The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-23 00:00:00

Commence at 7.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.-
Sole Lesee and Manager, Mr. Geo. Vining.
THIS EVENING, Selections from Shakspere's Works,
including AS YOU LIKE IT, THE MERCHANT OF
VENICE, and the entire COMEDY OF ERRORS. The
Two Dromios, by the Brothers Webb. Messrs. Vining, Her-
mann Vezin, !Nelson, D. Fisher, .to. ; Mesdames Hermann
Vezin, H. Marston, Mdlle. Parepa, Rebecca Isaacs, &c.

MR. FECHTER begs to announce that the
whole profits of the First Night's Representation of
hamlet will be divided between the NATIONAL SHAK-
SPEARE COMMITTEE and the DRAMATIC COLLEGE
SCHOOLS FUND. Mr. FECHTER'S indisposition pre-
venting the production of Hamlet this Evening, the 23d, the
LYCEUM THEATRE will be closed.

On MONDAY, April 25, first time at this Theatre, Mr.
John Brougham's Original Comedy, PLAYING WITH
FIRE.

Doors open at 7, commence at halt-past.

NEW THEATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHL-.•
8010 Proprietor and Manager. Mr. B. Webster.

THIS EVENING, LEAH: Miss Bateman, supported by
Messrs. A. Stirling, R. Phillips, Billington, Stuart, Eburne,
Stephenson ; Miss H. Simms and Mrs. Iliilington.
Al er which, an apropos Sketch, SHAKESPEARE'S
HOUSE: Messrs. J. L. Toole, R. Phillips, Stephenson.
To conclude with THE AREA BELLE : Nlessrs. J. L. Toole,
P. Bedford, R. Homer, Miss Woolgar, and Mrs. H. Lewis.

Commence at 7.

mlss BATE MA N.-L E A
EVENING and EVERY EVENING.--Miss Bateman
will re-appear in her great impersonation of the Jewish
maiden until further notice. In order to give due effect to
this most remarkable success of the season, entirety new
scenery by the celebrated artists Messrs. Damson and Sons,
and Thompson. New dresses and appo'ntments have been
prepared for its production.—N.B. In consequence of the
2treasing and numerous applications at the Box-office, ar-
'iangements have now been made by which Seats m,y be ob-
a Fortnight in Advance.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Manager, Mr. W. H. Swanborough.
THIS EVENING, MY PRESERVER.
After which, the Pa'cony Scene from ROMEO AND
JULIET. Mizses Swanborough and Wilton.
Followed by the Fifth Act of hiIDSU3IMER NIGHT'S
DREAM.
Concluding with the Great Burlesque, ORPHEUS AND
EURYDICE : Messrs. Honey, Wood, James Fenton ; ales-
dames Swanborough, Marie Wilton, Hughes, &c.
Commence at 7.

ROYAL ST. JAMES'S THEATRE, under the
Management of Mr. B. WEBSTER.
Re-engagement of those celebrated artistes, Mr. and Mrs.
C. Mathews. —The greatly successful new Comedy every
Evening.

THIS EVENING, A DAY AFTELI THE WEDDING,
Mr. F. Robinson and Miss ticri,ert.

At a quarter before 8. the successful new Comedy, by
L. Buckingham, Esq., entitled T tiE SILVER LIN IM3, :
3;r. (,harles Mathews, Mr. F. Robinson, Mr. Ashley, Mr.
Montague; Mrs. Charles Mathews, Mrs. Frank Matthews,
Miss A. Cottrell, Miss Wentworth, and Mrs. Stirling.

After whl3h, COOL AS A CUCUMBER. Mr. Charles
Mathews.

To conclude with UNDER THE ROSE : Mr. Ashley and
Miss A. Cottrell.

Commence at 7.

COALS.—The LILLESHALL COMPANY'S
COALS.
Direct from their own Collieries.
Marquis' 26s. per ton. I Double 21s. per ton.
'Cop 255. „ Nuts. Ds. „
Deep .225. „
Well screened and delivered within five miles of their De-
pots, Westbourne Park-road, W., and 17, South Wharf,
Paddington, W.
Best Coke

Terms cash.
JOHN SCOTT, Sole Agent.

TIHE THIRD EDITION OF " THE SUN,"
Containing the Latest SPORTING INTELLIGENCE,
gen be had Every Evening of
G. R. GLhNIE, NEWS AGENT,
No. 4, Connaught-terrace, Hyde-park.

The Weather--Sun Office, April 23, 1864.

