The New York Herald Newspaper, December 15, 1872, Page 6

OPERA IN GERMANY. The Saengerkrieg; or, the Battle of the Singers and Musicians. Is Richard Wagner Insane?---Dr. Pusch- mann’s Book on Wagner---The Wagner- Bulow Scandal Again---An Inter- view with Richard Wagner. Wagner at Mannheim—The Progress of the Bayreuth Festal Nibelungen Theatre—The Opera in Germany—Liast and Wagner. DRESDEN, Nov. 24, 1872, A bitter warfare is being carried on in German musical and literary circles, for and against Richard Wagner, his musical dramas and his plan for the erection of the Nibelungen Festal Theatre at Bayreuth, and occupies the attention of the pub- lictoadegree that excludes almost every other subject connected with music and the drama from general discussion, The press teems with pamphiets of the two opposing parties, the Wagnerians and the anti-Wag- nerians, containing charges and countercharges; ‘and to increase the confusion and antagoniam, the composer himself once more buckles on his armor, and in a bulky brochure, “On Actors and Singers,” gives battle to the dramatic and operatic world of Germany, and of course increases the number of his enemies, which is already legion. On the one side, we have several works written in favor of the composer and his music; on the other, half a dozen pamphiets, which, while carrying a sting with them, are not of fatal influence. As long as the warfare is confined to musical parties no great harm will be done; but now the anti-Wagnerians have won the physician of an insane asylum in || Munich, a certain Dr. Puschmann, who attempts, under the cover of his science, to brand WAGNER AS MORALLY AND INTELLECTUALLY INSANE, This warfare in the department of music rages as hotly as that between the Old Catholics and the Ultramontanes, and the battle cries of ‘Hie, Wag- ner!” and “Hie, Anti-Wagner!’’ suffice to call around the respective standard-bearers as eager champions as ever followed the banners of the ancient Guelphs and Ghibellines. But it is unfortunate that these battles of the musicians cannot be carried on in the same chivairic spirit that characterized the ancient con- tests of the Minesingers of the Middle Ages, when the rival singers were called before the musical tribunal to uphold their cause with their song. But the days of Wolfram von Eschenbach and Tannhauser are gone; the once brilliant halls of the Wartburg no longer resound to triumphal song, and the high spirit of the old singers is not found in their modern successors. I have before me three or four pamphlets on Wagner, all of which are bitterly antagonistic to the composer. His earlier notorious work, “Judaism in Music,” in which he castigates musicians of Hebrew extraction and theatrical man- agers of tendencies hostile to him and German productions as a class, calls forth from a certain Dr. Mohr 8 pamphlet entitled “Joint Stockism in Mausic,’’ in which the composer is charged with de- grading his musical plans te a level with ordinary operations on ’Change. A second pampblet, en- titled “Richard Wagner and Jacques Offenbach,” is by an anonymous writer, who tries to kill both these musical birds with one stone, and, of course, fails; a third pamphlet, entitled “Richard Wagner: A Word in Explanation of his Nibelungen Trilogy,” has for its author a certain Gustav Dullo, who charges the composer with sins against morality and the finer feelings of his audiences, and displays an unusual amount of ignorance in the understand- ang of the German mythological sources upon which Wagner has founded his great nibelungen trilogy. But of all the recent publications that have been issued from the anti-Wagnerian camp, that bearing the title of “Richard Wagner: A Psy- schiatric Study,” bears the palm for its audacity, Its author ts, as he says in the book, a practical physician and psychiatrist in Munich, who, under the screen of his science (?) attempts to asperse before the eyes of the world the mental and mora! character of the immortal composer of “Rienzi,” the “Flying Dutchman,” -Tannhauser” and “Lohengrin.” THE ALLEGED INSANITY OF WAGNER. The book by Puschmann has create d vast excite- ment in musical circles. The author asserts that only @ very narrow partition separates genius from insanity, and that in Wagner's case the par- tition wall was broken many years ago, and that the composer now suffers from almost constant aberration of the mind. In attempting to prove Wagner's intellectual fall from his earlier eleva; tion to his present alleged abnormal state the author takes Wagner’s operas, and fancies that the “Meistersinger,”’ Tristan and Isolde’’ and the “Ring of the Nibelungen” do not attain by far the inner nobility found in ‘‘Tannhduser’’ and “Lohengrin,” and that the former prove Wagner to be no longer in his normal intellectual health. If, however, the author finds in this deduction his evidence for his assertion that Wagner’s brain power is deterior- ated, intellectually and morally, he entirely over- Jooks the fact that some of the greatest musical authorities of Germany declare the opera of “Tris- tan and Isolde” to be, musically, the grandest and highest work created by the Meister, and certainly Dr. Puschmann cannot be permitted, in the Pame of his science (?), to judge a man by an unfinished and unperformed work. But, not satisfied with declaring Wagner to be sufer- ing from constant mental aberration, he says further that the composer is also morally in- sane, @ disease which (oe insanity), he says, is “exhibited in perversity of inclinations, desires and wishes and in the entire lack of moral and social feeling.” He rehashes the old scandal about the composer and Frau Von Bulow, and then at- tempts to show that the ‘moral insanity” of the man Wagner has been transferred to the operas o! the composer Wagner, as found in ‘Tristan and Isolde” and ‘Walkuere,” in both of which, as we know, Wagner follows the antique sources—the one in the poem of ‘Gottfried of Strasburg,” the other in the “Lay of the Nibelungs.”’ Ihave seen both, and did not find in them immorality suff- cient to offend the purest of fair spectators; cer- tainly not so much to offend good taste and breed- ing as may be found in any of the Offenbacluades. THE WAGNER-BULOW SCANDAL does appear at first glance to be a blot on the fame of the great composer. In after years we may ex- pect a second Mrs. Beecher Stowe to arise in Ger- many, who will gather up this piquant material alter the world has long forgotten it, and publish it a8 @ warning to mankind. But Wagner's fame wii not be darkened by any such charges, no more than has Lord Byron’s by Mrs, Beecher Stowe, nor Goethe’s by the many aspersions that have been cast upon his moral fame by critics. Among the correspondence and other material collected by Jahn for a ions eh of the composer Hee- thoven, and which, I believe, is now in the hands of an American author, there was found the records of scandal sufictent to satisfy the most prurient mind. Happily the events referred to are no longer in the memory of the public, and on} the grand form of the musician Beethoven still lives, too high now for the attacks of enemies to injure. It may, perhaps, be consiaered a waste of time and 4; to defend Wagner or to decry Puschmann, The recollections that your cor- respondent has of Wagner and his lady belong to the pleasantest of his interviews with leading spirits of Germany had during the past Summer. Richard Wagner gives you the idea of a most sensible, earnest man, and his lady—who has inherited much of her appearance and character- istics from her father Liszt—of a highly intellectual and worthy woman, proud to be called the wife of @ man who can appreciate her talents and her social necessities better than did Von Bulow, who, in his intense love of music, forgot that ne hada family demanding a share in his affections. A CONVERSATION WITH MR. AND MRS, WAGNER. T cannot better answer the absurd charges con- tained in Dr. Pnschmann’s book than by tran- scribing may notes of my interview with Wagner, at his residence at the «Fantasie, near Bayreuth, had as long ago as June last. ‘The “Fantasie {8 the name of a beautiful castle owned oy the Prince of Wurtemberg, and close beside it In tue park frounds, stands & hotel bearing the same name. ‘he surrounding scenery is charming. ‘The hotel 4s kept by an amateur sculptor of Munich, an old acquaintance of the composer. Wagner and his family occupied the whole of the second story, from the windows of which a glorious view was had of the paradisical valicy below and the opposite spire- crowned erin 1 found both Mr, and Mrs. Wagner at home. oriner was still ift his dross ing robe and wore the peculiar Tnrkish cap which characterizes him in many of his portraits. Mrs. Wagner was in the luxuriously furnished drawin room, and to her I was immediately introdnoed by the composer, who pest isses his inability to speak English, saying that he was compelled to baud oyer @ll his nom-German speaking visitors vo , . NEW YORK HERALD,. SUNDAY, DECEMBER, 15,.1872,—QUADRUPLE ' SHEET. Mrs, Wagner. abe lenproesion mate's nme by & brief conversation with this de itful Tady is thus recorded in my note book :—' forgets, rv conversing with her, the cpt about her earlier life, She is a L-g 4 great intellectual ca- city, she speaks Eny and French fiuently, fer words flow in an uninterrupted stream, and she is very earnest when explaining her husband's views and plans to her visitors, She appears to form an essential part of the composer, and has become a necessity to bis existence. From her he gathers life and enthusiasm for his labors, She relieves Wagner of many burdens placed upon him by social requirements; she cheers him when he is exhausted; she lives for him, not for herself. . WAGNER'S HOPES. Wagner did not take part in the conversation with any degree of interest until it was carried on in the German tot . He then spoke with great earnestness about his ideas and plans, and re- gretted how few people had been able to under- stand him, Even in Germany, he sald, jound hitherto his principal supporters among his own personal friends, lie was very curious to know the reception that his music found in America, He had then received trom Boston an order for two tickets for the Nibelungen perform- ances, He spoke at length of the services of the Hon, G. Bancroft to German literature and of his friendlipeas to Germany. He wished that, as in science, literature and general progress, so in the department of music, America and England he go din band. He lamented the low condition of the German universities, and especially o! the German opera, If a Frenchman comes to Germany, he said, what does he find? His own operas; but given much worse than in France. 4 not ven- ture to speak much of American musicai matters, the more so as 1 thought it judicious to keep si- ence on the great Boston uproar, just then in course of preparation. I ventured to say that he would have at present few Sapportace for his jibelungen performances, ut these a pi from 8 educated musical our people. * trast to in have my aid me or injure me, he added; all that is needed 1s an explanation of my plans, can criti- cise, but jew can get at the ideas that influence the author and composer in his work.” Oertainly no could gay, the idle assertions of this Mi iyo doctor. Wagner's last work on ‘Actors and Sing- ers” is sensible book, but acts upon those to whom it is addressed—the German rs and singers—like @ red rag upon the nerves of a farm yard bull. ‘WAGNER AT MANNHEIM, Wagner's sanity was proved a few ago by @ little incident that occurred at Mannheim, where he has an srmy of very enthusiastic admirers, led Emil Heokel. Wagner is now poying visits to the piineipal theatres of Germany to select singers for Bayreuth theatre, and on this mission ar- rived at Mannheim a few days ago. He there at- tended the performance of his opera of the Dutchman,” but was 80 annoyed at the mutilations of the original mentation that he left the theatre in isgust, For this expression of wrath Richard Wagner is, I think, perfectly justified, since it is a fact that in all German provincial theatres where his Radke are given they are executed in sucha mutilated form as to be almost unrecognizable. A German theatre public, outside of Munich, Vienna and a few other places, is ® most despotic institu- tion. The old patrician citizens of some large cities (take Frankfort for example) have grown into certain routine habits, anu woe to Oa one who should attempt to disarrange them. Dinner at one, coffee at four, and supper at half-past eight or nine, by which time the potato salad for the family meal wilt be on the table, and the glories of scenory or beauties of sound {n “Lohen- arin” or “Tannhiuser” would not drown the cravings of Herr Philister's appetite. Ihave seen an old Frankfort patrician get up from his box after a concert was two-thirds over and leave, de- claring that his salad would be waiting for him at home. It 1s the same spirit, evinced in ditferent intensity in various cities, that theatre managers and music directors have to give way to, and against which Wagner contends. He demandsthat he shall be judged irom his works performed unmuti- lated, as he wrote them, and with all the scenic appliances that he considers absolutely essential for complete illusion, together with the best must- cal and instrumental force that can be procured. Not many ont, ago he protested against the per- formance of his wondrous musical drama, “Tris- tan and isolde,” at Berlin, as the Kaiserstadt does not possess the singera capable of carrying SatC Rani aie Reade parts of that opera, Since the death of Tchnorr von Carolsield and his wie there has only been found a single couple per- fectly capable of personating Tristan and Isolde, who are required to sing uninterruptedly for a Space of over four hours. Herr and Frau Vogl, of the Munich Court Theatre, seem as if created to fill Waguer's ideal of these two heroic legendary char- acters. Berlin