The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-23 00:00:00

/ii ~~

THEA TRICALSAT WOBUR

ABBEY.

The Duke and Duchess of Bedford, since Friday, have
been surrounded by a distinguished circle, at Itoburn_
Abbey, comprising the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk
and the Ladies Mary and Adeliza Fitzalan Howard, the
Marquis of Granby, the Dowager Countess of Sefton and
Ladies Molyneux, Viscount Mandeville, Viscountess
Bury, Lord and Lady Charles Russell and Hon. Edward
and Hon. Katherine Russell, Lord Cosmo Russell, Lord
Edward F. Howard, Mr. A. and Lady C. A. Sanford,
Mr. A. Stafford O'Brien, Mr. S. Rogers, Mrs. and Miss
Magniac, Mr. B. Lyons, &c.
On Saturday evening the " Theatre Royal, Woburn
Abbey," as it is called, was opened for private thea-
tricals, the performances under the patronage of the
Duchess of Norfolk. It was announced that the
dramatic exposition was for that night only. We supply
the subjoined affiche of the evening :
"THIS EVENING, SATURDAY, THE 19TH OF DECEMBER,

1846.
(For this night only),
Will be performed, a Charade, in Three Parts, about
LOVE AND FIRE ! !
Ulysses, Lord Charles Russell; Priam, Mr. Ayshford
Sandford; Menelaus, Viscount Mandeville (his first ap-
pearance on any stage); Tyndarus, Mr. Stafford O'Brien,
M.P.; Paris, the Marquis of Granby; Antilochus, Mr.
Bickerton Lyons (from Athens, his first appearance on
any stage); Diomedes, Lord Cosmo Russell; Homer, the
Right Hon. Lord Edward F. Howard; Thalpius, the
Hon. Edward Russell; Nemesis, Lady Caroline Aysh-
ford Sanford (this talented lady's first appearance this
seas( n); Helen, Lady Maria Molyneux; Electra, Miss
Alagniac; Hermione, Viscountess Bury; Meleto, the
Hon. Katherine Russell; Teliope, Lady Mary F. How-
ard; Euphrosyne, Lady Adeliza F. Howard.

Enormous Attractions!
Lord Cosmo Russell and Mr. A. Sanford
Will once more perform on this stage!
Distinguished Appearance of the Author !
So well known at the Westminster House.
His first appearance on these boards.
A most decided hit !—l7ivat Regina."
The doors opened at half-past eight, and the perform-
ance commenced at nine o'clock. It was warmly ap-
plauded by a brilliant audience. The dialogue was
admirable, and those assuming characters in the dramatic
charade acquitted themselves admirably.
We are informed that Mr. A. Stafford O'Brien, M.P.,
was the author, and his classic acquirements are known
to be of the highest order.
The hospitality of the Noble Duke and Duchess will
be prolonged during the festive season, Lord and Lady
John Russell and a host of visitors of distinction being
on the eve of congregating at the Abbey for Christmas.

