334 Notes of the Month on M ABCH, 



good manager of his theatre. But heavy as his immediate pecuniary 

 suffering is, there are hopes that it may be in some degree compensated. 

 The Morning Post says 



t{ We are glad to find that no doubt is entertained but that the English 

 Opera House will rise, phoenix-like, from its ashes, in time to open, as origi- 

 nally intended, on the 1st of July. The business is in Mr. Beazley's hands, 

 who, arduous as the task may be, pledges himself, we understand, for its 

 accomplishment. It is confidently anticipated, that the present opportunity 

 will be taken to make the new street direct from Waterloo-bridge northward, 

 which will afford room for a handsome frontage to the new theatre. Govern- 

 ment, we hear, is favourable to the plan, and a noble lord on the other side 

 has signified that no opposition will be offered to it by certain noble pro- 

 prietors, whose interest, it was presumed on a former occasion, would have 

 been compromised in the selection of that line of road." 



The Noble Lord on the opposite side is Lord Exeter. The opening 

 of a new street, which would lead to the new British Museum, would 

 be of important advantage to the whole line of building from the Strand. 

 If it were to pass through the Seven Dials, it would render to that 

 quarter of the town the same service which Regent-street rendered to 

 the squalid district in the rear of St. James's-square, and convert a sink 

 of abomination and insalubrity into decency and cleanliness. We hope 

 that Lord Lowther will look to this, and entitle himself to the epitaph 

 of Augustus, for his exploits in brick " Luteam invenit, lateritiam 

 reliquit." 



We are glad to believe that the destruction of the English Opera-house 

 will not ruin Arnold, as was at first stated. In addition to the theatre, 

 he had nearly thirty houses in the neighbourhood, of which those 

 destroyed were chiefly insured. Mrs. Arnold has also, we understand, 

 a good income in her own right. Arnold's loss by the fire is 66,000/. 

 His friends propose calling a meeting early in the week, at which the 

 Duke of Sussex will preside, to consider what steps, under all the cir- 

 cumstances, ought to be taken with respect to rebuilding the theatre. 



The inferiority of the sons of celebrated men to their fathers, has been 

 often remarked, and the comparative obscurity of the sons of Alexander, 

 Cicero, Napoleon, Sheridan, Burke, and other leaders of their times, 

 certainly argues little for the theory of hereditary genius. But it would 

 seem that the degree of talent is much influenced by the mother ; for it 

 is a curious fact, that where the mother has been remarkable for intel- 

 ligence, the son has seldom failed of the possession of ability, even 

 where the father was undistinguished. We give some of the ex- 

 amples : 



Lord Bacon. His mother was daughter to Sir Anthony Cooke, she 

 was skilled in many languages, and translated and wrote several works, 

 which displayed learning, acuteness, and taste. Hume the historian, 

 mentions his mother, daughter of Sir D. Falconer, President of the Col- 

 lege of Justice, as a woman of " singular merit," and who, although in 

 the prime of life, devoted herself entirely to his education. Sheridan. 

 Mrs. Frances Sheridan was a woman of considerable abilities. It was 

 writing a pamphlet in his defence, that first introduced her to Mr. Sheri- 

 dan, afterwards her husband. She also wrote a novel highly praised by 

 Johnson. Schiller; His mother was an amiable woman she had a 

 strong relish for the beauties of nature, and was passionately fond of 

 music and poetry. Schiller was her favourite child. Goethe thus 



