LECTURE ON THOMAS MOORE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1886, 10 March 1880, Page 3

LECTURE ON THOMAS MOORE.

Professor Hughes delivered his lecture on Thomas Moore on Monday in the Oddfellows’ Hall. There was a very fair attsndance. The lecturer gave a biographical sketch of the poet’s life, with a commentary on his gifts as a poet and musician. The melodies selected to illustrate the peculiar beauties of Ireland’s national poet were introduced in a few graphic words, and occasionally anecdotes wore introduced which happily gave point to the subject being dealt with. The melodies were arranged as solos, trios, choruses, and were sung by a number of amateur vocalists who had been trained by Professor Hughes for the occasion. The Professor was very happy in his selection, and displayed considerable elocutionary skill in the narration of the illustrative stories he embellished his lecture with. One of the best of them was his description of a mock trial of the Irish patriot Robert Emmett, which he had witnessed in a small town in the West of Ireland. The gems, however, of the evening were the violin solos of Professor Hughes. The tender melodies “Through the last glimpse of Erin” and “ ’Twas one of those dreams,” were alone well worth the price of admission. For exquisite delicacy, purity, and refinement of style, the performance could scarcely be surpassed, and the audience applauded the talented executant to the echo. The one fault of the lecture was its extreme length. A shorter selection of the better known melodies to illustrate the lecture proper, would render the whole more enjoyable, as it is possible to get a surfeit even of the rarest and choicoit viands. The lecture, with its musical concomitants, evoked a great deal of enthusiasm, the applause being frequent and spontaneous.