The Sun.
London, England, 1833-07-03 00:00:00

FRENCH TTIPATRICALS.

The following critiir”, from Calignani's Itiessenser,
contains an amusing specimen of popular dramatic in-
•ertaintnents in France
PORTE ST. MARTIN.—The selection of the late un-
fortunate Queen of England, whose adventures are still
fresh in the memory of all Europe, for the heroine, and the
sturdy hhck-whiskered postillion Bergami, who hail the
good fortune to attract her Highness's notice, for the hero
of a five act drama, argued a certain degree of boldness on
the part of the writer, which we own led us to anticipate
favourably of the piece produced at this house on Thurs-
day, notwithstanding the apparently intractable nature of
genius,
subject.
eniu::a as, for
This sort
eixampie,of temintheeritinyefq
instances
sntol ac
fy compans
Victor
Hugoie
and Alexander Dumas. In fact, subject is an affair of very
inferior importance to genuine talent ; it will adorn the
most barren ; rind the wildest desert become a paradise
under the ward of genius. But, alas ! temerity is not
confined to talent, and the rashness of presnuaptuoua inca-
pacity was perhaps never exhibited more conspicuously
titan in the drama we are about to describe. Indepen-
dently of its more prominent demerits, it displays an ig-
norance of English customs, feelings, opinions, and even of
common events connected with the subject on which it is
founded, calculated to excite no little astonishment, consi-
dering the intimate intercourse which existed between the
rwo countries at the period the circumstances took place.
In fine, there is scarcely a character or an incident in the
entire piece which is not a burlesque upon truth and pro-
bability, as the reader will perceive from the following
outline. At the rising of the curtain the spectator
finds the Princess travelling in Italy ; she is rep.e-
-.ented as a model of innocence and virtue, suffering
exile from the unjust suspicions and neglect of her
husband the Prince Regent, who, among other
abominations, has dissipated the large dowry she,
Caroline of Brunswick, brought him on their marriage.
Bergami (who, we should state, gives its name to the
drama) has driven her to the Alh,rgo, and is greatly
smitten with the grace and beauty of the fair traveller,
who herself no less pleased with a certain dash of roman-
ticism which softens the manly vigour of the well-looking
postillion, at once elevates him to be her equerry. Her
Highness is followed throughout her journeyings by a
Lord Ashley, who figures as a spy employed by her hus-
band, and who, of course, misrepresents her innocent at.
tentions to Bergarni, and likewise mistakes the affectionate

lelity displayed by the late postillion towards his gene-
rous mistress for a warmer feeling. and transmits informa-
tion on the subject to his employer in England. Tie
death of George 111. is now-announceal, by which event
the Princess necessarily becomes the Queen of England ;
n attempt is made to bribe her to remain on the conti-
nent, and not to insist on her right to share ihe throne ;
hot she rejects the offer with disdain, and, strong in the cou-
rage of her innocence, resolves inat oily to lir;:ve her ehernies
and sets sail immediately for Britain, followed by Bergami
and the rrinairoler of her suite. She is received with ac-
clamations try the populace, and the spectator is introduced
to our old friend Alterman Wood (Absolute Wisdom, as
he was appropriately named for his conduct and advice to
the Queen on this occasion), to the civic authorities, the
trades, and various other public bodies of the people, who
wait on her Majesty with their congratulations, and as-
surances of their confidence in her spotless fame. The
su.hor next brings George IV. to wait on his wife; he
haa, by the way, been kept in attendance some time, hav-
ing arrived at the same moment as the worthy burghers
mention:al above; hut the Queen, on bring a-keil which
should first have the honour of an audience, majestically
replies, '• Le pruple"—a preference which seemed to give
flinch satisfaction to a part of the audience, who applauded
the answer lustily. The King endeavours to induce her
to leave the country by persuasions, and on her persisting
in her refusal, threatens her with a trial before the
House of Lords, which accordingly takes place, and in
skilful hands the scene would have been powerful ; as it
is, we base a common-place melodramatic affair, by
no means unlike Sheridan's burlesque scene in the
Critic, in which a child (intended, of course, for young
Austin) who has ivag 3ccomparile4 the Paincess, and
which is suspected to be her own, is discovered to he the
lost brother of an old associate of Bergami's. (The co-
mique of the piece, such as it is, lies upon this character.)
This scene terminates with a grand insurrectionary row
a la Francais.:; discharges of musketry are heard, and
one of the Peers (said by some of our contemporaries to
be Lord Castlereagh, who was not a Peer) is either shot
or " knocked o' the head" with a stone, at the tnotrrnt
he is about to give his vote. The Lords having pro-
nounced an acquittal, the Queen presents herself an
uninvited guest at the grand Coronation banquet,
which speedily follows. Her•, having fairly bullied
the poor King, she places herself with him at the
head of the table, and exacts all the honour due to
her rank ; in the midst of the regal festiv....y, however,
she is poisoned! by her implacable enemy Lord Ash-
ley, who himself perishes by the hand of the faith-
ful and calumniated Bergami. Such is a brief sketch
of this trumpery affair, which is not more deficient
in historic truth than is probabi,ity, or intera.t. Ma-
demoiselle Georges played ta,e Queen ,o well as to
make us regret that she bad not a character worthy
of her talents. iII. Lorkroi acted Bergami to perfection,
that is to say, he was as like a postillion as possible
throughout. Lord Ashley was well performed by Pre-
vost, wearing a red wig, which we presume is de ripueur
for Englishmen at the Porte St. Martin, as George IV.
wore also a similar piece of furniture on his capta. The
part is a bad one, and was acted accordingly. The ace-
nory, dresses, Sm., am excellent, and the music, which is
by Picini, ought to make money for the composer. Noex-
hibition of wild beasts, fire-eaters, or mountebanks of any
description, ought to be without it for a single day.
Messrs. Fontsn, Depeuty, and Maurice Alhoy, were named
as the authors. Notwithstanding the wholesale defeats
we have described, the stature of the subject will doubtless
attract crowds to the theatre ; an unusual number of Eng •

