After some unavoidable delay, the season opened on Saturday the 8th March, with the promised opera of "Ernani." That it excited the general enthusiasm awarded to it so lavishly in Italy, cannot be asserted; that it was a failure, may be emphatically denied. The general result of this first introduction of Verdi to the English public was a feeling of hesitation and doubt; or as some one drolly said at the time, the "Well! I don't know's" had it!” The English are tardy in the appreciation of any kind of novelty, and the reception of Verdi's opera was only in accordance with the national habit. It is well-known that a taste for this composer's music has survived all the opposition of an earlier period, and that he is now generally popular among the musical amateurs in this country. Whatever their intrinsic merits, his operas have achieved a widely-spread success, as pro- vincial theatres and music halls can testify throughout the land; and there can be no doubt that whatever his alleged short-comings in some respects, he has at command passion, fire, and strong dramatic effect.