The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-16 00:00:00

HAYMARKET THEATRE,

On Saturday evening a "new and original" comedy,
entitled " Silken Fetters," by Leicester Buckingham, Esq.,
was announced for representation; and accordingly a very
crowded and brilliant audience assembled; but the antici-
pations of many were disappointed, for the "new" comedy
proved to be a translation of one of M. Scribe's earliest
dramatic works—and which, by-the• bye,was produced about
10 years ago at the old Adelphi Theatre, Mr. and Mrs.
Yates and Mr. Wright supporting the leading parts. It
must be admitted, however, that Mr. Buckingham has
completed his task with ability, skill, and judgment. The
leading incident of the piece is one that produces anything
but a pleasant reflection ; in fact, the comedy is so intensely
French that the wonder is how he could have succeeded so
well in adapting it to the tastes of an English audience.
The plot may be briefly related as follows :—A certain
young man, one Herbert Travanion, having a taste for
literature, rejects the offer of an uncle, a wealthy merchant
in Bristol, to enter his counting-house, and comes to Lon-
don to seek his fortune as an author. Arrived in town,
he finds fortune-making not so easy an operation as
he imagined, and he is doomed to undergo hardships
he little expected. However, as a musician he
attracts the attention of the Countess of Windermere, one
of the leaders of the beau monde, and his fortunes seem to
brighten up. Through the influenceofthe CanoudnHteesrsbherist
plays become accepted, hie poems published,
Travanion, from an unknown and friendless man, becomes
oae of the lions of the day; luxury opens her portals to
him, and his dreams of affluence and splendour resolve
themselves into reality. Travanion, dazzled by the beauty
of the Countess, becomes, as he supposes, deeply in love
with her, and the lady's husband, the marquis, being, as
she imagines, dead, nothing stands in the way of their
marriage. This takes place, and in a short time after, to
the consternation of the newly-married pair, a letter ar-
rives, informing the Countess that her first husband is still
' alive, and that ho will be in London almost immediately.
This, of course, renders the second marriage invalid, and
Herbert, who has mistaken gratitude, for love, is ready to
resign the Countess in favour of his first love, Clara Hazle-
ton, but the Countess is not so easily resigned to the diffi-
culties of her situation. Notwithstanding the arrival of
her first husband the Countess proposes flight to Her.
bert, as he is the only man she really loves. A
spell is on Herbert, he knows not which way to turn, when
luckily Mr, Caleb Codicil, a bustling, meddling, good-
natured lawyer, after having involved the unfortunate
Herbert still deeper in difficulty, effects an arrangement by
which peace and happiness to some, if not to all, is brought
about. Herbert marries Clara, and the Countess, recon-
ciled to the loss of her lover, quits England with her
husband for the West Indies.

With respect to the acting of the comedy, the performers
did not seem to be perfectly in love with their parts. Mr.
Howe as the Marquis, and Mr. W. Farren as Herbert,
both had what is termed up-hill work of it, and, although
now and then there was a telling line or two for them, yet
the tone of the characters was unpleasant, and both, to sk
great extent, had the audience against them. Mr. Charles
Mathews' Caleb Codicil was the life and soul of the piece,
in fact, to his inimitable acting was the success of tho
comedy mainly indebted. Mrs. Mathews, as the Countess,
acted with great intensity, and succeeded in making the
part deeply interesting by her fervour and impressiveness.
Miss Maria Harris as the innocent little country girl,
Clara, acted with the sweetest simplicity.
The applause was enthusiastic and general at the fall of
the curtain, and after the principals had acknowledged
the honour of a call, the adapter, Mr. Buckingham, had tp
wake his bow.

