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| [P.O. Box 2783.] |
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[Illustration: AT THE MERCANTILE LIBRARY.

_Mr. Nottmuch_, (to Clerk in Library.) "I SEE BY YOUR CIRCULAR THAT
VISITORS OF DISTINCTION HAVE FREE ACCESS TO YOUR READING-ROOM, AND AS I
HAVE CONTRIBUTED A STORY TO THE 'WAYERLY MAGAZINE,'" etc.

_Nottmuch_, (having obtained access to the reading-room.) "A VERY PRETTY
GIRL, THAT SUPERINTENDENT! HAS SHE PERUSED MY STORY, OR DO I DAZZLE HER
WITH MY LOOKS? HA! SHE RISES!----."

_Lady Superintendent_. (blandly but firmly). "EXCUSE ME, SIR, BUT IT'S
AGAINST THE RULES FOR GENTLEMEN TO PLACE THEIR FEET ON CHAIRS."]

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HIGH NOTES BY OUR MUSICAL CRITIC.

PUNCHINELLO'S critic, always the friend of fair-play, resents the
insinuation that Mr. CARL ROSA has been a careless director of Opera.
The truth is that Mr. ROSA has not produced the smallest work without a
great deal of Preparation.

FLOTOW'S _Shadow_ is to be brought out in London. It will not stand the
ghost of a chance unless well mounted. Music light and sketchy;
remarkable for a Chorus of Fishermen, well known as the "Shad oh! song."

_Lohengrin_ has had a run of eight nights at Brussels, with average
receipts of little less than four thousand francs. This sort of tune is
the only one in the music of the Future which managers can understand.
Nevertheless Herr WAGNER is not out of spirits. Intent upon laying the
foundations of future wealth and fame, he can lay Low and Grin. Brussels
gold will serve him as well as _Rheingold_.

The difference between BACH'S music find a music-box is yet an unsettled
conundrum. Such is likely to be the fate of the question raised with so
much temper over the Passion Music of that great man by the English
critics. Shame on all critics that condemn MOZART as a fogy and BACH as
a nuisance. Of course it is going back on BACH with a vengeance, but
what sympathy can exist between the old fuguemakers and the modern
high-flyers?

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