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

SURREY THEATRE.

Mr. Phelps commenced an engagement here for a
limited number of nights on Monday evening, and chose the
character of Lucius Junius Brutus, in Howard Payne's
tragedy of Brutus, for his debut before a Surrey audience.
This character was written expressly for the late
Edmund liean, then in the zenith of his fame, and in the
full enjoyment of all his energies, and Kean at once
made it his own. Since his death the tragedy has sel-
dom been produced, the stage possessing no actor qua-
lified to represent the arduous character of Brutus. This
reason, however, no longer exists. Mr. Phelps is an ex-
cellent representative of Brutus ; since the days of liean
there has been no Brutus at all approaching Mr. Phelps.
His oration over the dead bo.ly of Lucretia was
beautifully given ; his warm and natural style of
eloquence contrasting most favourably with the
monotonous syllabic declamation to which of late
we have been too much accustomed. The whole of the
two last acts was magnificent, from the first expression
of horrible suspicion that his son may be a criminal in
the fourth act, to the fearful condemnation of that guilty
son, at the conclusion of the fifth, when the stern duty of
the patriot has been fulfilled to the letter, the Roman be•
comes humane, and the Consul softens into the man and
the father—all was given with a truthfulness to nature
which stamps Mr. Phelps as an actor of high genius.
We hope frequently to see him in impassioned charac-
ters such as tkis, which give full scope for the exhibition
of the play of the feelings. Ile was called for at the fall
of the curtain, and loudly applauded. The drama of the
Two Locksmiths followed. During its progress some
persons in the gallery. raised a cry of" Fire, Fire! " and
the whole house was in commotion. The pit was cleared
in a few seconds ; the boxes were empty in almost as
short a space of time ; and the rush to the gallery doors
was terrific. All the actors came forward to the front of
the stage, calling out, " Keep your places, there is no
cause for alarm." The door-keepers also assured the
flying audience that it was a false alarm, and prevailed
on the greater part of them to return and await the con-
clusion of the piece. flow the cry originated it is im-
possible to say. It is, however, exceedingly probable,
that some persons in the gallery may have perceived a
light in the painting room over the theatre, where pre-
parations are going on for the pantomime, and not
knowing that there was a work-room in that situation,
may have imagined that the ceiling was on fire. Tho
alarm spread outside with great rapidity, and in less than
five minutes an engine was at the door, which, however,
drove away when the firemen had ascertained how
matters really stood. The neighbourhood of the house
continued crowded during the whole evening.

CAVANAGH, THE " FASTING IMPOSTOR."
—This fellow is not.
y.eetnsusfficiently recovered from the
effects of his nine or ten days' partial abstinence from
food in Reading gaol t
wheel; nor has he yet o undergo the exercise of the
cers of the prison, in been allowed by the medical offi-
his stomach at eensequence of the weak state of
" fasting " worthy, h present, to take any animal food. This
however, is allowed two pints of
pretty stiff gruel and four rounds of toast daily, with the
addition, every alternate day, of a pint of soup. The whole
of these allowances he regularly consumes, and with a
capital appetite i
he managed to
nto the bargain. Cavanagh admits that
1 k gull the publicpretty well outside of
the
gaol, uut that as soon as he Pot inside he expected
to be " bowled out." His hopesg were, that if ho
could have contrived to keep up the deception for a week,
the Magistrates would have been impressed with the be-
lief that he was not an impostor, and have therefore libe-
rated him. Before he was detected he was generally
found in his cell upon his knees, a posture he has not
since been once seen in. Tiernan, who acted as a sort
of showman to the " fasting" knave, and who is incarce-
rated in the same prison, states that when the fellow ex-
hibited himself in Dublin as " a miracle," he received as
much as 20/., and sometimes NI. a day, from the hun-
dreds of visitors who flocked to see him. It does not ap-
pear that Tiernan was wholly in Cavanagh's confidence.
He says he never saw him eat while he was with him,
bet he always had his suspicions that " he got some
grub by the sly." How the impostor managed, when
he was locked and sealed up in London for eleven days,
to be able to leave his place of confinement, in appa-
rently good health, still remains a mystery, especially a
only nine or ten days' partial abstinence in Reading gaol
completely " did him over," and nearly cost him his life.
Letters have been received at the prison from two pro-
fessional gentlemen (one from Abingdon and the other
from London) evidently in search of practice, offering
their services to the prisoner, and guaranteeing to bear
him harmless from all costs and expenses, in r
osece-
ting an action against the Mayor of Reading,prosecu-
ting
part of Cavanagh, for false imprisonment. vthe
h on
anything will arise out of this, upon hie libe ration, ether
re-
mains to be seen.
[ADVERTISEMENT.]
The Beauty of the Teeth is certainly a
of high consideration. Teeming, as is the subject
with useful and elegant discoveries, there has
age,
auxiliary
Rowland's
nated from scientific research a more important" not
ema-
of manly grace and female beauty, than
Odonto, or Pearl Dentifrice. This valuable
and elegant
appendage of the Toilet is a preparation
the most balsamic nature, and, as a purifier from exotics of
embellisher
s
~
and preserver of the Teeth and Gum
any Dentifrice of the age. It is at is unequalled by
P
and the Nobility, and is strongly ronised by Royalty
recommended by he
most eminent of the faculty. t

