18.10.] Theatrical Matters. 199 



siderable deficiencies : Malibran, Pasta, Pisaroni, Sontag, Zuchelli, Galli, &c. 

 are among the " non inventi." De Begnis is in London, as the papers say, 

 reposing from his triumphant tours through the country, and when he shall 

 awake, ready to take as many pupils as he can possibly get. Old Garcia is 

 looking to a London engagement; but the French say that he has every quali- 

 fication for a singer "but voice;" and we say, that from what we remember 

 of the Senor, they are welcome to keep him till he " struts the stage" no more. 

 A comedian of the name of Mansard, who chose to distinguish himself as a 

 patriot, or as a rebel, by studiously adopting Bonaparte's dress on the stage, 

 and giving a fac-simile of his manner, has been brought before the Court of 

 Montauban, fined one hundred francs, and a fortnight's imprisonment. The 

 fellow deserved it, as does every fellow who takes advantage of a public situ- 

 ation to insult the good order of the state. As to the tyranny of the Bourbons 

 on such occasions, we can remember the keenness of the Bonaparte police on 

 similar subjects. The actor who dared to represent the Duke d'Eughien would 

 have been guillotined. 



NOTES OF THE MONTH ON AFFAIRS IN GENERAL. 



INDIA is almost too far off for us to trouble our cerebellums about it. 

 With seventy- five per cent, taxes to pay, who can reproach us with 

 inhumanity for forgetting the troubles of blacks and browns ten thousand 

 miles out of sight ? Yet India is a curious instance of that universal 

 consent which all corners of this best governed of all enopires have to be 

 in trouble at this present time. The old happiness of making both ends 

 meet, is likely to be a good deal discoloured, by this kind of conjunc- 

 tion. The letters from our scorching brethren in the great peninsula are 

 expressive. 



<e DUM DUM, July 21. " Really the state of things is such that one 

 hardly knows how to begin, and what the result of all their wise 

 proceedings will be, God only knows. If all rumours be true, we are 

 all likely soon to see old England, that is, those who have the luck to 

 get out of the country. The plot is thickening fast, and matters must 

 soon come to a crisis. A late order abolished several provincial battalions, 

 and three (6th, 7th, and 8th) corps of irregular cavalry. The 6th have 

 (they say) refused to disband, as well as the Dinagepore battalion, who 

 not only refuse to lay down their arms, but have got the judge in con- 

 finement, and possession of the treasury chest. This will run like 

 wild-fire through the country, and who is to put it out ? In short, Lord 

 Bentinck is going on like a blind man, without knowing what he is 

 about. The state of disgust and dissatisfaction throughout the country 

 exceeds any thing you ever witnessed." 



The DUM DUM, at the top of this letter, would furnish a "diner-out" 

 with a pun. But if the writer could have dated his dispatch from the 

 city of the DEAF or the BLIND, we might discover in it that he had : a 

 good deal more to say, and also that he was confoundedly afraid to say 

 it. Well ! India has of course, its full title to take a share in the boue- 

 versemens, (for no English word has efficacy for the idea,) which thee 

 felicity of enjoying the present illustrious ministers may bring on, before 

 the next half-dozen years, or perhaps before the sixth part of the 

 time. 



Let us look at the elements which we hope may not be mixed in this 

 Indian chaos. A breaking up of the charter ; which nominally preserved, 

 and radically perverted, would, before a year was out, be so many skins of 



