cock Hill was ascended; then across Compton Bottom, and wheeled through Mr. Style's, of Up Lamborne. As it was now getting dark, the hounds were whipped off. I think that, without doubt, on reaching Ashdown the fox was changed. Out of a field of seventy, only eleven were up at the finish. The running of the hounds this day was first-rate.

At the commencement of the new year I had the pleasure of inspecting Mr. Villebois' stables and kennel at Benham. Mr. Villebois can, without doubt, boast of some good horse-flesh. I saw the hounds fed, and also witnessed them when being exercised. Pontifex is a remarkably strong-made hound, and very large in the bone. Rookwood and Foreman are also well-made about the joints. Watchman is a good hound, and Wellington is quite a chip of the old block. Hannibal is a famous hound, good in every point. In short, take the pack altogether, I think it would be a difficult task to find great fault with any of them. Mr. Villebois pays great attention to them. The huntsman, Foote, performs his duties to the satisfaction of the master and the gentlemen of the Craven Hunt. The two whips-Jack Woodley the first, and George Cox the second-attend well to their respective works. Cox rides in a very easy manner, takes his fences uncommonly well, and is altogether a sharp lad. Some day I should not be at all surprised to behold him at the the top of the tree.

I was very much pleased with a painting of the Craven Hunt, by Mr. Lyon, of Speenhamland. No one could mistake the huntsman; there is Foote, from the top of the cap to the sole of the boot. The horse he is on, Old Jack, is drawn to the life. The likeness of the hound, Watchman, in the fore-ground is faithful in the extreme. Take it altogether it is a production that speaks very favourably for the talents of the artist.

On Monday, January the 8th, in the present year, I attended the meet of the Vine hounds. The fixture was at Pot Bottom Farm. Some time elapsed before a fox was found. The Duke of Wellington was out this day: his grace did not look so well as I have seen him. Mr. Fellowes rode by the side of his Grace, who, by the way, seemed to feel the cold when waiting about the covers; accordingly he resorted to the same means of warming himself as adopted by watermen-by throwing his arms across, one hand touching the shoulder, and the other coming underneath the opposite arm. Dale is the huntsman, and a very active fellow he is too; he was formerly one of the Earl of Kintore's whips.

I should have attended the meet of these hounds, fixed for Wednesday, January 17th, at Hurstbourne Park, but was prevented by the frost. The Vine hounds are very short, but appear capable of getting through a good share of work.

The Hursdley hounds, a small pack, hunted by two gentlemen of the name of Cockburn, met on Monday, the 15th of January, at Rookley Pond, and a moderate day's sport ensued. Amongst the field this day was a lady, who is often out with General Yate's harriers. I allude to Miss Payne; she thoroughly enjoys the sport. I trust that the field may be often graced with the presence of this

Diana.

Assheton Smith's hounds are out every day in the week, and generally manage to provide plenty of sport. Up to Christmas these hounds had killed 28 brace of foxes. Their master is as indefatigable as ever. Three horses in one day Mr. Assheton Smith considers nothing at all out of the common way, so accustomed to having that number is this genuine sportsman.

In conclusion I cannot refrain from saying a word about the horrid substitution now made by some gentlemen for the good oldfashioned top-boots. Jack-boots, or the antegropelos, do very well for angling, or snipe-shooting, there is no gainsaying; but for hunting they are not at all adapted. It is not very pleasant for a gentleman, when following the hounds, to be mistaken for a smuggler riding in fear of the chase.

PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS OF THE METROPOLIS.

"Narciss and Landrinette were then borne in litters, on the shoulders of the rest, along the chief streets of the town, amid the triumphant shouts of the people. Ribbons, nosegays, silks, were thrown upon them; all pressed to get a sight of them. Each thought himself happy if he could behold them, and be honoured with a look of theirs. What actor-what author-nay, what man of any class-would not regard himself as on the summit of his wishes, could he, by a noble saying or a worthy action, produce so universal an impression?"WILHELM MEISTER.

