Since this, Drury Lane has been particularly dull, as Mr. C. Kean's "night" was the conclusion of his engagement. The lessee, however, has treated the public with a repetition of the operas he has lately produced, viz., Diadeste, Magic Flute, Gipsy's Warning, &c., and as these pieces are "got up" in the best manner, we suppose he will manage to run them to the end of the season.

HAYMARKET.

It gives us pleasure to record the great patronage bestowed on this favourite place of entertainment. Mr. Power, by his inimitable acting in " The White Horse of the Peppers," has been making his numerous audiences quite ill from excess of laughing, and Madame Vestris and Mr. C. Mathews delighting the lovers of "Bon Ton" with their spirited personations. It was our intention to have given our readers a sketch of the plot of " The White Horse of the Peppers," but as it has now been played so often, we fear that it will be somewhat out of time; we shall, therefore, make a few remarks upon the last novelty, Buckstone's inimitable farce of "The Irish Lion": the plot is simple, and wonderful to be said, has not a word of love in it. The following will give some idea of it: Mr. Squabbs, (Strickland), a tradesman who has retired from business into Wiltshire, where his relations and friends have promised to visit him at least twice a year; and in the opening of the farce, Mrs. Fizgig, (Mrs. Fitzwilliam), who is one of the former, is on her first visit; she determines to give a grand party, but to whom appears a difficult question, as there are none but Mr. Puffy, the churchwarden, (Gough), and a few more to make up the party; she is however delighted at hearing that Mr. Thomas Moore, (Power), (the Poet she concludes), is living in the neighbourhood in retirement-she immediately invites him, and proceeds to give instructions for his reception. It turns out, however, that Mr. Moore is a travelling tailor, a literary snip, who talks much about "human natur," and "his book"; having received Mrs. Fizgig's letter, he repairs to Squabb's house in the churchwarden's coat, which, not having one of his own, he has borrowed, without the churchwarden's consent however, and a wig obtained from a friend: a scene then ensues which baffles description; it is too ludicrous to think of without laughing -each of the party has a separate part to play, from the instructions of Mrs. Fizgig: the attention paid to every vulgarism of the supposed poet, as being the peculiarity of genius, and Mrs. Fizgig's robbery of a lock of his hair, are highly ludicrous: the tailor, however, is soon discovered by Mr. Puffy, who has been detained for want of his coat, and comes in late, (in the middle of a jig), but it being found that the tailor has been an involuntary cheat, he is pardoned, and so ends the piece. The acting in this farce

was excellent. Power appeared quite at home: shouts of laughter and applause sufficiently indicated the delight of a very numerous audience.

DRURY LANE THEATRICAL FUND.

The annual dinner of this fund was held at the Freemasons? Hall on Whitsun Eve. The company was numerous and highly respectable. The Earl of Glengall, in the absence of the Duke of Sussex, was in the chair. Over the chair was an illuminated transparency of the Queen, with the motto, "She is the very soul of bounty;" above it was a copy of Sir Joshua Reynolds' famous picture of Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy, surmounted by the title of the Institution in gold letters, "The Drury Lane Theatrical Fund, incorporated 1777." At the entrance end of the hall were two projections on each side of the door, in which were placed seats, filled with ladies. Mr. Harley announced the following donations: Her Majesty, £105., Duchess of Kent, £25., Duke of Devonshire, £25., Duke of Bedford, £50., C. Kean, Esq. £20.

The performers of Covent Garden Theatre have presented to Mr. Macready a handsome silver salver, as a testimony of their sense of the efforts he has made to re-establish the British Drama.

The members of the Olympic company have presented Madam Vestris with a gold armlet, in testimony of their good wishes for her welfare during her absence.

Fête at the Beulah Spa.-This delightful resort of the Nobility and Gentry was opened for the season on the 6th instant, and attracted a very numerous assemblage of rank and fashion. The bands of the Coldstream Guards, and of Herr Strauss, were in attendance, and delighted the company with some very pleasing music.

MUSIC.

Seventh Philharmonic Concert, June 4th.

The great attraction at this concert was, Spohr's Sinfonia, Die Weihe der Tone. The description of this symphony is as follows: 1st movement. (Largo.) The deep silence of nature before the creation of sound. (Allegro.) The awakening of life after it. The sounds of nature. The uproar of the elements. 2nd movement. Cradle song. The dance. The serenade. 3rd movement.

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Martial music. March to battle. Emotions of those left behind. Return of the conquerors. Thanksgiving. 4th movement. Funeral dirge. Consolation in grief. This symphony, (which was performed at these concerts in 1835, for the first time,) is one of Spohr's finest compositions; but it is much too difficult to be thoroughly understood until it has been repeated again. The subscribers did not seem to enjoy it, and the members of the orchestra lost that enthusiasm which generally inspires them: they were evidently at fault; and out of the whole number, old Lindley was the only person who seemed to go on progressively, retaining his time throughout the performance. M. Muller bled through a fantasia on the contra-basso: our former opinion respecting this gentleman's performance remains unaltered. We are rather surprised that the Directors of these concerts should persist in pushing forward performers who have proved their utter incompetence at other concerts. A duet for the flute and oboe was well performed by M. Ribas and M. A. Ribas, and the overtures to Leonora and Anacreon were performed in a manner worthy of the first orchestra in Europe. Donizetti's Aria from Belisario is not at all suited to Madlle. Schrickel; she was more successful in the trio Soave sia il vento. Phillips sang Dr. Crotch's exquisite air, Ye Guardian Saints, with great effect; and Miss M. B. Hawes was very successful in Sacchini's air, Terz il pianto.

