The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LON.DON; TH_UItSDAYi AUGUST 12, 1841.

HAYMARKET THEATRE. .
. .
A petite comedy, in two acts, entitled Foreign Affairs
or, the Court of Queen Anne, was produced at ti
theatre last evening, for the first time. The following is
an outline of the plot :—The Marchioness of Dumbarton
(Mrs. W. Clifford), holding a high office in the Cdurt of
Queen Anne, has managed to bring about a marriage
between her daughter, Lady Bell (Miss P. Horton), and
the Count St. Louis (Mademoiselle Celeste), a young
French nobleman, Attache to the French Embassy, only
16 years of age, and the spoiled darling of the ladies,
treated and considered as a child by every one, al-
though deeming himself a man. The scene opens
on the morning of the marriage, on which day St. Louis
is presented at. Court. The sth article of the marriage
contract is to the effect that instantly after the marriage
the Count and his bride shall'be separated, and not see
each other again until he shall have attained the age of
twenty-one. The Count entreats his mother-in-law to
rescind this article—she refuses—he is a mere child. He
entreats his wife to run away with him, she refuses to
run away with a child. He becomes enraged, and deter-
mines to prove to them that he is a man. He meets with
Sir James Courtall (Webster), a libertine courtier.
who persuades him that it is necessary he should
make love to every woman he meets, and as the Count
is not very au fait at English. kindly provides
him with billets suited to all sorts and conditions of wo-
men. The Count, thus provided, determines to make
love to the first lady he meets, who chances to be the
Lady Grace (Miss Charles), the affianced of Sir James
Courtall, and accordingly sends her one of these billets,
whilst another is sent to the Baroness Fitzstoutz (Mrs.
Stirling) ci-divant Mrs. Faddle. The late Mr. F., a
tailor, having died and left her with a large for-
tune, she, as she describes it, baited her hook with
a plum, and caught the Baron Fitzstoutz (Sinclair), a
perfect model of decorum. She had known the Count
in former days, when the late Mr. F. was tailor to the
French Embassy, and therefore feels a great interest in
his safety and well-being. Such is the state of affairs at
the end of the first act. The scene of the second act is
laid in the Count's own apartment. Lady Grace enters,
and the Count flatters himself he has been successful ;
but she returns him his note, telling him it is the very
note which Sir James Courtall had written to
, Lady Bell. While she is proceeding with her
explanation a great uproar is heard, and he
has only time to thrust her into a closet, telling her he
will clap his hands as a signal that all is safe, when the
Baronness Fitzstoutz enters, and after boxing his ears for
his impudence in making love to her, tells him she is
come to warn him that his mother-in-law has got an order
for his arrest. Immediately the Marchioness of Dum-
barton is announced, and the Baroness becomes the
tenant of another closet, opposite to that occupied by
Lady Grace. The Marchioness, who is accompanied by
her daughter, have scarcely left the room before Sir James
Courtall and the Baron Fitzstoutz enter for the purpose
of quizzing the Count, and tell him that before he can be
considered as a man, lie must have been engaged
in an intrigue and a duel—an affair of love
and another of honour being as necessary to
the completion of the manly character as a
beard. He says, with regard to the first requisite,
he will give them immediate proof, and, directing the
eyes of Sir James to the closet of the Baronness, and
those of the Baron to the closet of Lady Grace, claps his
hands. Sir James and the Baron are in exstacies of de-
light, each taking the other for the dupe. "But the
duel, Count," says Sir James. " I will have two," re-
plies the Count ; and, directing their attention to the
opposite closets, again claps his hands. These two
situations told amazingly, and were received with thun-
ders of applause. They fight, and Sir James and
the Baron are wounded. Lady Bell, horrified
at the idea of the danger of the Count, pro-
ceeds to his residence, and finds him just after his
return from the duel. In reply to her reproaches,
he asks what harm there can be in a child doing these
things. She acknowledges he is no longer a child, and
consents to remain with him, notwithstanding the oppo-
sition of her mother, mutual explanations take place, Sir
James is united to Lady Grace, and the curtain falls.
Celeste acted St. Louis with great vivacity and elegance,
and her broken English added vastly to the interest of
the part. She was rapturously applauded throughout,
and was called for at the conclusion of the piece, and re-
ceived with the usual honours. The Baron and Baroness
were excellently acted by Strickland and Mrs. Stirling,
the latter was the quintessence of good-humoured, warm-
hearted vulgarity. The scenery and furniture was
splendid, and in the purest taste, and the piece has evi-
dently been got up with the greatest attention. Webster
announced the comedy for repetition every eirening,
amidst the unanimous applause of a very crowded house

