The Sun.
London, England, 1833-10-05 00:00:00

THE OLD THEATRE, SHREWSBURY.

The very ancient and spacious structure on St.
John's-hill, in this town, in modern times occupied
as a theatre, was this week razed to the ground.
The walls were more than four feet thick; but, in
consequence of passages having been cut out of
the walls, they, as well as the roof, were ut-
terly dangerous; and the calamitous deaths oc-
casioned in June, in 1821, by the falling of a
wall, must be in the memory of many of our
readers. When or by whom the structure was
built, is unknown. Phillips, in his History of
Shrewsbury (published in 1789), states that, in the
year 1326, it was then " in the possession of John
de Charlton, Lord of Powis, who obtained leave
of King Edward to fortify it with a wall of stone,
embattled." This Hall was afterwards granted to
the family of Warring, at 133. 4d. rent. The fol-
lowing extracts are from a MS. in the Exchequer, at
Shrewsbury, marked A. 34.
" Henry Gray, Earl of Tankerville, and Lord of Powis,
gave to Thomas de Bromley of Salop, merchant, one
messuage or dwelling house, called Charlton Hall, with
the buildings and nine tenements, two cellars, with a
garden, and all other lands belonging to the said messuage,
lying in the town of Salop, in length between a parcel of
waste ground called Behind the Walls, on the one part,
and in breadth between the land of William Alytton,Esq.
and the land of John Grace. Dated Anno Henry
VI. 24."
The Grant runs thus :

" One great Hall called Charlton Hall, one great Stone
adjoining to the said Hall, one large Cellar under the said
Hall, and one great Garden enclosed on either side with a
atone wall, which (to wit the said Hall, Cellar, and Gar-
den) lie together in Salop, in a street called Shoplatch,
extending in length by the King's Highway, to that part
of the King's Highway leading from the aforesaid street
towards the (old) Church of St Chad. Dated Anno Henry
VI. 49."

During the last few weeks, in taking down this
ancient structure, which has existed so many cen-
turies, nothing of importance has been discovered, ex-
cept a few gothic tiles, and ancient pipes for smoking.
A human skull was discovered secreted in the
roof, and some consternation was visible among
the workmen, who expected thence to trace a
horrid murder ! But the fact is, the skull had been
hid by a man who belonged to the theatre, that
it might be produced when wanted for Hamlet's
grave-digger or other theatrical representations.
The purchaser of the late building is Mr. Bennett,
the respectable proprietor of the Worcester and
other theatres, and he is about to erect here a modern
and elegant building for theatrical talent and scenic
display. The building will have handsome shops on
the ground floor; and the interior of the theatre
will be adapted to musical festivals, masquerades,
lecture or auction rooms, &c. We hope the pro-
prietor will be amply rewarded by public patron-
age.—Shrewsbury Chronicle.

We are happy to learn, by further arrivals
from Davis' Straits, that the whale fishing continues to be
uncommonly successful. As yet we have only heard of
one loss this season, namely, the Ingria, of Hull.
A Joint-stock Bank is intended to be imme-
diately formed at Walsall, under the appellation of the
Walsall and South S.affordshire Banking Company."
The capital to be 300,0001., divided into shares of 501.
each. P. Potter, Esq. of Gorway House, near Walsall,
is Chairman of the Committee for the establishment of
the above bank

