The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-24 00:00:00

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

fortable doubt whether the accessory is intended to add
efficiency to the play, or the play is revived for the sake of
the accessory, but they usually adhere to an unobtrusive
and perfectly satisfactory mode of decoration which takes a
middle place between shabbiness and pageant. When a
manager does nothing for a play whatever beyond illustrat-
ing it with the first picture that his scene-room yields and
the bundle of clothes that comes readiest to hand in his
wardrobe, we may be sure that his austere simplicity pro-
ceeds—not hone a belief thit dramatic purity, unaided
and unadorned, is all-sufficient for his purpose—but, on
the contrary, from a conviction that the taste for Shakse
peare, which has tempted him to revive one of the ordinary
plays is too doubtful, or at any rate too transient, to be
worth a largo investment even of time and trouble. Ever
since the opening of the theatre this season, the specta-
tJrs must have been struck with the excellence of
scenery the existence of which is not even hinted at in the
bills. These belong to the old stores of the establishment,
and have been renovated under the superintendence
of Mr W. Bove ley, by whom the scenic department is di-
rected. The first part of "Henry 1V.," which was the
spectacle-piece of last year ; the second part of the same
play, which is a curiosity in central London, and has acquired
celebrity through the Justice Shallow of Mr Phelps; and
the well-known " Othello," with the same gentleman as the
Moor, have been played here to crowded houses. Mr.
Carlyle looked upon Dr. Johnson with admiring wonder,
as a man who could actually pray in the age of Voltaire.
Othello, chiefly sustained by a popular tragedian who is
neither returning after a long absence, nor bidding a fare-
well, nor talking broken English, but nevertheless draws
throngs in an age of " sensation" and burlesque, is a pheno-
menon equally worthy of marvel. But the crowning event
of the season is the reappearance of Miss Helen Faucit on
the boards where she was once considered the least dis-
pensable of artists. Through the addition of this gifted
lady, the company, hitherto satisfactory, becomes really
strong, and from Monday last dates a renewed claim of
popularity for Drury Lane. The character she selected was
that of Imogene, in Cymbeliae, a play which has not not
been acted—save at Sadler's Wells, and perhaps some of the
trae
morn os tne rso
s tic
ebnuer bo sr —s
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eoer
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twhaartd of
has
as a twenty
traditional
years,ce
lwe
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the multitude, and which to uncultivated persons who never
read their Shakspere, is scarcely known by name. On her
first entrance she seemed a living record of another order
of things—a record be it observed, on which time had left
no trace, for she looked as young, as graceiul, and as
buoyant, as when she first acted the character under
the management of Mr. Macready. She was at once
greeted with deafening applause, but still we watched with
interest to ascertain whether acting of such ethereal refine-
ment as hers could be thoroughly appreciated by a modern
audience of a very mixed kind, and in whom the organ of
veneration has been but slightly cultivated. Of late years,
applause, when not gained by an appeal to the risible facul-
ties of mankind, has generally been elicited by a strong re-
production of every-day reality, with those details of the
truthfulness of which everyone can judge. Moreover,
although now rising into prominence, Drury-lane has not
of late been a fashionable theatre, and the question arose
whether the occupants of its pit wculd be thoroughly alive
to that exquisite ideality which characterizes Miss Faucit's
impersonations, especially when the part acted was one of
the most ideal kind. The lovely passage—
I would have broke mine eye-strings ; cracked them, but
To look upon him; till the diminution
Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle;
Nay, followed him till he had melted from
The smallness et a gnat to air—
was, in her lips, ono of the most delicate expressions of de-
voted tenderness, with the additional charm that it pre-
sented the situation merely described. The spectator might
believe, from Miss Faucit's manner, that she actually saw
the retiring Posthumus dwindling into air—nay, could
almost imagine that he himself beheld the gradual diminu-
tion. But that unconscious propriety of Imogen, that innate
virtue which guards her as a shield and enfolds her as a
garment, that purity of soul which speaks in her slightest
movements—would all this be thoroughly understood by
persons long accustomed to sympathise with no griefs
but such as might fall with most prosaic force to their own
share, and to see the most tragic situations subjected to a
burlesque treatment ? There is something so inimitably
picturesque in Miss Faucit's acting that ono constantly
longs to see each successive attitude fixed in a photograph
and bound into a volume to form a psychological illustration
to the play. But would this excellence appeal to a public for
which, of all arts, sculpture has the slightest charm
Abandoning the interrogative mood, we gladly record the
fact that Miss Faucit's Imogen was appreciated to the high
est degree of enthusiasm. When once she had the audience
in her grasp, she held them firmly, and was listened to with
breathless attention. However admirable a performance
may be, some one salient point is always requisite to convert
quiet approbation into demonstrative sympathy. This point
in " Cymbeline" was the sudden indignation of Imogen
when lachimo's false reports of the infilelity of Post-
humus are followed by an attempt on her honour. To some
minds the delicate doubts and sorrow by which the mind of
the peerless Imogen is harassed, and in the delineation of
which the subtlest emotions of the part are reproduced in
tho most refined expressions of the actress—whose whole
fame, so to speak, is thyoted to the tank of realising one of
the coyest of ideale—might sc.rcely be intelligible; but the
outburst of virtuous rage was a " touch of nature " that
addressed all intellects alike, and the house reverberated
with an explosion of admira.ion. We aptly use an oft.
allowed commonplace when we say that the transformation
of the extremely gentle being into a heroine, striking terror
with glance, voice, and gesture, was electrical. The stand-
point of admiration having been attained, what a scene of
beauty was opened to the view I The refined artist to whom
the right of delivery of the least prominent word was a matter
of the highest importance, had that power of expressing the
strongest emotion without which a wide popularity is not
to be acquired, and it was felt that not only art, but nature,
was at the basis of her must subtle interpretations. W e have
touched upon, the picturer:•que character of Miss Fawcett s

