The Italian Operahouse finally closes tonight. The regular season terminated
on Saturday, which was the last of the subscription ; but three "farewell nights" were added this week ; so that LABLACHE, who had been prevented by indisposition from appearing for a few days, was enabled to give éclat to the concluding performances. The prosperity of the Italian Theatre this season, when almost every other has suf- fered by the pressure of the times, is extraordinary, considering that it is the most expensive place of public amusement, and is understood to have had rather a less than a greater share than usual of aristocratic pa- tronage. But the Italian Opera is every year recruiting its supporters from the ranks of the middle classes. As the popular taste for music becomes more refined, the influence of public opinion upon the ma- nagement will be more powerful; and we may expect that the works of composers whose names are rarely if ever seen in the bills of " Her Majesty's Theatre" will be produced on its stage : already it is found that the strongest attractions on " benefit nights " are the masterpieces of MOZART and Rossrm, which had been almost shelved by the sub- scribers. Such a phalanx of talent as has been arrayed on these boards this season would have drawn crowds to any theatre : if SHAKSFERE'S plays were as strongly cast as Italian operas, the British drama would not languish for want of support.
The ballet has vied with the opera in its attractions : three such dancers as FANNY ELSSLER, DUSIILATRE, and CERITO, have rarely appeared in one season ; and they have been supported by a corps de ballet of proportionate strength, and by superb scenic displays. The sudden and transient visits of FANNY ELSSLER have deprived her of the opportunity of exhibiting to due advantage her unrivalled powers of pantomimic expression, the most intellectual part of the ballet. Those who have only seen her in the new pas de deux with Cxarro, which created such a furor among the partisans of the two favourites, can form no conception of what constitutes the nnapproached superiority of ELLSLER : in the little divertissement Le Delire d'un Peintre, she gave an idea of her fascinating art. And in this she was well seconded by PERROT ; whose accident has transformed a wonderful jumper into a graceful and expressive actor.
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