The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-07 00:00:00

they wish' to pourtray Shakespere, will cite one or more of
hese passages, and will endeavour with more or less such
cess, oftener, however, with less than more, to personate
one of these characters. But to hear the passages cited, and
the characters personated, with true artistic skill, is a
treat that rarely falls to one's lot to enjoy. The audience
at the Egyptian• hall last night, who expected such a treat,
and it seemed reasonable to expect it from a Kemble, were
not disappointed. It was apparent, before the scene was
over, that Mrs. Fanny Kemble had lost none of that true
appreciation of the great dramatist's spirit and that ability
to render the characters of
,his plays which formerly
charmed the playgoing public. She was particularly happy
in pourtraying the humour of Touchstone, and the stupi-
dity of the country wench Audrey, though some appeared
to think that she gave the best effect to the utterances of
the melancholy Jaques. The audience were numer-
ous and fashionable, and were quite as demonstrative as
such audiences generally are in their applause.

MR. AND MRS. GERMAN REED'S ENTER-

TAINMENT.

Nothing could possibly have gone off better than Mr. and
Mrs. German Reed's " entirely new" entertainment last
evening, entitled, "A Charming Cottage." We remember
no such first night of any entertainment. Not a hitch, not
a falter, not a momentary pause from first to last. Every-
thing worked smoothly—without an instant's show of hurry,
curry, or hesitation—from the opening to the closing of the
curtains. It was a brilliant success. One thing in this
mercantile age, we can distinctly promise the public, in re-
gard to this new entertainment, that those who go there are
quite certain of getting tha full worth of their money in
amusement. We never saw Mr. German Reed, especially,
to greater advantage, than yesterday. His by-play through-
out was admirable. His versatility fairly surprised us.
Now himself, Mr. German Reed in propria persona I Now
Mr. Crochet, the hen-pecked husband I Now the great
composer of fugues, that pre-Raphaelite of the piano, Mr.
Sebastian Barker I Now one of the most eccentric
oddities we have for a long while seen anywhere before the
footlights, the " Queer Little, Jolly Little, Funny Old
Man I" Now Sandy, with his plaid and his bagpipes I And
again and again Mr. Crotchet. They were all
capital impersonations—admirably well got up and
excellently well portrayed. Mrs, German Reed again
seconded her accomplished husband throughout delight-
fully. Her love story and her love song, as the Milk Maid,
were perhaps, all things considered, the hit of the evening.
The humour of her eerie. comic narrative about her sweet-
heart Joe being, in truth, quite irresistible. " Milk below 1"
told in every note and word with the audience, as their
rounds of applause and bursts of laughter testified. A
Charming Cottage, it seems, was designed by Mr. German
Reed himself—that gentleman, moreover, furnishing it
with half a dozen new songs, a duet, and two trios, the last
of these trios forming the finale, and the music of all his
own composition. The piece itself (suggested, as we have
said, by Mr. Reed), was written by Mr. Andrew Halliday.
A beautiful set-scene is the arena for all the fun of the even-
ing—a scene cleverly painted by Mr. John O'Connor: and re-
presenting very prettily the interior of the Charming Cottage,
with a distant view of Windsor. It would be ungrateful
not to mention that one of the principal characters intro-
duced in this new entertainment is humorously represented
by Mr. John Parry, to wit, a certain dreaded cousin of the
Crotchets, one Bob Crotchet, otherwise Captain Robert
Horatio Nelson Longbow Crotchet—without one buffo song,
we grieve to say, but full of fun and frolic nevertheless.
The whole hilarious evening was brought to a delightful
close by Mr. John Parry's inimitable delineation—with
talking and with singing, at the piano, and near it—of "Mrs
Roseleaf's Little Evening Party." Not one individual, we
should think, however old or however young, lady or gen-
tleman, tut of all the numerous company assembled toge-
tber yesterday to witness this first night's performance of
the new Entertainment provided for the London Public by
Mr, and Mrs. German Reed, assisted by Mr, John Parry,
but must have left the Gallery of Illustration last night
thoroughly delighted.

__---r

MR. YATES'S INVITATIONS.

The alterations made in Mr. Edmund Yates's Entertain•.
ment are decided improvements. The scene called
"Twenty Minutes with a Medium" is happily conceived
at the present time, when Mr. Home and his noisy apostles
are publishing their impudent gospel. Mr. Yates as the
Medium, and Mr. Power as the Visitor, have ample scope
for their dramatic talents, and they are doing the public a
service by drawing down ridicule on this new and preten-
tious phase of thimblerigging. The hall was full,notwith-
standing the many counter attractions, and the entertain-
ment has evidently entered upon a new lease of life.

