The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-11 00:00:00

THEATRE ROYAL, DRU.RY-LANE.

The announcement of Mr. Charles Mathews' appear-
. ance at this house in a
.three-act comedy, assisted by
some of the more prominent members of the Lyceum
company, who have faithfully followed the fortunes of
their leader, attracted an enthusiastic and overflowing
house. Married for Money, the new piece, is a modern
adaptation of an older play, The Wealthy Widow, and
when the curtain drew up upon Mr. Mopus in a draw-
ing-room, which showed that the taste and elegance of
the Lyceum had been transplanted to " Old Drury," the
warm and protracted welcome of the audience to their
old favourite was such as is rarely witnessed in London.
The story of the piece will doubtless be remembered.
Its moral is directed against marriages between persons
of very unequal age, and the person to whom the task
of conveying ethical instruction is confided is a young
rake of five-and-twenty, who, having married a widow
of fifty for the sake of her money, finds himself a
domestic slave, despised by even his own -servants,
till, during the period of a short arrest, he contrives
to get drunk in a sponging-house, and, returning home,
asserts his marital supremacy on the strength of the
liquor. At the present day this tale, even with the ad-
ditional interest of an old gentleman who first intends to
espouse the elderly lady's daughter, but is scared from
his purpose by the bickerings of the married couple,
seems but a meagre foundation for three acts ; but there
was such a charm in the manner in which Mr. Charles
Mathews rattled the chain of domestic captivity, ren-
dered fearfully tight by the stern resolution of Mrs.
Frank Matthews, that it was impossible for a piece to
go off more pleasantly. Mr. Younge, too, was a good
hearty old soul as the venerable sui-or ; Miss M. Oliver
was a remarkably spirited young la.iy, fully determined
to have and to manifest a will of her own ; Mr. Roxby
made the best.he could of the favoured admirer, who, as
such gentlemen usually are, is written as the least inte-
resting person in the piece ; and Miss Mason put forth
a proper measure of pertness as one of those soubrettes
who once held a leading position in every comedy, but
are now becoming more and more rare upon the British
stage. In a word the whole thing was capitally acted,
and Mr. Poole's dialogue, which, it should be observed
is exceedingly smart, sparkled merrily on the ears of the
audience. A few lines introduced at the beginning re-
ferred to Mr. Charles Mathews' change from manager
of the Lyceum to actor at Drury-lane, and these, of
course, elicited an especial roar.
It may be added, thatthenew Egyptian piece Nitocris,
followed, and was enthusiastically received.

lEONMASTERS' QUARTERLY MEETING.

WOLVERHAMPTON, Wednesday Evening.—The usual
series of the quarterly meetings of the ironmasters of
this district for the current quarter commenced at Wal-
sall yesterday. The second assembly took place at the
Swan Hotel, in this town, this afternoon. The attend.
ance was unusually small, and very little business was
transacted. The trade is decidedly flatter than it was a
fortnight ago, when the preliminary meeting took place.
To a great extent this is attributable to the tightness in
the money market, which has had the effect of checking
anything approaching to speculation, and to some ex-
tent lessened the demand for manufactured iron, espe-
cially from Liverpool. There is still, however, a very
fair demand fir the commodity, sufficient at present to
maintain the advance of 1/. per ton, virtually declared
some time since, and confirmed at the meeting at Hands.
worth. A week ago a section of the trade was in favour
of another advance of 1/., making bars 10/. per ton.
This is now quite out of the question ; any attempt to
carry the larger rise would fail, and would ultimately be
productive of mischievous c msequences to the trade. It
is true that one or two of the principal houses have
orders at an advance of 304. upon the prices of last
quarter day, but these are exceptional instances, only
applying to particular makes, which invariably command
a sale at prices beyond the quotations of the day. The
demand for sheets is not quite so brisk as it was ten days
ago. As regards pigs, the stocks are small ;of that de-
setiption of iron there was very little sold at this meet-
ing, but the principal makers are tolerably full of orders,
arid prices are consequently firm, but blasts are from 4/.
108. to 4/. 15s. per ton—cold blasts, as usual, about 10a.
dearer. Shropshire pig-iron is also in demand ; the
prices will be definitely fixed prior to the trade meeting
in Birmingham to-morrow (this day). All things con-
sidered, the trade may be said to be in a healthy state,
and unless something adverse occurs there is a proba-
bility of its remaining so for some time, the occurrences
of the last few months having givon a more legitimate
character to business transactions. During► the week
there has been an advance upon the price of Crouch and
Chick coal of Gd. per ton ; the commodity is still scarce
and much in demand, as indeed is limestone, and every
other description of material ; ironstone is worth 20s. a
ton ; certain qualities (flats) command a higher figure.
The full advance upon their wages demanded by the
colliers west of Dudley has now been conceded ; this
commenced last Monday, and all the men have returned
to their work.