A Correspondent says, that the General
"!:D"nald; who is left to command the troops of Don
>slguel, was some years ago a bankrupt in this country as
a wine-merchant' He is well known to the house of
Reay and Nephews, of Mark-lane. He adds, that Marshal
l
Beresford used to say of him, that be was the only man whovalid make the Portuguese fight.
DISGRACEFUL OUTRAGE.--On Thursday
evening, four respectably dressed
Nouonladies were walk-
ing along the foot pavement neary
passed by
House,
Strand, when some costermongers
idonrie eats: cart,sa o
and in a moment the ladies found thmeiixrtsuiri
bonnets covered over with a thick
lamp oil. It will be recollected, that three weeksr ago,and
some vitriol was thrown in a similar way upon two
gentlemen.
DREADFUL OCCURRENCE.—On Wednes-
day afternoon, Daniel, eon of Mr. Jones, farmer, of Seend,
who had been on permanent duty in the Wiltshire Yen.
manry Cavalry, returned home, and, after changing his
clothes, took his pistol from the bolster, and again pro-
ceeded towards Devizes. When about a mile on the road,
be fired the contents of the pistol just above his heart, and
expired in a very few minutes. The wound was four
inches long, and the shirt of the unfortunate man was
burnt entirely off his breast by the explosion..—Devizes
Gazette.

LONDON,
SATURDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 5, 1833.

We have heard this morning, from a very
respectable quarter, that the King of SPAIN is
dead. This personage, however, has been
killed so repeatedly by the journals, that we
will not guarantee the authenticity of the
information on even the respectable authority
from which we have received it, more particularly
as we find, upon inquiry, that no intelligence
of this kind has reached the French embassy.
The latest official accounts from Madrid, received
by the French Charge d'Affaires are, we under-
stand, dated the 24th ult., at which time the
King of SPAIN was exceedingly ill, and little
expectation was entertained of his surviving long.
The capital was perfectly tranquil, and every
precaution had been adopted to prevent commotion
when the decease of the KING should take place.
It is not improbable, however, that Don CAR-
Los may take advantage of the presence of
BoultmoNT and his associates, to rouse the
fanatics of Spain against the QUEEN, and that
a civil war may be the result. BOURMONT,
however, generally contrives to give his assistance
to the falling cause when it is too late to be of
any use, and his co-operation with the Spanish
Carlists will not be of more use to his employers
than that which he gave to the French CHARLES
and to the usurper MIGUEL.
The Lisbon Papers brought by the Savage
are only to the 17th ult. According to them
the route of the enemy, in the attack of the
14th, was complete.

Since writing the above we have ascertained
that there are official accounts of the death of
the King of SPAIN. He died on the 29th
ult. The Queen-Dowager has assumed the Re-
gency, but has not changed the Ministers.

The Paris correspondent of a Morning Con-
temporary, in alluding to the state of the King
of SPAIN'S health, says--" The nature of the
KING'S illness, it is hardly necessary to remind
you, is dropsy in its most aggravated form. I
have just now met a friend who left Madrid
about the middle of last month, who, in reply
to my inquiries respecting the state of the KING'S
health, said, Uncertain what opinion to form
on the subject (from the contrariety of report
n circulation), I made it my business the day
before I left Madrid to ascertain with my own

eyes how the matter really stood. I repaired.
therefore, to the Palace, where I witnessed a
scene extremely painful to any man with feelings
of humanity. 1 saw King FERDINAND the
Beloved, as, in 1824, I saw Louis le Desire,
borne to his carriage in a species of arm-chair by
six menials. His miserable frame swollen to
the utmost extent of frightful deformity, his
head resting on his shoulder, and his countenance
expressive of exhaustion and imbecility.' Here
my informant described other appearances which
it is not necessary to mention, further than that
the colour of the KING'S face, called by the
French Physicians teint de plomb, and the other
symptoms, which I suppress, convinced him
(my informant), who is a professional man, that
he (King FERDINAND) was in the last stage o f
disease." The same authority mentions also
that it was reported at Madrid that Don PEDRo
bad written to his brother, Don MIGUEL, a
letter, in which, after the old Greek fashion of
ETEOCLES and PoLYNIcEs, he urged him in
the most pressing terms to decide the fate of the
war by single combat ; but that Don MIGUEL,
after duly consulting with his friends, had de-
clined the handsome offer. Our readers may
lay what stress on this rumour they please.