has no such singer couples at resent, since Lucca has left for America, Frau lallinger is at St. Petersburg, and Niemann and Betz are without adequate female support, un- lees Fraulein Stehle, who leave Munich for a star- ring engagement at the Court Theatre of Berlin, can fill up the vacancies, THE BAYREUTH THEATRE. Jt willinterest you to hear that the Bayreuth Festa! Theatre is progressing favorably. Money flows into the Nibelungen treasury steadily. The various Wagner societies have sent in large sums, Vienna has gathered a sum of 60,000 guilders and promises to make the amount 100,000, Mannheim has sent in 15,000 florins, Munich 10,000, while Ber- lin has done little or nothing. The Sultan of Tur- key has bought ten patron’s tickets, representing @ snug sum of 3,000 thalers—a complete patron's ticket costing 300 thalers, Liszt and Von Bulow are giving concerts in various cities of Germany and Austria for the benefit of the Bayreuth enterprise, and to the same object will be devoted the proceeds of a representation of the “Meistersinger” at Munich, The sum needed by Wagner represents a quarter of a million of dollars, a third of which sum has been already subscribed. Workmen have been engaged on the foundations of the-theatre for some months past; the foundation walls are laid, and the con- tracts for the superstructure will be given out ina few months, The plan of the theatrical edifice is now determined. Externally it will be a very un- assuming structure. The walls covering the audience will be run up of lattice work ; that covering the stage will be built of stronger material, but without ornamentation. To compen- sate for the plain exterior, however, Wagner in- tends to spare no expense in the scenic decorations for the stage and in the interior arrangements for the comfort of the spectators. The length of the éheatre will be nearly 300 feet, and the width, in- cluding the side wings, nearly the same dimensions, The auditory will contain 1,500 spectators, and the space allotted to it is terrace-like, shelving down tothe stage. The front will be very plain, the entrance covered by a simple roof borne on slight pillars. Four large water towers or reservoirs are a prominent feature on the part devoted to the stage. The stage will have a breadth of 95 feet and a height of 79 feet, the space beneath the stage a depth of 47 fect. The orchestra will occupy its accustomed between the stage and the audience, but will be invisible, Le) rteen feet lower than the podium of the stage, The opening of the stage filled out by the curtain is 45 feet broad and 42 feet high. Tne interior arrangements of dressing rooms, bureaus and rooms for princely guests will be very com- plete. Liszt paid Wagner a visit a few days ago at Bayreuth, when the two overlooked the labors of the workmen and discussed the feasability of plans and improvements. THE LADY OF LYONS. To THe Epitor or TH H#RALD :— Of the popularity ‘of maudlin sentimentality there can be no doubt, otherwise the “Lady of Lyons” would long since have been consigned to an early grave with never a headstone to mark it. Thriving like a green bay tree, it brings forth fruit even in chill December, breathing, apparently, no other atmosphere than that of its own tropical lace passion. To deny its cieverness as an acting play is as absurd as to deny its pathos; yet, clever though it be in effects, no one but Charles Fechter ever elevated it out of its drivel into romance. In reality Claude Melnotte is a ‘cad.’ He lies like a dozen troopers, he appropriates other people's rings and snuffboxes, he pretends te be a gentic- man, and when, after undergoing & grand moral reform by taking part in the French spoliation of Ttaly, he turns to woo his wife, he establishes his title to this privilege by paying his father- in-iaw's debts with the silver spoons, “old masters’ and odjets dart stolen from surely! Almost pillaged palaces. A fine reco; as worthy of honest symp: as that of the several ladies and gentlemen) on trial for the sentimental murder of i a or rivals, Contemptible as Claude is, however, the genius of Fechter transforms him into a hero; and men and women, girls and boys, old maids and bachelors, find themselves spellbound, acknowledging that this means love, hating Pauline for not immediately surrendering at discretion, and living ‘ over past or dreaming of future joys. An effect like this renders actors far greater than plays and proves the magic of reai art, with- out which mock sentiment is—mock sentiment. The cast of “Lady of Lyous,” at Booth’s Theatre, has not been such as to oblitcrate the memory of Fechter and Miss Le Clercq, the latter by far the Lest actress England has sent us for many a day, Miss Neilson was pretty, a8 usual, and wore her hair as ustal, but would it not be bettor for her to preserve as much character in the dressing of her head as tn that of the reat o! her person’ [ should think it would be an actress’ delight to make so faithiul a study of her truly great profession as to be as correct im the details of her toilet as Gérome ts In the accessories of his pictures, The only way to render Pauline endur- able in the first two acts ta to dash her mawkish- ness with tonics that art alone can administer. ‘Mise Nollgon culled no sugh Loule jy Uer ald, Sho was br er rl Fewerys Leg yore mr ine rd became ti re rally Miss Neilson showed to bet- ter advantage, oe @ good effect by falling at the foot of the stairs leading to widow Meinotte’s bedroom, instead of asce! them, after the man- ner of most Pautines; consequently, the curtain descended on a better picture. In the fourth act Miss Neilson ‘ranted; in the fifth she was more pleasing and natural, evincing a certain degree of womanly earnestness, Throughout — the play this lady was more satisfactory than in either juliet or Rosalind, because much less ability is re- quired for Pauline, a character that, up to a cer- tain point, plays itself, But Bulwer’s heroine, viewed through the medium of Miss Neilson, is less @ heroine than Lt have seen her before, and so her last representative loses rather than gains upon aoguaintance. Wheelock was painstaking, and exhibited a sincerity in Clande Metnotte that augurs well for his future. He was not Claude, but he did his best, and improves, which is a great deal. Let him be in earnest and study good models—like angels’ visits, few and far between—and he may rise far above mediocrity. Why Mr. wheelock wore white tae an & shootingjacket in the iret scene, when Claude is & gardeners sop, in breeches, is robed in that mystery which seems to be peculiar to much of the dressing on the Bng- lish and American stage. Of course all Feshter'’s business in the last act, by which Pauline’s non- recognition of Claude Becomes possible, was Fh apie and so the scene remained as absurd ag the dramatist makes it. To bea villain does not necessarily imply the possession of profuse black hair. Indeed, Ameri- can history convinces us that the cleverest rascals Sre