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At the annual ; dinner of the Artists' General Benevolent Association last Saturday , Lord Hardinge " in the chair , and while he congratulated the members in h » s after-dinner speech , on ' having distributed 20 , 000 / ., very properly claimed credit for the society on the score of the ridiculously trifling' cost at which this good , had been done ; the annual expenses being not more than 160 / ., or about 8 per cent , . on the amount distributed—a very favourable contrast with the aristocratic expenditure attending the disbursements of the literary Fund .
Mr . Trnbncr , of Paternoster-row , has shown us some first rate collections , or " Albums " of high class German photographs , mounted on fine cardboard , and published in neat portfolios , at an absurdly low price : Among those we have seen , are the " De La Roche Album , " the " Album Berliner Kuntsler , " the Vernet Album . " The Delaroches are mostly taken from the standard line engravings after the master ' s best known works , and comprise the " Mary in the Desert , " " The Entombment , " " Napoleon
at Fontainebleau , " " Napoleon on the Alps , " " The Death-bed of Queen Elizabeth , " " The Infant Pic de Mirandola , " " Peter the Great , ' ? " Straffbrd , " "La yiergealaVigne , " " Charles in the Guard-room , " the Marie Antoinette . " The Vernet Collection , as we saw it , was very poor ; indeed we fancy its riches must have been culled from it ere it reached us . The Berlin Collection comprises . the works of several modern men of repute . It is chiefly rich in domestic subjects of the most pleasing type , by Meyerheim , one ¦ of the German Websters .
It is pleasant to report that on the 15 th- hist , the Mansion House oi ^ ened its doors to a crowd , of amateurs and professionals connected with that gentle art , Photography . The learned Master of the Mint , and Professor Donaldson , Messrs . Gassiot , Gilbert Septt , Owen Jones , Wentworth Dilke , Bigby Wyatt , Theodore Martin , and George Goodwin ; Dr . Croly , with Fr ith , Bailey and Foley , the academicians , besides a nuinberof other literary , artistic , and scientific people , as well as a due proportion of civic notabilities , were present , ostensibly to meet Mr . Glaisher the president , of the Blackheath Photo
and the other councillors - graphic Society . In the Egyptian Hall , and the adjacent gallery , the newest and most perfect photographical devices were displayed , with the choicest productions of the "imprisoned ray . * Messrs . Murray and Heath , of Piccadilly , showed many excellent instruments , and some pleasing dissolving stereoscopic views . Messrs . Smith and Beck brought photographic , and Mr . De la Rue , stereoscopic views of the moon ; and , in short , all the leading artists and commercial firms-connected with the business were adequately represented by their works .
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— , ™ ROYAT- ITALIAN OPERA—DRTJRY-I-ANB THEATRE . Mr . Smith has just issued his programme , or "bill ¦ of promises , from which-. it appears he keeps his hold upon that much-disputed treasure , Signor Graziani , in addition to the great attractions in the shape of Madame Titiens , Signor Giuglini , and our fair countrywoman , Miss Victoria Balfe , as well as Mddles . Sarolta , Guarducci , Vaneri , and Enrichqtta Weiser , arid others of lesser note , and in unlimited quantity , whom Mr . Mapleson , the' musical agent , lias been clever enough to collect . Most of the foreign stars , however , being just now in full song in capitals where sitting in hot opera-houses is a
winter—not , as here , a summer—diversion , the entrepreneurs lend off on Monday with Miss Balfo , who made a pleasing impression on her deb tit at the Xyceum two years since , and has been recently gathering laurels in other lands , as well as that stage experience which was , of course , her weak point at starting . The band , of fifty-five performers , under Mr . Benedict ' s ablo direction , and the chorus of sixty , ¦ were almost all members of M *\ Lumley ' troupo at Her Majesty ' s Theatre ; and it seems little doubted that , despairing of ever working that unfortunate property to « profit , its late lessee has wisely effected « omo fusion with Mr . Smith , who , besides being master of theatrical , economics , holds a handsome
theatre at a reasonable rental . Wo only hopq no unpleasantness will occur between the management ana the renter ' s ticket-holders . This incubus upon Coven t-garden managers died with the late theatre , but though it remains yet on Drury-luno , wo have faith enough in Mr . Smith ' a business tact to think ho nViU . easily como to a satisfactory arrangement . A g ood deal of money lias been laid out , wo hear , upon * he requ ^ ito alterations and decorations of the houso , « nd the subscription list is in a sound position . While wq record all tlieso fuots for our renders ' -entertainment , ve cannot refrain from expressing a Ixppe that the itown is nob to be distraoted or amused l > y a struggle between , " the houses twain , " whose
