The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-13 00:00:00

EXETER HALL.

A fashionable and crowded audience bore, testimony
last evening to the high estimation in which Mrs. Fanny
Kembly's readings generally, and of that most exquisite
of dramatic fantasies, A Midsummer Night's Dream, in
particular, are deservedly held. Nothing finer of the
kind than this lady's rendering of the play as a whole
has it fallen to our lot to hear. No stronger proof of
its excellence could well be adduced than the fact that
the accompanying music of Mendelssohn never menaced
the supremacy of the poet, or did more than serve as an
adjunct to the illusion. The last, it may be said, in kin
and kind of an illustrious family, whose histrionic
triumphs are imperishably associated with the palmiest
era of the British stage, Mrs. Fanny Kemble will ever
present herself with irresistible claims to public favour,
evoking, as she does, in the minds of playgoers a host
of cherished recollections. And when to these must be
added the possession of a cultivated mind, a genial ap-
preciation of the text, and well•disciplined dramatic
powers of a high order steel extensive range,
there need be no hesitation in saying that her suc-
cess on this occasion was such as no living artiste
could surpass. If, then, she fails in doing full
justice to the Midsummer's Night's Dream, it
may reasonably be supposed it is because no single indi-
vidual can do otherwise. Let the reader but conceive
the difficulty of rendering, as it were, at one and the
same time, the tripping gaiety and sportive malice of
Puck, the exacting jealousy and lordly good-nature of
Oberon, the charming waywardness of the lovely Titania,
and the ineffable conceit And whimsical humour of
,‘Bully Buttons " the weaver, together with the less in-
dividualised characters of the remainder of the dramatis
re) some, and the need there is of rounding with a true
midsummer haze the entire Dream—and the wonder
will be that so much was achieved, rather than that the
performance fell short of what an exigent imagination
could desire. For our own part, the impression left on
us by the reading is such that we anticipate with the
greatest pleasure another opportunity of enjoying so
great a dramatic treat ; and we trust it will not be long,
whether at Exeter Hall or elsewhere, before it is afforded
us. The incidental music, as might be expected, suf-
fered nothing under the direction of Mr. Benedict ; but,
on the contrary, told with great effect, and appeared to
give more than usual pleasure to the audience. The
" Wedding March," that most spirited and jubilant of
marches, was warmly encored, and the efforts of the
vocal performers apparently gave great satisfaction.

POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.--MISS GLYN'S READINGS.
—Miss Glyn read Macbeth last night, to a very nume-
rous audience, at the Polytechnic Institution. Her in-
terpretation of the play was such as to give intense de-
light to her auditors.
GALLERY OF ILLUSTRATION.—Messrs. Grieve and
Telbiu ara sedulously following the progress of the war.
13alaklava, was the last previous stage, and yesterday
they advanced as far as the affair of Inkerman, which
furnishes four new scenes full of life and action, and well
worthy to follow the ether illustrations of the conflict in
the Crimea. Another new picture, likewise exhibited
for the first time yesterday, represents the storm in the
Black Sea that occurred last November. This picture,
grand and effective in itself, is rendered more so by the
dioramic effects of lightning and by the scenic arrange-
ment of the foreground rockF, which are attached to a
rattzo medium. The whole of the ra.)ney taken yester-
' day aftt.rnoon wasdevoted by Messrs. Grieve and Telbin
to the Patriotic Fund.

SOCIETE FRINCAISE DE BIENFAIS,\NCE.---Among the
many charit role institutions for which London is re-
markable there is none that can have stronger interest
fur the British public than that the name of which ap-
pears at the head of this notice. The Frerch and Eng-
lish nations, after having been for maly centuries en-
gaged in fierce riva'ry 'dm one against the other, have
recently come to a better sense of the duties of their
high mission as civiii3crs cf the world, and now wage
as brothers in arms a stern war against
great enemy. To such a connection charity cannot
appeal in vain, aed therefore we. were by no means sur-
prised to find that at the Lail given yesterday evening,
at the Hanover-square Rooms, in aid of the Socidtd de
Bienfa6ance, the British public showed, by a numerous
and brilliant attendance, their sense of the services of
our gallant Allies in the Eastern war. This society,
founded in 1342 by the late gifted Count D'Orsay, un-
der the patronage of the then French Ambassador,
Count St. Aulaire, has been the means of reieving hun-
dreds of deserving Frenchmen, whom political or other
causes had driven t') take refuge amongat us.