before, including not a few curious native customs, and many noble Indian landscapes. M. Rousselet paid particular attention to the buildings, ruined or otherwise, which fill the great cities he visited. Most of the woodcuts representing these structures are worthy of high praise, e. g., that which shows a court in the palace at Oudeypour, a superb piece of picturesque design, a perfect model in its way for an Indian palace; also the colossal rock sculptures at Gwalior, statues, sitting and standing, under magnificent canopies, the frontispieces of numerous excavations. The king's palace, with its ranges of lofty round towers connected by curtain walls, is a capital study, both as an engraving and a piece of architecture. We recommend this work heartily to the general reader, and wish others of its kind were obtainable from English hands.

The National Gallery: a Selection from its Pictures, engraved by George Doo, W. Finden, J. and H. Le Keux, J. Pye, E. Goodall, J. Barnet, W. Bromley, G. Cooke, and Others (Chatto & Windus), has a title which ought to be attractive. Nor is it impossible that the secret humour of a statement on the title-page of a big and showy volume will not be appreciated by those who do not separate the pages of the book and examine the impressions it contains from some of the capital plates of the English school of engraving. This statement is "A New Edition, from the Original Plates," and it is at once true and taking. But, alas! the "Original Plates" have been so entirely worn out, that every impression from them is more or less grey, and, in fact, this volume is all but worthless. We never before saw impressions from plates so very nearly worn out, not even in the umbrellas of peripatetic printsellers.

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The same publishers send us Beautiful Pictures by British Artists, &c. (New Series), a tolerably well "got-up" volume, in a capitally designed binding, with letter-press by Mr. S. Armytage. The text calls for no particular remark. The "Beautiful Pictures" are really fairly engraved transcripts from modern paintings, which are rather popular than beautiful. We do not see in what sense even Barthram's Dirge,' by Sir Noel Paton can be said to be beautiful; nor is 'The Battle of Meeanee,' by Mr. Armitage, in any sense a "beautiful" work. Simplicity is, in the proper meaning of the word, an element of the beautiful. In that sense it cannot be applied to such designs as Mr. Hemsley's 'Bird-Catchers'; Mr. J. Faed's 'Justice of the King,' an ancient Scottish subject, represented with faces of amusingly "modern" character; Mr. G. Smith's 'The First Day of Oysters'; and, above all, to Mr. H. Warren's 'Star in the East,' where certain gaunt camels stalk in a desert with a machine-ruled sky of unexceptional evenness. Simplicity here becomes vacuity, or innocence of any definite and intelligent purpose so complete as to be curious. On the other hand, some of the prints are at once popular and intelligible, such as Mr. Ward's 'Last Toilette of Charlotte Corday,' and Mr. Marks's 'My Lady's Page,' neither of which works ranks among the best productions of those artists. The plates have been all, or nearly all, borrowed from the Art-Journal, but they do not seem to have suffered from somewhat hard previous service.

A Book of Drolleries, edited by Aunt Louisa, (Warne & Co.), comprises vividly coloured and not unamusing sketches of character in caricature, with music to match, suited to the amusement of children. This is a superior number of the gaudy "Aunt Louisa series.-Messrs. Chatto & Windus send us The Fables of Esop and Others translated into Human Nature, Designed and Drawn on Wood by C. H. Bennett. The so-called pictorial "translation" consists in representing certain fabled incidents as occurring with regard to human figures with heads of beasts. We are unable to see the fun of such a proceeding, nor has a diligent examination of Mr. Bennett's designs helped us in our search for amusement: the designs are, in fact, extremely prosaic, if not stupid, with one or two exceptions, such as appear in the 'Dog and the Shadow,' where a girl's

face is expressive of fear and surprise. Anything more commonplace than the 'Fox that was Docked' we have not seen for some time.-Merry Elves; or, Little Adventures in Fairyland, with illustrations by C. O. Murray (Seeley, Jackson & Halliday), comprises little legends for the amusement and edification of young children, with neat designs, some of which show considerable spirit, and none of which is devoid of good taste. In its way this is a good book.-Elsie's Expedition, by F. E. Weatherly, illustrated by H. Cross (Warne & Co.), is a child's book, with an extremely childish story of a child's adventures. The woodcuts are very poor indeed.-Our Games: a Story for Children, by Mary Hamilton (Ward & Co.), is a little book of tolerably well-conceived child's stories, with coloured illustrations; they exceed in redness.

