Public Amusements.

PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS .

ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA . The season of 1862 opened last evening with the performance of Rossini ' s " Guglielmo Tell , " before a crowded and brilliant audience . The cast is precisely the same as when the opeia was ^ iven last season . It is therefore needless now to enter into detailed criticism . All the principal artists were in excellent voiceand layed and sang with a vigour ancl effect thoroughl

, p y worthy of their fame . Signor Tambeilik was as nobly impassioned , M . Faure as impressively heroic , and Madame Miolan Carvalho as graceful ancl sympathetic as ever , and the exeeutjpn of the music by each merited the highest praise . Madame Rudersdorff , Herr Formes , ancl Signor and Madame Tagliafico disp layed their accustomed excellence , ancl the band ancl the choruses were perfection . In a wordthe opera was rendered . in

, a style which would induce us to enhance , rather than to qualify , the hearty commendations bestowed upon its performance last season . All the resources of scenic effect have been liberally drawn upon in placing it before the public ; there has never been seen upon the stage anything more exquisitely picturesque than Mr . AVilliam Beverley ' s scene for the second act , or anything more excitingly dramatic than the meeting of the

conspirators at its close , which the practised skill of Mr . A . Harris has fashioned into a moving tableau replete with animation , and superbly impressive in its climax . Mr . Gye has done most wisely in inaugurating his new campaign by reviving one of tho p leasantest reminiscences of last season , which at the same time affords the most abundant evidence of his managerial enterprise , the perfection of his taste , ancl the richness of the facilities at

his command for the representation of great lyric works in a manner altogether faultless . All the old favourites recieved a cordial welcome on their entrance , and upon Mr . Costa was bestowed an especially enthusiastic greeting .

THE GALLERY OF ILLUSTRATION . ¦ Out of evil sometimes cometh good . Accordingly we find that out of the persecutions of so-called entertainments at some of the music halls in which two persons were engaged by the theatrical managers , such popular entertainers of the public as Mr . and Mrs . . German Reed have been enabled to extract a hint which has not been thrown away . Seeing that their duologues ancl triologueswe suppose we must say since this

, gifted couple were joined by Mr . John Parry , were likely to be attacked by the theatrical managers—as no doubt they would-have been after the decision of the magistrates on the Canterbury "Enchanted Hash "—they at once obtained a theatrical licence from the Lord Chamberlain , under which they have since successfully proceeded with their popular " Card Basket" and the " Rival Musicians" both good in their

, , way , and introducing a great variety of characters , but wanting in the one desideratum , a sustained plot . AA ith their license , however , it was seen they could proceed a step further , and on Monday was produced as neat a little drama as was ever placed before an audience under the title of " The Family Legend , " written by Mr . Tom Taylor , in which he transports the audience in imagination from the busy

streets of London to the most romantic regions of North AVales , ancl affords to the actors an opportunity of displaying their talents in a series of new characters , chiefly Cambrian , to which they do full justice . Thus Mrs . German Reed comes out first as Miss Grace Price , " a Welsh nightingale , with a good many airs of other people , and no end of graces of her own ; " subsequently appears as Miss Mountjoye , an aspiring young lady , who has a mania for scaling mountainsand finallassumes the character

; y of a peasant girl with a huge hat and an unpronounceable name , who goes about recounting mysterious legends , and singing wild snatches of mountain melodies . Mrs . German Reed ' s nationality , however , is not restricted to West Britain . In this play , as in most ^ others in which she performs , she proves herself a citizen of the world , and her impersonation of Babbette , an old French nurse , who is perpetually reverting in

memory to the days of her youth and to the pranks ancl gambols in which she then indulged , is ono of the artist ' s best efforts . Pilkington , a pompous British butler , whose dignity is constantly at war with his duty , finds an amusing representative in Mr . German Reed , who soon passes into a variet y of other characters , the most remarkable being liarney Maguire , an Irish boatman , who , as a matter of course 15 etei'nall y making " bulls ; " aud Frank Price , an erratic genius '

