LITERATURE, MUSIC, AND THE DRAMA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6578, 16 December 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)

LITERATURE, MUSIC, AND THE DRAMA.

Miss Maggie Knight lias signed an engagement to Messrs. Williamson, Musgrove, and Garner for a lengthened period. "Lights o' London" is now being played bv no less than four .American companies. This piece, indeed, seems to he more successful than any produced in the States of late years. In .San Francisco, for instance, the receipts for one week receutly were over £2,000. Surely Shelley's-" No solace left for tFtou or me." and IJyron's " Let fie who made thee answer that," are specimens of wilfully careless grammer, and should not be ranked as either colloquialisms or vulgarisms. We cannot say so much for the eider poet's, "There let him lay," which, we think, must be classed as a vulgarism.

Beautiful as is the conversation in which Juliet plays upon the doubt whether it is the nightingale or the lark that sings at the moment of the forlorn bride and bridegroom's parting, there is in its composition a troubling strain of artifice. No one ever felt it to be perfectly natural, though many have been excusably indifferent as to whether it was natural or not.

Robert Tome!", M.D., died recently at Brooklyn, New York, in his sixty-sixth year. Dr. Tomes preferred literature to the profession in which he was educated, and about the year ISSO became a journalist and author. In earlier life he was one of the best known literary men of his city. His later years have been passed in travel or in retirement amonc his friends and his book;*.

M. Erckmann, the novelist, who residesi at Toul, in Lorrsine. was attacked some time ago, first by jaundice, then by gastric fever. A little time ago his life was in danger, but a ehange for the hetter took place and it is to be hoped that he will soon bo convalescent. Since the annexation he has lived away from Alsace, but it is expected that he will pay his native countrv a visit next vear.

Mdlle. Claire Gambetta", artlnte hp-'vjw, hopes to be one of the curiosities of Paris during the winter. She is to appear at one of the music halls, and trade on the reflected glory of her second cousin, the statesman, L6on Gambetta. The young lady in question is described as a plump little black-haired Provencal girl, twenty-four years of age, and gifted with a tongue "that runs like a whipsaw.

A now weekly has made its appearance in London. It is called "The Rag," and the following sentences from the commencement of its leading article will sufficiently indicate its character:—"Good morning, my rorty pals. Hope you arc pleased to see me. This will be the properest rag chucked out of any paper-showing crib in London ; no tommy rot, no advertisements, no pound of flour and two plums, all real jam and no mistake."

A fine-eared gentleman criticises the pronunciation of actors who claim to be " stars" in the profession. " Familiar lines," he says, " are pronounced as follows: ' Anjills and min'sters of pur-race defend-dns ;' ' Dead for a duck-it;' ' The potint pison ;' 'A fellow of most infi-ni«ht wit aud me-ost ex-slunt fancee :' ' Th.iwr and resolve into a jew ;' ' The gelass of fashion and the me-old of farm;' ' The me-ous tur-rap ;' ' Than wuz ever du-reemed uv in ye-ure fe-loso-fee ;' and so on."

Mr. Tennyson's new play, which was to be produced at" the Globe early last month, is called "The Promise of May." It is a pathetic drama of rustic life, in three acts. As its heroine's name is Dora it may he as well to say that its subject has nothing to do witli Mr.Tennyson's poem of that name. Mr. Tennyson has expended great pains on the portrait of the evil genius of the play— a libertine who glories in his lack of faitli in religions and moral obligation, and makes love to the sister of the woman whom he has ruined and betrayed. The dialogue of the new piece is 'written throughout in prose. A leading part will be sustained by Mr. Charles Kelly. The practical management of the Adelphi Theatre will shortly pass for a while into the haniU of Mr. Charles Reade, who will produce a new romantic drama, written by him, and entitled "Love and Money." Unlike some other of the author's later plays, the new piece is not founded on any of his numerous works of narrative fiction, but is original in story as well as in construction. Its scenes are in great part laid in the mining districts. The character of the hero will, we believe, be assumed by Mr. Clynds, who played the part of Michael Strogofi" in the place of Mr. Charles Warner when the latter popular actor was disabled by his unfortunate accident; that of the heroine will probably bo played by Miss Amy Roselle.