The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne. By the Rev. Gilbert White. Illustrated with Engravings by Thomas Bewick, Harvey, and Others. (Bickers & Son.) This is a reprint of the edition of Selborne,' by Mr. E. T. Bennett, revised, with additions, by Mr. J. E. Harting, and various illustrations have been inserted from blocks by T. Bewick and others. The idea was not a bad one, and it is correctly enough described on the title-page of the volume. But it was not quite fair to use a mild term - to stamp on the cover of the book "Selborne," "Illustrated by Thomas Bewick." The cuts borrowed from Bewick are always acceptable, although one does not feel quite certain that the engraver of Gateshead would have sanctioned the use of the block representing "Black Grouse " on a page devoted to the heath-cock or "blackgame" of Selborne.

Dawn to Daylight; or, Gleams from the Poets of Twelve Centuries, illustrated (Warne & Co.), is a handsome volume of poems selected from various authors, from Cadmon to Messrs. Tennyson and Browning, together with woodcuts, of the usual neat and pretty kind affected in gift-books, by Messrs. B. Foster, Wimperis, W. Small, Millais, Haughton, Sir J. Gilbert, and others. The designs are of unequal value, some being excellent, while others are trivial and commonplace to the last degree. Of the former, a landscape on p. 5, by Mr. Foster; a corn-field and group of trees, a woodland scene, a vista of trees, by the same artist, on p. 12; and others of similar character, are acceptable for their prettiness. Very few of the figure-subjects are good for anything; some are tolerable. The task of selecting the poems has been performed with exceptional taste and tact. On the whole, it is safe to say that we do not know a better selection of minor or rather short pieces of poetry in the language.

Nursery Rhymes, Tales, and Jingles. The Camden Edition. Compiled by Mrs. Valentine, with Four Hundred Illustrations. (Warne & Co.) -The publishers state that this volume comprises the whole of "Nursery Rhymes, Tales, and Jingles," "Popular Nursery Tales," and "Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes and Tales," also many "hundreds of illustrations." The poems have been, with much tact, divided into twenty classes, commencing "Historical," which begins with that pre-historic verse

Mr.

gathered by the late Mr. Hugh Howard. Reid has chosen no fewer than 2,175 prints and etchings, and 137 drawings, by various painters and engravers; and these works are now in the Print Room. The examples are by a numerous body of masters, and include specimens collected by Sir Peter Lely and the Earl of Arundel. We may indicate briefly some of the more important examples. 1. An unique print by L. da Vinci, representing a dragon attacking a lion. This design was known by a copy made by Zoan Andrea, and is almost identical with a drawing, undoubtedly by Da Vinci, now in the Uffizi. 2. Four works by Marc Antonio: a, the famous Nativity,' in the rare state, without the Virgin's nimbus; b, the 'Casolette,' a composition, in the antique mode, of three female figures, erect, with joined hands, supporting a casket on their heads: this is the only known counter-proof from the plate by Raimondi ; c, a rare impression of the 'Queen of Sheba,' before the corroding of the plate; d, a beautiful impression of the 'Apollonia.' 3. A beautiful and rare impression of St. Francis receiving the Stigmata,' by Israel van Meckenen. 4. Two most exceptionally fine impressions form "combats of naked men"; compositions in the form of friezes, by B. Beham, the ablest of the "Little Masters.' 5. An extraordinarily brilliant and clear impression of the portrait of William, Duke of Juliers, by Aldegrever. 6. A mezzotint (by J. Smith ?) of Harris, the player, in the character of Cardinal Wolsey. 7. An extremely interesting woodcut, in three blocks, measuring 29 × 19 inches, and representing the Ark Royal,' the flag-ship of Lord Howard of Effingham in the battles with the Spanish Armada. She was the largest vessel in Queen Elizabeth's Navy. She carried fifty guns, and was of 800 tons burden; she is fitted with four masts, and carries in the woodcut the Admiral's standard at her gangway, thus continuing that custom which obtained in antique as well as in medieval times, of showing the armorials of the warriors on board on shields suspended at her sides; the royal standard flies at her mainmast head; the Tudor Rose is on a flag on the summit of her mizen-mast; St. George's Cross appears at her foremast truck. The woodcut, if it is of English origin, is one of the oldest works of the kind executed in this country: it has a general resemblance to those invaluable Venetian engravings of shipping of an earlier date, which are reckoned as amongst the rarest treasures of the Print Room.