PLYMOUTH, Oct. 23.
The Union Company's Cape royal mail steamship
Briton, Captain Boxer, arrived here this morning
from Table Bay Sept. 20; St. Helena, S:pt."9;
and Ascension, o.:t. 3. She brings 28 passengers
and 16 soldiers (time-expired men). Her cargo
consists of 344 bsgs copper ore, 623 hales wool, 845
bales hides, 42 bales sheep and goat skins, 10 cases
ostrich feathers, eight tusks ivory, 49 cases aloes,
two bales angora hair, two cisks seal skins, and a
quantity of silver lead ore from the West Coast.
Among her passengers are Sir William and Lady
Hodges and family. Captain Hamersham, of the
ship Castilian, and the steward took passage in the
Briton from Ascension, but the captain died on the
passage. The Briton sighted the island of Faro
on Oct. 15. She had fine weather throughout all
the passage to near the Channel.- -
At the Cape the most important political ques-
tion then pending, as far as South Africa was con•
cerned, was the projected annexation of British
Kaffraria to the Cape, and the arrangements to be
made, and the liabilities to be incurred for the
future defence of the new colonial border.

His Excellency the Governer was in British
litarario, and would proceed from thence to the
Orange River Free State for the purpose of settling
the boundary of Moshesh's country. While in King
William Town the governor had an interview with
a deputation from a public meeting, and in replies
to questions addressed to him, stated that the Home
Government would shortly decide whether Kaffraria
hon 1 d be incorporated with the Cape Colony,
The Advertiser and Mail says :—" The first thing
his Excellency will have to do is to convince the
Kaffrarians that it is for their own interest to be
joined with the Cape colonists. The second condi-
tion is, that before any annexation is effected there
must be a redistribution of the electoral franchise
so as to secure the continuance of a fair equipoise
of political power among the different provinces of
the colony. Parliament will require that for
every vote added from the British Kraffarian side
there must be a corresponding extension made of
the representative power of the midland and wes-
tern districts." Also, "It is vain to expect that the
Cape Parliament will undertake the liability of
having British Kaffraria annexed to the old colony
until a distinct and clear understanding is come to
respecting the extent and the manner in which the
Imperial Government will continue its contribu-
tions towards the defence of the frontier and the
civilisation of the native savage tribes still resident
immediately beyond the border."
The Lieutenant Governor and Commander of the
Forces was at Grahamstown, but there was no
prospect of any outbreak on the part of the natives.
Kreli was to be located between the Kei and the
Bashee, and was to have a magistrate resident with
him.

The weather in the colony had been remarkably
favourable for the farmers, and a plentiful harvest
was expected. The breadth of land under cultiva.

tion had never been exceeded, and the crops were
very promising. Trade was good, money plentiful,
and provisions cheap. Owing to the additional
taxing measures, which were passed during the
last session, it was confidently expected that the
deficiency hitherto apparent in the revenue would.
be more than made up.
Mr F. S. Watermeyer, one of the leading barris•
tern of the Supreme Court, had died at the early age
of 37. He was counsel for the plaintiff in the case
of Long versus the Bishop of Capetown.
The Supreme Court has quashed the sentence of
deprivatio❑ pronounced by the by nod of the Dutch
Reformed Church on the Rev. Mr Alotze, one of
her ministers, ou the ground that the accused was
not allowed a legal trial.
A company had been formed for the introduction
of the Llama from South America. The first ships
ment was expected towards the end of this year.
Land companies had also been formed in Cape Town.
and Port Elizabeth.