only end would be disaster to both of the rival managers . HAYMARKET THEATRE . On Easter Monday will be repeated Mr . Palgrave Simpson ' s comedy , " The World and the Stage , " which we gave good report some weeks back , with Miss Amy Sedgwick , Messrs . BuCkstone , Farren , and Compton , in the principal parts . Of Mr . Francis Talfourd ' s comic version of " Electra , " all who are acquainted with the author ' s more than masteryfor it is absolute tyranny—over the language , speak highly as a charged mine of facetiae , and the classicists anticipate their usual pleasure from his loyal adhesion to his antique models . The " Argument " is as follows : — "Agamemnon , having confided the guardianship of his kingdom to jEgisthus during his absence at the ; siege of Troy , returns to resume his sovereignty . His wife , Cly temnestra , conspires with . ^ Eg isthus , for whom she has conceived a passion , and they , lying in wait for the king as he is leaving the bath , barbarously slay him with an axe ( an acc-ident which possibly antieipated for him his Homeric title Agamemnon—An-ax Androit ) . The guilty parties are married , and JEgisthus usurps the throne of Argos , to the exclusion of the rightful heir , Orestes . Electra , however , true to her father ' s « ause , and fearful for the safety of her brother , sends him away privately to the court of his uncle Strophius * king of Phocis , until he shall be of years to avenge their father ' s death and claim his rights . Seven years elapse , at the expiration of which—indeed , on the anniversary of the marriage of ^ gisthus , the present drama opens . The people are crushed beneath the despotic sway of JEgisthus , who , in his turn , bows in slavish submission to the will of Ins strong-minded lady , while both combine to render wretched the life of Electra . She , unswerving in her loyalty to her father ' s cause , is awaiting the expected return of Orestes , who having spread a report of his own death at a chariot race , the more easily to gain admission to the palace , arrives with his - friend Pylades at Mycenae ; they have provided themselves with a funeral urn , supposed to contain the ashes of Orestes , to give additional probability to their story ; they are hospitably received as the bearers of welcome tidings . Orestes then discloses himself , but is spared the personal infliction of vengeance on the usurpers by the intervention of Nemesis , who contrives that they themselves are made the instruments of their own destruction . " The Easter feast of scenery and flow of illustration , in which the Amphitryon of the Hay market is never behind his neighbours , may be looked for as a matter of course . At the General Theatrical Fund dinner , on Monday , Mr . Charles Mathcws made , we believe , his debut as a chairman , or other prominent character , at a public dinner . Albeit unused to public speaking of the after-dinner school , he diverted his audience as much as the most practised hand could have done . The subscription list of the evening amounted to 500 / ., and the society appears to . conduct its valuable operation without the chronic insolvency so often characteristic of such bodies . Only Fancy !—The Lord Chamberlain and his merry men have found a corpus vile in poor Mr . and Mrs . German Reed , who were about to give a character and musical entertainment of the usual sort at the Olympic , during Passion Week . Contrary to the custom of their kind , these functionaries , it seems , do not ignore newspapers ; so having read in ous happy contemporary , the-&ra , that the bill comprised * ' A Visit to Holly JLodge , " and "My Unfinished Opera , " they , on Saturday last , gravely forbado the performance—1 . Because it was a dramatic representation $ 2 . Because the Olympic is not licensed by tho magistrates for music and dancing . What peril , then , must Messrs . Robson and Emden be in , during fifty-one open weeks of the year , if No ,. . 2 bo the fact ; and if No . 1 bo true , how much more simple an affair than we imagined must bo " a dramatic representation ! " It should be observed that while the Reeds are thus bruised that the Chamberlain ' s . Office may have its annual opportunity of asserting its inflexibility , tho doors of St . Martin ' s Hall aro opened by Mr . Dickons , whoso audiences term his readings " as good as a play . " Clara Soy tori ' s " entertainment " also flourishes there during Passion Week . Tho outlying Grecian and Marylebone Theatres announce masked ball , ballot , and tableau without hindrance . The Ethiopians in Piccadilly give their scenes from negro life under tho Wgis of the magistracy . Tho Casinos invite saint and sinner , turned from playhouse door , to seek light , shelter , and muslp under their moral shade . The Howard Pauls defy Court interference at Sadler ' s Wells . We are prepared for tho intoi'esting saw that maybe horo suggested to us , " two blacks won't niako a whitoj" but wo know another as much to the point , that " you may not make folkn pious by enactment . " We may surely , like Our bmthor Jonathan , claim to have also our " peculiar institutions i" and
this . Chamberlain ' s Office is one of them . But be tween ours and his there is this slight difierence-I the latter would seem to be supported b y the public —the former , upon it and in spite of it . Quousgue tandem ? ST . JAMES ' S HALL . — -MONDAY POPULAR CONCE RTS . The second series , which we last week announced as projected , opened on Monday with a " Mendelssohn night , " and a programme not a whit less scientific yet more popular—as more tuneful—than many of its classic predecessors . The grand piece was an Otett for four violins , two tenors and two violoncellos —played by Messrs . Wieniawski , Ries , Carrodus
