The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-11 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 1856.

which of late.yearshas lent a new interest to the theatrical
art. The present age demands that all dramatic represen-
tations should have scenery, dresses, and musk, because
people wouldn't go to see them without. The Pithlic voice
has justified me in deciding that historical truth is not of
much consequence, whore fun and amusement are con-
cerned. Hence I conclude, that when au appropriate op-
portunity occurs of blending fun with good humour, when
the mind can be relaxed while the eye twinkles with de-
light; I am not likely to lose by the effort I have made,.
I may, in conclusion, state that " Pizarro," at Drury-
lane, is got up with a due disregard to historical accuracy.
E. T. SMITH.

SKE7CITES OF LONAON ACTORS.

laval and iYinnary intp-Iligence•

CHARLES hi ATJIE WS.

An official uotffieation from the Adjutant-General's
office in Dublin has been receive-d' by Major-General Sir
James Charles Chatterton, K.H., to the effect that
Lieutenent-General Sir Colin Campbell, G.C.8., the
gallant and distinguished officer whu commaaded the
Highland Brilade during the late war in the Crimea, and
who now bolds the rank of Inspector-General of Infantry,
is about, to proceed on a general inspection of the con-
solidated depots in Ireland, and may be expected in
Limer;ck in the course of a few days. Sir Colin has
arrived in Dublin, and dined at the Viceregal-lodge on
mond ay.
Yesterday the steam transport City of London (No.
9), arrived at Liverpool with the hcalquartees of the
British Italian Legion, including 20 officers, 57 non-
commissioned officers, and 251 rank and tile, direct from
Malta. Thu sailing transport Tudor is ehaily expected to
arrive at the same port with the remainder of the corps,
amounting to 700. The troops on board the C,ty of
London will diembarkthis morning and will proceed to
York. The names of the officers are :—Major Berring-
ton, Staff-Paymaster Benson, Paymasters R. Deranges,
G-. Lambert, and It. J. Simpson, Quartermaster S. Cur-
ran, Surgeous C. Deparez and G. Gaßessie, Intendent
L. Rowlbaek, Captains Filaret, Silvagne, Pacett, De-
vastoforig, and Pesca, and Adjutant Cavanna.
Her Majesty's steam mortar ship Eruotas, 12, Capt.
W. Moorsom, C.E., arrived at Spithead yesterday from,

The name written above is one celebrated in the his-
tory of the stage, both past and present, a name made
famous in the former by the talent of the hal"... in the
latter by that of the son.
Few who have ndopted the actor's life as a profes;ien
ever leaped so quickly into the good opinions of all good
playgoers as the Charles Mathews who forms ear pre-
sent sketch. But few men Lae-6 been in:lu'ged with
greater advantages, 1)7 meter) are& elreernet tncee. His
parents were as liberal f:S they were elfactieuate. lie
was educated like a scholar and an artiste, having been
originally destined fir a prefessioe more " calm and
classical" then his present one. He bad the advantage,
from boyhood upwards, of mixing not only ie bril-
liant, but also in good sccioty, aseeintoled in his father's
hospitable house, and these good chances fell on one
thoroughly prepared ty nature to profit by them.
Charles Mathews, the younger, was apt at acquiring
languagee, and at hitting off allitnehumeurs in national
life and manner. He not only knew French, Italian,
Neapolitan, Venetian, and Heaven only knows how
many strange dialects besides, but he could act them to
thtelife, could sing the song, dance the dance, and assume
the nationalities-of any country, of any class. During
his residence abroad, as one of Lord Blessington's travel-
ling party, the frequency of his mystifications, and the
skill with which they were maintained, must-have made
it evident that he was hie fachei', ()Nu /1, tlett no
creations in marble, stoes, or brick,. were to be expected
from ore so versatile and mereariei. Yet, it was not till
his eouth was in some degree advanced that he suddenly
took. the resolution ef throwing architecture to the
winds, and, in place of building theatres, of making him-
self a theatrical pillar of etrength, by fin-igen himself
gaily into the gayest (sometimes the slightest) comedy,
as his profession.
Whereas most actors have studied in a provincial
school before making a London debut, ~Mv. Cathewe
at mice (in. 1835) cattle out 'complete', in the thatre;
among all metropolitan theatres, which boasted of an
assemblage of such first-rate talents as the names of
Farren, Liston, Madame Vestrie, and Mr,. Orger recall
to us. Daily practice with artistes like these would
have influenced one less impressionable aed accomplished
than Mr. C. Mathews ; but to him it did not so much
instruct as ripen. He had no rough edges of provin-
cialism to rub off, but launched at o.ice into proficiency,
and went forward, without drawback or delay, to per.

