Mrs. Potter went to Washington as a guest of Mrs. Whitney, ostensibly to appear in some "charity theatricals." This was planned purposely for advertising. She went to create a sensation, and determined while at the capital to obtain, by hook or by crook, all she could in the way of public gossip. She was a stage-struck woman. But she failed to attract the attention she wished by her performance in 66 The Russian Honeymoon," at the National Theatre. In fact the honors of the occasion were easily taken by Miss Riddle, a daughter of Judge Riddle, of Ohio. Then Mrs. Potter went to Baltimore, but here she was also a partial failure. Back again at Mrs. Whitney's, she formed a 'charity entertainment," at $10 a ticket. A number of society people played on piano, zither and the feelings of men, and Mrs. Potter recited “'Ostler Joe." After that Mrs. Whitney gave the best part of the entertainment - champagne. Then the meeting dispersed, without Mrs. Potter creating any particular sensation. Now for the desperate part of it.

DIRECTLY after this evening at Mrs. Whitney's the correspondent of a newspaper was approached by an army officer, who stated that he was an intimate friend of Mrs. Potter's and he wanted some sort of an advertisement worked up for Mrs. Potter. It was suggested that "'Ostler Joe" was not the sort of an 'ostler that he was cracked up to be; in fact, he was slightly off color and had offended many of Mrs. Whitney's friends; that some capital might be made out of this, and Mrs. Potter was willing. Then the story of how Washington "society" became shocked by the reading of "'Ostler Joe" got into the papers, and within ten days the whole United States was reading not only the poem, but discussing Mrs. James Brown-Potter. The people who talked the most were the biggest advertisers naturally. The women correspondents in Washington bit at the bait most readily, and it gave them such a subject for talk as they had not had for many a day. All this is the way the "'Ostler Joe" story has been told to me, and for the truth of which I am in no way responsible.

lately become engaged to Miss Ada Bates, a sister of Mrs. George H. Pell.

THIS must be an exceedingly good year for babies. I know of an instance on Thirtyfourth Street in this city, where a child has, within a few weeks, been born to a couple whose age, when I tell it to you, must occasion surprise. The man is sixty-eight and the woman fifty!

IT is no longer considered "the thing" to wear an evening dress suit to the theatre after July 1, during the summer-time. A more foolish straining after an attempt to be considered "swell" cannot be imagined than the young man who goes to the theatre when the thermometer is up to 90, wearing an overcoat and a dress suit. For of course he would not go to the theatre in this garb without an over

coat.

NEARLY every summer some of the New York dailies come out with an editorial declaring that New York city people make a mistake when they go away from home; that New York should be the greatest of all summer resorts. Nothing could be more ridiculous. There is not a city in this latitude which is a more detestable place to live in during hot weather. The thermometer in other cities may get higher, but a register of 90° in New York would be equal to about two thousand anywhere else as far as comfort is concerned. The walls of brick and stone houses seem to be soldered to the stone streets, become a sort of oven highway which keeps heated through the night. There are no trees or grass lawns, and the open squares called “breathing places are a gauntlet to be run. The elevated railroads running through and across some of the principal streets flood the atmosphere with cinders and gas, while the iron bridges which support them store the heat to warm the night. It is almost impossible to obtain any enjoyment by a day at the numerous advertised beaches. The crowds on the cars and the steamboats, the dust and dirt, and the petty swindling at the resorts, far greater than any thing ever at Niagara Falls, is almost intolerable. The people who are compelled to live in New York have no porches to sit down upon where a possible cooling draft can be enjoyed or a fresh breeze tempered by the smell of green trees or lawns of grass. An evening "at home" in New York means the thermometer brought to nearly ninety degrees by the gas or lamp. There is no knowledge of the soft moonlight which is flooding the beautiful country, nor in the late afternoon is

the setting sun anything more or less than a token of "thank the Lord another day is done."

Of course those who like it can go to Central Park. But even that is not considered "proper" in the evenings. And those who can afford it can go to drive out the river road or out the Boulevard, through charming country as far as Tremont or Kingsbridge. But if you want anything to eat, no matter how simple, you'll have to pay for it. An ordinary little dinner for three people at the "Claremont" on the Riverside drive," for instance, will cost about $8.00, to say nothing about the fee, for anything less than a quarter is disdained. Oh yes! you can go and take a drive with your wife for a few hours and get cheap dinner for about $25. By doing this every day you can manage to get some enjoyment out of New York as a watering" place.

