The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-26 00:00:00

_ -
THE PRINCESS ALEXANDRA.

COPENHAGEN, Feb. 25, Evening.
The departure of the Princess Alexandra is appointed to
take place at three o'clock to-morrow.
Her Royal Highness will be accompanied by her father,
Prince Christian of Denmark, attended by Adjutant Ritt-
meister Castenschjold, and her mother, Princess Louise,
attended by Countess Reventlow ; her brothers, Prince
Frederick, attended by Adjutant of the Artillery Captain
Lund; Prince Wilhelm, attended by Marine-Lieutenant
Chevalier Funck ; and Prince Waldemar; and her sisters,
Princesses Maria and Thyra.

Her Ito) al Highness's suite will alas include General
oAholm and his lady, together with Prince Frederick of
Hesse, brother of Prince Louis of Hesse, attended by
Chamberlains Roepsdorff and Oer tzen.

The wedding present of his Majesty to the Princess
Alexandra is a necklace, containing 2,000 brilliants, and
118 pearls, the two largest of which were exhibited in the
International Exhibition, near the Koh-i-noor. The fac-
simile of the Dagmar cress, attached to the necklace, also
contains a fragment reported to have belonged to the true
cross, with a piece of silk takes from the grave of King
Canute, the patron saint of Denmark.

SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY.—To-morrow even-
ing Handel's great choral oratorio, " Israel in Egypt," will
be performed under the direction of Mr. Costa.
DRURY-LANE THEATRE.—The last morning
performance of this pantomime took place yesterday
at this theatre, and was signalised by an acs of kindness
and liberality on the part of Mr. Falconer, the lessee. Phis
gentleman invited the aged inmates of the Licensed
Victuallers' Asylum, 140 in number, to attend on the oc-
casion ; and they accordingly availed themselves of the
treat thus offered them, appearing to enjoy the entertain-
ment exceedingly. Previous to their visit, they were boun-
tifully regaled by Mr. Edward Weston, at his music hall
in Holborn, the repast being provided at his solo charge.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince Leopold, the Princess
Beatrice, and Prince William of Prussia, attended by
Lady Caroline Barrington, the Countess Buhl, and the Hon.
Colonel Liddell, honoured the evening performance with
their presence.

EGYPTIAN HALL.--The popular and attractive
entertainment, given by Messrs. Yates and Power
for many weeks past with undiminished effect, has been
recently embellished with severed new and striking
additions, Mr. Harold Power's admirable rendering of
Levasseur's "Postilion de Ma'me d'Ablon" is received
with expressions of unmistakeable mirth ; and a variety of
new anecdotes, in which "Jack Bagot" is the principal
figure, are told with ample dramatic spirit by Mr. Edmund
Yates. A clever patter song—glibly written and sung with
marked humour—concludes the second part of "The In-
vitations," which have yet in perspective a long career of
success.

"I WASH MY HANDS OF IT!"—This same wash-
ing of hands has always seemed to us so difficult an
operation that we have often wondered how people came to
take up the phrase, especially when we remember its asso-
ciations. Pontius Pilate, so far as we know, was the origi-
nal proprietor of the patent; and his success was hardly
such as to encourage imitators. Whenever we hear of a
person washing his hands of anything, the points on which
we feel assured are—first, that they are unusually dirty;
and next, that he is not likely to mend the matter by the
process.—Saturday Review.

NEW BATH THEATRE.—The new theatre erected
on the site of the old building, which was burnt down
in March last, is nearly completed, and will be opened on
Wednesday next, March 4. The old structure could
hardly have been surpassed in the excellence of its
acowstic properties. The new building has been raised by a
company enrolled under the Limited Liability Act, and the
cit zens of Bath have subscribed the whole of the capital
of £12,000. The cost of the erection and accessories
will be about £lO,OOO. The works have been executed
under the superintendence of Mr. Phipps, architect, whose
designs were chosen from among those of several competi-
tors. The stage has been constructed by Mr. Sloman, of
Her Majesty's Theatre. The decoration has been executed
by Messrs. Green and King, of Baker-street, London, and
the new act drop has been painted by Messrs. Grieve and
Telbin. The directors have appointed as lessee Mr. Chute,
who has held the Bath and Bristol theatres for several years,
Tho theatre will be opened with the performance of Shakes •
peare's " Midsummer Night's Dream."
IRON SHIPBUILDING ON THE TYNE.—Messrs.
Palmer Brothers, of Jarrow, have no less than
20,000 tons of iron shipping on hand. One of these vessels,
a screw steamer of 2,686 tons burden, will be launched in a
fortnight; the others are in various stages of progress. The
ship nearly ready for launching is the Georgia. She is one
of ten which Messrs. Palmer are commissioned to build for
Messrs. Fernie Brothers, of Liverpool, and which are meant
to bring cotton from New Orleans. Another clipper ship of
1,100 tons is being built for Australia; and other four
are for the Mediterranean ; one of them will be 1,500
tons, and the others 900 tons each. Three of these are for
a London firm, and one for a house in Genoa. A screw
steamship of 2,000 tons is building for Messrs. Wilson,
Chambers, and Co., Liverpool, and will form one of the
White Star fleet trading to Australia. The other vessels are
principally building for the coasting trade.

