The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-21 00:00:00

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE.

The Christmas Extravaganza at this theatre is entitled
Chrystabelle ; or, the Rose without a Thorn.—The first
scene presents the lawn before and exterior of the summer
pavilion of the Princess Chrystabelle. Preparations are
being made for a grand state festival, under the direction
of the Major-domo, who very quickly informs us that the
festival is to be held in joint honour of the return of his
mistress's three suitors, Prince Lilywhite, Prince Expedient',
and Prince Finesse, and of her betrothal to one of them.
Scene 2d.—ls a suburban street in Dewdropland. We
are immediately introduced to Peppo, the Princess's favou-
rite page; he has been given a part to study, and a show-
man's dress as a masquerade, but does not exactly know the
object until the major-domo, also disguised as a peep-
showman, arrives and says that the Princess has designed
a little plot to test her suitor's faith. They open the
peep, and amongst other curiosities, boast that they have
got the rose without a thorn. The Princes, somewhat in-
credulous, pay for a peep, and so charmed with the view,
that they each endeavour to buy; it is too profitable to
be sold for money, but he will exchange it for an equal
curiosity. This leads to a scene of banter, which is
aided by Peppo stepping forward and telling them
that they must deserve, not buy Fair Chrystabelle. He pro-
duces silver rings, gives them one each, and tells them to
go to the neighbouring ivy dell, where, according to
ancient legends, fairies are in the habit of endeavouring to
mislead and beguile love-sick wanderers ; and whoso stands
this test and brings back his ring unchanged at morn shall
have for prize—The Rose without a Thorn.
Scene the 3d—ls the Ivy Dell, haunted for the occasion
by very loveable fairies. The Princess Chrystabelle and
the ladies of her court disguised in imaginary elfin costume.
The directions which the Princess gives her train conveys
to us the fact that she wishes her lot ars to be misled as to
their real character, so that their faith may be fairly tested.
Scene 4th.—Titania's Bower in Fairy Land.—lndignant
at the Princess's doubt or disbelief of her power, Titania
r_ solves to assay all her spells to wile away her princely
lover's heart.

Odours divine in langour steep his soul,
While aerial strains attune to love's control.

Scene sth.—Transports us to a Hall in the Palace of the
Princess Chrystabelle. Our friend, the Major-domo, having
e- assumed his proper position, is plunged into a great state
difficulty. The Princess is, if not absolutely ill, disposed
to become so. Prince Lily white has not been heard of since
he broke into a bank and disappeared. The Major-domo
is afratd Chrystabelle will not marry either of the other two
Princes, and as she is bound by her father's will to chose
one, or lose her throne, he feels, as her confidant, on the
horns of a dilemma. Hei endeavours to gain time by putting
off the decision. Expedient and Finesse arrive minus
their rings, but followed by Mephiste and Scapin, who pro-
vide them with substitutes of silver, newly bought at
double the price of gold. The Major-domo is called upon
to commence the ceremony—he attempts some delay on
Prince Lilywhite's account. After a time, Mephiste sug-
gests that the Prince had gone off with a fairy; but Lily-
white enter on the word, and is joyfully received. The in-
vestigation of the rings commences. The Major-domo
declares those returned by Expedient and Finesse to be
counterfeits. They begin to bluster,when the ladies to whom
they gave their rings come forward and confound them by
presenting the original. Prince Lilywhite presents his ring.
It is declared to be genuine. His faith's been tested and
his truth stands clear, and by general acclaim he is admitted
to deserve the Rose without a Thorn. Ho is solemnly
conducted to an arch, the interior of which is screened by
a curtain, amidst a general excitement of expectation; this
is withdrawn and discovers the Princes Chrystabelle on a
pedestal.
If love can soften o'er the ills of life,
Balm every wound, and still the voice of strife,
Make me thy rose, assured the gentlest grief
Will only be the rumpling of a leaf.
Prince Lilywhite joyfully accepts her as indeed " The
Rose without a Thorn." The other Princes aro paired
with the ladies to whom they gave their rings, and after
some wit-snapping between Scapin and Mephiste,. the_
e
Princess Chrystabelle, to illustrate the moral a the fable,
shows them a grand transformation scene of an artist's
typical dream of "The Vision of the Rose! Its Fading at
Eve, and the May-bloom of the Wild Briar;" painted,
need we say expressly for the Princess, by Mr.
Calcott,

Her Most Gracious Majesty has, we are informed, I L ru.
contributed 100 guineas to the fund in nia of the' distressed
I -s—.4 •N
riband weavers of Coventry and its neighbourhood. Sub.
scriptions will be received by Jones, Loyd; and Co, ; Smith,
Payne, and Co. ; Glyn, Mills, and Co. ; and by Messrs.
Drummond.

