The Sun.
London, England, 1848-10-24 00:00:00

HAYMARKET THEATRE.
The tragedy of the Patrician's daughter (the first
and the best of the tragedies of Mr. Westland
Marston) which, when first published, so attracted the
attention of Mr. Macready that he produced it at
Drury-lane, acting himself the part of the hero
Mordaunt, and intrusting that of the heroine, the
Lady Mabel Lynterne, to Miss Helen Faucit, was
produced here last evening with the following cast
The Earl of Lynterne . Mr. Rogers.
Mordaunt..
••• • Mr. Creswiek.
Lady Lydia Lynterne W. Clifford.
Mabel ..
The eharacter of the Lady Mabel is admir-
ably suited for Miss Laura Addison, inasmuch
as she here finds full scope for the display
both of pathos the most tender and of
passion the most intense and energetic. She
infused a degree of dignity and majesty into her
bearing in the library scene of the second act, which
showed that she was indeed the Patrician's Daughter,
and that though the heart might swell, perchance
might break, no look, nor word, nor act, should be-
tray to the self-praising Parvenu that, he had suc-
ceeded in making an impression on the high- born
daughter of the Earl of Lynterne. The scene at the
end of the fourth act, where she is insulted and re-
jected by Mordaunt, even at the very foot of
the altar, was a fine piece of acting. Never has
the intensity of the agony of wounded love,
outraged pride, and hopeless despair been more
effectively, more intensely, more heartrendingly
rendered than by Miss Laura Addison last evening.
The dying scene of the heartbroken Lady Mabel,
with which the tragedy closes, was given with an
exquisite pathos which drew tears from the specta-
tors, and secured for the accomplished artiste, who
had thus held " the mirror up to nature," the most
enthusiastic and the most deserved applause ; and
such and so deserved applause will be the
fortunate lot of Mr. Creswick whensoever it shall be
his good pleasure to hold the mirror up to nature
instead of holding it up to Mr. Macready. His Mor-
daunt of last night was a painful exaggeration of
Macready's peculiarities even to the growl which the
"great tragedian" mistakes for passion, and which
we are sometimes tempted to think he puts on in
cases in which he is not over well " up" in the
words of his author, in order to render himself pur-
posely inarticulate. Mr. Rogers, as the Earl, was, as
he always is, accurate and pains taking, and Mrs. W.
Clifford, as Lady Lydia was excellent. At the con-
clusion of the play, Miss Laura Addison was called
for, and was led on by Mr. Creswick, and received
with loud applause. Mr. Webster made his first ap-
pearance this season in Planche's pleasant comedy of
Who's your Friend ? and was greeted with a hearty
welcome. He never looked or acted better in his 1 /re

STORY OF A. GUTTER.
The unthinking part of the public conceive that
you are altogether, or principally, concerned in and
taken up with, litigation : but you and I know bet-
ter; that on the contrary, it is your duty, and ought
ever to be your object, to prevent litigation. Were
it otherwise—did you deem yourselves at liberty to
stir up strife, only imagine what a fearful spectacle,
what a conflagration, society would exhibit!
I am strongly tempted to give you two cases in
point here, one of which came under my notice pro-
fessionally, the other happened to myself personally.
Some years ago, a neat little school was erected by
a few charitable individuals, under the superinten-
dence of an experienced surveyor. The building,
inclusive of the ground on which it stood, cost about
1,4001. Adjoining, on each side, were some small
tenements, behind which ran a long open ditch, into
which they drained, and all of them belonged to one
individual. Along the back of the school, and in the
course of the ditch, was constructed with great care,
a large barrel drain ; repeated application being made
to the owner of the adjoining premises, to know whe-
ther what was done was satisfactory to him as such
adjoining proprietor. He maintained an ominous si-
lence till about six months after the erection had been
completed; when actions were brought against the
trustees of the school, for an alleged obstruction to
the drainage of the adjoining houses, and to the issu-
ing of the smoke from the chimney of a small wash-
house adjoining the school wall. To prevent litiga-
tion, a small sum was offered to the plaintiff; without
prejudice, and under protest that no injury whatever
had been done to his property. His attorney, how-
ever, rejected the offer, insisting on a sum so prepos-
terous in amount, that the defendants resolved to
resist the actions. The causes came on for trial in
due course. Two gentlemen, one now on the Bench,
the other in the House of Lords, led ,for the respec-
tive parties, with a formidable array of witnesses,
models, and plans. The causes were referred to
arbitration. After many meetings, and the examina-
tion of a host of witnesses, among whom were six of
the most eminent surveyors in the metropolis, the
arbitrator awarded in favour of the defendants on all
the issues; but the plaintiff succeeded in setting aside
the award, for a technical defect. On this the causes
came on again for trial ; were again referred, but to
a different arbitrator ; and after a still more protracted
reference, the arbitrator again decided in favour of the
defendants, giving them all the costs, which were
swollen to an appalling amount. By this time, how-
ever, the plaintiff, in his turn, begged for mercy, la-
menting that he had ever been induced to embark in
such extensive litigation. He and his attorney soon
afterwards got, as the phrase is, to loggerheads; I
believe each sued the other • both had reason to regret
the issue ; and as for the defendants I forget whether
they succeeded in recovering the costs from the plain-
tiff. There was really no pretence for bringing the
actions ; and even had there been, the sum offered by
way of purchasing peace was abundantly sufficient to
have obviated any conceivable injury or inconve-
nience to the plaintiff ; but he preferred to take his
chance of eighteen months harassing and expensive
litigation; and see the result. And what intolerable
injustice and cruelty towards the defendants! A few
months previously, I was not a little annoyed by find-
ing that a leaden gutter, running along the roof of the
stables which were at the back of our little garden,
having given way, let the water run down into the

