... The festival proper was comme nced on Monday tinder the most cheering aueuicesthere heinga total of 21,431 visitors against 18,290 in 1S77. Nothilg new nesds to he said of the masterpiece selected, since 1 the XcsMei.l confessedly stands at the head of all t sacred music. It was rendered in a manner worthy b of Handel, and of the occasion. A speciality in the e solo music was ...

... Chamber Concert at Steinway HalL The Second Chamber Concert given by MM Musin and Saint-Sadns took place on Thursday afternoon, when the first item performed was a Trio in F for Pianoforte, Violin, and Violoncello, a composition of an effective and brilliant cha- racter. The trio is in four movements, and contains some original and novel passages, but it was the andante that appeared to afford ...

... (FROsI OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) JUNE 3.-In order to give the Belgian drama its due place in the fetes that are being organised in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of national independence, the Minister of the Interior has appointed a Committee for choosing such Belgian plays, in the French language-to the exclusion of opera-as shall be most suitable for representation. The six ...

... MAJESTY'S THEATRE. Verdi's Forza del Destino was revived here Saturday. The opera was promised in Mr. Mapleson's prospectus of his oil-season in November and December last, but the success of other performances then given caused the postponement of the revival until now. The work was first brought out at St. Petersburg iu 1862, and was produced by Mr. Maplesonin June, 1867, at Her Majesty's ...

... PUELIC IEEIES. Xe YouDRURY LANE. As You Like It having proven very successful at the Imperial, has bean removed to the much larger house of Drury Iaune. Juldging by the crowded audienees tbat nightly witness this fanciful creation of Shakspere's, and the applause bestowed upon it, we may venture to assume that the removal will prove successful. Miss Litton is, of course, the Rosalind, and ...

... * TniE value of Professor Jebb's little book must be measured in the inverse ratio to its size. It conveys, indeed, in a small compass a surprising amount of interesting and vivid knowledge in the pleasantest way conceivable. It is at once a book of history, a book of travels, and a book of contemporary social study as applied to Greece. It is needless to say that the historical portion is ...

... FRENCH FAIR Y TALES. f A riew years ago the collectors and comparers of fairy tales found but few published in French. There were, of course, the Contes of Perrault and ,of Madame d'Aulnoy, and the vast collection of the Cabinet des 16es. But all these stories had been subjected to literary treatment. They were not directly taken from the lips of the people, and, save for -one or two legends ...

... IN HER MAJESTY'S KEEPING, by the Honourable Lewis \ingifield (Bentley).-Within the last few months we have been favoured with more than one book treating of Convict Life, and all its unsavoury concomitants. They have been the work of men who have candidly confessed that their books are but autobiographies- reminiscences of their past careers; and though they naturally excited much interest, ...

... rRunuR -TsrN fl-ur LFEW 05URS OWN CORRESPONDENT) - - NEW YORK, MAY 29.-The fierce beat of an American summer is upon us at an unprecedentedly early date., Such sweltering weather in May has not been experienced here in a decade. The effect on the Theatres may be seen in the rapid closing up of the meason. The Urnion-square, the Standard, Booth's, and the BiJou Opera House have already closed ...

... BEETMOVEN'S RECITALS BY HERR BONAWITZ. | Herr J. H. Bonawitz gave on Wednesday evening, at the Langlham Hall, the first of a series of three recitals of Beet- hoven's Sonatas. Herr Bonawitz makes a selection of five sonatas for each concert, and, although in consequence of his being little kuown to the English musical public the audience was not large, we shall be surprised if, after Herr ...

... E'Mke foilolving ap)peared in our Town EpITION of Lca, Weelk.) On Saturday, May 29bh, a New and Ofiginal Comedy, in) Three Acts, 1JACKS AND JILLS, written by James Alberv. John1 lun1bury ?? (a Manufacturer) .. Mr HENRY naive MaIjor MeC'ull. Mr W. H. VERNON Mr Kannicotel. .(Hunhury's Soicitor).. r JousI MACLEAN Samuel IrwvinI (Bunbury's Clerks). Mr W. HERBERT Edward Irwinj (BmuysClrs. Mr ...

... Yesterday afternoon representatives of the British iron trade waited upon Earl Granville at the Foreign to uige upon him the desirability of securing for that trade in negotiating tho treaty with Prance the most favourable tornr. Earl Granville wa ...