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Tsrn 4,4,4 Septembeb 25, 1858.T THE LEAl...
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I NDI Ay
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WILL THE ENGLISH EACE DE. GENERATE? A fa...
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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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Theatres And Public Entertainments. Crvs...
Soirees" during the month or two of real summer we are entitled to hope for in this country , there would be no lack of visitors and no fear of disorder . Un Saturday , the 18 th , and on Wednesday last , we attended the two supplementary fetes of the Early Closing Association , an institution we have always delighted to honour . The entertainments of Saturday , in addition to athletic amusements , comprised a selection of pieces admirably performed by Mr , James Coward on the great festival organ , and an excellent concert , supported by Madame Clara Sbvello , Madame Weiss , Miss Eansford , and Mr . h not
Weiss . The fete of Wednesday , thoug equally favoured by the weather , was as well attended , the company numbering , as we were given to understand , more than ten thousand souls , who intensely relished the athletic games of the Foot Guards , the archery , the racing , the club-feats of Harrison , and the fountains , as far as permitted by the rain , which chose that inopportune moment for its descent . We can congratulate the directors upon the strictly " popular" character of yesterday ' s gathering . We watch , their progress in this direction -with interest , convinced that it is their only road to success . The satisfaction of the crowd and of the to
performers in the sports were alike gratifying witness , and warrant our expectation that in a year or two we may assist at some metropolitan meetings on a gigantic and yet more profitable scale . While we are disposed to give the company and their cibary contractors , the renowned Messrs . Sawyer and Co ., every credit due to them , let us suggest the hardship , and , if the attendance of the sober masses is to be cultivated , the impolicy of charging fourpence for a cup of tea . This is one of those important trifles to which the interest of the proprietary requires attention . We all know for what a cup of average tea is purchaseable in town , and it is not to be supposed that any enormous enhancement in its cost can occur between Cornhill and the Crystal Palace . We may be answered that the
royalty paid to the Company by Messrs . bawyer and Strange * must be raised somehqw , and that the consumers of particular articles cannot be ¦ exempted from the taxation which those contractors are thus compelled to levy . But we know enough of . John Bull to believe that he will abstain from places of amusement rather than be either ill-fed or overcharged , and we imagine , it" the public once took alarm on this head , that the maintenance of the two-r penny overcharge required to support the twopenny royalty would be found to keep away a more than equivalent number of shilling visitors . We understand that Mademoiselle Fiecolomini will take leave of the English public at a farewell concert at the Crystal Palace , on Tuesday , the 28 th in . st . She sails from Southampton for a lengthened tour in the United States , on the following day . ,
Strand Theatre . —Mr . Charles Selby cannot certainly complain , as many may with truth , that lie has no field , no scope , no opportunity ; for , in addition to his still successful and really pleasing comedietta , The Last of the Pigtails , and before its freshness has in the least faded , the Strand management have availed themselves of another of his productions , at the same time affording him another opportunity of displaying his talent on the stage . The Bonnie Fishwife is a bagatelle of the light , gay , and rapid order , without any wonderful amount of what is called unity , or of that anti-hilarious stiffness which results sometimes from the laborious pursuit of It . The hero of the piece , WUdoats Heartyoheer—very
agreeably acted and most becomingly dressed by Mr . Parsello—a frail , yet withal a rare good fellow , is desired , in the usual authoritative manner of stage fathers , by his genial parent , Sir Hickory ( Selby ) , to put an end to his youthful follies by a marriage with one Miaa Thistledown ( Miss M . Oliver ) , a rich and accomplished Devonshire heiress , whom , in his hot and jaundiced opposition to the parental behest , he Jias pictured to himself as a perfect Gorgon . Sooner than be made happy with such a being upon compulsion , lie retreats , but not unobserved by the family , to a Scottish bothie , to indulge in wild sports and a passion conceived during the previous season for a bonnio little fishwife , Maggy M'Farlane . He renews his vows ; but being rather shy on the question of matrimony , her parents , Mr . M'Farlane , lato of the
