The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-13 00:00:00

HAYMARKET THEATRE.

Another new petite comedy, from the pen of Haynes
Bayly, was last night acted at this theatre, under the title
of The Little Adopted. The heroes of the piece are three:
—John Dibbs (Buckstone), Major Seymour (Mr. Hem-
mings), and Frederic Summers (Mr. 'Walter Lacy). The
heroines are three likewise :—Laurette Seymour, sister to
the Major (Miss Taylor), Rose Mayburn, an adopted
orphan companion of Laurette's (Mrs. Fitzwilliam), and
Beccy Blunt (Mrs. F. Matthews). John Dibbs and Beccy
Blunt have been both servants, in the Seymour family,
and doing what that class of officials call " keeping com-
pany." But John has had a hundred a-year left him,
which he takes to be the proper qualification for a gen-
tleman. The first scene opens with a lover's quarrel
between these two, in which there are some extrava-
gant races after drollery by Beccy, who, in boasting
of her numerous lovers, describes one as belonging to

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This style of wit, or apology for it, made people laugh
pretty well in the outset. The second love case was
between Major Seymour and Rose Mayburn, and Rose
likes the Major only that she cherishes romantic recollec-
tions of one whom she used to play with when a child in
her native village. Nothing, therefore, is decided between
this couple, and meanwhile Miss Laureate is very dif-
ferently engaged in defying all thoughts of anything like
love, except the love of all the world. Her heart, she
says, is an " omnibus, and friendship the cad, who lets in
no Cupid-looking passengers." She is just now one " pas-
senger" minus by the death of a dear friend abroad,
who, however, has committed her nephew to Laurette's
charge, and Laurette is in momentary expectation of the
arrival of her Little Adopted. She has made up her mind to
tend him and teach him like a thousand mothers, and she
has already bought him books and toys, a cradle, a rocking-
horse, a cricket-bat, and a kite. At last he arrives, and
the pretty little Frederic Summers turns out to be a fine
handsome young man, who falls immediately in love with
her ; she being just as quick in returning the compliment.
The scene of embarrassment which ensues on their first
meeting—one expecting to encounter a little child and
the other an elderly lady—is good in itself, and admirably
acted by Miss Taylor, who was well seconded by Lacy.
The second equivoque of the piece is when John Dibbs,
offended with Beccy Blunt, longs to meet the girl whom
he once used to call his " little wife," when he and she were
children together, and in her stead discovers a lady who so
disgusts him by not liking cheese that he is glad to fly back
to Beccy, who not only does love cheese, but who loves
him too, and has a proper notion of the value of " one
hundred a year" as a certificate of gentility. Rose Mayburn,
too, goes to meet the fondly cherished object of her early
memories, and finds a rude, ill-mannered, bold, independent
country boor, who insults het' by trying to snatch kisses,
and who offers her a piece of strong cheese on the point
of a carving knife. So Rose Mayburn and John Dibbs,
having been, in each others presence, mutually divested of
all further care for their " first love," there is no longer
any bar to their respective alliances in other quarters—Rose
with the Major, and John Dibbs with Beccy Blunt. There
is a third little equivoque of jealousy, which comes last of
all and winds up all explanations by uniting Laurette to
Frederick Summers, her " Little Adopted." It will be
seen that here are materials for a very pleasant piece, and
we may add that they have been skilfully managed to the
production of a clever petite comedy, which proved per-
fectly successful, and was announced by Buckstone for
nightly repetition amid loud applauses. All the actors
played well, Miss Taylor especially.

MISS SIIIRREFF IN AMERICA.—The Shirreff,
last evening (Oct. 5), arrested a whole audience, and kept
them for three hours, and dismissed them on their own re-
cognizances to appear again at the National.—New York
Star. This allusion is IA) the vocalist. She never could
have kept the audience thus in duressc had she not given
her notes as security.--Philadelphia Gazette. So decided
a hit has the new opera made, that the stage manager at
the National has been bound over to keep the piece.—
Albany Evening Journal.

Jupiter is now very bright in the morning. This
planet is fourteen hundred times larger than our little
globe of earth and water, and is undoubtedly an inhabited
world, or else to what use are his new and full moons, his
days and nights, similar to those which we have, all which
we know he has with the aid of good telescopes, and he has
besides, his satellites.

An inquest was held yesterday, at Clapham work-
house, on the body of a female child, about three months
old, which was found exposed near Clapham Park on Mon-
day morning last. From the medical evidence there could
be no doubt that the infant had been strangled by means
of a cord or sash-line, and, from appearances, death must
have ensued about 24 hours previous to the finding of the
of the body. The clothes which deceased wore seemed to
be of the kind usually distributed by charitable associations ;
but, although every inquiry has been made in the .neigh-
bourhood, nothing has yet been elicited to fix the crime on
any person. The place where the body was found is rather
lonely. It could not have been placed there long before
it was discovered, as the night had been damp, and the
cloth in which the body was wrapped was perfectly dry,
although dirty. The Jury returned a verdict of " Wilful
murder against parties unknown," the Coroner suggesting
to the parish authorities the propriety of offering a reward
for the discovery of the murder. It is said that no similar
case has occurred within this distrist for many years.
Last night an inquest was held at the Mitre Ta-
vern, Chancery-lane, before Mr. Payne, the City Coroner,
and a most respectable Jury, on view of the body of Tho-
mas Stainer Johnson, aged 56. It appeared from the evi-
dence that the deceased was a pressman, and at the time
of his death was in the employ of Mr. Cloves, printer, of
Stamford-street, Blackfriars-rOad Between twelve and
one o'clock on Tuesday afternoon. last, the deceased was
walking down Chancery-lane, when he was observed by the
passengers
to stagger ; Robert Mason, a City policeman,
reached him in time to prevent him from falling to the
ground. He (deceased) was conveyed into the shop of Mr.
Lowden, chemist, of No. 104, Chancery-lane, where he
shortly expired. It was proved by the brother, and other
relatives of the deceased, that he had been in a very indif-
ferent state of health for some months past, and had for
some weeks been an out-patient of St. Bartholomew's Hos-
pital. The surgeon said he had no doubt the deceased died
fromr the rupture of a blood-vessel in the region of the heart.
The Jury expressed themselves satisfied, and returned a
verdict of" Died by the Visitation of God."