IN an interview with a writer on The Tribune, Mr. W. D. Howells, the author of "April Hopes" and "Silas Lapham," said:

"Russia holds the foremost place among the nations that have produced great modern novelists. England stands at the very bottom of the list. Hardy is a great, I may say, a very great novelist. His pictures of life are life itself. Mrs. Howells and I have heard under windows in England the very thoughts, yes, the very accents, which he has at tributed to his English peasantry. His truth and sincerity are admirable. And Black, too, so far as I have read him, is an able, skilful writer. But the Russian noveliets lead the world. Indeed, I affirm that Tolstoi occupies to all fiction the same relation that Shakespeare occupies to all drama. He has a very strong ethical side, and not only teaches it and portrays it, but lives it. He has given himself up to it. He believes that men should live precisely and literally as Christ lived, and abandoning literature, where he stood at the summit of fiction, he has adopted the daily life of a Russian peasant."

Mr. Howells also said that the greatest writers of fiction that the world has ever produced are Tolstoi and Turgenieff. Dickens was only a man of his time; Zola he considers one of the greatest of writers, that "a true arrangement of the literatures in which realism has obtained the supremacy over romance would place the Russian first; the French, by virtue of Zola's strength, second; the Spanish next; the Norwegian fourth, the Italian fifth, and the English last.”

THE record of the month brings the an

nouncement of the death of Edward Lamb, a well-known comedian. He was born in New York in 1830 and went upon the stage at an early age. He was first seen in New York at old Niblo's Garden under Wheatley's management. Since then he has been a member of well-known stock companies, including that of A. M. Palmer, at the Union Square Theatre. Afterward he was in the stock company of the Brooklyn Theatre before that place was burned in 1876. Of recent years Mr. Lamb has lived as well as acted principally in Brooklyn, where he has always been a favorite. His stage work was chiefly in the line of low comedy. Mr. Lamb leaves besides a widow three sons, all of whom are connected with the stage.

HERE are the announcements in brief of the opening attractions at the New York theatres: Windsor, August 15, Nelson Wheatcroft's new play, "Gwynne's Oath," with Miss Adelaide Stanhope in the leading part. Bijou, October 3, Rice's new travesty, The Little Corsair." Casino, September 1, "The Marquis" operetta, by Lacombe, a French composer. Fourteenth Street, August 29, "The Still Alarm," a new melodrama of New York life; September 12, Mr. Hoyt's "A Hole in the Ground,” first time in New York. Fifth Avenue, August 23, McKee Rankin in "Allan Dare," adapted from Admiral Porter's novel; September 18, Mrs. Langtry in "Cleopatra." Harrigan's early in October, a new local drama. Lyceum, in September, "The Great Pink Pearl.' Madison Square, October, "The Martyr." Niblo's, August 15, "Lagardere " ("The Duke's Motto"), by Imre Kiralfy's company, for ten weeks. Star, August 29, "Held by the Enemy." Standard, early in October, Audran's new operetta, "The Grasshopper and the Ant." Union Square, in September, Mr. Gunter's play. Nothing definite is known about the opening of Wallack's. Daly's will open with a new comedy.

THE Union Square Theatre, after being entirely refitted and refurnished, in fact having a new auditorium, will be opened about September 1, with a new play from the pen of Mr. A. C. Gunter, who has of late been prolific with successes. The title of the piece is One Against Many," and it is a "romantic" and "society" drama. The cast will be an exceptionally good one, including Mr. J. L. Burleigh, who will play the leading part. From what I know of the drama I judge it will prove powerful in its construction and very strong in its comedy. Mr. Gunter's book, "Mr. Barnes of New York," has had a remarkable run. It is now in its thirtieth thousand.

IT was while in London, in 1862-3, that John Brougham adapted "The Duke's Motto" from Paul Feval's "Le Bossu" for the Lyceum Theatre, where it filled out the season with a run of 174 nights, Fechter impersonating Lagardere. It was transferred to Niblo's, this city, in June, 1863. Brougham having written two new songs for it and John Collins (Carrickfergus), which Harvey Dodworth set to music. William Wheatley was the Lagardere, and the drama, after having been kept on nearly four months, was withdrawn at Niblo's in the same month (August) that it was taken off at the London Lyceum. It has since been played in New York, recently at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, by Charles Coghlan.

It will now be played at Niblo's with Maurice Barrymore as Lagardere.

BUCCALOSSI, the composer of "Les Manteaux Noirs," has completed a new opera entitled "Florina," which is being secured by Violet Melnotte for the London Comedy Theatre. The scene is laid in Naples, about 1750.