42 nd , a besotted old Gael , and his hideous Meg MerriUea of a spouse , aro inclined to treat him with scant courtesy . Mollified , however , by his declaration of honourable intentions , this pair indulge for joy in a wild Highland fling , and having consented to the union , discover themselves to be the gay old baronet and his valet Oaitera ( J . Clarke ) , who have made Miss Thistledown , alius Maggy , their accomplice in this masquerade to test the heart of the scapograce heir , and to ensure and hasten hia extrication from his erratic orbit . Mies M . Olivor , as the drawing-room belle and the broad Scotch lassie , displayed her usual intelligence and grace , as wall as a degree of vocal talent that ; ensured warm enoorea for her flonge , " Love ' s sweet summer , " and " Who'll buy oy cftUerhemn ' j" although wo must observe that
the fair vocalist might even add to the very pleasing effect of her singing and save herself needless exertion by the adoption Of a somewhat slower tempo Neither the popular author of the Bonnie Fishwife , nor his worthy second , Mr . Clarke , who were both excessively amusing in their Scoth disguises , are very successful in their Highland dialect , but we can , nevertheless , quite endorse the lively approbation bestowed by a numerous audience upon this elegant trifle .. . Olympic Theatre . — Mr . Oxenford ' s admirable
little comedy , The Doubtful Victory , with the ever popular Mrs . Stirling , Hush Money , and Ticklish Times , were chosen by Mr . Robson for the opening of his winter campaign . This well-established favourite , who seems to have brought back with him a fresh stock of physical and mental energy , was received with every manifestation of delight by a crowd of visitors , of whom " the groundlings" especially found undoubted cause of satisfaction in the substitution of cushions for the well-worn knife-boards , for the hardship of which they have been used to be contented for the sake of " seeing Kobson . "
Sadler ' s Wells Theatre . — Saturday last Mr . Phelps reproduced Sir E . L . Bui wee ' s Richelieu , in which this eminent actor has always reaped new laurels ; The interesting part of Julia , was confided to Miss Grace Egerton , a debutante of whom it is at present sufficient to observe that she has decided capabilities requiring a degree of development which , if permitted the continuous advantage of a position in Mr . Phelps ' s company , she can secure , and will doubtless profit by . D ' \ [ ! [
English Opeba , Dhttrt Lane . —The Rose of Castille continues to be so attractive that we have still no report to give of the expected production of Flotow ' s Martha . Anxiously as we may look for that pleasure , we are yet glad to learn that this spirited enterprise , which , when first undertaken by Mr . Harrison , was , to say the least , hazardous , has assumed so satisfactory a complexion as to decide him against the production for the present of any Other work—in fact , to "let well alone . " r :
Lyceum Theatre . — - While we gladly welcome the reappearance Of Mr . Leigh Murray upon these boards ( we hope for a longer engagement ) , and his suceesful adoption oil the part of Frank Hawthorne , in the comedy at Extremes , we can hardly part with Mr . Falconer , who , while seeking the right man for the right place , himself rilled the part of his hero , without a : kind and commendatory adieu . His addition of Mr . Leigh Murray ( who appeared on Thursday evening ) to the . cast of his play is certainly advantageous , for whom could he have found better , nay , so skilled in the delivery of the Hawthorne sarcasms , or of the noble resignation of wife , love , hope , and fortune , in the last act ? Mr . Murray , who was
fully as successful as we had anticipated , and warmly welcomed by troops of friends and admirers , exerted himself to the utmost . So did the everfascinating Miss Woolgar ; and Emery , who has mightily improved his costume as Robin . So , again , did Mrs . Weston , who , as glorious , old dame Wildbriar , takes our hearts by storm as well as our sense of comedy . To conclude , we must say that although some of the redundancies have , as suggested by ourselves and all our contemporaries , been pruned away , the play is still—pardon us , gentle authorreally a full half hour too long . It drags , and somehow will drag , though even the slowest of its portions , we must confess , find favour with some purt of the audience . It must be either too long , or the dramatis persona must all " take the time , " as
musicians say , too slow . It seems to us that if the fire were a bit concentrated , the steam would be brisker , the whole train of the piece get on faster , and the Extremes would meet with even greater success than it has already so fairly earned . A new divertissement by Jonn Lauri , called the Rendezvous , now follows the comedy , in which the Lauri family , an admirable company of comic dancers , or aa some one has better said , boujjh dancers , have made a great sensation among the amateurs of the ballet . We have pleasure in attracting attention to the announcement that Mr . J . Kinlouh , a very worthy and > vell appreciated , membor of the profession , proposes to take n benefit at this theatre on Wednesday next , when Mr . Falconer ' s comedy , and . other entertain- ' ruentB , will be produced .