HISTORY OF THE POTATO.—The potato was in-
troduced from America by Sir Francis Drake in
1586, though Sir Walter Raleigh has generally the credit
of its first introduction. It is also frequently represented
that it was for a long time cultivated in botanic gardens as
a curiosity, and with little or no knowledge of its value as
an article of food. But there happens to be evidence that
though many years elapsed before the potato was known
generally amongst the people, it was soon put to its proper
use by those who could command supplies of the novelty,
Amongst these. there is one fact worth mentioning, and
that is that when Queen Elizabeth received intelligence of
the destruction of the Spanish Armada in July, 1588, she
had cooked potatoes on her table, which was in less than
two 3 ears from the date of its introduction. No doubt they
were for a long time considered rare delicacies. Shakspeare,
in "Troilus and Cressida," speaks of "a potato finger"
(Act V., s. 2), and in the "Merry Wives" Falstaff invokes
the sky to " rain potatoes and hail• kissing comfits" (Act
V., s. 5) ; and these aro the only occasions in which the
word occurs in the whole of the works of Shakspeare. They
began to be cultivated as a food for the people in Ireland in
1610, and in England 1650 ; so after all the potato may be
said to have been in cultivation little more than a century
in this country. It is rather curious that in a work entitled
"A Treatise on Foods," by M. Louis Lemery, published ht
1704, the potato is described under the name of Helianthe-
mum tuberosum Indicum, the "Fewer of the Sun," a native
of India—in other words, as identical with the Jerusalem
artichoke, but assigned to the wrong hemisphere, which
opens a question for people who like "notes and queries"
when and how the word "potato" was definitely attached
as a proper name to b'olanum tuberosum—Gardensr' s
Weekly Magazine.
PASTORAL STAFF OF THE BISHOP OF CENTRAL
AFRICA. —Ttie revival of church architecture has
necessarily drawn attention to the habiliments of its three-
fold order of clergy, and, consequently, to the furniture,
so to speak, appertaining to them ; and, as an illustration
of advance in the right direction, we have lately seen
a pastoral staff just completed for the Bishop of Central
Africa, who was consecrated on the 2d inst in Westminster
Abbey. The staff is constructed of ebony, ivory, and
silver, and its total height is sft. 9in. The crook is of ivory,
an irregular octagon in section, about 10in. long, and 51in.
wide, gradually diminishing in size from the commencement,
and ending in a flowing leaf, in the eye of which is a six-
foiled conventional flower, 31in. in diameter, formed in
hammered silver, having two similar faces, in tie centre of
wiuich are large and beautiful carbuncles. On three faces
of the crook are likewise carbuncles, gradually diminishing
in size towards the end, to the number of 27, set in silver
mountings. The crook springs out of a silver cap, octa-
gonal in form, and Sin. high, enriched with stiff leaved
foliage, where it joins the ebony staff; all the other parts
being hammered out. Moulded and chased with geometrical
patterns and the sacred monogi am, thus covering the entire
surface. The diameter of the octagon at its largest part
being nearly 3in. ; 11 carbuncles are set around, and the
centre is formed by a diamond of great value, surrounded
with 18 smaller ones. The ebony staff is llin. between the
cap and boss, or knob, which is of silver, and about 3ft.
between it ani the spear point, likewise formed of silver,
and both constructed on other parts. The whole of the
silver is parcel gilt. The staff separates into three pieces,
fitting into a case constructed to receive the same. The
staff was designed and superintended in its construction by
Mr. Withers, architect, the manufacturer being Mr. Keith,
the well known church plate worker. Both designer and
manufacturer have worked con more, the price charged by
Mr. Keith being barely sufficient to cover his outlay, but
his fame will not suffer by the work, and the only regret is
that such a piece of work should pass from among us into
the wilds of Africa. The staff is given to the bishop by an
old clerical friend. The bishop's episcopal seal was likewise
designed by Mr. 'Withers, founded upon ancient models,
and very well executed by Mr. Morin g. We believe wo
are correct in stating that Mr. Keith is now engaged upon
the manufacture of a staff, under Mr. Butterfield's super-
intendence, for Bishop Twells, who was consecrated on the
same day.—Building 11rews.