The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-03 00:00:00

ADELPHI THEATRE.

A new drama was produced last night at this theatre,
entitled The Duchess de la Vaubaliere. It is from the
pen of Mr. Buckstone, and was completely successful. The
scene, as the name implies, is in France ; the date is fixed
towards the latter days of the Regency, and the accession
of Louis XV., and the story is appropriately illustrative of
the licentious manners and dark deeds of tyranny attri-
buted to some of the nobility of that age. Leonard (Mr.
0. Smith) is an honest old farmer, whose only daughter
Julie (Mrs. Yates) has formed an attachment for a poor
student named Adrian (Mr. Heming) whose proposals,
however, he hesitates to accept, until he shall have worked
his way to better fortune, and cleared away the mystery
which appears to hang about his birth and parentage.
Adrian quits the house, resolved to pursue his studies
at the college of Montpellier for the next six months—
then to return and claim his bride. No sooner is he gone
than another candidate appears for the fair lady's smiles.
Leonard holds a lease of the Due de la Vaubaliere (Mr..
Lyon) which is about to expire, and which he seeks to renew
upon advantageous terms. He has sent to Paris for his notary
Morrisseau (Mr. Buckstone), to look over the lease, and a
person, calling himself the Steward of the Duke, makes his
appearance, and gives every sympton of a ready acquies-
cence ; the two men of business confer, and the Steward
turns out to be the Duke himself ; the prize he looks to for
his generosity as a landlord is the virtue of his tenant's
daughter, and, nzirabile dictu, the little Paris notary turns
out to be an honest man, and vows his determination to
frustrate the guilty designs of his Grace, who in vain tries
to cajole him into acquiescence. Foiled in diplomacy, his
graceless Grace resolves to resort to force ; and whilst Mor-
riseau is preparing to open Leonard's eyes to the conspiracy
which threatens his daughter's happiness and his own, a
scream is heard, the window-curtain is drawn aside, and
Julie is discovered, dragged by hired ruffians into a richly
gilt carriage, which drives off as the curtain falls. In the
second act we are introduced to the chateau of the Duke ;
he is carelessly seated, turning over the leaves of a book,
when an old domestic, Martha (Mrs. Daly), announces that
poor Julie has awakened from the swoon into which she
had fallen, is frantic in her cries for her father, and that
all thoughts of reconciling her to the base proposals of
the Duke, are hopeless. The good old woman vainly
endeavours to soften the heart of the young
roue to the dictates of feeling, or of conscience—she is,
authoritatively, dismissed from the Chamber. Then
the attendants announce the arrival of the Regent of France
(Mr. Yates) to pay a passing visit in search of the sports of
the field. The Prince recounts how his progress has been
twice arrested in the course of the day by a wretched-
looking man in a frantic state, who, it was apprehended,
had a design on his life. The Duke retires to summon the
grooms, and gives directions for the chase; and the veteran
Leonard, who has been secured by the Prince's suite, is
brought in. In an impassioned and dignified colloquy his
injuries are detailed, and the Prince, indignant at the in-
corrigible baseness and licentiousness of the Duke, pro-
mises him redress. He does so—but to confirm the misery
of the unhappy Julie. Once more restored to her father's
embrace, the latter is upbraiding the Duke for his villainy
and threatening a death-dealing revenge, when the contemp-
tible hypocrite excuses his conduct by declaring his readi-
ness to marry the object of his attachment, if he can but
obtain the permission of the Regent. The Regent, who has
returned hastily from the chase, is already in the room, con-
firms the proposal, and resolves to see it executed in his pre-
sence. Julie, driven by the entreaties of her father, and dread-
ing the scorn of the world, which, unjust though it be, she
knows awaits her, consents to wed the Duke ; but it is also
agreed between them that as soon as the ceremony is
passed they shall quit the chapel and each other's pre-
sence for ever. After a lapse of some months the third
act opens—old Leonard is dead, and the Duke, who has
been on a diplomatic mission to the Court of Spain, is
announced as having just returned. Notwithstanding the
agreement we understood to have been come to, he enters
the Duchess's presence, and, after a cold recognition, or-
ders her to her chamber, where it seems he meditates exe-
cuting an atrocious tragedy, which shall leave him at
liberty to take advantage of a nobler and wealthier match
which now offers itself. The steps which he takes to ac-
complish this purpose are strongly of the Radcliffe school,
developing a complication of machinery and of precaution
which, though all very well imagined, appear sometimes
questionable and contradictory. A young man is dragged
on the stage, with his eyes bound ; but just at the very
point when he is about to be confronted with the
Duke, and when his blindness would be most desirable,
the bandage is removed, and he is ordered to write pre-
scriptions for such several drugs as, though individually
harmless, produce a deadly poison when mixed to-
gether. The names of these ingredients are to be written
on several pieces of paper, and sent to different chemists'
shops, in order to prevent suspicion. The Student (for
such he is), who gives semblance of consenting, exactly re-
verses his instructions, writes the names of several deadly
poisons on the different papers which, when combined, shall
be harmless, and the Duke reads them with exultation !
The rest is soon told—Julie, though she twice swoons,
and twice revives, does not die ; the unfortunate medical
student is no other than Adrian, who turns out to be the
lawful Duke de la Vaubaliere, his grace being an illegiti-
mate brother; and a divorce having been opportunely pro-
cured, the happy lovers are united, and the miserable and
plebeianised seducer is marched off to the Bastile. Such
is an outline of the story of this drama, which, it will be
perceived, presents many points of interest. The acting
was good throughout., Mrs. Yates, who has won many
laurels in characters of forcible but homely inrerest, last
night on many occasions surpassed what we had expected
of her, particularly in the first two acts. 0. Smith, as the
loving and distracted parent, gave some splendid touches of
pathos and manly indignation. Yates was dignified and
judicious as the Regent, and dressed the part to perfection.
Mr. Ly.n as the Duke, and Mr. Hemming as Adrian,
both performed effectively. As for " Little" Buckstone, as
we believe he is familiarly styled by his friends (and they
are not a few), he was, besides being the author, the very
life and soul of the piece.. Not an incident nor a turn of
the plot but he was influentially employed in, and there
was nothing that he applied his hand or the energies of his
mind to but was sure of success. Laughter was, of course,
thickly mingled with even the most serious parts of the
story, but never under circumstances to become unwelcome
or offensive. The piece was announced for repetition
amidst loud cheering.

