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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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THE MONDAY EVENING CONCERTS . [ t was for a long time debated whether the English people had or had not any taate for music ; and until very recently scepticism counted the greatest number of adherents . In spite of the multitude of barrel organs , pianoforte organs , brass bands , ballad-singers , and other ' discoursers of music , ' thronging the streets of London and other large towns , it was loudly affirmed that the Anglo-Saxon had no harmony in his soul . Popular music in those times , no doubt , wag bad enough in quality ; but its wide diffusion ought to have shown observers —and did show some few- —that the capacity and tendency to be moved by the musician ' s art existed in the hearts of the humblest of our countrymen . In earlier days , England was the most conspicuous musical nation in Europe ; and , when Shakspeare and Mii / ros lived and wrote , the virginal and voice , were often heard in quiet , Tush-strewn chambers , and the working man plied his craft to songs of mirth or gentle sadness .
Several experiments of late years have again developed the partly dormant love of music . Mr * IIitucah has done much to instruct the popular mind in the science of harmony ; and Exeter Hall has had its crowds . of enthusiastic shilling listeners . Therefore we conceive the projectors of the Monday Evening Concerts fob the People did rightly in appealing to the" masses on a still more liberal ground—rtheir scale of admission being threepence , sixpence , and a shilling- . The undertaking has met with the high sanction and approval of snehmen as Sir Ebivabd Lyttos Bulwek , Charles Dickens , Douglas Jekbom > , Ekigh HoNT ,, Sir Joskph Paxton , &c . ; and we believe the general public have responded heartily to the appeal made to them . But on Monday evening the . directors thought ttey would take u further step in the direction of educating the popular mind in a love of beauty and art . They therefore determined on giving , between the two acts of the concert , a lecture on the cultivationofthe beautiful , and they induced Mr . Xeig a Hunt not only to write this
essay ( for which assuredly no living author is so fit ) , but to take the chair . Those who know Mr . Hunt ' s studious and scholastic habits will be able duly to appreciate the kindness and deep interest iii the success of the undertaking which , must have moved him in thus coming out of his honoured retirement , and , for th « first time in his long life , presiding over a public meeting . However , there , on Monday evening , was the friend of Shelley and Lamb , the literary father of Keats , the embodied spirit of the Examiner in its early days , of the Indicator , the Companion , and a hundred other brilliant scintillations of the periodical-press . There , in the great Hall called of St . Martin , was the literary teacher of half a century , surrounded by several of his younger brethren , among whom were Mr . ILenry Matthew and Mr . Stocojheler ; and there also -was gathered a large audience , intent on harmony . The singers and other performers , consisted of Miss Birch , Miss Augusta Manning , Mr . Bodda , Mr , Donald . King , &c . ; and the music was of all sorts , ranging from a scena in Weber ' s FreiscMtz to "Tom Bowling" and the " Death of Nelson . "
extract from the contemplation of the commonest objects . It related to the unnatural strife between the beautiful and the useful , each being necessary to the other as completing tlieir respective perfection . These primary subjects treated of by the author were varied by amusing anecdotes and illustrations , and the paper was in everv waw worthy of its distinguished author . y The essay closed with a quotation from the garden scene in the fifth act of the Mercliani of Venice , where there is a well-known passage on music , written in the highest style of Platonism and mystical analogy . This was a flight above the audience ; for Englishmen , though rapidly advancing in their comprehension of music , are as yet lamentably behindhand -with respect to poetry In nlain terms , they loudly signified their disapproval . At this , Mr . Mayhew gallantlv ^ turned upon the malcontents , and said they must pardon him if he told them that the impatience they had exhibited was ungracious on their part towards Mr . HiisT : —
He reminded the audience that it was not , in former days , so easy a matter as it is now to be an advocate of the popular cause ; and that Mr . Hunt in his lime had suffered incarceration for tlieir sake . t . ( A Voice : " God bless him ! " ) He had now left his study and retirement , to take , for the first time in his life , the chair at a public meeting . He had come to assist in the promotion of these entertainments , because it was thought that they would have the effect of placing luxuries and refinements which had hitherto been the enjoyment of the few -within the reach of the many . Mr . Mayhew concluded his address by informing the audience that Mr . Hunt was about to leave the chair . One of the objectors here had the candour to say that it was Shakspeatie they complained of , not Leigh Hunt ; and the whole assemblage ratified this by giving three cheers for the prince of living essayists , who made his acknowledgments with much emotion , and retired . The second part of the concert then proceeded .