Among the principal drawings of this noble acquisition, Mr. Reid has called our attention to the following: 1. By Holbein, in his admirable and complete mode of execution, made with a fine brush, in Indian ink, and representing a dagger in its sheath, most elaborately and beautifully enriched with arabesques of foliage, satyrs, male and female figures, &c., of exquisite draughtsmanship and superb design. Several examples of a similar nature to this, and ascribed to Holbein, are known to collectors, and by them supposed to be designs for the use of goldsmiths and armourers. We are, however, persuaded that this is not necessarily the case, and that many, if not most, of these works were made by Holbein as studies for the details of weapons, included in his portraits, and from arms possessed by his sitters, of which implements he made likenesses as faithful as those of the faces he depicted. The large group at Longford Castle, belonging to the Earl of Radnor, and representing the persons styled 'The Two Ambassadors,' contains objects which illustrate our suggestion, such as a dagger, which it is not needful to suppose Holbein designed, although he probably made such a drawing as that now in question, to represent a favourite weapon of his sitter's. To make a drawing of this nature, and under the presumed conditions, was strictly analogous to Holbein's well-known practice with regard to the heads of his employers. The Two. Ambassadors' was in the Royal Academy Winter Exhibition last year. Our readers will remember Mr. Woodward's acute and perfectly satisfactory explanation of the true nature of an object represented in this picture, a skull, which our Corre

spondent proved to be shown in an anamorphosis. 2. The original study, by Van Dyck, for the horse in the famous equestrian portrait of Charles the First, now in the Salon Carré of the Louvre it is in chalk, on grey paper. 3. The beautifully finished head, in three-quarters view to our left, of a woman wearing a high, wired coif, and pinner, executed in sepia, with a brush, lightly shaded and perfectly modelled; a portrait, probably by Lucas Van Leyden, and of the greatest rarity. 4. Rembrandt's study for the etched portrait of J. C. Sylvius, made in bistre with a reed pen; in an oval frame; freely and roughly treated. 5. The drawing in red chalk, by Watteau, for his portrait of Baron, the engraver, seated at work by a table near a window. 6. A head of an old man in profile to our left, most elaborately produced in sepia with a pen, by Leonardo da Vinci. 7. Twenty-three drawings by J. Romano, in sepia with a brush, of table plate and furniture: portions of a numerous collection of similar works, other members of which are in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire, at Chatsworth, and were recently noticed by us while describing His Grace's Italian drawings; other parts of this collection were already in the Print Room. The designs are characteristically ornate; and they are executed with great skill and freedom. 8. A finely drawn head by Lely, portrait of the Duke of Lauderdale, spiritedly rendered in chalks, on buff paper.

These acquisitions include numerous sketches and studies by Dutch artists, such as Van de Velde, and of considerable interest, as showing the painter's mode of dealing with the perspective of his subjects. Besides the above, we find a very large collection of painters' etchings described in volumes xvii. to xxi. of Bartsch, being from three to four hundred in number; two hundred and sixty-eight English mezzotints by Faber, Simon, Becket, and others; six hundred and forty-two foreign mezzotints, including twenty-nine by Vailliant, and one by Prince Rupert, not before described, representing figures seated in a tent.

