a n d vocal, w a s really enchanting, a n d the b e a u t y a n d fashion of the period w e r e so largely represented that it seemed a perfect Paradise." O n the 18th of the same month Mr. Nathan, a musical composer of some celebrity from Sydney, gave a grand vocal concert at the same place. This was so select, that full dress costume yvas enjoined from visitors, whilst tickets of admittance were (single) 15s., and family ones (for two) one guinea. The attendance was too circumscribed to be profitable to the professional treasury, a circumstance not much to be yvondered at. OLD TOWN BANDS. The first Town Band in Melbourne was formed in 1839, and consisted of about a dozen players, the names and instruments of some of them being :—Milstead, bass trombone; Oliver, tenor trombone • Browne, bassoon ; Griffiths and Tickel, key bugles (cornets being then unknoyvn); Picknell and Smith, clarionets; Drane, piccolo; Holley and Wilkinson,flutes;Anderson (a man of colour, yclept "Black Jack"), big drum ; Hamilton, side-drum ; and Samuel, triangle. George Tickel, a plasterer by trade, yvas the leader. Some old colonists will remember his achievements at many of the early land sales, and, as liquors of all descriptions were provided by the auctioneers, poor Tickel acquired a habit of drinking, yvhich shortened his days. The band made itsfirstpublic appearance in the streets of Melbourne late on Christmas Eve, starting from the Golden Fleece, an hotel of dubious belongings, in Bourke Street, near Kirk's Bazaar. Mr. H. N. Carrington, a then yvell-knoyvn attorney, and resident in Lonsdale Street, gave them an acceptable greeting by rolling out a cask of wine into the street, and the welcome Christmas-box was quickly tapped and disposed of. In Spencer Street, adjoining what was known as " the Government block," yvas a stockade of convicts employed on street-making. These fellows, not knoyving what was up, sallied forth in a rather undress condition, and, dashing by the half-drunk, sleepy sentry or two supposed to be "on guard," struck in with the moving assemblage, and added a neyv feature to the procession. In Little Flinders Street, then a locality of importance, the Ship Lnn was kept by a jolly-faced, free-handed Boniface named Lee, and here, after a promiscuous liquoring up, and making other festive calls of a like kind, a noisy dispersion wound up the serenading. A second and more select band yvas organized in 1841, of yvhich the Messrs. Middlemiss, Mr. Stainsby, and Mr. Roberts (of a well-known firm, Roberts and Fergusson) yvere members.
THE FIRST MENAGERIE.
In March, 1847, there was opened in a wooden building, at the corner of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets, opposite the Post Office, a wild beast exhibition, but the enterprise was compelled to shut up shop, and of the future of the elephant and his companions in captivity history sayeth nothing.
THE FIRST CIRCUS.
In the beginning of 1849 there yvas an area of unoccupied land at the south side of Little Bourke Street East, between Russell and Stephen Streets, in the neighbourhood of a rowdy tavern, known as the Horse and Jockey, and which in after time became the most malignant ulcer of Melbourne back slumdom. 1'his was selected by a Mr. Hayes as the most suitable place for a canvas pavilion, and made such progress that by April everything was ready for action—horses, lady and gentleman "jocks," ground and lofty tumblers, and divers and sundry other accessories. The establishment was to be an Antipodean " Astley's," and application was made to the Superintendent for a license. This was referred by Mr. Latrobe to the local Bench of Magistrates, whereupon other amusement managers urged strong objections to Hayes, the principal one being that a circus should be in a more convenient, central, and reputable position. Mr. J. T. Smith, the proprietor of the Queen Street Theatre, considered that if there yvas to be a circus he ought to have a monopoly, and he offered to attach one to his play-house ; whilst a Mr. Powell Courtier, known as the "Fire King," from his self-vaunted skill in pyrotechnic displays, and who had obtained a small
