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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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CLOSE OF MR . ALBERT SMITH'S " SEASON" AT THE EGYPTIAN ? HALL . Mb . Albebt Smith , on Saturday evening , bade his audience a temporary farewell , preparatory to recruiting himself for a few months in his favourite land , and renewing his impressions of that great mountain which he has rendered almost aa familiar to the home-staying Londoner as to himself . By this time , he is either tip at the top of Mont Blanc , or sunning himself at the foot ; no longer bored with the necessity of repeating his story more ijhan the thousand-and-first time at the same hour , or of racking his brain for sparkling verse-chronicles of the events of the day , almost of the moment , wedded to airy tunes , and sum ? ofF-hand with exhaustless spirit , life , and
humour . He has gone to the scene of his successes ; partly to enjoy his own well-earned repose and recreation , partly to look out for fresh materials for our amusement . He will leave behind him , in the minds of _ his thousand ^ visitors , many pleasant recollections of ^ this the most perennial of exhibitions a perfect wake of cheerful and kindly thoughts . He has popularised Mont Blanc ; has introduced the Monarch of Mountains to the hearths and homes of John Bull and his children ; and has rendered it almost a fashion to make the ascent . The enterprises of which we have recently read may very possibly have been suggested at the Egyptian Hall ; and thus the jRraacious tongue of Mr . Albert Smith and the vivid pencil of Mr . ijBVjsRinr have been the means of raising recruits for the great army of Swiss , tourists .
; ; When we say that the performance of Saturday night was the eleven hundred and fifty-fifth , we need make no further remark as to the extraordinary success which has been achieved . To this success , the lecturer made * : pleasant allusion in his farewell speech , some passages in which we ¦ append : — b ilt is very difficult in an address of this kind to keep quite clear of anything that fnay be construed into an expression of egotism or conceit—in fact , inflicting that most terrible of all bores upon hearer 3—talking about yourself . You -will , I trust , ft # auit me of this . Vanity , presently , even after hearing the following extract . I J&Hght , by . chance , - at a book-stall the other day , a volume of plays , amongst which SrasJtb-e Upreito of one of the celebrated " Mathews' Entertainments . " It was called mk-Mail Coach Adventures , and in a memoir of Mr . Mathews that preceded it , I ^ a * iamusedT > y ! this remark : — " That one man should have it in his power to please % r fertjr nights successively is almost incredible . Still , it is no less strange than ttfujar' - 'ItowVladies and gentlemen ^ I have told you the same story , in the same room , ¦ uji'to -this evening , ' eleven hundred and fifty-five times . I was never so fortunate as to hear Mr . Mathews ; but from what I have heard of him , I should imagine I
am no more to be compared to him than Mr . Waverley Belleville , the light comedian , £ f-, $ ho Theatre . Koyal , Stoke Pogis , is to the Charles Mathews of our own days . I attribute this quocess . to two causes—firstly , to studying your amusement , and sejjpndly , your . comfort , in a practical , straightforward manner . „ : Wi ^ h respect to your amusement , I endeavoured to preserve it from degenerating ipfoTipre , by , Jceeping it within moderate limits , and fixing the time of the com-~ d 6 ncement ' at * an hour possibly better suited to the habits of 1854 than of a century " V 3 iW , ' ; I put a ' jclo'dk beiforo you that you might be your own timekeepers , and the few 1 fflinu ! t 6 s 6 f interval between the parts have been , I am sure I may say , most punctuate ^ observe ^ . '' ' I hope you will allow me to say , in addition , so anxious was I for this ^ regularity to be ( observed , that during four years , under every circumstance of health , and spirits , and business , I have never abridged the lecture of an important-sentence , flj Or . been half a minute behind my time ; and , above all , I endeavoured to avoid , as / nuch A 3 ppssible , the cant of ? ' instruction . " Aa Fielding observes in the preraoo to tfMpph Andrew * i- ^ * Nay , I will appeal to common observation , whether the same companies are not found more full of good humour and benevolence , after they
jgfye ^ been sweetonod , for two or three hours , with entertainments of this kind , than 0 g $ jen soured by a tragedy or a dull lecture . " Jo itaving alluded , as in his address last year , to the arrangements for pre-, Tenting extortion , Mr . Albebt Smith concluded with a promise which all his hearers will sincerely desire to bo realised : — ^ I-ftopo to find myaolf in Ohamouni , with my old knapsack , my old blouse , and my did guides , on Thursday morning , to see what new subjects may present themselves for our future evenings together . And I shall return through Paris , staying there as iongas I can , that I may have something to tell you about its exhibition on my retttrn . ; I have heard , I may mention privately , that , with all the splendour of the { Pjalace . of Industry , nothing ia equal to the exhibition " Brown" is making of himself j » that capita }; and I shall especially watch him . In the pictorial department I yfioalj , aa , usual , have the advantage of the co-operation of my friend Mr . William fleyerly . And now , anticipating the pleasure of meeting you hero again before VUrlsttnaa , and wishing you during the recess all the hofllth and happiness that you TUm ' pbtiBlbly desire , I very gratefully bid you good-by .
