The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-02 00:00:00

ADELPHI.

At this theatre the Whitsun holydays have caused no
variation of the entertainments usually presented to the
public Indeed, no alteration was called for, as the pi-ces
which have been presented to notice during the last
fortnight are of that description that they rarely fail to
attract an audience. The merits of The Memoirs of an
Umbrella have already been sufficiently canvassed by the
public, and it will be sufficient to say that the parts were
sustained with unusual spirit, and some passages were so
delivered as to cause, not the acclamation which
follows a hackneyed sentiment or claptrap, but the
genuine and -heartfelt applause which is justly due to
good acting. In the drama of the Cabin Boy which
followed, Madame Celeste was 'more than usually bril-
liant; and the extravaganza of Peter Wilkins concluded
the evening's amusements. The theatre was not nume-
rously attended; but this fact may be attributed to the
extreme fineness of the weather, which rendered other
amusements more attractive. The audience were, how-
ever, more select than is usual in hodday time, and were
Co far satisfied that not one mark of disapprobation was
exhibited throughout the evening.

SURREY. •
Mrs. Davidge -has secured the services of Madame
Vestris and her talented husband fOr a limited number
of nights. " The Vestris" is as fascinating, and Charles
Mathews as versatile, as ever. It may seem paradoxical
to say that the latter is the first of light comedians be-
cause he is the most profound of thinkers, but so we
believe it is. He studies laboriously and he acts with
ease. He discriminates with judgment, and he never
oversteps the modesty of nature. Other favovritee have
their popularity, because, as in Dutch paintings, their
enamour is exhibited in broader and stronger lights.
Charles Mathews, on the contrary, is chaste to a degree ;
be never courts approbation by the exhibition of a
broad grin ; his acting is legitimate ; the manner
of the man, the witticism of the text commands the tri-
-Imph. Madame Vestris's reputation as an accomplished
artiste is too widely diffused to require any eulogium
from us. Last night in the popular burletta of the Loan
f a Lover, as Gertrude, she sang some of her best songs,
I'M was encored in all of them. This distinction, how-
ever flattering, is nevertheless painful, and it would be
well if our Surrey friends did not so frequently test the
1,11,11 gs of the singers. Charles Mathews was, of course,
the Peter Spyk. Both were well supported by Messrs.
Johnstone, Heslop, and Lewis, and by Mrs. H. Hughes.
The ThP' evening's performance commenced with the comic
..I,,ratna Used Up, which was first brought out at the
44-Itymarket, where it ran fur seventy-seven nights. Sir
Charles Coldstream; by Mr. Mathews ; Sir Adonis
Leech, Mr. Rodgers ; John Ironbrace, Mr. Johnstone ;
and Lady Clutterbuck, Miss Martin. The piece
of the night, however, was a new grand
tosnantie oriental spectacle, replete with situations,
°combats,- and dances, and munificent water effects,
entitled the Dark Falcon of the Arruck; or, the Prince
giver, and the Shah's Ott The promise held out in
e portion of the bill quoted was amply verified. We
are on honour when we affirm that six soldiers, with
conical caps, bearing a striking resemblance to Prince
Albert's chef d'oeuvre, were killed in each battle, and
miraculously resuscitated behind the scenes, in order to
take part in the one which followed. The plot itself
was of the hybrid order—a cross • between a tale out of
the Arabian Nights and Schiller's Diver. It would be
impossible to trace it through all its ramifications, and
equally impossible to account for the extraordinary
situation; in which the principal characters found them-
selves. We leave the hero who gives the name to the
aPeetacle safe in wind and limb in the streets of Tehran,
and we find him in the coral caves of Amphitrite, be-
-. Heath the salt salt sea. We cannot explain why, we can
only wonder how the devil he got there. The piece is
Wound up with (we quote the bill again) " a tremendous
explosion and powerful denouement." Some of the scenes
were very beautifully painted. The house was respect-
ably, if not fully
.filled, and the
.audience seemed
highly delighted with the amusements provided for
•

gardens to the other, and long before nine, the crush in
front of the like was so great that locomotion became
impossible—volition was in abeyance, and the unfortu-
nate wight, who was in " the press," was forced to
surrender his free will to the crowd, and to move as
they moved. We had the curiosity to make inqui-
ries as to the number of persons who had
been admitted into the gardens, and ascertained that

there were upwards of 16,000 persons present at nine
o'clock. In addition to the other attractions of the gar-
dens, there was last night exhibited for the first time,
" Calypso's Fairy Grotto," a master-piece of dio-
ramic effect, from the magic pencil of Danson, who has
in this instance completely realised the poetic
dream of the author of Telemachus. The grotto,
which is approached by the gothic bridge, is
illuminated in part brilliantly, whilst in other parts
dimmed lamps cast a " pale, religious light," enhancing
the poetry of the scene. In the interior wo see Tele-
machus relating his adventures to Calypso, and the
grouping of these figures is admirably arranged. This
beautiful grotto will henceforth be a great feature of
attraction in these gardens. As a guide to the visitor,
it is as well to state that it is immediately
behind the gothic bridge, and may be approached
by crossing it, and that it opens at eight, and is closed
before the eruption begins. The eruption appeared to
us to be even grander than on any former occasion, but
this perhaps may have been owing to the extreme bril-
liancy of the evening. The perilous descent of Signor
Fannelli in his fiery chariot, from the pagoda to the lake,
elicited loud applause, and the immense concourse seemed
highly gratified with the whole of the entertainments.
After the conclusitn, there was a stream of human beings
pouring forth from the gardens continuously for upwards
of an hour. Never before babe so many persons been
congregated together within the precincts of the Surrey
Z, ological Gardens. Even the monster audiences at
Juilien's 111.mster Concerts last year, shrink into com-
parative insignificance.

