Nature and Art, March 1, 1867.] 
MUSIC AT HOME. 
87 
nor indeed in any way fit to rank with, the works 
in which national conviction has expressed itself 
in certain ages of the world. They are lions such as 
we have seen in our menageries, but not the British 
lion. Their manes, too, are rather soft and woolly 
— one does not see those large divisions where, when 
the great beast frowns, the hair divides and seams. 
Again, the uniform coloixr of the bronze does not 
render the terror of the fangs, and we think the 
expression of the mouth somewhat grimacing. 
The muzzle, also, is perhaps a little shai'p for so 
large a work, which must necessarily be seen against 
a great background of confused objects. The eyes 
and forehead are certainly imposing, and wonder- 
fully true to nature ; the position of the ears 
forcible and yet unexaggerated, while the drawing 
of the head and neck generally is very exact. 
The finest part, however, of these statues is the 
back and loins ; this portion is really grand, and, if 
the tail had been carried a little more out, would 
be as perfect as anything modern art has produced. 
The paws are not successful ; they may be true to 
nature, but they are not right in art. They are 
not sufficiently modelled or marked, and have a 
look of being swollen. We fancy, also, that if the 
place of the claws was more sharply marked, the 
truth would have been better expressed ; for, if we 
remember rightly, there is a line of dark hair 
behind the fringe of white in which the claw- 
sheaths are set. Taking the lions, however, for 
what they are, we must grant that Sir Edwin has 
worked here as well as he ever did. They have 
all his facility, his elegance of taste and sound 
knowledge of the form to be rendered. The forms 
are not of that typical perfection which makes us 
forget the individual. There is an attempt to 
render them vast by suppression of small details ; 
but this has not been steadily kept in view, and 
the lines are rather blurred than sublime. 
MUSIC A 
N OTHINGl venture, nothing have,” is an old 
saying generally included among the wisest 
of our English saws. “ Fortune favours the bold,” 
is another, and in both of them Signor Arditi and 
the musical commonwealth, , late of Her Majesty’s 
Theatre, must have implicitly believed. Imitating 
the tactics of the old fighting Homans, they formed 
themselves into a kind of harmonic wedge, and set 
about forcing a certain theory or conviction upon 
the modern Britons, namely, that Promenade Con- 
certs are good for them at any time of the year. 
With Signor Arditi as “foremost man,” this musical 
phalanx commenced a campaign against British pre- 
judice on Saturday, January 12th, and withdrew 
from the contest on Saturday, February 16th. 
The “ Orchestral Popular Concerts,” as they were 
termed, were given on Tuesday, Thursday, and 
Saturday evenings ; and if the promoters are not 
to be congratulated on the pecuniary result of the 
enterprise, they may be, at all events, complimented 
upon their courage in taking the theatre and the re- 
sponsibilities in the face of most formidable opposi- 
tion. Promenade Concerts do not, and, probably, 
never will, form part of our Christmas holiday- time 
festivities ; and though the extensive “ welkin ” of 
Her Majesty’s frequently rang with applause, the 
equally extensive area was seldom, or never, incon- 
veniently crowded. The first concert was “popular” 
in every sense of the word. Signor Arditi “con- 
tributed ” a new polka ; a new quadrille on airs 
from Possini’s Guillaume Tell ; a new song called 
“They ask me why,” and sung by Signor Eoli; 
and the valse “L’Estasie.” The active chef 
d’orchestre scores cleverly, as his valse proves, 
writes very independently, as his song clemoD- 
strates, and, in the course of his quadrille makes 
T HOME. 
musical mincemeat of poor Bossini in the most 
approved and ruthless fashion. Of a truth the 
quadrille has somewhat altered since the early 
days of Musard and his “Echos” and “Danois”! 
Mdlle. Agliatti, a new singer, “debuted” in Lon- 
don on the 12tli, and vocalized at intervals to the 
end of the brief season. Mdlle. Agliatti at present 
carols indifferently well, but mademoiselle is young, 
and in youth there is much promise. Miss Madeleine 
Schiller, with a delicate touch despite cold hands, 
and with a heart that evidently warms to the 
“tchunes” of Hibernia, played Moscheles’ “ Pecol- 
lections of Ireland” unaccompanied by the orchestra; 
and Mr. T. Harper, the champion trumpeter of the 
civilized world, gave, “ by particular desire,” Dr. 
Arne’s “ Soldier tired.” The trumpeter mayhap 
was fatigued or the instrument refractory, or the 
crispness and certainty of execution to be expected 
and desired did not, on this momentous occasion, 
appear; nevertheless is Mr. T. Harper the trumpeter 
par excellence. Signor Arditi treated the be- 
nighted Londoners to an orchestral fantasia, “ Sou- 
venir d’une Nu.it d’Ete h Madrid,” by the Russian 
Glinka. The music of the extreme North Avas put 
upon its trial at several succeeding concerts, but 
was found wanting in interest and coherency. The 
not strikingly melodious “ Scythian ” found a 
stanch friend in Signor Arditi, who did all he 
could to make the Russian’s music understood and 
appreciated. The third “ Orchestral Popular ” 
(Jan. 17th) was entirely classical, and eminently 
acceptable to connoisseurs. Beethoven’s Pastoral 
Symphouy, a Scherzo and Finale of Schumann, 
Dr. Sterndale Bennett’s exquisite overture “ The 
Wood-Nymphs,” Mendelssohn’s violin Concerto (M. 
Sainton), and AYeber’s Concert Stuck (Miss Schiller), 
