... . MiraiTH A 8tudy by M. Leigh-Noel is the title of a little book published by Wyman and 8ons The writer In her preface nays In my sick-room the image of this wonderftil woman grew ana grew before my me tal vision, as the statue (trows under the sculptor's tool, until at last, I saw her-as I wall to present her to my rear I err The argument of the book is to prove that Shakespeare .n ,,,pro*fh ...

... Theatres A WILD and somewhat purposeless farce in four acts, adapted by Mr. Hawtrey from the German of Von Moser, under the title of The Private Secretary, was produced at the PRINCE'S Theatre on Satu ...

... MESSRS. HOWARD AND CO.-- A song of the olden times is The Crusader, words by Miss Alice O. Stevens; music by Frank N. Abernethy. This song will prove a welcome change from the ultra-sentimental love ...

... MRS. POWER O'DONOGHUE'S A Beggar on Horseback (3 vols.: Hurst and Blackett) is so clever, that the general vulgarity of its tone, and even of its style, is the more regrettable. Nor does the clevern ...

... MR. LAWRENCE BARRETT is the latest American enter prise that has been exploited in London. The first time I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Lawrence Barrett was under peculiar circumstances. Early morning upon the river Hudson revealed the weather-beaten hull of the stemship Britannia, and round about her the busy tug-boats, with the well-known name of J. L. Starin fluttering on their flags; ...

... REVIEWS. Chess Life-Pictures. By G. A. MacDonneli,. B.A. Kelly Co., 61, Great Queen-street, London. Price us. MR. MACDONNELL'S Chess Life-Pictures is a very entertain ing book, the writing of which few men were better qualified than the author to undertake. Having lived, he says, for the last twenty-five years on terms of more or less intimacy with all the chess celebrities who have ...

... . IT will be instructive to see, with reference to the new piece presented by Messrs. Hare and Kendal at the St. James's Theatre, how far sound dramatic work and skilful stage mani pulation are able, in the estimation of the general body of play goers, to compensate for the lack of sympathetic interest. That almost the best is done for Le Maitre de Forges which could be accomplished on the ...

... . THE Prince's Theatre is now open in the afternoons as well as the evenings, but with the performances of different companies. The morning entertainment, is provided by Mr. Charles Collette, who is evidently anxious to assume the mantle of the late Charles Mathews, whose character in The Liar of Foote he has been playing during the week, and whose Evergreen and Affable Hawk he intends, we ...

... . A WRETCHED fiasco is the result of the substitution at the Gaiety of burlesque opera for burlesque drama. The subject chosen for the experiment is La Belle Hélène of Offenbach and Meilhac; the experimenter, so far as the book is concerned, is Mr. Reece, a writer who certainly ought to have had sufficient experience in this kind of work to save him from utter disaster. Moreover the company ...

... . THE new Princes has again produced a new play. This time, de viating from the Palaces containing Truth, the management have found a new farcical comedy, in which falsehood is chiefly the mirth-provoking element. The Private Secretary, an adaptation of Von Moser's Der Bibliothekar, by Mr. Hawtrey, whom I fancy I know as an actor, but have never heard of as an author, is a work decidedly of ...

... . IT is a small tribute to say that the dramatic profession is one of the few branches of art in which human feeling is easily touched by suffering. Very seldom is an appeal made to the histrionic brotherhood without a practical response should the case be One of genuine necessity. The feeling of dependence is not so much a matter of thought amongst professional people, until sickness or ill ...

... MXJSIO. CARL ROSA OPERA. THE arrangements made by Mr. Carl Rosa for his ensuing season of opera at Drury Lane appear to have been carefully considered, and the prospectus is undoubtedly attractive. Having been favoured with some further particulars, we are enabled to announce the programme of the first half of the season, the latter half being at present open to such arrange ments as may be ...