The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-13 00:00:00

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This theatre was tolerably. well attended last night.
The performances opened with the Crown Diamonds,
i'n which the agreeable Thillon laid siege to the pre-
-1 tossessions of the audience with her usual success.
----PRINCESS'S
: ;he warbled with great brilliancy and spirit, and
t brew into her dramatic personation of the ingenious
vivacities. Mr. Allen, having
Catarina all her best
fully recovered from the illness which enfeebled him
iin the first production of the opera, sang with much
elegance and finish, and achieved considerable ap-
plause. The entertainments concluded with the
ballet of Esmeralda, and Mr. Oxenford's clever farce,
A Day Well Spent. In the ballet the agile Arnica
exhibited her powers as a danseuse, and the supple
.Flexmore his comicalities as a pantomimist, amid
general delight.

LYCEUM.
Novelty was not provided at this theatre last
!light, but the attractions, nevertheless, were con-

siderable, and drew an exceedingly good audience,
considering the state of the weather and the proba-
bility of political riot. The neat little drama,
Anything for a Change, followed by the last new
extravaganza, Theseus and Ariadne, and The Scare-
crow, comprised the bill. The gorgeous displays in
the extravaganza excited the usual admiration, while
Mr. Planche's polished shafts of humour told with all
their original smartness and force.

SURREY.
This theatre has always been noted for the character
of its holiday entertainments, and in the hands of its
present lessee, Mr. Kerschner, we venture to predict
it will maintain the popularity it has hitherto enter-
tained with the public. For the amusement of the
Whi•suntide holiday folks the lessee last night pro-
duced no less than three novelties. The tragedy of
Don Carlos, written by the present Prime Minister
of. England'; Black Eyed Susan, and an entirely new
piece, in three acts, called Kennyngton Crosse; or,
the Old Farm•house on the Common. Of the
beauties of the first piece all our readers are doubtless
aware :the following is the plot:—Carlos was the only
son of Philip 11. in Spain, under whose bigotted and in-
tolerant sway the cruelties of the Inquisition were
practised with full impunity. At the congress of
Chateau Cambresis, in 1559, the marriage of Don Carlos
with Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry IL of
France, was proposed : but the uxorious Philip, hav-
ing been a second time left a widower by the death of
Mary of England, took the place of his son, and
married Elizabeth. Don Carlos never could forgive,
his father this offence. On the breaking out of the
rebellion in the Low Countriei Don Carlos espoused
the cause of the insurgents, being touched by their
sufferings, and an avowed enemy to the Inquisition
Philip's growing dislike to his son having been con-.
firmed by being informed that Don Carlos meditated
his murder, this jealous husband—this gloomy and
suspicious king and unfortunate father, resolved upon
the destruction of his only son. Don Carlos was
ultimately arrested by the Kihg's orders, and sus-
pecting the fate that was marked out for him, he
tried to destroy himself by various means. Philip
referred the case to the council of state, then under
the direction of the Grand Inquisitor, who was also
the president of the Junta of Castile. Don Carlos
was condemned to death, but anticipated the sentence
by dying of a malignant fever in the year 1568. The
melancholy fate of Don Carlos has served as a subject
for several tragedies, amongst the rest the one we are
at present noticing, from the pen of Lord John Russell.
The tragedy served to introduce Mr. Ryder to a
Surrey audience in the character of Don Carlos,
which he sustained with great ability. Of Black
Eyed Susan it is unnecessary for us to say much
more than that it again brought before the Surrey
playgoers an old friend and favourite, that very pro-
totype of an English sailor, T. P. Cooke. We were
happy to see him in such excellent health and spirits.
He is a most wonderful man considering his age, and
the easy manner in which he went through the
sailor's hornpipe struck us with astonishment. He
was rapturously encored, and his second performance
exceeded his first ; a .second encore was attempted,
but very properly and feelingly suppressed. The
evening's entertainments concluded with the new local
drama called Kennyngton Crosse, which
was com-
pletely successful, and by proper curtailment is likely
to become a favourite on this side of the water. The
house, notwithstanding the weather, was crowded in
every part.

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.
Mr. Batty last night brought out "a new grand
chivalrous spectacle, in three acts," dramatised by
Mr. Fitzball, founded upon Sir Walter Scott's
glorious romance of " Marmion; or, the Bat-
tle of Flodden Field." The plot is too well
known to need repetition as originally given by the
great novelist, but Mr. Fitzball has deemed it fitting
to alter the catastrophe in respect to Constance, who,
instead of being bricked up alive in a wall, is con-
demned to die in a small cell, upon entering which
she is followed by an emissary of the convent autho-
rities, who stabs her, but only wounds her in the
hand, and the door closes. A smuggler, who knows
of this cave, accidentally proceeds to batter down a
portion of the wall, in order to save a cask of usque-
baugh from the fangs of the Excise officers. The
unhappy doomed one is discovered, and after many
escapes by flood and field Constance dies at the close
of the battle, while bathing the face of the slain
Marmion. The tableaux are extremely good, and the
dresses of the knights, Scc., are very splendid, those
of Marmioa (Mr. Crowther), and of De Wilton
(Mr. Fredericks) especially. The scenery is very
charmingly pourtrayed, and the ensemble is in every
respect worthy of the justly earned reputation of
this theatre. Mr. Crowther's Marmion was highly
creditable to that versatile performer, and his dying
scene, the closing of which was given literally from
the poem, "Charge, Chester, charge! On, Stanley,
on was peculiarly well given. "He shook the frag-
ment of his blade" with great fervour; nor can we
omit to mention " the phantom fight" between Mar-
mion and De Wilton, which made us tremble for both
gallant knights, so vigorously did they lay on each
other with their ponderous maces, and so gallantly
did their steeds rear, that we were apprehensive they
would fall over the stage lights. The part of Con-
stance was very prettily filled by Mrs. Moreton
Brooks, who did not rant, as she is too frequently
prone to do. A Highland sword dance, by Mr. W.
H. Harvey, afforded much amusement. Some varied
scenes in the circle followed, the chief being a caval-
cade of a " Hungarian Brigade of Female Cavalry."
The entertainments concluded with the equestrian
spectacle- of Timour the Tartar, compressed. Owing
to the terrible state of the weather the boxes were
only scantily filled. The pit and galleries were filled
at half-price. The " Persian Barb," in going through
some of his performances, thought proper to jump
into the pit, having overshot his step in going round
the circle on his hind legs, with his fore legs on the
edge of the pit front. A scream followed his jumping
over, but no one was hurt. The fox, too, on being
" too hotly pressed" by the horses ridden by Mr.
Powell, jumped into the front row of the pit, ran
along the laps of several persons, but retreated to one
of the equestrian side entrances, and caused some
merriment only.