THE LENOIR COLLECTION.'

Stafford House, St. James's, London, Nov. 28, 1874. IN the review of the above book, which the Athenæum has done me the honour to notice in the current week's number of its pages, mention is made regarding a collection of drawings by "F.

Clouet (the Second), now at Castle Howard, and representing more than three hundred persons of the Courts of Henry the Second, Charles the Ninth, and Henry the Third of France." I am not only aware of the existence of this most interesting collection of historical French portraits, but have, during the last summer, copied these as far as possible in fac-simile by Messrs. Maclure's autolithographic process, and hope to be able to publish these copies in one or two volumes in the course of next year. RONALD GOWER.

We are glad to hear this, but we would suggest to Lord R. Gower that it would be well to employ a finer process than that used in the volume he has published.

ENGRAVINGS AFTER REYNOLDS.

MESSRS. COLNAGHI have sent us artists' proofs of two new mezzotints after pictures by Sir Joshua. Both of the pictures are known to our readers, the one more so than the other. It is remarkable that one of these works is famous less from its own merits than owing to a superbly fine engraving, one of the best, if not the most delightful, productions of J. R. Smith; while the other has had to rely on itself for reputation, and has, nevertheless, attained, almost entirely within the last dozen years, a place among the most charming examples of simple, beautiful, and pathetic portraiture. It experienced a fate the reverse of that which befell the other picture, for it was more than once reproduced, but so badly as not to be worth looking at in mezzotint or other wise. The first of the new prints before us repre

sents the famous 'Pig-a-back, comprising portraits of Mrs. Payne-Gallwey and her little daughter. The new transcript is by Mr. Zobel, and we are

disposed to believe it to be the best of his works-painted the famous Venus chastising Cupil preferable in most respects to the private plate also a 'Landskip.' Before the father was mean engraved for the late Marquis of Lansdowne from ing for his daughter (she died in 1791), be employed the good-humoured satire which Reynolds per- 1789, T. Park to make a mezzotint engraving from petrated at Johnson's expense, and which is known the portrait of Penelope, but it turned out to be as The Infant Johnson, an imaginary portrait a wretched thing, quite unworthy of the beauty f of the lexicographer in infancy, naked, seated, and the demure little angel it professed to represent contemplating the earth, with the weight of a dozen and of her portrait. The picture was likewise en dictionaries on his mind. graved by T. Kirk, but that horrid caricature in line showed, instead of the damsel of five years old, she was born in 1783,-a maid of fifteen The estate of Ashbourne Hall was sold in 134 and with it, we believe, this portrait. It is said t have been again sold in May, 1851, to Mr. Winds. for 290 guineas, and at his sale, March 26, 1552 was purchased by Earl Dudley for 1,100 gaines The picture was at the Royal Academy Winte Exhibition of 1871, and at the International Exh bition, 1862.

The other new engraving is of that most delightful work known to some as 'Penelope,' and less happily styled 'The Mob-Cap,'-quite a modern name, by the way, and otherwise most happily and more correctly as 'Miss Penelope Boothby.' The new print from this picture is by Mr. S. Cousins, and is of such fine and tender quality that we doubt much if the engraver ever did better and we are certain that he never rendered a Reynolds more pathetically or delicately. The painting may be fresh in the minds of our readers as one of the most charming of Reynolds's portraits of children; this is to say, that it is among the most exquisite pictures of children ever produced, for no one has surpassed, and very few, indeed, have approached, the childless knight as a painter of infancy.

