Notes On Music And The Drama.

ta revive from the languor which had crept over them during the excessive heat of the last few weeks , and several novelties have been produced . Rossini has just been decorated with the Order of Merit , the highest distinction in the Italian kingdom . Count Nigra , the Italian ambassador , visited the Grand Maestro and presented to him the insignia of the Order , in the name of King Victor Emmanuel .

Galignani has the following : — " Mr . Boucicault , the author of the most popular drama performed in England for a quarter of __ century , " The Colleen Bawn , " paid a flying visit to Paris this week . The piece is about to be produced at the Ambigu , and his visit probably was to hasten the scenic preparations . The history of this piece would be curious ; ifc has been equally successful in America , and in England , Ireland , and Scotland . The sums stated to have been realised bthe writer we dare not state ; one proof

y positive of its immense profits is that he has purchased a handsome estate , with ten acres of land , in one of the most beautiful suburbs of London , with a part of the money . " The troupe of the Bouffes Parisiens are still at the Theatre du Pare , at Brussels ; the pieces they performed in during tiie past week being Orphee aux Fnfers ancl Le Pont des Soupirs .

The Week.

THE WEEK .

THE COURT . —The Queen bade adieu to the shores of Ireland early on Friday , the 30 th ult ., and crossed over to Holyhead en route lbs the Hi g hlands . Her Majesty may well be proud of the loj-al enthusiasm winch her brief visit has evoked , and we cannot but anticipate the happiest results from this personal interview between the Sovereign and her Irish subjects . Her Majesty and family are now at Balmoral . GENESAL KO _ . II _ NEWS . —Last week there was a slight decrease in the rate ot mortality in the metropolisthe number of deaths being :

, 1127—577 males and 550 females . In the same period the births of 1725 children were registered—874 boys and 851 girls . Tho mean height of the barometer was 29 . 995 inches , and the average temperature of the air 02 . 5 degrees The Mark Lane TS . vpress informs us that the bulk of the wheat crop has been safely gathered in the southern and midland counties as well as in the north . The accounts from Ireland are not so goocl , but still an improvement is taking place there , while the potatoe disease shows no indication of further progress . A

correspondent of the same journal , who has recently heen traversing a considerable portion of the northern and midland counties , gives , upon , the whole , considering the character of the season , a not unfavourable report , although bethinks " anything like an average quite out of the question . " It appears that the French demand 1 ' ov wheat from this country still continues on a considerable scale . Tho Select Committee of the House of Commons appointed to consider the question of the income tax have pronounced against MrHubbard ' s schemeThey

. . are not , indeed , prepared to propose any changes which might have the effect of unsettling the basis ofthe tax , wliich is objected to rather from its " nature and essence" than from the " particular shape which has been given to it . " They " feci that it would be unjust to make any alteration in the present incidence of the income tax , without afc the same time taking into consideration the pressure of other taxation upon the various interests of the country . " The 1861 meeting of the British Association was opened in Manchester on AVednesday . The

General Council transacted business in the afternoon , anil in the evening the President , Mr . AA'illiam Faii-bairn , delivered the inaugural address at the Free-trade Hall . No effort has been spared on tbe part of the Local Committee to render the session of 1801 a memorable feature in the history of this distinguished body ; and , looking over the programme of papers to be read and tho general arrangements for tho Congress , ive cannot doubt the complete success of their exertions . Another dreadtill railway catastrophe has taken place . It appears that , on Monday , an excursion to Keiv ou a somewhat extensive scale got for the

was up benefit of a society formed for the purpose of relieving tho servants of the North London Railway , in the event of their suffering from accidents in the discharge of their duties . A train bearing a large number of the excursionists was returning to town in the evening , and on approaching Kentish Town Station it was observed that a ballast train on the same line , some distance ahead , were being shunted on to a siding . Every effort was made to avoid the collision which seemed imminent , hut unhappily without success . The hindmost trucks were struck by

the advancing train , and a scene of indescribable horror followed . The excursion engine bounded down an embankment , dragging in its wake three carriages , while a fourth remained suspended , resting against the brickwork of the bridge . A fifth carriage was thrown off the metals , but its occupants , as well as the occupants of the fourth carriage , escapee ! the fearful fate of the unfortunate passengers who were precipitated into the road or fields below . It is impossible to state with certaintthe exact number of killed and injured of the

y persons , as many sufferers were conveyed home by their friends ; but the hospital lists give a total of thirteen dead and thirty-three wounded . Tho responsibility of this heart-rending calamity cannot as yet bo fixed upon any individual or number of individuals ; but investigation into the causes which led to so terrible an occurrence has commenced . The inquest on the sufferers by the Brighton Railway accident has not yet been brought to a conclusion , all that has been proved being that the

signalmen at the two ends of the tunnel did not understand one another , and that the one at the Brighton end lost his presence of mind owing to the trains arriving so close upon one another and scarcely knew what signals he did give . One point has been elicited , that an interval of five minutes is considered sufficient time to elapse between the starting of two trains on the same route from a station , and that even a shorter period than that is allowed at some stations to intervene . This , if established , would show a liberal allowance of time , according to the dis