the Crimes.
Her Majesty's sloop Express, Commander Boys, left
Spis head yesturday for Plyinnuth to be paid off.
The Amaranth transport, No. 212, arrived at Spithead'
on Tnesday evening from the Crimea with stores.
Toe Firefly steam-transport, No. 153, arrived at Spit-.
head yestsrday morning from the Crimea with stores and
am munition.
The Prussian corrette Amazone, Capt. Kuhn, whose ar-
rival at Spithead on Sunday last we have noticed, will
leave for Dantzic this day. Her captain and officers,.
among whom is Prince von Schwartzburg Sonderhausen,:
visited Portsmouth dockyard yesterday, accompanied la
their Consul, Obev. Van Den Bag b, who, in the absence
of the Port-Admiral and Lieutenant-Governor, enter-
tained them at the Consulate in the evening.
Yesterday morning a draught of 75 non-commissioned
officers and men belonging to the 6th Dragoon Guards,
2d Royals, 4th King's Own, 7th Fusiliers, 9th, 19th;
23d Welsh Fusiliers, 30th, 41st Welsh Regiment, 49th,
50th Queen's Own, 51st Light Infantry, 55th, 67th, 72d
Highlanders, 77th, 90th Light Infantry, and a detach-
ment of the Land Transport Corps, left St. Mary's Bar-
racks, Chatham, to join the depots of their respective
regiments, the whole having recovered from sickness and
wounds incurred in the Crimea. A draught of 28 non-
commissioned officers and men proceeded yesterday morn-
ing to join their depots stationed in Ireland; under the
command of Ensign D. Jackson, 40th Regiment.
The draughts of the 43d Light Infantry, and the 84th
Regiment, 96 men of all ranks, left Chatham Barracks
yesterday, under the command of Capt. W. Milnes, 43d
Regiment, and proceeded to Gravesend, where they em-
basked on board the Agincourt—the 43d for Madras,
and the 84th for Rangoon—for the purpose of joining
the service compat ies of their respective corps.
Capt. Chas. Barker (29th Sept., 1850) has taken up
his commission, and joined the Retribution, 28 guns,
paddlewheel steam frigate, ratting at Sheerness.
The Insolent gun-boat, Pritchard, commander, Las
been lent by the Admiralty to the Bot.rd of Trade for
the purpose of assisting at the erection of a lighthouse
on the Basses Rocks, off Ceylon, and left Sheerness yes-
terday morning direct for that island.
Great additions an' alterations are being made at Pem-
broke Dockyard. The present dry dock is being widened
and lengthened, so as to meet the requirements of our
new class tnen-of-war. Two new slips for ship building
are in course of erection ; these are being made of huge
blooks of limestone, with copings of granite. Other slips
are being lengthened to meet the increased size of the
ships, and the consequence is a great increase sea ward
of the establishment. An extension of the sea wall is
going on. All accumulation of mud is to be washed
away by means of reservoirs between the slips, and
these can be run out by the sluices when required. The
lengthening and widening of the dock will this year cost
10,0001., and the new slips and boat basin will cost
14,0001. The entrance otthe dock is to be widened, at
the expense of 5,0001.
Lieut.-Col. Irving, who commanded the artillery of
the Kilkenny Military District, now, upon the breaking
up of the district, is to take command of the Pigeon-
house Fox t, Dublin.
The head-quarters of the 13th Light Dragoons will
arrive at Cahir on Friday, where five troops are to be
stationed, the head-quarters of the 17th Lancers having
left that garrison for Dublin, where they arrived on
Wednesday.
The following appointments were made yesterday at
the Admiralty :
Liout. the lion. J. B. Vivian, additional tolthe Cal-
cutta ; the Hon. F. G. Crofton, midshipman to the Ra-
leigh ; S. Gassi,t, naval cadet to the Retribution ; G.
A. Stahb, additional master of the Renheitn, for service
iu the Resoluteli Duncan J., Louttehl,atltlitinnitlisnaster
of the Blenheim,-for service in the Assistance ; Valen-
tine F. Johnson, second-master to the Starling ; Archi-
bah/. Stevenson, assistant-surgeon to the Hogue ; fohn
B. Swarm, assistant-paymaster (let class) to the Excel-
lent.

