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power , is a blockhead ; and we know very well that the Minstrel will carry off the Princess and annihilate his spangled rival—know it because the Minstrel is a " darling" with a fine contralto voice ; and how could Miss Nelson resist that ? Through the terrors of fire and water Miss Huddart—we mean the Minstrelpasses without once flinching . The tcay in which she does it we advise you to go and see . Then will your eye be enchanted with some real Easter splendour , and your ear be caressed with some dulcet notes from Miss Nelson , Miss Huddart , and the sprightly , pretty Miss Rafter . You may , perhaps , if critical , wish Miss Nelson would be a little more loving in her fondness and more distressed in her anguish ; and 3 'ou may wish Miss Huddart ' s no"hle voice were allied to something like spirit in delivery and energy in acting . But on the whole yott will be delighted . One word more : Where , oh ! where did Mr . Anderson p ick up the male dancer who executes the pas in the first scene ? That man is worth going to see . His dancing is the perfection of its kind—but we hasten to add that it is not in ease , vigour , grace , or aplomb that he excels , but in
qualties the reverse of these . Haymakket . —The Brothers Brough have missed one glorious opportunity in their piece—it was to make Keeley the Ivanhoe , or at any rate , the truculent Brian de Bois Guilbert ! As the irresistible hero , Keeley would have been irresistible ; as the fierce Templar he would have been sublime . Not that his Isaac of York could be better ; but he is thrown away upon it . Except in his accompaniment of " Old clo ' , old do ' , to the "Si come gentile" parody , and his singing of " Sam Hall , " there was nothing worthy of him . Mrs . Keeley was , morover , ill suited to Ivanhoe . The rich , ripe vulgarity of her style , found no employment . Bland is the crowned Emperor of Burlesque ; but in CedHc
the Saxon , he was somewhat out of his line , which is not the bluff , but the magnificent . Selby ' s " make up " and acting in the Templar were capital ; and Miss P . Horton was perfect as Rebecca . Her mad scene was a charming bit of vocalization . The burlesque is very amusing ; crowded with jokesancient indeed , and of the kind humourous from their badness—mirth-exciting from their audacity—and interspersed with some good hits at passing events . The conception of Isaac of York as the ancestor of Moses and Son , selling slop armour , is very humorous and that of Wamba as a" retailer of Joe Millerisms , is not bad—but becomes wearisome on the stage . Nothing could be better than the tournament , with King John as Widdicomb arid Wamba as Clown . _ The main defect in the piece is , that it is merely a few scenes filled up with jokes
and parodies . But we must riot criticise sucli pieces . The Lyckum . —Mr . Planche has committed an elaborate mistake in " Cymon and Iphigenia . " It is the revival of an exploded form of entertainmentexploded because found to be so dull ; and the very feeble modicum of satire which has been thrown into it , fails to make it lively . The scenery is beautiful ; the dresses recal our grandmother ' s mantelpieces and the Dresden manufactory ; the songs are pleasing but riot very charming ; and the piece itself " drags it slow length along . " There was something satirical in the idea , and it might have been amusing for one scene . But the dialogue is feeble throughout , and somnolence threatened us in almost every part . The best scene was that with Frank Mathews , who played the deaf old woman capitally , and sang the S'iii * of " Seventy-two " with great effect . " The Island of Jewels" continues its triumphant career , as the must superb spectacle ever put upon the stage , and it will be the real Easrer piece . The Princess ' s Ttibatub . —The new " Tale of Enchantment" called . "The
Queen of the Hoses , " is merely a pretext for gorgeous costumes and beautiful scenery ; but these are sufficiently well arranged to make a very attractive spectacle . But the story ? — Oh , as for that—ask Canning ' s Knife Grinder !
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OVERLAND FROM REGENT-STREET TO CALCUTTA . Tur moving diorama of the overland route to India , from Southampton to Calcutta , which opened this work at the Gallery of Illustration in liegrntstrcet , is by far the best sample of its c ' a ^ s tint we h ave seen . It combines the largest amount of artistical skill with the greatest tact in selecting salient points , and the greatest ingenuity in managing thrf scenio effect . The errors of some previous attempts—in which a-. tists took part , n . t less able than those engaged upon the present work—have been instructive , and Ave see the result . There
has , however , been an extraordinary union of professional talent and travelled experience in getting up the view : the raw materials have been furnished by Roberts , in sketches from India ; by amateurs , in sketches from the Indian Ocean , Ceylon , and the Peninsula ; and in costumes from the different countries . The work is executed by Thomas Grieve and William Telbin , for the scenery ; John Absalom , for the figures ; W . F . Herring , senior , and H . Weir , for the animals . Mr . Stocqueler supplies a very rapid but intelligible explanation , viva vocc , all the better for being plain and unaffected ; considerably helped , too , by « i light yet manly voice .