time tables , between the trains that came into collision on the - disastious Sunday morning ; but it is clear that the actual interval was too short , as proved hy the accident . On AVednesday tha proceedings were" marked by a passage of arms of no slight interest and importance between the Coroner and Mr . Slight , the secretary of the company . The Coroner had required that gentleman to produce several statements concerning the accident which had been supplied b y certain ofthe ' s servantsThese reportsit appearedMr . Slight had

company . , , placed in the hands of Mr . Faithful , the company ' s solicitor , who declined to produce them . The Coroner threatened to commit Mr . Slight unless he complied with his request ; but that gentleman expressed his determination to act upon the judgment of his legal adviser . A warrant requiring Mr . Slight to produce the documents at two o'clock was served upon him , but it had no effect , and the Coroner expressed his intention to enforce his authority by other means . At a later period of the day Mr . Scott , the deputy chairman , while decliwiug to authorise the producformallbefore

tion of the documents , promised to lay the proposition y the board . A fearful crime has been committed at Birmingham . A person of independent means , named Farquhar , deliberately shot his housekeeper dead—no quarrel apparently having preceded the murder . It seems , however , that the relations between Farquhar anil the deceased were of an intimate character , and that jealousy had taken possession of the man ' s mind . The murderer , as soon as he had shot the girl , confessed his crime to a neighbour , and he was at once taken into custody .

During the past week there have been several fives in the metropolis , and on AVednesday night one did considerable damage to the premises and stock of Messrs . Longman , the eminent publishers . Mr . A ' ane Jadis , a clerk in the AA'ar Office , " on leave without pay , " has been committed for trial at Hull on a charge of forging a bill of exchange for £ 105 . He had forged the acceptance of a fellow-clerk , named Greene , and a letter was read in court , in which he confessed the crime he had committed , and implored Mr . Greene to delay his reply to a communication from a Hull solicitor , in order that some arrangement might be

made for meeting the bill . He had been " pressed and harassed to death for money , " aiicl that , he wrote , was the cause of the fatal step he had taken . Bail was accepted . A decision of some importance lias been given bj- the Stipendiary Magistrate of Manchester . A fustian finisher was summoned for au alleged breach ofthe Bleaching and Dyeworks Act , in having employed a hoy under thirteen years of age without a school certificate . It was contended for the defence that the term " finishing " was not used in the statute at all as descriptive of a separate and distinct tradebut only as a description of anything which miht be done

inci-, g dental to bleaching and dyeing . His Worship , however , decided against this pica , and imposed the lowest penalty . A case was granted for the superior courts . The gallant Italian artist , Vincent Collucci , charged with obtaining hy fraud and false pretences , £ 1900 from Miss Frederica Johnstone , was placed in the dock at Marlborough-street on Tuesdaj' , for tho completion of the case . A long discussion arose about the packet ot " love " letters , which both the writer aud receiver had agreed to value at the handsome sum of £ 2 , 000 . Tho counsel for the defence wished to

have copies of these tender documents , but the other side objected . Au offer , however , was made to let them lie examined , so that any portion of their contents deemed necessary to meet the case might thus be ascertained . The lady herself was again put in the witness-box , aud fretted considerably under the operation of cross-questioning . In the end the magistrate decided to send the matter for trial at the Central Criminal Court , and offered to accept bail in two sureties of £ 1000 each . A person , described as tho "Rev . Henry Holloway" a clergyman of the Church of England—although no such name is to be found in the Clerqij List—is in custody , on a charge of felony .

Tho prisoner ' s visits to one of tho metropolitan railway stations having excited suspicion , a trap was laid for him . On his making his appearance one evening , a lady's reticule was placed in a waiting-room , and , on its being missed soon afterwards , the carpet-bag , carried by the " Rev . " delinquent was searched , when it was found , to contain the reticule . On Monday , John Stocker , tho young man who was apprehended on suspicion of having committed the atrocious murder , at Ever-Icy , of the wife of Mr . Moncks' head gamekeeper , hy first strangling her and then cutting her throatwas brought before the istrate of that

, mag place for further examination . This horrid crime was committed on Sunday morning , the 18 th ult ., the name of the unfortunate victim being-Ann Hill , the prisoner having given the first information of the fact to the police . Subsequent inquiries lead to the belief that Stocker himself was the assassin , and to his being accordingly taken into custody . After hearing all the witnesses , the magistrates decided on sending the prisoner for trial on ¦ tho charge of wilful murder . A bricklayer ' s labourer , named AVilliam Maloney , has boon examined of murder

before Mr . Arnold , at AVestminster Police-court , on a charge - ing his wife . A policeman had gone to the house , Leg Court , Peter Street , in the afternoon , and there found the woman stabbed and dead lying on the bed , and the prisoner sitting on a chair in the room . His version of the matter is that he had just finished eating dinner when his wife snatched up the knife and ran it into her own body . It was known that the two had been quarrelling in the morning . A man , who saj-s he was about to ask a question relative to the locality , has sworn that he saw the prisoner strike the fatal blow . It is asserted that Postoffice robberies have become so frequent that the central authorities