The Sun.
London, England, 1830-12-28 00:00:00

COVENT GARDEN.

Before we commence our notice of the " Sayings and
Doings" at this theatre last night, we would venture to
throw out one suggestion to the Managers of either house,
which we will venture to say would, if attended to', ho
productive of considerable benefit to the rival establish-
meats. We would strongly advise them during the run
of the Christmas vocation, to commence their perform..
*flees with the Pantomime, as the injurious effects of lute
hours on the constitutions of the young holiday folks
would then he obviated, and their attention be leer jaded
by the previous infliction of a dull tragedy,—and, by some
stange obliquity of judgment, the Managers always selects
the dullest on this occasion. Having put forth this
hint, we shall—passing over the horrible stupidity of the
Grecian Daupliter—proceed at once to the Pantomime.
It is entiled, " Harlequin Pat and Harlequin Bat;
or, The Giants Cause:ray." O'Roirk, King of Ulster
(Mr. BARNES), having abducted the bride of Brian
Boroilone, King of Munger (Mr. BAmen), and KIM.

leen, the bride of Bliadamisthus O'hfullinuar, King
Brian's Squire (Mr. Powell), the two latter have
set out upon a voyage in quest of the lost fair ones.
They are wrecked upon the coast of the Giant's Cause-
way, where 0' Mullingar has a conversation with en Irish
echo, in which he is informed that the cave is the resort
of At'Polypheme, the Giant of the Causeway, who is
in the habit of regaling himself upon the fairies, who also
haunt the spot. Their conversation is interrupted by the
arrival of a band of the little people, fleeing before their
monstrous enemy, who is of the Cyclopean race, and
glares most ferociously upon them from his one eye. Hs
picks out a choice one, and sits down to supper, swallow-

ing the morsel as if the whole race would scarcely satisfy
his appetite. He is, however, interrupted by the arrival
of King Brian, who fearlessly *Haab* him, and a fierce
encounter ensues. O'Afullingar has ensconced himself

upon a rock, and when the Giant is pressed within his
reach, the King with one real Donnybrook flourish of
his abillelall knock. out the monster's eye, and exclaims in
a tone and manner which create a true Elysium for the
gods, " There he goes with his eye out." The Giant is
of course easily despatched after this, and the fairies in
their gratitude inform the destroyers of their enemy that
their brides are in the Banqueting Hall of King O'Ro4h,
who, with them and his whole Court, are transformed to
statue.. They then give O'Afullingar the shape of Mr-
/e4uin, and confer upon him the magic wand, with the
power of restoring to life all the petrified, and also of
petrifying all the living whom it shall touch. They pro.
reed to O'Roirk's Castle, and find all the party marble sta-
tues. 01.1Kullingar brings them to life,and he and hie Royal
Master are about to depart with their brides, when 0' Roirk
again interferes, and cells his guards to arrest them. The
touch of the wand fixes them to the spot, and O'ltfullinpar
exultingly taps his masteron the shoulder, and bide him moo
along. lie perceives, however, that Xing Brian is as
mute and motionless as the rest, and by a succession of
blunders replace the whole of the party in the same con-
dition in which he had found them. Upon discovering
the mischief he throws away the wand, lest he should
turn himself into a montiment of his own blundering., and
declares that " this - harlequin business is quite out
of his line." The principal fairy now appears, and again
gives life to the statues, upon the usual conditions of going
through' the harlequinade. BARNES is of course the
Pantaloon. The Clown is suppliid from one of thestatues,
in the person of Mr. I'atmo, and although Powitit is
commissioned by the fairy to continue the exercise of the
wand, he prefers his ehilleleh, and " begs to introduce one
Mr. ELLAR." The tricks and changes in this pantomime
are neither original nor ingenious. After the requisite
quantity of kirks, the party departed from the Quay at
Dublin in the London steamer. Upon their arrival in the
River we have a good view of the Pool, Tower, and West
India Docks, and there is some joke or satire itaendeti to
be passed upon the cargo of absentees. It is a good subjeet,
but we were too dull to discover Mr. FAnt.ey's point.
A market with various shops is then the scene of some
tricks, in which the idea of figures composed of flowers and
of crockery is adopted, but owing to the want of wit in
their use, without much success. We next arrive at " The
Globe Hotel," from which Harlequin being shut out by I
his rivals, who are in possession of Columbine, be eon-

verts a post in the street into a cannon, and firing at the
house, changes it into "The Hole in the Wall." A view
in Windsor Park changes into Portsmouth Harbour, and
one of its noblest oaks takes the form of the royal yacht.
A panoramic exhibition of the most beautiful coast scenery
follows, as the Royal William performs the voyage to
Brighton. The fortifications at Portsmouth and the har-
bour present some of the most beautiful specimens of
scene painting which even these times of excellence in that
department have produced. The management of the
yacht, too, was extremely effective and in one respect novel
in crossing the stage, her stem being towards the audience,
the machinery worked so as sometimes to present her lar-
board and sometimes her starboard sides. At Brighton we
have a fine view of the remarkable features of that town
from the sea, under the effect of an illumination, and a re-
presentation
of the triumphal arch erected in honour of
their Majesties. After the exhibition of the scenery we re-
turn to the tricks and gambols of the characters. Panta-
loon shoots at a duck, and makes so good a shot of it that
some wood upon which the bird stands is turned into a
range, fire, and spit, and he and the Clown snake a
feast, when the owner of the cottage appears, and in
a desperate conflict Pantaloon is run through the
body by a red-hot poker. His friends hasten to
" rub in" the contents of a bottle, and then having
dressed his back with a currycomb, they apply to it some
cabbage leaves, and inquire how he feels; to which he
answers that he has "not felt so well for a long time."
This joke caused much laughter and applause, though some
of Mr. Singeing LONG'S patients, who had probably
suffered from his quackery, felt sore upon the sul►ject of
their credulity, and ventured to hiss; we cannot say the same
for the succeeding scenes, which were devoted to the sub.
ject of the last Ninth of November in the City. As it is
we have seen many worse pantomimes of late years, and
certainly few at which the audience laughed so heartily.
rile first part of the piece, which is in fact a broad farce,
is from the pen of Mr. PEASE. Powitn was very ltu•
morons in it, thongh not appearing to feel himself quite at,
home. The scenery by the Messrs. GRIEVE and Mr.
ROBERTS is of the most splendid character.