MANCHESTER ART ENTERTAINMENTS.
DETERMINED not to be beaten by any failure of the original arrangement, the managers of the Art Treasures Exhibition at Manchester have adopted some schemes not originally announced. Music is to be introduced., and there is to be a species of lefthanded marriage between Apelles and Polyhymnia; while Mr. Planehe has been called down to clean and arrange the exhibition of armour. He will be able to manage it with an eye cultivated both in the Herald's College and on the stage. When Sir William Beetham, Ulster King-of-Arms, appeared once as a witness before the House of Lords, Lord Brougham asked hint in what capacity he appeared. "As a herald," replied Sir William. The great legist declined to recognize the heraldic right to appear before the Lords—the Ulster King's proper place was in processions. We do not know how the President of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge would recognize Mr. Plauche's labours in the department of Practical Science and Art, but probably the Manchester gentlemen will increase their chances of success in proportion as they deviate from the practical to the dramatic. They are more likely to " draw " houses, although they are less likely to teach. In fact, they have launched into a career of rivalry with Mr. Charles Kean, who has the start of them in the practical application of the drama to purposes of instruction. We have been told that the virtue of all statesmanship lies in compromise, and this union between Manchester manufactures and the drama is a case in point. It might be carried further. Lord Overstone has been invited to aooept the post left vacant by the death of the Earl of Ellesmere as President of the Manchester Association ; but why should not Mr. Charles Kean be its President and manager ? Mr. Planche has been asked. to clean and arrange the armour ; but how much more effective would it be if Mr. Cooke were called. in from Astley's circus with the assistance of his mute corps dramatique. A circus could easily be added to the Manchester building, and the weavers and spinners could be instructed on "the infant system,"' by the teaching of " objects," if they saw Edward the Black Prince or Henry the Fifth carraeoling before their eyes. It would indeed be possible to complete the instructiveness of the occasion by employing the vocal part of the band in singing the words of an historical memorandum illustrative of the armour and its uses. This addition would greatly enlarge the character of the entertainment, and would probably draw multitudinous andienees from all parts of the United Kingdom, to the great benefit of local trade and of railway traffic.
THE NEW SAIICE.—" Save us from our friends !" Epithets have beeti flung about pretty lavishly this brisk season; and for the guidance of Mr Speaker, Peers, and public meetings, we must have a new edition of the Polite Conversations. An Ellenborough calls the British Superintendent at Hongkong "Doctor," a "Nadir Shah," and a "clerk in a count' house." A Henley calla Sir John Bowring's statements "downright falsehood." Sometimes the invective is more gracefully but not th less piquantly couched. "If," said Lord Palmerston, "peace is to he sought by humiliation and degradation, the country must look elsewhere for the instruments of national dishonour and disgrace." Assurances having been given on "the honour of a peer and of a gentleman"—assurances which it is the policy of the "order" always to receive as final evidence—at the Mansionhouse, last night, Lord Palmemton alluded sarcastically te "the nnooncerting uncombining gentlemen." At the same dinner, Lord Granville—and he was speaking officially—stated that he had lately seen advertised a sauce of exquisite flavour and piquancy; it was called "Palmerston sauce" : the Mansionhouse dinner had given "the opportunity of tasting the genuine article in the greatest perfection."
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