Literature, Science, and Music at an evening party. Total defeat of the two former.] The list of celebrities includes Titiens, Carvalho, Trebelli, Mario, Tamberlik (a heroic tenor, famous for his "_ut de poitrine_"), Giuglini, Faure, Formes, Santley--all of them long dead, except the last, who had, in 1862, just cast in his lot with Italian opera. He took part in the first performance of _Faust_ in England as Valentine, and with such success that Gounod wrote for him the additional number "Dio possente." _Faust_ is a landmark in the annals of opera in England; because it was the first work which shook the allegiance of the fashionable world to the Italian school, and for fifty years at least enjoyed a popularity equal to that of the early Verdi, of Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini, and, judged by the test of performances, greater than that of Mozart or Meyerbeer. _Faust_ was certainly founded on Italian rather than German traditions, but there was much in it that was essentially French, and one turns with curiosity to read how it struck so orthodox and, in some ways, so insular a critic as _Punch_. He treated the opening performance perfunctorily, briefly observing that the opera seemed to suit everyone's taste, but made his _amende_ a month later:-- Thank you, M. Gounod; thank you, Mr. Gye; thank you, Mr. Mapleson.[31] As produced by your exertions _Faust_ is certainly Faust-rate. _Mr. Punch_ makes his apology for not saying so before, but he is not like some clairvoyants who can criticize by foresight. Moreover, such cascades of praise have spouted on all sides that he feared a while to add to the laudatory deluge. Now, having seen and heard and reflected at his leisure, _Punch_ is ready to allow that the shower of superlatives has not fallen undeserved, and he will own that M. Gounod has produced the sweetest, prettiest and pleasantest new opera that, since the first night of _Les Huguenots_, the world has seen brought forth. The only drawback _Mr. Punch_ felt when he witnessed the performance was that M. Gounod had not set the Brocken Scene. With that addition, _Faust_ might have eclipsed _Der Freischütz_, and even without this it is not far inferior. [Footnote 31: _Faust_ was produced at Her Majesty's Theatre (Mapleson) on June 11 and at Covent Garden (Gye) on July 2.] [Sidenote: "_Homeric Catalogue of Singers_"]