fection.
Mr. C. Mathews has made fur himself a style of acting
which may be said to be peculiarly his own. He is unlike
anyone who has preceded him—unlike anyone of the pre-
sent time, and all those who have attempted imitation of
him have failed signally. The sound of the true from the
false metal has in no case of attempted counterfeits
been more distinguishable.' For buoyancy of spirit,
such 'as might be owned by s creature made of quick-
silver, for gentlemanly ease, for cool assurance, and for
rattling volubility, he has no rival. There are some
characters with which Mr. Charles Mathews has iden-
tified himself so completely that they can only live and
will die with him. Look at his Sir Chas. Coldstream, in
" Used Up ;" see that air cf ennui which marks the
walk, the action, the speech ; and contrast these with
his performance in the second act, where we find him
roughing it as a countryman, erjaying his homely fare,
revelling in the fur, of the situation ; mark the merry
twinkle of his eye, and the look lie wears when listen-
ing to the reading of his will. Can anything be more
different and yet more in keeping with the same cha-
racter ? Or, take him in " The Game of Speculation,"
where, as Mr. Affable Hawk, be is to be seen on the •
verge of ruin, battling with all his energy to keep clear
of the edge of the prec.pice ; mark with what avidity he
seizes upon every scheme, and, as each bubble bursts,
how eagerly his mind forms new plans and fancies new
spheres of action. His hope at finding a prize in a rich
son-in-law—his dismay at findinr, that prize a blank—
his subterfuge as to his partaer return, and his asto•
nishment at finding he has returned —are points which all
who have seen can testify to their being truly great.
Green-room historians tell that this piece was written in
thirteen hours and produced after two rehearsals—a won-
derful piece of unrehearsed stage business, but one not
to be risked without peril. Who that has ever-heard
his Captain Patter in " Patter versus Clatter," has not
felt astonished at the unceasing rattle of words rushing
from the tongue at "Fast train, high pressure, express"
speed, yet no one word is lost, the articulation being
always clear, always distinct? Who that has seen, by
the mere altering the position of a wig, boviornitaculous
a change takes place, will deny him the rraiso of a first-
class mime? The features are no longer the same ; the
whole man has changed-4ace, figure, voice ; yet it is
Charles Mathews, for he has never left the stage. Or,
to specify something of a higher order, recollect his Sir
Fretful Plagiary and Puff in "The Critic ;" who would
suppose that the old man in old-fashioned suit, with old-
fashioned habits to match, by turns pettish, snappish,
and Passinuator cassia .be the same man who suddenly
,daelles on the stage in modern dress, with- white kid
gloVe and flowers in 'the button-hole I It is
as if the • wand of • some harlequin had brought about
the change, and not the hands-of a.'" iiiuTESI dresser.°
At ib aspect so in acting are the two parts dissimilar.
It would be inip-)ssible to count a tithe of the pieces
in which Mr. Charles Mathews, like an Atlas, hag
supported the whole burden of the story— how he
has carried the audience away, through dull or light
dramas, on the wings of his never-flagging spirits. " Cool
as a Cucumber," "Practical Man," "An Appeal to the
Public," " Aggravating Sam," may he named as illus-
trating these remarks.
Did the fashion of the times permit some of the come-
dies being acted we should be at a loss to find a better
representative of Charles Surface, Doricourt, You.ng
Rapid, and all those fops, scapegraces, and good fellows
(who are good for nothing) who used to keep the come-
dies of the past century alive by their airy impudence,
than-Mr. Charles Mathews. his Dazzle in "London
Assurance' will song be recollected. Nor is this all. Mr. '1
Charles Mathews claims a few passing words as author
and manager. In4he former character be has often ap-
peared with success, as " My Wife's Mother," " The
Ringloves," " The Dowager," " Little Toddlekins,"
will testify. They are all sparkling, neat, witty, kept
a-going with stage tact. As a manager he had toiled on
through difficulties (how made is not here the question),
reaping nought but anxiety, loss of time, and that for
which we all labour—money. But what care the public
for all these things so long as they owe delightful even-
ings to such talent as he can display, and call forth ap-
plause from those who surrounded hies ; to the magnifi-
cence with which he dresses and decorates the banquet
which he set before them ? That better days may come
for him, that he may rise above all the difficulties which
have beset his path, and make for himself a happy old
age, is a wieh in which all his admirers and friends, and
they are rnyr:ad, will cordially join.--Daily