The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-10 00:00:00

r HAYMARKET TIEA"
On Saturd'ay evening Mr. Mac:td Ot*iptgaide.)
first portion of his farewell engag _ '*--(2(',0 27
ratter of Macbeth, During the two pp '''S—.th'*'Ei49')a___,P
been engaged here he has appeared mill
,Nrai*teo,6ri rt.
Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet, Othelo liii Ergo,. Oltd I -4
every eight of his performance thin t httlbees i 4
& crowd. On the Saturday the cr4lt a Ate** 2
of the doors was terrific, and Oki jektliiiri.,
r
Macready by a house crammed ft& fr "em-i
every part most enthusiastic. He was c . 'at
the termination of the tragedy, as were Mrs. Warner
and Mr. J. Wallack.

PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
Signor Schirra's long-promised opera of Mina was
produced here on Saturday, and met with complete
success—success owing rather to the exertions of the
artistes, and the music of Signor Schirra, than to
the merit of the librettist; for a more clumsily deve-
loped plot and rhymes more akin to nonsense verses
have seldom been inflicted on a patient public.
Signor Schirra must ba possessed of musical
talents of no common olds r to have bets*
enabled to make as much as he has made of such
wretched materials. We will now endeavour

(although the task be somewhat difficult) to convey
to our readers some notion of the plot. In the
sixteenth century, Christiern, King of Denmark,
invaded Sweden; and having gained possession of
Stockholm, Gustavus Wasa (the rightful heir to the
Swedish crow n) fled into exile, followed by many of
his nobles, among whom was Count Oxenstiern,
Vice. Chancellor of Sweden. The Count, being a
staunch adherent of the fallen Prince, resolves to
devote his life to the recovery of his royal master's
heritage. For this purpose he resides with his daugh-
ter Mina (Miss L. Pyne) under the assumed name of
Ri▪ tson (Mr. H. Corsi) near the mines of Dalecarlia (the
only property Christiern has allowed him to retain),
waiting a favourable opportunity for furthering bis
political design, and relying upon the aid of the
mi▪
ners, who he knows to be attached to his person,
and ready at any moment to espouse the cause of the
exiled Prince. Dalecarlia, therefore, is the scene of
action chosen by the authors. To the government of
this province, a timid and vacillating individual,
named Ulric (Weiss) Las been recently appointed.
His morals, moreover, are not of the purest; for
it appears that previously to a visit to Stock-
holm, of which he speaks, he had been engaged
to Jenny (Mrs. Weiss), the waiting maid of Mina;
but on his return, being inflated with bis new-
born magisterial dignity, he breaks off with the maid
and makes love to the mistress, presuming that Ritson,
her father—who is suspected of being a partizan of
Gustavus—Kill. scarcely dare to refuse her fend to so
exalted a personage, and one whose political position
would afford protection to his family in case of need.
But an unlooked-for difficulty arises in the shop of a
young Frenchman, the Count Dorville (Mr. Harri-
son). He made a pilgrimage to Sweden to offer his
sword to Gustavus, and finding the prince already
dethroned, is shipwrecked while returning to his
native land, and would have perished but for the aid of
the prince, whom he accidentally encounters, and
who bestows upon him a ring, taking one from him
in exchange. This Dorville, during his sojourn in
Dalecarlia, resides at the house of Ulric (who, it ap-
pears, is an innkeeper as well as a magistrate), where
he runs up a long account, which he is unable to pay;
and not content 'with consuming the eatables and
drinkables of the worthy magistrate, the Frenchman
also makes love to his mistress. Dorville and Mina fall
in love with each other; but Mina, who supposes herself
to be of humble extraction, says she is no snatch for
Dorville, who is of noble birth; but as he observes
archly, " true affecti,n levels all ranks,",and when be
tells her that he will " fly on the wings of love " to
France and back to gain the consent of his king to their
union; she is so touched by his azronautie devotion,
that she responds to his high-flown sentiments
kindly. Before his departure he sends her by Jenny
a ring and letter, which are intercepted by the
jealous burgomaster, who, seeing on the ring the
name of Gustavus, and on the letter that of Mina,
imrcediatly takes Dorville for the fugitive
prince, and resolves to arrest him in order
to gain the reward offered for his apprehension
and revenge himself on Mina. In the meantime in•
telligence had been conveyed to Ritson of the arrival
of Gustavus, who is secreted in the mines. The
arrest of Dorville is immediately followed by that of
the " true prince," whose " whereabouts " in the mines
has been discovered. The burgomaster and military
authorities being in doubt as to which is the object of
their search, Count Dorville, who owes
a debt of gratitude to the prince for
having saved his lite, contrives by means of
the ring of which we have spoken, to pass himself
off as Gustavus, and surrenders on condition that the
gentleman caught in the mine be set at liberty. Thus
ends the first act. In the second we have a horror-
stricken burgomaster listening to a storm, and " re-
vel% ing in his altered soul" whethtr he shall take the
Danish or Swedish side of the question, as he is un-
certain which may ultimately triumph. Tired of
politics and Mina, he returns once more to Jenny.
Now sentinels are intoxicated, and everybody escapes
into and out of a mine, which is ultimately blown up
amidst shout of "Long live Gustavus I" The lovers are
united, and the curtain falls upon a happy denouement.
The music by Signo Scbirra is light, expressive, and
characteristic, full of melo ly, and possessing all the
buoyancy of the modern Italian school—a school at
which your heavy German critics are wont to sneer,
for the same reason that lame persons sneer at
dancing. The tunes of !Mina (for there are tunes in
this opera) will no doubt become popular, and albeit
there are to be found in the opera sundry reminis-
cences of the works of other composers (as is always
the case in a first work), yet there is to be found
originality and knowledge of music sufficient to show
that Signor Schirra is capablelof great things, and we
urge him therefore to go on, taking care, how-
ever, to provide himself the next time with a good
libretto, for the libretto constitutes a much more im-
portant element of the success or failure of a lyrical
drama than composers can be brought to imagine.
In the overture to Mina there are some passages of
high merit, and the introductory chorus is ull of
character. The air "I'm but a lowly maiden," sung
by Mrs. Weiss, is one of those beautiful pi▪
eces
of pure melody that once heard are never
forgotten, and Mina's first song, " They
twine the bridal wreath for me," exquisitely
rendered by Miss Louisa Pyne, is one of the most
graceful :of compositions ; it was much applauded.
Her' duet with Harrison, " Mina, ere I go from
thee," was well rendered by both artiste*, and will
become popular. Mr. Harrison has been exactly
fitted in the ballad " I have roamed the world
over," which suits his style and his voice exactly.
and which elicited an encore. The romanza, "In
my dreams I see him," is a pleasing sentimental com-
position, which was delightfully rendered by Miss
Louisa Pyne; who subsequently gave the bal-
lad, " In our forests of oak," with a quaint
and arch simplicity that told most effectively.
Her execution of the finale was exceedingly fine, and
brought down the curtain amid shouts of applause.
llarrison not ;only secured an encore for his first
ballad, but he had the same compliment paid
to his second ballad, " Neler till life shall
leave me," a composition which 'will no doubt be-
come popular among the admirers of the Harri-
sonian school of vocalization. Weiss was exceedin▪
gly
effective as Ulric ; he seemed to revel in the buffo
music assigned to him, and managed to make fun
notwithstanding the " pure no meaning." of the
words which the librettist put into his
mouth. The buffo duet, "In each chamber
I've looked," was given with great spirit and
true comic humour by Mr. and Mrs. Weiss. The
choruses were, generally speaking, full of spirit, and
among them we would pointiout the soldiers' chorus,
" Wine, wine," as particularly worthy of commenda-
tion. The piece was admirably put on the stage, the
scenery was beautiful, and the melodramatic effects
were cleverly produced. The theatre was:very well
attended.

