Theatrical & Entertainment Notes.

THEATRICAL & ENTERTAINMENT NOTES .

THE season of operas in English at Drury Lane commences this evening ( Saturday ) with " Faust , " under the direction of Signor Maneinelli . A NEW and original drama , in five acts , written by Mr . Georgo R . Sims and Mr . Arthur Shirley , and entitled " The Star of India , " will be produced at the Princess's this evening ( Saturday ) .

YET another novelty is promised for this evening , Messrs . Danco and Caryll ' s musical comedy , " The Gay Parisienne , " being arranged for production at the Duke of York ' s Theatre .

ON Wednesday next Mr . Comyns Carr will produce Miss Clo Grave ' s three act farce , " A mother of three , " at the Comedy , tho performance being preceded by " The Guinea Stamp , " a one act play by Mr . Cyril Halward . THE Shaftesbury will re-open on Thursday , with a new romantic drama " Tho Sin of St . Hulda , " by Mr . Stuart Ogilvie .

A NEW musical piece is to be produced at the Prince of Wales ' s on Saturday next , in which , it is stated , Mr . Arthur Roberts will have a part well suited to his mirth-provoking powers . The authors of the book are Mr . Jerome K . Jerome and Mr . Adrian Ross , and the composer , Dr . Osmond Carr .

Masonic Dramatic Performance In Manchester.

MASONIC DRAMATIC PERFORMANCE IN MANCHESTER .

NOT even the severest and most atrabilious of theatrical critics , if he happened to be present at tho above function , and saw the brilliant assemblage which gathered at tho Gentlemen's Concert Hall , Manchester on Friday evening last week , would bs inclined to say that the Thespian art in Cottonopolis is decadent and moribund . On the contrary , it is very much alive , and Bro . Mark Molfor-d ' s celebrated farcical comedy " Turned Up , " was highly appreciated and listened to with great attention .

The piece was presented by a company of enthusiastic young people , known as the " Manchester Amateur Players , " whose abilities have been previously referred to in these columns . The performance was promoted by the Yarborough Lodge , No . 633 , and the Officers had secured the distinguished patronage of Col . Le Gendre N . Starkie P . G . M . East Lancashire , George MellorD . P . G . M ., and the rest of the Provincial Grand Officers . Among the latter we noticed Brothers Jas . W .

Abbott P . M . 1030 P . P . G . D . C , Geo . A . Myers P . M . 1730 P . P . G . D . C . W . L ., and others , also Past Masters D . Guymer , F . H . Davidson , T . A . G . Wilson , J . F . Sallon 633 , R . H . Robinson 1213 , H . J . Harrison 581 , and Robert Fox 2482 ; Brothers E . Pleasance S . D ., H . Pleasance , A . Shaw , J . Hall , George Pleasance , F . E . Clipper , P . Heywood , J . Clegg , M . Rowland , A . Joynson , J . Ross , W . Davies , H . Hughes , all of 633 , P . Davison 5 S 1 , Wm . Finlay , H . Thompson , F . Burgess , A . E . Burgess , of Lodge 1459 , and T . H . Stott 2449 .

As in the case of the Ashbury Lodge performance last year , the amateur company had offered one from their large repertoire on behalf of Masonic Charities , and Bro . Sargeant Searle S . W . of the Yarborough Lodge , to whom the overtures had been made , accepted , upon condition that ho was fortunate enough to be elected to the principal chair as W . M . for tho ensuing financial year . This ceremony , which recently took place under very imposing circumstances , caused him to think of the offer , and the performance of Friday was the result .

The acting was generally speaking excellent , and little can be suggested in the way of improvement . Mr . Johu Swift as bluff Captain Metlway , of the " Petrel , " sustained his reputation as a very capable member of the company , while Mr . Frank M . Provis , in the character of George Medway , his son , was very dignified , under conditions which imposed upon him a quartette of

parents . Carraway Bones , undertaker and general dealer , was tho life and soul of the piece , and in less competent hands than those of Mr . Arthur Russell Mclnnes , might have degenerated into exaggeration . The latter , however , never stepped beyond the lines bordering true dramatic art , and he presented what to us seemed a good portrait of an unscrupulous and money-grabbing tradesman .