The portrait was painted in July, 1788. There is a record in Reynolds's pocket-book that the little girl sat to him in that month; and a notice in the President's ledger, under that date, thus, "May, 1788, Mr. Brooke Boothby, for his Daughter, 521. 10s.," tells us that part of the price was, as usual, paid before the picture was begun. This was classed, if Cotton's copy of the ledger is to be trusted, with the second payments, so that we suppose the sum to be half the price Reynolds obtained for this most delightful specimen of the most charming phase of his art, executed when his powers were at their highest. He had produced the famous portraits of Lady Elizabeth Foster, Lord Burgersh, Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick, Lord Heathfield, and others, in the year before. At this time Sir Joshua was sixtyfour years of age, and he stood alone soon after, for Gainsborough died August 2, 1788. So the President was but ill paid for this masterpiece. A modern portrait-painting R.A. would get five times the sum for any dull proof of incompetency, which would not fetch ten shillings when the sitter was forgotten. How much greater is the interest of 'Miss Penelope Boothby,' as one of the very latest pictures Reynolds worked on, after July, 1789, the President received no more sitters,-than of any one of the legions of modern portraits.

It would be but a poor compliment to Mr. Cousins's fine mezzotint to say that it is incomparably the best transcript that has been made from Reynolds's picture. T. Park's print is simply bad, while that by Kirk is worse: neither of these precious productions has more than a faint resen blance to the original picture. It is not worth while to discuss them. Mr. Cousins's copy is absolutely delightful, and is among the happiest translations from Reynolds. The general softness and warmth of the picture are admirably given, and Mr. Cousins displays a fine sense of the peculiarities of texture which affect us so powerfully in looking at Sir Joshua's pictures. The style of the original in the handling of the draperies is faithfully represented, especially in the white frock of the child, a most im portant element. Here the grey semi-transparency of some portions, the white of the denser parts, the lightness and softness, the breadth and brilliancy of all, are excellently rendered, while the expression is given with nearly complete succes. How high this praise is those will understand whe compare prints with pictures. Even the somewhat waxen whiteness of the child's tint is suggested in the plate. The mouth is very fine, although the lips lack something, not much, of the tenderness of expression and exquisite modelling of the pic ture. We think the hair is slightly darker than the pale, golden, honey colour of those delicions locks warrants, and that this excess detracts from the keeping of the whole reproduction. Also, that the background lacks a little of the indefinite ness which is so charming in a work of this kind, for it intrudes on the face and form, especially on our left. On the whole, the print is a marvel, and is by far the best modern copy from a Reynolds

Sir Brooke Boothby was a particular friend of Reynolds, and his name often appeared in the The picture of 'Pig-a-back' belongs to Lord lists of the artist's friends and pictures. He lived Monson, and, owing to J. R. Smith's mezzoat Ashbourne Hall, Ashbourne, Derbyshire. In tint, is much better known than 'Penelope': it is the transept of the church at Ashbourne, among also a work of much greater pretensions than the other tombs of her family, is the beautiful monu- likeness of the child. Mrs. Payne-Gallwey and ment of "Penelope Boothby," her portrait statue Child,' as the picture is commonly called, shows the in white marble, by Banks, lying sideways on young mother with her little one on her shoulders, a pallet, reclining like a flower that has been lately as if they were indulging in a frolic together. cut, and beneath it the mournful inscription, "She The child wears a broad-brimmed hat, that scarcely was in form and intellect most exquisite. The holds to its head, looks over the lady's shoulder unfortunate parents ventured their all on this with dove-like eyes, and clings with a fairy arm, frail bark, and the wreck was total." Reynolds that is stayed in its place by one of the mother's painted, as we have said, this demure, shy, soft-hands, while the other holds up the little burden eyed little maid in her quaint mob-cap, black sash, behind. The companionship thus indicated was and mittens; with her pure small hands put not destined to last. The picture was painted by before her, as if there were something of the house- Reynolds about 1779: he received 70% in wifery sort probably-to be done in this world, and December of that year, doubtless a moiety of the she must consider her share of the task. The sweet price. The lady was Philadelphia, daughter of little creature died not long after, and her father General De Lancey, and wife of Stephen Payne, recorded, in a queer, but not really affected, way, who afterwards took, the name of Gallwey-of his sense of his loss, by publishing, in folio, Toft's Hall, Norfolk. She died in 1785, aged 'Sorrows sacred to the Memory of Penelope,' 1796. twenty-seven. Her husband was well known Sir Brooke was deep in all the blue-stockingisms among the virtuosi of his day: his portrait is in of the day, and a close ally of Miss Seward, Dr. one of the Dilettanti pictures, which are now in Darwin, and the Edgeworths: he was the seventh Willis's Rooms, St. James's. He is the man who baronet of his family, and died in 1824. Reynolds appears seated, in the act of drinking from a glass, painted him (he had a wart on his nose, according which thus shows a ring across his face. The only lotte, who, in 1797, married John Moseley, Esq, of Glenham House, Suffolk. 'Pig-a-back' was exhibited at the International Exhibition, 1862,

