sung by Miss Paton, proved uncommonly agreeable and interesting.

Zuleika's Rose, written by lord Byron, and composed expressly for Miss Paton by Mr. John Barnet, is modulated with great taste and propriety, and suits the voice of that delightful vocalist.

THE repetition of the favorite opera of Il Don Giovanni gave the fair Sontag an opportunity of retrieving her musical credit, which had in some measure declined. In consequence of the indisposition of Madame Malibran, the part of Zerlina was transferred to Mademoiselle Sontag; and the first duet with Masetto was decisive of her ability to do full justice to the part. The earnest encore that followed testified its effect on the audience. Her performance of the character throughout exhibited a fascinating näiveté, which added to the charms of her vocal powers, and called forth the fervent applause of the audience. The character of Donna Anna was given to Mademoiselle Blasis, whose performance excited high applause: it was full of nature and feeling. Zuchelli's Giovanni, and Donzelli's Ottavio, were as effective as usual.

ENGLISH OPERA-HOUSE.

THE farce of "Incog. or What's in a Name?" did not answer the manager's expectations. We need not detail the plot of such a flimsy piece, but shall merely say, that the cross-purposes are badly contrived, the characters are not striking, and the pretended humor is dull. The part assigned to Keeley might easily have been rendered more amusing. He styles himself" waiter by compulsion, poet by profession, and punster by practice;" but the part, even in his hands, became "flat and unprofitable."

The success of the Sister of Charity more than compensated the failure of the farce. The scene of this piece is laid in a mountainous district of that part of Italy which belongs to Austria, and which is filled with smugglers, whom troops are employed to extirpate. At the head of these troops are Colonel Saxe and Captain Weimar. The former

VOL. X

is a strict disciplinarian, determined to do his duty; and the latter is an officer, who many years before had an intrigue with a peasant girl, who afterwards becomes a Sister of Charity, under the name of St. Ursula. The soldiers have

driven the smugglers to their last hold in the hills, and they are starving. It is pronounced a capital offence to relieve them: but Nannetta, who is in love with one of the party, disobeys the command, is taken, and doomed by Colonel Saxe to die at an appointed hour. It turns out that she is the very offspring of St. Ursula's early amour, and that no other than Captain Weimar is her father. He becomes acquainted with the fact from St. Ursula, and, obtaining an hour's respite for his child, rides off at full speed to solicit a pardon from the general. While he is absent, the Sister of Charity has an interview with Nannetta, and prevails upon her to assume her conventual habít, and thus to escape, leaving her (whom Nannetta supposes to be her sister) in her place, to undergo the sentence of being shot. These ladies have a supposed brother, Paulo, who, to do his part of the work, makes a sentinel and his musket drunk (for he fills both with wine, so that one is not able to go on or the other to go off), and carries bread and wine to the smugglers, who rush down the hill to the rescue of the endangered lady. They seise Colonel Saxe, and compel him to give an order for the release of the prisoner; he writes it in German, which they do not understand, and in it orders, that, although the lady be released, they shall seise and shoot the bearer. When this order reaches its destination, Nannetta has repented of the manner in which she left St. Ursula to suffer the punishment she had incurred, and returns to die for or with the Sister of Charity. Thus the sister, the lover, and the lady of his love,

3 L

are in the power of their enemies at once, each insisting upon being the victimthe daughter fainting in the mother's arms, and the lover kneeling, weeping, and tearing his hair. This is a situation of extreme interest, and it seems almost a pity that the captain should reach the spot at last with a reprieve, which sets all to rights, except himself and the Sister of Charity, who, being a nun, cannot be united to him in lawful wedlock. When,. therefore, the curtain falls, she is shrinking with horror from the contamination of his embrace, while Nannetta and her lover are rejoicing in the triumph of their mutual affection.