The music was under the direction of Mr . A . Gray , and the talented orchestra discoursed music from Auber , Strauss , Caryll , Sullivan , and Riviere .

It is to be hoped we are not premature in announcing that as numerous tickets were disposed of to Brethren and friends who were not in attendance , there is likely to be a very substantial balance to hand over in aid of the charities , and on account of the great efforts which were made by Bvo . Se & Tle and others to render the performance a success , we sincerely hope this may be the case .

With regard to the Lodge itself , we have just seen a summons convening the next meeting , and are glad to put on record that Bro . Searle ' s year of office promises to be a very busy one . As Worshipful Master , he is confronted by an initiation and a raising , and at an emergency meeting to be held on the 15 th inst ., there will be two passings and throe raisings .

Penmanship.

PENMANSHIP .

WRITING , though it may be considered only a minor art , is nevertheless _ a very desirable and useful acquisition . Many men acquire it to perfection , but the few specimens of really excellent ealigrapby furnished by the ladies denote the fact that this is not an accomplishment in which they are very eager to excel , and I very much question whether those who profess to read character by the handwriting would be successful in finding that

stamp of individualit y amongst the feminine angular letters which might generally be expected in the firmer and bolder penmanship of the other sex . And I fancy there would be even less chance of feminine indefectibility in this direction , if , like the educated Chinese , they were compelled to learn by heart the meaning of some 15 , 000 separate signs before they could aspire to have attained chirographic success .

The Emperor Nero , to whom historians do not ascribe , the attributes of pity and compassion , once uttered this regret when asked to sign a death warrant : " Quani vellum mc ncsciro literas "— "How much do 1 wish that I knew neither how to read nor write . " But my object in this article is to deal more particularly with that

portion of composition termed micrography , or minute writing , an art in which the ancients are said to have been particularly expert . Cicero , if we may believe the statement of Pliny , saw the whole Iliad of Homer contained in a nut-shell , which assertion is thus alluded to by Huet , Bishop of Avranches , in his autobiography : — " When his Highness the Dauphin was one day confined to his bed by a slight illness , and we who stood round were

Penmanship.

endeavouring to entertain him by pleasant conversation , mention was by chance made of tho person who boasted that he had written Homer's ' Iliad ' in characters so minute that the whole could be enclosed in a walnut shell . This appearing incredible to many of the company I contended not only that it might be done , but that 1 could do it . As they expressed their astonishment at this assertion , that I might not be suspected of idle boasting , I immediately put it to the proof . I therefore took the fourth part of a

common leaf of paper , and on its narrower side wrote a single line in so small a character that it contained twenty verses of the Iliad ; of such lines each page of the paper could easily admit 120 , therefore the page would contain 2 , 400 Homeric verses ; and as the leaf so divided would give eight pages , it would afford room for 19 , 000 verses , whereas the whole number in the Iliad does not exceed 17 , 000 . Thus by my single line I demonstrated my proposition .

On the 10 th of August 1575 , Peter Bales , one of our earliest and most eminent writing-masters , finished a performance which contained the Lord ' s Prayer , the Creed , the Decalogue , with two short prayers in Latin , his owii name , motto , day of the month , year of our Lord , and reign of the Queen , within tho circle of a single penny . This was presented to Elizabeth , at Hampton Court , encased in a ring with borders of gold , and covered with a crystal , so accurately wrought as to be plainly legible . The work gained the admiration of Her Majesty , her ministers , and several ambassadors at the court .

Mr . John J . Taylor , of Streator , 111 ., is said to have written 4 , 100 words on the blank side of a postal card . These cards are made 5 J inches long , and three inches in width . Mr . Beedle , of Ottery St . Blary , Liverpool , beat this record , using a card 3 J by 3 J inches , which would be considerably smaller than that used by Mr . Taylor . On this small piece of cardboard this penman , weilding a quill , wrote the following pieces without any abbreviation whatever Goldsmith ' s " Traveller , " " The Deserted Village , " " Essay on Education , "

" Distress of a Disabled Soldier , " " The Tale of Azim , " and the six essays on "Justice , " "Generosity , " "Irresolution of Youth , " " Frailty of Man , " " Friendship , " and " The Genius of Love . " In the centre of the card ; there was a perfect picture of Ottery church , all the shades and lines being formed of parts of tho writing . This marvellous production was finished with the national anthem of " God Save the Queen , " and adorned with seventy-two stars , fifty-one crescents , and nineteen crosses . A serpent with its tail in its mouth enclosed and finished the work .