Popular applause is like Punch's puppet-show-made up of shreds and patches: it is a creature upon stilts, fed by the eyes and the ears at the expense of the understanding: it is the smoke that ascends from the coarse and common combustible, that seldom bursts forth into flame, and never emits the pure and precious white heat-the highly rectified spirit of the moral alchemist. It is generated by the palpable obscure-by sound without sense-by the exercise of the muscles rather than by the workings of the brain. It is a good servant, but a bad master. How apposite are the noble remarks of Goethe on this subject! how he touches the raw (so to speak) of the common infirmity, in exhibiting the rope-dancer commanding an universal enthusiasm, while the soul-stirring expositions of the poetaster receive at best but a faint and weary approbation! All the volumes of philosophy that were ever written could not invent a better commentary than our motto on the nature of popular applause. It is at the present day, even as of yore. The management of our London theatres distinctly proves that the solid English nation are marvellously given to frivolities. Both in the drama and the science of music (not to advert to the grand shows of the season), the unfortunate spectator who is an exception to the rule will ever refuse assent to the hackneyed quotation that "Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale;" while he is doomed to witness and to hear encored always the

least worthy portions of the bill of entertainment. In our character of censor, thus much it behoves us to observe

"Admire we, then,

Or popularity, or stars, or strings,

The mob's applauses, or the gifts of kings,"

and pass onwards to the critic's more pleasant province of praise. The month of January was distinguished by the pantomimes-the getting up of "The Merry Wives of Windsor"-the continued attraction of the Risleys, father and son-and the delightful representation, by Miss P. Horton, Mr. J. Bland, and others, of the best and wittiest of M. Planché's burlesques at the HAYMARKET-by the re-appearance on the stage of Mrs. Wood, after so long an interval, whose public career might furnish forth no uninteresting melo-drame, and whose performance of "The Maid of Judah" has created an almost unprecedented sensation on the boards of the PRINCESS's THEATRE and, finally, by the continued run of success of the concerts of M. Jullien at COVENT GARDEN, and that of the opera of "The Bohemian Girl" at DRURY LANE.

To begin with the greatest novelty, we found Rossini's gravest opera very well executed at that little emporium of comfort and snugness, THE PRINCESS's. The religious character of the music, and the German termination of the instrumental portions of the first and second act, prove the great versatility of a composer usually esteemed a mannerist. (We must here take notice of the improvement in the management of the orchestra at this theatre, and the general superior and most creditable getting-up of "The Maid of Judah.") In her palmiest days, we never recollect Mrs. Wood to have dressed her part so well and becomingly. Her voice is little influenced by time: it is almost ten years since we heard it, and we found it still pure and clear as when we considered her the most scientific English vocalist of the day; it is, perhaps, a degree thinner in quality, or else the character of the music does not accord so well with it as "Cinderella" or "Susannah," and the space of the theatre is too limited to do justice to its volume. She is such an acquisition to the Euglish stage, that we trust her engagement will not indeed be a farewell one-or, at least, that the meetings and partings between herself and the public may be as often renewed as the latter may desire. In the finale of the first act she is great, and throughout the piece most effective. Superior, however, to her voice is her excellence as an actress: she enacted the Israelitish maiden of Scott's best English novel, and the heroine of Rossini's opera in a manner at once touching, dignified, and tender. And, if Mrs. Wood is no whit fallen off, we must congratulate her husband on his vast improvement: he appears to have gained, by his American sojourn, both volume of voice and expression. His "Trump of Fame" was a magnificent triumph; so was his principal song in the first act. He has also acquired freedom and facility of action. He was received and encored with an unanimous applause, most assuredly deserved. The piece was cast very well, in despite of an absurdity or two, such as the storming of the house of Cedric the Saxon, which sounded very like the springing of the rattles of half a score of the

ancient watchmen. Everything went off as smoothly as possible on this the first representation of "The Maid of Judah."

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The pantomime at DRURY LANE is of average inferiority to that of others of the season, although some of the changes of scenery are good: that of the “ School of Idleness" translated to the "School for Industry," is amusing. Some of the hits at the times were hard enough to be felt, and to raise a hearty laugh. Mrs. Alfred Shaw, in Cinderella, still delights every lover of a pure style and melodious voice. To our thinking, her intonation is the most charming in the world. Miss Rainforth, as the Bohemian Girl, sings and acts with a propriety and justice which are alike pleasing and admirable. These operas give a turn to our national taste that will revolutionise the character of the mobility. By and by we shall hear our Billingsgate fair ones selling their fish to the tune of "I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls," and our Thames watermen solacing their fares with the "Aurora che Sorgerai" of the Donna del Lago. Ad interim the cultivated portions of the audiences endure not a little by the popular claptrap performances at Julien's; the English Quadrilles, the Toy Quadrilles, the Irish Echo Quadrilles, are penances that must be borne with, while we are compensated by the choicest morsels of Beethoven, and the greatest composers, executed as such chefs d'œuvres deserve to be executed. We have heard that Covent Garden does not prove so prolific a source of profit as did the Lyceum, but we cannot see how that can be. During our frequent attendances at this delightful and rational place of entertainment, we have uniformly been struck with the moving sea of black hats in the pit, and the goodly array of persons in the boxes, both public and private. Mr. Thirlwall, the young violinist, has proved a great attraction at Covent Garden. The feeling and expression, and the perfect grace, with which he handles his instrument, are faultless; the thinness of his tones will disappear with age. Without being that precocious thing, a marvel, he promises to become one of our first violinists. The Irish echoes are not without the talent that characterises all the adaptations of M. Julien, but they are, perhaps, the least effective of them. M. Koenig still retains his unrivalled clearness of execution on the Cornet à pistons.

