The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-01 00:00:00

ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.--FRENCH PLAYS.

Mr. Mitchell's season commenced last night with a
crowded and fashionable audience as merrily and suc-
cessfully as could be wished. M. Ravel, the clever
comedian of the Palais Royal, made his first appearance
since 1848, and with him came the handsome and
spirituelle Mademoiselle Lambert, and a debutante
Madlle. Emma Fleury, a graceful and intelligent
young actress, who will be found a valuable addition to
the company. Besides these stars there was a good
working company, full of that ease and vivacity which,
especially in scenes of every-day life, given such an air
of ensemble and reality to French comedy. After a
lever du rideau, in the shape of a little piece called
saute de s'entendre, which served to introduce Madlle.
Fleury. M. Ravel made his appearance in a real
Palais Royal vaudeville, called Un Monsieur qui suit
es femmes, a piece which some play goers may recollect
having seen at the Strand Theatre, under the name of
Kensington .
Gardens. Of plot there is not a vestige in
the piece ; is nothing beyond a series of ludicrous
situation, into which the hero, Hector Dache-
min, a young Parisian bachelor, gets himself by
his irrisistible penchant for following every
lady he sees. .At length he gets caught.
A lady of distinguished appearance, the wife of a repre-
sentative, Madlle. D'Ermont, is subjected, like others
of more humble guise, to his annoyances ; but, instead
of showing timidity, boldly meets his advances by taking
him home to dipe with her at her own house. Here,
dressed in "!' frock-coat and blue cravat," as he pite-
ously complains, he is horrified at finding himself the
bUtt of a large family dinner party, to every member of
which he is introduced by the lady as Monsieur que je ne
connais pas. His course of life has, however, made him
acquainted with several awkward secrets of his tormentors.
One of them he recognises as having 'been seen intriguing
with a femme de ch,ambre, his wife has dropped a billet-
doux to her lover, which Hector has picked up ; another
gentleman has fought a duel with unloaded pistols ; and
a fourth having signed a contract of marriage with a
lorette, named Georgina, has, in place of fulfilling it ran
away and left her ; and, when driven to desperation, he
is able by whispering these home-truths into their ears,
not only to silence them 411, but to obtain their united
consent to his marriage with Madlle. Mathilde, a ward
of the family, and the young lady of whom he really is
enamoured ; so that, after some pouting on mademoiselle's
part at Hector's indiscriminate gallantry, he is made
happy, and vows henceforth to follow no more ladies,
inasmuch as article 214 code civil enacts that "une
femme dolt suivre son marl partout 1" The other
novelty, York, is also a Palais Royal vaude-
ville of a more recent date, being produced
there in July last. Here we have one Hector Dolbrun,
who rusticates in Switzerland, dressed in a complete suit
of white, and, meeting with a grim Major, who has an
old daughter and a young wife, falls in love with the
wife, and, mistaking her for the daughter, demands her
hand from her husband. The method by-which he has
introduced himself to the family is of the oddest. The
Major, to check his wife's fancy for her pet dogs, causes
them to be secretly drowned in the neighbouring lake,
and the last victim, " York," is saved by the gallant
Hector, who first comes on leading the rescued creature
by a string. When the Major has given his consent, and
Hector discovers his mistake, his despair at the notion of
marrying the dreadful daughter is so violent, that every-
body things he has the hydrophobia, and he becomes an
object of universal terror, till at last he is released from
his distress by a convenient captain, who takes his bride
off his hands, and he is allowed to retain " York" as a
reward, for his gallantry. The weight of both pieces
rested on the shoulders of M. Ravel, who is scarcely
ever off the stage ; and, indeed, we may say that
they have been written to display his pecular powers,
and certainly none but himself could do them full justice.
His performance of Hector Dachemin was a highly
finished piece of art, his inimitab'e ease and buoyant
vivacity, make that which, in ordinary men would be
but common-place impertinence, seem the result of pas-
sionate devotion to the sex, carried, perhaps, a little
too far under the influence of high animal spirits. In the
second act, too, the conflict between his natural self-
possession and the embarrassment produced by his
ridiculous position is highly amusing, nor must we
omit to mention the clever manner in which he reco-
vered himself, when he found that he was able to turn
the tables on his assailants. He never saw an artist so per-
fectly master of the whole armoury of bye play and
asides, and in many instances the mere play of his mo-
bile features—so expressive, yet without a tinge of ex-
travagance, was irresistible. The most remote country-
man, who never heard a word of French in his life, must
have laughed at the animated versatile love maker, and
sympathised intuitively in his embarrassments from first
to(last. Both Madlle. Lambert and Madle. Fleury played
with spirit and elegance, and did much towards the
success of the piece. Both pieces were well received,
and the principal actors were called at the end of each
piece. As an augury of success for the season, nothing
could be more successful.

