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AGRICULTURE. -I

HINTS UPON GAHDBmNQ. -----

[No title]

SPORTS AND PASTIMES..I

THE DRAMATIC COLLEGE ANRVAL…

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THE DRAMATIC COLLEGE ANRVAL FETE AND FAIR. There are three excellent reasons why this now firmly-established festive anniversary at tach ennual recurrence increases in attraction, in pecuniary success, and in the numbers and enjoyment of its participants. In the first place, its object is most admirable; in the second, it serves as a famous holiday for the actora themselves, who enjoy it quite as much as the visitors and in the third, th- ments become more varied, the fun more hilarious, and the crowding and pleasant bustling mors exciting every year. On Saturday last the opening of the Fair took place under the "happiest anspioos "-na.mely, those of the efficient and dignified herald, Mr. Robert Romer. The day was beautiful, being clear and bright, without being too warm, and the palace and grounds seemed as if dressed in their best for this particular and important occasion. The crowd streamed onwards through winding paths bordered with the brightest and gayest of flowers, or across lawns of velvety green, towards the grand entrance of the palace, whither they were invited by the noisiest and the most discordant of musical invitations. Prominent amongst the attractions of the Jete is the exact counterfeit presentment of Richardson's travel- ling theatre, which Mr. Nelson Lee annually sets up at the corner of the transept. There is a picture by an eminent hand in a shop window in the Strand of Richardson's booth in its glory, with Edmund Kean dressed as Harlequin in the front, and striking right and left with his sword of lath. Any one who has seen that picture will at once recognise the fidelity with which LJr. Lee has preserved all the Richardson touches and costumes and "properties." And with good reason, for if we are not mistaken he was himself the immediate successor of Richardson, and for a long time sustained the dying glories of the movable theatres. There is the old clown-none of your modern Shakespearian jesters," but a real fully plastered, properly coloured, decidedly white and red clown, who tumbles conscientiously, properly perse- cutes pantaloon, and invites the gaping crowd to "Be in time," with the old-fashioned but never-failing inducements. Richardson was always strong ia his band and his ballet, and these Mr. Lee has not for- gotten. His musicians make more noise than all the other bands in the fair put together, and his ballet on the platform, which is given for nothing, never ceases, from morn "till dewy eve." The drama, too—" of thrilling interest "—is Richardson all over. There were two, which were performed alternately on Saturday namely, The Mysterious Monk, and The White W'dnsss, one of which we "did" coBSciGHtiously from bsgiDiiipg to end, although we should not like to be too positive as ta which. It was intensely interesting, and the ex- citement never flagged for a moment. The action was rapid, the "situations" were striking, the dialogue at once terse, vigorous, and colloquial. Next to, perhaps rivalling, the theatre, was Pro- fessor Toole's Chinese Exhibition, which attracted crowds of visitors and excited shouts of laughter. Is is quite sufficient to say that the subject of the professor's lecture was China, and his main illustration the Giant Chang, personated by Paul Bedford. To indicate the style of the enter- tainment, Mr. Bedford was most carefully costumed, and made up as ft mandarin of much dignity. The correctness of his Pekin accent, in speaking the language of his whilom native land, was much admired of by the audience. The lecture of the professor was most admirably delivered, and his liberality in the way of presents-of plate and other articles of vertu-wes highly appreciated by the fairer portion of his audi- ence. When the crowd poured out of the Toolian Pagoda they almost astquickly poured into "The Hall of Momus," where all the talent of all the music halls in London might be enjoyed in a concentrated form We were particularly struck with the German song of Mr. Macarthy, and the skilful piano accompaniment of Mr. Wilson, both of whom received warm and general applause. Bat, so far, we have not got beyond "the fun of the fair," and have yet to describe its most im- portant part, that is to say, its commerce, presided over by all the beauty and- grace and talent of our metropolitan theatres. The anxiety of the public to see the ladies of the drama by daylight approaches to a phrensy, and exercises a most beneficial influence on Drices at the fancy fair. Mrs. Stirling, with a keen eye to business, had opened a shop in a moat eligible position," and must have been completely cleared off before the evening. Her stall was always surrounded bv a crowd, and her eloquence never failed in securing purchasers, and in reconciling them to the scarcity of change. At the opposite corner Miss Lydia Thompson opened with great spirit in the morning, and for some time did a famous trade, but towards the afternoon the prin- cipal" having disappeared, and her place having been filled by another less fair," tha crowd I were awfully disappomtedj and the interests of the charity suffered accordingly. The public should not be taught to believe that attractive names may appear in the bills but their possessors be absent from the fair, as there can be 1:0 doubt but that the wish to see our popular actresses by daylight is, after all, the great attraction of this annual festival. The younger ladies should follow the laudable examples set by Mrs. Stir- ling and Mrs. Mellon, neither of whom left her post for a moment, but worked for the charity as if it was a matter of special pecuniary benefit to herself. Towards fear o'clock in the afternoon the crowd became tremendous, the fan fast and furious, and the trade the very madness of competition. It was a carnival without the masks, a, saturnalia without the sin. The people moved about in solid masses, the throng being too dense to permit of individual circula- tion the gongs roared, the brass brayed, and the "touters" at the diiferent booths shouted their loudest. Everyone looked happy, and none more so than Mr. Webster, the Master of the Dramatic Col- lege, who evidently calculated on a liberal addition to its funds as the result of this year's fete and fair.

DROWNED IN A DRAIN.

EXTRAORDINARY ROBBERY BY A…

EXECUTION OF TWENTY-ONE SERGEANTS.…

THE NEW MINISTRY.

FACTS AID FACETIAE, -+--