Punch (70.1876)

June 3, 1876.]

PUNCH, OE THE LONDON CHARIVAEI.

221

DILETTANTISM.

To the true critic of vocal music, art is everything, and voice is only a secondary consideration. In fact, he

would as soon dispense with the latter altogether, as the consciousness of a beautiful organ often constitutes a material
Impediment to the subtler and more spiritual esthetic significance of refined emotional Interpretation—whatever all
that may be.

panieswere unwilling to give it, and Parliament not anxious to get
it. But a time would come when Parliament might he determined
to know, and then the Companies would find they had no choice
hut to tell. They would not always he able to put Cotton in the
ears of either Parliament or the Public.

Goldney and Newdegate opposed the Motion. Sir. C. Dilke sup-
ported it.

Mr. Cross was cautious. If any move was to be made in the
matter, it was for Government to make it. Mr. James had not made
out any case of mal-administration. Government did not mean to
bring in a Bill, and had no power to insist on the information, so the
matter had better be let drop. So it was let drop—for the present.

But Koompanee-Bahadoor had better set his house in order.

Wednesday.—Mr. Macdonald moved Second Reading of a Bill to
make Employers liable for injuries to Workmen, even when caused
by Managers' negligence.

All mining accidents are due to the neglect of Owners (say
Macdonald & Co.). All mining accidents are due to the carelessness
of Workmen (say Knowles & Co.). Both contentions are false—the
truth lies between them. Mr. Macdonald's Bill does not hit it.

Cross, as deus ex machind, admitted the law was not what it
ought to be. But Mr. Macdonald's Bill'would only make a new
injustice. The matter should be referred to a Select Committee, and
the Government should undertake the framing of the Bill on their
Report.

Thursday.—The battle of the Income-tax, fought out the other
day, was all fought over again, under the conduct of Mr. Kjrkman
Hodgson.

Mr. Fawcett struck a good stroke for the Commons, and against
the Commons Bill. It does not protects the interests of the
labourers, or provide against illegal enclosures. It leaves too much
in the hands of the Enclosure Commissioners. In short, it ought to
be called the Short Commons Bill; so little does it make adequate
provision for protecting the rights of the millions in the uncultivated
land of England. Mr. Sandford, Lord E. Fitzmaurice, Mr. Cowper-

Temple, and Mr. Shaw - Lefevre, followed on the same side ;
Mr. Goldney and Mr. Knight against.

Mr. Cross maintained that the Bill took the right ground between
the two, and that, under it, no enclosure could henceforth take place
without sanction of Parliament.

On going into Committee a tierce fight over a motion to report
progress, which lasted, rough-and-tumble fashion, till past two,
when progress, having been impeded all this time, was reported !

M. OITENBACH IN AMERICA.

(From Our Own Accompanist or Accompianist.)

Slr,

In haste. The great Master of Bouffes has arrived at
last. We had a rough time of it en voyage, and the eminent com-
poser was unable to avail himself of my lessons in English, with the
result of which he had (bless him!) intended to astonish Messieurs
Lei Americains t'other side of the water. He wishes me, however,
to write at once to you, and express his sentiments of esteem the
most profound—and all that sort of thing, you know. '' Le voyage
etait jusqu' d maintenant le diable lui-meme " says my Moosical
Mossoo. We began (he wishes me to tell you) with the overture to
The Tempest, and finished with The Tempest itself, which had an
unprecedented run of eight days, with such a moving spectacle of a
ship in motion as would have made the fortune of L'Africaine or
the Master's own Robangsong Crusoey, that is, en Anglais, Robinson
Crusoe. We were accompanied by the wind instruments_ in full
force all the way, and the rule of the vessel was most fatiguing. (I
tried to explain this Jeu de mot to the maestro when he was at his
worst, and I looked in at the berth, and thought at first that I was
in at the death. He didn't laugh, he didn't smile : all sense of
appreciation of humour had quitted him. But to proceed.)

As for the passage, taken as a whole, M. Offenbach_ says, "I
have never written a passage so difficult—Jamais de ma vie. From