ENTERTAINMENTS.

Evening Star, Issue 3771, 25 March 1875, Page 2

ENTERTAINMENTS.

THE HIBEENICON Appears to have a new lease of public favor, for last evening the Queen’s was again filled with an audience which was lavish in its applause. . THE PRINCESS THEATRE. There was again a capital attendance parti* cularly downstairs, at this place of amusement last evening, and we were pleased to note an improvement in the language of the comedietta. The dancing of the Sisters Duvalli was. as usual, loudly applauded. Their engagement is fast drawing to a close, and on Saturday they give place to Miss May Howard, the American actress. THE RET. 0. CLARE’S LECTURE*. As Miss Christian arrived at the Port too late to give her promised assistance to the Rev. Charles Clark in his proposed lecture on Dickens’s “ Christmas Carol,” it became necessary to change the programme, and accordingly Mr Clark substituted an admirable sketch of the life and character of Oliver Goldsmith. We do not think one of the very large audience who assembled in the Temperance Hall to hear bim regretted the change. Mr Clark had an interesting theme. His text was the story of a genius, whose character is ably summed up in a short biographical sketch in the “Penny Cyclopaedia, the writer of which says of Goldsmith:—

He was weakness itself. Hot without amiable dispositions, for indeed few men have possessed more benevolence or stronger family affections, but he wanted the strength of purpose which can alone regulate them for good. At no period of his life did he resolutely pursue an object. Idle at the university, unwilling to settle down to any profession, and when he had made his choice lazy and apathetic in its pursuit, heat last became an author, merely because authorship was necessary for subsistence, and wrote only os often and as much as the pressure of his wants required. He was ever ready to yield to the impulse of the moment, and a piteous tale would so work upon his feelings, that for the relief of an applicant he often not only gave his all, but involved himself in debt. His weakness also assumed, in a remarkable degree, the form of vanity.

Each of these features in Goldsmith’s character was ably and prominently brought out in Mr Clark’s graphic sketch, as well as the influence of ' his natural bent And training upon his writings. Goldsmith’s personal career forms a striking antithesis to that of Dickens, although in the end and purpose of their writings, in their purity of sentiment and sympathy with humanity there is much in common. Goldsmith was impulsive, thoughtless, and improvident. Experience of poverty and its attendant evils proved no Mentor to him. The turn of fortune in his favor only supplied him with means for dashing into folly. The witty epitaph written by himself on ths real or supposed Ned Pardon might well he placed as a warning above the Latin eulogistic inaciption composed by Dr Johnson in memory of him : Here lies poor Ned Pardon, from misery free, Who long was a bookseller's hack; He led such a damnable life in this world I think he’d ne’er wish to come back. Dickens, on the other hand, was caution and prudence embodied—an evidence that high and lofty qualities of heart and mind may co-exist with genius of the highest order. While Goldsmith—

wrote like an angel and talked like poor Poll, Dickens both in his writings and social intercourse commanded universal respect; Goldsmith, though aided by ihe jiterati of the day, and with splendid opportunities for success, died insolvent; while Dickens, through steadiness of purpose, and persistent industry, worked out for himself a splendid career and a handsome fortune. It is a good thought of Mr Clark to draw attention to these divergent lives, _ and to trace the causes that led to the opposite results. Lectures of this nl«uw are sermons of the highest type. One amusing personal reference cropped out when commenting on Goldsmith’s propensity for gambling. Mr Clark alluded to an absurd charge brought against himself by detractors in Melbourne of gambling, and to the amusing apology in his favor in one of the Australian journals that his love of “ 100 ” was very innocent, for he never stood to be looed to a greater amount than half-a-crown. “You will be amused,” •aid Mr Clark, “when I assure you that I not only never played at leo, but I do not even know the nature of the game.” Near the close of the lecture it was announced that Miss Christian, in order not to disappoint those who had expected her to sing, had arrived from the Port; and though, as stated by Mr Smythe, Mr Clark’s agent, she had suffered so much from the voyage that she was not physically equal to much exertion, she would sing one song, Mr Clark having finished his lecture, she came forward, with Mr A. Towsey as accompartyist, and sang “ The beating of my own heart” so pleasingly that her auditors would not be satisfied without a recall. Miss Christian obliginglyconsented, and substituted the sweet ballad r ‘Kate O’Shane.” Her rendering of both pieces was very effective, and secured for her enthusiastic applause and several bouquets. Miss Christian possesses a voice of great compass, power, and capability of expression, and cannot fail to become a great favorite with such music-loving people as those in Dunedin. The “ Christmas Carol,” illustrated by Miss Christian, will be given tonight.