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To our youngest imagination she was thus enshrined far away as a Saint of Song: and we wondered, in a youthful way, about her appearance and her career, and mainly about her voice and her lyrical triumphs. Remembering these old readings and wonderings, it was with a kind of bewilderment that we read on the bill in our hand. "Madame Henriette Sontag's first appearance in opera." But before we had time to experience many emotions, M. Eckart was in his seat, and the overture was playing. We do not often notice such perfect discipline in an orchestra. The pleasant prelude of the opera was rendered with a vigor and spirit which were of the happiest auspices for the opera itself. The same care which distinguished the concerts was evident throughout the mounting and the performance of the opera. The orchestra was never better drilled, the choruses were exact, and only a little tame by reason of their apprehension,-the costumes and stage-appointments generally, admirable, except that we were sorry that the Prima Donna, obliged as she naturally is to consult every means of assisting the sound of her voice, dispensed with the carpet in the second act. It was unpleasant to see so unquestioned a lady literally treading the boards.

To leave our postulates, however, Sontag's success was also unequivocal. The first act, comprising the military part, was not brilliant. The effort was too obvious; the drum scene was omitted, and the music lay, generally, out of the available range of the singer's voice. The second act, with the music lesson, was as fine a piece of lyrical acting as we remember, and received the genuine and enthusiastic approbation of an appreciating as well as an immense audience. Unfortunately, as we think, Alary's singing polka was introduced as a finale: a pretty piece, but lacking all the breadth and brilliancy proper in such a finale. With the whole range of bravura open to her, Madame Sontag should have selected something more effective. It was exquisitely sung, of course, and the curtain fell amid universal applause. The fine finish of all the details of presenting the opera had their type in that of the Prima Donna's acting and singing. It is a somewhat difficult rôle, for the intrinsic lady must never be lost in the saucy minx; in which case, the first act would be coarse and unpleasing. Sontag fully comprehends this, and gives the character its arch coquetry, in such a manner, that we are not surprised when the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, and the rich watered silk of the lady replaces the red stuff of the Vivandiere;

nor,

which is the test of the artist's success, do we yearn for the days of the red stuff and the rat-a-plan, which would destroy the proper unity and development of the plot.

Without doubt, Sontag has never acted so well as here. We saw her début in the same part in London, and she was then cold and unimpressive. Her rendering smacked altogether too much of the lady, and very little of the artist. She has felt here that nothing was to be lost nor risked. Her first opera night in New-York was, in some degree, the crisis of her American career. Had she failed, the torrent of enthusiasm for her rival would have swept away her chance of recovering favor. Sontag has reached the point at which no step lost can be regained. We congratulate her sincerely that she has not lost it. Her polished, we might say, burnished method, so highly and rigorously is it cultivated, makes the most of her voice, and her elaborate manner only the more ornaments it; but we have now reached that terrible BUT. We may as well say it at once, and abide by our opinion. It is better to hear Alboni sing one good song, than Sontag through an opera. In singing, after all, and in opera, of which the pith is song, the first absolute requisite is voice. Then, a fine delivery of it; that is, proper cultivation. Then, dramatic power; although that is the least essential of the three in an opera; of these Alboni has always confessedly had both the first in ample measure, and she has now proved that she has the last. Sontag has always confessedly had both the last in a remarkable degree, but can never again have the first.

Our limits forbid us to devote more space to self-gratulation upon the favor of the presence of these two singers. They have quite monopolized the musical interest of the month. Gottschalk, the Creole, a pianist of peculiar talent, who has made a name in Paris, is now among us. It is so long since we have had a remarkable virtuoso upon that instrument, that, if he be really something new, as well as good, he will be welcomed.

The interest in Mr. Fry's admirable lectures hardly continues. There is a decline in the attendance which ought not to surprise us. We had hoped that the great intrinsic value of the course would have interested the public even through ten weeks; but we had not thought of Sontag and Alboni, in their present tournay. Yet we must repeat what we said last month, that these lectures are full of instruction and interest, and that any one who will do so good a work for us, on so generous a scale, richly deserves the utmost suc success. In Boston, among much

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PUTNAM'S MONTHLY.

