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932 THE LEADEB. [Ko. 340, Saturday,
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' ; : ~ : jfi n 4 <llL4T£ ^lri0* <r .
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. - . . . ? .. ¦ •¦ ¦ • • THE MONDAY EVE...
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A Hungarian Refugee at Hull has been sta...
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THE WEEK AT THE THEATRES. Mr. Euckstone ...
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Out promised notice of Perdita at the Ly...
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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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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932 The Leadeb. [Ko. 340, Saturday,
932 THE LEADEB . [ Ko . 340 , Saturday ,
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. - . . . ? .. ¦ •¦ ¦ • • The Monday Eve...
. - . . . ? .. ¦ •¦ ¦ • THE MONDAY EVENIH"a CONCERTS . It was ' for a long time debated whether the English people had or had not any taste for music ; and until very recently scepticism counted the greatest number of adherents . In spite of the multitude of barrel organs , pianoforte organs , brass bands , ballad-singers , and other ' discoursers of music , ' -thronging tlie streets of London and other large towns , it was loudly affirmed that the Anglo-Saxon had no harmony in his soul . Popular music in those times , no doubt , was bad enough in quality ; but its wide diffusion ought to have shown observers —and did show some few—that the capacity and tendency to te moved by the musician ' s art existed in the hearts of the humblest of our countrymen . In earlier days , England was the most conspicuous musical nation in Europe ; and , when Shaksieare and Milton lived and wrote , the virginal and voice were often heard in quiet , ruslirstrewn chambers , and the working man plied his craft to songs of mirth or gentle sadness . : Several experiments of late years have again developed the partly dormant love of music . Mr . Hullau has done much to instruct the popular mind in the science of harmony ; and Exeter Hall has had its crowds of enthusiastic shilling listeners . . Therefore we conceive the projectors of the Monday Evening Concerts for the People did rightly in appealing to the misses on a still more liberal ground—thejr scale of admission being threepence , sixpence , and a shilling " . The undertaking has met with the high sanction and approval of such men as Sir Edward Lytton Boiweb , Charles Dickens , Douglas Jei $ kolt > , Leigh Hunt , Sir Joskph Paxtost , & c . ; and we believe the general public have responded heartily to the appeal made to them . But on Monday evening the directors thought they would take a further step in the direction of educating the popular mind in a love of beauty and art . They therefore determined on giving , between the two acts of the concert , a lecture on the cultivation of the beautiful , and they induced Mr . Lkigh Hunt not only to write this essay ( for vrliich assuredly no living author is so fit ) , but to take the chair . Those who Know Mr . Hunt ' s studious and scholastic habits will i ) e able duly to appreciate the kindnes 3 and deep interest in the success of tlie undertaking wliich . must have moved hint in thus coining out of his honoured retirement , arid , for the first time in his long life , presiding over a public meeting . However , there , on Monday evening , was the friend of Siieixey andLamb , the literary father of Keats , tlie embodied spirit of the Examiner in its early days , of the Indicator ' , the Companion , and a hundred other brilliant scintillations of the periodical press . There , in the great Hall called of St . Martin , was the literary teacher of half a century , surrounded by several of his younger brethren , among whom were Mr . Henry Matthew and Mr . Stocqueier ; and there also was gathered a large audience , intent on harmony . The singers and other performers consisted of Miss Bmcur , Miss Augusta Manning , Mr . Bodda , Mr . Donald Kiso , & c . ; and the music Avas of all sorts , ranging from a scena in Weber ' s Fr-eischutz to " Tom Bowling" and the " Death of Nelson . " Upon the conclusion of the first part of the concert ( we quote from the Morning Post " ) , Mr . Stocqueler advanced and informed the audience that , although it -was hot his intention , as announced in the bills , to give a selection from the old poets on that occasion , he would , with therr permission , read the address prepared by Mr . Hunt . This he proceeded to do , after a short preface , expressing the honour and pleasure he felt in reading anything by such an author , although he had not time to look it over . Before , however , Mr . Stocqueler had gone very far in the reading of tbe paper , he found that bis voice was not strong enough to fill the hall , and the audience became so restless and impatient , tliat he resigned the task to Mr . Henry Moyhew . This gentleman recommenced the paper , and , thanks to his distinct utterance , every word of it was heard . The subject of Mr . Hunt's address was on the perception of the beautiful , and the advocacy of its more general cultivation , so as to place within , the reach of every one those cheaply-earned pleasures the artist can
