The Express.
London, England, 1853-12-27 00:00:00

SADLER'S WELLS.

The piece chows at this temple of dramatic " high
art" as a foil to the holiday portion of the entertainment
was The Lady of Lyons. All things considered the piece
obtained as fair • hearing se it is in the nature of things
for a first piece to receive on boxing night. The " gods,"
indeed, whose warmth of sentiment so peculiarly and appro-
priately marks their heavenly character, did not fail to in-
quire after the health of friends and generally to wish each
other the compliments of the season, without paying any
particular regard to the distance which separated the indi-
viduals exchanging these mutual civilities. Beyond this
and as occasional end ,on the past of an originalgenius,
to ascertain whether some fellow occupant of the gallery
felt wholly placid, generally followed by an at-
tempt to disturb that serenity by pelting& of orange
peel, there was nothing material to charge against
any portion of the audience on the more of
ill-behaviour. The morrows and joys of Claude Malnotts
and Pauline Deechappellee being ended " to the satisfaction
of all parties concerned," the curtain rose and brought to
view the first scene of that which the playbill tells us—per-
haps with an intention of coaciliating as well the more re-
forming portion of the community as those who think with
• well known noble lord, that the " Old old hate" are
better than the " old hate"—is a " new" grand " old"
English pantomime, entitled, Harlequin Tens Thumb ; or,
Gog and Magog and Mother Goose's Golden Goslings.
Prior, however, to the first scene the overture, in which
were inserted " The Low-backed Car," and " Pop Goes
the Weasel," gave immense satisfaction ; a large portion of
the audience aiding with their voices, the by no means over
extensive orchestra, while their favourite melodies were
played. Upon the rising of the curtain, Gog and
Magog are " discovered, " lamenting something,
apparently the progress of modern improvement,
and "speak of somebody and you'll see his tail" being
always literally true in a pantomime, Progress appears and
changes the scene to the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. After
a little more bewsilmeat, Gog and Magog depart—why
they ever came is a secret best known to themselves and
the inventor of the pantomime. In an equally mysterious
manner Mother Goose appears upon the stage, and the
subject of • pantomime is broached ; whereupon the golden
I trading, also appear, each bearing in his mouth a letter,
These letters, when duly placed, form the words " Tom
Thumb." The subject of the pantomime being resolved
upon, a dance, of course, takes place to celebrate that event.
This dance was by children, and was very neatly executed.
The dance being concluded, and the clouds in which it took
place " cleared away," we are introduced to the interior of

Gaffer Thumb's cottage, as well as to that personage him-
self sad Mrs.Thusab. The antics then goes forward according
to the programme given in yesterday's Daily New, until the
transformations take place. The Columbine was Miss Caro-
line Parkas ; Mr. C. Pentoa was Harlequin ; Clown, Pan-
taloon, and an ambiguous iadividual called Whirligig, were
respectively represented by Mr. N. Deulin, Mr. Naylor,
sad Herr W. Moleno. The harlequinade then followed.
Th• hits upon events passed and passing were tolerably fre-
quent. The most telling appeared to be those in which the
City testimonial to Prince Albert, the moustache move-
meat, and the rate of hotel charges, were touched upon-
In one instance, a direct reference was made to the cabinet
and the Russian difficulty. A cue was brought in labelled
"A new weapon of war from Aberdeen"; t►is wu trans-
formed, by the Harlequin, into "Government stationary."
One feature in the piece was somewhat remarkable. It oc-
curred in some clever slack-rope work by Herr Moleno.
After performing various evolutions with much skill, the
Herr simulated the operation of hanging by means of •
padded rope, on which he rested the back of his head. This
is certaialy a feature which may well be dispensed with on
future occasions; for not only is at an ungainly and dan-
gerous operation, but the only notice it met with was the
hisses of several of the audience. Having thus briefly

sketched the outline of the evening's entertainment, the
reader may be left to fill in the details at his leisure. There
is no need to tell how butter-boys were robbed,
how policemen were waylaid, or how there was •
general melee, arising in the meet unexpected manner.
Suffice it to say that the clown, after sowing his wild oats as
clowns are accustomed to do; that pantaloon, after bearing
those ills bellied " with true pantomimic composure, and
that harlequin and columbine, after making desperate love,
found themselves at last, with their attendant sprites, in
those bright realms where it is happiness to inhale the
fumes of red fire, and, literally as figuratively, the very
tip-top of bliss, to spin heels uppermost upon a pole.