On Monday last the thirtieth annual general meet-
ing of the Royal Dispensary for Diseases of the Ear,
was held at the dispensary, in Dean-street, Soho, Henry'
Holland, Esq., V.P., in the chair. By the report it ap-
peared, that since the establishment of the charity, in
1816, upwards of 14,900 patients have been cured or
relieved. Considerable improvements have been effected
during the past year in the treatment of diseases of the
ear, and in no case has any injurious results attended
the course pursued. Thanks were unanimously voted
to John Harrison Curtis, Esq., the director and surgeon,
for his unwearied devotion, during thirty years, to the
interests of the dispensary, of which he was the founder.
In returning thanks, Mr. Curtis expressed his profound
sense of the vast importance of the study of aural sur-
gery, and his gratification at having been the means of
calling into existence an institution which has done more
than any other cause to diffuse a knowledge of the
subject. He stated that there were frequently more
than 180 patients in one day attending at the dispen-
sary, a fact which shows that such a charity is of the
most extensive utility. Ile concluded with some re-
marks on the deaf and dumb, whose claims on their
more fortunate fellow-creatures cannot be adequately
met by asylums in which their total privations of hearing
and speech is taken for granted ; as Mr. Curtis is of
opinion that the great majority of those who are deaf
and dumb in early life might, by proper treatment, be
restored to the enjoyment of those invaluable senses.
IMMENSE INFLUX OF SEIPPINe INTO LIVNIPOOL.—
Owing to the prevalence of easterly winds, some of the
Liverpool docks were almost emptied, and the labourers
usually employed in them driven to serious straits ; and
many to actual want. A favourable change of the wind,
however, having taken place early on Saturday, a vast
fleet of vessels began to pour into the Mersey ; and by
Sunday afternoon not less than 128 sail, many of them
large American and Canadian vessels, with cargoes of
breadstuffs, cotton, timber, &c., had come up, and with
the exception of 17, were safely docked. Of the vessels
docked twenty-two are from the United States, with an
aggregate registered tonnage amounting to 11,054 tons ;
nineteen are from Canadian ports, aggregate burthen
10,019 tons ; three are East Indianien, tonnage 1,187 ;
and the remainder, other foreign and coasting vessels,
tonnage 6.280. Of the seventeen vessels in the river,
seven are Canadian, five American, two East Indies, and
three foreign, the tonnage of which averaue 500 each,
or 37,000 tons in all arrived from the Saturday morning's
tide to the Sunday's mid-day tide. This change is cal-
culated to do infinite service to the working poor, and all
connected with the shipping and decks of the port.
CURIOUS CIRCUIIISTANCE.—On Monday morning
last, about eight o'clock, Mr. Robert Cornthwaite, of the
Bolton Railway station, discovered a sparrow frozen fast
to the rails, about one hundred yards from the station.
He got up to the bird, and was examining how it was held
fast,i when its faluent flutteiings extricated it, and it
LOO-ROAD.—In the Court of Excise yesterday, John Har-
ris, of 180, Waterloo-road, appeared to answer informa-
tions for having worked illicit stills on his premises near
the Waterloo-road, the discovery of which was recently
noticed in The Sun. The facts of the discovery were
stated by the officers, who said the defendant represented
that the premises had been let to a person named Brown,
and that the existence of the stills was unknown to him.
The penalties were laid at 2.4001. The defendant was
fined 6001., and the whole of the seizure was condemned.
He appeared completely astounded at the decision.
WINDOW SMASHING.—In consequence of the in-
creased number of prisoners brought up before the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen of the two police-courts in the
City, within the last fortnight or three weeks, for smash-
ing squares of glass in the shop windows of various
tradesmen, some of them varying in value from 30s. to
Si., for the avowed purpose of being committed to gaol
and thus come in for a share of the good fare on.
Christmas-day, orders have been sent to the governors
of the Compter and Bridewell, directing them that in.
every such case the usual Christmas allowance of roast
beef, plum• pudding, beer, &c., should not be given to
them, and it is thus hoped that in future they will not
be so anxious to get themselves incarcerated when the
probability will be that they will only receive the ordi-
nary prison food.
COMPARATIVE DEGREES OF HEAT AND COLD.—
The intensity of the frost in the present winter furnishes
interesting matter for comparative seasonable specula-
tion. It is a subject of philosophical observation, that
intensely hot summers are commonly followed by winters
of intense cold, the one being in the ratio to the other.
The opinion seems to be borne out by a reference to the
summer of the present year, which, it will be recollected,
was one of great and long enduring heat ; and it is fur-
ther apparently so, as indicated by a reference to wea-
ther tables ranging through a long cycle of years. Facts
and results apparently so opposite are full of interest,
and open up a wide field for the reason:r. In northern
climates, where the winter is both long and severe, the.
glass ranging below zero, and the season extending, in
some instances, over eight months of the year, the sum-
mers, which contain the elements of spring and summer,
are generally very hot. The earth for the winter time is
ice locked—rivers and lakes are sheeted over, and even
springs and gushing fountains are frozen up. Thus it is
in North America, Russia, and the whole of the coun-
tries in the northern regions. The changes of tempera-
ture are instantaneous, and it not uncommonly happens,
that the people inhabiting these countries witness, on
retiring t o bed,and
thoenverryisidnegpththoef
next winter,in owithrni
morning,
its
beholdcon-
comitants "
glorious summer," grafting itself on lovely spring. The
theory of intensely hot summers and severe winters dove-
tailing with each other is forcibly illustrated by a refer-
ence to the year of" the great comet," 1811, the summer
of which was one of great heat, and the winter of that year
was one of great comparative severity ; so, also, the en-
suing year of 1812, memorable for the destruction of Na-
poleon's army in Russia, the winter shearing them oft
like snow flakes drifting on the stormy wind.
ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.— Yesterday afternoon a
young woman, genteelly dressed, entered Mrs. Oakley's,
the " O'Conaell " Coffee-house, Kent-road, and desired
to be served with coffee, and seated herself in one of the

darkest boxes in the shop. Her agitated manner, and
her superior appearance to the generality of her cus-
tomers, excited the attention of Mrs. Oakley, and after
she served the coffee, she observed her empty the con-
tents of a phial into it. Mrs. Oakley suspected her
object to be suicide, and she stepped forward, and begged
permission to put some sugar into the coffee; removing
the cup for that purpose, she adroitly substituted fresh
which the young woman almost immediately
swallowed.coffe The coffee that contained the contents of
the phial was taken to a neighbouring chemist, who pro-
nounced it to contain laudanum. Mrs. Oakley called
the young woman into the parlour, and by persuasion,
or by threatening to send for the police, she gave the
address of her friend, and was conveyed by her brother,
Mr. Quaieting, to her residence in Great Wild-street,
Lincoln's Inn. The attempt was caused by her husband
having enlisted in the army.
ROYAL NAVAL ScnooL.—Yesterday the half-
yearly distribution of prizes and the election of Presi-
dent, Vice-Admiral Sir C. Ogle having resigned, took
place at the school, New-cross, Deptford. At a meeting
of the Council, held previous to the distribution of prizes,
it was resolved, on the motion of Sir Charles Malcolm,
seconded by Colonel Robinson, that Lord Prudhoe be
requesten to accept the office of President. The prizes
were then distributed, when the principal ones were
awarded to the following gentlemen, viz.:—Masters
Wright, Handsley, Made, Collier, Parker, Chusan, Roe-
rt
lee rs
Ogle Gardiner,
from
buck, Rosenbergh, Banbury, Fitzmnurice, Hill, Leslie,
Shellard, &c. Honourable mention was also made of
Masters Gardiner, Burton, Leslie, Rich, Dowling,
senior Cooper,
student, B u
r o
read
a Harrington,dat
ad d
rt s
sto Sir Charles &c.
his fellow pupils, expie,sive of their gratitude
for the
ability and kindness with .w iiich the l
ga lant Admiral
fulfilled the office of President. Sir Charles Ogle feel-
ingly acknowledged the compliment. The retiring
President left the examination hail amidst the warmesr
cheers.

CHILD DROPPED.—At an early hour yesterday
morning the dead body of a newly-born infant was found
in the Regent's-park, opposite to Lisson-place. It was
conveyed by Craig, park-keeper, to St. Marylebone
workhouse, where it awaits an inquest.