ART, LITERARY, AND DRAMATIC GOSSIP.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2105, 22 November 1880, Page 3

ART, LITERARY, AND DRAMATIC GOSSIP.

Mrs Brown, Artemua Ward’s mother, is spoken of by the “Boston Journal” as a bright and busy old lady of seventy years, now living at Waterford, Me., where her son is buried. She has a great love for gardening. Her pride and affection are pleasantly shown when visitors come to look at the house were the merry “ Artemus ” was born. Sir Evelyn Wood, during his recent visit to Zululand, is said to have collected some additional materials for a work on the Zulu war, whioh ho is now engaged in writing. It is supposed that he will defend Lord Ohelmsford’s strategy. Professor Nordenskjold, under the title of “ The Voyage of tho Vega,” will shortly publish in English an account of the late Swedish Arctic expedition, accompanied by illustrations.

Her. T. De Witt Talmage is making an inspection of the slums of Leadville for the purpose of gathering material on which to found illustrative sermons in future. After visiting a faro bank, where a gambler had just been shot dead, and being initiated into the fascination which surrounds draw-poker, keno, and roulette, he visited the dancehouses, in one of which he was requested to lead a set. An American theatrical advertisement reads as follows :—Uninterrupted success ! Appearance of sixteen beautiful dizzy blondes ! Scale of prices: To the near-sighted, one dollar. At an altitude, fifty cents. To the far off, twenty-five cents. Baldjheaded association, seventy-five cents. It is said that Madame Bose Hersee obtained one hundred pounds each time for three concerts given at Honolulu, of all places. Mdlle. Kosa Eonheur has just presented the Jardin des Flantes with a lion, about three years old, and a lioness a couple of years older, which she has lately made use of as models, at her country residence, in the department of the Seine-et Marne. It is stated in New York that Mr Lytton Sothern will be asked to head the combination in the series of engagements which his father is by illness unable to fulfil. Miss Yesey, a sister of Miss Emily Soldene, is shortly to marry a gentleman in Glasgow. Mr Bims Beeves’ greatest success during hi* present provincial tour has been made in “ I cannot say good-bye.’’ The mermaid which served to help Barnum on to fame and fortune as a showman about forty years ago, caused a great deal of talk at the time. Barnum now tells the story, according to a correspondent of the Indianapolis “Journal,” as follows: “Moses Kimball came from Boston with what he declared was a genuine mermaid. The lower part was the tail of a shark or some large fish, but the upper part was not of woman’s form by any manner of means : it was a hideous head and shoulders—apparently of some sort of ape. Pretty soon a letter was written from Mobile to the “Herald,” with the announoement that a man had landed there from the Sandwich Islands, bringing Ja genuine mermaid. It had not been seen and would not be exhibited, for it was on its way to the London Zoological Gardens. This was copied all over the country. In another week a letter from Charleston announced that the wonder had arrived there, on its way to New York, whence it would sail for London. A more detailed account of the wonderful creature was given. This served to swell the curiosity. From Baltimore came still other letters j and then I sent my man to Philadelphia, carrying the mermaid in a close box. He put up at the best hotel, and cultivated the landlord. To him, just as he was paying his bill and leaving, ho confided the secret that he was the Englishman who had caught the mermaid. 'Now, see hero,’ said the landlord, ‘you must let me see it.’ After much persuasion the mermaid hunter yielded. Then he said, 1 See here, you must let me show it to one or two reporters.’ After more importunity, the weak Britisher yielded, and a limited exhibition was permitted. The Philadelphia papers blazed with it next morning. The next day it was brought to New York, and the same performance was gone through with at the Astor House. The papers were full of it, and the city was all agog. Thousands flocked to see it, but no exhibition was allowed, except to reporters. I was not known in connection with it until the proper time.” I remember, says “Figaro,” seeing this company of “ Troubadours ” in the Bush street Theatre, San Francisco, some years ago, and it has ofen occurred to me since that some entertainment of the sort should do very well in England. “ The Brook,” when I saw it—it may have changed a great deal since, for its plan is elastic —was a pleasant medium for what may be described as a highclass music hall performance. It consisted of a number of songs, dances, sketches, &c., connected by a thin but ingenious thread of story. The scenery was pretty, and the whole affair, if not quite free from vulgarity, was much pleasanter and more amusing than an ordinary music hall performance. The second act of “ Otto,” now being played at Sadler’s Wells, is something in the same style, only that “ Otto ” pretends to be a drama, while “The Brook” does not. I trust that the Salsbury company will be successful, and I am sure that something could be done by a home-bred English company with a /veil written entertainment of the same typo. It is eminently suited for small provincial theatres and high-clase music halls.