... BIRMINGHAlf MUSICAL FESTIVAL. T1his imp ortant triennial, gathering, the ap- as preach of which necessarily excites the liveliest interest in all musical circles, is fixed to take B place at the close of August and beginnin.g of J( September, extending over a period of four w days; and, judiging from the liberal programme in issued by the executive, both an artistic and a financial success may ...

... THEATRE ROYAL - | : .. _W. . . - ?? I Alulmnanity; or a Passage in the life of Graea arling, is vproduced at the Theatre Royal this gweok by Mr. John Douglass's Standard Theatre , itil Miss Amy Steinberg in the part of Gcc Berton, *vho, of course, is meant to be the orthumbrian heroine- . The piece is ehiefly notable for a terrific strugele for life and death between the hero ond the viilain ...

... THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOOIETfS - - - 'RHOW. SHOW . -The annual show of the Royal Agricultural Society was opened at Reading on Monday, and, so far as the number of entries is concerned, considerably eclinses that of last year, when the exhibition was, held at Derby. An ex- cellent site, embracing some 70 acres- of meadow land within a convenient distance of the- town, has been secured, and ...

... LITERARYNOTS..' [e There does not appear i Longfellow's a d posthumous volume entitled In tha Harbor' IV anythingcalculatedto enhance his reputation I f-as a poet. It could hardly have been expected i be that there should Longfellow was never of the number of those writers who laboriously c an prepare and carefully touch-up and revise ' di whatever they submit to the public judgment. we He ...

... ,lrlOX TO-DAY S 'ATHENMUM.] In the course of the next few weeks we hope to print a series of hitherto unpublished Byron papers. Beginning with a latter from John Byron, the poet's O father, to his daughter Augusta, and letters from the is poet's mother to her husband,; to Mrs. Leigh, the wife tl of General Charles Leigh, colonel of the 20th Regiment of Infantry; and to her stepdaughter ...

... - LFBOX TO-DAT'S ATHENAJN.I M:rs. Lynn Linton has nearly completed a new novel called Ione. Ihe scene is laid partly inX England, partlyat Palermn. Mrs. Linton, who, we are glad to say, has quite recovered from her severe ilnessl is spending the summer in England. Mr. Thomlas Hughes has just completed bis Memoir of Daniel Macmillan. The volume will be I published immediately. It is just ...

... VAR[E'rIES. ?? I ?? -- ORMS OF THOUGHT. A child, like a letter, often goes astray through being badly directed. The aim of education should bo to teach usl rather how to think than what to think. Mirth ohould be thle em~broidery of conereration, not the web, and wit the ornaments of the mind, not thu furniture. Never faint, tier halt, nor despair because yon cannot reelise your ids'al, and do ...

... The distribution of certificates to the candidates Who passed the recent eramination for the Manchester centre in connection with the Royal Academy of MIusic took place en Tuesday afternoon at the Town Hall, an.- chester, in the presence of a. large audienec. The Bishop of Manchester occupied the chair. * Dr. BENTLEY made the following statement: I have the honour to call your attention to a ...

... -PUBLIC AMIUSEM.EXTS, ne ed 3RINC OF WALES THEATRE. Il- A large audience greetd at tis theatre, last f sn evening, the return of Mr. J. L- Shmne's comhpany t a1 on a six nightsf visit to,, Liveipool, Mr. Sitns's to farce IThoe Dember for SIloCum, as on former on ccasions. occupied the first half Of the yroganme, 2 ve and the awkward fixes 'nrsbismas p M.P.'fMr. 3. at L Shine found himself in ...

... SEIMONS BY M LATE REV. A. A 'WHISHAW. * This volume. of sermons is published in ( 3 response to a wish expressed by the co E r tion-of the Church foa the Blind in Liverpool, l for a memorial of their late chaplain. Pothu- t 3ious publications sometimes fail to do justice e to thb4authors 'nneoTrybut an exception must certinlyb made infavourof the discoures contained in these pages., Probably ...

... I H()ME. Oh I what is home ? that sweet Companionship, Of life the botter part; The happy smile of ivelcorno on the lit Upspringilng from tho heart. It is the cageor clasp of cindily halids, Tho loug-resecnbered tone, The rcaly sympiatihy which usnderstands All feoling by its own. The rosy chrrk of little children pressed To olias in loing glec; The presence of oer lelar.est, and our best, I ...

... ' win' M 3r. Mowbray Morris has reprinted from therel Timesa a selection from his notices of theatrical His performances contributed from time to limetao LotLs that journal. With the merit of the articles neat themselves, as forming pa-rt of the criticism of 'of tV modemn histrionics, it is not within our present corna purpose to deal. Very early in Mt. Morris's of ec connection withi the ...