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STo. 401, November 28,1857.] THE L E A D...
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^ Mil. ALBERT SMITH AT HOME. Mk. Albert ...
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OPERA BUFFA. Some of our contemporaries ...
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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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your compliments , Leicester will beat you at that . But now , in sober earnest , ray boy , you have shown us the bottom of your purse . " " My purse is empty if it contains not what my lord desires , but indeed it is filled with the wishes of my lord . " "Why , then , " said Baddeley , with a twinkling e y * , "I should like- " " " We have seen beauty , but it was mute , " interrupted Lawford ; . " we have heard beauty , bat it wa 3 unseen . " " I should like——— " reiterated Baddeley . " You are going to ask me , " rebutted Leicester , " for the impossible . " 4 i He is the evil genius of this bower , " whisperrd I to Lawford . . /" Humbug ! " cried Baddeley . " However , if a man mustn't , after all , speak his mind in sober seriousness , one of my wishes was told you before you allowed me to make an ass of myself ; for if you are better at some things , I can . beat you at billiards- !" -.- ¦ The fellow could never rise above the eoffee-house .
Leicester looked at us for permission , and rose to > lead tlie way . In my own mind I had treated the idea of a billiard-roain in that box' as an absurdity , but now he was evidently going to let us have " the impossible / The room from which we were descending was indeed of a good size ; but it was , 1 felt sure , at the top of the low square building , and was over both the other rooms . I have observed that sizs is as much disguised by extreme squareness as it is l > y variety and pointedness of form ; and Leicester ' s dark square box is really as naucli larger than it looks as Woodspring Priory itself ; but still it is a small , low building . I thought the billiard-room micht
be over some of the offices ; but he led us into one of the dimly-lighted arches of the saloon , down a winding stair longer than the one we had ^ scended , and through a long passage as silent as tie stairs , which opened into « i splendid saloon , a long oblong , with walls of fine white stucco painted with , flowers . In the midst , a billiard-table of plainv mahogany and green ; but at the side of the saloon were benches with crimson velvet cushions and ivory arms and legs , and velvet cushions for the fe « t . At the further end of the hall appeared to be chess-tables and other tables , but we did not tO there . . ¦ ¦¦ ¦• ¦ : ¦ ¦ * ' ' ¦ - ' ¦ . - ¦ ¦ ' ¦ ¦ ' ¦ ¦ ' . ¦ ¦ ' ¦¦ . ¦ ¦
Leicester asked us if we would play ; but Lawford and I preferred to look on , and as we took our seats on one of the benches , the black slave brought us pipes and coffee . I shall not describe tiie play . By his success , Baddeley seemed to be right -when he boasted that he was the better man ¦ o n that field ; but I ant sure that Leicester acted the generous host by j > laying carelessly . One incident alon < e proved thu . Baddeley had been exulting in a sort of joking pity as he added up the good round sums that he won , for they played high ; the game was almost certainly his , and as the balls fell into position , he cri « d , " There ' s a table for you ! cannon and pocket ! " Now I should tell you how the balls -were placed . Leicester was in baulk , not very far from the left-hand pocket . The red ball was
¦ about as far from the middle pocket on the right hand ; and Baddeley ' s towards the left again , further dawn the table . Leicester took a little more pains than before , stooped a little and measured his angles , and then his ball parted like a bullet from his cue ; the red ball disappeared into the righthand middle pocket , Baddeley ' s into the left bottom pocket , and rebounding against the cushion at the end , Leicester ' s ball disappeared in the righthand pocket in baulk . It was not only that it was done , but in order to . appreciate the coitp \ you should have seen the mathematical precision . " Ah ! " cried Baddeley , " a few more such strokes and you would recover . abit . 'v :. ¦ ¦ .... ¦¦ . . .. . ; . - , ¦ ¦¦ ¦ : ¦ ¦ .. ¦ . ¦ ¦ " It is dull work for bystanders , " cried Leicester , as the game closed . cc Not at all , " answered Lawford , though my Attention to the game , . and Baddeley ' s "business-like devotion to it , left the statesman only to an interrupted tete-a-tete— " not at all , —only we must not forget time . " It was indeed long past midnight , so cunningly had our host conjured away time . " if our carriage only "waits your pleasure , " he said ; and he led us up another stair , emerging by a door in tlie wall into the room we had first entered , now enriched with wines , biscuits , jellies , sandwiches , and other light portable bonnes bouch . es . " To whet your appetite for the journey / 1 he said . . Not long afteT r Lawford and I passed througli the little door in the ivy-clothed garden wall into the dark , and rolled buck towards London . I have more to tell , but I must wait , till my next . Meanwhile , I may liear more . Pohvhele , I have just heard , is better , but desperately anxious for the mail . Yours , ever affectionately , J . A . W .
