The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-14 00:00:00

SURREY THEATRE,

Messrs. Shepherd and James Anderson on Satur
day commenced their winter campaign with great
success; and, from the strict manner in which Mr.
Shepherd redeems all his managerial promises, a
brilliant season seems certain. The house was
crowded in every part, and each old favourite as
he made his entry on the stage received at once a
warm and hearty welcome. The great performance
of the evening was the first representation of a
grand romantic melodrama, entitled " The Scottish
Chief ; or, the Maid of Ellerslie." Of course the
principal part, Sir William Wallace, fell to the lot
of Mr. James Anderson ; and, if the applause of a
first night can be taken as a criterion, Mr
Shepherd will have no cause to regre
the co-partnership he has entered into. Mi,;
Panncefort acted the heroine (Helen Marr)
the intense delight of the audience, and without
stopping to particularise the efforts of each artiste
engaged in the play, we can truthfully say they
acquitted themselves in a most satisfactory manner.
Che piece has been mounted with all that care and
minuteness that of late has been such a distin-
guished feature in the management of the Surrey,
and in no former instance have Messrs. C. Brew and
J. Johnson, the scenio artists,shown more brilliantly
their proficiency in stage illusion. Planche's
pretty little piece, "The Loan of a Lover," in which
Mr. Thorne, Miss Esther Jacobs, and Miss E.
Webster took part, brought the evening's enter-
tainments to a pleasant conclusion. A new serio-
comic drama is, we perceive, underlined for Satur-
day next, in which Mr. Shepherd will sustain the
leading part.

RIVER STEAMERS,—A correspondent of the City
Press writes :—Of late years considerable improve-
ments have been made in all kinds of public conveyances
save one. Railway carriages have been rendered more
comfortable, but still there is room for further improvement
in that respect; omnibuses have undergone considerable
reform ; and as the London General Omnibus Company
are now paying a five per cent, dividend, and hope to have
a larger dividend in future, perhaps we shall get even more
commodious vehicles than now, with civil conductors, and
drivers who will not go on until a passenger has had time
to get off the step ; the new cab company have turned out
some decent vehicles and Jehus to match ; all our means of
locomotion have improved to :some extent, save, as I said,
one—the river steam boats. They remain as inconvenient
and uncomfortable as ever. Take a trip up the river in
one. If yuu remain on deck, you sit on an uncomfortable
seat, and betwixt your knees and those of your vis-4-vis
the space is so small that you are nearly dragged off your
eeat when anyonl passes by ; you are half roasted by the
heat from the boiler, or half starved by the sickening va-
pours; and if you have the good fortune to escape these
contingencies, you stand a good chance of getting your leg
broken or your foot crushed by the gangways or the ropes
when you get off the boat. if you go below you find a
cabin with bare boards and bare seats, dirty little windows
which you cannot see out of, but by which the Thames
water can enter freely, to your great discomfiture, and the
whole place has a close, suffocating smell about it. Some
time ago there appeared a prospect of these grievances being
put an end to. A company was to supply us with roomy
steam boats after the American plan, propelled• by quick
engines, tended by civil servants, and quick in their
journeys. Whether the proposed company ever came to
anything, or whether it was wound up, or what became of
it. I cannot say, but of this I feel convinced, that an excel-
lent field for the investment of capital is here presented,
and the wonder is that monied men have not taken advan-
tage of it,