The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 27, 1848,

THEATRICALS AT WINDSOR.

It must be truly gratifying to every lover of Eng-
lish dramatic literature to find her Majesty the Queen
and the Prince Consort extending their ever conside-
rate and liberal support in aid of a positive revival cf
those rich harvests of public enjoyment, culture, and
delight which were wont to prove so abundant in
bygone days of the genuine produce of the English
stage. With this view her Majesty has commanded
five theatrical performances at Winds, r, in the en •
suing Christmas vacation, during the time the Court
remains there. An elegant and commodious theatre
has been prepared for this (special purpose, and the
actors engaged comprise a majority of the most
gifted performers of the day. A snore judicious or
a more gratifying measure on the part of our
most gracious Sovereign the Queen and the Prince
Consort, one more truly national and acceptable to
a large and intellectual portion of her Majesty's
loyal subjects, cannot be well imagined; whilst, at
the same time, it affords an especial recognition by
the Queen of the . claims of the British drama
and of native British talent to her Majesty's patronage
and protection; and we are hence encouraged to hope
that the day is not far distant when the genuine Eng-
lish stage will again spring up and flourish with fresh
vigour, and become, as everything in this country
must become under her Majesty's fostering care, and
that under the patronage of indisputably the most
correct and blameless Court in Europe, it must be
considerably raised in its moral and intellectual cha-
racter. Yes, the genius of Garrick, of Barry, Mack-
lin, and Palmer—tire commanding and exalted spirits
of a Siddons, the Kembles, and a Kean—the ever
bewitching and faithful powers of an Emery, a Dow-
ton, or a Munden, together with the dramatic excel.
lence of a hest of other great civilisers of their age,
may yet re-appear amongst us, and, "hold as t'were
the mirror up to Nature—to show Virtue her own
feature, Scorn her own image, and the very age and
body of the Time his form and pressure."
It is not that we really lack great dramatic talent,
we rather fail in the demand for it, and in the means
of drawing it forth by fair and legitimate public sup-
port. A judicious patronage of the English stage,
both by the higher and more influential classes of
society, and the public at large, could not fail to
place the drama in this country in that distinguished
position to which it is fairly entitled, More especially
If so directed as not to serve the immediate purposes
of particular actors or actresses, but to be employed
in raising the character of their profession in public
estimation. This, the greatest point of all to be ob
tamed in the revival of the genuine English stage,
would induce highly gifted persons, who now shrink
from embarking in the muddy and troubled waters
of a theatrical life, to enlist their talents in the
service of the drama, no longer feeling it a de-
gradation to pursue dramatic representation as a
valuable and respectaMe profession. For the
beneficial influence of the drama itself on the mass
of the people we have no fear. Assuredly there is no
channel of public culture and instruction so all-
powerful as the stage—we, of course, except the
purely religious instruction of the people, which we
do not profess to treat of here. Let those who are
entrusted with the care of the public morals look to
the " Drama's patrons," and the legitimate English
drama will yield no invaluable harvest. The vast in-
telligence of our immortal Shakspere, always directed
in the right path, whether moral, political, or religi-
ous, and the force of other great dramatic writers,
will be heard in irresistible appeals to the moralists
to supply antidotes for those actual vices which on
the stage are only imitated in order to hold them up
to universal condemnation. "Veluti in speculum."

" To wake the soul by tender strokes of Art,
To raise the genius and to mend the heart ;
To make mankind in conscious virtue bold,
Live o'er each scene and be what they behold;
For this the tragic muse first trod the stage."