extract from the contemplation of the commonest objects . It related to the unnatural strife between the beautiful and the iiseful , each being necessary to the other as com pleting tneir respective perfection . These primary subjects treated of by the authmwere varied by aihasing anecdotes and illustrations , and the paper was in everv «« worthy of its distinguished author . . y The essay closed with a quotation from the garden scene in the fifth act of thp Merchant of Venice , where there is a well-known passage on tnusic written in tllo highest style of Platonism and mystical analogy . This was anight Above th * audience ; for Englishmen , though rapidly advancing in their comprehension of music , are as yet lamentably behindhand with respect to poetrv T Zin terms , tlicy loudly signified their disapproval . At this , Mt . Mathe ' jv eallam v turned upon the malcontents , and said they must pardon him if he told them that the impatience they had exhibited was ungracious on their part towards Mr . Hwkt : — . He reminded the audience that it was not , in former days r so easv a matter as it is now to be an advocate of the popular cause ; and that Mr- Hunt " in his time had suffered incarceration for their sake . ( A Voice : " God bless him ! " ) He had nowleft Ins study and retirement , to take , for the first time in his life , the chair at a ' public meeting . He had come to assist in the promotion of these entertainments ,, because it was thought that they would have the effect of placing luxuries and refinements which 3 iad hitherto been the enjoyment of the few within the reach of the ananv . Mr Mayhev concluded , his address by informing the audience that Mr . Hunt was about to leave the chair . One of the objectors here had the candour to say th . it it was Skakspeare they complained of , not Leigh Hunt ; and the whole assemblage ratified this by giving three cheers for the prince of living essayists , who mnde his acknowledgments with rriuch emotion ; and retired . The second part of the concert then proceeded . This insensibility to poetry was exhibited in a similar way last week . Miss "Vandekhoff—a lady who played Antigone about eleven years ago with singular grace and power—gave a reading , at the new Music Hall iii the Surres-Gardt . us , from Midsummer Nigh ? s Dream , with Mendelssohn's music , sung by Miss Poole and others . Tlie music was liked , but Miss Vandenhof * met with considerable impatience from some of the auditors , who were at length put to shame by the singular pertinence of the following passages in the quarrel scene between Helena , TIermia , Lysander , and Demetrius—passages delivered with peculiar point and relish by the fair reader : — If you were menj as rncn you are in show , You would not \ xse a gentle lady so . And , further on : — If you hare any pity , grace , or manners , You would not make me such an argument . But , fare 3 'e well : ' tis partly mine own fault ; Which deatb , or absence , soon shall remedy . Let us not , however , be disheartened . A people which can learn to love music may ia time be taught to appreciate poetry .
A Hungarian Refugee At Hull Has Been Sta...
A Hungarian Refugee at Hull has been starved to ' death . - His name was Adolphe de Werdinsky , arid he had been a medical man in the army of Kossuth . At tbe close of the Hungarian struggle , he came to London , where he received about 2000 / . from , a relative in Russia ; 1 / 500 & of this he invested in the iron business , but he was swindled by a Jew partner , and ruined . He afterwards resided at Southampton , in Holland , and at Hull , where lie endeavoured to teach languages under tlie name of Dr . Beck . Ho lived in a respectable house , and struggled to keep up an appearance of being in good circumstances , when he was in fact in the sharpest extremity of want . Since he came to England , he has married , and his wife and one child remain . After his death , his corpse was found lying on a misorable bedtick , covered with a single scanty blanket , laid on an . old door ; and this , with the exception of two' or three old chairs , was literally the only furniture the house contained . A decent appearance had been maintained ty a couple of clean -window-blinds ; but beyond this nothing but desolation and the most abject poverty was ¦ visible . Of clothes the unfortunate inmatea wero comparatively destitute , although the most persevering efforts have been made to keep their poverty from the jublic eye . Amidst all their deprivation , the child was apportioned more than , its share of their scanty meal , yet the ravages of hunger are now detected in its bcliaviour while playing , which weie previously only attributed to childish whim . Mr . W . J . Fox at Oldham . —A political speech was delivered at Oldham on Wednesday by Mr . W . J . Fox , who met a party of his constituents . * Tho veteran politician spoko of the last session as " a session « t nonontitiea | " ridiculed the Conservatives as . being split into fooftao Kidevoidof any intelligible policy ; approved ¦ ¦ «?*!» ^* lmerat ° n making peace , though he felt disap-Fw ^ i . war hud not been " crusade against deapotlatu universall y , " and anticipated the time when SemierTwr ^^ 6 ht ' and demanded that the we ToL twf £ \ f ??* 8 omo "on ^ tic Policy . " Are pL « Ip * W « f ° i ° Be 88 ion t 0 8 cfi 9 ion ? " *> ked Mr . s ^ aiaitaaLrssK 1 ^
