employed to cultivate her mind , and on whom she has bestowed her friendship , turns out to be the wife of the man she loves , and the very person whose name she has been forced to assume , while the rascally lawyer

    who has contrived the plot proves to be her father . Mrs . Stirling as the •« Gipsy " was forced , hard , and unpicturesque ; there was little of the free air of the woods and fields about her , but something too much of the knowing fishwife ; in the second act , however , she was herself again , and played with genuine artlessness and pathos . Mr . G . Cooke as the oily lawyer was irreproachable : dress , tone , look , manner , nothing was overdone , nothing underdone . Farren was terribly inaudible , but the manner was perfect . Compton , as a classically educated butler , had some telling jokes to deliver , and they lost nothing of their point with him . Altogether the piece is very entertaining and was received with great applause .

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    The Atmosphere Of London. It Is A Curiou...

    THE ATMOSPHERE OF LONDON . It is a curious fact that we all smell of coal—that London , with all its inhabitants , whether living in Whitechapel or in Pirnlico , have constantly about them this scent . The most beautifully washed lace , the cleanest collar , the best brushed clothes , and the most immaculate hat , all alike carry about with them the smell of coal . The towns over England are all in the same condition—i , hey smell of coal ; the large manufacturing ones of course , although that is not very clear to themselves ; also the small county towns , and clean , fresh-smelling villages ; and the houses in the country also , isolated though they be , they are steeped in coal . But it may be asked how we know this ? It is known from the fact that people and things when they go abroad take this smell with them , and , if not known to themselves , they become at least known to their German friends to have about them an English odour—das englische Geruch . When we go into a peat-burning county , there is the same peculiarity , and the clothes of the most refined are actually disagreeable to the unrefined scent of the Highlander . We are bathed in coal , we live in an atmosphere of it , and indeed we owe too much to it to allow us to be ashamed of it . The same peculiarity belongs to those who burn turf ; they smell of turf , " and carry this about with them for a long time after they have left the place where it has been burnt . Even whisky distilled with turf has an odour of it left , which has been considered an advantage to it as a saleable article . The villages smell of turf at a distance , and every street has the odour of it left ; every wall even , every piece of furniture , the clothes and the food , with every dish , whether broken and shattered or in good preservation , clings still to the scent of the turf . If we use wood we have the choking and dry sensation caused by it , and the burning of the face if not defended by the use of a stove . In any case we cannot get rid of the effects of a substance diffused through the whole house , and mixed with all the atmosphere of the town . The inhabitants of the seacoast are subject to a peculiar prevailing atmosphere , in which everything becomes dipped in salt . On a stormy coast the furniture is salt , and moist also , —everything in fact ; the whole air contains the taste of salt , and smells of sea products . The delightful scent of " nicely-tedded hay" may be perceived far into towns and all over the country when it is being made . It is not wonderful then that London should be in some degree affected by what is continually going on in every part of it—the burning of coal . Nor is it wonderful that , when introduced , Sir Kenelm Digby should have complained that " The soot from the coals dirties tapestries , clothes on the hedges , " & c , " and has a great quantity of volatile oil , very sharp . " At the same time coal was not the greatest evil then , as the same writer says : — "We find that the most neat and polished silver plate exposed to the uir becomes in a short time livid and foul , which proceeds from no other cause than from the black atoms ( tho true colour of

    putredown a street and say with considerable certainty the amount of death and disease in it , so constantly do the numbers follow the order and care visible in a street . Any body accustomed to this examination and comparison will be practically acquainted with the " strange subtlety of little bodies which issue forth from living bodies , by means whereof our dogs in England will pursue the scent of a man ' s steps or of a beast ' s many miles . " believe Sir Kenelm

    »»* « ^ faction ") which stick into them . " He says also that people throw all kinds of filth into the street , which is carried away by tombrells . " When doing this the servants of my friend cover their plate and andirons of polished brass , and others of their fairest household furniture , otherwise they would be all tarnished . " This is not the result of coal smoke , but of something much worse and which even now London is not free from . It is quite possible to pass

    We are , however , scarcely able to when he says , " I have sailed by sea along the coast of Spain divers times , and have observed always that the mariners know when they are within thirty or forty leagues of the continent , and they have this knowledge from the smell of the rosemary which so abounds in the fields of Spain . " This might mean miles , and it would come nearer a statement mentioned by Boyle , that the coast of Ceylon may be perceived at a distance of sixteen miles by the sweet smells of that fragrant island . And yet there is

    a reason why these scents should go far ; they are formed of essential oils not easily decomposed , and , being themselves antiseptic , they can make their way by suppressing others . There is , perhaps , no doubt that finer odours really do go further than many coarser , and the opinion seems to have been general ; Bacon explains it by saying that they are more finely mixed , just as sweet sounds are best at a distance , and , also , " that all sweet smells have joined with them some earthy or crude odours ; and at some distance the sweet , which is the more spiritual , is perceived , and the earthy reacheth not so far . "

    It would thus appear that the influence of smells is by no means very small , or a thing by any means new ; it is even more probable that we are somewhat blunted in our perceptions . If odours are so subtle as these writers suppose , what numberless odours must be constantly flying about London . The odours perceptible to the senses are sufficiently great ; there is the great nuisance arising from the smell of beer , tobacco , and spirits , which

    should at least be removed from the pathway where every one must tread , and which is sufficiently nauseous to cause disgust , which is by no means good for the present health or the comfort , whatever be its ultimate results . Not to state particulars , it is only in certain streets , such as those where products for consumption are not sold , or , if sold , are kept in the best condition , and in the most suitable places in which a person of ordinary senses can walk undisturbed .

    We do hope that knowledge is so far progressed that the plan of curing pestilence and bad vapours , mentioned by Sir Kenelm Digby , is not now in use , although it does sometimes occur to us that it is so , and that the principle of " one bad smell curing another " is still a favourite . He says that " in time of contagion , or universal infection of the air , pigeons , cats , dogs , with other hot animals , use to be killed , which make continuall y a great transpiration or evaporation of spirits which issue forth of evaporation , the pestiferous atoms which are scattered in the air , and accompany it , use to stick to the feathers , skins , or furres . "

    We may readily believe that if odour can be perceived so far , and our clothes smell of coal when we go abroad , that we are really constantly in an atmosphere which does not consist of merely the oxygen and nitrogen which is so much mentioned . In fact these two elements , which seem the only portions of the air according to analysis , turn out to be of the least importance in a sanitary enquiry . They are the same everywhere , in good and bad air ; it is better , then , if we just let them , alone , and find out some things which make the difference between good and bad . Let us suppose coal .

    It has been among the first things complained of in London . The inhabitants got accustomed to all the animal impurities spoken of , but the new scent was a great nuisance . The soot from smoke is not quite dry , it has an oily matter in it , which gives it a power of fixing to all articles with which it comes in contact . Houses become black , it sticks to the stones , it sticks to painted plaster houses and they must be frequently renewed . And yet it would not be wise to complain of the smoke in the west end of London , when the wind is

    blowing from the west . Tho air is clear , and vegetation is not impeded so far as smoke is concerned . Another evil comes into operation , one which is also perceptible in all parts of London , namely , dust . But the most glaring evil is the smoke ; the dust is confined to very dry weather . Of the smoke , however , we must speak in a second article , having merely stated here that the air is filled with substances not only apparent to our senses , but dust , which is often sufficiently distinct to be felt and handled .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 10, 1850, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10081850/page/19/