The Sun.
London, England, 1822-09-30 00:00:00

COUNTY FIRE OFFICE,
AND
PROVIDENT LIFE OFFICE,
REGENT - STREET, LONDON,
Established in 1806.
PRESIDENT AND TRUSTEES.
The DUKE of NORFOLK,
The DUKE of RUTLAND, •
The MARQUESS of NORTHAMPTON,
EARL GREY,
LORD BRAY BROOKE,
LORD KING, &c. &c. Scc.
DIRECTORS.

Lord Northwick, Sir Henry Pynn,
Francis enlist, Esq. James Sedk.;wick, Esq.
Sir John Doyle, K.B. Hon. Washington Shirley,
Robert. Downie, Esq. M.P. Walter Strickland, Esq.
SirS.B.Morland,Bart. M.P. I Sir W. E. Welby, Bart.
William Praed, Esq. Sir Robert
&c. &c. &c.
•
Managing Director, J. 'l'. Barber Beaumont, Esq. F.A S.
IMPORTANT BENEFITS REALIZED.
Capitals—A Million Sterling, and upwards.
All Insured Share Profits equally.
Exemption from Liability for Losses.
Claims paid immediately, and in full, to Fourteen Hundred
Sufferers, without a single Litigation.
Returns of 25 and 20 per Cent. paid invariably; £36,000
returned in the last eight years.
Bonuses of £l3 Bs, and £B6 12, per Cent. paid on Life
Policies.

PRIVATE TUITION.
AVACANCY is NOW OPEN in the FA.
MILY of a MARRIED CLERGYMAN, who prepares
a FEW PUPILS for the UNIVERSITIES, &c. The Distance
front London is within Twelve Miles. •
Letters directed for the Rev. W. M., Mr. Reynolds, Book-
seller, 137, Oxford-street, London, will be duly forwarded.

DRURY-LANE THEATRE.

The improvements making in this Theatre tor
the opening of the approaching season proceed with great acti-
vity. The quantity of work done in a few weeks (it is now
only seven since the demolition of the old fabric began) is asto-
nishing ; for within that time the house has been entirely
gutted, and almost entirely, except the external walls and
lobbies, re-constructed. The two grand points, the accom-
plishment of which the lovers of the drama will most admire,
are the contraction of the audience part, and the extension of the
stage.
To achieve these objects It was found necessary to pull down
the interior of the house to the very foundations, and recom-
mence twenty feet below the original structure. As material
an alteration has taken place at top as at bottom. The roof is
lowered six or seven feet; and by a very ingenious plan, its
whole circle will be obvious to the audience; that is to say, the
usual section cut off by the proscenium will not appear in that
inharmonious and abrupt form, but the entire round will ter-
minate over the stage, and thus the actors and the auditors be
under one roof. From this arrangement we anticipate a greater
degree of perfection in the transmission of sound front the
stage, than all the contrivances of sounding-boards over the
proscenium ever effected. The roof is adorned with radii of
gold from the central liistre, and studded with gilded ornaments
to a fine cornice of the same dazzling character.
The upper gallery is diminished by a wide belt or passage
all round the back ; and a similar passage is opened between
the slips.
The ornament on the front of the third circle is a rich gold
wreath on a white ground (i. e. a ground, which, though al-
most pink, will appear white in the theatrical light). The next
circle below has one of the most classical and elegant patterns
we ever saw in a theatre. The dress circle is adorned by thir-
teen printed designs from Shakspeare's plays, such as Romeo
and Juliet at the moment the latter revives in the tomb, the
Seven Ages, Lear in the Storm, Falstaff with the buck's horns
in the Forest Scene, Richard 111. solicited to assume the Crown,
Prospero in the Invocation, &c. &c. These are superbly
framed by panels, cornices 2 and other ornaments. It ought
to be mentioned, that in this part a very striking change has
been made. The whole boxes throughout are thrown for-
ward nearly their own depth ; and in the dress circle the
space thus gained has been converted into twelve close boxes,
resembling those at the English Opera House, of course im-
mediately behind and forming the back of that circle". These
boxes are to be let nightly to the public, and the key being
given to the hirer, families will enjoy both the benefit of coming
at any hour which suits their conveniency, and of not being in-
truded upon when there. Below the dress-circle are private
boxes, as before, plain arched openings in the panel which sur-
rounds the pit.
Of the pit itself, it need only be stated, that it appears
to be every way comfortable, and of a commodious size for the
real enjoyment of the real drama.
The general form of the audience division is no longer that
of the horse-shoe ' • the sides run, contracting a little, into the
proscenium, and the stage or orchestral boxes continue the line.
These latter are superbly adorned with two fluted pillars on
each side, gilt, and with the longitudinal interstices quite open,
so that the persons in the boxes can see the stage through them.
The proscenium itself is equally splendid, being surrounded
by rich scrolls of dead and bright gold. The new drop scene
is a curtain of scarlet and gold, with some figures and architec-
ture, which will produce a grand effect both by its brilliancy
and vast surface.
There are to be no stage-doors ; and there is an opening in
the centre of this curtain, like that of a tent, whence the entries
for prologues, announcements, &c. may be made.
With regard to the novelties behind the scenes, we may
mention, that by opening the old green-rooms on one side, and
other enclosures on the other, to (about the middle of) the
stage, immense facilities have been given for arranging pro-
cessions, and doing other things very essential to dramatic
propriety and scenic illusion. A new green-room and dressing
rooms have been built towards Vinegar-yard ; and every Lon-
don pedestrian will learn with pleasure that the old paliegs and
other nuisances in that quarter are about to be abated, and a set
of neat shops, in the manner of the Palais Royale, erected in
their stead. We have heard that the expence of the alterations
is estimated at about 15,0001.
• The extra depth given to the boxes is about five and a half
feet, and by so much is the whole circumference contracted. In
the dress circle only have the family boxes been formed in. the
spaced gained, and these, when unoccupied, are unseen, as siid-
ing panels conceal their fronts. The additional depth in the
upper tier is filled with additional seats ' • and to the private
boxes below small ante-rooms have been made.

THE LATE JAMES WATT, ESQ.—We have to
congratulate the inhabitants of this place on the
acquisition of a remarkably fine and very valuable
marble bust of their celebrated townsman, the
late JAMES WATT,C Esq., which has been pre-
sented to the Magistrates by his son, the present
Mr. WATT, of Soho, as an expression of his respect
for the birth-place of his illustrious parent. It
is fresh from the chisel of Mr. CHANTRY ; and,
of the different specimens which we have seen of
the genius and talents of that great artist, we
venture to assign this one a foremost place.—
(Greenock Advertiser.)

SAD NEWS FOIL THE FAIR.—By the late re-
turns it appears that in England there are
294,088 females more than males—in \Vales,
16,464—in Scotland 126,352—making a total
in Great Britain of 434,904—a1m05t half a mil-

lion Ladies fair, doomed by the unlucky course
of nature to single blessedness—which is ren-
dered worse by the waste occasioned by at least
150,000 inflexible bachelors. how it is in Ire-
land, we have no means of ascertaining ; but we
hope affairs are more prosperous,