mother, and he had painted Sir William Boothby, and, for the latter, a certain Nancy Reynolds. For Penelope's father, then Mr. Brooke Boothby, he

with which our readers are already familiar, and others which are much less known. Each work is briefly described, with its signature and other marks, dimensions and other particulars. Some of these productions must be extremely rare, e. g., that to which Mr. Thomas gives the number 49, 'The Thames,' of which the cataloguer has seen but a single proof, the one in the Print Room, British Museum, a national collection which is rich in these examples of the skill and feeling of an admir

MR. MILL.

WE have received from M. Rajon, the distinguished French engraver, an artist's proof of his etching from Mr. Watts's portrait of the late Mr. J. S. Mill. The portrait is, as most readers know, a little more than a bust; the face is slightly turned to our left-hardly in three-quarters view. The etching, which is elaborate, yet delicate and fine, gives the face on a scale a little smaller than the palm of one's hand, and is quite sufficiently large to show the features fairly, and render their expression and character to perfection. The etching is in every sense worthy of the original and the subject, so that it is a modern masterpiece, so strong and yet so delicate is its execution, so complete is its fidelity to the Wherever M. Rajon has had to translate the learned draughtsmanship of Mr. Watts, the chiaroscuro of his painting, the astute, yet over-sensitive look of the visage, the subtleties of the modelling, e. g., where the finely lined skin was spread over hard bone, flexible, smooth cartilage, furrowed flesh and sinews,-there the craft of the etcher, his indomitable patience, and inexhaustible learning are apparent. There are few finer things in current etching than the way in which

the skin forms in shallow wrinkles are drawn on the cheek bones; descends in its flexibility to the hollow above the zygomatic arch, and then seems to spread over the broad and stately forehead, shining faintly where it is smoothed at the temple. The execution of the mouth is exquisitely solid and faithfully fine; the lips are quite a triumph of handling, and intensely pathetic in their look; there and in the eyes the picture is admirably sound: nothing could be better than the treatment of these features. The hair, in its light, curling masses, is deliciously reproduced. The light and shade of the work has been made a subject of careful study by one of the most learned and skilful etchers of this age, for as such is M. Rajon known throughout Europe and America. Finally, we are bound to say that the etching is an absolutely successful translation of the picture into black and white.

Fine-Art Gossip. THE private view of the Winter Exhibition of the Institute of Painters in Water Colours takes place to-day (Saturday); the gallery will be opened to the public on Monday next.

It is said that the missing portion of Murillo's St. Antony has been found, cut in two, one portion containing the head, the other the body. We repeat this with, as French journals state, all possible reserve.

A NEW journal, to be styled L'Art Revue Hebdomadaire Illustrée, is announced to appear next month in Paris. It will comprise etchings and engravings in wood; the first number will contain an etching by M. E. Boilvin, after a picture by Boucher, styled 'L'Heureuse Mère,' in the collection of M. Mélot, of Brussels.

