The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-19 00:00:00

Beaufort House Theatricals.

Last evening the members of the South Middle-
sex end some of the Queen's (Westminster) Rifle
Volunteers gave a dramatic performance in the
armoury of Beaufort House, Fulham-road, where a
numerous and fashionable audience was assembled.
The entertainments commenced with Mr. Palgrave
Simpson's comedietta of " Court Cards," which
playgoers may remember as having been received
with muck favour on its production at the Olympic
Theatre three years ago. It is seldom that a drama
is acted by amateurs with the spirit and brilliancy
that characterised the representation of this pretty
little play last night. At private theatrice.s it not
unfrequently happens that the actors merely aim at
a verbal acquaintance with the text, an object
which they are not always as successful
in attaining as could be wished. when
they lose the words they also lose their self-
possion and saroir faire, and they are quite at
sea. List niaht, however, it was evident that the
players had, with few exceptions, not only studied
to acquire an adequate knowledge of the language,
but also succeeded in mastering what is of still
higher importance—its full dramatic significance ;
and the result was pleasantly apparent in the un-
usual ease and smoothness of the performance. The
part of the Princess Amelia, originally represented
by Miss Amy Sedgwick, was taken by a lady indi-
cated in the bill as Mrs. J. H. 8., who not only de-
livered the dialogue with point and piquancy, but
played the part with refinement and address. She
acted with great spirit and ability, and brought out
in attractive colours all the wit, the native grace,
and generosity of the character. A comparatively
less prominent character—a part, as usual, as-
signed to the Beauty—was in this case appro-
priately given to Mrs. T., who, by her charming
re,adering of the part, proved also that her apti-
tude and ready intelligence were equal to her ele-
gant demeanour and personal attractions. The
imperious Duchess of Altenfels, first played
haugh.'Y
by Mrs. Leigh Murray, was represented on this oc-
casion by' Miss A. 8., who carried things with as
high a hacid as could be desired, and made her
authority fa.ll with iron pressure upon her ill-fated
courtiers. A gentleman, described somewhat alarm-
ingly as Mr. lago, played the Baron von Babbel-
berg with a due sense of the whimsicality and con-
ceit of that vresumptuous old personage. Mr.
Scoones, as the Is) ver Conrad, displayed all requisite
gallantry; and Atr. C. Deane, as Prince Max, was
unmistakeably distinct. The piece was placed upon
the stage with rem ar kable elegance of costume and
appointment. The dresses were of the Louis XV.
Period, and those of the ladies were remarkable for
their splendour and el...visite taste_ The entertain-
ment concluded with a burlesque by Messrs. Ed-
ward Draper and Ellis Reynolds, in which the not
very probable contingency of a Chinese invasion in
the year 1960 was turned to comic account,
volunteers patriotically discharging
lle
scene
ys of the
Ptine
P eet extant,
w
and jokes at the celestial t tz augers. voAdrop
painted for the occasion, on?. .of the brattiest
by Mr. Claude Callum, as, very deservedly,
admired. Mr. A. Haynes can ductedhighly the orchestra
et'
butcd to the eclat
•"
in a style that materially coil
of the occasion.

How MUCH HARMONY THE= IS IN FRANCE.
may be understood, when it is stated, that no less than
12,900 new works and 20,000 pieces of now music are pub_
fished in Paris, and 6,000 works in the provinces.
1N RICHMoND, lately, a bonnet sold for 800 (ink.
—£lo—same price as an entire nigger fetches.
THE COUNTESS DANNER, the morganatic
widow
of King Frederick VII., is at the CastleorClcksbnrg,
suffering from erysipelas. We read in
tile Danish
that the late King of Denmark left all he had to -
will
away
to his wife, the Countess.

RIGHTS OF AUTHORS IN FRANCE.—The new law
will prolong the limits of the exclusive possession accorded
to the heirs to 50 years after the author's death, and on the
expiration of that time, the possession and direct right of
ceding will be replaced by a simple perpetual amount of
payment on the reproduction of tha work when it has be,-
come public property,