should be; the performers are imperfect, some are absent, and the prompter has to read the part, and others are gossiping, or what is termed "spooning," at the side wings instead of attending to their duties. The rehearsal of "The Day after the Wedding" having been got through in a very slovenly manner, Miss Clarendon recited Collins' "Ode on the Passions," and had often to appeal to that useful personage who "lost to sight," is "to memory dear," for the word.

Miss Susan Clarendon began her recitation from the "Prisoner of Lochleven" amidst a buzzing noise of talking both before and behind the scenes, for a few intruders had found their way into the auditorium-as modern fashion now describes the front of the house.

"It is impossible for me," said the illfated Mary Queen of Scots, "to do justice to my humble effusion if there is so much talking in the house."

"Silence, ladies and gentlemen," exclaimed Wittingham.

Miss Susan then proceeded

"The following lines are supposed to be spoken by Francis, the Dauphin of France, previous to his with Mary

marriage

Stuart :

66

What form divine bursts on my ravish'd sight,
Circled in beams of mild and steady light,

Girt with a virgin zone, her robes of purest white?
O'er thee, blest Princess, Heaven's purest gifts are
show'r'd

On thee, its best, its choicest blessings pour'd."

By the powers!" said O'Hara, “if she begins with the marriage of Mary, how will she ever get through the episodes of Darnley and Rizzio ?"

Finding the audience not very attentive, Miss Susan wound up her effusion by calling upon "kind "—she pronounced it "keind"

"heaven to

Propitious prove,

And smooth the rugged path of State with love."

The singing lesson from Il Barbiere

went off very well, Miss Matilda warbling forth "Rode's Variations." Such were the variations that the original air was scarcely discoverable. She also requested the accompanist to be prepared (in case she should be honoured with an encore, which, as she said, was not at all likely) with the music of "The Minstrel Boy," as she should introduce that song instead of repeating Rode's air.

Miss Matilda was aware that she would be honoured with an encore, as strict orders had been given to the household in the gallery to shout for one.

was

The scene from "Romeo and Juliet rehearsed to the life, and, at Wittingham's suggestion, the fair daughter of the Capulet introduced some "business" which has since been followed by an Italian artiste on the English boards, namely, Juliet lowering her scarf for Romeo to imprint impassioned kisses upon it. Being perfect in "Casta Diva," that splendid song was not rehearsed.

As Baimbridge had on several occasions.

superintended the representation of "Creatures of Impulse," it went very smooth, and one and all were highly complimented at the attention they had paid to their instructor.

At the conclusion of the rehearsal, Captain Collinson recited an address written by Lord Albert Wittingham, full of point, and highly eulogistic to the Clarendons and the members of the corps dramatique. Some of the lines ran as follows:

To Colonel and Lady Elizabeth Freeland

Adopt, then, this plan, and the very next time

That in words you fall out, let these fall into rhyme.
Thus your sharpest disputes will conclude very soon,
And from jangling to jingling you'll chime into tune.

To Romeo and Juliet

Oh, let me drop a tributary tear

On "Romeo's grave, on loving "Juliet's " bier;
You to their worth must testimony give,

'Tis in your hearts alone their fame can live.

Some lines to Miss Susan Clarendon commenced thus

Hail, Nature's poet, whom she taught alone
To sing her works in numbers like her own.

Upon which O'Hara, sotto voce, remarked"All Hail!'-what a splendid commencement to an Ode to Winter.""

Miss Matilda was thus referred to

Sweet is the joy, when Rapture's fire
Flows from the Spirit of the Lyre.

Lieutenant O'Hara, who had served his country as a midshipman during the Crimean War, was thus alluded to

As the young eagle to the blaze of day
Undazzled and undaunted turns his eyes,
So unappalled, where glory led the way,

Midst storms of war-midst mingling seas and skies,
The genuine offspring of O'Hara's name

Proved his high birth's hereditary claim,

And his applauding country hailed with joy

A future hero in the Irish boy.

Mrs. Clarendon was described as one

Diffusing opulence and public good

Pattern fair of female fame

Softening with domestic life,

Fashion's splendid dazzling rays,

The well-beloved and loving wife.

Of Lady Hovingham it was said, in allu

sion to her song

My thoughts when through the world I roam
Are fondly turned to "Home, Sweet Home."