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Vauxhall , after remaining closed for more than a year , has been at length reopened by Mr . E . T . Smith , of Drury Lane , though at a very advanced season . ** The Royal property , " however , has not lacked ifcs ^ ay dancers arid sight-seers ; but the fact that the proceeds during the pasfweekAvere to be devoted to the relief of the widows and orphans of those who have fallen at the storming of Sebastopol no doubt contributed to draw the benevolent to the gardens . Mr . Simpson , of Cbemobne , has also been devoting his place of entertainment to the same charitable purpose ; to which end " Sebastopol has been taken in mimic show—and without the too real accompaniment of any disasters to the gallant Grenadiers .
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SADLER'S WELLS THEATRE . The Tempest was produced at this theatre on Thursday last , for the third time , we believe , during the present management . There was , therefore , so little novelty in the revival , that we almost wonder at the temerity of Mr . Phelps in announcing it in his bills with all the » ostentation of a fresh piece . For the last three or four seasons at Sadler ' s Weils , we have noticed a growing indolence , if we may so term it , on the part of Mr . Phelps . Feeling himself , apparently , secure in the position he has fairly won in public estimation , he has done but little during the time we mentioned to deserve a continuance of support . A few years ago , Sadleb ' s Wells regularly produced its three or four good revivals every season . Now , one is about as
many as Mr . Phelps will treat his patrons to . Pericles , for instance , was the only real novelty of the last season . The company , too , has declined in strength year by year , until it is now about as ineffective as it is possible for such a mechanically trained company to be . It requires but a very recent intimacy with dramatic matters to remember the time when Mr . Phelps could boast of having many sterling performers in his theatre — -when a piece well produced by him embraced the talents of Mr . Geohge Bennett , Mr . Mabston , Mr . Ckeswick , Mr . A . Yopnge , and Mr . Schabf . Of these , Mr . Mabston alone remains . Who fill their places ? We mean no disparagement to the performers at present forming the Sadleb ' s Wells corps ; but we are compelled to state that there is not one of them who can claim comparison with the actors we have named .
That this is matter of general opinion rather than of individual criticism may be gathered from the complaints which , for a long time past , have been uttered by the frequenters of " the Wells" at the ineffective manner in which Mr . Phelps is so often supported . There is a supineness in the administration of every part of this theatre . The _ f house itself remains as hot and uncomfortable as ever ; the box-keepers are just as exacting and extortionate . The band is as utterly reckless of time and harmony as in the good old gory days of the melodrama , and the same ancientarid exhausted farces conclude the entertainment . Surely this ought not to be . Filled as the theatre is every night , Mr . Phelps has no -excuse for allowing these things to remain
unconnected . If Mr . Phelps , reposing upon the laurels he has already won , thinks there is no further need of exertion , he is deceiving himself , and the public will some day tell him so in a manner he will not like . Audiences will decrease little by little , if they find the same old pieces continually served up to them with a few new scenes , dresses , and effects , by way of novelty . Let there be more new pieces produced . Let it no longer be said that Sadler ' s Wells is the mausoleum of living dramatic talent ; or if new pieces be thought too hazardous and too costly , let there be at least some good revivals of plays , which the present generation has never seen produced . This continued harping upon the one Shakspearian string is very monotonous and tiring .
