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374 THE LEAPEB; [No. 469y March.19, 185g...
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ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT mSTIQx Thursday...
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Novel Parisian Speculation.— A Paris cor...
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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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English Oi'era, Covi:Xt. Gakdex. Ox Frid...
Lucretias of the boxes or insulted by the Malpases o : the coulisse ? Among the evils that actors and actresses of known merit and good repute meet -with , as far as we can see , at the wicked world ' s hands , are sympathy and patronage ; Both these guerdons are , from the cynic ' s point of view , bad enough ; but ordinary folks in business can't live without either . The cold shade may , it is true , be cast upon players by managers , and the world may know thein not ; but the open field once gained , we never saw the happy holder of " the spark divine '' who could not secure " the world ' s esteem" as well as the fame securing plaudits , if deserved .
A : new comedy of small power , but displaying Mr . and Mrs ; Charles Mathews to much advantage , in Louis X"V . costumes of great beauty , was produced here on Monday evening . It was , we ' must confess , a dreary affair , as will happen when a good deal of boisterous fira behind the footlights fails to infect the audience before them . Mrs . Mathews as Nanette Didier , the court milliner , who becomes a Countess despite the machinations of the luvute noblesse , was energetic and occasionally effective . Mr . Mathews ( the author ) , in providing situations and good things for his better-half , had left himself so little to do , that he could not add materially -to
the slight effect produced . In Mr . W . Brough s " Nothing to Weaa-, " an old farce with a new face , the couple were more successful . The unction ¦ wherewith bur . ' .. old favourite always assumes and slips through the pecuniary difficulties set down for him , arid the barbarian delight with which the British public welcome him as the representative of anybody " hard-up , " assured , before the rise of the curtain , the success Of an after-piece , in which the philosophy and humours of pawning , or " popping" are the subjects treated . Alt the jolly laughs , and all , or nearly all ; the genuine applause of the evening were elicited by , and liberally bestowed upon this trifle .
XYCEO"M THEATRE , If proof were wanting that Mr . and Mrs . Barney Williams were Very clever folks , we should point to the bills of the Iyyceum , in which ithey figure from top to bottom every night in six , ten , or a dozen characters , it is immaterial which , but unlike the partridge of the gourmet , seem ! never to pall upon the appetites of tlieir admirers . Week after week this goes on . New pieces for the illustration of the Barney Williatnses are weekly produced ; and as the theatre is open , and its expenses must be paid , we fed sure audiences must come from , somewhere . But without entering upon the . speculation , how , whence , and why , let us say that the new and
EXPLORATIONS ET SOUTH AUSTRALIA . At a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society this week , Sir Roderick Murchison in the chair , a pap . er was read , entitled " Explorations in South Australia , by Messrs . Babbage , Warbiirton , Stuart , and others , communicated by the Right Hon . Sir E . B . Lytton , her Maj esty ' s Secretary for the . Colonies . " The accounts of the above-mentioned explorations were embodied in several voluminous documents , extracts from which were read . The discoveries of Mr . Babbage were confined chiefly to the tract between Lakes Gairdner and Torrens ; he , however , followed to the western shore of the latter lake to about lat , 30 deg . S ., where it terminates , and proceeded
northward , meeting with a lake which he named Gregory . Major Warburton examined the south-west shores of Lake Gairdner , returned by Coeyana ( near Sbieaky Bay ) on the west , and then pursued an easterly direction to Port Augusta ; starting from that place northwards in search of Babbage he followed his track to Lake Gregory , where they met . Mr . Stuart , the companion of Captain Sturt , in his . memorable expedition to the Central Desert in 1845 , started with only one white and a black man , five horses , and a scanty supply of provisions , from Elizabeth Camp ( 31 10 deg . S . ) , proceeded northerly to lat . 29 20 deg ., where he crossed a . large gum creek in which fish were seen , and continued in a north-west
direction , passing several other gum creeks , taking their rise in the long range named , by Governor Sir R . M'Doruiell , Stuart Range ; their range extends in a northwest direction , broken more Or less here and there , but still forming a continuous water-parting from along the west shore of Lake Torrens to lat . 28 deg . S ., and long . 133 deg . E . He then struck a westerly course for forty miles over a good country , with plenty of grass , turning then south-westerly , afterwards southerly , to Denial Bay , on the coast , and thence to Port Augusta , pursuing throughout a zig-zag course . Mr . Stuart penetrated in a straight
line 240 miles to the west of Mr . Babbage ' s camp at the Elizabeth , having traversed by various routes nearly four degrees of longitude and three of latitude north of that position . It would be difficult to overrate the importance of these discoveries , as it seems probable , to quote the words of Governor M'Donnellj that at least from 12 , 000 to 18 , 000 square miles of country , available hereafter for pastoral purposes , have been opened up by . Mr . Stuart ' s explorations . One result of all these , explorations is , that the shape of Lake Torrens has been entirelyjchanged ; instead of preserving a horse-shoe form , as was supposed , it is found to be divided into several detached lakes .