Of course in the immense extent of ground traversed it is not possible to dwell upon more than the most striking points , and a very proper licence is taken in allowing plenty of time to the contemplation of the characteristic scenes , while the intermediate spaces nro passed ovor with the utmost velocity . Although the exhibition therefore occupies some time , it is , from first to last , animated and interesting . From the docks or Southampton you pass the Isle of Wight with Osborne House ; the Spanish coast with its stormy bay , its characteristic barques ; Cintra ; tho Tagus ; Saint Vincent and Trafalgar , with a war fleet ; Tnrifn . ; Gibrakar , with its am phi theatric town , and excavated galleries ; Algiers ;
Malta ; Alexandria ; the Mahmoudee-yeh . Canal ; Boulac ; Cairo , with its charaetciistic groups ; tho Desert , its dying c . anel , caravan , omnibus station , and mounted wanderers ; the Red rtca , with its scriptural memories ; Aden ; Ceylon ; and Calcutta , the city of palaces . Some of these scenes are viewed by night , but mostly in the broad sun of day . In ail parts the effect is very striking ; in some , as in the ship that passes in the half distance between the spectator and the moonlight , the union of pictoiial and mechanical contrivance is complete . You rise from your two hours' session with the feeling that you really have attained something that may pass as a substitute for tho experience of the voyage itself .
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KAl ' I . llACH ' H NEW CAUTOON . Lkttkics from Munich speak in terms of high rulo ^ ium of a splendid cartoon just rojjiplcrcd by M . Kaulbarh for a new historical picture . The subject is Witikind , tla- Nuxon chief , surnuidr ring to the victorious Cliarh inagne , and is to be executed in oil on iiurauil si-nle for the trustees of the . Slndel Institute at Frankfort .. Tlie artists who ' trout of this passage in history bring usually , if Germans , at once Franks Mid Christians , it i .- common to scr the nation which carried on war for thirty years « i » h f / harlrmn ^ nn r \> icaoutcd as a set , of idiotic , besotted snvayes , to whom the sout . herns and the lri * h monk , Boniface , had to teach the arts of life . This view M . Kaulbach has departed from , introducing amongst the groups of Saxons , figures of grout beauty , with an expression of proud intelligence , while the more prominent
betray by their looks a " nd gestures the rage of disappointed ambition , and the dismay attending the conviction of their overthrown nationality . Witikind is represented as cool amidst the tumult of conflicting passions , betraying neither the subservience of a tamed savage nor the excitement of a recent convert . He meets the FranKfsh monarch as an eqftal who has been fighting with disproportioned arms , and who hats been subdued but is not dishonoured . This is in perfect keeping with historical truth ; for we are told that Witikind spent many years of his early life at the FranRisli Ctfurt , and owed his fame in a great part to the lessons he here learned . As he was doUbtlessf , even while successful , reproached whh being fond of Frankish customs , so in this scene the Saxon leaders are represented pointing to him as to the arch-traitor who had ruined his country and betrayed it to a rival race . The historical majesty of the event is indicated by the calmness with which priests are erecting a Christian altar in the place of the old Irminsul , the idol to which , though prostrate In . the dust , a group of women and priests are frantically clinging .
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SXIGr fTS . There are certain insults one can never openly avenge ; tneffe tfre Certain pangs under which one must never wine ? because of their apparent insignificance . I say apparent , for the reality is powerful enough : as the sting of a sna ' ke is' tforse than the kick of a horse . Bat in these cases the self love is top proud tb betray its weakness ; it will not stoop ta show its wound , and is deprived of all the 6 'alm of " explanation . " . . , A slight is one of these . The self love is not the less offended because the cattse be trifling : the pricking of a pin is mortal if the point be envenomed , and trifles kill affection when thev are embittered by the imagination . Yet no one likesC to notice a slight—to interrogate the culprit and discover if it were rherefy accidental , or if , indeed , intentional , because the amour propre is too proud to show its wounds .