frequently made in the blonde image of James Fisk, Jr.; but in joining. ¢ contrasts with art’s de- light, and as the frivolous Glaws always wears’ & light wig, Beauseant ought to don a& dark one. At th’s Theatre both these ntlemen were fair-haired, and hence ceased to be ils. Had Mr. Sol Smith acted Glavis as well as he the exclusion of zoung, ones, Colonel Du- mas blustered and howled in a manner nerves Because ake Startling to and lonel Dumas is bluff it by no means proves that he isa@ roaring brute in regimentals. ‘The little of was well done. Miss Mary Wells is an experienced actress, and conn to be well ac- quainted with the business of jame Deschap- elles; but she is not. Widow Melnotte was most rently rendered. Neilson’s ment is now concluded, The came to us heralded by newspaper notices than which Rachel never had more flattering. She has been well received, highly Bi Segoe by many, severely criticised by a minority, that sooner or later—generally Jater—rules public opinion. It is unnecessary to add that I belong to the minority and am free to confess my belief that if Miss Neil- gon were not a pretty woman—possossing pretti- ness without expression—her success in this land of the free list would be brief ‘as woman's love.” FREE LANCE, W188 NEILSON'S JULIET. A Shakspearian Scholar’s Estimate of Her Acting. To THE Eprror oF THE HeRALD:— Never was a story of more woe ‘Than that of Juliet and her Romeo, The cause of this effect was the unpropitions course of soul-devouring love, inspired by beauty’s spell, for it is upon the altar of Juliet’s beauty that Romeo sacrifices his sighs, his fears, his heart, his very life. His love for her was conceived instantly. The very moment he saw her he felt her perfections by an invisible and subtle stealth to creep in at his eyes and take possession of his very soul. In rapture he ex- claimed, Hor beauty hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear; Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! rete Fecal aloha vet crud Sake elt acl ah Did my heart love till now ? forswear it, sight, For 1 ne’er saw true beauty till this night. When he had ventured on dangerous ground and was warned by the fair Juliet to beware of the sword of his enemy, he declared himself proof against all their power to harm; but in Lomage to her beauty cricd— Alack! there lies more peril in thine eye Than twenty of their swords. When he had tamely submitted to Tybalt’s sian- der, and his friend Mercutio got a mortal hurt in his behalf, he lamented his vile submission, and set it down to Juliet’s beauty :— O sweet Julict, Thy beauty hath mado me effeminate, And in my temper softened valor's stecl. Even “in the borrowed likeness of shrunk death’ the loveliness of her person as she lay upon her bed under the influence of the friar's poison, moved her cruel father to exclaim— Death lies on her, like an untimely frost Upon the sweetest flower of all the field, When the enamored Romeo believed that “love- devouring death” had veritably cooled and ar, rested the sensible warm motion of her sweet body and it lay as “a kneaded clod” in a dismal tomb, he would not allow her last resting place to be called @ grave—“oh no; For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes, This vault a feasting presence tull of light. Beauty, then, is the head and front of Juliet’s power and the first and most essential quality of her representative; and as Miss Neilson’s personal charms can only be truly denoted by the exquisite passages above quoted, she is in person Shaks- peare’s Juliet. The lady also has the manners and bearing of refined, high-bred ladyhood, as becomes the daughter of the novle Capulet. A Juliet must be able to paint love in its most tender, sad and passionate moods. It is just here tht Miss Neilson excels, for in the lighter love scenes passion and tenderness find expression ina tongue of such silver sweetness as to bring all Attendant ears into bondage, while she does her sad talk in tones that grieve the very heartstrings, and the deeper phases of perilous love, which weigh down the tongue, speak out from her very blood, and are set forth in the heavenly rhetoric of her eye. With her art it is nothing to be bereft of words, for sne can indeed denote her heart’s construction in her face and make silence the ‘perfectest” herald of deep emotion. It is in this power of delineatin; tender passion that we find the only other essential in making up Shakspeare’s Juliet. The first notable plece of dramatic excelience in Miss Neilson’s Juliet is in her manner of rendering the lines— Go ask his name; if he be married, My grave is like to be my wedding bed, and in her management of the scene when she learns that he who has so evidently pierced her heart is Romeo, the only son of her great enemy. Here her ill-divining soul seems to whisper that the “bud of love” just springing in her heart will never “prove a beauteous flower,” but is already ‘bit by an envious worm,” and must convert to woeful end; for, under the influence of overpowering emotion, she, fainting, falis into her nurse’s arms. In the balcony scene (which women never like, from the seeming forwardness of Juliet’s speech) nothing can be more captivating than the plain and holy innocence wherewith she invests her part of the dialogue. Here there is no affectation of bashful cunning, but, indeed, a maiden modesty and earnestness which makes one ready to believe her when she says, T'll prove more true Than those that have more cunning to be strange. In this scene, when she retires from the glare of the calciums and stands for a moment in a sub- dued light to take a last lingering look at her “sweet love,” her beauty does indeed “hang upon the cheek of night like a righ jewel in an Ethiop’s ear. Not the least effective scene in this admirable representation, and one which meets with a cordial recognition from those who witness it, is that be- tween the friar and Juliet, where she craves “some resent counsel” and threatens to destroy er life if “he speaketh not of reme- dy,” with greedy ear she’ takes in the friar's desperate pian of deliverance, not without an air of apprehension, but at the mention of Romeo's name she eagerly takes the phial of saiva- tion In her hand, presses it to her lips, and, with mortal Joy beaming in her eyes, cries out in thrill. ing accents, “Give! Oh give me! Tell me not of fear!’ How touchingly she here proves the depth of her tove, and shows that to her ear “every tongue that speaks but Romeo's name speaks heavenly eloquence. The scene in the chamber, where Juliet drinks the friar’s sleeping, potion, is one calling for the most frantic exhibition of fear and horror, and imagination, wrought up “by the horrible conceit of death and night," cannot conceive a more per- fect picture of frenzy than Miss Neilson paints when she sees her cousin Tybait’s ghost. Those who cannot appreciate at first this delineation (ifany anch there be) had better make it a study until their dail faculties can comprehend its wondrous power and sublimity. In this scene again is exquisitely set forth the strength of Juliet’s love; tor at the thought of Romeo alt fear and doubt vanish, as with a valiant smile she raisea the poison to her lips and raptur- ously exclaims, “Romeo, come! Thuis i drink to thee.” Misa Neiison’s conception and management of the death scene {#@ startling and touching ex- ibitton of heayen-born inspiration. On waking in the tomb er loag sleap, craving her soul's tod, she asks, Whore ia my. Romeo? yakg unutteradle she discovers “that poison hata deen his timeless end.” sighs, tears, words fail here, She knows her o'er-frangtt heart must break, that death alone can end her woe. Witha comiortiess kiss (finding no poison ou his Ups), and the tender remonstrance, With a O churl! drink all, and ieave no friendly drop To licip me alter she snatches Romeo's dagger, planta it deep into ber br t, and, falling a6 the feet of her “dear lord,” expends her dying efforisin reaching hia bosom, whore she craves lcaven to let ber die = 4 “the reat tu atlgmog.”” We ae We | last night, MUSICAL AND THEATRICAL NOTES. Only five nights remain of Mr, Sothern’s Lord Dundreary at Wallack’s, when it will be succeeded by “Sam.’”’ Dundreary makes so many and such remarkable allusions to his brother Sam, that the feeling vecomes very strong that this brother ia “one of those things which no fellow can find out.” The shades of difference in the two scions of this noble family, a8 Mr, Sothern exhibits them, are interesting for study as well as delicious for'énter- tainment. Miss Agnes Ethel’s engagement at the Union Sauare Theatre closes with the hundredth perform- ance of “Agnes” next Saturday evening. Ske takes her benefit on Friday evening. Already the boxes for her benefit night have been sold at $100 each, and the prospect is that the house will be the largest ever gathered in the theatre. Miss Ethet made s0 much of her part and invested the charac- ter of the constant and loving wife with a devotion 80 pure that she compelled forgetfulness of what is vicious in French comedy and ieft to the memory only the trustful and the good. Robert Craig, the comedian, whose funeral takes place to-day, from his late residence, 489 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, was born in this city in 1842, He made his début at the old Museum, on the site of the HERALD building, in 1860, Soon afterward he went to Philadelphia, and until his recent engage- ment as Prince Fridolin, in “Le Rot Carotte,” at the Grand Opera House, he was principally em- Ployea at the Arch Street Theatre, in that city, A difference with his manager led to his withdrawal from “King Carrot’ before the close of the piece ‘and he went to St. Louis, where he was seized with the disease which ended his days. Mr. Craig leaves a wife and three children. ‘The feature of next week will be the production of Mr. John Brougham’s “Lily of France,” at Booth’s Theatre, on Monday evening. it is well known that Miss Heten Temple, a now actress to this city, is to take the leading part. The first draft of this play was produced at San Francisco some years ago, with Miss Charlotte Thompson as Joan of Arc. During tnese representations Mr. Brougham conceived an entirely new view of the character of the heroic Maid of Orleans, and at once withdrew the play from the stage, tg revise and rewrite it according to his later ideal of the genius and career of the heroine. A careful study of everything bearing upon the strange story of her won assured him that he was right ip the novelty and originality of treatment with which he purposed investing the drama, and he accordingly pursued and finished his plan of fun- damentally changing the plot and dialogue of the play. In Miss Helen Temple report represents an actress possessing the poetic fitness, Intensity and dramatic experience necessary to personate a character which Mr. Brougham says unites “the inspiration of the prophetess with the soul of a hero and the meekness of a martyr.”” For the Christmas holidays ‘Round the Clovk,” at the Grand Opera House, is to be further embel- lishea with npw scenery and costumes. Between the third and rourth acts an interlude is to be in- troduced to give the Lauri family a greater oppor- tunity for pantomime, and the closing scene, which has always been weak and insufficient, is to be strengthened by new scenes and effects, Though the story hangs together by a very frail thread and the piece does not come under the cate- gory of “high art,” the entertainment is success- ful if numbers and applause make success. But there is really some surprisingly good acting in it and no end to the “gags.” The Vokes family will return to this country next Spring, probably in ApriJ, under the management of Shook & Palmer, of the Union Square Theatre. They will play in Washington, Baltimore, Philadel- phia and Boston in the early part of the Summer and in this city probably in August. “The School for Scandal’’ was the best perform- ance in the way of old English comedy which has yet taken place at the Filth Avenue Theatre. Having had frequent occasion to condemn Mr. Louis James’ mannerisms and affectations in the parts he has assumed this season and especially in his Doricourt, we take pleasure in pointing out the admirable blending of what are generally blemishes into a nearly perfect Joseph Surface. But the part which shows the most satisfactory growth in dramatic renderings is Miss Fanny Davenport's Lady Teazle. She is exceedingly unctuous in her treatment of the vexed Sir Peter, and portrays just such @ woman as we would expect to make alarming progress in the school of the slanderers. It might be ovjected to her acting that she is too hoydenish tora lady of society, but it must not be forgotten that Lady Teazle was a mem- ber of a societv of which Sir Benjamin Back- bite was an ornament, and that her impru- dence partakes little of genuine refinement. Miss Davenport's delineation of the character is as strongand marked as anything we had on our stage in a long time, and it shows thorough study as well as rapid growth. We have before spoken of Mr. Lewis’ Moses as an excellent piece of eccen- tric characterization, but his utterance is often so rapid as to mar essentially the elocution of an actor who can repeat the catch phrase “undoubt- edly so” with such rare humor. On the whole the piece was played so well as to add new zest to the play when it is presented at the Union Square Theatre and afford a most excellent opportunity for judging the capabilities of the two companies, “Le Petit Faust,’ which was to have been pro- duced at the Olympic on Monday evening, has been postponed at the demand of a vitiated taste, and “La Belle Héléne’’ will be sung the first three nights next week. ‘Les Cent Vierges” is in active preparation. The scene is laid in an imaginary Green Isle inhabited by English colonists, to whom, in response to their petitions, a ship load of a hun- dred virgins is sent for wives. The