The Sun.
London, England, 1837-12-27 00:00:00

COVANT GARDh2V,

Last night the " Bum:11g" season ryas duly honoured by cur
gall-ry friends, who collected with 1.11 their wonted zeal to
enjoy themselves with the Christmas fare—na,nely, or, the
present oeo a.iion, the woes of unhappy Slatre, and the sad
mishaps consequent upon too pry inz a ou:iosity, as exempli-
fied in the history of Perpiny Tom, The play was, in obedi-
ence to the Chi t'strnas• expectation ef other days, Rowe's
historical tragedy of June shore—t.:c ill-stare, d lady being
pea semated by Sl'as Helen I'eueit, ni.h so niteth pathos '.s
to start the leers of EC-M,, and to arouse the destructive
energies of others against the enemies td her peace, otuite
a, stoutly as ever swords were disposed to leap from their
scabbards at liarke's rlieto,ical bidding in favour of Marie
Antoinette. Hastings was under the
.prielectioa cf Mr.
Macready, which, though not cxeetly in his line, was
effectively rept escnted as a very gentie.i a',
and duly called forth the sympathies of b:.ith sexes,
while Giu'ster'a Duke was personated with bii.litut
effrontery by Mr, 0, Bennet., making poer Hastings shake in
his hose by the matchlessly impudent denunciations of the
well-disposed fool who could talk about "if.." The tragic
woes being over, and due time having been allewed to dry up
tears, to restore their nerves to their prepar sate of equili-
brium, 1.1 f the Pantoottimo be;:an. The Li Is procl,int it to
be an e:.tirely new " tragical, comical, histrionic, pastur.,l
(though not written, as we are informed, by Snakspeare)
grand Christmas Pantomime, called .ilarirg We and Peeping
Tom; or, t'e Lady Godiv(t wad die 11',:ela (j. Warwick."
The bill, which by the way is adm;nbly prepared, wi.h ciireful
attention to the teunforts and inqu'sitiveness of the audience,
lemestly gives the " Legend," on which the Histoi i al Panto-
mime is fuundsd, in the f..llawing terms :—" No la.ly of the age
was more celehr..tcd for her beauty and v'et!ue then Codiva,
wife of Leefric, Earl of Marcia, of whom it is r ported,
order to redeem the inhabitants of Coventry from the severe
axes which had been imposed :von them by her husband, she
under took to ride through the city without any ether eoveringthan
her long hair, he having sworn not to remit them uith sa she did ;
and having first forbidden the iuh .bitants tq luuk into the street
during her precession, she mounted her horse, nod rode through
the town. One person, a cooper and maker, f leather bet ley,
having the curiosity to peep at her as sho passed, WAS hist duly
struck deed with lightning ; and in the memory of this cvea.t,
the citizens of Coventry still exhibit his statue on the v..ry
spot in the attitude of peeping." • To follow the working out
of this legend through all the mazes of panternimi: evolutions
and merits, would require neither ordinary spaee nor limited
ime; but though impossibilities may uot 1.1; comeniently pi ac-
•icable just now, it may not surprise exre,.tations ti go rote
,ome particulars. Then, to begin with the beginning, be it
narrated here that of the principal chat aoters and of the order
of the scenery we .may thus speak :—First, we are introduced
the fields of Fungi in some o,,ier I land, relieved or en-
ightened by a distant view of the ancient city of Coventry by
moonlight. There is at the same time the arrival of Mother
Holly at her Fairy 'Houle; the a-rival proceeding according to
the following words:—
" Ohl what a dainty pleasure le this
To sail in d.c sir
When the n,o,ni shines fair ;"
which proposition is fair at d indisputable enough as times
Ay. lite said Mother or Witch of Warwick, is te-r-
-onated with all n eqiiisite skilful admixture of masculine force
tad feminine acuteness by Mr. N'artiold. The plot opens carry
.ig us (Lack) to the Iligii•;street, Covent. y. in the ycer 102,
nd diselaying the workshop of Tom tine Coops r. Now, this
:id Tom is the origin of all the mischief', merriment, and
'serif. He is Peering Ton, of Coventry—he is id love with
e:dith—at.d the dorm° off, he is Mr. C. J. Smith, and the
'task put on again, he becones Harlequin. This, however,
s anticipating, Then there follow divers evc::ts, amusingly
llustrative of the horrible Castlereagh's " iznerant ins
Atience of taxation," and of the saleno, sad, ard simple
iidniou:h's " awful cerernoliy 4.ttelyipting to read the
'pot Act ;" of Mqtrci,n's meettil with the fair
&•P. span after which., a battle royal
letnecn the tyrannic Earl and the paretic Tom, in-
ervening by way of relief—the " Tiansfermations" take
pl tee. Then business begins. Mr. C. J. Srnitli, Pee.eing
Com, becomes Har'equin ; Miss Fairbrother, r, ttlf`st worthy
_ister on the occasion) is ba?p:l4 mciamorphosed into Comm.AL

