There is no thinness about "_Ben Mio_," whether
considered as a man, or as a good all-round tenor. I did not envy
_Ivanhoe's_ marvellous power of sleep while Miss MACINTYRE was singing
her best, her sweetest, and her loudest. For my part I prefer to
believe that the crafty Saxon was "only purtendin'," and was no more
asleep than _Josh Sedley_ on the eve of Waterloo, or the Fat Boy when
he surprised _Mr. Tupman_ and _Aunt Rachel_ in the arbour, or when he
pinched _Mr. Pickwick's_ leg in order to attract his attention. But,
after all, _Ivanhoe_ and _Rowena_, as THACKERAY remarked, are a poor
namby-pamby pair, and the real heroine is _Rebecca_. The Opera ends
with a "Rebecca Riot." Every one wishes success to the new venture.
[Illustration: "A1" Saxon Friar.]
As to the Music,--well, I am not a musician, and in any new Opera when
there is no one tuneful phrase as in _Aida_ or _Tannhaeuser_, which, at
the very first hearing, anyone with half an ear can straightway catch,
and reproduce next day till everyone about him cries, "Oh don't!" and
when, as in this instance, the conducting-composer, Wagnerianly, will
not permit _encores_--where am I? Nowhere.
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