are doing great business in these stirring times. People are living in such a state of nervous tension that they need distraction and nowhere can they find it more effectually than at the play-house, the new Chinese comic opera at Daly's, attracting large crowds, among whom, on the first night, I noticed various members of the Chinese embassy no" in London, and hugely they seemed to enjoy the fun. The piece is pretty and quaint and has decided plot—an unusual element in a modern comic opera. At the same time it must be confessed it bears a very strong resemblance to our old friend The Geisha. Jen How, a Chinese mandarin, possesses an only daughter Sun Toy. An order comes from the Emperor that for a corps of Amazons he' wants the eldest daughters of alibis mandarins. Jen How does not wish to part with San Toy, sv in order to evade the order he dresses her as a boy. All to no end, as another order comes requisition. ing eldest sons for another special corps. Then it-has to be confessed that San Toy is a girl, This nearly costs Jen How his life. However he manages to escape the direct penalty of the law and is eventually forgiven. As the noble mandarin Mr, Rutland Barrington had part which suited him exactly; his song (witha chorus) Six Little Wives," reminding one as it irresistibly must of the ten little nigger boys, is one of the best numbers of the opera and is certain of a nightly encore. Miss Marie Tempest makes a charming San Toy and looks most bewitching in her boy's clothes. She was in splendid voice on Saturday, though I do not think she is quite so well suited in vocal matters as she was in th Geisha or the Greek Slave. Her bes is "The Petals of the Plum Tree," and the A. B.C. duet with Mr. Hayden Coffin went very well. Mr. Coftin's part is not an important one; as Captain Bol bie Preston, San Toy's English lover—of course the little Chinese maiden has a lover, and naturally he is an Englishman,—he has little todo but look charming, and this our old friend can manage with very little trouble. He has one good solo, several pretty con-carted bits, and the duet—soilé.towt! Mr.
Huntley Wright is far more favoured; as Li the Mandarin's Li-ing secretary, he has a part which suits him exactly—those who saw his clever Chinaman in the Geisha can easily picture his Li, as they are very nearly related to each other. Whatever Mr. Wright does cannot fail to be amusing and he really almost surpassed himself on Ssturday when he rose superior to a London fog—and such a fog no one else would have dared to joke about it.
Miss Gracie Leigh, who was so successful as one of the Trivlet family in Little Miss Nobody, has now joined the Daly company and as Miss Preston's English maid Dudley scored a great success. Pretty Miss Hilda Moody took the part of the English beauty and sang most charmingly; one regretted she had not more to do. Other parts were well filled by various members of the company and Ishould say that ina short time the piece will be as great a favourite as any of its predecessors, perhaps even yo one better and have the greatest run of them all, One misses Letty Lind. Iam told the part offered her was not one she cared to necept. Just now she is singing nightly at the Pavilion, which must be far less arduous and probably pays better, still one cannot help regretting her absence and I hope she may be included in the cast of the next piece, when it may be required.
Lovers of song will regret to hear of the death of Signor Foh, which occurred somewhat suddenly Inst' Saturday from pneumonia, He was not an old man, and might have charmed us with his fine voice for many years to come. His loss will be greatly felt by the musical world ashe was one of our most popular bass singers.
27th October.
PARIS,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.