COLONEL MCCAULL has accepted "a new American opera," which he says he will soon produce. The music is the work of Reginald De Koven, of Chicago, a graduate of the music schools of Leipsic and Dresden, and widely known as a popular song writer. The libretto is by Harry B. Smith, formerly editor of the Rambler, of Chicago, and now connected with the News of that city. The opera was written with a view to specially fitting the parts to members of the McCaull Company, and the cast will require sixteen principal singers, including Messrs. Wilke, Hopper, Bell, De Angeles, MacDonough, Kline, Hoff, or Perugini, if the latter recovers in time to appear in it, and Laura Joyce, Mme. Cottrelly, Marion Manola, Josephine Knapp and Miss Meyers. The title of the opera is " The Begum," and the scene is laid in the East Indies, giving an opportunity for picturesque scenery and costumes.

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ARTHUR WALLACK starts out this season on his own hook, and will "star" Joseph Haworth through the country in Lester Wallack's play of "Rosedale." This piece had its initial representation at Wallack's in 1863, when it ran for six weeks. It has been said that Fitz James O'Brien, soldier and Bohemian, wrote "Rosedale," and that Lester Wallack assumed the credit of authorship after O'Brien's death. The sole warrant for this is the fact that O'Brien, who wrote several plays, was supposed to have had one under consideration at Wallack's when he died. Although Lester Wallack, as far back as early in the fifties, had

done excellent adaptive work from the French for the Bowery Theatre in "The Three Guardsmen" and "The Four Musketeers," as well as in "The Veteran" and "Central Park" later for Wallack's. The novel "Lady Lee's Widowhood" furnished several of the incidents of "Rosedale" and the dialogue of an entire scene, word for word. At least I am so informed by the Times.

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DURING the life of the elder Herrmann, the conjurer, who recently died at Carlsbad, the unfortunate Sultan Abdul Aziz was amongst his warmest admirers, and used to pay him a thousand pounds Turkish for every representation. During one of these performances he exhibited two pigeons, one white and one black, and managed to place the white head on the black pigeon and vice versa. pleased the Sultan greatly, and he asked Herrmann to try the same trick with the black and white slave, but the conjuror declared that that was beyond his powers. On another

This

occasion he took a rare and valuable watch from the Sultan and pretended to throw it into the sea, his Majesty, of course, finding it again in his own pocket. The Czar Nicholas also bestowed great favors on Herrmann, who, it is said, received a million roubles for one Russian tour. He was very charitable, and only a few days before his death sent 1,500 francs for the relief of the victims of the Opéra Comique disaster. In Vienna, where he resided, he was very popular, and when, two years ago, he celebrated his seventieth birthday, a distinguished company assembled in his residence to congratulate him. He leaves a large fortune, and a collection of rare antiquities, which he spared no trouble or cost in amassing. A few months ago he told a correspondent that he had written his memoirs, which he believed would be of great interest, giving an account of his varied experiences. He leaves a widow, a French woman. She was his second wife, his first, from whom he was divorced, being the Vienna prima donna Madame Czillag, who is still living, and is a teacher of singing.

**

"HE MARRIED HIS MODEL" would be a good subject for a novel. Wyatt Eaton is to marry Miss Collins, a model who has for several years past posed for the Art Students' League, and also for many of the figure painters in this city. The wedding will take place during the present month. Mr. Eaton was a pupil of Gerome, and first gained recognition as an artist by his "Harvesters at Rest,' which was shown at the American Academy of Design in 1877, after having been in the

salon of the previous year. It is only a year since William M. Chase married Miss Gerston, who had often posed as his model.

THE frontispiece of the August number of The Century is a portrait of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, apropos of a paper on "The Songs of the War" by Brander Matthews, which includes authentic accounts of the origin of the most notable of the songs, with autographs, in whole or part, of Randall's "My Maryland," Mrs. Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and Mr. Gibbons's And Three Hundred Thousand More." To this Mrs. Howe adds an account of the circumstances attending the writing of her hymn.

MR. AND MRS. OSMOND TEARLE and their children are at Manchester-by-the-Sea, and The Tribune editorially informs their readers that they (that is, the Tearle family) present a perfect picture of domestic felicity.

I REGRET to record the death, on July 20, of Sylvanus Cobb, Jr., the story writer, who has become widely known through his contributions to The New York Ledger and other papers. Mr. Cobb had been in poor health for some time, and his death was caused by a relapse after having suffered from pneumonia. He was born in Waterville, Me., in 1823. He leaves a widow and two children, at his home in Hyde Park, Boston.

