The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-07 00:00:00

DOVER.

The town of Dover, particularly that part of it in the vici-
nity of the pier, was thrown into a state of highly excited
curiosity on Saturday by the arrival of his Excellency Namik,
Pasha; General of Brigade of the Imperial Ottoman Army,
Grand Envoy of the Sultan, who comes to this country on a
special mission from the Ottoman Court to the Court of Lon-
don. His Excellency having been expected, caused the pier
to be crowded long before his arrival, and amongst the anxious
expectants were many very beautiful and elegantly dressed
English ladies, whose hearts were beating, to use their own
words, with anxiety to see the Grand Turk. At about 2
o'clock the Estafette French steam-packet, in which his
Excellency was expected to arrive, was seen by the aid of
telescopes in the direction of Calais, traversing her foamy
way in the direction of Dover harbour. It was then high
water, and the Captain of the packet was making all pos-
sible way with a high steam pressure, in order to get her
into the harbour, aware of the rapidity with which the
tide, which was on the turn, runs out, and if he could not
get in before its running down, he should lie off until the
next tide. Under these circumstances, the packet, towards
3 o'clock, was seen proudly rushing near and more near
the port ; but the tide had then so greatly fallen
that many supposed there would not be a sufficient
depth of water for her to ride in. She, however, pushed
her course onward with the tricoloured flag flying, and dis-
charging several guns of honour. His Excellency was stand-
ing on the fore-deck of the vessel, surrounded by five Turkish
servants, all wearing the Turkish cap, and in a few moments
she entered the mouth of the harbour dashingly under the
British flag, which was hoisted as a mark of national respect
on the occasion ; but from her having made a sweep to the
right of the harbour (which abounds with shallows) instead of
to the left, usually made choice of by the captains of the
British packets, as the safest, she struck upon a shoal or sand-
bank, and in an instant it was found that her paddles would
not work, and she would remain there until the next tide.
The water, flowing rapidly out of the harbour, became so
shallow that the packet, from the inability to keep her afloat,
reeled, as it were, on her keel, and inclining on one side, thus
took her station in the sand. The dilemma was rendered the
more awkward from the circumstance of the packet having
struck at some distance from the landing-place, and the ad-
ditional one of his Excellency desiring to reach London, in
connexion with his mission, with the least possible delay.
Several boats put off to the vessel to render assistance, and the
boatmen having lashed two of their boats together, received
his Excellency's carriage, which was hoisted from the.packet
into them, and conveyed it to the shore. His Excellency and
attendants entered another boat, and were landed in safety.
His Excellency instantly started for London, under a salute of
15 guns. His Excellency, who appears to be about 30 years
of age, is about 5 feet 8 inches in height, of slender, gentle-
manly, and smart appearance. He wore the Turkish red cap
and tassel.

THE THEATRES.

DRURY-LANE.

