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

!OLYMPIC.

This neat little theatre had a fair sprinkling of the
holiday-makers last night. That excellent comedy
She Stoops to Conquer was offered to their notice ;
but even the very excellent acting of Mrs. Stirling
and Mr. Compton, as Miss Hardcastle and Tony
Lumpkin, failed to impose silence upon the gods as-
sembled in the gallery, who imperiously demanded
that the actors should " cut it," which was accordingly
done, and the " now, grand, gorgeous, historical,
comic Christmas pantomime," as the bills had it, en-
titled William the Conqueror; or, Harlequin Harold,
and the Sack of the Saxons, was presented to their
astonished vision. The piece was opened, as panto-
mimes invariably are, with a fairy scene of very con-
siderable splendour, after which some very grotesque
Normans and Saxons strutted for a time upon the stage,
giving utterance to many very far fetched jAies and
puns. After the battle of Hastings had been per-
formed according to the approved method of giving
effect to such scenes, the transformation took
place, when Mr. Chapin() became Harlequin ;
Mademoiselle Vallee, Columbine; Herr Coles, Panta-
loon ; Herr Seymore, the Sprite ; and Mr. W. A.
Barnes, the Clown. The Harlequin and Co!umbine
drew repeated and well-deserved applause for their
dancing, while the Clown, Pantaloon, and the Sprite
(all of whom are from America) performed some very
wonderful and clever feats of gymnastics, to the great
delight of a number of young people, who, for the
night were real boys and girls. The usual tricks
followed, and there were many hits at the occurrences
of the past year. In one of the scenes Sheard's
Clothing Emporium was represented, and the owner
being called upon to furnish Mr. Clown with a suit,
brings out one which is changed into a " suit in the
Palace Court ; original debt, 1/. ; costs, 1001." A
"suit to last 100 years " becomes a " chancery suit,"
and " a box of wrappers for all weathers" turns out a
very diminutive twopenny postman. In one of the
scenes the gods gave forth a loud demand for " Hot
Codlins," and they stuck determinedly by it, until
Mr. Barnes, who said the song was not in the bills,
nor washe particularly acquainted with it, sung it to
their entire satisfaction, and by so doing at once
established himself in the good graces of his uproarious
audience. Altogether we must say that the lessee
succeeded in sending his visitors away in good
hiimour. The pieces were announced for repetition
during the week amidst applause.

211ARYLEBONE.
The Christmas entertainments at this pretty little
theatre presented, as their chief feature, a specimen
of the pantomime, entitled One o' Clock ; or, Harle-
quin
Demon
—one
of
ar dykn
thoseute, the
time-
honoured productions
e Knight and the Wooden
D
in which brilliant scenic effect and the mechanical
ingenuity of the machinest are expected to make up
for dull dialogue and barren invention.

The attempt to render explicit- ifie plot of one of
these entertainments by any process of unravelment
would be a vain effort. The only mode effectual for
the purpose is, like the solution of the Gordian knot
—to cut it. There was the usual abundance of grace-
ful dancing nymphs, fays and fairie:, enchanted
castles, oppressed and imprisoned beauties, ogre-like
gaolers, demons, pointless witticisms, crystal columns,
unmeaning dialogue, and a heterogeneous jumble of
things agreeable to the eye and grating to the ear,
which the audience endured with edifying composure
until the transformation of the characters to Harle-
quin, Columbine, Pantaloon, and Clown, when the
agility and broad humour of Jefferini in the latter
character, aided by the eccentricities of Moreland and
Morris, and the grace of Miss Healey, kept the house
in uninterrupted good humour until the curtain fell
upon a grand tableau, which the bill, in anticipation,
correctly described as " gorgeous." The piece was
successful.