His Excellency the Ambassador of France and
tho Countess de Flahault and Miss Elphinstone de Flahault
are staying at Bowood, on a visit to flag Marquis of Lans-
downe.

The Earl and Countess of Westmoreland are
expected in town to-day from Apthorpe Park, Northamp-
tonshire. His lordship has taken the Earl of Tankerville's
house in South Audley-street for a few months.

The Earl of Shelburne leaves Lansdowne House
to morrow for Bowood.

The Countess of Winchilsea and Lady Florence
Page have arrived at the St. 'eorge's Hotel.

Viscountess Falmouth was safely delivered of a
son on Wednesday at Tonbridge Wells.

A marriage is arranged, and will shortly take
place, between Lord Otho Fitzgerald and Lady Matilda
Butler, daughter of the Countess of Glengall.

Sir G. C. Lewis returned to town yesterday
from Wilton House, Wilts.

The Hon. James Fitzwalter Butler, eldest son
and heir of Lord Dunboyne, has recently assumed the addi-
tisnal name and arms of Clifford, in consequence of his
marriage with the only surviving child and heiress of Col.
Henry Morgan Clifford, of Llantilio, near Abergavenny,
M.P. for Hereford.

The bar silver brought by the West India steamer
has been disposed of at 61.1 d. per oz., being the same price
as that obtained for the previous arrival, although in the
meanwhile sales to a considerable extent were effected at
611 d.

ASSOCIATED SOCIETIES OF EDINBURGH UNIVER-
SITY.—The poll for the election of an Honorary President
of the Associated Societies of Edinburgh University took
place on Tuesday afternoon and evening. The following
was the state of the poll at the close :—Profe,•sor Aytoun,
177; Mr. Thackeray, 77 , and Mr, Ruskin, SS.

Galignani says :—" The Empress went to Ruin
two days back to spray beside the remains of her sister,
which lie in a chapel of the church there, awaiting removal
to Spain, where a monument is being erected to receive
them. Her Majesty heard mass in the chapel."
THE PROPOSED NEW DIOCESE OF COVENTRY.—
Lord Palmerston returned the following reply to the memo-
rial from Coventry, praying that a new bishopric might be
created in the diocese of Worcester :—" Downing-street,
Dec.-12, 1860.—Sir,—I am desired by Lord Palmerston to
acknowledge the receipt of the memorial from the clergy of
the diocese of Worcester, which accompanied your letter of
the 10th inst., and to inform you that there are no means of
creating a new bishopric, even if it were desirable to do so.
—I remain, sir, your obedient servant, C. G. BARRINGTON.
The Ven. the Archdeacon of Coventry."

THE CHINA MAIL.—The next China mail is due
at Malta to-morrow. It should bring advices from Shanghai
up to the 7th ult., and from Hong Kor.g up to the 12th alt.
If the telegraph is working between. Malta and Sicily, we
may expect a telegram with China news to-morrow.

