The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-10 00:00:00

STRAND THEATRE.

MIRIAM'S CRIME."

Last night a new serio-comic drama,
" Miriam's Crime," was produced at this theatre
of the piece
with unbounded success. The author entitled
is Mr. IL T. Craven, and much as " The Postboy"
heightened his reputation as a dramatist, his latest,
and, certainly to our thinking his best, effort will
add considerably to his celebrity. many of the
situations are novel and striking ; the serious and
comic scenes are very judiciously
blended, and
the audience cannot fail to be interested in the de-
velopment of the story. The plot of " 111iriam s
Crime" turns upon an act of self-sacrifice which
Miriam West, a poor dependent, commitsa to dond upon a
one
what she considers justice to another,
" crime" which she afterwards commits to free
herself from unjust suspicions. Being left the sole
heiress of an aged lady of property with whom she
has lived as a companion, she destroys the will, that
one Bernard Reynolds, whom she loves (nephew of
the old lady), may not be deprived of his inheri-
tance. A will made prior to this, however, having
been lost by the lawyer who drew it up, this is the
document that Miriam is supposed to have destroyed,
and
e cu
ss
ab
tei hason. n
'lo o
m evidenceake m a
tt
toe
r s clear
worse, herself
athe
property
is claimed by a returned convict, who appears to
be the heir-at-law, and who is assisted by an
eccentric and not over-scrupulous lawyer's clerk
in taking possession. Fortunately this clerk
was concerned for his master in making the second

will, which gave Miriam the property, and he
has the original, which he saved from a fire at his
master's office. This original, however, is in his
boxes, which are detained for rent at a lodging-
house, and Miriam, who goes to these rooms after
she is turned out of her home, searches these boxes,
and takes the will, with which she is able to estab •
lish her innocence and defeat the plans of the
returned convict and his accomplice. The part of
Miriam was alloted to Miss Kate Saville, a niece
of Miss Helen Faucit's, to whom she has
imparted all that womanly grace and pathos
which has rendered her one of the most
charming actresses of her day. In the second and
third acts she move particularly distinguished her-
self by the intense fervour of her acting, and won
the most enthusiastic applause. The two scamps of
the piece, comic ones by the bye, were capitally hit
off by Mr. Belford and Mr. George Honey, whilst
Mr. a
his quiet and gentlemanly acting,
mad partePtrhseelle, by
of
miriam
's lover, Bernard Rey-
nolds, stand forward very prominently.
We have great pleasure in recording the success
of this drama, because it is an attempt at rather
larger things than is generally produced at this
elegant little theatre, which has now by the
liberality, taste, and good management, become one
of the most fashionable resorts of the metropolis.

he Concert Hall, Store-street,
Bedford- square.
on Monday, October 26, in t
announced that the proceeds of
A GRAND EVENING CONCERT is to take place
It in Hatton-wall.
a
the concert will belatpipslielsdo tothe funds. for the erection of
the new Italian church, recently but
The services of several professionals of celebrity and
number of amateurs havo been secured for the occasion,
and a rich musical treat is promised. The programme will
be issued next week.
DEATII OF GENERAL J. D. JOHNSTONE.—We
have to report the death, at a comparatively early
age, of General J. Douglas Johnstone, late colonel of tho
33d Regiment (the Duke of Wellington's). He went out to
the Crimea with his regiment, from whence ho was sent
home to England, so seriously invalided that he was consi-
dered to be in a dying state. On his partial recovery he
again joined his regiment at the seat of war, and, with his
son, Captain Johnstone, was the first in the assault on the
Medan, where he lost an arm. He never fully recovered
this shock to a highly nervous and sensitive system. Gen.
Johnstone remained in the Crimea till the end of the war,
and six months afterwards he went out to India in broken
t
health, having in this brief interval formed a regiment,
only 60 of the trained soldiers of the 33d who went out to
the Crimea
India Crimea havinghe retired
returnedfrom th
the
sole
ice again.,b u never recovered On his return
f
his health. He died in Dublin, whither lzo had gong for
medical advice, aged r),51