The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-05 00:00:00

MA RIONETTES.

This amusing species of dramatic performance by
automata, which is announced as shortly to astonish
London playgoers with mechanical Macreadys, Keelcys,
Marios, Grisis, and Tsglionis, is by no means new.
The literary reader will at once call to mind the famous
puppet-show in Don Quixote, where the Knight of La
Mancha becomes so excited by the performance as to
rush to the rescue of the Spanish knight and the
Moorish maiden, and cuts down the fierce Boabdil of
Grenada, greatly to the terror of the showman. This
was a marionette theatre, then common in Spain,
and
so described by Cervantes. The puppets, or mario-
nettes, of Mr. Powell will also be familiar to the readers
of the Spectator, where Addison complains of Mr.
Punch and the Italian Opera drawing
away people of
fashion from " The Distressed Mother" at the theatres,
and there are numerous papers in the Guardian, in
which Sir Richard Steele, writing as Bickerstaff, got
up a humorous quarrel between himself and Mr.
Powell. the manager of the marionettes. At Rome,
in the Via Tor di None, there is or was a theatre of this
description, in which plays were performed by figures
the size of children, who closely imitated, in vivacity of
gesture, energy of action, and brilliant musical execu-
tion, their larger and living prototypes. Here the voice,
speaking behind the scenes, was thrown, as it were, into
the pupp=et, and made to seem to 'proceed from it, by an
exceedingly clever ventriloquism. We know not whe-
ther Mr. Simpson's marionettes are of this description,
or whether they will be manoeuvred after the fashion of
those at Riga, where the voice proceeds from under the
stage. In Russia, at St. Petersburgh, in the Michael
Ploscbadge, or Grand Duke Michael-square, there is,
hard by to the French theatre, a company of mario-
nettes, who ply their vocation nightly, greatly to the
delight of wondering audiences. About 2:3 years since,
a theatre was erected in the Argyle Rooms, for similar
purposes to that with which Mr. Simpson is about to
destroyed by fire, and with them perished scenery,
adsrteosnsiessh, the town;
but, unfortunately, the rooms were
decorations, actors, and all, before the public
curiosity had been gratified.

DIVIDEND-DAY AT THE BANIi OF ENGLAND,
EAST INDIA, AND SOUTH SEA HOUSES.
Notice was issued on Saturday at the above establish-
ments, that
fol-
lows, and the transfer-books opened on the undermen-
tionedEAST INDIA HOUSE.—The dividends on East India
Stock will be in course of payment to-morrow, Tuesday,
the 6th of January instant, under the 11th section of the
Act 3d and 4th William IV., cap. 85, and the certifi-
cates will be ready to be delivered on that day. The
transfer•books for the said stock will be opened on
Thursday, the 15th instant.
dates the
January dividends will be paid as

.. -
transfer-books for the following
BANK OF ENGLAND.—Notice is hereby given, that the
January dividends will be paid to the public, in the Ro-
tunda, on Thursday next, the
securities, due the sth instant, will be opened on the un-
dermentioned date, viz.:—Consolidated Three per Cents.
Bth of
instant, the
andß
on Friday, the 16th instant; Three per Cent. Annuities,
Ne
1726, on ditto;
Bank
kat of
theE
England,
New Five per Cent. Annuities on ditto;
and Securities for Terms of Years, ditto.
SOUTH SEA HOUSE.—The dividends on South Sea
Stock Annuities will be paid on Thursday next, the
Bth instant, and the transfer-books opened on Friday, the
16th instant.

W. -LIMNER, Ilt•A.—Nearly the
hwholeousesoffo
for decayed
---_,. ~-, -----
is believed that he has
foundation of some alms-
WILL OF J. M. W
been working for this object f9r. many years. It appears to
disecfottyrteuroiiiallaef.nt
tfeorrs,tahned
have been a point of high ambition with himto be identified
with the establishment of such an institution, and he has
directed 1,0001. to be expended in the erection of a monu-
ment to his memory in connexion with it. He purchased a
piece of ground at Twickenham for the purpose of erecting
these almshouses twenty years ago, at the time of making
his will, designing that this glorious memorial of his genius
should be raised amid the beautiful scenery of that locality.
The only remarkable circumstance attending the bequest is,
that he should exclude ratrcolo Painters from partici-
pating in its benefits. His oil urpictures, comprising forty or
left to the - •
fifty of his finest works, are N ational Gallery, on
condition that within ten years a room be set apart exclu-
sively for their recep d tion. Among them are the renowned
" Hannibal," the " Hail, Rain, an Speed," the two large
pictures of " Carthage," the " Temeraire," the " Burial of
Wilkie," an early picture representing a "Frosty Morning,,,
remarkable for its truthful effects, and his celebrated
" Death of Nelson," the quarter-deck of the ship filled with
figures, and the finest representation of a sea-fight that was
ever painted. His stock of watercolour drawings and en-
gravings, which is of great value, will be sold. lie always
bargained for fifty first-proofs of every plate that was en-
graved, and many of these are now extremely rare.—Literary
Gazette.

THE BANK FORGERIES IN YoßKsn/RE..._mr.
Scott, the manager for the Yorkshire Banking Company, has
written to the local journals, informing them that it has
been ascertained, after much and careful investigation, that
the late forgery of the 5/. notes of that company has been
confined solely to those purporting to have been issued from
the Doncaster branch bank. Some of the notes have been
paid in Leeds, Bradford, Manchester, Sheffield, and Hull.
Five persons are in custody charged with having uttered the
notes, but it is expected that there are other guilty persous
still at large.