MIDDLLESEX COUNTY COURT,

KINGSGATE-STREET, MONDAY.

MILLINERY MISERIES.—Miss Stevens summoned Miss
Cogan for 175., the value of two puce-coloured bonnets.
Miss Stevens was a tartar-like looking lady, very long and
unbending, a sort of " lengthened sweetness long drawn
out," while Miss Cogan was a dumpy personification of
something extremely short, and by no means pleasant, and
she was accompanied by a remarkably square-headed gen-
tleman, who, with much difficulty, was kept quiet by the
officers of the Court.
Mr. Commissioner DUBOIS—How was this debt con-
tracted, Miss Stevens? Plaintiff—Sir, she (the defendant)
agreed to make me and my fellow-servant a bonnet, if I
found the stuff. Very well ; I found the stuff. It was a
black satin, and I gave a matter of 4s. a yard for it. Very
well. I ses to her, " Make them up nicely, and you buy
the ribbin,' and put it in the bill." With that, your Lord-
ship, she makes the bonnets, but she never made the rib-
bin' to match, and so natterally considering my stuff was
spiled, I summoned her for the zvallcy (value) of it and
the shapes.—(Laughter.)
COMMISSIONER—Are the bonnets in Court ? De-
fendant—Yes, Sir, I have brought them, and consider
them no disgrace to any respectable dressmaker.
Here a couple of puce-coloured bonnets were handed up,
and, after being minutely examined by the Learned Com-
missioner and the Jury, they unanimously came to an
opinion that the ribands and linings did not match the
outside.

Defendant's Friend—l mean to say, Sir, that it is as
near a match as possible.—(Laughter.)
CommissioNEß—Do you, but we think differently ; we
happen from long practice to be judges of these things.—
( Laughter)
The Jury decided in favour of the plaintiff.

THE FIRE IN BLACKMAN-STREET.—The body
of the poor girl who perished in the flames yesterday se'n-
night still remains in the ruins. Several labourers have
been employed for the last day or two to shore up the walls
of the houses on each side where the awful calamity took
place, and very probably the body will be discovered in the
course of the day. All the inmates escaped without injury
except the unfortunate deceased.
There are only two members of the Temperance So-
ciety at Beilby, near Doncaster—the one is an ale-brewer,
the other a wine-merchant

The Brussels Journals announce that public prayers
have been ordered to be put in all the churches of the king-
dom for the safe delivery of the Queen of the Belgians.

A singular bet was won, on Friday last, at a wine-
shop in the rue Colysee. A man laid a wager that he
would eat a four-pound loaf, fifteen pounds of boiled beef
without bone, and drink four bottles of wine, at one meal.
He accomplished the task, and afterwards declared that he
was ready to begin again. The bet was only the price of
the articles consumed.

The will of Charles X. has been opened and publicly
read. This testament does not affect to devise any political
distinctions, or to guard against disputes upon that debate-
able question amongst the members of the ex-royal family,
but merely names the Duke of Bordeaux as general legatee.
The head place of the family is at present conceded to, and
filled by. the Duke d'Amroulerne.