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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 4, 6 January 1869, Page 3

Madame Anna Bishop, assisted by Mr C. Lascelles, gave her first, and, we fear, only concert in Nelson, last evening, at the Oddfellows* Hall. Notwithstanding the extremely brief notice the room was well filled. The opening piece — a solo on the piano — 'The Spirit ofthe Storm,' — was played by Mr Lascelles with a brilliancy of execution which proclaimed that gentleman a perfect master of the instrument. Madame Bishop was warmly welcomed, and sang Bellini's difficult recitative, 'Casta Diva,' most effectively, her sustained notes being particularly clear and sweet. Mr Lascelles' * Robin Ruff/ was a wonderful effort, a vocal duet sung by him alone. We cannot go through the whole of the judiciously selected programme as space would fail us. The old English ballad - Home, Sweet Home,' was sung as Madame Bishop alone can sing it, and elicited a hearty encore, when ' Coming thro' the Rye,' was substituted. •' II Bacio,' and ' No one to Love,' were equally effective. A new duet ' Sunset,' proved a delicious melody, the two voices blending most harmoniously. Mr. Lascelles introduced some exquisite variations on popular airs, and contributed in a great degree to the success of the concert by his surprising instrumentation and singing and his excellent accompaniments. 'Tis many years since we* had the pleasure of hearing Madame Anna Bishop, at that time in the zenith of her fame, and time seems only to have mellowed, without at ali impairing, her fine voice. We regret that our upcountry friends will not have an opportunity of Hearing the fair vocalist, as we understand she leaves in the Airedale to-day, en route for Melbourne. We have received a copy of tLe Taranaki Almanac and Directory for 1869. It has been very carefully compiled, is neatly got up, and contains a large amount of local information. 1 We have to acknowledge receipt of a

—<»■—■ — — — — M — _— _ _ __ i ■__» ■__ _ __—■ _— i complete file of Punch, or tbe Auckland Charivari. It is certainly a very clever production, and we shall freely avail ourselves of its pungent and ably written strictures. Our townsman, Mr Hunter brought down yesterday from the Matakitaki a parcel of gold containing' 170 oz. He states that there are about 100 men on tbe ground who are making wages but nothing more. The gold is very fine resembling that of the Ovens district. We remind oijr readers that the Rev. J. Crump will deliver a lecture on the life of the Rev. W. J. Shrewsbury this evening. Weddings are looking up in our quiet little city, and, as a natural consequence, that portion of our fair townswomen privileged to be affected by such a fortunate state of affairs, aire in a state of blissful anticipation. Our bachelors, as might be expected from the large amount of amateur military discipline dispensed throughout the colony, deport themselves under the trying circumstances with a storcisih worthy of the heroes of old. Tbe marriage of T. ,R. Fisher, Esq. to Miss Hadfield was solemnised this morning, by the Rev. J. Crump, in the Wesleyan Church. It was, we believe, a very splendid affair, 'there being no less than seven carriage's filled with the beauty and fashion of Nelson. The knowledge of words is the gate of scholarship. The history of a word is Often more instructive than the history of a campaign. Why is it dangerous to add an inch to a man's stature? — Because if you give him ! an inch he'll take a knell. Diggory says he always respect old age, except when some one cheats him with a pair of tough chickens.