A Mr. Denvil made his appearance here last night as Shy-
loch in the Merchant of Venice. His voice is far from being
the best that we have heard in our theatrical career. It is
strong, but harsh ; and wants that roundness which causes
passages, even the most violent, to fall not unharmoniously on
the ear. His action is generally temperate, but sometimes,
like his declamation, it runs beyond nature. As a whole, Mr.
Denvil's Shylock deserves praise—many parts of it great
praise ; but assuredly those were not the parts which were
most loudly applauded. His opening scene was thoughtful,
and calm, and quiet, in the early part ; but, when he came to
the description of the wrongs which he had received at the
hands of Antonio, he raved, and totally forgot the character.
The fine scene in the third act, where the flight of his daughter
and the loss of his wealth almost madden Shylock, was greatly
overacted by Mr. Denvil. Yet, even here, we observed some
redeeming qualities. In a few instances, his feeling was that
of humanity, he ceased to be a demon; as, for instance, when
he summed up the long catalogue of ills with which Antonio
had persecuted him ; and in answer to the query, why is this ?
says, in a tone of deep heart-rending earnestness—" because I
am a Jew !" This was really fine, but the rant-and-roar gen-
tlemen did not understand it. The trial scene was on the
whole well acted, if not greatly acted. We have only one
other observation to make, and that is, that almost throughout
the play Mr. Denvil forgot the age, or the conventional age,
of the Jew. His reception was very gracious ; with care he
will in our opinion become a justly popular actor. He still,
however, to use an old expression, has mueh to learn, and,
what is more difficult to achieve, not a little to unlearn. Miss
E. Tree appeared as Portia. In the comic part of the cha-
racter she was agreeably animated ; but, as the " Daniel come
to judgment," she lacked forensic power. Antonio says that
his part is a " sad one," and Mr. Warde played it accordingly.
Mr. Cooper's Bassanio was not deficient in spirit. Gratiano
was represented in a gay and pleasant style by Mr. Lee, who
has recently returned to this theatre. Mr. Sinclair, as Lo-
renzo, gave Mr. T. Cooke's beautiful serenade, " The night
invites to love," with more strength of lungs than delicacy of
taste. The ungentle Jessica, who, merely from a love of
Christianity, robs and abandons her father, was personated by
Mrs. Crouch. This lady did her best (and succeeded) in
rendering unharmonious two of Bishop's best compositions.
Young Master Launcelot was right well played by Mr. Harley.

ADELPHI.
A new burlesque was produced at this house last night.
The piece is entitled The Kitchen Sylph, and, as its name
imports, is a burlesque on the opera of The Mountain Sylph,
which has recently acquired deserved popularity. To describe
the plot of a burlesque, the actors in which do little more than
come at one side of the stage, and run off at the other ; knock
off each other's wigs, and then look as if they had done some-
thing exceedingly meritorious and uncommonly droll, would
be rather a difficult task. We will, however, attempt to re-
count the leading incidents of this precious production :
Betty, a housemaid in a Scotch Gentleman's family (Mrs.
Keeley), like the betrothed of the immortal Giles Scroggins,
of facetious memory, " dreams a dream." Having indulged
rather too freely in spirits before composing herself for a nap,
she imagines herself pursued by a congenial spirit, in the shape
of a corpulent Scotch Highlander with wings. This super-
natural being is the Sylph, enacted by Mr. John Reeve, who
appears at the window, and disappears up the kitchen ,4•
seated on the hob, and purlqiti§ a insr”;--
--age contract, and flirts

about in happy imitation of Taglioni or Miss Romer. The dis-
covery of the flirtation between the cook and her aerie/ lover,
rouses the jealousy of John the Footman (Mr. 0. Smith) to whom
she about to be united. He applies to Nibblefee, (Mr. S.
Smith), a certain gentleman in black in the disguise of a law-
yer, who, being President of a Temperance Society, and
strongly opposed to spirits of every description, readily yields
him assistance. By his advice John is induced to present his
faithless fair one with " a charming boa," informing her that it
possesses the magical property of securing the constancy of her
wayward admirer, Cognac. He throws it round the neck of
the spirit ; he faints, and is immediately diluted by a couple of
watermen, who deprive him of his strength by throwing over
him the contents of a couple of buckets. Betty faints, screams,
wakes, and discovers that instead of hearing all the nonsense
that has been uttered in the course of the last half-hour, she
has been dreaming. The audience sincerely wish that they
had been equally fortunate, and the piece terminates with a
general reel by the characters. Mrs. Keeley played as well
as she could in such a part, and Mr. Reeve did all in his power
for the success of the piece. He only did, however, what he
has already done again and again usque ad nauseam in Cupid ;
and it really is rather too much to sit out a second absurdity
possessing no other claims to success than caricature dancing,
however excellent, or face-making, however humourous. The
entertainments commenced with the Black Hand, which has
been curtailed, and so far improved.. They concluded with
the Chain of Gold, which went off better, if possible, than on
the first representation.