The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-18 00:00:00

OLYMPIC THE4TI?E.

A French drama, turning upon the interest excited by
a false accusation of poisoning, and which, under the
name of Marie Simon, made some noise in one of the
Boulevard theatres, has been adapted by Mr. Morris
Barnett, and was last night successfully produced at
this theatre as Lilian Gervaia. The plot may be briefly
described as follows :—A somewhat dreary old Marquis
magnanimously poisons himself in order to give his un-
faithful wife an oppof tunity of marrying her lover, a
smart young barrister. Lilian Gervais, an innocent girl,
a dependent of the family, and to whom the dissipated
but not quite unworthy son of the Marquis had been
paying guilty addresses— is accused, in consequence of a
train of minute circumstances, of the murder, brought
to trial, and condemned to death—her former lover now
appearing in the character of his father's avenger, and
her motive being alleged to be the removal of that
father as an obstacle to her intrigue with the son. The
best point in the play is that in the scene in which
the condemned girl tells the marchioness that she
knew of her intrigue with the barrister who is
conducting the case against her, and that her motive
for getting rid of her husband must have been grea%er
than her own could have been for putting out of the
Way the father of a lover, whose guilty proposals she
had never listened to. The Marchioness solemnly swears
that she has had no hand in the tragedy. Lilian then
magnanimously keeps the secret of the intrigue to herself,
and is rewarded when on the point of execution by a con-
fession of suicide being found in the hand-writing of the
deceased, so that the barrister may have the marchioness,
and we are quite sure that the son of the marquis has
Lilian. The incidents of the piece are slight enough, in
all conscience, but in artistic hands like those of some of
the performers at this favourite ho'use they are made
much of. The heroine was played by Miss Anderton,
a young lady boasting, it is said, "of considerable pro-
vincial and transatlantic reputation," but quite new to the
London boards. She acquitted herself very creditably
in this, her first appearance in the metropolis, and as she
evidently possesses dramatic powers of a superior order,
she will no doubt soon work herself into as much popu-
larity with John Bull as with Brother Jonathan. Her
forte lies in the "passionate or pathetic line of business,"
and certainly her acting, though sometimes overstrained,
is, generally speaking, simple, touching, and energetic.
The other parts call for no notice whatever, further than
that they were well sustained, while, as for the success
of the play, it is enough to state that it was announced
for repetition until further notice, amidst much applause.

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.—The recent awful sacrifice of
human life on the North-Western Railway, near Oxford,
has again painfully directed the attention of the public
to the subject of railway accidents—their causes and
remedies. In this case it is clear, that had the guard
been enabled to communicate with the driver this
frightful calamity might have been prevented. A very
great proportion of the casualties to which the railway
train is subjected migh
t be prevented if there were but a
ready means of communicationhtpassengers
i from the
to
the guard, and from the guard
to the engine-man.
Under the existing
system, the engine- driver is per-
fectly ignorant of the state of the rear portion of the
fly off or an axle heat and ignite
train, and a tire may
the carriage, and the most disastrous consequences ensue,
without his being at all cognisant, until the crash of the
accident occurs, of the jeopardy in which he has been
running. It certainly appears to the most unscientific
mind that there would be very little difficulty in invent-
ing some simple and cheap contrivance, by means of
which a communication could be established throughout
the whole of the train. It happens that at the catas-
trophe which has called forth these remarks, Mr. Card
Card-
well, M.P. for Oxford, was present. That
gentle-
man expected the arrival of his wife by the train. For-
tunately, she did not come, but Mr. Cardwell had the
opportunity of witnessing the fearful wreck—the utter
havoc which results from these terrible disasters. He was
astonished at the devastation which it occasioned, and de-
clared thatall that he had read or fancied ofrailway accidents
never could have realised to his mind anything like the real
extent of the destruction. Mr. Cardwell is probably the
first President of the Board of Trade who has been upon
the spot immediately after a railway collision, when the
dead and dying, the uptorn rails, the disabled locomo-
tive monsters bellowing forth steam and water, the fierce
red hissing coals, and the shattered carriages, are all
heaped up in one horridly confused and heterogeneous
mass. I trust that what the right honourable gentleman
saw may lead him to devote the energies of his powerful
mind to the important subject of railway accidents.—
Correspondent of Edinburgh A dvertiBer.
GOOD NEWS Pon ANGLERS.—Owing to the continued
high state of the river, a greater number of salmon, some
of which are very large, have ascended it than in any
season in the remembrance of the oldest angler on its
banks. We have been informed by one who is employed
in protecting them during the spawning season, and
who, since " his arm had seven
years pith," has waged
'
an incessant warfare against the tribe, that he has
seen two larger than any fish Of theysalmon kind which'
ever came under his observation. Prom the above, our
brethren of the rod may anticipate brilliant sport in the
beginning of the season, which commences on Tuesday
lat of Fobruary,—Breclein Advertior.