The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-12 00:00:00

(Front the Illorninj Herald of this day.)

Mr. Lumley has no reason to be dissatisfied with the
result of the re.opening, of her Majesty's Theatre on Sa-
turday night. The prospect of the event excited no ordi-
nary degree of interest in fashionable circles, and boxes
and stalls were purchased with great avidity. The por-
tals opened, it was not long before the house was com-
pletely filled, and by an audience of unsurpassed bril-
liancy and splendour. The extinction of Covent-garden
Theatre has doubtless had much to de with this revived
feeling in favour of the old establishment in the Haymar-
ket, the prestige of which has never been forgotten, not-
withstaneing the temporary embarrassments in which it
has been immersed. That there was pleasure felt in once
more getting foot i❑ the old precincts was unmistakeable,
and folks might have been heard congratulating them-
selves and one another at the resurrection of a magnifi-
cent place of entertainment, the doors of which ought
never to have been closed. But the vicissitudes of spe-
culations of this kind are as singular as they are peremp.
tory. A few months ago the possibility of re-opening
the theatre seemed as remote and doubtful as ever ; but
a sad and fatal calamity consummated an event which
neither diplomacy nor contrivance could, as yet, have
compassed. Her Majesty's Theatre, in a word, is again
in a state of activity, after a dormant existence of three
years, during which time we have have heard of nothing
but the belligerent proceedings of antagonistic parties,
and actions of ejectment in every court. But Mr. Lum-
ley has managed not only to retain the property, in spite
of this implacable and exhausting warfare, but to be in
a condition to resume the practical sovereignty of the
house whenever the chances of the day might give him
the opportunity.
That chance, wo see, did arrive, and was most
promptly grappled with. In a few short weeks a com-
pany of no mean strength and efficiency was gathered
together, headed by a group of celebrities calculated to
at once give confidence i❑ the prosperity of the under-
taking. Orchestra and chorus were formed with equal
celerity, besides all the component parts of a large and
liberal ballet. The house, too, was put into the hands
of the renovators and repairers, who have certainly exe-
cuted their mission with marvellous efficiency, when we
call to mind the stories which were afloat as to the de-
cay into which the theatre had fallen, the decrepitude of
the roof, and the devastation of the " rats !" How sig-
nally were all these fables demolished when the specta-
tors entered the house on Saturday night ! The aspect
of the theatre, in truth, is wholly unaltered. It looks
as if four-and-twenty hours had hardly elapsed since it
was last opened. The Pompeian paintings of Mr. Ab-
Bolen and his coadjutors are as bright and warm as ever,
and the hangings of burnished gold are evidently none
the worse for the three years' burial to which they have
been unhappily doomed. The real state of the house
was the best seen when the National Anthem
was sung between the opera and the ballet. The gaiety
of the ladies' dresses, combining wiih the Oriental mag-
nificence of the curtains and the embellishments, revived
one of those coups d'ceil, the parallel to which could
hardly be found, we apprehend, in any capital in Europe.
Scarcely a box was unoccupied, and the effect was grand
and brilliant to the last possible degree.

(Front the Morning Chronicle.)
If any person wholly unacquainted with the recent
history of our lyric stage, had on Saturday evening been
introduced into the magnicent salle in the Haymarket,
refulgent with light, and brilliant with beauty and
fashion, the last thought that could have entered hie
mind would have been that the theatre had for some
years been closed. Even had not the snbsequent per-
formances afforded proof that we were about to have an
excellent musical season, the aspect of the house, not
merely in the audience part—but also iu the avenues
and outside—the freshness of the decorations—the mag-
nsoinfcethree anxiety minor a
ofr -
mag-
nificent orchestra;—taensdtimthoenypetrofectthioe
rangernen
the manager to redeem his promises to the public. To
have performed such wonders in so brief a space of time
is a real triumph of energy at d moral courage. Scarcely
more than two months have elapsed since the calamity
which reduced Covent-garden Theatre to ashes. Mr.
Lumley, although always -
possessed with the determina-
tion to re-open his theatre sooner or later, bad made
none of the preparations necessary for so gigantic an en-
terprise. Success seemed impossible, even to those who
knew the means by which perseverance and capital might
achieve success. Rumour had broadly asserted that the
theatre itself was in a state of dilapidation, and that
there were material obstacles in tho way of its re-
opening, insurmountable even by a Napoleonic Im-
presario suddenly gifted with an opportunity to
retrieve his fortune. The rival manager was known
to be a man of corresponding enery and resources.
Undaunted by the terrible catastrophe that had marred
his future prospects, he had kept his forces together,
and, by the promptitude of his arrangements, had se-
cured the first hearing from the public. Mr. Lumley had
not only to contend against this pre-occupation of the
ground—he bad also to commence his arrangements pre-
cisely at the epoch when artists of every grade in their
profession have already made their engagements, and
when, therefore, the greatest skill and taste in culling the
elements of a company must fail, or at least be impeded.
We have heard fabulous stories of the diplomatic
triumphs of Mr. Lumley in overcoming these obstacles.
What he must have had to do is best to be inferred from
what he has done. His opening performance was in
every respect creditable, even triumphant—far above the
average of such occasions in former years, when all the
resources of a permanent establishment have been at his
command, and all its machinery has been ready for
action. Thus much of praise is due to Mr. Lumley as
an individual. Englishmen know how to respect a man
who knows how to respect himself ; and the same
im-
pulse which led the London public to admire the
courage with which Mr. Gye rocs up wider difficulties