Seeing then, in this gracious command of her
Majesty, who the "Drama's patrons" are, and the
impetus they will necessarily give to the British
public in support of a well-ordered English stage,
we must again repeat that we look on this command
of her Majesty to supply regular dramatic perform-
ances at 'Windsor during the ensuing Christmas
vacation, as one of the most important civil measures
emanating from the Sovereign of England for very
many years; inasmuch as it is likely to lead to a
vast and beneficial influence upon the moral and in-
tellectual culture of the mass of the people.
" The apt use of a theatre (says one of our highest
moralists) is the most agreeable and easy method of
making a polite and moral gentry, which must end in
rendering the rest of the people regular in their be-
haviour, and ambitious of laudable undertakings."
That her Majesty is fully entitled to an occa-
sional enjoyment of private intellectual amusement of
this kind, no one can deny, the drama being an
equally refined pursuit with music or any other high
class of art; the time, moreover, is admirably chosen,
and most propitious, since, the Court being absent
from London, no immediate or depressing influence
can thereby possibly arise to any public theatre or
other place of amusement in the metropolis ; nor has
less judgment been evinced in the choice made of Mr.
Charles Kean to conduct these representatious. Be-
sides being an Eton scholar and a gentleman of en-
gaging and conciliating mariners, he is eminently qua-
l►fied by his dramatic learning and theatrical talents
to raise the depressed state of the English stage. Mr.
Charles Kean may, without fear of contradiction,
be now considered as almost the sole representative
of some of the most powerful characters in the Eng-
lish drama. His Shylock, Hamlet, Sir Giles Over-
reach, and Richard are at present without any
parallel for dramatic excellence and truth. It is
enough to witness the Shylock of Mr. Charles Kean
to perceive that his dramatic conceptions are of the
very highest order. The almost unprecedented success
of his Hamlet, at Drury-lane, in 1838, and the sensa-
tion it created, will not be easily forgotten by those
who frequented the London theatres at that time. It
was played twelve successive nights to crowded houses,
ensuring to the manager a receipt of nearly 4,0001., and
effectually stamped Mr. Charles Kean as a great
master of his art. Of Mrs. C. Kean it is almost super-
fluous to speak—our object not being particularly
directed to personal criticisms—yet it must be al-
lowed that never since the days of Mrs. Siddons or
Miss O'Neill has any acting more true, touching, or
perfect been found in English dramatic representa-
tion, nor has the English stage been enriched with a
brighter treasure. It would be invidious were we
not to acknowledge the eminent talent of the other
performers engaged in this service to her Majesty—
amongst these are to be found the ever-fresh, exqui-
site, and rich comic excellence of Mrs. Keeley, the
inimitable powers of Charles Mathews, Meadows,
Farren, and of little Keeley himself, the sunshiny Har-
ley and quaint I3uckstone, together with other highly-
talented professional actors, whose exertions will,
we feel assured, be actively and perfectly applied in
calling forth into life the several characters committed
to their care. The pieces selected on this occasion
are as follows:—
Dec. 28—The .Merchant of Venice. Jan. 4
Used up; and Box and Cox. Jan. 11—Hamlet.
Jan. 18—The Stranger ; with Twice Killed. Jan.
25—The Housekeeper; with Sweethearts and Wives.
'We contemplate a rich and highly• intellectual treat
to be afforded to her Majesty and the Court by these
several performances; and we trust they may lead—
as we have no doubt they will—to a further and con-
tinued patronage of the legitimate English drama,
which we look forward to see ultimately re-established
in all its native vigour, and in all the moral worth of
which it is susceptible.—Herald.

COURT CIRCULAR.
WINDSOR, TUESDAY.

The Queen and Prince, and younger branches of
the Royal Family, walked this morning in the Little
Park. _ _

The Marquis of Breadalbane, the Earl and Countess
Grey, and the Earl of Liverpool, are expected to
arrive at the Castle this afternoon, on a visit to her
Majesty and his Royal Highness.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent and
her Royal Highness's Ladies in Waiting, and Sir
George Couper, are included in the royal dinner
party this day.
The Queen's private band attended on Saturday in
the Castle, and performed the following pieces :
Overture
Selection—" La Fine du Regiment" .. Donizetti.
March—" Faust"
Glee—" The Red Cross Knight"
Senderlinge Walzer
Her Majesty's private band performed yesterday :
Overture—" Joseph" Mehul.
Selection—" J05eph"........., . Mehul.
Quartetto, No. 1 (two violins, viola,
and violoncello : Messrs. Stainton,
Nickel, Hill, and H. Chipp).....
March—" Athalie" . .

Tier Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge
visited her Royal Highness the Duchess of Glouces-
ter yesterday, at Gloucester Rouse.
The Earl and Countess Grey returned to town on
Monday evening, from Sprotborough, Yorkshire, and
yesterday proceeded to Windsor Castle.

THE TEMPERANCE LEAGUE.—Last evening the
first of a series of evening parties on the teetotal system,
intended to be given by the London Temperance League,
took place at the 8.111 of Commerce, Threadneedle-
street, the large room at which was tastefully decorated
with flowers and evergreens, the tables being covered
with fruit, tea, coffee, eake3, &c. Mr. George Cruik-
shank presided, and was supported by Mr. S. C. Hall,
Mr. R. Warner, Mr. G. Attwood, the Rev. A. P. Black,
and numerous other clergymen and gentlemen. The
evening was passed in the delivery of addresses in praise
of temperance.
TILE ALLEGED MURDER AT I3RIDGNOaTH.—Ca•
therine Mercy New ton, who is suspected of murdering
her mother, Ann Newton, has been fully committed to
take her trial at the ensuing Salop assizes:, for the wilful
murder of her mother.

