... . WE rear tnat Jur. bmne will not do very much good with Blue Ribbons, the farcical comedy by Messrs. Walter Browne and J. E. Soden, tried by him at a recent Gaiety matinee. The piece has one very funny character, that of the proprietor of a temperance paper, The Blue Ribbon Banner, Mr. Drinkwater Dewlap, a gentleman forced by the drift of circumstances to figure as a waiter in a Putney public ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIO. NORDISA AT DRURY LANE THEATRE. THE due criticism of a new opera is, I have every reason to believe, a work requiring time, thought, and care. The writer of it should be in a position both to estimate and to recall. He should be able to Bet about his task analytically and re flectively, to weigh the merits of every number, and gauge the strength of every bit of composition ...

... The Badminton library. Cycling. By Viscount Bury, K.C.M.G., and G. Lacy Hilliei:. With Numerous Illustra tions by Viscount Bury and Joseph Pennell. London Longman?, Green and Co 1887. IN the whole history of sports perhaps none has been taken up so rapidly and widely as cycling. How it happens that the popularity of the sport grew so suddenly we cannot ex plain, even after reading the full ...

... OUT OF TUNE, by Lewis Armytage (2 vols.: Swan Son nenschein), deals with the life of a wonderful violinist, named Romanelli, who, we are told in the preface, is the prototype of Paganini. We shoul ...

... . IN perusing Mr. Augustus Harris's prospectus, it is im possible not to be struck with the illustration it affords of the irony of fate. It was at Drury Lane Theatre that the experiment of German opera for the English was tried on a grand scale four years ago. At that time we were assured by certain partisans of Wagner and his school that Italian opera was moribund, and would within ...

... . MR. F. C. GROVE, who it will be recollected was the coadjutor of Mr. Herman Merivale in the authorship of Forget me Not, has made out of the novel, As in a Looking Glass, a much better play than might have been expected. He has not purified, and is perhaps wise not to have tried to purify, the foul atmosphere which hangs round nearly all the dramatis persona. He hides none of the secrets ...

... THE OPERA.-- Mr. Augustus Harris on Wednesday issued the prospectus of the Royal Italian Opera, Drury Lane. He expressly states that he will produce no novelties, but will rely upon first-rate repre ...

... . SINCE our last notice of the English opera at Drury Lane, three addition have been made to the repertory of the season. Ambroise Thomas's best opera, Mignon, was welcomed by a large audience, who bestowed abundant applause on the leading artists, especially on Mme. Julia Gaylord, whose impersonation of Mignon was as powerfully dramatic and affecting as ever. Her voice has had to pay the ...

... MESSRS. MARRIOTT AND WILLIAMS.-- From this firm we have a very good collection of songs. Three of these songs are by Helena Heath, a clever and rising composer. Prettiest of the group is The Day is D ...

... . MR. DUBOURG'S romantic play, Vittoria Contarini, was already known to a good many readers before its tentative production the other day by Miss Laura Villiers, since its author took a few years since the somewhat unusual course of publishing it in anticipation of its formal presentation upon the stage. It had been recognised as well written and ingeniously constructed, and for our own part ...

... . The Merchant of Venice takes this week its place amongst the Lyceum revivals. It is hardly too much to say that this delightful comedy goes better than ever. Mr. Irving's view of the character of Shylook and his subtle appeals for sympathy on the Jew's behalf remain of course unchanged. Right or wrong, his i3 a noble ideal of the part, and he is not likely in anyway to lower it. But in many ...

... All-Rovnd Sport. By T. Dykes Rockwcod With fifty- eight illustrations. London Messrs. Fores, Piccadilly, W. Rockwood is so constant a contributor to these columns that we need scarcely say we have a high estimation of his knowledge and capacity, and this, we have reason to believe, our readers share. Not a few of the sketches and stories, which make up this book have, indeed, been published in ...