1- • HAY MARKETAia .
r Love C'haAe and The Romantic Widow, both of
wh:ch pioecs were received with utdi:riaished favour, a new
two acct tree, hiving a :special -reference to the Ciiri,thrts
Inlidays. was producci, he title of Whi:lingtun are 1
his Cat, and the..Fcriry Q.U.en of Herne's Oak. The subject
does n- t pOitiC•aii the r:',4,rv.,:tion of novelty. A:is. Wit) lett sus-
tairied ;Ito ehara:.i-cr Wtittington with considerable ability. •
tier ballti4 of " \F hr so cross, g-ol mother." she sang with
mucir ^(r:et, Ittla app:anded. The rourn of tha
s!:ip Cnrain frrot ItT:0, with his chests cf gold to ‘Vbit-
tingt•Jo,/4c re rd I m to littiper(a. for the services of his
Qii4::P;ds the b.st io the pi,ee. The di,play of ti. eworks with
wuieh piece ct:nAuded was very attractive. The piece was
to.o",)tineed for r•Totition fur .1 his e‘ening. The house was
uct attentlZA.

ST. JAMES'S.
tl,ough h t gsse no pantarililllo last.a-iight, was
_not nPlPiLliiil.d,...a....l4.L.Ao44,ly_faigka& for he pro.ic.eo3:a. t cry
spirited dram copyof-Thcridore finok's recently-translated
tale of Pascal Brunt). tvith iJental- music, selected road
composed by St.!ry.lury. Th:s mantic story, so well told
oriJnally by M. Alexandre Durnal, and so ably translated by
Theodor,' flock, must fresh i t the reconection of ev ry
read! r c.f romanre. The hero of last night was well sustaiwd
Stirling-, 'AIM lost none of her fascination by the
assumption of the rude anti ma.Fctiline attire of the Paiermo
pe,!s.,nt. With the adventitious aid of a lair of formidable
nhi=hers anti a smart irPprria! on the tip of the prettiest chin
in th,, world, she appeared much more likely to do mischief
amo.igst the unsophisticated maidens of Sicily than the
Imre hero whom she r:Tresented. We confess that we have
sel7lm sr, n this intere tin;; actress to greater adv,lnsage theta
iirthe-cl•aracter of the dashinz aid daring bandit, whom the
genius of Alexambe Dumis, tviitcd to_the taste of the enter-
prising minag,er, last night presented to a fashionable and dis-
criminating audience. The piece was quite successful ; the
se:otery was of a character to maintain the reputa:ion which
this house hitherto has held for tasteful decoration: The
Fcent's particularly deserving of notice were a mountainous
leas; :n S.c.le a splendid apartment in the Viceroy's and
. • ,
a saloon is the palace of Prince B-tern, in which a masked
ball t ~lace on a larg.e scale of unrivalled magnificence..
The fortress of Paseal Bruno was also represented with much
pictorid power. •