Browning was not only clever as a poet , he was also a man who possessed great musical taste , and he was an admirable writer , his beautiful penmanship in the "Ring and the Book , " being really wonderful . Thackeray , the author of " Vanity Fair , " considered good writing to be one of the fino arts . He once told Dr . John Brown , of Edinburgh , that " if all other trades failed , he would earn sixpences by writing the Lord's Prayer and the Creed in the size of that coin . "

I could relate many instances where letters have been returned because the correspondence was undecipherable , and which could not afterwards be understood even by the writers themselves . With regard to the wretched handwriting of Horace Greeley , I have drown the reader's attention in a former article , and here is an incident which corroborates what I then said . It is contained in two letters , which are as follow : " ( From H . Greeley to M . B . Castle . ) Dear Sir , —I am overworked and growing old , I shall be sixty next Feb . 3 . On the whole , it seems I must decline to lecture henceforth ,

except in this immediate vicinity , if I do at all . I cannot promise to visit Illinois on that errand—certainly not now . —Yours , Horace Greeley . ( From M . B . Castle to H . Greeley . ) Dear Sir , —Your acceptance to lecture before our Association next winter came to hand this morning . Your penmanship not being the plainest , it took us some time to translate it . But we succeeded , and would say your time , ' 3 rd of February , ' and terms ' 60 dols ., ' are entirely satisfactory . As you suggest , we may be able to get you other engagements in this immediate vicinity ; if so , we will advise you . —Yours respectfully , M . B . Castle . "

During a debate on the Reform Bill , in the House of Lords , Lord Lyttleton proposed an amendment , refusing the franchise to everybody who was unable to write legibly . The humour of the incident was occasioned by the fact that the Clerk of the House was utterly unable to read his lordship ' s own writing , it was too illegible , and the amendment was withdrawn without a division .

It is not everybody who possesses equal ingenuity in device as that navvy who , although unable to write , constructed a method of shorthand which was peculiarly his own , but which convinced the judges . The story goes that a sub-contractor on the railway was summoned before the magistrates assembled in petty session at Ulverston for refusing to pay

wages . One of the complainants handed in a book of the time he had worked , and said the magistrates would very likely not be able to read his writing . He added , " You see , sir , I am only a poor writer , and when I have worke done whole day I make what I call a horse-box , & c , for a quarter of a day , — . " This statement excited considerable laughter in the court , and ultimately the wages were paid .

Many men who are otherwise good writers , contract so elaborate and exclusive a style of signature , or are so careless in their method of subscribing themselves , that nine out of ten strangers to the writing would be unable to read the name , and many ludicrous mistakes have been made by journalists whose duty it is to copy the same . This , however , is matter for another article , and may be treated of again , as it does not rightly come within the scope of tho present subject . " The Book of Rarities , " by Edward Roberts P . M .

A new Cycling Club , on novel lines , is being started under the presidency of the Bev . Professor H . O . Shuttleworth , M . A ., the well-known and genial rector of St . Nicholas Cole-Abbey , B . C . The Club is intended for musicians principally , but is not absolutely confined to them . The subscription is five shillings

per annum , and many runs with a good musical programme are being looked forward to . The Hon . Secretary is Brother John Probert , School of Music , New Barnet , who will be glad to furnish all particulars . The proposal is to welcome Ladies as members . A large number of promises of support have already been received .

H . R . H . the Duke of York has forwarded £ 5 as an annual subscription to the funds of the Sailors' Orphan Girls' School and Home , Hampstead , which Institution is greatly in need of assistance . The office of the Charity is at 50 Bishopsgate Street Within , London , E . C .