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

CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENTS.

The business of to-day in recreation. The opera-
tions of business are suspended or compressed to the
smallest dimensions, so that the employed may not lose 012111
of their accustomed days of relief. The hearty frankness
with which this concession htis been made by the heads of

the mercantile and trading establishments g e Ily is a re-
markable and a very pleasant sign of tha times. In the
public offices and in some of Ole higher mercantile estab-
lishments more difficulty has had to be encountered, but the
cessation from business will be very general. The Poet-
office will have no delivery after 12 o'clock. There will be al
Corn Exchange, nor, indeed, will any of the markets be
open except Smithfield. The Custom-house will be closed
in deference to the wishes of the dock companies, and in-
structions have been issued to the authorities of the outports
to follow the same course as in London, if the merchants
should express a desire to that effect. The committee of
the Stock Exchange have passed a resolution not to open
the " house." The transfer office if the Bank of England
will also be closed ; and as the bankers presented bills on
Saturday, and were enabled to collect a large amount, the
holiday will be very general.

The usual caterers for the public amusements have not
neglected this very unusual opportunity. The Sunday
papers of yesterday give notices of the different Christmas
pieces, amongst which will be the following:
HAYMARKET.

Mr. Buckstene comes before the public with a new ver-
sion of a popular fairy tale, of which the authorship is attri-
buted to Southey. Its title is Harlequin and the Three
Bears ; or, Little Siloerhair and the Fairies. Little Sil-
verhair, wandering in the forest, is attracted by sweet
melody to the " Lotus Lake, the abode of Victoria Regis,
the Queen of the Water Lilies." The pretty little intruder
is received by the fairies with the utmost delight; they
feast her with d►inties, and she remains with her enter-
' tamers till morning. Little Silverhair having thus uncon-
sciously been made the means of prolonging the existence of
the fairy band for another century, returns home quite
changed in her nature, having, during her brief association
with the fairies, become possessed of an insatiable curiosity
and a propensity for meddling with everything she sees.
Squire Alldibe, the landlord of the place where Silverhair
and her mother reside, courts the girl, but her affections
are bestowed on Sweet William, a brisk young sailor just
come home (rem sea. She snatches the presents brought her
by the rival suitors, and runs into the forest, where she comes
upon the house of the Three Bears, while the hot porridge
which they had prepared for breakfast is cooling. The
grumbling of the bears at finding their chairs sat upon,
their porridge eaten, and their beds disturbed, is nest the
most vivid reminiscence of the nursery. The bear having
at list caught Silverhair, and being about to cut off her
head, she begs that they will give her a hammer and a
long nail before she dies. The bears consent, and the sly
little gipsy takes advantage of their eonfidexce by nailing
their three tails together to the floor. By a superursine effort,
however, the bears break away from their fastening,
and again seise her. At this moment, when her death ap-
pears inevitable, the fairy Queen makes her appearance,
and the transformations lake place. The concluding

scene of the harlequinade is the British fleet at Spithead,
going out to sea, led by the Queen of England in her yacht
the Fury."

PRINCESS'S.

The attraction held out by the management of this
theatre is a comic Pantomime, entitled Harlequin aid
the Miller and hie Men; or King Salamander and the Fairy
of ti. A-sire Lake. Great liberties have, however, been
taken with the original text of Pucock's melodrama. The
pantomime commences with the scene of the Azure Lake,
in which the fairy (King Salamander's natural foe, and
always throwing cold water on every thing he does) in-
forms her nymphs and royal body guard of " picked men
all " that, having got into hot water respecting Griadoff,
the miller, with &demander, she has despatched John
Dory (her Envoy Plenipotentiary) to her enemy's court,
with a declaration of war. The scene changes to the
Palace of King Salamander, where his fiery ma-
jesty receives John Dory and his despatches. The lat-
ter is only saved from being despatched himself by the
timely_ arrival of the fairy army. The latter achieves
a victory over the Fire King's forces; upon which Salaman-
der requests, as a last chance, that he may be allowed to
visit the earth *gaits for the purpose of rendering assistance
to the mortal Grindoff. This wish is acceded to, and the
audience are immediately carried to the banks of a river
on the terrestrial sphere, with Kelmar's cottage, " the
Jolly Anglers," and distant view of Grindoits mill. The
consecutive scene is the mill. The Fairy of the Azure Lake
makes her appearance in the chat acter of the miller's
guardian angel, and frustrates the machinationsof Salaman-
der. An extensive change then takes place at the milli
which finally fades from the view, and discovers " the
enchanted realms of Fairyland." In this scene the trans-
formation occurs.