A Magazine of Literature, Science, and Art.

VOL. I.-MARCH 1853.-NO. III.

JAPAN.

OFF the Eastern shore of the continent

of Asia, and bounding the Pacific Ocean on the West, between the parallels of 31° and 45° North latitude, and in longitude between 130° and 150° East from Greenwich; stretching a North-East and South-West course, the navigator betwixt San Francisco and China must pass by the islands of the empire of Japan. He looks wistfully upon the lofty mountains, verdant and cultivated to their very top; thinks upon the pleasant valleys, growing fruits and corn, so thick that they laugh and sing," longs to be released from being tossed to and fro on the waves, and to see the gallant ship resting on her shadow in the placid bays; or, if embarked on the ocean steamers that are cleaving the waters of the Pacific, he turns to the lessened pile of coals, almost exhausted by his voyage of five thousand miles, and calls to mind the beds of coal which are (in the language of Mr. Webster) "a gift of Providence, deposited by the Creator of all things in the depths of the Japanese Islands for the benefit of the human family," and yet knows that fuel, and food, and repose, and refreshment are all denied him; the ports shut against him; commerce interdicted, even to the purchase of bread and water; while, in case of his shipwreck on these inhospitable shores, he would be caught and caged, treated as a malefactor, and doomed to hopeless imprisonment by a people, not barbarous, but intelligent and refined, far above the inhabitants of other provinces in Asia; whose laws and customs, fixed as "the laws of the Medes and Persians," put constraint on the humanity of the Japanese, compelling their barbarous treatment of all stranger;-she would invoke the mercy of the God of nations, he would demand the lawful exercise of the power of his native country, to interpose VOL. I.-16

the majesty of their might, both to shield the shipwrecked and to prosper the adventurous sailors. That prayer is gone up on high. An armament, under the flag of these United States, is already on the waters, to plead with arguments of reason and of gunpowder, for the accomplishment of these grand objects. The eyes of Europe are attentive to the operations of the American fleet. The Expedition to Japan has elicited remarks from diplomatic agents, from writers in rcviews, from men in the ranks of commerce, from all who desire the extension of civilization and Christianity.

It is becoming to the intelligence of the American community that they be informed on the subject of Japan. Whatever method be chosen to diffuse information-whether by the press, in books; or by reviews in quarterly and monthly periodicals, and by leaders in daily newspapers; or by oral teaching in lectures before lyceums and scientific societies-we hail the contributor with a cordial welcome, and we will do our part to spread the knowledge among the inquiring public of this free land.

But books on Japan are scarce; or were so a few months ago. Loaked in the archives of the Jesuit mission rooms; hidden under the unfamiliar language of Holland or of Russia; buried beneath the dust of the library of the East India Company; and burrowing deep on the shelves of the largest libraries, might be found the only extant annals of the Japanese. Translations of these documents had been made, but where to find them. was a knotty question. But our cunning booksellers, scenting the public curiosity afar off, have set on foot a search, successfully; exhuming old "Kampfer," the Dutch chronicler; rubbing up the faded covers of "Golownin," the Russian cap

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tive; calling to life the letters of "William Adams," the stout old English pilot, made prime minister of Japan; producing the volumes of the Jesuit missionaries; offering for sale "Best Accounts of the Japanese Language ;" with, now and then, a "Bibliotheca Japonica ;" with "Grammars" and "Vocabularies;" interspersed, prettily, with "Papers on Japanese dialects, grammar and poetry;" with, finally,

The first part of a great Japanese dictionary, by Dr. Pfitzmaier," published at Vienna, by order and at the expense of the Austrian government. These books, in Latin, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch, German and English, varying in date from 1560 to 1838, are succeeded by the very best of them all for popular and present use, in the volume of Charles McFarlane, Esq., entitled "Japan: an Account, Geographical and Historical, from the earliest period down to the present time and the EXPEDITION FITTED OUT IN THE UNITED STATES," A. D. 1852: republished by Putnam & Co., New-York. The old mercantile maxim holds good in literature. "Demand creates supply." Our booksellers ought to thank President Fillmore for opening a new channel of trade in books, as well as for the attempt to open Japan.