LITERATURE.
AMENITIES OF LITERATURE. —3 Vols.
Moxon, London, 1841.
Mr. D'lsraeli, to 'whose practised pen we are
indebted for these volumes, is one of the neatest
and most entertaining writers of the day. The
department he has chosen is not a very extensive
or important one, but he has' brought to it all
the resources of a skilful and accomplished mind.
His manner is uniformly attractive ; and in the
easy, unembarrassed flow of his style, may not
unaptly be compared to Hume. He departed,
however, from his usual cool and healthy judg-
ment, when, in one: of his earliest and best
works, he drew his- illuStration of the literary
character from RousSeau, who, if not quite mad,
was in a state closely:approaching to madness,
and can never, therefore, be justly put forth as
a sample of the fraternity. ' his present vo-
lumes, Mr. D'lsraeli exhibits.much of that amus-
ing power of gossip and light narrative which so
delighted us in his former works. 'His Ame
fifties of Literature" has a soft of family like-
ness to his " Curiosities,. With this exception,
that they have more unity of design, and are
more fully charged with information.' Front few
of the opinions broached in them do we find cause
to dissent, but among these few is the following,
which is pronounced on Henry the Eighth :
" The passions of his own times secured his popu7
larity even to his latter days. Youthful, with
all its vigorous and generous temper, and not
inferior in the majesty of his intellect auy more
than in that of his person; learned in his closet,
yet enterprising in action, this sovereign im-
pressed his own commanding character, on the
nation." We doubt much the generosity of
Henry's nature, of which Mr. D'lsraeli here
speaks. Hume, indeed, praises • his magnani-
mity, but lie adduces no proof.of it; and Tytler,
a sounder authority, most distinetlY states—un-
less our memory greatly deceives-1/18—that he
never had anything generotis or Itle.. abput
him. He was showy, extravagant, ,m4'4. ieren
good-natured, so long as youth and health
lasted, but nothing more. In later days, he
degenerated into one of the most cruel, vindic-
the, sensual despots, that Ragland had ever
known. As for his popularity, the frequent
conspiracies that occurred towards the close of
his life, prove that it could not have been very
great ; and, so far from his impressing " a com-
manding character" on the nation, never
was a Parliament so abject, so sycophantic, as dui,:
ing the latter portion of his reign. His learning
cannot be denied. Erasmus bears testitnony
to his classical and other acquirements; .but it
was rather reading
.he possessed, than an en-
larged and majestic intellect. • Our author's spe-
culations on the private character of the Earl of
Leicester the haughty favourite of Queen
Elizabeth—are as just as they are ingenious;
and not less happy is he in his sketch of Hooker,
of whom he justly says, " he is the first vernacu-
lar writer whose classical pen harmonized a
numerous prose. While his earnest eloquence,
freed from all scholastic pedantry, assumed a
style stately in its structure, his gentle spirit
sometimes flows into natural humour, lovely in
the freshness of its simplicity." In closing our
short notice of these pleasant volumes, we should
not omit to mention that they are introduced by
a brief preface, wherein the author touchingly
alludes to his own deprivation of sight, and the
affectionate solicitude of his son in preparing the
manuscript for the press.

EXTENSIVE CONFLAGRATION
AT BLACKHEATH.

On Tuesday morning, between one and two, a most
destructive fire broke out in the Grove, Blackheath,
nearly opposite the Green Man, •by which property of
the most valuable description, to the amount of 20,0001.,
has been destroyed. One of the mansions in the Grove,
of immense size, is completely down, and the adjoining
one greatly damaged. It appears • that Captain Waller
and his family have only been from the East Indies about
five weeks, and had taken the above residence, furnished,
the Captain bringing with him property to the amount
of several thousands, the whole of which has been de-
stroyed. The fire is supposed to have been caused by
the negligence of a dress-makeremployed in the house.
The house and furniture, belonging to Mrs. Dessen, is
insured in the Phoenix, but none of Captain Waller's
property is covered by any of the fire-offices.