EXTENSIVE FlRES.—Yesterday (Sunday) morning,
shortly before four o'clock, a fire, attended with a con-
siderable destruction of property, broke out in the pre-
mises cccupied by Mr. Joseph Parting, a watchmaker and
jeweller, carrying on business at No. 114, St. George's-
street (late ltatciiff-highway). The flames when first
discovered were raging in the lower part of the building,
at which time the residents were in their beds asleep.
The constable on the beat, by springing his rattle and
knocking at the door, succeeded in arousing the inmates,
but so firm a hold had the fire obtained of the building,
and so intense was the beat, that the parties had the
greatest difficulty in effecting a safe retreat. The whole
of the inmates, however, were fortunate enough in get-
ting out of the blazing building without receiving
any personal injury. Shortly below the above
fire occurred, one of a very alarming charac-
ter, and which at one period was supposed was
attended with a great loss of lice, happened at
No. 19, Alfred place, Newington-causeway, in the tenure
of Mr. Hooper, u lineudraper and silkuiercer. The
flames could not be extinguished until they had travell. d
completely through the building. The premises of Mr.
Mahon, &tiler in cigars (No. 20), and Mr, Good, painter
(No. 18), are also danitg( d by fire, water, and hear,
So intense was the excitement at ono time that the
crowd would not believe, until the firemen had search( d
the ruins, but that a fearful loss of life had happened.
Other fires occurred during the night from the upsetting
of naptha lamps; one was at 3, Ilun,gerford-arcade,
belonging to Mr. Ellsey, newsvender; the other was at
16, New Church-street, Poriman•market, belonging to
Mr. Charles Knapp, general salesman. At both places
a deal of mischief was done, and Mr. Elisey unfortu-
nately was severely burned over the hands in endeavour-
ing to get the flames extinguished.
Fame's loudest blast upon the ear of Time leaves
but a dying echoi—Eliza Cook's Journal.
WESTMINSTER COUNTY COURT.—The vacancy
created in the judgeship of this court by the death o
Dennis Creagh Moylan, Esq., is to be filled up by the
appointment of Francis Bayley, Esq., the revising bar
rister.—Juhrt