The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-17 00:00:00

PRINCESS'S 7HEA7RE.

The management career of Mr. A. Harris at this theatre
terminated last evening with the performance of " Henry
VIII." The theatre being crowded almost to suffocation.

The engagement of Mr. and Mrs. Challes Kean has
been a most triumphant success. The brilliant reception
they have secured for themselves and the pecuniary benefits
they have reaped for the theatre, must be a source' of real
gratification ; to those foreign and provincial visit ors who
have thus enjoyed an opportunity of witnessing one of our
national plays represented in a most efficient manner, the
arrangement has wonted a special advantage ; while to
everyone who loves the work of Shakespeare, the fact of
"Henry the Eighth" having been performed to crewded
houses for more than eighty consecutive nights must be a
cheering and a hopeful one indeed. There is little doubt that
were the theatre to remain in its present manager's hands,
"Henry VIII," would continue to attract for a consider-
able time. That one play should have proved sufficient
to fill the theatre during the whole of Mr. Kean's engage-
ment—a period of nearly six months—is a satisfactory
and significant fact, whieh we beg to offer to the considera-
tion of those manners who put their faith in scenery and
sensations alone, to the detriment of the popular taste and
the simple aggrandisement ofihe scene painter and stage
carpenter. It would be vain to deny that much of the suc-
cess attending Mr. Kean's revivals resulted from the ela-
borate care and lavish system of decoration which distin-
guished every drama produced ; but the manner in which
the public has flocked to see "Henry VIII." during the
present season, when the revival has been marked by pre-
cision and picturesque arrangement rather than expensive
show, is a convincing proof that the declaration that up-
holstery and glitter have been required to bolster up the
declining drama has been from first to last a fallacy. Mr.
Harris is to be cordially congratulated on having brought
his directorship to a close in so highly creditable and suc-
cessful a manner.

The winter season, under new management, commences
on Monday next.

THE WELCH CONCERT.

Last evening, at the St. James's Hall, there was a grand
concert of Welch national music. The audience were
numerous, and a large proportion of them singularly enthu-
siastic. Insomuch so that many of them (probably Gwyn-
neths and Llewellyn®, Morgans and Williamses, all of them
with as many authentic aps in their genealogy as would
carry their pedigree back easily enough to the days of Noah)
—insomuch, we say, were these patriotic We'oilmen and
Welohwomen enraptured last evening with the harmonies
endeared to them by divers fondly-cherished home-recol-
lections that they seemed to be bent upon marking their
approbation at the close of every piece that was per-
formed by one invariable and inevitable encore 1
It bore an unmistakeable resemblance, their enthu-
siasm last evening, to that manifested by Kit
Nubbles when he took Little Jacob and the rest of
them to Astley's Amphitheatre—Kit loudly encoring
everything he heard and witnessed, the three act piece
included! But it is only fair to mention in regard to the
Welch concert at the St. James's Hall, last evening, that
there was really something worth encoring in the perfor-
mances. For example, in the vocal part of the arrange-
ments, there were provided for last night, no less than 4 00
voices I And in the instrumental department there were
collected together and played simultaneously as many as
twenty harps—leading them all off that Prince of Welch
Harpers, Mr. John Thomas, the Conductor,[or to speak of
him more euphoniously in Welch instead of calling
him by that angliced name of his, that is so familiarly
recognizable as the cognomen of a genuine
Flunkey in Plush—Pencerdd Gwalial The principal
voealists engaged in last night's performance, that is
in the solo part of the concert, were—giving the English
names of all, and the Welch names of two of them—Miss
Wynne (Eus Cymru Pencerddes), Miss Eliza Hughes,
Miss Lascelles, and Mr. Lewis el. Lewis (blew Llwyvo).
The harpists—martialled, as we have said, by Mr. John
Thomas—being Messrs. J. Balsir Chatterton, Frederick
Chatterton, Wright, Cheshire, Leyland, Ellis Roberts,
George, Perry, Compton, Stratford, jun., Putnam, J.
Weippert, and Mesdames Cooper, James Dryden, Trust,
Carey, Goter, Jessie Weippert, and O'Leary ginning.
Charmingly were some of the pieces performed last evening
—among these being the two bird songs—" Y'Deryn Pur"
(The Dove) and "Y Fwyalchen" (The Blackbird), toge-
ther with the choruses " Difyrrwch y Brenin" (The King's
Delight) and " (Ilan Meddwdodd Mwyn" (The Joy of the
Mead-cup). Conducted as the Welch concert was, through-
out last evening, we can hardly wonder that the Welch
part of the audience were excited by those 20 warbling harp.
and those 400 accordant voices to such earnest and reiterated
manifestations of delight.