Sto. 401, November 28,1857.] The L E A D...
STo . 401 , November 28 , 1857 . ] THE L E A D E H . i !^
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^ Mil. Albert Smith At Home. Mk. Albert ...
^ Mil . ALBERT SMITH AT HOME . Mk . Albert Smith has returned to his Chfilet in Piccadilly in greater force and higher spirits than ever , aud for the next ten months we may hope that he will be at home aoveu times a week to that vast circle of friends -whose circumference is ' all the world . ' More than lialf of Ins present entertainment is entirely new , and the rest appears to be considerably rewritten , or ' touched xip" here and there with new and happy illustrations . Tho * Lecture , ' as it is officially entitled ( would tliat all lectures were half as lively !) , is now preceded by a
pictorial prologue , in other words , a panorama of tho Rhine and the Neeknr , from Cologne to Heidelberg , effectively painted by Mr . P \ Phillips , and accompanied by music in harmony with the scenes as they unrol in bright succession . The front of the Chalet then falls for a moment , ami presently , to an audience pleasantly attuned to see and liear what is coming , appears tho Lecturer himsel £ prepared to receive the hearty welcome duo to an old friend and a 'jolly good fellow . ' Portly as the Great Briton , whose prejudices he flutters , and vivacious as the Mossu , whoso weaknesaea ho ridicules ( aind whoso beard he generously adopts ) , Mr . Auimvr Smith opena fire wi th an introduction composed of doublo-shottcd antithetical sentencea , a long way after the manner of Baron Ma . ca . ula . y ; and it is amusing to observe , that like an inexperienced or amateur
gunner , Mr . AlbektSmith visibly trembles at tlie discharge , and betrays an evident sense of relief when he breaks off into the old style of familiar fun ? ffis receipt , a & Soykk , for making a Diligence , is in his best style , and his electric summary of the < railway routes of past lectures , ' flashes with sparks of humour ™» l * ^ f obser y ° inexhaustibly suggestive and incredibly minute . The Bottle of Champagne ( at four o ' clock in the morning : ) at Epernay , is a miracle of ymd reality . The description of a foreign hotel . *» stereoscopic , and till British tourist , peisomfied by the typical Mr . Brown , is a kindly exaggeration of a ^ well-known figure . A little passing chat about Basle includes S strikinganecdote , of Holbein s youth . From Zurich , where Mr . Albert Smith alwavs a pitiless iconoclast , is careful to tell us that tho maidens are not fair we nass on to the Hotel on the Righi . Here the Lecturer ' s astonishing versatility comes mto play . He sings 'Le Moulin du Village' to a tin fiddle , and a national aii of somegsort or other to a hurdy-gurdy— ' Voices of the night , ' to whieli even the Seven Sleepers could not have "been deaf . Here , too , we meet with the undecided Mr . Parker once more—a weak "brother , we must confess , and , * even at second hand , a bore ; but we encounter a novelty in tlie shape of a specimen of ' Female Girldoin ,- ' irreverently entitled , * The Prancer' from the emphatic
, nature of her mien and movements . The duet for the cornet-a-piston and piano between The Prancer and Mr . Parker is irresistible . "When the « drop' goes up again we are on the Lake of Lucerne , with Tell ' s Chapel to our left . We may be sure that Mr . Albert Smith—a sort of comic Niebuhb as he is—smashes the popular legend of William Tell , and assures us it is all nonsense : the more ' s the pity , From the lake we pasa on to the Jung Prau , and the Bernese Oberland , and thence to the Valais , and by Martigny- over the Great St . Bernard to Geneva , concluding with a capital Patter song illustrative of the enjoyments of British tourists— ' Brown on his travels . ' The diorama of the Ascent of Mont Blanc forms the entr ' acte , and on the reappearance of the Lecturer we descend with him by the valley of Aosta into Italy , from Turin to Genoa , where we take the boat of the Menageries Impc ' riales for Naples . On board the steamer a diverting incident , which we are told to take for fact is related ; and , not content -with a speaking portrait - of . ' aTrench cavalry officer , Mr . Albert Smith invents a ' patriot' on a mission of national ' regeneration , ' for the sole purpose of sneering at exiles . Perhaps it is more cruel than comic to sneer
