The Theatres.

THE THEATRES .

COVE NT GARDEN . THOSE who prophesied defeat aud speedy collapse for the new improsario of Covont Garden would find thuir prognostications refuted in the well-packed pit , tho rr , r . < ded boxes , and exuberant

gallery gathered nightly at Bro . Holland ' s invitation . Children ' s laughter sounds where duchesses exchanged on dits , and tho modulated bravas accorded the diva is replaced by rapturous clappings of young hands echoed by the unsophisticated in tho dim perspective of upper circles . Youngsters who have the " fearful joy " of a seat

next the ring may no longer expect sawdust showers—matting replaces the sawdust of old . The band pours down its strains from mid-air , tho house is cool and bright , and brilliant . Since Fate decrees Mr . Merriman shall sit in the throno of Mario , it is well that William Holland shall be his Grand Vizier in this realm of tho

Honhynheims . The entertainment he provides is thoroughly entertaining . His horses are magnificent ; he has quito a corps of elephants , and one among them , the so-called " Clown , " for comicality , gravity , docility , only a leader in " the largest circulation " would do justice to his gif ts

and graces . He obeys every command at a word , yet surely , with a certain ironical contempt for human futility . The house roars at his antics and queer gymnastic tricks ; for ourselves , dyspeptic and not young , there was something pathetic in the good nature of this burly Gulliver thus standing on his head "to oblige" the

Lilliputians . The clown elephant has a fine pendant in " the educated monkey . " The School Board would have passed him in the sixth standard could he speak English . He is a splendid rough rider , and his consinship only too apparent . We apologise for speaking of a lady after our four-footed and qnadrumane relations , but wo must

offer our acknowledgments to Madame Oceana for a real aesthetic treat she gives us in her singularly graceful acts . The bare-backed riding of pretty Mdlle . Ernan will probably bo fatal to many susceptible mashers . The juvenile ballet forms an agreeable interlude ;

whilst the multitude of clever things done by the infantry , cavalry , and general zoology , has never been excelled in any ring . Papa ? and mammas cannot give a better treat to the children than a visit to the Cirqneries ; while those who are not parents may spend there a thoroughly enjoyable winter evening .

Royalty Theatre.

ROYALTY THEATRE .

WE can heartily congratulate the manager of the Royalty Theatre on the brilliant success of the " Maitre des Forges , " now being acted nightly to crowded houses . Tho character and plot of Ohnet ' s drama is too well known , both by its Parisian fame and the popularity of the St . James version , that we need tell tho story to our readers . For all who have followed tho fortunes of the self-willed

wife , and no less self-willed husband , as interpreted by Mr . and Mrs . Kendal , this French reading will have a peculiar interest . M . Damala , as the lover and husband in the opening scones , perhaps , does not intend to give the character any touch of poetic charm . Wo have the ironmaster of the laboratory aud tho counting house , and

are not surprised that a lovely , passionate girl should resent a union which seems offered by a parvenu ' s ambition , even though she makes it the means of avenging her outraged love . It was in tho interview with his bride after tho midnight wedding that Damala gave evidence of very distinct and earnest emotional power , suppressed and held in

check until he is maddened by the belief she has but married him to serve her own infatuation for her cousin . Thero was a poignancy of anguish in his despair that completely carried away the audience , and as the scene closes , he sinks heart-broken on the chair , you see or rather feel that in that moment Claire is awaking to the depth of

the great love she is casting from her . Madame Hading invests tbe heroine with a grace and womanly tenderness so touching and pathetic that she effectually hides in the charm of her own personality the harshness aud perversity of the author ' s creation . With each act her powers seem to rise with the tenser strain of the misery

of her false position—a wife who is no wife—till tho moment when she learns her husband ' s love has only been equalled by his generosity , that he has taken her dovverless and saved her family from penury , and in the knowledge sinks cowering iu the sense of her unworthiness . Daring this scene , and each subsequent ono , Madame

Hading held her audience completely under tho spell , tho crowded house quite hushed , and this was tbe greater triumph since probably not a third of those present could follow the story by the spoken words . Madame Hading possesses not only great talent , but great beauty and grace , a lovely Clytie face , and she is free from any trick

of attitudinizing . M . Colombey was admirable as the chocolate manufacturer , never sinking to low comedy , a very possible aud delightful fabricant en gros . Wo have Ecen one that rather suggested the " village grocer . " M . Schey , iu a very small part , gaveachnrm . ing vignette study of the kindly , cheery , ouvrier who blushes with delight at tho honour of saluting the adored " patronnc . " Thefer

was a marly young lover , Mdlie . Santa a charming Dresden china little schoolgirl , Madame Itenard dignified and touching as the Marquise , the tender mother who has shielded Clairo from all con . tact with the rough work-a-day world . Wo vetrret Madame Gerfant is too melodramatic as Athenais , the part should have the cat ' s claws

not obtruded . The Dake gains dignity in M . Laugier ' s hands . Wv recognise , in spite of his vices , a not wholly unworthy object of Claire ' s first love . The final scene , which might easily become an anticlimax , is played much more closely in the French than the English version

the Dnko but rushes forward to learn that the wound Clairo has received to shield her husband ' s life is not mortal , she sinks into her husband ' s arms , and the curtain falls . It falls every night at tbe Royalty amid loud and continuous applause Recalls had followed

Royalty Theatre.

the close of each act , all tho principal artistes being summoned . We trust a still more prosperous experience is thus inaugurated with the New Year for M . Meyer . English folks' knowledge of French is at the best but vague ; to enjoy tho French drama they must know the story in an English dress . We believe if M . Meyer will bear this in

mind there are easy triumphs awaiting him . By his good offices might not onr brilliant friend " The Candidate" of the Criterion shake hands with his cousin the "Deputy of Boulignac , " whilst " Dora " might acknowledge hor introduction to society by the kindly offices of " Diplomacv ? "

The Japanese Village.