We have but little to say of the Tempest , as produced on Thursday . The scenery was said to be new , and the brightness of the colouring was in support of the statement . But the artist had either worked very carelessly , or with great haste . Such coarseness of finish as was observable in several of the scenes could only have arisen from one or other of these causes . In particular , we may mention a landscape in the third act , where the edge of the water seemed to have been whitewashed , and the last scene , which was a combination of grotesque colouring and strange design such as we have rarely seen equalled . The acting was far from effective . Mr . Phjblps , as Prospero , was unnecessarily solemn and measured in his . tones , giving not the slightest variety to his performance , and almost wearying the ear by his monotony . His " make-up , " too , was anything but good . Why Prospero , who never strikes us as being a very old man , should have his head and face so clothed in white hair , we are at a loss to understand . Mr . Phblps , not content with wearing a kind of legal wig , must needs have his chin plastered with wool , until he resembled something undecided between a Chancery
barrister and an old clothes-man . Mr , Barhett gave a conventional reading of Caliban and showed that , although he had a fair appreciation of the character , he lacked the power to portray it . He seemed to trust too much to the hideous dress he had assumed , and to avoid all attempt to show the moral hideousness of the savage and deformed slave . Caliban is evidently above Mr . Babhett ' s mark ; Mr . Phblps is the only actor in the company who should attempt it . Had he done so in this instance it certainly Avould have invested the production of the Tempest with more of novelty than it can now lay claim to , besides being an immense improvement in the cast . Miss Eburnh gave great promise as Miranda , and pleased by her innocent , artless manner ; but she has a habit of lowering her \ oico ~ -a sweet ana good one—at the end of sentences , thus rendering her words totally inaudible . She must remedy this , and quickly , for wo eoon grow tJi . oa ox straining the ear to catch the sense of every speech ; and m su ™ " n"Cs ™ ; " house as Same ' s Wells indistinctness ia inexcusable , ^ ss HuanEajras a good Ariel , merry , arch , and light as a zephyr m her " » ° ^ en ' ' J ^^ Tiiiblwall sang the songs of Juno with good ta 3 to , and looked admirably . The house was crammed to inconvenience .
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Iffitil ^ ^ inay ^ igi ^^ translation . / ' " ^ Mk wliSSm ^^ W'Passage . & »* " % ftstoncal part of t % e Mh ^^ s& 6 mm ^ ii { transcription or transl at ion ? . ; # v ^ Ehe % e 8 § p 9 ii $ s iol tfce book are not theoretical . Captain Allen writes an excellent dwry / ' as readers of the Niger Expedition know . He describes nteisantlyiiis-voyage among the bright Greek islands , his journey in Lycia , mad Ms investigations ofthe port of Seleucia . At this place he conceived tlke % otidn of ^ restoring the ancient harbour to the uses of commerce . The Trails ar id tfinnels connected with that magnificent work of Pagan engineers IHu ^ t ^ a ^ thepbwers ofthe former race no less vividly than the architec-^ eV lKe / scttjptia ^ A ^ tne poetry of Athens indicate the more subtle and 'dteUteate g ^ ius of" the Athenian race . . ,. , , Captain Allen , we fear , has fallen among controversialists , who have tempted him to spoil some chapters of his animated book .
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0 Speaking of the Egyptian Hall reminds us to mention a marvel which is 4 > eing now exhibited there to all marvel-lovers , though it does not come with great fitness under the heading of "The Arts . " Wo allude to a lusus naturae far surpassing the celebrated Siamese twins , since the children in qdbstfoffc are -united ; not by a slight ligature , but by a positive incorporation btflow a certain point . The children arc negroes , of about five years of ago ,
and are ^ separate as far as the lumbar vertebrsB ^ below which their persons arfir continued as one . Their parents are in a state ^ slavery in Amewe a ^ and it is put forth that the proceeds of the exhibition are to be applied to the liberation of the father and mother . The case must of necessity possess great interest to surgeons ; but the advisability or good taste of such displays to an indiscriminate audience is , to our mind , more than questionable .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 22, 1855, page 921, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2107/page/21/
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