The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-04 00:00:00

815
1,922

COURT CIRCULAR.

BAL MORAL, THURSDAY.
Her Majesty drove yesterday in the opec carriage,
accompanied by the Princess Royal, and attended by
the Marchioness of Douro.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert went out
deer-stalking.
Lady Clark, and Mr. and Mrs. Clark, had the
honour of dining with her Majesty yesterday.
In the ;evening her Majesty gave a ball to the
tenantry on the estates of Balmoral, Abergeldie, and
Birk Hall.

The Oxford University Commission bad a meeting
yesterday at the official residence of the First Lord
of the Treasury, in Downing-street. Present :—The
Bishop of Norwich, the Dean of Carlisle, the Master
of Pembroke, the Rev. H. G. Liddell, J. L. Dampier,
Esq., the Rev. Professor Powell, the Rev. G. H. S.
Johnson, and the Rev. A. P. Stanley (secretary).
Dispatches were sent off yesterday from the Colo-
nial•office to the Governors of the North American
Colonies.

LYCEUM THEATRE.
An English version of De Balzac's posthumous
comedy of iliercadet was produced at this theatre on
Thursday, under the title of a Game of Speculation.
The success of Mercadet, when originally produced
at the Gymnase, was very great; it was considered,
and justly considered, as the greatest of the dramatic
works of Pe Balzac, as superior even to Vautrin.
Mercadet, as the hero of the piece so called, represents
a character especially belonging to the present day.
He is a millionnaire, with the highest reputation on
the Bourse, who has been ruined by the flight of a
dishonest partner. To keep up his credit, in spite of
his loss, he has recourse to all sorts of projects, and
endeavours to form all sorts of companies. His
desperate speculations, though sometinses prcsper-
ous, have ultimately raised au army of greedy cre-
ditors, and it is when he bas lost everything and is
bated by these persecutors that the play begins. He
is shown working on the temperament of each indi-
vidual creditor—coaxing one, bullying another, till
be succeeds, not only in softening them, but in making
them lend him more money. Tbis is required to make
the preparations for his daughter's marriage with the
wealthy Count de la Brive, on which all his hopes of
restoring his credit depend. Everything seems
straight, when suddenly be is astounded by the dis-
covery that the Count is himself a ruined man, who
hopes to retrieve his fortunes by marrying the
daughter of the rich Mercadet. In fact, Mercadet
and the Count have been trying to practise on each
other like the Copper Captain and Estifania. The
speculator is still undaunted, and as a last resource
requests the Count, whom he has in his power, as a
holder of acceptances, to personate the runaway part-
ner, now returned with a large fortune. During the
temporary restoration of credit which this fraud will
occasion he hopes to effect advantageous operations in
the share-market. His wife, who is less unsorupu-
lous than himself, dissuades the Count from joining
her husband in so dishonourable a scheme, and in the
meanwhile the real runaway partner really returns.
The creditors whom Mercadet has called to his house
are all delighted, their debts are all paid, and the only
puzzled person is Mercadet himself, who knows last of
all that the partner is no impostor, but a wealthy pe-
nitent who has brought him an immense fortune
from India. The character of Mercadet is admirably
drawn. His indomitable courage and tact in facing
the most formidable difficulties create a sympathy
which he does not earn by any one moral virtue. Be
is a scamp at heart, but on such a grand smile that
everybody rejoices to see him cleared from his em-
barrassments at last. The creditors lilsewise are deli-
neated with an artistic hand. There is the brutal cre-
ditor—and the creditor who is an intimate private
friend—and the creditor who assumes an appearance
almost of mendicity to extort his interest by chari-
table instalments; not one of them is a repetition of
the other, though all are selfish and rapacious
speculators. The situations of the piece are strongly
marked, and the dialogue is natural and sharply
s serious i ofiun s e
to the point. Mercadet and his creditors have
t a.)o e k
atalkping
urp,osethnutogh standmany satilslmafrotr
satyhe
.
g and
inmany a shrewd maxim falls from their lips.
In the Lyceum version of the piece the scene is laid
in London, but in other respects the original is closely
followed, though an attempt is made here and there
to elevate the moral character of Mercadet. The
execution of the piece is excellent. Mr. C. Mathews
plays Mr. Affable Hawk (the English Mercadet) with
infinite blandness and subtlety, and each of his victo-
ries raised the sympathetic laughter of the audience,
many of whom had probably never seen the art of
talking-over so fully developed. Mr. Roxbywaadsvesn.
adven-
turer, and the peculiarities of the several Sir
in
Harry Lester (the Count), the easy, impudent t
Matthews, IL
were well shadowed out by Messrs. F.
iiez-
Baker, Suter, and Horncastle. The piece was com-
pletely successful, and a general demand was made
for the author, when Mr. Roxby came forward and
stated that his name was Lawrence.

EXHIBITION.
bp'eAr;oln's entered the building, and
was taken in half-crowns at the
doors.
thoYseus
A lady in Bloomer attire made her appearance among
TmterHodfayE3,33lsG,49ls.Rl3s.
the crowds of visitors during the day, and tho new cos
tume and the fair wearer of it, as may be imagined, at-
tracted no small share of attention. We understand
that his Royal Highness Prince Albert has signified his
intention to become the purchaser of the original series
of sketches illustrative of the Exhibition, made by Mr.
Nash, Mr. Louis Hague, and Mr. D. Roberts, for Messrs.
Dickinson, of New Bond-street. A number of them
have already been submitted to the Pricca, and, though
in an unfinished state, have been highly approved of by
hi:11. They are now arranged on too north side of the
eastern nave at the foot of the staircase, between the
Greek and Spanish compartments, and will be found
well worthy of inspection.

UDLIN, OCT. 2.—The Galway Vindicator men_
ions a melancholy catastrophe which took place near that
town yesterday.—Mr. Townsend, of Balliaesloe, and two
boatmen having been drowned by the upsetting of a boat
near the cliffs of Barna. Mr. Wade, son-in-law of Mr. Bur-
ton Persse, and a child who were also in the boat, had a
narrow escape, having been picked up by a Connemara boat.
SEurous ACCIDENT.—The Macroom coach on its
way to Cork on Tuesday morning, was upset by the breaking
of the axle, and all the passengers thrown off and severely
injured, amongst whom was the Rev. Mr. O'Donoghue, who
bad several of his ribs broken.