Whitsuntide
-1 :VAUXHALL GARDENS.
nfhitanntide is the season of holidays, and most un-
doubtedly.. at this season of the year, when sunshine and
;014f
feet
Tun people out of doors, it is the most joyous
aeelc:ris-et Whitsuntide, how many of them have we
things `,ThiYch not one without a Vauxhall—one of those
speak of an amalgamation of all the plea-
:lra:th enlighten and relieve the dull way of all those
most Journeythis straightforwardly and steadfastly through
hall; but busy world. We have seen many Vaux-
the
to distinguish
hever one that pleased us so much as
Vauxhall of last night. There was nothing
je last night from any other of the
7°lls
amusement,
smspent n this most joyous of the halls of
public save and except that there were
'rash introductions,en4 and new souls in the bodies
,olvfell the
variously-coloured
Ipromenaders who studded the
breathing
elishted walks, like freshly-
**Med flowers Jeae
fulltohf trinp
_Of a moonlight night,
of conveying
all the attrac-
tions in the eloquence
IlOns of flesh and blood, capabulsew,ofeonveying all the
t-,davexist -
sensations that relieve the dulness°
ewe. We went to see Vauxhall by gaslight,
most agreeably disappointed to see it noth but(3 ly.welia.e
the light of the moon, but by the light of eau they
light that ever threw their lustre on dull common-place-
zees the light of three thousand eyes beaming with the
satisfaction of having been well entertained, and capable
of expressing tne satisfaction that they were so elevated
and social as to be capable of expressing the fact in the
sweetest and most amiable manner. Vauxhall ! We
write our notice of the various attractions in a kind of
bewildered and unintelligible dre im; yet we enjoyed
ourselves. We recollect a number of very stirring facts,
but we are incapable of giving to them a name and an
eXpression, so that they may be recognised by those
who - were less wide awake than ourselves.
• There . were numbers incalculable of ladies
Well behaved and well dressed ; there were gentlemen
who mixed in the throng and did not forget themselves;
there were strangers, from far-off parts, who gazed and
Were satisfied, and did not depart without audibly ex-
Pressing the fact. In addition to the brilliancy of the
gardens themselves, the proprietors, still maintaining
their well-known liberelity, provided an exceedingly
full programme of attractive entertainments, which were
Performed in different parts of the ground, and at speci-
fied periods of the evening. In the firer place, there was
the performances of " a celebrated brass bind," who exe-
cuted a number of Donizetti, Strauss. and Rossiui's best
productions ; and then came a vocal concert, in which
Messrs. Hodges, Sinclair, J. W. Sharp, Binge, and
bareie, and Mesdames Aveling Smith, and J. Roe, took
part. The vocalists were accompanied by a numerous
and efficient orchestra, and won for themselves an oc-
casional encore. The concert was no sooner over than
there_ was a tremendous s ush to the Rotunda Theatre,
and in five minutes afterwards the place was literally
crammed from end to end. By dint of some vigorous
pushing, crash' .
crushing,
restricted view of '.l
'
and squeezing, we managed to get a
new and capacious the equestrian performances in " the
we melted down circle 'and although, to speak vulgarly,
we never witnessedc'sca very jelly, we must admit that
enjoyed. Madame Leonuea in the circle which we more
_Tournaire, if possible, ex-
celled herself in her derLse
g2reetes of horsemanship; while
rdinand Tournaire, and
Mons. Benedict, Mons.
Madame Klatt, exerted themselveso wonderfully, to give
would have thought
satisfaction to their audience.
that, after this, would have terninalineoate i the amusements
the thing had yet
of the evening, but no, the crea
to come, and it is so graphically,destchfraibed in the printed
circular of the establishment
representa-
tion than introduce it, and htrwe cannot do
Tartar
gorgeous procession! introducing a faithefu it
is:—" A
tion of the Emperor Teaou Kwang reviewipiL his
pavilion, or
upon a novel
rotechuic
troops before the imperial
Golden Bells, amidst n display of fireworks Palace of the
and extraordinary scale, by that celebratedu
artist Mr. Darby. In the distance, the low
gyh plagopd a s
and monstrous Dragon Tower, 120 feet h
which Il Joel Diavolo will make a terrific- descent
' Victory !' on a fiery dragon ; and in his descent twill
cast the `wreath of victory' at the feet of the successful
knight of the tournay that is supposed to have taken
place. The whole scene terminating with one of the
most imposing and brilliant discharges of fireworks that
has ever been attempted in this or any other country.''
This portion of the entertainments, as may be ima-
: gined, occupied a considerable time in the representation,
and while the first part was glittering and gorgeous the
latter was terrific and startling. The dancing com-
menced some short time before we left, and when we
• did Ibave the lamps were about to put on their night-
"Ps, as the dawn of another day began to peep in
" between the leaves of the lofty trees that surrounded
Vauxhall.

SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.
, Never since we remember these gardens have they
been so crowded, as they were last evening. As early
as seven o'clock it was with the greatest difficulty that
'le visitor could make his way from one part of the

THE SUN, LONr -:SN, TUESDAY MORNIYG, JUNE 2, 1846,