Miss Kelly, as might be expected, performed the part of Ursula with great feeling and propriety, and Nannetta found an interesting representative in Miss H. Cawse. The innocent yet arch manner in which she answers the question, whether she knows what a lover is, highly amused the audience. "He is one who goes round the house, and into the house, and helps one to do one's work, but puts one out in every thing."-She exhibits a degree of talent which will, we doubt not, ensure her success in the pursuit of her profession. The new music, which is by Hawes, is lively, and very creditable to that composer.

Another piece, called the Spring-Lock, for which Mr. Rodwell furnished the music, has also been very successful. It is both serious and comic. The serious part is founded on a story of one of the earliest Italian novelists, and is not connected with the comic portion of the plot until the moment when the denouement takes place. Ludovico, the cousin of Lorenzo de Medici, grand duke of Tuscany, has fallen in love with Amarantha, the daughter of Count Montefieri, and prosecutes his suit much to the satisfaction of the father, but entirely in opposition to the will of the lady, between whom and Giulio, a young gentleman in the suite of Ludovico, a tender but secret attachment has long subsisted. Amarantha, despairing of her union with Giulio, at length unwillingly consents to bestow her hand on his more powerful rival. On the morning of the bridal ceremony, she requests leave to spend a short time in her oratory. Her object is to read, for the last time, the empassioned letters of Giulio, which are concealed in a curious cabinet, that opens by means of a secret

The

spring. Having uttered a "sad lament" over these testimonies of affection, she hastens to replace them in the cabinet; but she has, unfortunately, forgotten to secure the spring-lock, and the moment she enters the cabinet, the door closes, and all hopes of escape by her own efforts are unavailing. Much confusion ensues among the bridal party, when the chief actress in the scene cannot be discovered. Search is made in every direction, but no trace of her can be found, and it is suspected that she has eloped with Giulio, who had been seen with her at an early hour in her father's garden, and whose bonnet, plume, and jewel, which he had lost in his endeavour to escape when he was observed, are found near the spot. He is immediately arrested, and ordered to undergo the torture, unless Amarantha be forthcoming before eight o'clock in the evening. Having so far noticed the sombre part of the drama, we now come to that which is of a ludicrous character. It seems that the grand duke is fond of traveling about Florence in the disguise of a minstrel, and in one of his frolics he happens to fall in with Dr. Manente, whom he delights with his vocal powers. doctor promises to introduce the supposed minstrel, who states that his name is Dolcemente, to the duke. His highness, desirous of having some mirth at the expense of the boasting quack, contrives that he shall receive an invitation to pass the evening at the palace, where he plays on him a trick similar to that devised by the nobleman, who, in the Taming of the Shrew, encounters Christopher Sly. The doctor's wine is drugged: and, when he awakes, such tricks are played on him, as lead him to suppose that he has been transported across the Styx, by that "grim ferryman whom poets speak of." After being sufficiently tormented, he is set at liberty, and, on reaching home, discovers that he has been buried in effigy, and finds Dr. Flamingo, his rival in trade, making love to his wife. He soon clears his house of his opponent, and proceeds to inform his lady of all the miseries he has endured. In the course of his recital he speaks of a cabinet, situated in the turret where he was confined, from which, during the night, the most doleful groans proceeded. Vergellina, the waiting-maid, instantly conjectures that her mistress is confined in the cabi

net, and hastens to the spot. After much difficulty the secret spring is discovered, and Amarantha is found in an exhausted state. Count Montefieri, rejoiced at the recovery of his daughter, sanctions her union with Giulio, at the earnest request of her less favored lover.

⚫ The troubadour's song is a melody of much grace and beauty, and was given with characteristic propriety by Mr. Wood. It was encored, as was also a very spirited air, "The Bower of Love." The address to the nightingale, "Pensive Warbler," by Miss H. Cawse, whose vocal capabilities are developing themselves more and more on every new occasion, was sung with much taste and simplicity. The prelude and symphony

to this air are full of harmony. Miss Cawse executed, with great force and much discrimination, the scena which occurs before she enters the cabinet. Mr. Keeley infused a great deal of comic humor into the character of Dr. Manente. His terrors were ludicrous in the extreme; and we have scarcely ever witnessed a droller stage rencontre than that between him and Dr. Flamingo,—a part played with no inconsiderable share of humor by Mr. O. Smith. The character of Vergellina was performed by Mrs. Keeley. The part is rather a contracted one; but this agreeable actress rendered it very amusing.

