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

Beaufort House Theatricals.

Last evening the members of the South Middle-
sex and 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 fa% our 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 theatrica.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 savoir faire, and they are quite at
sea. Last 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
rendering of the part, proved also that her apti-
tude and ready intelligence were equal to her ele-
gant demeanour and personal attractions. The
haughty imperious Duchess of Altenfels, first played
by Mrs. Leigh Murray, was represented on this oc-
casion by Miss A. 8., who carried things with as
high a hand as could be desired, and made her
authority fall 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 presumptuous old personage. Mr.
Scoones, as the lover Conrad, displayed all requisite
gallantry ; and Mr. C. Deane, "as Prince Max, was
unmistakeably distinct. The piece was placed upon
the stage with remarkable elegance of costume and
appointment. The dresses were of the Louis XV.
period, and those of the ladies were remarkable for
their splendour and exquisite 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, the
volunteers patriotically discharging volleys of puns
and jokes at the celestial strangers. A drop scene
highly
d
painted for the occasion, one of the prettiest extant,
by Mr. Claude Callum, was, very deservedly,
admired. Mr. A. Haynes
ntributcd to the eclat
in a style that materially coc on ducte the orchestra
of the occasion.
--...••••110.11111.

How MUCH HARMONY THERE IS IN FRANCE,
erFtood, when it is stated, that no less than
nrair be uncl
12,9 W new works and 20,000 pieces of new music are pub_
lished Paris, and 6,000 works in the provinces.
IN RICIAWNP, lately, a bonnet sold for SOO dOls.
—Xl6o—same price as an entire nigger fetches.
THE COUNTESS DANNER, the rnorgannt. •
lc -whim!,
of King Frederick VII., is at the Castle of GI
ucksburg,
suffering from erysipelas. We read in the Dlnish papers
that the late King of Ostmark 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 the work when it has be-
come public property,