HOLIDAY AMUSEMENTS.

THE THEATRES.
lIAYMARKET.

The Gamester was played last night-, Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Kean sustaining the principal parts, with all
the effect which their performance has given to the
revival of this gloomy play. After the tragedy came
the clever, though somewhat commonplace, farce of
Your Life's in Danger ; and after that again, the
novelty of the evening, a burlesque by the Messrs.
Brough, the two gentlemen NI ho recently made their
(1414 as dramatic authors with the Enchanted Isle, a
piece of the class in question, now being played at
the Adelphi. On the present occasion the Messrs.
Brough have chosen as a medium for a great deal of
lively satire, and some really racy fun, the Arabian
Nights story of the Prince Camaralzaman and the
Princess Badoura. Camaralzcanan and Badoura is a
really brilliant burlesque, written with great and fresh
comic powers, full of closely and cleverly put
points, abounding in lots of puns—some of them
capital from their very wretchedness—and con-
taining many happy lines of vigorous and telling
satire. The parodies, with which the piece is studded,
are, in almost every instance, effective ; some
of them being constructed with a degree of verbalin-
genuity which is not commonly met with. The plot
of the burlesque we do not intend to meddle with.
The stories of pieces of the kind hardly bear telling.
The burlesque was excellently acted. Mr. Keeley
as the Djin, had a very cleverly-conceived character
—a sort of pothouse-loving aerial gent, which he
played with great verve and gusto. His first scene
was one of the best pieces of burlesque acting we
ever witnessed. Mr. Bland had one of his favourite
despotic parts, in which his tyranny was tremendous.
He was well played up to by Mr. Caulfield ; and Mr.
Mitchenson, as an eccentric sprite, performed some
feats of springing up through trap-doors, which re-
minded us of poor Wieland. Mrs. Keeley made a
delicious Peri, giving her jokes with all the point and
stinging piquancy which she knows so well how to
lend them. Her burlesque " shadow dance " was a
capital bit of pantomime. Miss P. Horton was, as
usual, the Prince, spoke her share of the dialogue
with grace and spirit, and warbled her songs delight-
fully. The Princess was played by Miss Reynolds.
The burlesque was gorgeously put upon the stage,
where it will no doubt continue for some time.

last night hung fire in nearly every instance, except
two in the opening scene which were splendid. Stilt's
Clown was very good, and his stage play was much
applauded; he introduced his son (apparently about
fbur years old) in one of the tricks as a chip of the
old block, and performed several clever though very
painful feats of equilibrium; and although rewarded
with much applause it was accompanied generally
by a shudder. Fenton made an excellent and agile
Harlequin, and Miss Horne a very graceful Colum-
bine. The Sprite (Mr. R. Stilt), and Pantaloon (Mr.
J. Johnson) were equally good. The scenery (by
F. Fenton and Brunning) was magnificent. The
pantomime was quite successful.

gave what he styles his " royal entertainment, illus-
trative of the fallacy of magic, necromancy, witch-
craft, and demonology." Many of his feats are
truly surprising. The most extraordinary trick in
his "royal programme of scientific wonders," is that
of the magic sketch-book, of which M. Houdin, at
the St. James's Theatre, has nearly a counterpart.
As it were from a portfolio, which is closed up so
tightly as to lead you to suppose there is nothing in
it, bonnets, birdcages, birds, and other things are
produced, to the astonishment of the audience. Pro-
fessor Anderson got on excellent terms with his au-
dience by inviting them to drink the compliments of
the season from a bottle which at one and the same
time supplied half-a-dozen different sorts of liquors.
Brandy, gin, and whiskey (for such spirits were they
attested to be), were handed about from this inex-
haustible bottle in the most dangerous profusion.
Indeed, the Professor had once or twice to warn the
more sanguine of his audience in the pit of the in-
conveniences attending excessive indulgence.

Name of Company.

Australasia ..........
Britsh North American
Teflon ••
;:ommercial of London
• •
Gloucestershire
lonian • . • • • • .. • • • • • •
Londn and Westminstr

London Joint-Stock ...
Provincial of Ireland..
Ditto, New. • • • • • • • •
National of Ireland
Nat. Provncial of Eng.
Ditto, New.• • • • •• • •
South Australia • • • • ••
Union of Australia

Union of London
Union of Madrid