at men whose chief fault is that they are neither fat nor prosperous , norclothed in fine linen , nor content with national degradation . Strangers will say that Mr . Albert Smith would have sneered at Dante , as he would sneer at Manix or Poeiuo ! But the truth is , that those who know him best know well that the kindest of social satirists , in his restless anxiety to be merry , occasionally does injustice to his own better feelings . Naples , with its beauty its squalor , its noise , and its perpetual masquerade , is a life-like picture , and the Lecturer appears to be alittle softened by the delicious climate . At Pompeii ( where he encounters gushing ' Baby Simmons , * now converted into the ' lady * of the Rev . Septimus Blandy — a mild , classical enthusiast" ) Mr . Ai . bkrt Smith yields a moment to the ' religion of the place , ' pays a graceful and grateful tribute to the author of "the Last Days of Pompeii , / whose genius has filled those unburied walls with life and love . But here , again , he will not allow himself to confess ; that udmonitus locorum , which he evidently feels ; and he takes refuge from emotion in a macaronic song , a sort of olla podrida from the Eton Latin grammar , embodying with infinite humour in the
adaptation , and , what is more singular , with a sort of Horatian instinct , the Epicurean sentiment of the old Pagan dwellers on the shore of that lovely bay . This song alone is worth a visit to the Egitiiak Hall . : The -visits to Paestum and to Capri are illustrated by Mr . William Severity ' s charming pictures ; the Blue Grotto is perhaps a little theatrical in effect , but it is eSective : the Eruption of Vesuvius , with which the lecture concludes , is , we must say , an unmitigated rechauffe of Masanieflo , Mr . Albert Ssiith very wisely shuns politics , and he is comfortably insensible to the fact that he is suixounded at Naples by dungeons in which tlie'best and noblest in the land are slowly tortured to death . Why , then , must he go out of his way to sneer at patriots and . exiles ? But let us end as we began , with a word of welcome . The ' Galignani' song has lost nothing of its freshness and Apropos , and we may add that the comfort of the audience 5 s perfectly cared for , and that whoever desires to pass tlie pleasautest of evenings in the best ot company , will pay a visit to Mr . Albert Smith ' s -hospitable Chalet at the Egypti an Hall . .
Opera Buffa. Some Of Our Contemporaries ...
OPERA BUFFA . Some of our contemporaries appear to deal very scanty justice to the Neapolitan company at the St . James ' s . One might almost suppose that there was a conspiracy of silence , or of faint praise , to extinguish the Opera Buffu . Surelv if there / be a flourishing English Opera at one end of the town , we can find room for a few harmless Italians at tlie other- For our own part , we are for absolute free trade in music as in all other arts , and wherever are to be found the best singers , be they British or Iuilian , thither do we go . Signor Roxzani ' s enterprise lias had to contend not only -with the grudging notice of tlie press , but with the disastrous inclemency of a London November ; making singers hoarse , and keeping half ' the world' at home . How a tenor or muzzo-soprano , accustomed to the climate of Naples , can even breathe in London at this seasou , we find it difficult to conceive ; yet the pleasant little company at the St . James's have been ainging night after night with scarcely an ' indisposition * to spenk of . The production of ltioci ' s Hirraio di Preston ought to . be a hit . The music is ¦ unceasingly gay , sparkling , and tuneful ; flowing ever like a clear , bright , shallow
stream ; the instrumentation is smart and crisp ; the concerted pieces are clever and vivacious , the songs full of pleasant little turns , and pretty passages . We < lare say Ulcer is imperfectly original . But he picks his flowers from the common bouquet of all composers . In any case lie is sunny , and southern , and warm with light and colour and carelt ! S 9 enjoyment : lie is a relief to a London November out of doors . The Birrnio di Preston is vory creditably played and sung ; the orchestra and chorus arc fairly clliciont ; the principa singei' 3 l have good voices , and know how to use them . iSignor IIai-taulli us lianki Robinson , Signor Columiio as Toby , and Signor Castklli aa Lord Mvnynuv , contribute very successfully to the general vucal and dramatic effect ; and ( Signor Giorcktti is a charmingtcnori / to , with a sweet roico and a j ) uro method . Signora Dottijni is an acquisition to the company , combining thi ; piquancy of the French school with the flowing fulness of the Italian , although her vocalization is apparently limited in capacity . Signortt Ta . mjiuiuni lias perhaps more voice , with leas method and experience ; but she sings with spirit , and pleasingly . The libretto of the Brewer of Trenton is even more than usually absurd , but it is ingeniously nbsurd ; and from beginning to end the audience is amused . The performance lias given great satisfaction , and it deserves to draw tho iown to the St . James ' s .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 28, 1857, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28111857/page/19/
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