PASSION-WEEK AND EASTER SHOWS The decent quiescence of the Theatres
during Passion-week is emulated by Mr. Albert Smith, who stretches his legs for those few days before ascending Mont Blanc for the thousand-and-second night ; and by the Saracenie Panopticon. Drury Lane has held a fancy-fair in the daytime of the 12th and 13th; and a promenade-concert in the evening. Other promenade-concerts (Mr. Allcroft's) have occupied the Lyceum. The Adelphi becomes the lecture-hall, where, for the twenty-fourth year, Mr. C. H. Adams pronounces sensibly aa instructive astronomic discourse, illustrated by a great transparent orrery, and relieved by snatches of sweet sound from the musical glasses.
Other entertainments keep their ground, Passion-week or no Passion- week. Those who find smartness a good enough substitute for wit, mimicry and personation for character, and a degage tone for either the refinement of good breeding or the broader fun of low comic, continue to patronize the now long-popular soirees of Mr. Woodm ; while the " polyphonies " of Mr. Love delight transpontine audiences at the Surrey. The Great Globe supplies information and interest of more than one kind. Of dioramas, we have the Overland Mail, revived phoenix- like at the Gallery of Illustration after an interregnum of Wellington Cam- paigns and Ocean Mail, and supplemented by Russian, Turkish, and other views germane to the times. Constantinople is transplanted into Burford's Gallery and the Egyptian Hall. Egypt and Nineveh may be contem- plated at the King William Street Rooms, late the home of the Ora- torians ; Canada and the United States, next door to the Polytechnic. Mont Blanc has still been visible—if not Albert Smith's., in Piccadilly, then J. R. Smith's in Leicester Square, which assumes a kind of spurious authenticity by cautioning the public, through the advertising columns of the Times, "first to be sure they are right, then go ahead." The Poly- technic appeals with its mild doses of knowledge and amusement to its accustomed clients; Sultan and Emperor meet on terms of plaoid indif- ference at Madame Tussaud's; Dr. Kahn's- Museum of Anatomy, dis- placed from the Portland Gallery by the National Institution, courts visitors at the Salle Robin ; and the Japanese luxuries, similarly yield- ing to British art as embodied in the Old Water-rolour Society, have come under the hammer of Messrs. Foster and Son, at No. 64 Pall Mall. Concerts there have been in plenty : among other and more dignified developments, the Australian Minstrels have given "their grauctevening Ethiopian concert" in Store Street ; and "the renowned Hungarians," with other artistes, appear every evening at the Marionette Theatre. The Easter week promises in addition, "-Mils and Galatea" at St. Mar- tin's Hall, on "Wednesday, The Cyelorama inAlbany Street, a section or an offshoot of the Colosseum, is to reopen on Monday, with a panoramic view of :Naples and the destruction of Pompeii ; and we can warrant the cu- rious, from our experienee of the private view, which took place on Thursday, that this is one of the grandest in-scale, most interesting and beautiful in subject; an-d most effective in artistie painting, among all ex- hibitions of the sort, past or present._ Indeed, it is a very remarkable display, and reliects great credit on Mr. J. M‘Nevin, from whose sketehes the gigantic canvass is- painted. Cheap holiday-makers are invited to spend. their day where it will be wisdom to do so, by the reduction to sixpence of the entree to the Zoological Gardens on every day of the week SAVO Saturday. Doubtless the people will else frock to their own !m- ailed palace, "the People's Palace," at Sydenham ; to enjoy the pros- pect, see the outside, and range the grounds, at least, if they- fail in smuggling themselves, by fair words and adroit gratuities; into the fastifilling interior. In the way of Fine Art, the British In- stitution, the National Institution, the British Artists' Gallery, awl the Gallery of German Paintings in its second year, not to mention: other and perennial establishments, are "at home " : and we presume that, before the week is out, the New Water-Colour Society may have swelled the tale. As for the German works, however, the experience of the past year should warn one against too early a visit, as the contributions come in gradually, and the best may not improbably be seen the last.
Here, then, what with the continuance of old attractions, and the in- coming of new, is field enough for curiosity and pleasure-making to spa- tide irr during the days of the popular relaxation.
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