;i,h were present at the first representation, an I doubt-
less few English person• will •isit Paris during its per-
firmance without paying it a visit.

The stormy weather has of late greatly re-
tarded the bay harvest in this neighbourhood. On Mon-
day last the storms of rain and hail, accompanied with
thunder and lightning, were extremely heavy during the
whole of the day; the hailstones were of an uncommon
sitte; and we are very much afraid have done considerable
injury to the apple crop. The appearance of the corn is
beautiful, and promises an abundant crop ; indeed, such is
the luxuriant appearance of the couutry that we beiieve
it was never surpassed in any former season.—Skerborne
Journal.

Unfavourable statements relative to the ap-
pearance of the wheat crop have succeeded in exciting a
speculative spirit, and large purchases have in consequ-nce
been made of native wheat, and extensive orders trans-
mitted to Dantaic, Hamburg, and other ports. The ap-
pearance a the wheat in this neighbourhood doe• not jns-
tify any bad opinion of the crop.-e- Worcester Journal.
THE GLOVE TRADE.—WhiIe the general
condition of the country is certainly improving, this branch
of trade continues greatly depre.std. Last we.k a manu-
facturer of this city attended in London for the purpose of
making his periodic ii sale of gloves, when nut of 2,000
dozens of pairs he could only dispose of forty deeens The
number of persons empl.,yed in this manufacture through-
out the county is said to amount to 600, of whom, it is
calculated, 300 only are fully employed ; in this city there
are about 250, one-half at least having merely partial or
occasional work —Hereford Journal.
MIDSUMMER EVE AT PENZANCE.--
Midsummer is a jubilee throughout Cornwall, but in no
p of the county is it celebrated with more hilari y than
at Penzance and its neighbourhood. No sooner dms the
sun withdraw himself from the hor;zon than the young
men begin to assemble in several part, of the town, draw-
ing after them trees and branches of wood and tote.-, all
of which had been accumulating week after week, from
the beginning of May. Tar barrels ore presently erected
on till poles, is, me on the quay, others near the markei,
and one even oo a rock in the mdet of the sea. Female
children are Peen tripping up anddown in their best attire.
decorated with garlands, and hailing Midsummer eve as
the vigil of St. John. In a moment the torches make
their appearance—the heaped up wood is on fiie.—
the tar barrels send up their intense flames. Ladies and
gentlemen parade the streets or walk in the fields, or on
the terrace that commands the bay ; thence they behold
the fishing towns. farms, and villas, vying with each other
in t,,e number and splendour of their b nfires. Then
comes the finale. No s •oner are the torches burnt nut,
than the inhabitants of the Quay quart.r (a great multi-
tu,le), male and female, young, middle-aged. and old,
virtuous and vivioter, sober arid drunk, take hands, and
s,trief,
fo, ming a long string, run violently through eves,'
v
uhereathle of
sin 4e
-
pulace run under and through; •
:
lane, and alley, crying, " An eye! an eye! a7:Yernorm,,li.
At
last they stop sudderey ; end an
:ht°ealstring (whose
clasped hands are elevated and ar
needle being opened by the I.st twcho..l,r),
amusement till wearinesr dissolves the union, and sends
them home ro bed, which is
never till the hour of mid-
ani
nn
aphical Library.
then'int
night.—Coors roPo.gr

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