who has been round the world in search of strange adventures , and who has an alarming propensity to walk in his sleep . Mr . John Parry shares his comic individuality among three personages—Colonel Price , a half-pay officer with a penchant for the fine arts ; Mr . AVilloughby Warble , a moon-struck poet , who talks outrageous nonsense ; and Pry-did Ap ( something which cannot be spelt ) a blind Welsh harperwell skilled in the

min-, , strelsy ofhis native land . There is ' a " sensation scene , " in which the chief person is a sheeted ghost , who roams about at night with a fire-shovel in his hand ; ancl in this scene Mr . German Reed achieves a transformation of character ' with such celerity of motion as completely to take the audience by surprise . The dialogue is smart and amusing , and the music has been exceedingly well chosen . There are also three new songs by Mr .

German Reed , of each of which we can conscientiously speak with warm praise . Of Mrs . German Reed's impersonations , the best was decidedly Babette , which was perfectly marvellous in its reality ; but she was also very excellent as Miss Mountjoye , ancl all her other characters were well clone . Mr . German Reed shone especially as Pilkington , but was also excellent as Mr . Fermenty Fussell , and his other characters . A finer piece of acting than the Mr . WilloughbWarble of Mr . John Parry it

y has rarely been our good fortune to witness . It was in every respect a masterpiece , ancl elicited shouts of laughter and applause . Some very pretty scenery has heen painted for this entertainment by Messrs . Grieve and Telbin . The views of Llanberris Lake and Snowdon , sunset—of the Tower of Dolbarden and Llanberris Lake after a snow-storm—and of Dinasy-coed early in the morningwith the mountains all covered

, with snow , are scenic pictures as brilliant and beautiful as any that even the pencils of these gifted artists have produced . If the " Family Legend" does not have a long and distinguished run , we shall be much disappointed , for we know of no entertainment which more richly deserves it .

MRS . MACREADY'S ENTERTAINMENTS . - Mrs . Macready , a lady of whom report speaks highly as a gifted elocutionist , has been giving a series of readings , or rather recitations , from some of our best authors , at AVillis ' s Rooms , with , we hear , good effect ; but we have as yet been unable to avail ourselves of an opportunity of being present , as , though we have been favoured with invitations , in consequence of thenbeing forwarded on the clay the entertainment is to take place , they rarely reach the Editor's hands until the morning after .

CRYSTAL PALACE . A decision was arrived at on Tuesday last by the Committee of the House of Commons sitting on the Railway Bills of Group 1 , which is likely to exercise a most beneficial effect on the future prospects of the Crystal Palace . The Chatham and Dover Railway Company have this , session promoted a line starting from the junction of their Metropolitan and Victoria

lines at Brixton , and proceeding through Peckham , Forest Hill , and Sydenham , up to the road front of the Crystal Palace , and the Committee declared , that , subject to the Brighton Company constructing a portion of the line , over which the other Company is to have ample running powers , the Bill should pass . This important measure will give access to the Palace on a sufficiently high level to avoid the inconvenience caused bthe

y present numeious stairs , and as the new station—which is intended to bo placed in Dulwich AVood , immediately opposite the Palace—will have platforms of nearly 1 , 000 feet in length , with several wide covered lateral approaches to the level of the lower floor of the building , it is obvious great public convenience will result from the passing of this additional means of access to the Palace .

As this new line will also open np the Metropolitan ( Underground ) Railway by the intended bridge at Blaekfriars , the Northern railways , the Metropolitan stations in Farringdonstreet ancl in the New-road , will thus be in direct communication with the Palace . The chain of communication with the North London Railway by Kensington and AA andsworth is also fast approaching comjiletionancl thus it is evident thatere longthe great

deside-, , , ratum of ready and convenient railway access to the Crystal Palace will be attained . At the present moment considerable works are being carried out at the Palace . The floors of the building in the tropical and southern ends have been replaced with brick walls and piers round each flower-bed in place of the original wooden supports . A new wide triple staircase has heen erected , leading