The reading of the paper was followed by a very animated discussion , in which the Chairman , Captain Sturt , the Bishop of Saunders , Mr . Grawfard , and Professor Owen , took part . The last speaker directed attention to the paucity of information in the department of natural history in suchl" explorations-, which he attributed to the fact that the major part of the animals were of nocturnal , habits ; consequently search for . them , should be made during the night . Professor Owen also alluded to the peculiar provision , in the Australian type wlu ' ch enabled them in seasons of drought to convey their young to distant waterholes . ^
original comedietta , "Law for Ladies , " the novelty of the present week * is as a dramatic composition beneath contempt . It is of the order of entertainment which Mr , Loye , the Poiyphonist ; Mr . Slownaan , the Improvisatore ; Mr ; Brimton , the comic vocalist , and all that pleasant race of folks term , with humility and propriety , a " monopolylogue , " or piece wherein an awful deal of-tqlk is done by one person . The " polylogist" of the Lyceum house is Mrs . Williams , who , as an American maiden of eighteen , has an objection cither to remaining single , under the provisions of her father ' s will , until she attain the mature age of thirty , or to forfeiting certain 30 , 00 Q dollars . Having fallen in lovo with a most gentlemanly young lawyer ( for whom Mr . Q .
Murray seems to haye studied from an Anglo-Catholic curate , or Mr .. Wigan , of the Olympic ) , she , by his aid , and the assumption of a variety of disguises , so works upon the nerves of her guardian , Graspall ( Mr , Barrett ) , as to induce his resignation of the trust . In the character of a German organgrinder ,, ns a silly romp , as a bleating hobbedehoy , and especially as' a Yankee girl of superior smartness from "T ' other side of Jordan , " Mrs . Williams showed nil her versatility of talent ; anil haying secured our own applause in a comic song entitled as above , and set , after the fashion of the revivalists , to a variation of an old hymn tune , she , asmoy be imagined , line ! no difficulty in winning it by wholesalo from the general company , who have less often than ourselves the pleasure of attending the theatre under notice .
Bin . MA 80 N JONES' ORATIONS . Wo had the pleasure , on Tuesday , of hearing an Irish orntor . Mr . T . Rlnson Jones , of Trinity College , Dublin , who lectured by heart at Willis ' s-rooms , on the fruitful thenio of " Cm-ran and the Irish Bar , " has a deep rich voiuo , a . pleasing brogue , an impressive face , and a store of information upon his interesting subject . Ho told , in a nice manner , an interesting round of facts , illustrating the lives , the joyaand the sorrows of Erekino , Plunkott , Shiel , O'QonnoU , Bmmett , [ IfitssgeraW , and Wolfe Tone . And , to conclude , we never loss regretted a , couple of hours devoted to a . seancv of the kind , On Tuesday Mr , Jones speaks on G rattan and the Irish Furllamontj and we olmll , if possible be there to hoar him .
374 The Leapeb; [No. 469y March.19, 185g...
374 THE LEAPEB ; [ No . 469 y March . 19 , 185 g ^
Royal National Life-Boat Mstiqx Thursday...
ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT mSTIQx Thursday the annual meeting of the friends and supporters of this truly national and pliilan thropic institution , was heldat the London Tavern Sir John S . Pakington , Bart ., ¦ M . P ., First Lord of the ¦ Admiralty ., , in the chair . The meeting was influentially and most numerously attended . Mr . Lewis , the Secretary , read the annual report which stated that the society now possessed eightyone Life-boat establishments , thoroughly equipped in every way ; fifteen of ¦ which had been added during the last twelvemonths . The . life-boats of the institution had been instrumental in saving
one hundred and six . persons during the past year They had also been off on twenty-nine oceasions ' the assistance of vessels showing signals of distress It appears , from the repoitofthe Board of Trade * presented to Parliament , tliat the number of shipwrecks on the coasts of the United ICingdom during the past year , has been nearly the same as that of the previous year—1 , 170 in all—from which 343 lives had unhappily perished . It was , however , gratifying to find that the total number of lives ' saved from shipwrecks , by life-boats and other means , on our coasts during- the same period , was 1 , 555 . The total number of persons saved from shipwreck since the first establishment of the
National Life-boat Institution , and for rescuing whom the committee had granted honorary and pecuniary rewards , was 10 , 902 . The lives of 427 persons fron sixty-four wrecks on the coasts of the British Isles had been rescued during the past year , through the instrumentality of the life-boats of the institution , and of other means ; in acknowledgment for which services , one gold medal , -twenty-three silver medals , thirty-seven other honorary distinctions , and 952 / . had been voted . Since the formation of the institution it had expended oh life-boat establishments 28 , 0617 ., and had voted eighty-one gold and 629 silver medals for distinguished services
for saving life , besides pecuniary awards , amounting together to 11 , 651 ^ From the financial statement it appears that . the institution had expended , on new life-boat carriages and boat-houses and their equipments , 8 , 05 \ l . 4 s . lid ., and 1 , 203 / . IS ? , yd . for exercising the crews of its life-boats ; making altogether a total of 9 , 255 / . 3 s- 4 d . This great and national work had , however , only beenaccomplighed by the society incurring further liabilities to the extent of 3 , 047 / . With so Sacred an object in view as the rescue of our fellow creatures from ; ni appalling death by shipwreck , it might bo supposed that the National Life-boat Institution had claims
which . would come home to the heart ot everyone in this great maritime country . The report concluded by earnestly soliciting the support of all those who are able to render it . The report having been adopted , various resolutions pledging the meeting to renewed exertions on behalf of the benevolent objects of the institution having been carried , the proceedings terminated with the usual complimentary vote of thanks to the chairman .
