The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-26 00:00:00

VICTORIA THEATRE.

A drama was produced at this theatre last evening
founded, we believe, on a tale by Mrs. S. C. Hall, en-
titled' Katt!! O'Shiel, or the Follower of the Family. The
piece opens with the cottage of Katty O'Shiel, which is
situated in an interesting village in the far west of Ire-
land, called Tully Garrett. To this cottage is driven,
for shelter, one Mileto Lensor, an oculist, and who is,
furthermore, rich and benevolent, and who is on a
journey of pleasure to the "Far West." Whilst he is
there, Evelyn Dwyer, the heiress to the house of
O'Dwyer, but who has been deserted by her father, and
adopted by Katty, comes into the apartment where the
celebrated oculist is. The child, from some accident,
has lost its sight, and the benevolent oculist promises
that if Katty will bring Evelyn to Dublin, he will
cure her. Katty, with her charge on her back, sets out
for Dublin, and on her way thither has to pass the cot-
tage of her lover, Larry Twist, a kind of double of Rory
O'More, where a band of soldiers have taken up their
quarters, in order to prevent strangers from the " Far
West," where the fever is raging, passing, and
conveying the contagion to the capital. By a
stratagem of Larry's, however, which consists
in his disguising Katty as his grandmother, she escapes
the vigilance of the sentinels, and continues her visit to
Dublin, where she arrives, as she states, in a state of
"death and burial." On her arrival, however, it is dis-
covered that the good-natured oculist has gone to Bath,
but has left a letter of introduction to an eminent friend
in London, With a purse to convey Katty thither. These
dramatists will make their character so generous. Katty
learns, while sho is in Dublin, that Mr. O'Dwyer, the
father of Evelyn, had just sailed for London, and she
resolves to make her journey serve two purposes, that of
finding a father for her Evelyn and a cure fur her blind-
ness. The next scene shows Katty and her charge at
the house of a Lady Langham, who resides at Chel-
sea, but how they get there, or for what purpose, or what
connexion the said Lady Langharn has with Katty or
Evelyn, is left to the imagination of the audience. Suf-
fice it, there they are, and very lucky for them to be
there at all, without inquiring the why and the where-
fore. Lady Langham takes a most extraordinary fancy
to Evelyn, and determines to make her a lady, which
Katty declares impossible, as she "is a born leddy."
A party is given by the lady, at which Mr. O'Dwyer,
then a Colonel, attends, and the piece concludes by
Katty's forcing an entrance to the assembly, and
declaring Evelyn to be the daughter of the
Colonel. The piece is replete with Irish humour,
and the house was in a continued roar of laughter
throughout. Miss Vincent, as Katty, was admirable ;
she was an unsophisticated Irish girl to the very life.
Mr. Gardner, as Larry, was extremely droll, but the
character which tickled the fancy of the audience most
was that of Pompey Card, a negro servant of the
Colonel's, a kind of independent devil-may-carp Jim
Crowish sort of gentleman, and in the hands of Mr.
Paul was most amusing. On his first arrival in Ireland
he is charmed with 'the whiskey and the women, and
declares both to be "beautiful and dam good," and is in a
continued state of excitement as to whether he shall dis-
charge his master or knock down the waiter. The house
was crowded in every part, and the piece concluded
amidst vehement applause.

POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION%
Mr. Bachhoffener delivered yesterday a lectUre, with
illustrations, on the Daguerrotype and on. the Photogra-
phic process, in the theatre of this magnificent institution.
fie explained that the discovery of M. I)aguerre con-
sisted of the means of fixing permanently upon a plate
of silver, the image formed in the camera obscure. The
silver having been chemically cleaned and accurately
polished, is placed over a vessel containing iodine, the
vapour of which is diffused over its surface... The greatest
nicety and tact is necessary to secure the equal (Effusion
of the vapour over the whole surface, and in a
certain exact quantity,' as the least deficiency or CX•
CQSS would frustrate the experiment. Thus pre-
pared, the plate is placed in the focus of the
camera, where it receives the light reflected from the ob-
ject of which the image is required. But upon with-
drawing the plate no effect of the light upon it is per-
ceptible. However, on being exposed in a close cham-
ber to mercury, raised to a state of vapour in a heat of
180 degrees Fahrenheit, the picture is formed. This
process, acccording to the lecturer, is expensive and
tedious ; 'but Mr. Beard, who is connected with the In-
stitution, has greatly diminished the expensiveness, and
rendered the whole process so rapid and effective, that a
portrait is produced in less than half a minute. This
process is termed " Photographic," and (unlike the Da-
guerrotype, which -requires a clear sun-light), it can
be pectormed successfully by the aid • of the
lime, or oxyhydrogen light. The principal im-
provement, we understood to be, that, after exposure to
the iodine, the plate is also exposed to the chloride of
iodine, by-Which it acquires increased sensibility 'to the
light: Mr. Bachheffener went through the Whole of the
operations, and in two instances- produCed portraits in
less than thirty seconds. The lecture and illustrations
were highly satisfactory, and were much applauded.
We afterwards witnessed an' exemplification of the
manner in which submarine explosions, both by means
of powder and galvanic electricity, are conducted. Two
models of ships, sunk in the great reservoir, into which
the diving-bell descends, were blown up in a second.