Notes On Music And The Drama.

NOTES ON MUSIC AND THE DRAMA .

A report from Paris states that Mdlle . Battu is coming to the Royal Italian Opera this season . Surely it cannot be Mr . Gye ' s intention to bring a third prima donna of the class of Madame Miolan-Carvalho and Mdlle . Patti into his company . The desideratum , is some one to replace Madame Grisi . Rumours that arrive from various quarters announce that Signov Giuglini waits to be gracious on terms the magnificence of which would have made Rubini stare . There remains , for all this , a slight

interval betwixt the two tenors;—even assuming—a very large assumption—that Signor Giuglini is the best and most available tenor of to-day . Tamberlik is expected in Paris next week from St . Petershurgh . He will first appear at the Italian Opera in Otello . We are g lad to note some signs of enterprise on the part of the Philharmonic directors this year . At their first concert we are to hear an overture by Schumann . Mddle . Tietjens is

announced as engaged for four concerts . Amori ** - the other signs of musical awakening in Florence may he mentioned the formation and success of an instrumental quartett society . At the third meeting for this season was produced a new composition by Signor Gambini . Mr . Walter Montgomery ( says the Era ) is engaged for two years at the Princess's Theatre . The receipts of the theatres , concerts , and other places of public amusement in Paris during the last month amounted to l , 769 , 083 f ., being 170 , 168 f . more than in December , 1861 .

The Week.

THE WEEK .

THE CouBT . —Her Majesty and family still remain in the Isle of Wight . The Prince of Wales arrived at Alexandria on Saturday , His Royal Highness , whose stay in Egypt is expected to extend over a month , proceeded forward at once to Cairo . IMPERIAL PAKLIAMEXT . —In the House of Lords on Thursday 27 th ult ., Lord Derby reverted to the atrocious proclamation alleged to have been issued by the Italian authorities in a certain district of Naples . Lord Russell said he was still without any official information as to this alleged notification , and he trusted that

it might prove to be a fabrication . Our Minister at Turin had made no mention of it , and it bore a " striking resemblance " to ' a document issued in 1860 by the then government of the Two Sicilies . If , however , its authenticity should be established , it would become the duty of Her Majesty's Ministers to make a fitting representation on the subject . The noble Earl concluded with a kindly allusion to Italy ' s struggle for independence ; and expressed a hope that before long the new kingdom would be recognised by every Power in Europe The Lord Chancellor brought in a billwhich was read a first time

, , providing for certain important alterations in the lunacy law . One of those proposed changes is , that , when an inquiry into the sanifcy of a person is demanded , the case should be heard like an ordinary civil cause , before one of the Judges at Westminster , and a Jury of twelve . On Friday Earl Russell , in reply to a question from Lord Carnarvon , on the subject of the American blockade , stated that Mr . Seward had informed Lord Lyons that it was not intended to have further recourse to the " stone fleet . " The Italian proclamation , to

which Lord Derby called attention the other night , turns out to have been authentic—though not in the sense apprehended . It was issued by a subordinate functionary , without the knowledge of the superior authorities , who suppressed it as soon as they became aware of its existence , Lord Derby received this explanation with great satisfaction ; and one or two bills were advanced a stage . Monday night was wholly occupied with the various Titles to Land Bills which have been introduced by the Lord Chancellor , Lord Chelmsford , Lord Cranworthand Lord St . Leonards . On Tuesday the Bishop of

, Oxford stated his views on the " revised code , " at considerable length , The right Rev . Prelate condemned the leading features of the new scheme , and appealed to the Government not to " destroy a system which had produced enormous benefits by insisting on hasty reforms , conceived in ignorance of the real difficulties and the practical wants of a system of national education . " The minute was defended by-Lord Granville and the Duke of Argyll , while Lord Derby and the Duke of Marlborough expressed sympathy with the views of the

Bishop of Oxford . In the House of Commons on Thursday , 27 th February , the remaining votes in the Navy Estimates were passed , and Sir G . C . Lewis obtained leave to bring in a bill , authorising the issue of commissions to officers of the army , militia , and volunteer force , without the Royal sign manual . This measure is intonted to relieve Her Majesty of a great deal of most irksome labour , The Solicitor General , also obtained leave to bring in a bill dealing with the question of copyright in works of art . On Friday Mr . Milnev Gibson stated , in reply to a question , that the Government had not

entered into negotiations with any persons in this country relative to the project of opening np a line of telegraphic communication between England and America , but the Federal government had expressed a wish that such a communication should be established . The right lion , gentleman did not explain whether the views of the Washington Cabinet on this subject were likely to receive support from Her Majesty ' s Ministers . Mr . Wyld addressed a question to the Premier , with reference to the difficulties which had been thrown in the way of the effectual suppression of the slave trade by the