Despatches have this day been received from
Lisbon at the Portuguese Embassy, by the
Savage, but they are not of so recent a date as
those which arrived by the African. They
give an account of the battle of the 14th, which
turns out to have been a very insignificant affair,
the Pedroites having had only a few men
wounded, and the loss of the Aliguelites not
extending to more than 200 in killed and
wounded, according even to the Pedroite ac-
count.

The German papers, which arrived this morn-
ing, contain an article, dated Vienna, Sept. 24, in
which it is stated, that a Congress will take
place in December, which will attract the
attention of all Europe. One of the chief
objects is said to be the establishment of a
tribunal for the regulation of the press.
What a nightmare this press is to the despots of
the Continent. The question is, however, whe-
ther they will be able to find a remedy for the
disease. The soothing system is the only one
found useful in these cases, but that they will
never attempt.

At the public meeting which was held on

Thursday last, at York, in honour of the late Mr.
WILBERFORCE, an immense concourse of the
neighbouring nobility and gentry attended. Men
of every religious persuasion, Catholic and Dis-
senter, as well as Protestant, vied with each other

in their endeavours to show respect to the
memory of a man who was an honour, not to
this class or to that class, but to human nature
in general ; for Mr. WILBERFORCE could

justly boast that for upwards of thirty years he
had, night and day, been unremitting in his efforts
to improve the social and moral condition of
humanity. He was a philanthropist on the
most magnificent and comprehensive scale;
religious in the noblest sense in which the word
religion can be used. Bigotry or fanaticism
found no resting-place within his bosom. In
the beautiful language of GOLDSMITH, never
more aptly applied, he " allured to brighter
worlds, and led the way." How different the
fame of such a man from that noisy notoriety
which dogs the heels of the conqueror ! The
memory of the one lights up an instant stream
of sunshine in the heart, purifying, exalting, and
filling it with happy, peaceful, images ; that of
the other throws a cloud over the mind, and
brings vividly before it scenes of sorrow, ruin,
and wholesale carnage. The name of WILBER.
FORCE is written with a sun-beam in the heart ;
the name of NAPOLEON, with a pen " dipped
in the gloom of earthquake and eclipse." Justice
now exacts her dues from both. Need we say
who will gain and who will lose by her award ?
It is fortunate for our immortal philanthropist,
that he has lived and died in an age more com•
petent than any that ever preceded it, to appre-
ciate his transcendent merits. The dazzling
halo that once surrounded the heads of despots
and conquerors, is now fast fading " into the
light of common day ;" we have become ashamed
of our vulgar adoration ; have taken down our
gods from their lofty pedestals, and discovered
at length that they were creatures of wood and
clay—idols of our own base manufacture. If
we bow the knee in future, it will not be to him
who degrades, but to him who elevates huma-
nity ; not to the destroyer, but to the benefactor
of his race. Therefore is it that we reverence,
from the bottom of our souls, the name of WIL-
BERFORCE ; and while we allow that the world
may rightly claim him as its own, yet take a
national pride, as Englishmen, in saying " he
was one of us !"

Mr. WILBERFORCE lived just long enough
to witness the triumph of that noble cause to
which he had devoted the energies of his whole
life. He heard the last cannon of the retreating
enemy ; his last moments were cheered by the
clank of the manacles as they were torn from the
limbs of the slave. The battle he fought was
long and arduous; the odds he contended
against were all but overwhelming ; but he sur-
mounted all obstacles, and died a prouder con-
queror than him of Trafalgar.
The speech of Lord BROUGHAM on this
great occasion was worthy of himself and his
subject. He thoroughly felt and appreciated
the character of the man whose memory he was
eulogizing ; his remarks, consequently, will be
read with all the attention they deserve.

All men now naturally casting their eyes
about them for the fruits of Reform, the expec-
tations and wishes of the public being far from
fulfilled by what was gathered last session, no-
thing is more important than that the advocates
of improvement should direct public attention to
what is of real and immediate consequence.
Any article or argument upon abstractions
which do not practically affect the common-
wealth, is so much force thrown away. The