We have no doubt that the map of Asia, of late, has attracted the eyes of very many American boys and girls.

These little freemen and little freewomen have indulged themselves in an "exploring expedition" after Japan on the atlas. The terrestrial globe (provided there be so useful a piece of household furniture), has been fetched from the corner, placed on the centre-table, and turned round and round, to trace the course of the fleet of steamers and sailing ships, under the command of Com. Perry, bound for Japan, about which papa has just been reading from the evening newspaper. All that these urchins had known of Japan, is as an adjective to varnish; or as the title of some pretty furniture, black and shining, embellished, perchance, with men in leggings, with handsome women sitting "tailor fashion," and the never-absent stork. But now "Young America" is becoming familiar with Japan as AN EM

PIRE.

On the map, these islands look like so many stepping-stones from the peninsula of Corea to the peninsula of Kamtschatka. They are links of a vast volcanic chain, joining these two peninsulas; constituting the Western border of the Pacific Ocean, and forming inland seas of the waters that wash the Eastern shores of the continent of Asia. The Southernmost of these closed seas is called the

Sea of Japan. At its Southern extremity the Strait of Corea unites it with the Tong-Hai, or Eastern Sea of the Chinese.

Starting from Kamtschatka, we step on the range of the Kurile Islands. They are very numerous, but only nineteen are large enough to be noted. The Northern are occupied and governed by Russian authority; the Southern, the principal one of which is Jesso, by the Japanese. JAPAN proper consists of the three large islands South-West of Jesso, to wit, Niphon, Sitkokf, and Kiusu or Kewsew. The Japanese empire includes Japan proper and the Kurilian islands. The Strait of Sangar divides the islands Jesso and Niphon. It is the largest strait between the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean. Niphon, on the South-East, is separated from Sitkokf by the Strait of Simonosiki; on the South, the Suwo Sound intervenes between Niphon and Kewsew; the Bungo channel divides Kewsew and Sitkokf. Kewsew, the most Southern and Western of the group, is said to be the first portion of this earth, that one of the Kami (the Japanese Celestial Divinities), a descendant of the Sun-goddess, created and made. This one of the Celestials had a wife. In their domestic conference they determined to enlarge their territory. The Divinity plunged his spear into the chaos below; withdrawing it, drops trickled down its length, and, congealing, formed the Island of Kewsew. But this is running away from our atlas into the religious traditions of Japan. Kewsew is about two hundred miles long, with an average breadth of eighty miles, or a surface of sixteen thousand square miles. The chief harbor on this island is Nangasaki, in 32° 45' North latitude, on the parallel of Charleston, South Carolina. To this port all foreign trade is now confined. It is restricted to the Dutch, under very stringent regulations.

Sitkokf is one hundred and fifty miles long, and seventy miles wide, containing about ten thousand square miles. This island is the least interesting of all the group.

Niphon, the chief island, is nine hundred miles long, and one hundred miles in average width. It contains about one hundred thousand square miles of fertile and well cultivated soil.

Niphon is the seat of empire. The ecclesiastical or spiritual emperor has the personal title of Mihado. He is also called the Dairi, from the "Gates" of the palace; as we say, "the Sublime Porte," the title of the Turkish court. The Mihado resides at Miaco.

