Literary Extracts.

pecting to reach London Bridge by six o ' clock . For the first two hours of the voyage , we six travellers , tAvo women and four of the nobler sex ( why is it so denominated ?) , might have reasonably looked for a quick passage . About four o ' clock , however , our hopes Avere dashed , for our little ark entered into a dense fog , very unusual at the season ; Avhereupon the good blue-jacket

in charge thought it wisest to lay-to , and Avait for clearer Aveather . lb -wouldn't come . If the sun peeped out at all , it was only to aggravate the disappointment , when its deep-rod face Atas eclipsed again in the mist To all our enquiries of " Cant you go on ? " Master Captain curtly ansAvered , " Do you Avish me to scuttle my boat ? " About six o ' clock the fog banks began to dissolve , the clouds were breaking , and Ave moved once more . —The Old City , its Highways and Byways .

Notes On Music And The Drama.

NOTES ON MUSIC AND THE DRAMA .

Our foreign friends are talking of an engagement Avith the Pabti Avhich will transcend her prior one Avibh managers . It is an engagement bo be married to a Russian , Avho has about £ 360 , 000 a-year . Mr . Byron ' s new burlesque , with Avhich Miss Wilton will open tho theatre in Tottenham Sbveeb , Tottenham Court Road , on Saturday week , is entitled " La

Sonnambula ; or , the Supper , the Sleeper , and the Merry Swiss B 03 ' . " A musical festival of German singers is to take place at Dresden in tho course of the summer . Not fewer than 16 , 600 are asserted to be already announced , of whom 800 will come from Saxony and 3 , 500 from Prussia . It is thought that 24 , 000 in all will atbend .

Miss Louisa Pyne has given up her intended trip to America , in consequence of the illness of her fabher . The Star Flanucr remarks of her bhat she is nob only the best of English singers , bub one of the best of English-Avomen .

It is remarked that the Times has never published any notice of Mr . Boucicault ' s neAV drama " Arrah-na-Pogue " at the Princess ' s . The critic , it is said , wrote a notice , but bho edibor refused bo inserb it , owing bo some personal pique at the author of the play . The Orchestra says that Mr . Sothern ' s new seusation song in the " Woman in Mauve , " Avhich is advertised

Avith Mr . Musgrave as the composer , is identically the same as an air called " La chanb la fou bragique , " composed by Mr . Chantagne , a French musician , for a Palais Royal burlesque , " Les Diables Roses , " which Mdme . Schneider sang for some hundreds of nights , till everybody in Paris kneAV it by hearb . The revival of Milton ' s " Comus " is to bo the great

event at Drury Lane on Easber Monday . It Avas played on the same boards in 1842 , Avith Miss P . Horton as bhe attendanb spirit ; Mr . Macready as Comus ,- Mr . James Anderson as the Elder Brother ; Miss Fortescue as the Younger Brother ; Miss Helen Faucit as the lady , - and Miss Romer as Sabrina . The copyright forEngland of Meyerbeer ' s posthumous

opera , " L'Africaine , " has been purchased by Messrs . Chappell and Boosey for £ 4 , 000 . Dean Milman ' s " Fazio" is being played at Sadler ' s Wells Theatre , with Miss Marriott as Bianoa and Mr . George Melville as Fazio . Mr . Sothern , it is said , is going to appear at the Haymarket in a further development of " Dundreary , " in

the shape of " Dundreary a Father . " The Gazette Musicale states that , in addition to the other singers announced by Mr . Gyo for the coming season , Madame Yanderheuvel-Duprez is engaged . Tho rebuilding of the Surrey Theatre has commenced . It is hoped that the work may be finished by Michaelmas next .

Public Amusements.

PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS .

ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA " Le Prophete" Avas given here on Tuesday evening for tho first time this season , and the performance Avas fully Avorthy of this , tho first lyric theatre- in the Avorld . Signor Mario , who Avas in magnificent voice and sang superbly , resumed the character of John of Leyden , of

AvMch he was the original representative in England ; Madlle . Fillipine de Eelsburg made her debut as Fides Avith unqualified and abundantly merited success . The curtain did not fall on the last act until after midnight .

OLYMPIC . Mr . Tom Taylor ' s excellent but too much draAvn out comedy , " Settling Day , " has been curtailed , and the piece is now played in three acts . This compression has been effected by excising the second act altogether and condensing the fourth and fifth acts into one , and the change is vastly for the better . The

story thus compacted never flags in interest , and the torso and sparkling dialogue has a far better chance of being heard to advantage now that it is freed from tho encumbrance of superfluous realistic elaboration of incident . Of the admirable acting of this comedy it Avill suffice to say that Miss Kate Terry , Miss Lydia Foote , Mrs . Leigh Murray , Mr . Horace Wigan , Mr . H . Neville , and the other members of the company Avho are engaged in its representation , abundantly deserve the praise which they earned Avhen it Avas first performed .

The Week.

THE WEEK .

THE COURT . —Tho Queen held a Court again on Thursday , the 6 th inst . Her Majesty was accompanied by the Prince and Princess of Wales and other members of the Royal family , and the Court was attended by members of both Houses of Parliament and other persons in high rank and position in the country . The next Drawing Room , which is

fixed for the 18 th of May , will be held , not by the Princess of Wales , but by the Princess Helena . The Prince of Wales will hold a levee on the 20 th of the same month . IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT . —In the HOUSE or LORDS on Thursday , the 6 th inst ., several Bills were advanced a stage , including the Private Bills , Costs Bill , Avhich was read a third time

and passed . On Friday the royal assent was given by commission to a number of Bills . —A short conversation took place upon the Bhootan expedition , in the course of Avhich Lord Ellenborough strongly censured the conduct of the authorities in India . Lord Dufferin , the Under Secretary for India , stated in reply to some remarks from Lord Lyveden , that there

was no intention to annex Bhootan ; all that Avas intended was what our French neighbours would call a rectification of the frontier . Shortly after six o ' clock their Lordships adjourned until the 27 th April . In the HOUSE OE COMJIONS on Thursday , the 6 th inst ., Lord Spencer ' s Bill for the enclosure of Wimbledon Common was read a second time , after some

opposition , which was led by Air . Cox . —Lord Elcho moved an address for copy of papers and extracts of correspondence relative to the proposed Canadian defences and the share of the total cost which is to bo respectively borne by Canada and the United Kingdom . Tho motion , which was resisted by the Government , gave rise to another long debate on this question ,

in the course of which Major Anson stated that there was a " startling " unanimity among the officers who were returning from Canada as to the impossibility of defending the Canadian provinces . Sir John Pakington also asserted that the docu-