The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-08 00:00:00

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

Le Chevalier des Dames, produced here last night,
resembles greatly Le Monsieur, in which M. Ravel made
his first appearance. In both we have the sprightly self-
confident young Parisian, forcing himself on the society
of every lady he meets, one would say rudely and im-
pertinently, were it not for the profusion of apologies,
end the perfect politeness with which his advances are
received : at first resented, next tolerated, and lastly, by
by some means or other, received into the firm friendship
of those who at first have been the objects of his•perse-
cution. M. Nestor de Bois Rosh is a knight errant,
of modern times, whose mission it is to succour all dis-
tressed ladies—" tonjours pour le bon motif." In this
laudable pursuit he has the misfortune to commit lese-
mousseline on the dress on Madame de Merlemont, who,
after a slight tiff with her husband, is on her way to a
concert. This accident affords, too, an opening for "mak-
ing an acquaintance" not to be neglected, and accordingly
M. Nestor follows the lady into her drawing room,
overwhelms her with his fervid regrets and apologies, in
the midst of which the husband is announced ; and, as
the only method of accounting for his presence there,
Nestor is obliged to slip on a livery, and assume the
character of a footman just engaged. Then it comes
out that Nestor is in possession, by some means or
other, of certain imprudent letters, written by Madame de
Merlemont, which he is about to restore her, when the
husband returns, and carries off Nestor's coat, in the
pocket of which they are deposited. The object
-is ,to recover the letters. First, the Chevalier
tries to pick his master's pocket when pretending
to be brushing his coat. Then he persuades him,
with great eloquence, that nobody wears dress coats at
evening parties, and manages to get the coveted garment
laid aside. No sooner, however, does this unlucky Nestor
get possession of the book, than his master, taking it for
his own, snatches it from him, and locks it in a small
coffer. The Chevalier and the lady are again in despair,
and still more so when the former sends out the coffer to
be picked by a locksmith, just as the latter has managed
to get the key from her husband, this contretemps leads
to half-a-dozen others, until at last Nestor determines
to burn the unlucky boy, notwithstanding that his
pocket contains a thousand franc note. Into the grate
then it goes, and the Chevalier pulls down the blower to
to make the flame burn stronger, when the husband re-
enters in search of the unlucky article—is unable to find
it—concludes it has been stolen—declares that it con-
tained 300,000 francs, and finally charges Nestor with
being the thief, giving him just three minutes to pro-
duce the missing article before he is given into custody
—a catastrophe which, however, is obviated by the dis-
covery by the femme de chambre that the blower has
blown the fire out, and the precious cofre is safe and sound.
The dramatic idea of the piece is slight enough, but the
irresistible humour and eccentricity which M. Ravel
threw into the part of the bustling, volatile, clever
Nestor, carried it through with most enthusiastic ap-
plause. Mdlle. Lambert played the part of the Parisian
lady with sprightliness and grace, and fairly divided the
honours of the piece with M. Ravel. The first piece
was Les Premieres Amours, in which Mdlle. Fleury
played with an elegance and spirit which materially in-
creased the favourable impression which she has already
made.

ENGLISH GLEE AND MADRIGAL UNION,

WILLIS'S ROOMS.

Last night the first of the second series of these agree-
able concerts was given at Willis's Rooms. Th 9 pro-
gramme comprised several of the best English glees, by
Horsley, Cooke, Webbe, Stafford, Smith, and others.
The vocalists included Mrs. Endersohn, Miss M.Williams,
Mr. Lockey, Mr. Hobbs, and Mr. H. Phillips ; and we
never heard these beautful compositions executed with
more taste and precision. Mr. H. Phillips sang the fine
old English song, " Return revolN:ng revels," with a
spirit and vigour which drew down unanimous applause.
The concert was numerously and well attended.

CHEAP POTATOES.—A vessel belonging to Southamp-
ton, riding off our coast during the late hurricane, was
driven down to the Orkneys. On being blown so far
out of course, like a provident man, the captain deter-
mined to make ,4,he best of a bad job, and, accordingly,
he endeavoured to obtain a freight at several of the
northern ports. At length, arriving at Dumbarton,
nothing offered except potatoes, so he resolved to pur-
chase a cargo, and last week he arrived at Shields, but,
unable to dispose of his cargo, he took his ship round to
Sunderland, and commenced to retail them over the side
of the vessel at lid. per stone. The potatoes were both
white and red, and of excellent quality, and when the
news began to spread, people went in crowds with swills,
baskets, hampers, &c., and the whole cargo Was taken
away as fast as it could be weighed. The wholesale p.-
tato merchants were taken aback, as the previous price
at Sunderland had been is. per stone, and when about
half of the cargo was disposed of, a large dealer offered
to- purchase the remainder, but the captain declined;
determined that the poor people should have the benefit
of the whole.—Sunderland Herald.