--~ -

THERMOMETER.
This day at Two o'clock 65

Barometer-30.01.
Wind—S.E, ; moderate breeze, and very fine.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tins DAY.—Morning, 2h. 50m,—Afternoon, 3h. 10m.
ro-mooßow.-Morning, 3h. Mo.—Afternoon, 3h. 41m.

N 4
J fa?•
11Z, ,Per1,04101%"0
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LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1864.

SHatesPEßE's Birth three hundred years ago is,
in thought at least, commemorated to-day, the wide
world over, by every reasonably educated English-
man. As for the celebration of it otherwise, it is a
a pity, perhaps, that it was ever dreamt of. And
this, simply, because the result of the movement set
on foot with a view to its public and practical com-
memoration has turned out to be so very much indeed
of a failure. In fact, could this anti-climax of a
result have been even dimly forseen by its ()rift
ginators, we may rest perfectly well assured that
the movement would never seriously have
been commenced. Better by far wculd it have
been, had nothing whatever been attempted, than
that so very little should come of all these spas_
medic efforts iu the way of elaborate preparation.
Tee Stratford-upon-Avon commemmoration is,
after ail, the only really rational attempt to
a fitting celebration of this Tercentenary annivere
sail'. And even there, in SIIAKSPERE'S own birth-
place, the chief incident of the day—of the day—is
an unearthly three o'clock dinner (3 p.m. being
the dining-hour of neither artizan nor aris-
tocrat), Presided over by the Earl of CARLISLE,
and followed in the evening by a display of Mr.
DARBY'S fireworks As for the celebration of the
day, here, in trindou, but little enough, un-
fortunately, need be remarked upon that
head. And for even that little, the public
are mainly indebted, on the one hand to our
orking men in the metropolis,
w
and on the other
to our London theatrical managers. The working
men have taken the morning to themselves. The
theatrical managers have taken the evening.
As something at any rate in the way of a
commencement of some practical kind, the
London Trade Societies (who have recently
aired their banners in honour of GARIBALDI)
collected together this morning on Primrose Hill,
and there, with what ceremonial they could muster,
to the Bound of music, played by the binds of her
MAJESTY'S Household Brigade, and to the planting
of a sappling oak from Windsor Forest, in memory
of this day, as WILLIAM SHAKSPERE'S three hun-
dredth birthday,formally rechristened the Hill itee:f
—henceforth to b© called no longer Prim: ose Hill,
bet Shakspera's Hill. A. for the principal manage-
ill celebrations of the day, in the evening, they may

; very readily be summarized. A Shaksperian Con-
cert and Recital at the Agricultural Hall, Islington !
The First Part of " Henry the Fourth" at Drury-
Lane ! " Twelfth Night " at the Haymarket, fol-
lowed by " Venus and Adonis"—not, however,
SHAKSPERE'S exquisite poem, but Mr. BURNAND'S
ridiculous Burlesque! " The Comedy of Errors" at
the Princess's, with the Brothers WEBB as the
two Dromios ! The Second Part of HENRY the
SIXTH at the Surrey ! At the St. James's, and at the
New Adelphi, performances of a miscellaneous cha-
racter in aid of the Monument Fand. The Monu-
ment here referred to, being the one still intended
to be raised eventually in Green Park by the Na■
tional Shakspere Committee—or rather that Monu-
ment Embracing A Statue of Shakspere, so long
advertised as intended, and just now so
humorously pourtrayed by one of Mr.
Punch's comic draughtsmen in the Tercen-
tentary number of that merry publication. The
Festival to-day at the Crystal Palace, again, is
one of the few prominent indications in London
or near it, of anything at all like a suitable public
celebration of this Tercentenary of the Poet's birth•
day. A beautiful SHAKSPERE Medal, it should be
mentioned, however, has been produced—under
the design of Mr. JOHN BELL and the skilled
manipulation of Mr. L. C. WYON—at the Messrs.
HUNT and ROSKELL'S establishment. As for the
Coventry Ribbon-Favour, it is jast nowhere. And
the same be sai3, unhappily, of the once-talked of
National Holiday.

