... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. amongst the torpedoes. WE caught that 7.40 train, although it did seem as if we had to get up in the middle of the night to do so. Our friend the Composer was discomposed at first by scenting the morning air (to him an unusual experience), and for the first twenty miles he wore an expression of dazed dullness. He tried a cigar, began to beam, and suddenly burst forth into ...

... . THE concert given last Saturday at the Crystal Palace was specially attractive, the programme being entirely occupied by Mr. Mackenzie's dramatic oratorio The Rose of Sharon, performed under the direction of the composer. Long before the com mencement of the concert every seat in the spacious concert-room had been secured, and many hundreds of applicants were unableto obtain admission-- a ...

... . A peefobmaxce of Adricunc Lccourrcur given at the Gaiety on Wednesday afternoon last had few noteworthy features. It was necessarily of the scratch order, and the stage management was only perfunctory. Miss Eweretta Lawrence, earnest and painstaking and intelligent as she is, scarcely realised the idea of the actress who has attained MUe. Lecouvreur's position. Her elocution is better than ...

... . Journalistic London: being a Series of Sketches of Famous Pens and Papers of the Day. By JOSEPH HATTON. Profusely illustrated with engravings from drawings by M. W. Ridley. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, Crown-buildings, 188, Fleet-street. 1882. In undertaking this series of articles for Harper's Magazine, from which they are republished, Mr. Hatton had before him a ...

... . A THREE-ACT opera, entitled All in the Downs; or, Black-eyed Susan, was produced, on Saturday last, at the Gaiety Theatre, for the benefit of Mr. Meyer Lutz, who has composed the music to a libretto partly consisting of scenes from Douglas Jerrold's celebrated play, and partly of lyrics written by the dramatist's son, Mr. T. Jerrold. It will be needless to describe the familiar plot, and it ...

... . THOSE certainly are happiest who expect least when Shake speare is put on as a stop-gap at one of our London theatres, especially when the company happens to be a scratch one, and the opportunities for rehearsal together have been neces sarily limited. Not much could fairly have been hoped for from Mrs. Scott-Siddons's hurried production of As You Like It. The fates had been against the ...

... . Ox Wednesday last an attractivo addition was made to the repertory of Miss Lila Clay's company of ladies at the Opera Comiqne Theatre, in a new operetta, entitled An Adamless Rden, written hy Mr. Snvile Clarke, and composed by Mr. Walter Slaughter. In the elaboration of the plot, Mr. Clarke supplies so many comic incidents, and a dialogue so genuinely witty, humorous, and good-naturedly ...

... . It is a long time since wo have seen a performance so heartily enjoyed as that of The Rivals at the Vaudeville. The famous comedy goes from first to last, as indeed it should with the best all-round cast which has been allotted to it for many a day. We have no Mrs. Malaprop like Mrs. Stirling, none whose blunders seem so naturally made, whose self-satisfaction is so exquisitely comic, whoso ...

... . Old Coaching Days. By Stanley IIaebis (An Old Stager). Illustrated by John Stuegess. London Richard Bentley and Son, New Burlington-street. 1882. THE number of those who speak from experience of the palmy days of coaching, and who are able and willing to write of the good old times, is rapidly diminishing, and that circumstance gives special value to such books as this. Mr. Stanley Harris is ...

... MUSIC. CARL ROSA OPERA COMPANY. THE Carl Rosa Opera Company's performances at Her Majesty's Theatre have been continuously successful. The only addition made to the repertory of the season during the past week was Vincent Wallace's Maritana, produced on Monday last. Mr. Maas on this occasion appeared for the first time (in London) in the character of Don Cæsar de Bazan, and, as usual, made a ...

... . Facts about Champagne and other Sparkling Wines. By Henry Vizetelly, London Ward, Lock Co., 1879. IF we had been there, says Lord Beacons field, in The Young Duke, speaking of a dinner at Charles Annesley's, we should have devoted ourselves to one of the sparkling sisters, for one wine, like one woman, is sufficient to interest one's feelings for four and twenty hours. Fickleness we ...

... . MISS HELEN BARRY, who has made steady progress since she played Arkwright's Wife a few years back, has now commenced an engagement of a couple of months at the Imperial Theatre. She appears both morning and afternoon. The piece given in the morning is Mr. Boucicault's adaptation from the French, Led Astray, in which Miss Barry again plays tho Countess Armande Chandoce, the character which ...