THE OXFORD.
Mr. Morton has been fortunate in securing the two
French clowns, Arthur and Bertrand. Coming from the
Theatre Imperial du Chatelet, Paris, where they performed
for upwards of 360 nights, Mr. Webster imported their ex-
traordinary talent into the last Adelphi burlesque, to which
they gave an immense fillip by the daring and novelty of
their tricks. They are now also at the Crystal Palace ;
but will find a permanent home, no doubt, at the Oxford,

at which place of entertainment they appeared with grea
eclat la-t night as the novelty for Easter. Arthur and
Bertrand defy comparison with any specimens of the acro-
batic schools we have yet seen. In the " sensational" and
mercurial character of their evolutions they are essentially
French; and a spirit of mischief seems to underlie most of
their tricks, imparting considerable z9st to their perfor-
mances. It is next to impossible to describe their feats of
tumbling and juggling—for juggling we must call the hat
scene, where the two confreres keep the felt hat in msdias
res, with the aid of a stick, for an unconsionable length of
time. Negatively, we can say that their peculiar feats of
lifting and poising each other, and their thousand and one
antics in the air, are utterly unlike what we have been
accustomed to in the English clown—who is "beefy" and
sluggish to a degree compared with the aerial artists we have
here. Whilst the native clown is thinking of what he is
going to do, these foreigners do it. No sooner is a " com-
bination" arranged than the magic pose is an accomplished
i fact. Professor Owen shou d examine the vertebrae of
these singularly supple performers, These clowns revel in
a wealth of tricks—sufficient, we are told, for eighteen dis
tinct exhibitions. Their marvellous gambols include--
Le Tonneau Diabolique, le Chapeau Enchante, la Chaise
Perillense, la Machoire Infernale, Tete en Bas, le Sommeil
d'Hercule, la Grenouille Sautante, l'Habitant des Landes,
les Santa de Serpent, l'Homme Casse, and many other rich
performances. Arthur and Bertrand tie up their bodies in
a way eo unaccountable that it would require almost the
aid of photography to fix the precise attitudes. What is a
pleasing characteristic of their performance is that they do
all without fuss. They seem to have been well and early
trained to their business, for an exciting occupation has not
told on the frame of one of the artists, which may almost
be called "pudgy," if we may apply so homely a word to
so mighty an artist. There is something very comical in the
repose of this little stout-set man. He is the figure of the First
Napoleon, and the crisp horizontal moustache and impas-
siveness of feature are equally suggestive of the Third. It
will be treason, we suppose, to say that the other gentle.
man is very much like Mr. Charles Kean, but such a re-
semblance the physionomist can hardly fail to detect—and
the two artists, viewed through these triple resemblances,
may be more relished than without them. We have said
that we should fail in a technical description of their tricks.
They must be seen to be fully comprehended. But of the
result of their performances we can speak without hesita-
tion. Whilst combining every species of grotesque contor-
tion with feats of downright strength, which would of
themselves place them in the first rank as acrobats—their
performance is without a tinge of vulgarity. Any sense of
uneasiness in the beholder is allayed by the consummate
ease and aplomb with which the several tricks arc accom-
plished. We have dwelt upon the special attraction afforded
by the engagement of these artists. The musical excel-
lence attained at the Oxford has long been past dispute.
The selections from " Ernan;," " Nabuco," and tho new
cantata " Herne the Hunter," are gems of the pure water
in point of execution. In these the splendid vocalisation
of Miss Russell, Mr. Albert, and the earnest singing of the
little tenors robusto, M. Bernardi, are conspicuous. With
commendable emulation, a new selection from " Masa-
niello" is produced in the same week with the revival of the
opera at the Royal Italian Opera House ; and, taking the
" resources" into account, in many respects the former re-
vival will not suffer by comparison with the latter. Uns-
worth, the stump orator, is irrefutable in the splendid
nonsense he utters from night to night; and his chop-logic
is well set off by the vocal and terpsichorean sallies of his
able ally, Eugene. The sole ownership of the Oxford and
Canterbury Halls has reverted to Mr. Charles Morton, the
founder of the modern music hall, to whose spirit of indivi-
dual enterprise the public will look with confidence for the
production of novelty of the A 1 class.