precious cargo goes astray and a second is sent, among them Gabrielle, the wife of Anatole, and Eglantine, the wife of Poulardot. The husbands fol- low and arrive just as their wives are on the point of being rewedded. Find- ing it dangerous to betray their sex they assume female attire, and are themselves assigned as the spouses of Plupersonn, the Governor, ana Bridi- dick, the Secretary of the Island. Laughable situa- tions follow; but the original cargo at last arrives in time not only to set matters right, but to pro- vide the public functionaries with two wives apiece. It will be seen that this ts the usual staple out of which opéra boufe ia manufactured, and it may prove that the piece will be quite as success- fulas the others, because it seems every whit as objectionable on the ground of morality, Mr. Jean Vogt gives his first matinee concert at Steinway Hall on Tuesday, and the third soirée of chamber music by Messrs, Mills and Damrosch takes place at the same hall on Thursday. Theodore Thomas and his orchestra and Rubinstein and Wientawski return to this city alter Christmas. The English comedy which is announced for pro- duction this season is ‘Married Life’ and ‘‘A Bold Stroke for a Husband” at the Fifth Avenue Thea- tre next week, and “London Assurance,” the “Scnool for Scandal” and ‘Money’ at the Union Square the week following. These will probably close the revival ot the dramatic year, uniess Mr, Wallack determines upon a repetition of the bril- Want performances which have given his theatre an enviable fame. A new English opera company has been formed, which ia to begin at Milwaukee in January, It in- ciudes Madame Van Zandt, Miss Rose Hers¢e and Mrs. Seguin. We hear that the company will have anew tenor, of whom great expectations are en- tertai Miss Neilson closed her engagement at Rooth’s During her four weeks at that theatre she played three great parts—Juliet, Rosalind and Pauline—with varying success; but on the whole she showed herself am actress of rare sweetness and cuiture. The balcony scene in “Romeo and Juliet’ especially is one of those lasting pictures which never fade trom the memory. Miss Kellogg sang in “Trovatore’ yesterday afternoon at the my of Musie, it being the last performance of the season, She was warmly ap- plauded in her rendering of “Tacea la Notte” and the sneceeding Cabaletta, and eapeciaily in the tower acene, Abrugnedo was in better voice than ever before since his arrival inthis country. It would have been @rtunafe for the management had this artist been in ‘ood voice a month or two ago. During the season Misa Kellogg has anng in twenty-two performances, in ten of which she was the sole prima donna, The company appear in Philadelphia to-morrow evening in» (Wo Weeks’ eogagoment, HOLIDAY FASHIONS. SANTA CLAUS AND LA MODE. What Paterfamilias Has to Pay for a Smoking Cap. THE MODISTES BESIEGED BY CUSTOMERS, Dame Fashion Towering Above Dolls and Jumping Jacks. AN ENDLESS VARIETY OF HOLIDAY GIFTS. If ever La Mode deserves the title of the chame- leon goddess itis at this season. In her coquet- ting with the venerable Santa Claus she assumes all the colors of the rainbow, and as for materials, their name ia Legion. She dabbles in everything from a doiman to @ doll, an evening toilet to a Rus- sian lynx set, faille to fowers or an opera cloak to Windsor tie. Take a pecp, for instance, into one of those curiosity shops on the west side, where everything may be found from a taffeta toa tin trumpet, and the mind is bewildered with the end- less variety. The stately emporiums on Broad- way are resplendent with Christmas and New Year's toilets, rich dress materials and all the wondrous fabrics of lace and flowers that a cunning brain can devise. The Bowery ia’ more bustling than ever, and its stores are thronged from the hour that night shades begin to fall until midnight has sounded. Even down in Division street, where four-and-forty milliners stand in a row, bonnets of the most stunning order are being specially manufactured for this great oc casion. Poor pater familias! He looks at his note book and finds a formidable list of articles for the Christmas tree and its surroundings. A sable set for his cara sposa, a recep- tion dress for Mollie, who has arrived at the age of sweet sixteen; a locket and chain for his tweive-year-old Jennie, with, perhaps, an ermine jacket thrown in; skates and navy-blue suits for the boys, a fearfully and wonderfylly dressed doll for five-year old Susie; and for the baby—why a regiment of soldiers, a rattle, and perhaps a Cali- fornia devil. In return the summit of his expecta- tions is a smoking cap or a pair of slippers. Well, he enjoys the bargain and exchange, and there is no use in attempting to mar his enjoyment. Broadway and Sixth avenue on a Saturday after- noon at this time present quite an animated ap- pearance. ‘Loves of bonnets” gracing the tresses of blonde or brunette, like many-hued tropical birds upon the beautiful plants of the South. Here a crowd of fashionables emerging from a matinée, there a circle of “shoppers,” and a merry chirp of tongues, discussing every subject that isin the heavens above, the earth beneath or the'waters under the earth. Then the bright eye with its merry mischievous glances, sparkling beneath that bewildering labyrinth of silks, rib- bons, furs, velvet and curls, through which the hapless masculine promenader on Broadway has to steer a devious course, the flushed cheek, not always the work of art alone; the elastic, springing step and rejuvenated air of the fair ones, all tell of Thanksgiving just past and Christmas close at hand. Thus, Madame La Mode greets the advent of the grisly face of Santa Ciaus. She towers above dolls and jumping jacks, pushes aside rocking horses and glittering b/;outerte, frowns on eandy boxes and quaint Dutch clocks, and looks down with disdain upon sleeve buttons and tin trumpets. The superiority of American fashions is now, in many important respects acknowledged. Itisa well-known fact that long since some of the London magazines and modistes used American fashion plates as the proper exponents of certain styles. Our belies display a remarkable share of that com- mon sense with which they are not generally ac- credited, especially in their insisting on adaptabil- ity to face, figure, age and complexion being the governing principle in their toilets. The endless variety of holiday goods now on exhibition precludes the possibility of anything more than a generat re- view of them here. At Altman’s, Sixth avenue, the only question is what to select. There is a rare assortment of black silks, one or two brands being specialties. Satins and cloaking velvets vie with the museum of the lace department in wonders and varieties, and the prices are in every scale. Here we have an embroidered lace collar and cutfs, or linen sets as handsome in their own line. The fancy goods counter is littered with jewelry and ornaments, fans and toilet articles. A bachelor who wants