LONDON SACRED HARMONIC UNlON.—Handers Ora-
torio of Solomon was performed here last night with
considerable success. The vocalists were—Miss Birch,
Miss C. Felton, and Mrs. Temple, Mr. Lockey, and
Mr. Lawler ; and the entire performance, choral and
soloist, went smoothly and equably off. 31r. Surman,
of course, conducted. The hall was full.
REPRESENTATION OP THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE,
LONDON.—Last afternoon a meeting of the alumnie and
eleves of the University College was held in the theatre
of the college—Mr. Liston, F.R.C.S., in the chair—to
adopt measures for securing to the college the right of
returning two representatives to Parliament. The
chairman briefly and lucidly explained the object of the
meeting, and insisted upon the right of the university,
in common with Oxford, Cambridge, and Trinity Col-
lege, Dublin, to be represented, urging in favour of the
University College that it admitted to its full honours
all persons irrespective of religious creed, and that it
had been originally founded under a promise from the
Government of the day that in due time it would be
fully admitted to all the rights and privileges enjoyed by
the other universities. Messrs. Gawgee, Frankshaw,
Baines, Murphy, Hall, and Litchard similarly expressed
themselves in eloquent addresses. A petition to the
Legislature, embodying the objects of the meeting, was
unanimously adopted, after which, and a vote of thanks
to the chairman, the meeting separated.
ROYAL ANNUITY SOClETY.—Yesterday the annual
general court of the governors of this charity was held
at the London Tavern, Henry Pownall, Esq., J.P., in
the chair. The report stated that during the past year
six annuitants had been placed upon the books, and
that four others were to be elected that day, from a list
of 133 candidates. Six annuitants died during the year,
and 21 men, and 34 women, are at present on the books.
The festival lately held yielded 1,323/. During the
abovementioned period the trustees invested 4601„ and
received 4001., the legacy of the late Mr. Croft.. The
total income was 2,1431. 17s. 10d.' of which sum 70/.
14s. 10d. was the balance at the last audit, and 3361.
18s. subscriptions. The expenditure was 2,1021. 7s. 4d.,
of which 1,2501. was in annuities, so that a balance of
411. 10s. 6d. appears in favour of the charity. The re-
p.rt
and financial statement were received and adopted,
after which the poll was declared open. At the conclu-
sion of the business the successful candidate were de-
clared elected, and a vote of thanks passed to the chair-
man.

GERMAN HOSPITAL, DALSTON.—The annual general
meeting of the managers and supporters of this institu-
tion was held yesterday forenoon at the London Tavern;
his Excellency Chevalier Bunsen—in the unavoidable
absence of his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge,
the president, presided. The advertisement convening
the meeting having been read, the Rey. Adolphus Wal-
baum, secretary and chaplain, proceeded to read the re-
port of the committee, which set forth that during the
past year 706 in-patients had been admitted into the
establishment, and the out-patients for the same period
numbered :—At the Hospital, 4,082 ; at the City Dis-
pensary, 1,202 ; the Western Dispensary, 316—making
a total of 5,600 ; and the number since its opening, in
1845, to be:—ln-patients 3,513, and out-patients
20,935. The report further stated that ten beds had
been added during the past year, to what is termed the
Adolphus Ward, which has only lately been erected,
through which nearly 100 ;poor women and children
could be accommodated. Notwithstanding this com-
paratively favourable statement, as many as 278 urgent
cases could not be admitted for want of room. The
financial position of the charity showed the income of the
past year to have been, from all sources, 2,486/. 95. 10d,,
and the expenditure 2,501/. 9s. 10d. These results con-
sequently made the expenditure exceed the receipts by
151. The report and the accounts were agreed to nem.
Con, and after some formal business the meeting
separated.
MURDER AT PRESTON. —The Town-hall of Preston was
densely crowded yesterday (Monday) by persons anxious
Ito hear the examination in a case of murder, committed
at an early hour that morning in Turk's Head-yard (a
I court in the the main street near the Market-place).
The name of the deceased is Thomas Wilcock, an itine-
rant nutseller ; and the parties implicated in his death
are James Parker, also a nutseller ; and Ralph Ire-
land, a journeyman joiner, both of whom appeared
in the dock. The circumstances of this shock-
ing occurrence, as far as they have at present
been elicited, may be gleaned from the subjoined evi-
dence. John Atkinson, a bailiff living in Turk's Head-
yard, deposed that about five minutes before two that
morning, being in bed, he heard some one exclaiming,
" Thou shalt have it now for what thou bast done be-
fore." Witness immediately got up, and opened his
window, when he saw the prisoner Parker strike a man
twice. The man fell down, and never spoke afterwards.
Witness was sure Parker was the man who struck the
deceased. Saw Parker run away. James Livesey was
called, and said
over
thethathead and about
whilst deceasedwtahe n
was down,eck.
Parker After
kicked him
this he ran away as fast as he could. Some one ran be-
fore him, but who it was witness could not say. Both
men were apprehended soon after the tragedy—Parker
at a brothel, kept by a woman with whom he cohabited ;
Ireland at his sister's beer-house, where he lodged. The
prisoners were remanded until Wednesday to await the
result of a coroner's inquisition, to be held this afternoon
(Tuesday). .