**

I DROPPED in for a little chat with young Sothern, at his rooms in Twenty-third Street, a few mornings since, and found him and his brother Sam" hard at work packing up, preparatory for a few weeks' quiet stay at the Highlands. They have recently come into possession of three trunks stored full of valuable MSS. which have never seen the light of day, owing to the fact that Lord Dundreary died too soon to give them a chance-presumedly. But of these things THE THEATRE shall have more to say anon. I was shown an

old " Day Book," kept by Sothern, senior, when he was at the Lyceum Theatre, in New Orleans, and found the following curious entries. The "Boy." refers to the young man who is now honoring the name of his father in New York theatricals:

AN old friend of mine, Sheldon Pease, lately died in Buffalo. He was the father of the late Alfred Pease, the pianist and composer, and much mourned his son's untimely death. In 1843, Sheldon Pease planned and caused to be built for the propeller Oneida, then on the stocks at Cleveland, the first horizontal tubular boiler used in America. This same boiler, without any essential improvements, is now in use all over America and Europe. A patent placed on his invention would have yielded Mr. Pease millions of dollars in royalty.

longer. Mr. Palmer is now superintending rehearsals of "Welcome Little Stranger," a farce comedy by Mr. Henry Arthur Jones, with which it is proposed to open the regular winter season at the Madison Square. From the synopsis of the plot it seems to bear a close resemblance to "Confusion." Hard Hit," a melodrama by the same author, and Miss Selina Dolaro's play "Fashion," are underlined. "Our Society" will be followed by Elaine," the dramatization of Tennyson's idyl by Mr. George Parsons Lathrop and Mr. Harry Edwards.

The two new plays that have been thus far presented by Mr. Palmer's company are 'Margery's Lovers" and a "Foregone Conclusion." Of them the Chicago Tribune says:. they differ in this: that the former represents a trivial idea passably treated, while the latter embodies a strong dramatic idea expressed in the crudest constructional manner. The Chicago Tribune also says: "An example of dramatic workmanship the most flawless in the range of the modern drama is the first act of Fedora.' Tell its incidents to any living playright but Sardou, and he would never put them in so effective a form as they are at present. But submit the idea that makes the basis of A Foregone Conclusion'—an idea so strong in contrast and so rich in pathos-to any tyro in dramatic composition and it is impossible to imagine his building anything so fatuously abortive as the drama which was tortured out of Mr. Howell's novel."

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When Mr. Salvini, Jr., made his first appearance in New York as Don Ippolito, THE THEATRE predicted that he was the coming actor. Of him the Chicago Tribune says:

One cannot pass by the performance of "A Foregone Conclusion" without referring again to the dramatic strength and the keen directing intelligence shown by the younger Salvini in his treatment of the central character. He played the part of Don Ippolito lovingly, and that is equivalent to saying that he invested it with sympathy, which is the chiefest charm of art. Very delicately and truly did he appreciate the enthusiasm of a child-like nature, the courtesy of the fine Latin temperament; nor was he less happy in portraying the humility, the ardor, and the passion of a warm heart destined to defeat. One never doubted that Mr. Salvini was an actor, but it was somewhat of a surprise to find in him those qualities that so seldom distinguish our native actors-namely: the modesty, the self-repression, and the nice sense of adequacy which belong to those who are not only actors, but artists.

SINCE Mr. Daly left New York with his company for a season in other cities he has met with brilliant triumphs in Boston, Chicago and San Francisco where he is at present. On the first production of "Love in Harness

at Baldwin's theatre, July 18, the receipts of the house were the largest in its history.

UNDER date of June 25, Mr. Charles Milward writes me from London: " Patti's second concert at the Albert Hall was a slight improvement upon the first, but there was ample room for all comers. Concert goers are setting their faces very determinedly against the monstrous terms demanded by this pampered public favorite, and Mr. Henry E. Abbey's latest big spec. with the waning prima donna does not give promise of a brilliant result. I hear, too, that several of the provincial entrepreneurs who had booked Patti for out-of-town concerts, found the demand for tickets so small that they have been compelled to back out of their engagements. Meantime, la diva has shut herself up in her grand Welsh castle, where she lives in semi-royal state, and has her house filled with distinguished loafers and tuft-hunting hangers on. Is Patti played out? Richter is still here, and he has two more concerts to give out of his series of eight. He adheres to his slavish worship of Wagner, and again fills his programmes with Wagnerian compositions, but his short season will yield a profit, and it has certainly proved an artistic success."

THE marriage of Louis XIII. with the sister of Philip IV. made Spanish very fashionable in Paris. After this came an affectation of Italian and English. These foreign scintillations were concentrated in the Hotel Rambouillet, that had such a wide influence in the society of the seventeenth century. The ladies who frequented the hotel took the name of "Precieuses." They made a language for themselves, and other societies were formed in imitation of them. It was against these that Molière directs this clever satire, "Les Precieuses Ridicules," which has been adapted for the American stage by Mrs. C. A. Doremus, and published in this number of THE THEATRE.