Meanwhile, the more enterprising of our pub-
lishers are pouring out from the press, with
every luxury of their craft, a really won-
derful variety of New Editions of those writings
of SHAIisPERE's, which, as the next greatest
of our English Poets said of them, are, in
very deed, SIIARSPERE'S noblest and most en-
during monument. Coupled with his name
and fame, we are here tempted to add,
are two or three circumstances so remark-
able of their kind, as mere coincidences,--
well known every one of them, but little
thought of nevertheless—that we cannot but
think it will be interesting to bear in mind,
however passingly, on this three-hundredth
anniversary of the Great Poet's Birth. The cir-
cumstance of his Death occurring on the anniver-
sary of his Birth is of course vividly in the recollec-
tion of us all. And no less so is the fact of this same
date, the date of the 231 of April, being the day set
down in the Calendar as commemorative of the
patron saint of England, ST. GEORGE. Between
those two St. George's days—the 23d of Apri1,11564,
the date of SHAKSPERE'S birth at Stratford-upon-
Avon, and the 23d of April, 1616, the date of
SRAKSPERE'S death, also at Stratford-upon-Avon—
as many years elapsed as there are weeks in a year :
that is, Fifty-Two. Along the southern coast line
marked by the white cliffs of England, moreover,
there beetles forth conspicuously to view before the
gaze of every one approaching the heights of Dover,
after crossing the British Channel, that gigantic
evidence of the fame of SHAKSPERE, the
Cliff called after him—and so called after him for
what reason ? Simply because, in one of his plays,
there occurs a passage of a very few lines, describing
an imaginary jump from the summit of it ! Another
matter yet for reflection,in SHARSPERE'S regard, we
would suggest as not undeserving one momentary
thought to-day—refering here as we do to the cir•
cumstance of this great National Genius having
had his birthplace and his deathplace—appro.
priately, as it stems to us—in the very centre of
that England he loved so well—in one of the most
beautiful old country towns in the land—in the
green heart of Warwickshire.

The expenses of the law and the prolixity of
awyers have passed into a byword. Setting
aside the fabulous cost and interminable duration
of a case which runs through the various civil
courts, there is no legal form, no petty transaction
in which it is necessary to invoke the assistance of
a lawyer which does not demand an amount of
time and money totally disproportionate to the
affair. The re firm of the law has long been a
matter of consideration, but, like all reforms,
it is a very tedious and difficult proeess.
Such a large and powerful body is, inte-
rested in keeping up the old abuses thaA, it is a task
of much patience and delicacy to introduce any
measure curtailing the privileges of lawyers, or
reducing the inevitable expenses of the law. We
must admit that one eetT the most active and con-
sistent of our prerent law reformers is the noble
lord now sittin2; on the woolsack. The public owe
him a debt ;if gratitude for having availed himself
of the antherity of his position and the advantages
of his, experience to remedy many existing defects
in, our legal administration, and more especially to
encourage that brevity, clearness, and simplicity
which have heretofore been supposed to be entirely
incompatible
.with strict legality. One of h'el
most important measures was on Thursday c-aning
brought under the notice of the House of Lords by
Lord CHELMSFORD, who called the attention of
their lordships to the workin 6of the Land Transfer
Act, which he denounced- as a failure, since very
few persons had tEAren advantage of it since the
Bill had become law. Lord WESTBURY declared
himself vbt.iged to his noble and learned predecessor
for having given him the opportunity of explaining
the actual state of affairs, and accordingly he pro-
ceeded to give very clear and conclusive answers to
the charges brought against the bill by Lord
CHELMSFORD. It appears from the statistics which
he gives us, that although since the passing of the
Act there have been only 65 applications for regis-
tration under it, yet those applications included
nearly two millions'-worth of property, and such
amount of business in the short space of 16 months
is an unusually favourable commencement to the
practical working of any measure. The Lord Chan-
cellor reminded the House that all such reforms
worked their way very slowly, and cited the
example of the Copy bold Enfranchisement Act,
now so popular, under which there was in the first
year of its existence only one application. In the
second year there 12 cases; in the next, 29 ; and so
on by slow but sure degrees, until, twenty years
later, the number had risen to 785, The Enclo-
sure Commissioners' Act, egAin, had at first only
10 cases in twelve months ; the second year showed
an increase of two ; the third year the number of
cases was 39 ; and so on, until the annual amount
is 246. Such is the slowness with which the know-
ledge of these important changes spreads among the
people. It is not surprising if we come to consider
the absurdity and difficulty attending legal docu

meats, and the consequent abandonment of affairs
almost entirely into the hands of lawyers. It is
scarcely likely that a man who has been for many
years in the habit of turning to his solicitor for an
explanation of every legal question will at once
take upon himself the unwonted responsibility of
acting entirely in opposition to 'nis solicitor's
opinion and advice. Ho must be a strong-minded
and clear-headed man who will at once brave the
displeasure of his professional adviser and turn a
deaf ear to his doubts as to the accuracy, efficiency,
and legality of his proceedings. The solicitors, as
a body, plainly intimated their intention of op-
Posing this measure when it was first introduced,
and they have amply fulfilled the thi eat, as Lord
WESTBURY frankly told the House on Thursday.
Nevertheless, the advantages pf Act Lao so