ADDITIONS TO THE NATIONAL GALLERY.—The
addition of 29
pictures to the National Gallery
mark, ark, an epoch in its history. They belong to a class of
works in which it was by no means rich. This class is that
produced by early Flemish and German masters. Twenty..
two of the works now for the first time before the public may
justly be named Prince Albert's Gift, because, as the in-
scriptions affixed to theta attest, they are given by her Ma-
jesty "in fulfilment of the wishes of the Prince Consort."
Prince Albert's gift consists of the following works :—No.
701, "The Coronation of the Virgin," with the principal
incidents of her life in a small triptych; the Virgin is
shown in the centre compartment crowned by her Son; on
the interior sides of the wings are, above, " The An-
nunciation," below, " The Birth and Crucifixion of
Our Lord ;" on the exterior sides of the wings
are, above, " The Expulsion of Joachim from the Tem-
ple' and 'The Angel appearing to him foretelling the Birtl
of the Virgin' ; on the second line, ' The Meeting of Joa-
chim and Anna at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple' and
' The Birth of the Virgin' ; on the third line, ' The Pre-
sentation of the Virgin in the Temple' and ' The Marriage
of the Virgin.' Painted in tempera, by Justus of Padua,
1367.--No. 702, ' The Madonna and Child, surrounded by
a glory of Cherubim,' tempera, by Andrea di Luigi, of
Aloisi, called L'lngegno, circa 1484.—N0. 703, ' The Ma-
donna and Child,' by Pinturicchio, born 1454, died
1513.--No. 704, ' Portrait of Cosine the First, Duke
of Tuscany,' by A. Bronzino, born 1502, died
1572.—N0. 705, ' Three Saints,' Matthew, Cathe-
rine of Alexandria, and John the Evangelist, tem-
pera, by Stephan Lochner of Cologne, died 1351;
No. 706, ' The Presentation in the Temple,' by
Master of ' The Liversberg Passion,'
alias the lei'ter
Two
Von „Werden, living between 1463-90. No. 707,
, of which
Saints,' Peter and Dorothy, part of an altar.pii?co.,_ mos,
the other portions are in the Munich Gallery,_oby77: . The
ter of ' the Colonge Crucifixion,' circa 1501.__IS,ek,
sister of
Madonna and Child,' by Margaret Van 1:7(.;),.9, , The Ma.,
Hubert and John, buried circa 1430. circa 1495.
Goes, died
donna and Infant Christ,' John MemliniCidied
No. 710, 'Portrait of a Monk,' by,111.,4 Noe
712, ' Ecce
3:iinger. died 1529, 1478. No. 711, ' Mater Dolorosa,
Homo,' by R. Vander Weyden they
A Garden,' by Jail
No. 713, ' The Virgin and Child 'n
mother and Child, in t%
Moatert, died 1555. No. 714,
lbertsz the elder, died 1633
Landscape,' by Cornelis Enerxion,, with St, John and
Numbers 715, ' The Cru
sat.
Christopher carrying the
the Four Dlar3o ; 7i6,,,,,,, S' .St, John on the Island
Infant Christ,' and "
;tine the Book of Revelation, by
of Fames,' wr"--dieci 1548.—N05. 718, ' Mount Cal.
Joachim de Pati'r,'„_os,,,, St. John, the Virgin, the Mag.
vary, Christ on theaDurd
another soldier ; and 719, ' The
dalen, Longinto.t.ng a
vase of ointment, by Henrik des
Magdalen,' hdrlsso.—Nos. 720, ' The Holy Family at 4
Blest died i.
r6re
Joseph offering fruit to the Saviour and 721,
Fountain,' r.a
Lady,' by Jan Schoorel, died 1562,-.-No.'
' Portrait
722, , Portrait of a Lady,' in a large white cap, attributed
to Sigi,mond liolbein, brother of Hans the Father, living
1540•: The following pictures are purchases for the National
Gallery, made during this year :--No. 726, ' Christ's Agony
in the Garden, by G. Bellini, died 1516.—N0. 727, ' The
Trinity,' tempera, by Peselliuo died 1457.—N0. 728, ' Ma-
donna and Child,' by Beltraffio, died 1516.—N0. 729, ' The
Adoration of the Dings, Bramantino, living 1525. The
last picture is not yet placed.—Athemzum.
A BEAUTIFUL SPECIMEN OF PHOTCGLYPHIC
ENGRAVING ON STEF.L—in other words, a photographic
picture on steel—effected solely by the agency of light act-
ing on certain chemicals.—The specimen, as stated by Mr.
Fox Talbot, is quite untouched. It represents an exquisite
scene in Java—a ravine and rivulet fringed with bananatrees. Not the least wonderful circumstance connected wh
it is, that at least 5,000 cLpies can be taken before the plate
deteriorates. Such a result, after so many years of labour,
must be for Mr. Fox Talbot a genuine triumph.
FLo'row has just composed a new three-act
~
creme, called " Naida," for the Court Theatre at 7 ,:htiß