We subjoin the pleasing song of the Troubadour.

THE HAY-MARKET THEATRE.

A COMIC piece called Manœuvring, has been very favorably received at this house. Its dialogue is lively and agreeable, and the plot is not uninteresting. Finesse, an artful domestic, endeavours by various manœuvres, to effect the union of a young German nobleman, Frederic de Cernay, with Costanza, the daughter of the Count de Villa Mayor, the Spanish ambassador at Naples. He introduces a letter among the papers of the count, purporting to be a request from a Spanish duke that the ambassador will use his influence to prevent the disgrace of his son, then resident in Naples, by a marriage with a girl in a humble station of life, to whom he has formed an attachment. The count invites the supposed young Spaniard to his house, and there makes him a prisoner, while Finesse produces a gay milliner, Zanetta, as the object of the young man's affection. The ambassador is driven to a hard bargain, in buying off her claim upon the Span

iard, and soothing her supposed affliction at his loss. But his task is no sooner achieved than he detects the imposture by finding that the duke has no son, and that the letter is a forgery. Upon calling the supposed cheat to account, he is assured by Frederic, whom he had mistaken for the duke's son, that he knows nothing of the letter, and as little of the lady whom he has been compelled to renounce, while he is also reminded that his visitor has not even been a voluntary guest. The count turns to the real culprit, who, with the same impudence which led him to adopt his manœuvring, admits and explains it no less to the amusement than to the satisfaction of the ambassador, who not only consents to the marriage of his daughter, but abides by the bargain made with Zanetta, who, thus favored with a little fortune, gives her hand to Finesse.

The Happiest Day of my Life, a farce borrowed from the French, has been fre quently repeated with increasing ap.

plause, because it possesses in a high degree the power of exciting laughter.There is no attempt at intricacy of plot, but there is still quite sufficient to sustain the objects which the author proposed to himself. Mr. Gillman, rather a soft-headed good-natured sort of a person, and something of a cockney, fond of foppery without the power of reaching it, and rather proud of his personal qualities, has been for some time looking forward to the day of marriage as the happiest day of his life; and accordingly, when some property has been left to him by a relative, a marriage is agreed upon between him and Sophia, one of the daughters of Mrs. Dudley, who prides herself on her match-making capabilities and her practical knowlege of the arts by which husbands are to be kept in subjection. The farce opens with all the bustle of preparation for a marriage, and is succeeded by a long train of ludicrous embarassments which give occasion for the display of Liston's unrivaled powers. His first ground of uneasiness is the recollection, which does not occur to him until within a few minutes of the hour appointed for the ceremony, that he had promised Miss Sophia to engage a particular band of musicians for the occasion.. He starts off immediately in pursuit of them. His absence gives rise to an apprehension that he has changed his mind, and all is uproar and confusion in the family, until he returns, breathless and exhausted, having been able to procure only a wretched set of scrapers on the violin. Having been made happy, as he supposes, at the close of the first act, he is claimed, through mistake, in the second act, as the husband of Mrs. Grimley, who makes most piteous inquiry after her cruel Mr. Grimley, the father of her three deserted children. He is also harassed and perplexed in other ways, to the great amusement of the audience.