Royal Dramatic College , r— At the meeting of the executive committee at the Freemasons' Tavern on Wednesday last , Mr . Webster in the ohair , many new subscriptions were announced , and among them a most gratifying one of 114 / . 10 s . 6 d ., the result of benefits at the Bath and Bristol Theatres . The very foeling letter of Mr . James Henry Chute , covering the remittance , snys that , " performers , musicians , the press , printers , gas company ' s servants , doorkeepers , ana supernumeraries gave , and gave cheerfully . " This was something like a benefit . The charity of the givers demands recognition at the hands of all friends of the drama , and its imitation throughout the profession would support a noble institution indeed .
Tsrn 4,4,4 Septembeb 25, 1858.T The Leal...
Tsrn 4 , 4 , 4 Septembeb 25 , 1858 . T THE LEAl ) m ____ 1007
I Ndi Ay
I NDI Ay
Will The English Eace De. Generate? A Fa...
WILL THE ENGLISH EACE DE . GENERATE ? A favourite objection , to English settlement in the hill regions of India , is that the race will degenerate and in the fourth generation become extinct . These views are boldly put forth by some of the so-called practical men connected with . India , but strangelyenough , there is no proof of degeneracy in the hill children , and as the first cottage in Simla itself was only ^ b ailt by Lieutenant Ross in 1819 , and as a fourth generation has not yet been born , and no generation has become extinct , there is not a tittle of evidence to support the notions . Mr . Ranald Martin , Captain Ouchterlony , Colonel Onslow , and other witnesses connected with the lulls , all bear evidence that the English children are ruddy and healthy , and as fine-grown as can be desired . the mil climates considered
and many of are paxticularly favourable to them . It is strange , but none the less true , that the theory of degeneracy has been very widely propagated and is seriously discussed , being one of the cunning and paltry devices put forward to obstruct English settlement in . India , the opponents of which stop at no invention . Thus we were told officially , with respect to some of the finest countries in the world , that they could produce nothing , and that there was not a field a hundred feet square to be got in them . The degeneracy doctrine belongs to the same class of inventions , but being propagated by men connected with India is believed in by many and is acting prejudicially : because it is held to be quite futile to send English settlers to India , as their offspring must degenerate , and become extinct , without creating any permanent English population in India . The reason for this zeal in checking emigration is the simple one that the parties still desire to exclude Englishmen from India , in order that they may , if possible , retain the government ^ ij } J , lieie-e ^ Sr- ~—hands , unrestraiued by an- active and enlightened English public ; and also keep the whole population within their territories subject to the Black Act . On the other hand , all the authorities connected with the hill and upland regions—Colonel Onslow , Dr . Archibald Campbell , Lord J . Hay , Captain Ouchterlony , and the other superintendents and ex .-supermtendents of the hills , are strenuous in inviting English settlers , and have been supported b y the home and supreme Governments in giving liberal grants of land and every facility to settlers , civil and military . If the assertion were true that the English race degenerates in the hill ... regions of India , it would be a very serious matter ; at all events it is worth consideration , and the more so as the supporters of it have taken upon themselves to revive the notion that the English race is degenerating and dying out in the United States , and that the same fate attends it in Australia . While the world at large believes that our race lias made good its footing in the northern continent of America and is extending in Australia and South Africa , there are not wanting some who pronounce its doom . The degeneration theory is allowed to be propagated with the less check because there is among the public a favourite theory that the English are a mixed race , a special compound of Romans , Welsh , English , Danes , and Normans ; and this doctrine leads to very confused ethnological notions . The subject has this disadvantage , that the facts have never been properly brought together ^ There is consequently no agreement on the premises , and the- laws which affeot the characteristics of race are by no means well determined . The same persons who arc most ardent in broaching the theory of degeneracy of vace—that is , the loss of the cliaracteristios or permanent distinctions of race—do not admit that there ave permanent distinctions of race , or that the Anglo- Saxon race possesses such distinctions . The subject , however , is one which can be more favourably studied by the observant Indian than by any member of the community , beoauso , in India , thero is such a variety of races , so many hybrids and so many of varying periods of introduction , as to afford good soopo foe the diaoussipn of the phenomena . These fools could he brouguf to boar upon the questipn now under discussion , , and would matonally assist in determining it . What is the English race , which is to bo ^ bjocHQdogouoraoy and oxtiuotion , ought to be the first point
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 25, 1858, page 23, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25091858/page/23/
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