London Missionary Society . —Oil ' . Tuesday a public ' meeting of the Society was held hi the Egyptian Hall , Mansion Houses for the purpose of promoting the extension of Missionary efforts in the Chinese empire . The Lord Mayor presided , supported by the Earl of Shaftesbury and other gentlemen and clergymen . Resolutions in support of tho objects of the meeting were proposed and unanimously agreed to , and the meeting separated , after a vote of thanks to tho Lord Mayor . Pwoxogkafiis of tmp Moon . — -An article has appeared in a very serious foreign contemporary to tjie following effect : —" Suppose that a suecessftu " attempt wore made to obtain , a eurfucevfor the
photographic picture perfectly free from irregularities capable of distorting the most'imperceptible lines of a photograph . Suppose , also , that on this surface a photograph of the moou were tafeen with every precaution ; if this picture were examined under a very powerful microscope tho most minute details would become visible , and if the instrument possessed sufficiently high magnifying ppwor you would be able to see living beings , if there are any residing in that luminary . This is one of the applications of photography to astronomy , and it has
been stud that an Italian savant , after trying for six years to obtain this result , has sucoooded , and has recently been ablo to obtain pictures of tho moon on which figures of naUed animals are deployed , one species of which bore a groat resemblance to human beings . . . . . It is certain that important discoveries may be arrived at by this moans j tho groat difficulty being to find a substance on whioh to take tho picture , tho surface of which shall be so perfectly oven as to receive tho luminous imago -without in the slightest degree distorting its most minute details . —Photographio Nauis ,
Novel Parisian Speculation.— A Paris Cor...
Novel Parisian Speculation . — A Paris correspondent describes a new butchers' establishment at the corner of the Rue Tronchet and the Ruo Neuvcdes-Mathurins . " Upwards of 30 metres in length , ip is entirely filled up with white marble on supports of porphyry . The counter is also of white marble on silver caryatides . A fountain of water , six feet in diameter , plays in the centre of the shop , and vases of flowers and shrubs are disposed about with a certain degree of taste . . Thirty .-nine persons are employed in the 'establishment , which offers eacu morning for sale 20 . oxen , 20 cnlves and 60 sheep . is that
. The great novel feature of this establishment while professing to sell cheaper than any other shop in Paris it delivers with each parcel of meat a ticket ; which entitles the buyer to a share in tho profits n , t the end of the month . It is reported that thmty fathers of families are now forcing their appetites to oat enormous quantities of meat , in tho idea that tuey are thereby laying up portions for their daughters . I have not sufficiently verified the calculations upon whtoh the new system is based to be ablo to say whether largo customers will pay nothing' and get something to boot—but this result is oxpuctod .
Napolkon awd his Guns . — A Paris lottc-v soys :- — "Tho French Emperor continues to bo assiduous in his attendance at Vincennos , following tho experiments that go on there witlx tlio utmost liitcrost . Theothor day , it is said , ho passed sovcral hours w witnessing some skilled firing 1 at marks j ana vne » it was concluded , said to tl \ Q officers in commanu , An , I see you arq ready . ' The observation , it « declared , was uttered almost unconsciously , n » though addrossedmore to the speaker ' s own thouguw than to . the x > orsons around , Tho impression convoyed by tho words was , that war had boon uoeia ° " upon ; and this opinion , it is declared , is piow generally ontortalnod in the army . "
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 19, 1859, page 22, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19031859/page/22/
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