The Express.
London, England, 1853-12-26 00:00:00

SURREY.

With the aid of Alfred CrowquiD, the story of " kicg
Mutliu " has been made the subject of a pantomime.
ASTLEY'S.

Mr. Nelson Lee has harlequinised Old Bidy Btdio,.b .10141,
step to Bretalfurd. After a fairy induction, we are introduced
to " Billy Button's Apartment." Billy receives a letter for
his vote, enclosing ten pounds for his journey to Brentford.
After many mishaps, he dresses in his beet, and proceeds to
a livery stable, where he inquires of Mr. flocus, a knowing
horse dealer, for a quiet animal to take him to Brentford.
One is brought, and Billy tries to mount, but the
horse begins kicking and gallops off with his terrified rider.
We next arrive at the " Interior of a Toilur's Shop," with
nine tailors stitching away, when Billy Button plunges in
with his horse, smashing the window, and causing the ut-
most consternation among the tailors. We then find our-
selves at the hustings in Brentford town. Speechmaking
and heads breaking are the order of the day. The great
hero of the fun arrives clinging to the neck of his steed,
who, being engaged to take him to the kuetings, does so,
and throws hint off there. This incident brings to his aid
the Fairy Queen, who transforms the characters.
STRAND.

Boxing-night is to be celebrated by an entertainment
lefeunded on one of Hoffman's fairy tales, and entitled Har-
pist and Ksng Nutcracker; or, the World of Toys. The first
scene inculcates a sanitary lesson, by representing the ar-
rival of the spirit Malaria at the dwelling of poor Reinhold,
and its ultimate defeat and disappearance, ur.der the in-
fluence of the fairy Abernethia, who is perpetual chair-
woman of the Industry and Good Health Association. Next
we are taken to the Town of Toys, where King Nutcracker
arrives, attended by the kernels of his various regiments,
cpmposed of picked men from the best toy-boxes in the
Lowther-arcade, and other equally celebrated military
depots. The town is afterwards besieged by General
Bonbon at the head of artillery, and a gun laden with
brandy balls and a variety of other equally dangerous mis-
siles, such as peppermint-drops and ladies' fingers, having
been discharged against the battlements, the inhabitants
gladly capitulate. The anis al of the fairy Abernethia
puts an end to the hostilities, and the usual transformations
take place.

Amongst the other exhibitions now open few will, per-
haps, be more popular than Mr. Wyld's Great Globe,
Leicester-square, where lectures upon the Arctic Regions,
the stat of war in the East, and every other incident of
public importance, are added to its various other attractions•
The Polytechnic Institution has its usual combination of
information and amusement. The Gallery of Illustration,
Regent street, continues its succession of pictorial and
dioramic novelties. Mr. Albert Smith has returned with
the congenial frost and snow of the last week or two, and is
as amusing as ever in his descriptions of the anent
of Mont Blanc. Fur the scientific and for those
who delight in wax-work, there is Dr. Kahn's
Anatomical Museum, and Madame Tussaud's Exhibition.
Mr. Henry Hatch buys a " Tourist's Ti.ket " for the ac-
commodation of his visitors, whom he takes on a panoramic,
musical, and descriptive tour through Ireland ; and Mrs.
Gibbs, near the Polytechnic, mixes legends, traditions,
anecdotes, and ballads, with her pretty scenery and descrip-
time of some of the wildest and most beautiful of Irish
scenery. For the lovers of really fine music, there is the
Hungarian Band, Adelaide Theatre. A rival promenade
concert room has been opened by M. Moriato, at St. Mar-
tin's Hall, Long acre, and we have no doubt it will also
have its full share of visitors during the holidays. In Lei-
cester-square, Burford's Panormnu are still as attractive as
ever, the present being a very effective view of Constanti-
nople, with the English and French fleets and all the details
of the magnificent scenery of the locality. The Colosseum
and Cyclorama are so well known, and so generally ad-
mired, as to scarce need cur commendation. To the young
holiday folk the frost will be no obstacle to a visit to the
gardens of the Zoological Society, where the greater part
of • forenoon may be pleasantly and profitably passed.
Nor, lastly, should the exhibition of the drawings of the
students in the Schools of Art, now open at Kensington
Gore, be forgotten. The admission to-day will be by
ticket ; afterwards it will be free.

CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE WORKHOUSES.—Yester-
day tlie inmates of the different metropolitan and suburban
workhouses wets liberally regaled wish Christmas fare. A
comparison of the returns of last year shows a tendency to
increase in the amount of metropolitan pauperism, although
there are only three unions in which the amount of that
increase is at present considerable. In St. Pancru alone
there is an increase of 1,576 persons receiving relief. The
total number receiving relief is at present about 100,000.

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR'S HOLIDAYS AT MAN-
CHESTER.—The Stock Exchange at Manchester is to be
clewed today, and else on the 2nd January. Most of the
large mercantile and manufActuring firms have given notice
of a similar course, and these holidays are expected to be
generally observed. The banks open for a few hours on
account of bills falling due on those days.