MR. VVAKLEY AND TAM CLERGY.—Mr.
Wakley, M.P., held an inquest on Friday last, at Nor-
wood, Middlesex, on the body of an infant found dead
in bed. To this inquiry the Rev. Frank Hewson, incum-
bent of Southall, being summoned as a juror, and pro-
bably thinking that the lion. Coroner was about to try
a point of law with him, attended, but on the Rev. Gen-
tleman expostulating with Mr. Wakley, he was informed
that he was exempt; the Coroner adding, however, that
till the passing of a recent Jury Act, no person in the
kingdom, with the exception of the Chief Justice, wa
free from attending as Crewner'sjaryraen

MORN ING SUN

PRIESTLY TYRANNY.

REPORT of the Proceedings of the Presbytery of Arbroath,
in the Complaint at the instance of George Key, against
the Kirk Session of Barry, for depriving him and his
Wife of Church Privileges, in consequence of their
having Buried their Child on a Sablrath•Mornin' g.
The ordinary Monthly Meeting of the Presbytery of
Arbroath was held in the Town-hall on 'Wednesday,
Dec. I. Sederunt—the Rev. Messrs. Walker, Muir, Bar-
clay, T. Wilson, W. Wilson, Crichton, Lumsden, Mac-
beth, Kirk, Dymock, Arkley, and Weir, ministers;
Atesirs. Tod, Stephen, Petrie, Guthrie, Strachan, Mill
(In vdikeillor), and Milne (Abbey Church), elders. After
the disposal of a variety of routine business, the Presby-
tery proceeded
to the consideration of the complaint
against the Moderator and Kirk Session of Barry.
As a considerable degree of excitement prevails in the
public mind in regard to this case, it may be necessary,
in order to enable parties to form a correct judgment on
the merits of the question, to recapitu/ate the previous
procedure. 'At the meeting of Presbytery held on the
Ist of September last, there was presented the following
Petition and Complaint:—
Unto the Reverend the Presbytery of Arbroath ; the
humble Petition of George Key, servant to William
Henderson, Esq., of Grange of Barry,
Sheweth—That the petitioner is under the necessity
of applying to the Presbytery, for protection from certain
proceedings adopted against him by the Kirk Session of
Barry, in which parish he has resided for the last five
years, during which period he has been in communion
with the Established Church of Scotland. The circum-
stances are these:— _ _

The petitioner is a married man, and has a wife and
one child, a girl five years of age, still alive. His only
other child died on the 30th day of April last, after a
short illness, at the age of six years. In order to enable
the relations and friends to attend the funeral, the peti-
tioner was under the necessity, and considered that Sab-
bath, the 2d day of May last, was the day for his family
and relations altogether most suitable for the interment.
The interment accordingly took place early on that day.
The ceremony was conducted with proper and becominr,
solemnity, and was concluded, in the church-yard a
Barry, before the Minister entered the church for the
purpose of conducting divine service in the forenoon.
The petitioner's relations and friends, who attended the
funeral, attended also the service in the church.
Early on the following morning, the person at present
performing the duties of Session Officer called upon the
petitioner, and left averbal message for the petitioner, that
the Kirk Session wanted to see him in the evening. As
no intimation was given to the petitioner of the cause or
purpose for which he was thus called before the Session,
and as the petitioner was not conscious of having done
anything as to which the Session had a right to interfere,
he did not attend.

On the afternoon of following Saturday (Bth May),
the Rev. Mr. Lnmsden, the Minister of the parish, called
at the petitioner's house when the petitioner was from
home, engaged at his ordinary employment, but the peti-
tioner's wife was in the house. In place of "endeavour-
ing to soothe her . distressed feelings for her recent be-
reavement, or to sympathize with. her in her affliction,
Mr. Lumsden accused her and her husband of having
desecrated the previous Sabbath, by having interred on
that day the remains of their deceased child ; and he
told her, in what she considered a harsh manner, that
unless both she and her husband should immediately ap•
pear before the Kirk Session of Barry, and confess that
they had been guilty of desecrating the Sabbath, and
submit to be rebuked by him before the Session for that
offence, he would have recourse to the law of the Church,
and excommunicate them, by refusing them tokens for
the then approaching Sacrament. The petitioner's wife
told Mr. Lumsden, in a respectful manner, that she would
be sorry if he did so • but that neither she nor her hus-
band would confess Of being guilty of a crime by having
performed the painful, but necessary, duty of burying a
beloved child.

Subsequent to the visit from Mr. Lnmsden, just men-
tioned, the petitioner and his wife have been annoyed,
and had their feelings lacerated, in their own house, on
five different occasions, by visits from and verbal cotn-
munino-'s with Mr. Lurnsden and other members of the
Kirk Session, and Session officer, with a view to induce the
petitioner to appear before the Session, and confess that
he had done wrong in burying his child on the Sabbath
day, to which the petitioner would not agree.
At length, on the 3d day of July last, a written sum-
mons was left at the petitioner's house, to the following
effect :