THE JAPANESE VILLAGE .

IN these days , when the " nothing new nothing true , and it don't matter " of the American sago seems to sum up so much of our experience , the privilege of an introduction to another planet where shoddy is unknown , and strikes and locks-out undreamed , and an aesthetic golden age still lingers , where every artizan is an artist ;

to snch a planet , at least , to a traveller's sample of it , wo are invited by Brother P . uhicrosan , who left his native land , Niphou , twenty years ago to live amongst us , his fellow craftsmen of the West . His energy and high character have met fitting reward in the handsome fortune ho has won , and will gain him still greater honour in the

realisation of long-cherished plans for tho amelioration of the social condition of his native land . It is to these projects , seconded as they are by the warm sympathy of his amiable and gifted wife , who is also from the far East , that we are indebted for the sudden creation of an actual Japanese town , with its shops , its tea-houses , its

ternpies , its men , women and cbildron in our midst . Bro . Buhicrosan has found the nineteenth century crystallised in the glass and iron cucumber frame architecture of Humphries Hall , Knightsbridge , and at the spell of the enchanter ' s wand arise the graceful little bird-cage houses , each niche and angle made delightful with quaint ornament ,

yet the ornament always subservient to the harmonious effect of the whole , and that again evidently kept subordinate to the tones of the native landscape . On entering at the outer door we find ourselves in a street that might have been brought bodily from one of the suburbs of Yokohama . There is the carpenter ' s shop , the carpenter busily ' at

work on a loom for the weaver next door . We air our Japanese vocabulary , and ask him to lend his saw , which is remarkable , in being made of tempered steel , the teeth set towards the handle ; the tool is drawn towards the worker . Our carpenter hands it over with the ready smile which distinguishes his countrymen . Oar first

visit was at the private view on Friday , 9 th January . Various and almost unanimous had been the prognostications of failure among the publicist prophets . "It was the wrong season , " "People had enough of Japan in Regent-street , " " People were suffering from too much Exhibition , and had not yet digested their Sanitary house and

Chinese Band . These prophecies were proved baseless when the actual bit of enchantment came in view . One of tho specials who had visited the land of Niphou , and remembered something of Jap Ollendorf , was shortly found seated on the white , soft mat of the tea-house , asking for " some good tea , " from the " good girl , " his

envious confreres gathering around , and amid much laughter repeating the unknown syllables of the presiding damsel , a little lass of perhaps fourteen ; she , evidently thinking these great , brown-bearded barbarians immense fun , smilingly distributed hor tiny cups . " Ariato , " said the travelled one , and " ariato , ariato , " resounded

in laughing chorus from Literature and Art . Shall we confess that Brother Buhicrosan offered ( Oh ! whisper it not to Mrs . Kendal ) a pleasant little lunch with those demoralising adjuncts—which shall be nameless . After Brother Buhicrosan , by the mouth of his secretary , had announced the objects of tho exhibition , emphatically

declaring it should not become a bazaar , bnt that all surplus from the money taken would be devoted to patriotic objects , his guests adjourned to the Annexe , a large concert-room , where a stage for Japanese performances has been erected . The Matinee-haunted critics , who must too often find life would be tolerable but for its

amusements , had now a treat of real fun and laughter such as few of them have enjoyed since Planco consule . A fencing match , the fencers armed with gigantic bamboos , proceeded to thwack and thwack each other whilst mutually shouting and howling defiance , the proceedings being supervised by an umpire , a fellow of infinite

dignity , tho movements of whose fan gave tho signal to begin and desist , or moderate the thwackings . The fencers wero masked , but the wrestlers who succeeded them wore only some endless yards of black satin as a belt aud fleshings in deference to Western prejudice . They commenced operations squatting down with their finger-tips touching

tho ground , and gazing with Egyptian solemnity in each other ' s faces . Tho grotesque oddity of tho two , with their solemn silence , whilst the umpire in long garments held the fateful fan over them till it waved tho sisrnal to engage , was irresistibly comic , but still more comic was tho effect when , after a tough bout , reminding one but dimly of

" Westmoreland form , the fan waved the hugging athletes apart , and still with unchanged countenance-each walked solemnly to the bucket o : ' water placed by the footlights , and solemnly quaffed from the little d : ' pper . These intervals for refreshment occur about every three u ' mutes , the umpire standing with stately grace and unsmiling

countenance , whilst irreverent Westerns applaud as load as they laugh . Three dancing-girls execute a choice measure to the tinkle , tinkle of native music . We had hoped tho Japanese artists best delighted to caricature the human face divine . Alas ! our introduction to these amiable visitors has destroyed the illusion ; only wo must admit that

there is in some of tho girl ' s faces a certain charm that is , if not beauty , a very pleasant substitute . Then they have the advantage of a most becoming and graceful costume , magnificent hair , daintily dressed , and perfect manners , perfect self-possession , without

selfcmsciousness or boldness , and this indeed is a national characteristic . Id conclusion , we advise our readers to visit the Japanese Village , ard we aro sure they will leave it with hearty recognition of the manager's zeal , good taste , aud liberality . -