withdrawal of the American squadron from the West Coast of Africa . Slavers might hoist the stars and stripes , and he asked whether the President of the United States had been requested to allow Her Majesty ' s cruisers to take the usual steps for ascertaining the nationality of suspected vessels sailing under the American flag . Lord Palmerston replied that the matter did not rest with the President , but with Congress . Some conversation took place on Mr . Walpole ' s intended resolutions on the education question , and it that the

seems probable debate on the subject will be opened on the 25 th inst . On Monday Sir George Bowyer gave notice of his intention to move , for leave to bring in a bill for the " better government of the Inns of Court ; " and Sir Charles Douglas , on behalf of Sir John Trelawney , announced , that the second reading of the bill for the abolition of church rates would not be proceeded with until Easter . Mr . Layard , in reply to a question from Mr . Darby Griffith , stated that the government had directed an inquiry to be made with reference to the insults recently offered at Malta to the Italian Consul and a member of the Italian Parliamentby persons supposed to

, be Neapolitan and Sicilian refugees . The hon . gentleman , in answer to a second question from the member for Devizes , also explained the circumstances under which one of the officers of the Confederate ship of war Sumter was arrested at Taugiers . The officer , who was not Captain Semmes , but a Mr . Myers , bad landed at Tangiers from a French merchant vessel , when both he and a gentleman named Thompson , who accompanied him , were arrested by the United States Consul , who requested the assistance of Moorish troops . They had sincehoweverbeen set at libert . Lord Palmerstonin reply to Mr

, , y , . Kinnaird , confirmed the intelligence of the resignation of' Baron Ricasoli , and of the accession of Signor Ratazzi to power . After a a good deal of preliminary discussion , the House went into Committee of Supply , and Sir G . C . Lewis made his statement explanatory of the army estimates . On Tuesday the only feature of interest in the proceedings was a discussion raised by Mr . A . Mills , on the subject of colonial military expenditure . The hon . gentleman moved a resolution declaring " that colonies exercising the rights

of self-government ought to undertake the main responsibility of providing for their own internal order and security . " Mr . Baxter thought the member for Taunton did not go far enough in his measure of retrenchment , and therefore moved , as an addition to the resolution , " that such colonies ought to contribute towards the imperial military expenditure incurred in their external defence , and that , as a rule , and except in the case of great fortresses , no further charge ought to be made upon the imperial treasury for colonial fortifications . " After some conversation , the resolution as amended was agreed to , and the House was soon afterwards counted out . Ash Wednesday the House did not sit .

GENEKAL HOME NEWS . —Lord Derby , Lord Clarendon , the Lord Mayor , and Sir Charles Eastlake have been selected by Her Majesty to aid her in deciding upon the design for the national memorial of the late Prince Consort . The Lord Mayor , in announcing , that the subscription he has received in aid of the bereaved families at Hartley had veached the enormous sum of £ 20 , 000 , requested that those who might send further subscriptions to the Mansion House should state whether they desired that the money should be forwarded to the Northor sent to Wales for the relief of the poor creatures

, who have been plunged into destitution by the terrible mine explosion at Merthyr Tydvil . The annual meeting of the National Rifle Association was held at Willis ' s Rooms on Saturday , his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge in the chair . The report was adopted unanimously , and a discussion interesting to all volunteers followed on the resolutions . His Royal Highness was again elected president It iras agreed that the meeting for this year should again be held at Wimbledonand a large attendance is anticipated in

con-, sequence of the gathering at the Exhibition . After an animated discussion the decision of the council , that the deciding shots for the Queen ' s prize should be with a small-bore rifle , and not with the long Enfield , was agreed to . A deputation of hop-growers and others waited upon Mr . Gladstone on Wednesday , for the purpose of presenting memorials for the repeal of the hop duties . They made out a strong case for relief , and , in fact , some of the speakers averred that if they were not placed in a more favourable position , cultivation

must greatly diminish . Mr . Gladstone , in the present circumstances of the country , held out no immediate hope of the reduction or abolition of the duties , but said that if an opportunity of affording relief presented itself he believed that both the Gororament and Parliament would be extremely glad to grant it . -The painters and decorators at the International Exhibition building have struck , on a dispute about the hours of labour . The late severe weather has , as on former occasions , left its marks ou our eastern coast in the destruction of property and the loss of human life . Five or six vessels went ashore on the fiats of the Essex , Suffolk , and Norfolk coasts