'A CATALOGUE of the Etchings and Drypoints of J. A. M. Whistler,' by Mr. Ralph Thomas, of New Barnet, has been privately printed, and will be welcome to those collectors who can obtain it. A prefatory note informs us that Mr. Whistler began etching about 1859, and in that and the two following years produced a large number of such works. The designs described in this Catalogue amount to eighty-six in all, and comprise many

In the second portion of the choice collection of rare engravings and drawings, formed by the Hon. Hugh Howard, and sold by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge last week, several Rembrandts sold for very high prices. Portrait of himself, leaning on a stone sill, second state, 431.-Triumph of Mordecai, 217.-The Presentation, 261.-Christ healing the Sick, 1067.-Christ in the Garden of the Mount of Olives, 241.-Christ before Pilate, first state, 2517.-The Crucifixion, first state, 2111., and third state, 711.-Christ taken down from the Cross, 241.-Return of the Prodigal Son, 231.— St. Jerome sitting before a Tree, 371.-St. Jerome reading, 431.- The Skater, 201.-The Onion Woman, 24l. 10s.-Woman with an Arrow, 201.Omval, 271.-Amsterdam, 281.-The Sportsman, 301.-Three Trees, 821.-Peasant, with milk pails, 231.-Village near the High Road, fourth state, 261.-Village, with square tower, 211.-Canal, 271.-Landscape, with a vista, third state, 281.— Arched Landscape, with sheep, 291.-Landscape, with cottage and hay-barn, 201.-Landscape, with a mill-sail seen above a cottage, 241.-Village, with canal and sailing vessel, 221.-Gold weigher's Field, 361.-Portrait of J. C. Silvius, 311.-Dr. Faustus, 251.-Great Jewish Bride, 341. The entire sale of 406 lots produced 3,030l. 5s. 6d.

THE Society of Lady Artists will hold an exhibition in Great Marlborough Street next spring.

MUSIC

SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY, EXETER HALL-Conductor, Sir Michael Costa. -FRIDAY NEXT, December 11, Handel's Oratorio, 'SOLOMON.' Principal Vocalists: Miss Edith Wynne, Mrs. Suter, Madame Patey, Mr. Vernon Rigby, Mr. Thurley Beale. Organist, Mr. Willing.-Tickets, 38., 58., 10. 6d. The Forty-Third Christmas Performance of the MESSIAH' will take place on FRIDAY, December 18. Tickets now ready.

MR. RIDLEY PRENTICE has the honour to announce that his EVENING CONCERT will take place at the Alexandra Hall, Blackheath, on TUESDAY EVENING, December 8, commencing at Eight o'clock. Artists: Miss Edith Wynne, Miss Alice Barnett, Mr. Henry Guy, Mr. Henry Holmes, Mr. Henry Parker, and Mr. Ridley Prentice.-Tickets (Stalls, Numbered, 58.; Area or Balcony, 2s. 6d.) and Prog rammes of Mr. Burnside, Bookseller, The Village, Blackheath.

'LES PRÉS SAINT-GERVAIS,'

To please the Parisians, it may be presumed, M. Charles Lecocq has called his last three-act opera an opéra-bouffe; but if our readers infer from this that Les Prés Saint-Gervais' is of the Offenbach school of burlesque, they will form a most erroneous notion of the music. trated by Cimarosa in the Matrimonio' Segreto' It is an opera-buffa in the Italian sense, as illusand the Astuzzie Femminili,' by Gnecco in 'La Prova d'un Opera Seria,' by Rossini in 'La Cenerentola' and Il Barbiere,' by Donizetti in 'Don Pasquale' and the 'Elisir d'Amore,' and by Flotow in Marta. Moreover, taking the French opéracomique as a standard, M. Lecocq's style is as orthodox as that of Auber in 'Le Domino Noir' and Les Diamans de la Couronne,' and of M. Gounod in 'Le Médecin malgré Lui.' To cite also German comic opera, 'Les Prés Saint-Gervais' is

as classic in form as the 'Abou Hassan' of Weber.