This insensibility to poetry was exhibited in a similar -way last week . Miss "Vandenhoff—a lady who played Antigone about eleven years ago with singular grace and power—gave a reading , at the new Music Hall in the Surrey Gardens , from Midsummer Night ' s Dream , with Mendelssohn ' s music , sung by Miss Poojle and others . The music was liked , "but Miss Vandenhofjf met with considerable impatience from some of the auditors , who were at length put to shame by the singular pertinence of the following passages in the quarrel scene between Helena , Hermia , Lysander , and JDemetrms—passages delivered with peculiar point and relish by the fair reader : — If you were men , as men you are in show , You would not use a gentle lady so . And , further on : —
If you have am-pity , grace , or manners , You avo « H not make me such an argument . But , fare ye well : ' tis partly niine own fault ; Which < leath , or absence , soon shall remedy . Let us not , however , be disheartened . A people which enn learn to love music may in time be taught to appreciate poetry .
Upon the conclusion of the first part of the concert ( we quote from the Morning Post ) , Mr . Stocqueler advanced and informed the audience that , although it was not his intention , as announced in the bills , to give a selection from the old poets on that occasion , he would , with their permission , read the address prepared by Mr . Hunt . This he proceeded to do , after a short preface , expressing the honour and pleasure he felt in reading anything by such an author , although he had not tim& to look . it over . Before , however , Mr . Stocqueler had gone very far in the reading- of the paper , he found that his voice was not strong enougn to fill the hall , and the audience became so restless and impatient , that he resigned the task to Mr . Henry Mayhew . This gentleman recommenced the paper , and . thanks to his distinct utterance , every word of it was heard . The subject of Mr . Hunt ' s address was on the perception of the beautiful , and the advocacy of its more general cultivation , so as to place within the reach of every one those cheaply-earned pleasures the artist can
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A Hunoarian Refugee at Hull has been starved to death . His name \ va * Adolphe de Werdinsky , and he had been a medical man in the army of Kossuth . At the close ef the Hungarian struggle , he came to London ^ -where he received about 2000 ? . from a relative in Rns 3 ia ; 1500 & of this he invested in the iron business , but he was swindled by a Jew partner , and ruined . He afterwards resided at Southampton , in Holland , and at Hull , where he endeavoured to teach languages under the name of Dr . Beck . He lived in a respectable house , and struggled to keep up an appearance of being in good circumstances , when he was in fact in the sharpest extremity of want . Since he came to England , ho has married , and his wife and one child remain . After his death , his corpse was found lying on a miserable bedtick , covered with a single scanty blanket , laid on an old door ) and this , with the exception of two or three old chairs , was literally the only furniture the house contained . A decent appearance had been . maintained
profound observation , general as conceived by him , true to the letter in its application . I shall never entertain the slightest apprehension of foreign rivalry till I see that all Europe exhibits the freedom of the tenant . " Sir James Graham recommended Cumberland farmers to cultivate corn less , and to introduce the growth of flax by -way of rotation . He thought , also , they grazed too little , and ho warned them against their tendency to grow potatoes . " It is a tender plant ; ' it has beco > tne an uncertain plant . If you grow potatoes , relying -upon the railroads for facility of exporting them , you will make the most fertile land perfectly sterile . It . ia a gambling transaction . If you plant upon good land , the crop is always doubtful , and the loss severe . If it is a good crop , it impoverishes the land to an extent which no "ultimate advantage can compensate . I am therefor * extremely anxious to discourage the growth of potatoes on a large scale . " After the delivory of several other speeches , tho meeting broke up .
Chaicqe of Poisoning . —A charge of administering a poisonous draught to a young woman , named Catherine Mnssey , lias been brought at Worship-street , against John Reid , a beer-shop keeper in the Bcthnal Green-road . According to tho girl's statement , a glaas containing some frothy liquor like ginger-beer was handed to her by tho landlord , after drinking which , she became alarmingly ill . Reid ' s defence is that the . girl herself caught up tho tumbler and drank off the contents , which consisted of twopennyworth of turpentine and the same quantity of liquid ammonia , to be , used for removing grease stains . He was bound over on his own recognizances to appear again next week . The Royai , linixisn Bank . —The hearing of petitions with respect to this bank took place before "Vice-Chancellor Kindeislcy at tho Angel Hotel , Bury St . Edmund ' s , on Wednesday afternoon . Tlie petitions of Mr . Adolphus Sherman , Mr . Robert Mee , General Achison , ond Mr . Jeremiah IFarridgo having been received , and Mr . Iletherington having stated on behalf of tho corporation and directors that thoy desire tho wia < ling-up , but wish it to bo as cheaply managed as possible , tho Yice-Chancellor said ho had no doubt the Wimlingup Act ought to bo adopted in this case . Ho should make an order on all four petitions , tho costs to be allowed out of tho estate .
