Notes On Music And The Drama.

NOTES ON MUSIC AND THE DRAMA .

Miss Louisa Pyne ancl Mr . Harrison open the Royal English Opera on the 21 st of October , with a new opera by Mr . Howard Glover , entitled "Ruy Bias- " Miss Louisa Keeley will secede next season from the Olympic company . The Adelphi re-opened on Monday with the undying " Colleen Bawn , " but Mr . Boucicault ' s next card , " The Octoroon , " with its slave trade " sensation" hits , is in rehearsal .

It is uncertain , says the Theatrical Lounger when Drury-lane will open ; some say with Mr . Brooke in tragedy , on the 10 th of October , but Mr . Brooke is reported to be ill in Dublin , and moreover , to have quarrelled with the Drury-lane proprietor . Mr . ancl Mrs . Kean are engaged in February , and the pantomime is sure to float the great " impresario" over the winter .

The Princess ' s is about to re-open with a new comedy by Mr . John Brougham ( who makes his first appearance at this theatre ) called " Playing with Fire . " " Othello , " with Mr . Feebler as the Moor , will be one of the earliest novelties . Madlle . Di Rhona , the celebrated and fascinating danseuse , has , we ( Sunday Times ) understand , taken the Soho Theatre , which is

undergoing extensive alterations and re-decorations , in anticipation of a brilliant season under her management-. By order of the Minister of State , the fauteuille d'orcheslre , in the Theatre Italien , are to be reserved for the male sex exclusively . A letter from Biarritz states that at one of the Emperor's evening parties lately , a young tragedienne ( 12 years of age ) was heard ,

whose precocious talent is considered by her friends to promise another Rachel . The Minister of State was so much struck with the ability which she displayed , thafc he has admitted her to the Conservatoire at Paris , with a pension of lOOf . a month .

The director of the Imperial Theatre at Sfc . Petersburg has just left Paris for that capital . He lias added Madame Gassier to his list of engagements for the season . The Academy of Music of Vienna has adopted the normal diapason of Paris . The orchestra of the Court Theatre is also about to take the same step .

M . Offenbach , after a highly successful tour with ills troupe through Austria , Hungary , Prussia , and Belgium , has re-opened the Bouffes Parisiens . The operas chosen for the occasion were " La Chanson do Fortunio , " an operetta in one act by MM . Saint Remy ancl Offenbach , with the whimsical title , " M . Chonfleury restera chez lui le . . . /' and "Los E . mx d'Knis , " by Delibes .

The Paris papers contain the following announcement : — " By special authorisation , an extraordinary performance will take place at the Hippodrome , on Thursday next , for the benefit of Madame Saqui , now 83 years of age . This justly celebrated lady , who for 50 years was the admiration of Europe , will dance on the tight rope . "

ELECTRIC POSTAGE . —AVhen the Post Oflice closed its account with the public revenue in the year 1837—previous to the first alteration of the postage to 4 d ., as preliminary to the adoption of a general rate of a penny—the number of letters transmitted , at varying rates of 6 d \ , 9 d ., ancl Is . each , was more than 1 , 000 , 000 weekly . This has been regarded as furnishing a fair basis for calculating what may be clone by an uniform rate of message by telegraph at One Shilling ; and the United Kingdom Electric

Telegraph Company are about to carry out this system upon their lines , which are fast spreading throughout the country northwards , and will , within a few days , be opened as far as Manchester and Liverpool , for messages , at one uniform rate of a Shilling each .

The Week.

THE WEEK .

Tim COURT . —Her Majesty , the Prince Consort and other Members of the Royal Family are still at Balmoral . On Friday the 20 th , his Royal Highess Prince Alfred , who is to sail for America by the Cunard steamer from Liverpool , arrived in that town at an early hour , and in the forenoon was waited upon hy the Mayor , under whoso conduct , and accompanied by Major Cowell , ho was

taken to see the "lions . " These included the Conway training ship , Akbar reformatory hulk , Messrs . Ilorsfall ' s ironworks—where His Royal Highness , to his astonishment , was shown a gun constructed to throw a 700 ih . shot—the Il ' uskisson and Sandon Docks , the Great Britain steamship , and of coarse , St . George ' s Hall . The town was decorated with ( lags , and every place where a glimpse

of the royal sailor could he expected was crowded . The weather , too , was all thafc could be desired ; in fact , as the penny-a-liners have it , regular Queen ' s weather . GENERAL HOME NEWS . —The Registrar General reports the London mortality for the week to be 1126 , which is as nearly as possible an average of the last ten years . 'The births were 1830 , which is

about 200 above the average of the preceding ten years . An influential deputation having waited on the Lord Mayor to urge upon him the desirability of his filling the oflice for another year . His Lordship expressed his willingness to accept the honour if it be awarded to him . A very interesting meeting has been held at Manchester , for the purpose of enabling the Hon . Samuel Laing ,

financial secretary of India , to confer with the three associations principally interested in tho prosperity and trade of India , the Chamber of Commerce , the Cotton Supply Association , and the Manchester Cotton Company . After addresses from these three bodies had been presented to the hon . gentleman , he addressed the meeting at great length . He reviewed the state of financial affairs

in India at the time when he first went out , and dwelt on the great importance of reducing public expenditure in that part of our empire . He thought that taxation had reached its limit , and that therefore , the only fund available for public works was to be found in the savings which could be effected . The hon . gentleman dwelt witli emphasis on the necessity of governing India on the spot ,.

aud not from home . Noticing the complaints against the existing land tenure in many parts of India , he exrjressed an opinion that the want of rapid communication with groat centres , was a more effectual barrier to the settlement of Europeans in the country . To promote the growth of cotton , Mr . Laing thought capital advanced to the growers was especially necessary ; and to enable this to be done with safety , a proper law of contracts was essential . Ho described what had been enacted on this questionandafter

, , alluding to an early prospect of the reduction of important dutieson cotton , wound up by appealing to his hearers to take , with him a view of these matters higher than their merely commercial aspect .. The Gloucestershire county rifle meeting was held at Gloucester during last week , and that interesting competition was followed , and brought to a close by a banquet , at which the Earl of Ellenborough was present . It fell to his Lordship's lot to propose" The Volunteers , " and he improved the occasion by

addressinghimself in tones of advice and warning to the volunteer bod y at large . He trusted that , as the force of volunteers existed now unimpaired , so it would continue , and that the people who had initiated the system , would maintain it with that perseverancewhich is the first of military virtues . "Without that perseverance in its support , " said his Lordship , if there be any lukewarmness or falling back , depend upon it we shall make things worse than they were when that force was established , and bring on apace the

very evils it was intended to avert . " Lord Eilenborough then , proceeded to dwell on the importance of discipline , without which ,, no amount of accuracy in shooting , no courage or enthusiasm in in the field , is of much avail . His Lordship concluded h y a spirited appeal to both officers and mon , to persevere in the course they had adopted , and to perfect themselves in the duties of a military life , which he regarded as the first of all professions . A new minute of Council on Education has excited the opposition of schoolmasters hout the

throug country . An aggregate meeting of the metropolitan teachers was held on Saturday at the AVhittington Club , when churchmen and dissenters were , for once , of one mind in holding that , for the sake of a paltry saving , Mr . Lowe