The Athenæum, in first calling attention to the 'Cent Vierges' and the 'Fille de Madame Angot,' when these two works were represented in Brussels, pointed out that the composer, although he did commence his career at the BouffesParisiens, following in the wake of M. Offenbach in his two one-act operettas, 'Le Barbier de Trouville' and 'Le Testament de Madame Crac,' as also in the three-act opera, 'Fleur de Thé,' was adopting a new line for himself, that he was showing that he had pronounced individuality, and that he was destined to become the Auber of French

opera

if he continued to improve. 'Giroflé-Girofla has since indicated that M. Lecocq's approximation to the master-minds of the really national school of the lyric drama in France is becoming still nearer. Indeed, when we look back at the early operas of Grétry, Dalayrac, Boieldieu, Hérold, Auber, Halévy, Adolphe Adam, &c., we observe a marked resemblance between M. Lecocq and his predecessors. His style is undergoing a transformation; and it is impossible not to be struck by the advance in the quality of the score of the Prés Saint-Gervais,' the English adaptation of which, by Mr. Reece, was heard, for the first time, last Saturday, at the opening night of that elegant and comfortable theatre-the Criterion. In the Athenæum of the 21st ult. (ante, 2456), we gave a notice of the first performance of the work at the Variétés, on the 14th inst.; and we stated that Mr. Enoch, the London publisher, had been supplied with early proofs of the drama and music, so that the rehearsals here were going on simultaneously with those in Paris. But at the eleventh hour, to the annoyance of M. Lecocq and of the libretto writers, MM. Sardou and Gille (not Gillé, as some of our contemporaries print it), M. Bertrand insisted upon altering materially the third act, and he also hurried on the bringing out of the opera at the Variétés so much so that the overture was almost improvised. The Athenæum added that on the second night in Paris "divers cuts" had been made; but at the Criterion there was no time to alter or curtail, so that the English

version is as nearly as possible the original piece. It may be stated at once that excision in the second and third acts was obviously required here, for the opera lasted three hours and a half. We need not dwell on some well-painted scenes by the Messrs. Grieve, or the picturesque costumes of the Louis the Seize period, or the remarkably efficient ensemble secured through the skill and zeal of the musical director and conductor, Mr. Stanislaus, whose orchestral and choral forces have been judiciously selected and organized, or on the able translation of the libretto by Mr. Reece, who has made good use of M. Sardou's vivacious vaudeville and M. Gille's clever poetry, for after all it is on the score of M. Lecocq that the Criterion will have to rely to win popularity for 'Les Prés SaintGervais.' There can be no hesitation in pronouncing a decided opinion, that in no previous opera has the composer displayed a more melodious vein; that the themes are thoroughly tuneful, and that, more than this, the skill of the practised musician is evidenced in the music assigned to each leading part, and in the interesting and piquant treatment of the orchestra. The dignified tone of the airs of the Prince de Conti is contrasted with the homely style adopted in the part of the grisette Friquette, the military ardour of the Sergeant Larose with the pedantic solemnity exhibited by the pedagogue Harpin, before his true character is revealed, and he is discovered to be a former days. The gaiety of the music is not affected dissolute frequenter of the Paris Cremorne of by the broad situations of the drama. This freedom from coarseness is a remarkable point in the music, and is conspicuous in the pic-nic scene, and in the frolicsome gambols of the students and of the professors. M. Lecocq has evidently studied, like M. Gounod, the scores of Mozart, and shows his predilections in the choice of the wood band for the orchestral accompaniments. Brass and percussion come in naturally with the fanfares of the regiment of Conti. The principal pieces in the first act are a lively opening market scene, with various groups crossing the stage a delicious air, "La Rose et le Muguet" (the Rose and the Lily), replete with sentiment, and yet piquant; the vigorous aria d'entrata of the Sergeant, the subject of which is heard in the entr'acte between the first and second acts; the chorus of pedagogues, who adjure their pupils to bear in mind "Labor improbus omnia vincit," and then in an "aside" singing of their revelries, but on seeing the students watchful, returning to the refrain, "Magister dixit,"

&c.

This piece will be as popular as the Conspirators' Chorus in 'La Fille de Madame Angot.'