Hotel , Mr . Henry Howard , of Greystoko Castle , occupying the chair . In answer to the toast of " The members for the city , " Sir Jnmes Graham made a long speech , in which , though promising to observe tho rule of not introducing any political allusions , he reviewed his parliamentary life , and said that he had no cause to regret any of tho measures he h " ad supported . Alluding to agricultural matters , ho said : — " Sir John Maxwell ( one of the guests ) hopes that the Emperor of Russia may reign over a free and loyal people . That he will reign oyor a loyal people , a cordial pcoplo , I fully hope and believe . That lie will reign over a free people I do not expoct , and as nn agriculturist I do not much desire it , for , if there bo danger to a . foreigner , one thing is obvious—namely , that that danger must arise from freedom on tho part of tho cultivators of tho soil . Excuse mo if I record a sentiment which . I read tho other day—a sentiment which denoted great and profound wisdom . Montesquieu , in visiting England nearly a century ago , was struck with tho superior produce of this country in comparison with that of France , and ho wondered at that superiority on perceiving- our climate so v « ry inferior . Ho saw at once that our soil was not nearly so good as that of France , and he makes this reflection , ' That the produce of land depends less on tho fertility of tho soil than on the freedom of tho cultivator' A
means of carrying on that great progress throughout the country which has been begun by the people themselves , and which only needs the Government to give it free course in order to establish the most glorious results ? I hear nothing of all this . Lord Pirfmerston is said to have summoned , the members of his Cabinet to meet together in November , iu order to propound the bills which they wish , to prepare for the next session ; and I suppose after that we shall know something ; and so we still remain in , the state which I described at the beginning—of waiters upon Providence and upon Palrncrston . " Mr , Fox concluded by denouncing 1 aristocratic government . Sir James Graham upon Agriculture . —Tho annual exhibition of stock and implements in connexion with the East Cumberland Agricultural Society was licld upon the Castle-green , Carlisle , beneath the walla of the old border fortress , on Saturday last . A lnrge party subsequently sat down to dinner at the Busli
by a couple of cloan window-blinds ; but beyond this nothing bnt desolation and the most abject poverty was visible . Of clothes tho unfortunate inmates were comparatively destitute , although tho most persevering efforts have been made to keep their poverty from the public eye . Amidst ; all their deprivation , tho child was apportioned more than its share of tlieir scanty meal , yet the ravages o > f hunger oro now detected in its behaviour while playing , which were previously only attributed to childish whim . Mn . W . J . Fox at Ommiaji . —A political speech was delivered at Oldham on Wednesday by Mr . W . J . Fox , who met a party of his constituents . The voteran politician spoke , of the last session as " a session ot
nonentities-, " ridiculed tho Conservatives as being split into r t " ^ £ dovoid of an y intelligible policy ; approved •«?!* V * meratoa maklnS peaco , though he felt disappointea tnat tho -wav had not bcon " u cruaade against ueapotwm universally , " and anticipated tho time when ^ Jlmj !^ ??* 14 ^ ugut 5 and demanded that tho Z 7 ZZ « ° ™ S ? V , f 0 rth BOm « 4 ° ° * tlc Po ^ y . " Are fhot l L 'r , ? ^ Uatment of ^ ar taxation ? Is Is X ™ t « Z ™ T 1 ° tUe r ° P « a ^ tativo principle ? tlo ? ri ? £ . 2 ^ - J \? . ««> aordidncss nnd domination of ecclesiastical authorities ? Are there to be no
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THE "WEEK AT THE THEATRES . Mr . Bctckstone has revived The Inconstant at the Haymarket , for the purpose of introducing to the London stage an American actor , a Mr . Murdoch , who plays Young Mirabel in a manner which has won for him the loud applause of his audience . lie was supported by Mr . Chippendale , Mr . W . Rakken . and Miss Talbot . —Drury Lane has been amusing its frequenters with a travestie of Pizarro as produced at tlie Princess ' s—Mr . Keeley performing the Spanish hero , Mrs . Keele y Holla , and Mrs . Frank Matthews Cora : a humorous combination , which is certain , to be crowned with success .
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932 THE LEADEH , [ No , 340 ; Saturday
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Our promised notice of Perdita at the Lyceum must unavoidably stand over till next week . '
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 27, 1856, page 932, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2160/page/20/
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