The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-11 00:00:00

Voyage," is performing just now at thistheatre with

a degree of success which affords a curious comment
on the old theatrical motto, Castigat ridendo mores.
The plot may be indicated, for it is a curiosity in its
way. An old gentleman has made a will, by which
he leaves his property conditionally to that one of
his nephews, who,within three years from the testa-
tor's death, can prove that no breach of the seventh
commandment has taken place in his menage. It
is useless, and, indeed, impossible to go into further
details. It is enough to add that the successful
competitor is unmarried.

BEAT MARCHAIS.—This small theatre has corn

mitted the fatal error of returning to the drama in-
stead of occupying itself with light theatrical
amusements. He is now engaged in representing
" La Louve de Florence," by Mlle. Delphine Rouy.
The heroine is a counterpart of Lucrezia Borgia ;
the period during which the events of this drama
are supposed to have taken place was one of confu-
sion, and the action of Mlle. Rouy's latest effort is
in keeping with the epoch. Plots, treasons, murders,
and other catastrophestake place inquick succession.
There is a question of reproducing " Dieu et la
Bayadere" at the Opera, after which will be given
the " Roi d'Yvetoti a ballet pantomime by Mdmes.
Lebarre and Petipa. Persons behind the scenes
assure us that the Duke of Mama, Prince Metter-
nich, and the Count of Solms have sent in anony-
mous contributions. A translation of " Forza del
Destino" is also spoken of. At the Opera-Comique
the " Voyage en Chine," by Messrs. Delacour,
Labiche, and Bazin, is being studied, whilst several
now operas are announced for the Lyrique.
The great work whichwill be played at the open-
ing of the New Opera in 1867 will, it is said, be
composed by Maestro Verdi. The subject is " King
Lear," and the libretto will be written by Mery.
A grand historical drama on the subject of Joan
of Arc is about to be produced at the Theatre-
Francais of Rouen. A singular fact is that the
funeral pile of the maid of Orleans was raised on the
spot where the theatre now stands.

Mlle. Patti was expected in Florence on the Ist
November. She is engaged for ten representations
by the Meynadier management, which has charge
of the theatres of the old capital of Italy. The cele-
brated vocalist will be heard during the residence
of the King and Queen of Portugal.
After presiding at two performances of his oratorio

" Sainte Elizabeth," Liszt left Pesth to return to
Rome, but his passage through Hungary was marked
by numerous acts of beneficence ; of the four con-
certs at Pesth, which produced very large receipts,
three took place with the aid of 500 executants ; for
the last, given before an audience of more than
2,000 persons, the illustrious abbe was assisted only
by the violinist, Remenyi, and M. Hans de Bulow.
The cure de Scwendtner, with whom M. Liszt re-
sided during his stay, undertook to distri-
bute the maestro's donations. Thus 5,000 fr. were
devoted to the construction of a church at Leopold-
stadt ; 1,200 fr. to the infant asylums ; 1,200 fr. to
the Grey Sisters ; and I,ooofr. to the Franciscans.
The Protestant Orphan Asylum received 500 fr. ;