DISCOVERY OF A HOUSE UNDER
GROUND.
NE wßuss, AUG UST 3, 1841.—An under-ground house
was discovered last week near the old road leading from
Newbliss to Monaghan, and about three miles from the
latter town, and from its perfect state of preservation
formed a most curious relic of antiquity. A man who lately
got possession of the farm upon which it is situated, went
to remove an unsightly hillock in a small meadow close to
his house. This little field had been reclaimed a few
years ago, after the turf had been cut off it, and from it
to the small lake of Keshlin (about three hundred yards
elow it) was, in the mein:6l'y 'of an olii man living near
it, one continued heath moor, with several spades' depth
of turf under it ; and he had seen seven spits of turf cut
off the hillock which formed the roof of the house. The
outer wall is forty-six feet by about sixteen. Outside
the entrance is a semicircular court-yard, the base of the
wall surrounding it, as well as that of all the other walls,
is composed of large rough stones, some of them several
tons weight, standing on their ends, something like those
of Stonehenge. The entrance divided the semicircular
wall into two equal segments, and was formed with two
larger stones than the others, sufficiently apart to admit
a man with ease. Inside the entranee was an oval apart-
ment, about twelve feet by eight, which was arched over
from within about four feet of the base. The arch was
composed of flat stones of different sizes, so carefully
selected-and fitted (though there was not a cut stone in
the whole building), that the point of a penknife could
scarcely be inserted between them. Each stone pro-
jected about a quarter of an inch from the underneath
one, until they met at the top of the roof, which was
about six feet from the ground. Opposite the entrance,
at the other end of this room, was a similar entrance
into a lobby, which led straight to the other extremity
of the building, and off which were six other apart-
ments, all square, and built and roofed in the same
manner as the first oval one. The two standing stones
.forming the entrance from this latter room into the cor-
ridor, stood somewhat narrower than those of the prin-
cipal entrance, and were rubbed and worn on one par-
ticular part, as it were from the weapons of the in-
‘4abitants returning from their hunting or plunder-
ing excursions. The whole of the floor inside was
flagged with slabs of the same stone, and the outside
of the roof covered with the same material, which is
the most remarkable circumstance connected with it, as
the nearest freestone quarry is on Carronmore mountain,
in Fermanagh, about twenty miles from this "place, and
the stone there does not cleave into slabs, and is of
quite a different grain, the former exactly resembling
the Scotch sand-stone found along the Clyde. Some
maintain that this antique piece of architecture musts
be antideluvian ; but the circumstance of the interleaf)
having been found perfectly clean, with the exception of
the juice of the bog-stuff covering it having • trickled'down,
down_ the walls (and this black appearance may hub
been caaused by the effect of smoke, although there was
no other indication of fire having been used inside), it
may be concluded, from the number of what are called in
the south of Ireland " follagh feeah," (deer fire), that
this edifice has been the abode of hunters, and that the
turf-mould was first excavated in order to build it, and
then laid back again for the purpose of concealment.
Many of his neighbours say that the owner of the
ground, who has dug up part of the house, found some
great curiosities in it ; but he himself denies it, with the
exception of a round slab of sand stone, with some cha
racters scratched upon it, and one of his children let it
fall and broke it.—. Dublin Evening Mail.

THE WESLEYAIg CONFERENCE.
On Wednesday morning, a letter from the Rev. Mr.
Hodgson, a clergyman of the Established Church, re-
commending a union of the Wesleyans with the Church,
was brought before the Conference, and gave rise to a
long and interesting discussion, Among the speakers
was Dr. Bunting, who took occasion to oserve, in re-
ference to one portion of the letter stating that those of
the Wesleyan ministers who had passed the Presidential
Chair should be made Bishops—that no power
whatever should ever induce or compel him to
be made a Bishop. He had received a great
number of communications on the Subject of the
union of the Methodists with the Church ; and he
was induced to believe that many persons attributed
to him a power and an influence which he did not
possess. Why those communications were addressed so
pre-eminently to him, he could not conceive; but the
fact was, that he had received two letters from Mem-
bers of Parliament, thanking him for their elections,
though he did not know those gentlemen had had no
previous communicaion with them, and was totally
ignorant, before they themselves informed him, that
they had been elected at all. One of the Mem-
bers in question was a Tory, and the other was a
Whig. He mentioned that to show what a mistaken
notion some people had of his influence and import-
ance in connection with the Wesleyan body. In the
course of discussion, it was stated that no official cor-
respondence could be entered into with Mr. Hodgson,
as he could have no power or authority to make any
proposition that would be regarded by the Church at
large as authoritative. It was, however, resolved that
a reply be sent to him, thanking him for his kind mo-
tives in writing the letter, and expressing a desire that
a &Teeter unammity of feeling may obtain among all
religious denominations. This discussion occupied the
greater portion of the forenoon. At five in the after-
noon the Conference re-assembled for the ordination of
the young men who were admitted to the ministry, of
whom there are between 30 and 40. The public were
admitted, and the chapel was filled to overflowing. On
Thursday afternoon, in consequence of the Stationing
Committee being required to commence its delibera-
tions, the general body did not sit more than about an
hour. In the evening, the Rev. Robert Newton, the
ex-President, delivered a charge to the newly-ordained
Ministers, in Oldham-street Chapel. The Service was
open to the public, and the congregation was very
numerous. On the question of the silk gown, the Con-
ference has decided that no preacher shall wear it
without express permission from the Conference ; and
Dr. Bunting, by the direction of the Committee,
admi-
nistered a reproof to the Rev. W. Bunting and the Rev.
pulpit. Yesterday the Conference was occupied in
linMrt.hWe addy, of Hull, for having appeared in the gown

fixing the stations of the various ministers for, the ensu-
ing year. We may mention, for the amusement of our
readers, that a Mrs. Martin, a lecturer on Socialism, Sent
a challenge to the Conference to discuss certain topics in
connection with her views ; but we hardly need state
that the Conferenee did not accept the invitation. We
believe that the Conference has not returned any answer
to the letter from the Committee of Arrangement for
the proposed conference of ministers on the Corn-laws.
—Manchester Guardian.