Public Amusements

at all , inferior to the celebrated " pattern" scene in Mr . Falconer's popular melodrama The Peep o' Lay . Though there is not much scope for good acting in the present play , some of the performers acquit themselves in a creditable manner ; and Mrs . E . Falconer as J anet Campbell , a Scottish lady as true as steel to the good cause ; Mrs . Bowers as the erratic Helen , Mr . E . Phelps as Claverhouse , Mr . J . A , Shaw as Davie a " daft " piper ; and though last by no means least , Mr . J . Graham , a Cameron , who is ready to go through fire and water for his chief , deserve honourable mention .

ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA . The managers of the Royal English Opera produced on Thursday night , the 12 th inst ., the new work by Mr . Balfe , which was promised by them at tbe beginning of the season . Mr . Balfe again calls in the aid of Mr . J . V . Bridgeman as his librettist . The better class of literary workmanship evinced by this gentlemen in the libretto of the Puritan ' s Laughter was not unnoticed at the timeancl a recurrence to to the same pen was

, was at least a natural course to pursue . Mr . Bridgeman ' s manner , however , in tbe present case is better than his matter . The story of the Armourer of Nantes , tbe name of the new opera , is anything but agreeable . Victor Hugo ' s play , Marie Tudor , is the basis of tbe plot , tbe heroine , for some inscrutable reason , being changed into Anne of Brittany , and tbe other people of the drama clothed with coincident French

personalities . Nothing is gained by this that we see , for the later of the two periods of time is scarcely less picturesque than the former . Fabio , a scheming adventurer , has attained an extraordinary ascendancy over the Duchess Anne of Brittany , and the favours she has heaped upon him have awakened disaffection among the nobles of the court , while his insolence has equally inflamed the le . He bas persuadedbbribery and intimidationa

peop , y , certain Dame Bertha to give him access to her house , where an orphan , named Marie , resides , and as his designs are simply profligate , tbe poor girl becomes compromised in the eyes of her lover , Raoul , " the armourer , " to whom she has been indebted for her maintenance , and who is about to make her his wife . The suspicions of Raoul have been awakened by a Jew , who has been for many years in captivity , but who comes with proofs that he has carefully trei . sured up , that Marie is the lost child

of the late Count de Brissac , whose estates have been feloniously seized by tho unscrupulous Fabio . The Jew , for purposes of his own , intimates to Fubio tbe secret power be has over him , and Fabio stabs him for his pains , though the documents of

Marie ' s birth and inheritance fall into the hands of Raoul , who embittered by jealousy and insult , enters into a conspiracy with the Baron de Villefranche , the envoy of Louis the Eleventh , and tbe bearer of proposals of marriage to Anne of Brittany , to demolish the wicked Fabio . In tbe second act tbe Duchess has become apprised of the infidelity of Fabio , as regards his clandestine visits to Marie , and burns with a womanly indignation . She , too , engages Raoul in a compact to kill Fabio , ancl promises ,

on her ducal oath , to replace the daughter of the Count de Brissac in the estates of which she lias been deprived , but is ill prepared to find that tbe heiress is no less a person than her supposed rival , Marie . To be relieved of tho unpalatable obligation she has incurred , she raises an alarm , and proclaims , with sublime audacity , that Raoul has attempted her life , of which there is circumstantial proof in the fact of his having a dagger in his hand—the daggerhoweverwhich belonged to Fabio

, , , and which he had picked up after the murder of the Jew . Tbe act terminates with the infuriate denunciations of the Duchess , and the consignment by her of both Fabio and Raoul to the tender mercies of the headsman , the curtain falling upon a sensational tableau , in which that amiable individual appears in the background , while , as the book tells us , " an involuntary shudder runs through all present . " Between the second and the third acts the violence of Anne of Brittany has subsided ,

and she now desires to save the life of Fabio , but tbe popular feeling is so intensely set upon his destruction , that she knows not how to accomplish her object . Her only chance is to let Raoul go to the scaffold , and , if possible , beguile the mob into the belief that it is Fabio ' s head which falls into the basket , and not the armourer ' s . Marie , who is tortured with double agony at her lover's peril , and the bitter imputation under which she labours , affects to assist her in the scheme , and by the connivance of a commisserating gaoler and tbe French emissary , Fabio passes into the hands of tho headsman , the baffled Duchess being only made aware of the defeat of her project by the gun

which announces tbe fall of the axe , and the simultaneous arrival of Raoul , " to rush , " as the libretto instructs us , " into the arms of Marie 1 " Mr . Balfe ' s music is of pretty much the same sort and quality as that which he has been in the habit of producing for the last fifteen or twenty years . The parentage of the Armourer of Nantes is unmistakable , and equally so the mint in which the original ideas are worked up for the operatic market , Mr

