Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-02-03 00:00:00

ARGUMENT.

Ever so long ago there existed a remote little kingdom in
the realms of Extravagance called Faraway, which, at the
primitive period to which this story refers, was governed by a
crafty and tyrannical monarch, yclept Squander, whose reckless
and unchecked expenditure (book-keeping being then unknown
and auditors never dreamt of,) had plunged his little king-
dom and his wretched subjects into an abject state of poverty
and want. in order to repl, nish his empty coffers, • and
to stop the murmurs of his impoverished followers, King
Squander conceived the idea of effecting a matrimonial
alliance between his only son, the handsome Prince Golden-
heart, and a wealthy spinster Princess, his ward, whose
charms were buried in her money-bags. Like many modern
match-makers, his Majesty speedily made the discovery teat
his task was more difficult than he had imagined ; for
although the intended bride was quite willing, the bridegroom
elect expressed a decided objection to the alliance. Finding
his son so obstinate that threats and entreaties alike failed to
turn him from his anti-matrimonial purpose, the King de-
vised a cunning s2heme, by which he hoped to overcome the
scruples of his son, and entrap him into wedlock with the
by-no-means beautiful Princess. Having an ungallant idea
that the fair sex were wholly and without exception addicted
to the looking-glass (those in which they could see their own
faces, having been invented about that time), he despatched the
Prince upon his travels, and obtained his royal promise that if
he returned without having discovered a fair maiden who had
never beheld her face in a glass, he would then accept the prof-
fered hand of the obnoxious Princess. Proceeding upon his
novel and apparently hopeless mission, the Prince had almost
-esigned himself to despair, when, wearied and dispirited, he
reached an enchanted forest, and, by the aid of certain good
fairies who dwelt therein, he w s enabled to discover the object
of his search in the person of little Snow-white, a woad nymph,
who, together with her companions, had not only never seen
their own faces in a glass, but' had never seen the face of one
man until the arrival of Prince Golden-heart in their abode,
which was a sequestered dell on the borders of Fairyland.
rhe Prince, overjoyed by his wonderful discovery, was at once
smitten with her beauty, and the maiden was not slow to
reciprocate the sentiment.
Their future was probably a happy one--but history ii obli-
vious of their subsequent career. Certain learned antiquarians,
whose special mission is to attempt to make people believe that
the musty records of past and gone are of more importance to
the living present than the stirring events of the existing gene-
ration, or the onward advancement of the future, are of opinion
that the ancient kingdon of Faraway has been discovered
beneath the Goodwin Sands, and a Limited Liability scheme is
in contemplation for explori: g that highly attractive locality.
By others it is contended that Hilbre Island covers the defunct
kingdom, and this supposition is encouraged by the recent dis-
covery of a fossil, bearing a strong rese üblance to a missing
toothpick, formerly the property of ding Squander. Other
equally learned pundits are of opinion that Faraway is buried
in oblivion, and that it never existed and where but in the
inventive imagination of a needy author.

Harlequin ,
Clown

TRANSFORMATION.
.Mr. W. Waite I Pantaloon.
.Mr. Power Columbine

..Mr. E. Lauri
.Miss 11.Ginty

mfr. The LAST MORNING PERFORMANCE of the
PANTOMIME will be on SATURDAY NEXT, February 4.
Doors open at Half-past One o'clock, commencing at Two.

eZ$" A GRAND MORNING CONCERT, supported by
highly distinguished Artistes will be given in this Theatre on
SATURDAY, Febritary 11.

Admission:---Dress Boxes, 4s. ; Upper Boxes, Ss. ; Pit, 25.;
Gallery, ls.
Doors Opened at Half-past Six, and the Performances com-
mence at Seven o'clock precisely.
The Box-office is Open from Ten to Three, for securing
Seats in the Dress Circle and taking Private Boxes, which may
be had under the direction of Mr. George Weston.