SURREY THEATRE

A piece, founded upon the song of Black-Eyed Susan, has met with remarkable success under the auspices of Mr. Elliston. It was not only well prepared, but was well conducted throughout.— William is the husband of Susan, and during his absence an uncle of the latter, who is her landlord, distrains for rent, and, by means of an under-plot or two, the scene is kept alive until William returns, who, having heard of the uncle's conduct, thus upbraids him, in the style of a sailor :-"What! cut the painter of a pretty little pinnace like that, and send

her adrift down the stream of misfortune, without hoisting a buoy or a kind rope overboard, to keep her head above water. Shame! I wish you may live a long life of banyan days. Why, you're a sort of fellow that would go on sipping your grog, with the cry of a man overboard." This speech was given by Mr. Cooke with uncommon feeling, and, when he offered a tooth of "St. Domingo Billy" to one who had been kind to Susan, his surprise at his friend not having heard of such a creature, and his description of its death, were curiously wrought up. "Never heard! pshaw, nonsense! never heard of St. Domingo Billy! Why, bless you, he used to play about our ship for weeks and weeks together, picking up the bits o' junk thrown overboard, until he knowed every one o' the ship's crew as well as the boats wain did; and if they had tumbled overboard he wouldn't ha' done 'em harm. Well, one day a black bumboat woman came alongside to sell her bits o' things, and she'd got a little piccanini in her arms. Well, some how or other the young one fell from its mother's arms into the water, right overboard, when up jumps Mister Billy (St. Domingo Billy was a shark)— and grappled little piccanini, when, behold you, our gunner was alongside o' Mister Billy in no time at all, and, before he had time to do the youngster any harm, the gunner whips a knife into his wizen, and caught the dear little black urchin in his arms, which was soon restored to his mother. Well, we made fast a rope to Billy, who lay kicking on the top of the water, and soon hauled him on deck. We cut him open; and, Lord bless you, he had swallowed every thing that had been lost on board for the last six months. We found in him several watches and 'bacco boxes, and an old cocked hat of the admiral's-and these are some of the rascal's teeth. Never heard o' St. Domingo Billy! what a fool!!" William's captain makes too free with Susan, and happening to be caught, while endeavouring to persuade her to listen to his proposals, he is cut down by the indignant seaman, who is tried and condemned to death. On the trial, some of his messmates are called to speak about him ; and one, being asked what sort of a moral character he bore, exclaims, "Moral character! why, he played the fiddle like an angel." We ought to add, that Miss Scott's Susan is an excellent performance.

vence roses.

MONTHLY CALENDAR OF FASHION,

THOUGH the weather, during the earlier part of August, was unpropitious for Vauxhall, yet a few fine evenings tempt ed many to visit that delightful scene of summer amusement, and elegant dresses were then observed in abundance. In the country, also, to which, indeed, we must now look for the criterion of fashion, the fêtes champêtres, public breakfasts, and evening parties, were gay, varied, and some of them splendid.

The newest article of out-door costume is a pelerine of black Genoa velvet, very unlike those which were worn in the last autumn; this is made with a fichu point behind, which comes as low as the sash, and is gracefully shaped up to the shoulders, improving, instead of disguising, a fine form: long rounded ends descend as low as the feet, and the pelerine is lined with some lively color. Next in favor is a scarf of real Cachemire, the ground white, with a narrow border.

The large Dunstable bonnet, and fine Leghorn, the latter trimmed with colored riband, with a ruche of the same at the edge, continue to be favorite head-cover

ings for the morning walk; those worn in carriages, and for a later hour at the dress-promenade, are of gros de Naples of white or light summer colors, trimmed about the crown with broad and long puffs of gauze riband. They have round the brim a very deep blond, either white or black. We lately saw a hat of pale pink satin, trimmed with gauze ribands of celestial-blue, with pink satin stripes; it needed the appendage of a demi-veil, as it flew off the face, so as to expose not only the curls on the forehead but the blond cornette worn beneath, which was placed very backward.

It is almost impossible to say what is the precise fashion in trimming the borders of dresses. Very broad bias folds stiffened and lined, a broad hem headed by a ruche, a simple ruche next to the shoe, or two moderately broad flounces, are all equally in favor; the breadth of these flounces should depend on the height or shortness of the figure. Printed muslins, with colored grounds, and white jaconot muslins, yet continue in favor for half-dress, with sleeves immoderately large. We have seen a dress of the