aforesaid garden. In rainy weather this caused a
nuisance which I resolved to get rid of; so I wrote
to the owner of the stables, a gentleman of fortune,

who took no notice of three letters, which led to

fourth, in pretty strong terms. This elicited a very
offensive answer, which I had in my hands, when a
client of mine came to my chambers. That client
was your present President ; and into his confiding
breast I poured my sorrows. I insisted on his in-
stantly issuing a writ, in an action on the case, " to
bring my gentleman to his senses."—"Pho I pho !"
said my friend, " I'll set it right for you."—" But I'll
not be Insulted with impunity."—" I'll take care
that you are not," quoth he, but with a smile which I
did not like.—" Upon my word," said I, "I believe
you are going to repir that gutter yourself."—" No,
no," he replied ;
," I will really take care that the
matter is settled satisfactorily, both to our feelings,
and your interests; so you may start for circuit, to-
morrow, in peace. The next thing I heard was, that
he had got up a " Case," for the opinion of my
late friend, Mr. John William Smith, who took care
to start such a series of ingenious and perplexing
doubts as to my right of action, as not a little asto-
nished and irritated me. Under these circumstances,
it was said that the thing had better stand over till
my return, as it did ; but by that time there was a
capital new zinc gutter running along the entire
length of the stable, and a little packet of letters lying
on my table, headed " I» re the Gutter!" and this
consisted of a little correspondence between your
President and the highly respectable attorney of the
proposed defendant, who was a magistrate for the
county of Middlesex, but an irritable person. When,
however our two representatives met, they laughed
heartily at their respective clients, and said that they
would rather put up the gutter at their joint expense,
than suffer us to go to law about it. This, however,
was not necessary. My friend's opponent represented
the matter in its true light to his client; we were, it
turned out, both staunch supporters of the same poli-
tical opinions, and knew several of each other's friends;
and he not only put up a new gutter in the very corn-
pletest style, but wrote me a letter couched in the
handsomest terms of courteous apology. When lin •
quired some time afterwards, what were the costs
which I had to pay, your President said " Pho I"
And when I told my friend, Mr. John William
Smith, how the Gutter-business had ended, he laughed
(poor soul !) immoderately, and said that he had taken
uncommon pains with his " Opinion I" Now, gen-
tlemen, suppose my opponent and I bad fallen into
the hands of such persons as he who figured in the
foregoing anecdote ! What a God-send each would
have seen, in that same gutter ! What a conduit-pipe
for turbid and expensive litigation I I trust, gentle-
men, that you will regard these two incidents as not
devoid of interest, but as somewhat apt illustrations of
the course of conduct on which I have so earnestly
commented in a previous lecture. What mortifica-

tion and suffering are inflicted or averted by those
who disregard or observe such injunctions ! Warren
on Attornies and Solicitors.

POCKET-PICKING AT CHURCH.—On Sunday last
the lady of Mr. Goodhart, ono of the sheriffs, was robbed
of a purse containing several sovereigns and some silver.
The Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs and their ladies at-
tended the charity sermon at the church of St. Catbe-4
rine Cree, in Leadenhall street, and, on going to their
carriages after the service, a well-dressed boy, who stood
behind Mrs. G-oodhart, slipped the purse out so cleverly
as to get out of sight before it was missed. Of late the
plunder committed by well-dressed boys and females,
who look like respectable mothers of families, have been
innumerable. The cleverness with which the robberies
have been committed is stated by the police to be very
remarkable.

CHILD MURDER.—Yesterday morning the body of
a child, about two months old, was found in the river
at Lower Rotherhithe, with its skull beaten in, and its
neck tightly compressed by a cord. The deceased has
not yet beau identified.