Three more slave dhow, captured on the east
coast by H.M.S. Ariel, had been condemned in the
Vice-Admiralty Court.
A party of 200 men had- b3en employed by
Government in commencing the extension of the
railway from Wellington to Worcester.
The following had been the arrivals out in Table
Bay from England during the month :—August 22,
Alma, from London ; 23, Dunedin, from Sander-

land for Singapore ; 24, Balden, from Swansea ;
24, Pollux, Russian ship, from London; 26, Annie
Comrie, from Newcastle ; 27, Demerara, from.
Greenock; Sept. 11, Eveline, from Cardiff; 11,
Avalanche, from London, bound to Melbourne; 13,
Maori, from Cardiff; 14, Skimmer of the Waves,
from London ; 15, royal mail steamer Cambrian,
from Plymouth ; 15, Westbury, from London, bound
to Sydney; 16, Forfarshire (wrecked), from Liver.
pool, bound to Calcutta ; 18, Ballarat, from Sunder.
land; 19, L. A. Bang, Swedish ship, from Cardiff;
British Merchant, from London; Hollinside from
Downs. In Algoa Bay :—August 19, Zodiac, from
London ; 25, Ariel, from London ; 26, Meg
Merrillies, from London ; Archer, from Lon.
don ; 29, Alphington ; September 12, Dione, from.
London; and in Simon's Bay, Aug. 22, Falcon, from.
Liverpool, bound to Hong Kong; 23, lone, from.
Cardiff; Sept. 19, Island Queen, from Cardiff. Her
Majesty's ship Vulcan left Simon's Bay Aug. 26, for
Australia; and Ariel, Sept. 1, for England. There
were still there the Seringapatam, Ringdove, and.
Valorous. At St. Helena were the merchant ships
Winifred and Silver Eagle. At Ascension, Castilian,
and her Majesty's ships Meander, Griffin, Pandora,
Clio, and Wye.
The following shipping casualties are reported
from the Cape :—The ship Evening Star, Captain
Montano, arrived in Table Bay,Oct. 2, with loss of
foremast, bowsprit, and topgallantmast, which were
carried away in a heavy gale off the Cape a few
nights previous. She was refitting. She was from
Bimlapatam, for London. The ship Avalanche,
900 tons, Captain James Russell, one of the Black
Ball line of packets, from London July 8, for Mel..
bourne, put in at Table Bay on Sept. 11, having
sprung a leak 40 days before, which obliged the
crew and passengers to be pumping night and day.
The following are the particulars ;—" Ship sprung
a leak in lat. 10.23 N., long. 33.22 W. Previous to
this time the ship made no water. The leak come
menced all at once, at the rate of 18in. per hour and.
gradually increased, when all hands and passengers
were engaged pumping. They soon got worn out,
and requested the captain to put the vessel into some
port, and he decichd on going into Table Bay ; she
was then making 3ft, of water per hour. Anchored.
in Table Bay on Sept. 11, when she was boarded,
and her agents sent men off to pump her, es her
passengers and crew were worn out. The surveyors
recommended her immediate discharge, which was
being proceeded with." The ship Forfarshire, 611.
tons, Capt. Kemp, from Liverpool in June last, with
coals for Calcutta, was wrecked in Table Bay on
Sept. 15. After first leaving Liverpool the vessel
was rather leaky, and rut back to be ovethauled
but the cause of the leak was not atocriaincd. She
then put to sea again, and on the voyage out was
very leaky. C4pt. Kemp died at sea on September
4, leaving a young widow on board, On the
same day the crew went aft and asked the chief
mate to make for the nearest port to repair the
vessel. In making for Table Bay, when tacking in,
the vessel struck on the Whale Rock, and became
a wreck, An abandoned vessel, the new iron.ship
Seindian, laden with a valuable cargo of silk and
indigo, had been p
port, cargo said picked up at sea off
to be
Algoa Bay,
and brought into that
Briton
eowored
i 1,50,009. Her crow and passengers were rescued
by the Silver Eagle, and heard of by the scu
on
St. Helens.