and a similar sum ;as given to the poor Jews.
The King of Bavaria has given orders to Profes.
sor Semper, of Zurich, to build a new theatre a,
Munich, to be called the Wagners-theatre.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The inquiry into the terrible explosion of
gas at Nine Elms has resulted in a circumstantial
compilation of facts as they are supposed to have
occurred. Most readers will know only too well
what a gasometer or gasholder is, and it is only
necessary to premise that on the premises of the
London Gas Company at Nine Elms there were two
of these reservoirs, standing about 300 ft. apart.
Each of these was capable of containing a million
cubic feet of gas ; both were admirably constructed,
and were described, indeed, by one of the company's
servants as " two of the most beautiful gasholders
in London." Within 20ft., however, of one of these
charming fabrics was a meter-house, which contained
also the "governors," that is to say, the machines
through which the gas passed from the gasholders
to the consumers, and by which the pressure on the
mains was regulated. In its passage through these
instruments the gas was "sealed," or prevented from
escaping, by water ; but a displacement of the "go-
vernor" might displace the water and allow the gas
to escape into the air of the building. Nor was this
displacement at all a difficult matter, for the " go-
vernors" were unprotected ; but, on the other hand,
the men engaged in the place were skilled workmen
who knew the risk, and who were not likely to do
any harm. It happened, however, that on Oct. 31
a number of strange workmen were employed in this
building. The meter-house wanted plastering, and at
six o'clock in the morning the men came to work.
Thomas O'Donnell, himself a plasterer, appears to
have been their foreman, and besides those engaged
with him there were two carpenters, and a brick-
layer, who was also a sub-contractor for
the brickwork on the premises. These men
had all the necessary apparatus of their
trade with them, including permanent and movable
scaffolds by which to reach the walls and ceilings
of the room. Nothing could be more natural,
therefore, than to suggest that some plasterer, in
arranging his trestles or procuring himself a footing,
had taken one of the
" governors" for a support,
and pushed it out of its proper position. This dan-
ger, indeed, was not altogether unforeseen. A ser-
vant of the company three or four days before the
accident had seen a plasterer put his foot upon the
" governor," and had cautioned him. He had also
warned O'Donnell, and told him to keep his men
from such doings. The deputy-manager of the
works, too, had " as a matter of prudence" told the
plasterers not to touch the " governors." However,
at the place where the plasterers were actually at
work, any one of them might have stood upon the
" governor," and a pressure of a pound weight upon
any one side of one of these instruments would, we
are told, throw it out of gear. But was there not a
skilled servant of the company in the meter-house
all this while to protect the machinery, and prevent
any such probable accidents? There was. One
officer left duty at half-past four in the morning,
and was relieved by another, whose duty it was to
be always present in the meter-house, " except for
a few minutes every hour," when he had to " take
stock," or, in other words, to ascertain what gas
there was in the gasholders. Possibly, too, there
were other servants of the company in the building,
for we observe that a stoker and a gas refiner were
among the victims of the explosion, the others be-
ing four plasterers, two carpenters, a bricklayer,
and a labourer. Unfortunately, as often happens
in these terrible catastrophes, all those who could
have spoken to the actual origin of the calamity
have perished, and we are reduced to inference and
probability. * Michael Doolan, however, the man
in charge, states that shortly after two o'clock he
left the meter-house, as usual, to " take stock,"
and that as he was returning somebody called out
to him from the building, " These is something the
matter here." At the same instant Richard Har-
vey, a man employed in the retort-house, was
summoned by a similar alarm, and he tells us how
he rushed into the meter-house and what he saw
there. He saw half a dozen plasterers endeavour-
ing to hold down the governor," and his impres-
sion was that they had first tilted or displaced it by
standing on it, and were then attempting to set it
right again. But it was too late ; the gas was escap-
ing fast owing to the displacement of the water
which had confined it, and before any counterpoise
could be applied, or any effectual precaution taken,
the explosion occurred. Now, however, we come to
a most important part of the inquiry. Assuming
that the origin of the explosion has been correctly
inferred in the foregoing argument, what was the
explosiothnatitsoenlfe of ? The reader will
enormous
gnaosthohladverse for-
gottenw was
snot only driven from its position, but found with
part of its top, or crown, blown up or folded over,
so as to suggest unavoidably the conclusion that its
contents had exploded. It was this belief which
filled the public with such alarm, for gasholders of
immense size are planted in the thickest parts of the
metropolis, and we seemed to be suddenly introduced
to a new and appalling prospect of hourly danger.
We are now assured, however, that no ground for
this alarm exists, and that our old ideas of the
security of these reservoirs may still be entertained.
Dr. Letheby stated at the inquest that the
explo-
sion was undoubtedly an explosion of the air in the
meter-house only, which had been renderedin-
flammable by the escape of gas from the " gover-
nor," and had been accidentally ignited. The force
of this explosion drove the gasholder, as if by vio-
lent impact, from its place, and knocked off part of
its crown, but this was the only way in which the
reservoir suffered. It did not contribute to the

explosion itself, but was merely blown away, as any
ordinary building might have been. The argu-
ments by which Dr. Letheby defended this assump-
tion were drawn rather from mechanics than
chemistry, but with one remarkable and highly fin-
__

pressive exception. The witness stated as a perfectly
conclusive piece of reasoning, that if the gas in
the gasholder had exploded, instead of the air in
the meter-house, not only would the reservoir itself
have been blown to pieces, but " all the neighbour-
ing buildings would have been destroyed." In fact,