ment.

The HAYMARKET, the most popular of the theatres this season, wears like a goodly vessel, built for service more than show. It weathers steadily all changes of the times, under the pilotage of Mr. Webster; to whom we heartily wish an ever-increasing success in his manage"The Merry Wives of Windsor" draws well-better than the more worthy and agreeable of Shakspere's plays, in accordance with our theory of popular applause. Still, with its coarseness, it combines a fund of wit and exquisiteness of humour that compensate for the absence of refinement. The intense philanthropy of bonhommie of Falstaff, and the rich and copious language in which he clothes the philosophy of his part, make us feel how impossible, in real life, that such a man could be made a fool of. Strickland performs the merry and amorous knight to admiration; and Charles Matthews's personification of Slender is something that we shall carry with us as long as our faculties of appreciation serve us. Madame Vestris,

always excellent, looks to advantage as Mrs. Page; and Mrs. Nesbitt is humorous and effective in her double-dealing with her extensive admirer. When last we saw this play there followed the astonishing feats of the young Risley and his father, and their classic combinations of form; and the evening's entertainment concluded with “The Fair One with the Golden Locks," the most enticing after-piece that ever delighted the young of all ages. Miss P. Horton, so long esteemed for her delicate acting, and for her vocal merit of a high degree, is positively fascinating as the Graceful of M. Planche's fairy interlude. There is an elegance in her utterance, and there is a grace in her action, which cannot be too highly applauded. Her voice, always beautiful of its class, is more so now than ever. Go and listen to her "Lucy Long" all ye who are unfortunate enough not to have heard it! The rhymes throughout are full of point, and everyone concerned, from Miss Julia Bennett and Mr. J. Bland, down to "Jim Crow" and the "Irish Owl" are proficients in their parts.

The Lecture on Hebrew Music, at the MUSIC HALL, in Store-street, by Mr. Phillips, which we attended, was a most interesting display of learning and ability on the part of that gentleman, and of musical scence on the part of the family of Leo, by whom he was supported. Mr. Phillips gave the religious character of the early Hebrew melodies very finely, and the transitions to the other stages of Jewish musical art were admirable.

The ADELPHI again rejoices in the drollery of Wright, even as the audiences of the Princess's enjoy the arch-fun of Keely and his wife. The Adelphi Pantomime is as ogreish as possible; such an one as would have made, some two score years ago, our childish hearts leap within us with a mixture of terror and delight. The diabolical proceedings of Blue Beard are quite in consonance with the colour of his beard. "The Bohemians," too, of the true Adelphi cast, are not a little in the mode all' Inferno.

Of all pantomimic arrangements, however, commend us to that of the Royal Ampitheatre of ASTLEY'S where, like the school-boy's sweet pudding before meat, Harlequin Tam-o'Shanter came first and best, before the laughter-loving crowd. Battles are very fine things, and make noise enough in the world to be sure, but Tam-o'-Shanter's demon friends are worth a hundred of them. The battle of Waterloo takes precedence of all battles, as a matter of course, in an Englishman's mind; and, with a fac-simile Napoleon, like a living piece of photography enacting the deeds of the defunct hero, we need not bid those whose historical knowledge has gone further than the alphabet to attend ASTLEY'S magnificent spectacle, and realize their previous impressions of him by viewing one whom, in form stature, and feature, is said to be his counterpart. The Ojibbeway Indians have not yet gone away from the Egyptian Hall. The Infant Thalia and the Industrious Fleas, are still exhibited at the Royal Adelaide Gallery, and electrify the scienceloving quite as much as the Eels. The Opaque Microscope, at the Royal Polytechnic, makes clear many objects in nature and art. Armstrong's Hydro-Electric Machine is, however, the great attraction at this exhibition, from a visit to which may always be gained a