Mr. W. H. Holmes' Concert.

Mr. Holmes' concert, which took place at the Hanover Square Rooms, on Tuesday the 5th, attracted a very numerous and fashionable audience. The programme was well selected, and afforded the lovers of vocal and instrumental music an entertainment of no common order. The concert commenced with the first movement of a new symphony by Mr. Holmes, and in which he fully sustained his high reputation as a composer. He afterwards delighted the audience by the admirable manner in which he played his variations on Or che in Cielo. A fantasia for the pianoforte was exceedingly well played by Miss Theed, who made her first appearance before the public on this occasion. This lady, who is a pupil of Mr. Holmes', possesses the most perfect command of the instrument, great taste, combined with immense power of execution, and she performs difficult passages without any appearance of fatigue. Messrs. Holmes, Grattan Cooke, Willman, Puzzi and Baumann, played Beethoven's quintett in a manner worthy of the composition of this great master. H. Phillips sang Barnett's new cantata with great effect, and Mozart's beautiful air from Il Flauto Magico was sung by Ivanoff, in the most chaste and pathetic style. In addition to those already mentioned, Mrs. W. Seguin, Mrs. A. Shaw, Miss F. Wyndham, Miss Shirreff, Wilson, De Begnis, and Giubelei, lent their assist

ance.

The concert terminated with a new overture by Mr. J. W. Davison, and we regret exceedingly that from the confusion caused by the company leaving the room, we could not pay that attention to it which the merits of this composer deserve.

Signor Emiliani's Concert.

This gentleman's concert took place at the Hanover Square Rooms, on Wednesday the 6th, and was attended by a select although not a very numerous audience. It was entirely an Italian concert, with the exception of two or three English songs. There was no attention paid to the order of the programme, and when the audience were expecting to hear Madame Cinti Damoreau, some Italian gentleman, with a name long enough to reach from London to Bath, came forward and sang (we beg his pardon, we should have said, attempted to sing) an Italian bravura. Signor Emiliani played a solo on the violin, which was by far the best performance at the concert. M. Laureati tried to play a solo on the violoncello, but made a most lamentable failure. When the first part was concluded, we felt a little relief, and there being nothing in the second part worthy of listening to, we retired from one of the worst concerts of the season.

Mr. Kiallmark's Soirée Musicale.

Had No. 7, Russell Place, Fitzroy Square, been in Paris, Mr. Kiallmark might have called his concert a Soirée Musicale, but as it is in the centre of London, we see no reason why the word concert should not have been used. Mr. Kiallmark who, like all other romantic musicians, is distinguishable by a pale visage, long locks, and mustachios, acquitted himself very creditably in Beethoven's Concerto in C minor, and Thalberg's variations on God save the Queen. There was some very good vocal music by Miss Masson, Miss Bruce, Miss Rainsforth, Miss F. Woodham, Signor Ivanoff, and Mr. Giubelei.

Monsieur Benedict's Concert.

The gifted composer of The Gipsy's Warning, treated his admirers with one of the most attractive concerts of the season, on Friday, June 8th, and the result of it was, that Her Majesty's Theatre was crowded in every part; the boxes showed an assemblage of rank and fashion rarely seen in this theatre, and upon the whole, one of the most select audiences we ever remember to have seen bore testimony to the high reputation of this talented composer. The performance of a trio, for three pianofortes, by Messrs. Moscheles, Benedict, and Doehler, was highly approved of by the audience, and all the first Italian singers contributed their assistance to the best concert that has taken place this

season.

The Gresham Lectures.

Mr. Edward Taylor, the music professor, delivered the first of his series of lectures, at the City of London School, on the 12th. Mr. Taylor's plan is to embrace the whole subject of the vocal harmony in the Italian School. He began by giving a detailed view of the state of music in Italy during the 16th century, and depicted with great power of language the merits of the early composers. This lecture, which was introductory, was delivered in a plain and clear style, and was highly appreciated by a very crowded audience.

REVIEW OF NEW MUSIC.

Overture to "Antony and Cleopatra," arranged as a duet for the Pianoforte, by the Composer CIPRIANI POTTER. Coventry and Hollier.

We have heard this overture at the Philharmonic, and the Concerts of the Society of British Musicians. Like many of the author's best compositions, it gives us a sort of mélé pleasure. We like the first subject in A major, and all the passages, which are brilliant and spirited-but we must object to the singing phrase, or second motivo in E, which is of the class called maladif-too tender, but not sufficiently lovely to allow us to listen with pleasure to its complaints. We must also object to the slow movement at the end, which though imagined poetically, is not executed with sufficient artistical skill to prevent the effect being patchy-the fate of most movements of this descriptionpot-pourris, formed out of subjects that have occurred previously in the overture. It is dangerous to be too poetical in a musical composition, for very often the excess of the poetry destroys the plan and connection of the whole work-a great fault. Mr. Potter will excuse us for these remarks: to one whose genius we esteemed less we should not say so much: we have but few composers to be proud of-we are jealous of the fame of those we do possess, and Mr. Potter is one of the most distinguished. We wish, by-the-by, he would publish a symphony in G minor which we heard at the third British Concert this year; it is by far the finest orchestral work we have heard from his pen.

"Pas Chinois," for the Pianoforte, by H. DUVEYRIER MELESVILLE. Monro and May.

A trifle, but a very pleasing one. We particularly like a march in G, page 2, which is worthy of something better. The style of this" Pas Chinois" is altogether French, both as regards harmony and melody. Peut être un petit Auber va paraitre; nous verrons. We shall be glad to see something better from the same hand.