The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-09 00:00:00

THEATRES.

HER MAJESTY'S.
The veteran Dowton took his benefit last night at the
Italian Deere House, which was well filled with an audie
ence anxious to do honour to his farewell. The committee.
or a portion of it, superintended the arrangements of the
benefit, and selected with some appropriateness, as the
first perferrnance, the comedy of The Poor Gentleman,
which was produced with a splendid strength of
.ease__
the rteult of a fre,-hearted and cordial co-operation of
friendship on the part of the members of the histronie pro--
fes.sien, who regarded Dowton with something of the re-
spect and affection, bestowed upon Nestor by the Grecian
chiefs. Thus we had Farrell as Corporal Foss,
Webster as
Farmerflarrowby, Harleyeas 011apod, Meadovis as Stephen
llarrowbv, Cooper as Lieut. Worthington, Mien Tree
as Emily, Mrs. Clover at Lucretia Mactab, Mrs. Humley
as Mary, and las:, not least, Dowton himself as Sir Robert
Bretuble. The comedy, with such a cast, does not call for
criticism. The reception of each popular actor in succes-
sion was tea iced eith coesiderable enthusiasm; but
that of Do vs ton wa , truly overpowering, and affected the
old Juan t.) tears. He was. indeed, completely over orne•
for the moment, and could not recover from his emotion to
go more that, feebly through the part. The acting gene
rally was, in particular episodes, a good deal applauded;
but the !met emphatic cheering was bestowed by the
audience upon tan lines cf the epilogue Ahichh,re marked
allusion, to the event of the night—
., It .we this slight succeed,
Then the poor gentleman is rich iresieed."
After the comedy, Sheridan Knowles came forward, full of
the excitement of scam benevolence, and delivered a
poetical address, eritten by himeelf for the occasion.
Knoe les wait/11v dice-fed at each of the obvious points
of the address, lie gave with the natural eloquenee
of sincere feeling ; and ellen it terminated, the curtain
rose, and the poet presented the actor, supported and bur-
rounded by almost all the genernus, the gifted, and emi-
nent of the probssiou cow it the metropolis. The ap-
plause was vociferous, and the " Old Friend" of the public
bowed his thanks to their last greeting. When he retired,
the performers echoed the enthusiasm of the audience with
thcee hearty cheers front behind the curtain ; and so Dow.
tot' took his farewell. The other performances then took
their course; resuming with a Musical Pastiecio, iu whichGrisi and Madame Dorus Gras both took pert: This
kin,-Tne;s was highly honourable to bosh ladies. The farce
of Gretna Green sueecedode Wrench, Oxbetry, and Miss.
Kelly sustaining the principal characters.

DRUR Y LANJ..
Tuis theatre was last night opened by Mr. Eliason for
every i„di,i.laitilovhnicohttfhicittzeanapgaetrireiaigt patronage a series of summer cnnecrts. Vire! were glad to see a fall
audience—for the most part Plegantly attired—and giving
dtehseervsep
Tile ratio etheuislamtiou
nat.
f course be in urorortion to the merit and excellence of
the musical petforatanec-a. Of the first night we cag.speak
terms of aline:at unqualified praise. The superb orchestra
of ninety-. 103 performers were most admirably under the
discipline of tacit- conductors, and the selection of thu
evening was marked viith the best taste and judgment.
The concert opened with the overture to La Gaza
Ladra, which was encored. It was played magnificently;
and no le s a quadrille, the composition of Julien, who
dircc.ed, succeeded. It was a pleasant, lively, perform-
ance, fuil of originality, and endued with the true Terpoi6
chorean spirit. E,vefi for this there was a struggle for an
encore. The great triumph of the night was, however,
the B.e:hovea symphony in C minor, which it reflects the
utmost credit upon Mr. Eliason to have so produced,
Auber's overture to Ganelia was the nest Crowning gem",
Koenig, who made last night his first appearance in this
country, confirmed the fame which preceded hits, by his,
exquisite performance of a solo on the comet a piston.
Eliason, in making his appearance in the orchestra, was
enthusiastically cheered ; and IVlonsieus Julien, whom Ita
introduced, also met with a warm welcome.

Al 'MARKET.
Last night Charles Kean made his first appeara'4 since
his return from America, in the character of Richard.
His performances excited great interest, for the Irouse at first
price was clouded to the slips, and the sou:, actor was
applauded warmly from first to last, and lor.dly called for
at the fall of the curtain. The orals novrl feature in the
getting up of the play was the introduetkm of new scenery,
from superb evienterAs of the Bglinton Tournament.;

ASTLEY'S.
Monday, and the announcement of " a new got.-
g,uus dramatic spectacle," attracted an audience more nu-
merous than select to Astley's on last evening. The
ladies in the classic regions bore the heat like salaman.
ders, forgetting in the intensity of the drama th, altitude
of the thermometer, and they were not without their re-
ward, for certainly never during our experience of Astley's.
has a more effective spectacle been produced in that theatre
of spectacle than The Tower of London. Of course no-
body expects to hear of the plot, for plot there was none;
but there was splendid scenery and magnificent tableau,
in which the equine company appeared to great advantage,
and the biped s..ud emulated them at a respectful distance.
After tha spectacle the elephant appeared, and was received
as an old friend, and the evening's entertainment concluded
with the usual scenes in the circle.

• • SURREY.
The manager of the Surrey treated the Whitsuntide
folks with two new pieces on Monday evening. Tho first,
a piece of " intense" interest, called The Factory Boy,
produced many a sympathising tear from the pit and gal-
lery ; and the second, a comic interlude, set them a
laughing as none but holiday folks can laugh. The first
piece would have been rather au effective melodrama if o:,e
actors did not roar so loudly ; b'ut the second, we fesi, is
doomed to a speedy dissolution. The house was
;ull in
every part.