Goffrie , Doyle , Schreurs , Daubert , and Piatti . What these eight can do is now a matter of fame , thanks to the management of these concerts , who , while they gracefully admit M . Jullien ' s services to the cause of popularisation , have done well by music and the public in bringing the great soloists into double , fourfold , and eightfold harness . We had never the wit we confess , and it may thus be seen we arc not of the elect but of the people , to appreciate Wieniawski , when h e was nightly tormenting , before promenade audiences , our old ponies asinorum , the Carnaval de Venise and Rode ' s Air . We fancied somehow ( of course we
were wrong ) , that by taking any young fiddler of moderate taste and ear , fine fingers , and a very good instrument , and locking him up certain years > vitk those two pieces and a hook of exercises for company , he might be brought out in ¦ time , by dint of printer ' s ink and other Barnumisms , as a musical wonder . But now that , Weekly , we hear our artist in some classic composition entirely new to us ; now that we mark Ms devotion , his superb intensity , his execution , and his Wondrous tone , piercing , as it were , through mobs of music , we are ourselves being educated by these popular concerts into an understanding and admiration of him and of the music he
playsj and are glad enough to call others to the class . We have . not left ourselves space for a notice of the long Otett , but must give our admiration to its exquisite and original scherzo ( 3 rd ) movement . Next in importance was the quartett . in K minor , for tAvo violins , tenor , and violoncello , played for its first time at these concerts . Of its four movements We prefer the third , " Andante con moto , " having the charm of a sentimental and sustained melody ; while the second , a sc / ic / zu allegro dimolto , exhibits to the full the author ' s power of intricate construction , and called for fairy-like delicacy of fingexing' * o hit oil" its extremely rapid passages .
The performers were Wieniawski , Ries , Schreurs , and Piatti . Their splendid playing no less honoured themselves than the composer . We never heard Mr . Wilbye Cooper to greater advantage than in the well-known " Garland" which followed . He gave this beautiful strain without the slightest fire , but with a perfect musical accentuation and pure simplicity of voice that was a treat to hear . Mr . Beuedict and Mr . Lindsay Sloper gave , as it seemed to us , without sufficient light anil shade , mi unpretending andante piano forte duo , which , played at the Hanover Booms by Mendelssohn and Sterndalo Bennett , in 1844 , caused a sensation in the musical world . Wo were not able to be present throughout
the concert , which was a long one , but were inucji surprised at the loud encore vouchsafed to Miss . Dolby in "the Song of Night . " It is a truly fr nuid und simple declamation , of hymnal character townrttoita close ; but while we admit the profundity ot tlie singer ' s voice , we were sorry to miss its music At the end of the first part , Miss Mnvinu Moss , Miss Dolby , Mr . Wilbye Cooper , and Mr . Knntley , snug admirably a graceful four part song without ncconi ; panimont . " When tho West with Lvcning glows is , as says tho excellent little hand-book to the performance sold in the room , " one of the most melodious and one of the most popular ( wo shouhUlmost sav * themost nodular . ) of the Muster a voon qn < u > thai
tetts . " We should mojition , in conclusion , wo second encore ot the evening was cordially w »«« to Miss Theresa Jottries , whoso singing ot " ZulolKa fuh'ly deserved tho honour . Concerts of tho old stylo " popular " ^ orlptlon wero jriven with success on Tuesday and Wodnoa day . Tho stars of the first magnitude WOTO f 11 " Poolo and Mr . Sims Roovos . Jt is nocdlosH to soy that tlio reappearance of tho latter utter a long ness was loudly welcomed . Ho smitf HMlcnulMly iw ticcna from " Oboron , " " Oh , 'tis u ulorloiw sighUand Mr . II . Smart ' s ballad , " In vain . I wi . ul } ! to gt thoo . " Miss Poole mado an Impression in tiio uuiu footed song of" Junnlta , " which was riHloinumioa .
ST . MAUTIN ' S HAM .. On Tuesday , wlulo Mr . Gorman Kocj d w « fl ; . ; "JA % fretting over tho oxoroiso of tho ^^ 'V , ' ^ Sh > authop " ty . O-nd Mr . Greenwood , ot hiullor » >} 'ojj consolous that it was a flip cry from Whliolw It Mngton , was treating tho official HKht » 'nK ' % \[ £ , Mmon , Miss Clara Soyton gavo boro . uiidh u uw . hov " Popular Dramatic , ar . d MubIciiI Monopoly
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¦® 34 THE LEADER . [ No . 474 , April 23 , 185 & ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ g ^ g ^ i ^^ ggfgggg ^ g ^ g ^ g ^ gg ^ gg ^^ i ^ g ^ ggggg /^^^ ggg ^^ t ^^ gtai ^ gt ^^ Ki ^ mKmm ^ ti ^^ —1 ~ i jqutmM— . _
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 23, 1859, page 534, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2291/page/22/
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