to look most killing on New Year's will find, in the gentlemen’s furnishing department, all the weap. ons of war. Then for a young housekeeper what a mint is here o1 things useful and ornamental at the domestic hearth! Glancing upstairs a vista of evening dresses, suits and robes 1s unfolded, At Lord & Taylor's, Broadway, Fashion plumes her pinions for a higher flight than on the west side. One needs @ cicerone to expiain the mysteries of the vast assortment of holiday goods to be found in this house. The silks alone are a study in them- selves. For evening dresses there are delicate light tints and satin stripes and sombre hues of the richest description. A large reduction has been made in the price of fancy striped silks, which, during the holidays, generally attain some popu larity. Lace and embroidery may be found here in the most charming designs; also furs of all kinds, elegant seal cloaks, velvet cloths, white fox, blue fox and silver fox, and many magnificent suits, costly shawls, counters filled with perfumes, opera glasses, travelling bags, cigar holders, &c, At the corner of Fourteenth street and Sixth avenue @ dense crowd may be seen every evening. ‘The rush to Macy’s leaves but little time for late comers to select. Some linger over the datnty mouchoir boxes or admire the endless varieties of laces and trimmings, pick out the elegant fans or look over the thousand and one articles for the mantel and the ced table, the Mead guide for the housekeeper, the myriad toys for the chil- dren, the baits for bachelors and the passports to young ladies’ hearts, A. T, Stewart & Co. have for the Nolidays an ele- gant selection of evening dresses and suits that on New Year's and Ladies’ Day will douptiess be the admired of all. Some of the lace suits here repre- sent a fortune in themseives, The ladies’ furnish- ing department is an establishment in itself. It would be dificult, if, indeed, possible, to find a daughter of Eve living who could not be suited here, even in her most extravagant aspirations. James McCreery & Co., Broadway, have imported some exquisite toilets to grace their fair patron- es, al laces, of the true holiday patterns, plain and fancy dress goods and India shawls tempt the purchaser on every side. Union Adams & Co., Broadway, give a lady an ex- cellent opportunity to treat the head of the family coueiaa ing jacket, a railway rug or 4 travelling shawl. At Ehrich’s Temple of Fashion, Eighth avenue, so many things commend themselves to the atten- tion of @ purchaser that the principal Kapacinin they where to begin and especially where to s' FR: There is a perfect arsenal of toys for the chil- dren, writing desks, albums, ornaments of every description. But there are also things of prac- tical use here. What can be more appropriate than a fine set of furs? This is a well stocked de- partment at this house. Children’s fine white fur Sets at $1 75, ladies’ imitation ermine sets at $4 50. The finer lines of real and imitation Alaska sable, real and imitation mink sets, real and imitation seal and sable sets, all can be found and at very low prices. Fur robes at bargains. Then there are tne shawls and sacques, the real lace handkerchiefs and barves, the fine display of trimmed and un- trimmed hats, the very rich assortment of infants’ wear—in iact, everything to clothe, to ornameat and to please all ages, The stock of silks and dress goods at Richard Meares’, Sixth avenne, is so attractive that crowds of ladies may be seen there every day. s ‘The Stern Brothers, Sixth avenue, have every- thing in laces and fancy goods that one would de- sire lorthe holidays, Also elegant Lyons pure silk cloak velvets, ranging from eight to ten dollars, Johnson, Burns & Co,, Union square; H. O'Neill & Uo, Sixth avenue; Emberson, Breadw: :! 3 F de Perceval, Broadway; Harris Bros., Broadway; Sheppard Knapp, Sixth avenue; Kin7ey’s, Broad- way; Peyton's, Bowery; Kuster & Co., Kighth avenue; Ridley & Co, Grand street; J. Russell, Kast Twentieth street; Herz & Co, Broadway, and Waller & MeSorley, Grand stre neve al spectal displays of holiday goods t wee Among the nillliners and dressmakers who have made SY artes in honor of Santa Claus are Mme. Iton, Broadway; Mme. Duval, Kast Twentieth street; Mme. Tiller, Sixth avenue} Mmes. Porter & Doan, Broadway; Mme. Raliings, Broadway; Mme. A. Michel, Sixth avenue; Mme. {tue eat Forty-eighth street; Mmes, ‘Limam % Con Kast sixteenth atreet; Mme. ‘Natalle Gabins, Many elegant holiday season, city. One, intended dinner on very broad aproi in the back, trimmed with a broad velvet band, scallops on the upper e, which are outlined narrow biack lace. The jue is of velvet, loped on the, bottom, and trimmed with narrow black lace to match the overskirt. The back is im a new style of shaped points, and the neck is cut heart-shaped. It 18 called the “Vilette.” The sieeves are of perfectly tight, with @ deep, handsomely shay cuff of velvet. Deep raffles of point lace fall over the hands, and a high raff of the the neck. An evening toilet of blue gros rae the faint- est imaginable shade, which would be more erly cailed white, tinged with blue, has the skirt trimmed with flounces of medium width, alternately of silk, scantily gathered, and of tulle, doubled and plaited. The upper flounce is of tulle, with a heading formed of a roweau ofthe same material, intertwined with sprays of eglantine and fo) » The flounces are carried straight across the back and Tight side, but are raised im festoons on the left side, and the waist line with a large pom: porting a cluster of eglantine, irom cS) wi Overskirt 1s fora tulle, arra: apron, and tied in the back just in a large bow, with sash ends reaching n to a seas the skirt. ota eet al an med with plissés Greoque, u of eglantine is placed on the left shoulder and connected with one on the front of the corsage. A reception voilet is of straw-colored poult de skirt hed with narrow bias cal with foliage. Up the apron a lace flounce is car- ried en cascade. The corsage is low, with short sleeves, and the toilet is completed by a casaque of black lace, the skirt looped on the sides by clusters of carnations, sag Another is of a pale blush-colored silk, cut after the “Vienna” train, which is ver: in the back, and trimmed with alternate narrow ruffles of white and blush-colored silk, which are carried up the sides of the apron in the sliape of a Tound manteau de cour, and graduated in widtn up over the front of the hall-low corsage and around the neck, The front of the coi and the apron are of white silk, ornamente: ith bows of mixed white and blush color; Mi Antoinette sleeves, finished with plaiting of white tulle anda gin of point lace; same style of Fite at the neck. Long sashes of blush color, inédd with white, depend from the waist at the. sides, and are carelessly knotted low down on the skirt at the left side. . A handsome visiting toilet is of deep plum-colored gros grain, the skirt, a short demi-train, orma- mented with a unique flounce of