means of carrying on that great progress throughout the country which has been begun by the people themselves , and which only needs tlie Government to give it free course ia order to establish the most glorious results ? I hear nothing of all this . Lord Palmerston is said to have summoned the members of his Cabinet to meet together in November , in order to propound the bills which they wish to prepare for the next session ; and I suppose after that we shall lmow something ; and so we still remain in tlie state -which . I described at the beginning—of waiters upon Providence and upon Palmerston . " Mr . Fox concluded by denouncing aristocratic government . , Sin Jabiks Graham upon Agriculture . —The an-r nual exhibition of stock and im plements in connexion with the East Cumberland Agricultural Society was held upon tho Castle-green , Carlisle , beneath the walls of the old border fortress , on Saturday last- A large party subsequently sat down to dinner at the Bush ' Hotel , Mr . Henry Howard , of Grej'stoko Castle , occupying tho chair . In answer to the toast of " Tho members for the city , " Sir James Graham made a long speech , in , which , though promising to observe the rule of not introducing any political allusions , he reviewed his parliamentary life , and said that lie had no cause to regret any of tho measures he had supported . Alluding to agricultural matters , ho said : —" Sir John Moxwoil ( ono of the guests ) hopes that the Emperor of Russia may roign over » a free and loyal people . Tbnt lie will reign over a loyal people , a cordial people , I fully hope and believe , That he will reign over a free people I do not expect , and as an agriculturist I do not much desire it , for , if tliero bo danger to a foreigner , one thing is obvious—namely , that that danger must arise from freedom on tho part of tho cultivators of tho soil . Excuse mo if I record a sentiment which I read tho otlier day—a sentiment which donotcd groat and profound wisdom , Montesquieu , in visiting England nearly a century ago , was struck with tho superior produce of this country in comparison with that of Franco , and ho wondered at that superiority on perceiving < mr climato so very inferior . Ho saw at once that our soil was not nearly t so good us that of France , and lio makes this reflection , That the produce of land depends less on tho fertility of tho soil than on tlie freedom of the cultivator . ' A
profound observation , general as conceived by him , true to the letter iu its application . I shall never entertain the slightest apprehension of foreign riyalry till I see that all Europe exhibits the freedom of the tenant . " Sir James Graham recommended Cumberland farmers t o cultivate corn less , and to introduce the growth of flax by way of rotation . He thought , also , they grazed too little , and he warned them against their tendency to grow potatoes . u It is a tender plant ; it has become an uncertain plant . If you grow potatoes , relying upon the railroads for facility of exporting them , you will make the most fertile land perfectly sterile , it is a gambling transaction . If you plant upon good land , the crop is always doubtful , and the loss severe . If it is a good crop , it impoverishes the land to an extent which no ultimate advantage ean compensate . I am therefore extremely anxious to discourage the growth of potatoes on a largo scale . " After tho delivery of Severn 1 other speeches , the meeting broho up . Charge of Poisoning . —A charge of administering a poisonous draught to a young -woman , named Catherine Mrisscy , has been brought at Worship-sticct , against John Reid , a beer-shop keeper in the Bcthnal Green-road . According to the girl ' s statcin ent ,. a glass containing ; some frothy liquor like ginger-beer was handed to her by the landlord , after drinking which , she became alarmingly ill . Roid ' s defence is that the girl herself caught up tho tumbler and drank off the contents , whi « h consisted of twopennyworth of turpentine and the same quantity of liquid ammonia , to be used for removing grease stains . Ho was bound over on his own recognizances to appear again next week . The Royal , Bkitish Bank . —Tho hearing of petitions with respect to this bank took place before Vice-Chancellor Kindorslcy at tho Angol Hotel , Bury St . Edmund ' s , on Wednesday afternoon . . The petitions of Mr . Adolphus Sherman , Mr . Robert Moo , General Achison , and Mr . Jeremiah Harridgo having been received , and Mr . Ilotherington having stated on behalf of tho corporation and directors that they desire the winding-up , but wish it to boaschcapl j' managed as possible , the Vice-Chancellor said ho had no doubt the Winding-, up Act ought to bo adopted iu this case . Ho should make an order on all four petitions , tho coats to be allowed out of tho eatato . A
The Week At The Theatres. Mr. Euckstone ...
THE WEEK AT THE THEATRES . Mr . Euckstone has revived The Inconstant at the Haymarket , for the purpose of introducing to the London stage an American actor , a Mr . Murdoch , who plays Young Mirabel in . a munner which , has won for him the loud applause of his audience . II « was supported by Mr . Chippendale , Mr .. W . Faruen . and Miss Talbot . —DttURr Lanes has been amusing its frequenters with a iravestiei of Pizarro as produced at the Princess ' s—Mr . Keeley performing the Spanish , hero , Mrs . Keeley liolla , and Mrs . Frank Matthews Cera : a humorous combination , which is certain to be crowned with success .
Out Promised Notice Of Perdita At The Ly...
Out promised notice of Perdita at the Lyceum must unavoidably stand over till next week .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 27, 1856, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27091856/page/20/
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