... There is a vital question between artists and audiences which ought to be settled one way or another. It is a questionI of some importance to art, and one intimately con- nected with the personal comfort and future prosperity of those who are highly endowed by nature and as highly educated in the profession they have adopted. The question is, how far artists are bound to comply, and to what ...

... MNIASKELYNE AND COOKE. Quite proverbial is the saying that wonders will never cease. The sage author of the remark must certainly have had in his mind's eye the coming of the cunning and ingenious gentlemen named above, Whose wondrous doings have secured for the Egyptian Hall the title of England's Home of Mystery. Mr Maskelyne's arduous and long-continued work in the cause of the pleasure ...

... IT has been a terribly anxious week for England, and even yet the old country does not appear to be quite out of the wood. In order properly to explain what has been happening, and what anxieties have forced themselves upon the attention of earnest politicians, it will be necessary to go back a little. It will be remembered that her MAJESTY, in her gracious speech on the occasion of the ...

... F R B 1 M A S O N R Y. Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution. Tue mionthly meeting of the Committee of this Institution was held on Wednesdaty at Freenmasons'lltall. Br Colonel Creaton, V.P., p)resided, and among, the other Brethren present were Brs Benjamin lMenu, S. Rawson, J-. etd. Case, Griffitiss Smuith, F. Adilrd, C. A. Cotte- barione, NV. Hale, L. Stean, Thomas Cubit~t, Joseph Smith, ...

... A MANAGER'S AIANUVYRES. RELATED BY OCR WARP.INGTON CORRESPONDENT. That was a good anecdote related recently by Mr Cave in The Era, and, if I mistake not, I can relate several more con- cerning the same gentleman, most of which, including Mr Cave's, I had from the said Manager's confidential many years ago. The Manager, Mr H - M -, announced a grand concert at a small town that shall be ...

... TO THE EDITOR OF THE ERA. Sir,-I have read your article on Encorcs, and I feel convinced that your contributor, and also a great many of your readers, will agree with me when I declare that the encore system has grown to be a positive nuisance. It is a nuisance, because in so many instances it is simply the will of the minority forced upon the majority. How frequently you must have remarked ...

... ORIGl.NAL CORRESPONDENBE. 13IJOSEY v. FAIRLIE. ru 'ril -ITO OfV THlE ERA. Si,,-It would have been more prudent if Messrs Boosey and Co. had deterred ventilating their imaaginary grievances in public until the pending appeal to the House of Lords had been disposed of, for if that decision should be against them, as I humbly venture to predict it will, the course they have now taken In publicly ...

... THE TELEPI-IONE. The extraordinary effects of the Telephone are talked of in every circle, and even the Court has been attracted by the novelty. The consequence is that on Monday evening Professor Bell and Colonel Reynolds hadl the honour of exhibiting this wonderful invention at Osborne and, with a view of enabling her Majesty to judge for herself as to its powers, communica- tion was ...

... I'LA MARtJOLAINfil AT THE ROYALTY. T,1 THE EDITOR 01 THE ESRA. Sir--As the statement that appearedl in last week's Etcr respecting La, fMrjole.ie is utterly incorrect, I must beg your permnission to contradict it. The opera has not undergone the process of emasculation, nor is the dialogue clt or altered in the slightest degree from the tlrst night's performance ;Uand, if we may judge from ...

... The valuable services of the eminent pianist Don Von Bulow were gracefully recognised at Glasgow last Saturday, when a presentation was made to him of an ivory baton mounted in silver, or rather of a sketch of the baton, which was not finished. The meeting for the presentation was held during the Popular Evening Concerts. The members of the Festival Committee and the executants met during the ...

... THE Shipka Pass, which for a time baffled the science and activity of the Russian hosts, has fallen to the CZAR just as Plevna fell. The Russian army is pushing its way through snow and slush to Constantinople. Promises have been broken, pledges have been destroyed. The avowed plan and object of the campaign has changed now that bloodshed and destruc- tionshave whetted the Muscovite appetite, ...

... CROYDON ACCEPTANCES AND SPRING Nominatlons. The break in the weather enablesi the M\anehester ass1 Ktingsbury auithorities ctc cmary out their New Year arran-gemento, and the Lancaghire Meeting attracted a large portion of the hotliday class, though thie sport broaght to a head was not important, nor wvas tile buisiness at~ingsbury of abetter characterflhan that recently witnessedat ...