velvet of thesame color, cut in deep, rounded (Sean falli over @ gathered flounce of sill The velvet flounce cut in a circular shape, so that, while perfectly plain at the top, it is quite full enough at the bottom. The overgar- ment is of velvet of the color of the dress, made u| in the style of the “Neilson” redingote, which perfectly loose and double breasted in the front, but fitted in the back. The polonaise is suficiently rich without any garniture, and a plaited sash of the silk is fastened on the right shoulder and car- ried across the back to support the looping of the skirt on the left side, The bonnet is made of the materials of the dress, trimmed with black lace, and rose-colored plumes wixed with thom of the color of the material. We saw a very handsome evening dress of Nile- recn silk, with apron of the finest round point lace and flounce tomatch at bottom of the skirt; back trimmed with narrow flounces of silk and illusion, looped witn trailing vines of moss rose buds down the entire length of the skirt. The corsage was low and trimmed to match. A dress of navy blue silk had a large court train of turquoise blue tied back with a bunch of light blue ostrich feathers, tipped with dark shade. ‘The front of skirt was flounced with navy blue, each flounce lined with turquoise, edged with ostrich-feather fringe of the two shades. The waist was in a heart shape back and front and had Marie Antoinette sleeves, A black velvet costume had a petticoat flounced, overskirt and waist of white enadine, an ele- gantly embroidered skirt tied back on each side with black velvet ribbon, and large bunches of pink and black ostrich feathers and drooping jet ornaments. There was also an evening dress of light tar- quoise Qo skirt having three deep Nounces up the back, headed by a very large pufling, each. flounce trimmed with white embossed grenadine; long apron front cutin points, trimmed with gren- adine and white feather fringe; corsage low and covered with embossed grenadine. In millinery the following specimens are on ex- hibition on Broadway :— A lovely bonnet of the shape known as “Le Belle Rose” was of soft rose-pink velvet, with scarf of earl-white blonde meandering over roses. Half- Blown buds caught at the back and falling in end- less waves of pearly points. From out of this mass of roses and lace sprang an aigrette de heron, which gave an almost regal air to this queenly crown, Another, of turquoise blue of the palest shade, worn only by our most lovely blondes, excited the admiration of all beholders. It was more like a tiara of jewels, tor amid the tufts of m shaded with the finest of lace, an ostrich plume, shading from the most delicate turquoise down to the richest of emeralds, arched over the head in truly Scottish style, This was designated as the “Marchioness of Lorne.” masses of tulle and Alter wandering amon; a bigs Logs wers, Au in foliage jistes" blonde, rich velvets, gay and birds of rare plumage in the leading modi houses, it is impossible to give any more than a general idea of the structures designed for the fe- Taale head at this season. GLOVES, A wWell-fitting, elegant and durable glove ts am article not easily to be obtained, either in the American or European market; besides, great dif- ficulty has been experienced lately in matching the shades of the different dress je The prevail- ing shades in gloves are, for the {voy ead season, sage, olive brown, .olive green, London smoke, plum, Nile green, peacock green and tur- quoise __biue. fe find the difficuity to obtain these shades in the tanning of the skin, which is a very hard process. In fact, only the best makers on the finest of skins have it in ‘their power to produce them. The Harris & Herz seamless gloves are the most popular in the market, The extent of the glove trade is enor- mous, and great quantities are sold in the United States. The prices of gloves were, compared with the European market, very low here last season, in consequence of the overstocking of second class goods, FEDERAL OFFICE AFFAIRS. catholic ieosinara Transactions at the Pension Office—The Custom House and Internal Reven Matters—Contemplated Raid on Illicit Distilleries. Ten days had passed yesterday since the pay- ment of pensions was commenced by the new agent, Mr. Silas P. Dutcher, and in this time he has drawn in round numbers 4,250 chetks. Aver- aging to each check the minimum amount of $36, the sum thus disbursed by him would foot up $148,750, It must be remembered that a great many pensioners draw as low as $6 per quarter, while others receive $63 and even more. The labor to pay a small amount is equal to the greater, ‘consequently it is not the sum allotted that causes the greatest labor. About two-thirds of the pensioners are paid off, and those who yet re- main sre such as can afford to wait alittle andare not dependent upon the pittance tage by the government for a sustenance. In conversing with the pensioners of both sexes they have all ex- pressed themselves hignty pleased with the treat- ment received from Mr, Dutcher, who has taken hold of his new office with erent vim and earnest- ness. The end of this week will, no ‘doubt, bring the last quarter’s payment for this year to a close, and it is hoped that by Spring he will have new quarters and better accommodations furnished him by the department at Washington, At the Custom House everything is very quiet. Collector Arthur is pestered as much as any Col- lector ever was by politicians clamoring for ofice. He has, however, an advantage which his prede- ceasors lacked, and that is, the Civil Service bit furnishes him the excuse of getting rid of the would-be patriots. Whoever applies elther per- sonally or proxy for a stays > is very poiltel reverred to Mr. Fred Phillips, the Collector's pri- vate secretary, for a blank upon which to make his application for an examination, and an assurance that his petition would receive the utmost consid. eration at the hands of the Civil Service Commis- sion, who Will be instructed to notify the candidate of thelr next session. ‘here are at present up- wards of four hundred such applications on te and only a very few vagancles to fill, The first appointinents under the new rules were con- firmed by the Secretary of the Treasury last week, anda ult list of the appointments were published exclusively In the HERALD. The now Supervisor of Internal Revenue for the State of New York, Mr. Luctan Hada who Pen ds Silas PF. Dutcher, new s10n nt, 7 has taken charge of tho ofice Cedar street and gone actively to work. Mr. Hawley was confirmed by che Senate on Friday by an unanimous yoie, he having been a highly ollicient revenue official since the Internal Revenue Bureau was first estallished, Mr. George N. Birdsall, who bas been ©: Clerk of the Super- visor since the creation of the oilice, has been re appointed by Supervisor Hawley. A raid on illicit hi is has been organized, which wil) soon cul minate in the capture of scveral of thede comira band establishments,