THE THItEE STAGES OF MORAL JUDGMENT . Youth is cruel and intolerant towards the faults of others , only because it has not learned to pardorr its ' own . Age in its retrospect learns tolerance . There are three epochs—three stages of development in the sensitive mind . The one , when flushed with faith and hope , it contemplates everything in its own bfigjit colours , and the splendour of enthusiasm is shed over Hfe , then the world and the future pass before us but as pageants of the fancy . The second , when having ventured into the black and swollen torrent of life , we find it a torrent , not a wa . veless lake * reflecting cloudless skies : then the mind , oh discovering its false estimate , decides , by a natural revulsion of feeling , that all is false and bad ; one insincere friend and to
destrovs confidence in mankind ; , the sceptic ' s srreer finds ready welcome , return " scorn for scorn is deemed the highest wisdom . The third [ stage is wheri a truer philosophy , evolved frdrrr a more extended experience , teaches that this world is not a vale of blood and tears , neither is it the vision , of a dreaming youth ; bqt a world of endeavour , sweetened by exquisite sympathies and unexampled delights , full of sunshine and beauty , off hope and recompense , of rapture and vaiitty : —teaches us that men are not angels , neither are they devils—but men : men with manifold short-comings , wants , errors , inflrmiUes , weaknesses , and prejudices j bit * having underneath all these tears of sympathy , faculties of pleasure ; rtobje ' resolves , ' passionate aspirings , and undying affections ; men , who are Vicious only because they are urivm ' e ; who are cruel only when they art * weak . In a word , this philosophy teaenes thijt m the darkest pit of sorrow , though dark as night , there is still a . soft light , as of stars , beaming benignly on us .
ENGLISH COMPOSITION IVY FRENCH WOMEN . The strange mistakes of idiom which foreigners make have caused abundant la ' ughter . A German with whinn we were playing billiards once told us that he could play 110 longer " because my brother treads upon me , " i . e ., is waiting for me ! And a charm . ing young lady of our acquaintance was described by an Italian as '' full of delight she is so spirituous and abandoned / " We were once floundering in a German bog ; , at imminent risk of never getting out , when a companion in peril leaned upon our arm and shivered forth this plaint , " Oh , I shall receive a disease . " But we hate now to treat our readers with a specimen of English composition by a French lady—a pi e : n on the birthday of a friend : — " iMean showy world clean fo-getting Heavenly llope comfort gutting " , Yon ' 11 be happy tlii- next year ' s days TJnBompelleil vows triune ! only says . "
If that were Greek , how it would task the commentators ! A CHAPTER OF ll- 'S . " J / is the only peace-maker : —much virtue in if . "—sJs You Like It . There is a vast philosophy in if . This philosophy the reader is at perfect liberty to delect , for himself . . If is the first palpitation of Hope , and the last ugh of Regret . If is uttered by the Boy with careless confidence ; by the Man vfilh ceaseless re *« \ Ve ' 11 have such a game o' cricket , " says the boy exultingly , having already in his eye the prodigious " innings " he shall euj > y . " If master gives us a holiday , " he continues carelessly . - " I should now be rolling in my carriage , " says the melancholy merchant , " tf I hadn ' t dabbled in the funds . " Small ?// .... „ ,....
•• I should be hale and vigorous , " sighs the dyspeptic , " tf I had taken exercise , and had eaten rationally . " Trifling *// ,.-,.. , , , " My child would have been a comfort to me in my old age , ' Sighs the weak father , "if I hadn ' t over-indulged him . " Insignificant »/ 7 ^ In a word , on this small if rests our whole existence ; % J is the moral and physical foundation of the universe ! 11 How so ? " asks the reader . If it hadn't been made ! " acRAra or thought . I . Sin is the gate of Sorrow ; Sorrow of Doubt ; Doubt of Struggle ; Struggle of II . Those brutally frank men who boast of their frankness , flay you alive to keep you from feeling the cold . III . The highest effort of American intellect hitherto has been to make paradoxes
P > IV . Mathematics or Logic should never attempt to prove that which Intuition * ' V . Solitude is necessary to our spiritual health , but it should be a medicine and not a fond . . . . •*! . •* f . ¦ . VJ . Too much moralizing prevents us from having either great moralists or a heroic morality . . . . . . VII . The fear of prejudice is the sign of a weak mind ; all strong minds have strontr prejudices . VIII Odin was said to be the wisest of the gods , because he had diunk out of Mimir ' s fountain ; but for that draught he was obliged to give one of his eyt-s in pledge * thus he had only one eye . 111 the name way it is that we often acquire wisdom ' . By veiling the natural oje , the eye of mere sense and understanding , we acquire " a spiritual vision , n cHestiul intuition , by which we first rise to the possession ami the enjoyment of the divine .
.,.., ... „ . , IX . When we view the world as Poets , we kcc it better than it is ; as Prophtts , worse ' than it is ; as Philosophrrs , us it is ; as Men , sometimes better , norm times worse than it is , and sometimes aa it is . But , as the Poet , the Prophet , the Philosopher , the Man , speak in us by turns , how rash ana capricious our judgments will seem , though all the while we arc conscious of nothing but sincerity !
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I April 6 , 1850 . ] & % t 3 L $ a&tt * 45 _
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Leader (1850-1860), April 6, 1850, page 45, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1839/page/21/
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