The secular emperor is styled Ziogun (commander-in-chief), or Koboe (sover

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eign). He has his court at Jeddo. The harbors of Niphon towards the Pacific are Osacca, on the South, corresponding to Norfolk, Virginia, in latitude 35°; Jeddo, on the East and middle of the island, corresponding to Baltimore, Maryland, in latitude 36°. Jesso, North of Niphon, the largest of the Kurilian islands, is two hundred and fifty miles long and one hundred miles wide, containing twenty-five thousand square miles. The chief harbor is Matsmai, in latitude 42o, corresponding to Boston, Massachusetts. This island resembles Ireland, both in geographical and political relationship. The climate of Japan is much like that of Great Britain. Indeed, there springs a thought of likeness between the Japanese and British empires. The mind leaps to a coming age, when Japan shall be, under the sanctifying processes of pure Christianity, the Britain of the Pacific Ocean. The three islands of Japan proper, with the dependencies among the Kurile group, are estimated to contain one hundred and sixty thousand square miles. The sea, besides numerous rocks, embosoms dangerous whirlpools.

No part of the ocean is subject to heavier gales. None is so enveloped in fogs as the seas surrounding Japan. Hence it is that navigation is peculiarly dangerous. Our whalers and merchantmen are imminently liable to shipwreck on the coasts of Japan. Like most volcanic islands, the face of the country is mountainous, and the hills run down close to the shore. Recent Dutch writers estimate the height of one mountain to be twelve thousand French feet; as high almost as the peak of Teneriffe.

From the peculiar form of these islands, they have no large rivers. Such as they have are exceedingly rapid. The most considerable and important is the Yedogawa in Niphon, rising in the beautiful lake Oity, and thence running South-East to the city of Miaco, passing an extensive plain to the Bay of Osacca. This river is navigable by river barges. Boating is there a favorite amusement. We cannot refrain from inserting here the account of life and manners, given us by the susceptible Mr. Fischer, the Dutch Secretary:

"In the great world of Japan the young ladies find delight in winter at their social meetings, in every description of fine work, the fabrication of pretty boxes, artificial flowers, painting of fans, birds, and animals, pocket-books, purses, plaiting thread for the head-dress, all for the favorite use of giving as presents. Such

employments serve to while away the long winter evenings.

"In the spring, on the other hand, they participate, with eagerness in all kinds of out-door and rural amusements. Of these the choicest are afforded by the pleasure-boats, which, adorned with the utmost cost and beauty, cover their lakes and rivers. In the enjoyment of society and music, they glide in these vessels from noon till late in the night, realizing the rapturous strains of the author of Lalla Rookh:

'O best of delights, as it every where is,

To be near the loved one! What a rapture is his, Who by moonlight and music, thus idly may glide O'er the Lake of Cashmere with that one by his side.'

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"This is an enjoyment," he continues, "which can be shared only under the advantages of such a climate and scenery; viz., the climate of Nice and the scenery of Lugano. Their lakes and rivers, after sunset, are one blaze or illumination, as it were, with the brightly-colored paper lanterns displayed in their vessels." A floating figure is also placed in a vase of water: as the water is stirred by the motion of the boat, the figure moves. The guests sing to the guitar the strain 'Anataya modamada''He floats, he is not still-till at last the puppet rests opposite some one of the party, whom it sentences to drain the sackee bowl, as the pleasing forfeit of the game. All this stands out in cheerful contrast to the dull debaucheries of the men and the childish diversions of the women among other Oriental nations. The female sex in Ja pan at least, have greatly the advantage over the scandal of the Turkish bath; and the man has, equally with the Turk, the resource of his pipe, in the intervals of those better enjoyments which the admission of the female sex into society affords him, and which are prohibited to the Mussulman."*

McFarlane speaks rapturously of "these captivating and delicious pictures of life and manners." He confesses that the encomiums of his old friend James Drummond, Esq., on the elegance and fascinations of the ladies "first excited him to a deep and lively interest in the subject of Japan." They may serve also to give us a tenderer sentiment towards that country. In manners not only, but in taste and character, it is woman that makes the man. "Where the gentler sex are graceful, elegant and refined, the other sex are never found to be coarse, ungainly and vulgar."

The Japanese gentleman is described as enjoying social and convivial pleasure,

*Fischer's "apan," quoted by McFarlane, p. 279.

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