Balfe has always had the million in his eye , and as the million have ever been his best friends , we can hardly expect him to be indifferent to their tastes now . The instrumentation throughout is bright ancl piquant , and with this the murderous gloom of the story does not interfere . The weightier situations are toned , to a certain extent , with deeper colours , and effects a- la Meyerbeer are occasionally . aimed at , but Mr . Balfe's heart is hardlthereand it is rather curious that he does noton this

y , , account , cultivate , as he formerly did , a lighter form of libretto . Long experience in the arts of construction and orchestration , have given him powers of speed in writing of which we here see the fruit as heretofore . . Certain of the isolated airs will probably be considered choice specimens of the genuine Balfian ditty . Marie's cavatina , "Ob , would that my heart were a swift-pinion'd swallow , " notwithstanding a certain lurking

dryness , is a meritorious composition ; while another song , for the same personage , " There ' s one who rear'd me , " pleases by its artless and touching simplicity . The barcarole , for a barytone voice , "A flower is beauty by fairy hands planted , " is one of the best , and will , unquestionably , be one of the most popular of the detached pieces . The cavatina , also for the same voice , " What joy to listen on the sea , " is likely , on the score of to find wide circle of admirersThe

grace and elegance , a . principal tenor is supplied with a pair of ballads , "In the desert waste of life , " and " Oh , love , thou ' rt like a reed bent low , " which hardly rise above the ordinary level ; and tbe gaoler with a bass song , the graphic refrain of which is introduced very happily more than once . One or two of the duets , as well as a quartett near the close of the opera , may also be spoken of with praise as being well planned for the voices ; and the

quaint outline of the umsonic chorus , Gaily and swiftly — clone after Verdi—cannot fail , whenever sung , to tell . The last act , like the Trovatore , contains a " Miserere , " mingled with some good melodramatic effects . The ballet music in the second act is both crisp and sparkling , and forms an exhilarating relief to the ominous "business" in which it occurs . There is no overture . The entire vocal strength of the establishment is brought to

bear upon the representation , Miss Louisa Pyne and Miss Anna 1-liles divide the principal soprano music , there being virtually two heroines , namely , Marie and tbe Duchess , between whom , however , there is nothing in common , for the one is an Alice and the other a Borgia—types which are not of the easiest fulfilment . Miss Louisa Pyne , as a matter of course , executes her share of the work with charming excellence . Her singing of tbe pretty music which the composer has bestowed upon

Marie is a strong element of salvation . More highly-finished vocalism , or a purer class of effect , it would be impossible to have , Upon Miss Anna Hiles duties are thrown which she is quite unfitted to discharge . Utterly destitute of physique , both vocal and histrionic , this young lady—at the best but a respectable Bohemian Girl—has to contend with a part which would try the powers of a Grisi or a Titiens . Mr . W . H . Harrison is the armourer Raoul , and his vocal abilities , we may be sure , are

both plentiful and heavy . Fabio , whose music is unquestionably better than his morals , is represented by Mr . Santley . This capital artist , as usual , sings throughout with the utmost taste and the best dramatic expression , and , like Miss Louisa Pyne , is a mainstay , at once most valuable and essential . Mr . W . H . Weiss , as the envoy of the French king—an odd combination of the diplomatist and the conspirator—sings with his customary intelligence and ability ; and Mr . Aynsley Cook gives due

importance to the semi-humorous gaoler , who only figures in the last act . Mr . Balfe came in for the lion ' s share of the public enthusiasm ; nor was Mr . Alfred Mellon forgotten—a compliment well desei-ved , for to his energetic ancl masterly conducting , the superb efficiency of the orchestral playing was solely to be attributed . PRINCESS'S THEATRE . On Monday a new piece , entitled The Winning Suit , by Mr . Lewis Filmore , was produced at this theatre . The chief personage of the story is a certain Spanish princess named Orelia ,