The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-29 00:00:00

ASTLEY'S.

The entertainment provided by Mr. E. T. Smith
for his patrons last night was on a more than
usually liberal scale. Two new pieces were pro-
duced, and both, with respect to scenery and ap-
pointments, inla style'of splendour and completeness
with which even a transpontine audience would
have been more than satisfied. Of the first—" Ro-
salie; or, The Chain of Crime"—we must be con-
tent to say at present that it introduced the clever
Miss Furtado (from the Royalty Theatre) in the
part of the heroine, brought for ward Miss Fanny
Clifford in a character well suited to exhibit her
graceful talent as an actress to much advantage.
and comprised one of the most vivid, lifelike, and
picturesque representations of a shipwreck ever
exhibited on the London stage. The specially cha-
racteristic attraction of the evening was a fairy ex-
travaganza, written and constructed by Mr. T. H.
Higgie, with music, both spirited and characteristic,
by Mr. J. H. Tully. " The Trap of Gold" is a bona
fide piece of the good old stamp, with a plot not very
easy nor very necessary to unravel; personages,
natural and supernatural, whose actions are fre-
quently rather fantastic than accountable, rather
diverting than logical; costumes and scenery more
calculated to puzzle the eye by their variety, and
dazzle by their magnificence, than to conciliate the
understanding by their propriety or fix the identity
of time and place—an Easter pantomime, in short.
The chief character—Roprecht Schampt, "student
and libertine," a sort of cross between Faust and
Don Giovanni—at the instigation of the Bhargeist,
head of the tribe of Sobolds, enters into a compact,
by force of which, in return for the privilege of be-
ing allowed to pursue his career of dissipation and
profligacy under the guise and possessed of the
attributes of one of those malignant sprites, he is,
at the termination of a certain period, either to
send a substitute, or go to perdition himself. In the
end, after a series of adventures, during which he
enjoys the power of becoming invisible at will,
poetical justice is done; and, at the critical juncture
—when the pseudo-hobold fancies he has caught a
deputy, by the sacrifice of whom he will be entitled
to a new lease of immunity—he is entrapped him-
self through the unexpected failure of his own de-
vice. His intended victim, Pipelee (Miss Booth),
a sprightly and handsome village maiden, is under
the protection of a beneficent fairy, called Nira
(Miss Grace Eaton), an avowed enemy of the Bhar-
geist and frustrator of all his demoniacal plans.
The personages groupt.ld around these principal
figures are sufficiently varied and consistently gro •
tesque. M. Milano, who represents the character
of Roprecht Schampt, besides exhibiting a consi-
derable amount of humour, is a model of agility.
His invisible co-operation in the progress of a
Danish rustic dance (the scene takes place in
Schleswig, on the banks of the Eider) leads to
endless diverting incidents ; while his " grand pas
fantastique" with',Miss Fanny Brown (a dancer of
more than ordinary skill) is in its way a master-
piece of saltatory burlesque. The entire scenic
business is admirably arranged ; and the last tableau
"the Fairy Transformation and Fiery Denoue-
ment"—in which the supernaturally transformed
libertine is caught in his own trap and consigned
to the nether regions, raised a storm of approbation.
An audience more determined to be pleased has
seldom assembled together on Easter' Monday ;
and the transport of enthusiasm with whice. Mr.
E. T. Smith was summoned after the wonderful
exhibition of the shipwreck, in the first piece, was