THE ALETHOHAMA.
This pretty exhibition of mechanism applied to the representation of animated scenic effects is worth a visit to the Concert-room of the Prin- cess's Theatre from all who admire ingenuity successfully exerted in trifles. The curtain of a miniature theatre being raised, displays a scene of Lilli- putian proportions, peopled with puppets that imitate humanity passably, and traversed by tiny vessels and vehicles; the atmospheric effects also undergoing a change. A succession of five different scenes, accompanied with appropriate music, constitutes the evening's entertainment; the scenes being selected from a repertory of some extent, so as to vary the ex hibition.
For instance, a river-scene at day-break shows the rising of a bright sum- mer's sun on a hilly country; ships glide to and fro, and boats filled with people, who in crossing to pursue their avocations politely stop in front of the spectators; fishermen net the fish, a sportsman brings down a bird, a bather takes a swim and two fellows climb a slippery pole for a prize. The ' curtain falls and der a longish interval rises on a winter-scene: a Flemish town of red brick houses roofed with snow, showing a smith's forge in front, with audible hammer and visible sparks; carts and coaches pass over a bridge in the middle distance, while across the foreground trudge, with stiff-jointed, jerking gait, a couple of Savoyards, who proceed to sweep the forge-chimney; a pedagogue snowballed by his scholars; a peasant pushing a sledge at full speed, &c. Then follow a storm at sea, with shipwreck, and a sailor saved by scrambling over the rocks; a night-scene; and others in which processions slide on and off, and changing effects of light are imi- tilted. The mechanical means are obvious, and there is no attempt at illusion in the-painting; but the toy spectacle is not altogether contempt- ible in point of art, and its effect is pleasing.
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