FATAL ACCIDENT AT MALTA.—On the night of
Saturday, the Bth December, at 11 o'clock, a melancholy
accident occurred to Captain A. R. Elliott, of the Greek
and Oriental Steam Navigation Company's steamer Modern
Greece, which vessel arrived on the same day from London.
The unfortunate captain was walking on the deck, when he
accidentally fell into the hold, causing a concussion of the
brain and several contusions on the body, from which he
died an hour afterwards, notwit'istanding the immediate
medical assistance rendered him by Assistant-Surgeon J.
Trimble, of her Majesty's frigate Melpomene. His remains
were interred on the morning of the 10th in the Braxia
burying• ground, and the vessel proceeded on her voyage to
the Pireeus of Athens, Constantinople, and Odessa, on the
night of the same day, Mr. C. Preston, the chief officer,
having assumed the command under the authority of the
Court of Commerce. The deceased has left a widow and
four children to lament his untimely end.
IMPORTATION OF FOREIGN GRAIN. &C.—There
were imported into Hull last week as follows :—Wheat,
10,367 qrs. ; barley, 9,677 qrs. ; oats, LO2O qrs. ; beans,
1,583 qrs. ; peas, 1,849 qrs. ; and tares, 1,231 qrs.; linseed,
9,036 qrs. The duty paid on foreign wheat and flour at the
same port last week was £42 13s. 101 d. on 2,277 cwt.
THE WYBERTON MURDER.—Thos. Richardson,
convicted at the last Lincoln assizes of the murder of a
policeman named M`Brian, at Wyberton, received intelli-
gence from the governor of the gaol on Wednesday even-
ing that he had been respited for a week. Yesterday morn-
ing Mr. John Norton, jun., the sheriff for the city of Lin-
coln, received a communication from the Home. office, inti-
mating that in consequence of the memorial received, a
reconsideration of Richardson's case had taken place, and
that the Herne Secretary had advised her Majesty to com-
mute his sentence of death to penal servitude for life, upon
which recommendation her Majesty had acted. Richardson
was to have been executed to-day.
THE FRENCH TREATY.—It is a matter of some
importance to persons interested in the new commercial
treaty with France to know the tariff of charges on Eng-
lish goods imposed under it only holds with regard to such
goods when shipped in English or French bottoms. Eng-
lish goods (including even those from which the duties have
been removed altogether) when shipped in foreign vessels
are subject to a duty of 25 centimes per 100 kilogrammes
weight, ac under the pre-existing navigation laws of
France, which laws are only altered so far as the articles
in the new treaty are concerned when shipped in English
and French vessels. We learn that, in answer to the repre-
sentation of Dr. Kraetzer-Rassaerts, of Manchester, made
on the 25th of November, the French Government have
appointed a resident French Consular agent at Sheffield,
and given that appointment to M. Bourdillon, Chancellor
of the French Consulate in Newcastle. The President of
the Manchester Chamber of Commerce has conveyed the
thanks of the Chamber to Dr. Kraetzer-Rassaerts in very
flattering terms for his courteous assistance in all matters
connected with the treaty.
FEARFUL ACCIDENT—SHEILDS, Thursday.—A
most fearful accident occurred yesterday on the Blyth and
Tyne Railway. The train for Sheffield and Percy Main left
Morpeth at five minutes past 2 in the afternoon, and reached
the Choppington station at 14 minutes past that hour. At
the moment that it was starting from the latter station a
stout, middle-aged man came running up. He seized hold
of a handle of one of the carriage doors, but the steps being
slippery he was hurled backward on to the platform,
the wheels of the train catching his feet. He was
dragged on to the line, when the train passed over him,
causing instant death. He was fearfully mangled. The
deceased turns out to be a Mr. Tulloch, a traveller for a
Scotch distillery. He formerly kept the Star and Garter
Inn, in North Shields. On the previous night a special
train, which was coming from Sunderland to Newcastle,
ran into a luggage train very shortly after passing Brock-
ley Whins station. The latter train was knocked off the
line by the force of the concussion. The occupants of the
special train—many of them being ladies—were of course
a good deal alarmed, but fortunately not one of them was
hurt.

FATAL POACHING AFFRAY.—On Wednesday last
four men, named George Dredge, John Clements, Simon
Perrett, and Isaac Stone, were taken before the
magistrates at Hindon, charged with killing and slaying
William Howard, a gamekeeper in the employ of Sir H.
A. Hoare, at Stourhead, on the morning of the 10th inst.
From the evidence of Henry Hasse, an underkeeper, it
appeared that early on the morning in question he and
other keepers (of whom the deceased was one) heard guns
fired in a preserve known as Coomb-wood. They proceeded
in that direction, and as they went heard other shots fired.
After waiting for some time they saw four men approach—
two of whom had a double, and another a single. barrelled
gun. John Clements and George Dredge were two of them.
Dredge said, " The very first that comes near
me shall have it." At that time he held the butt of his
gun towards the keepers, but afterwards turned the muzzle.
Clements said, " Stand back, or I'll blow your brains out."
Witness asked, " Would you shoot ?" and he replied, with
an oath, " That he would." One of the keepers, a man
named Evil, said he knew two of the four poachers, upon
which three of them went away. Two minutes afterwards
the report of a gun was heard, and Howard was found
weltering in his blood, having been shot through the thigh.
A keeper, named Maidment, swore positively that he saw
the shot fired by the prisoner Dredge, and that Clements
presented a double-barrelled gun at his (witness's) head
and pulled the trigger, but fortunately the charge did not
explode. Evidence was also given to show that since the
affray Dredge had had his whiskers shaved off. Howard
lingered until Tuesday evening, when death put an end to
his sufferings. Grass appeared to have been used as wad-
ding in the gun that was fired, for a quantity was driven
some way into the wound. The muzzle of the gun was
only a yard or two from the poor fellow, s thigh when it
was fired. The magistrates committed Dredge and Cle-
ments for trial, but the other prisoners were discharged.
SNOW Spoßkt,—A very severe fall of snow was
experienced in the counties of Durham and Northumber-
land on Tuesday morning. It was lying
several inches
deep in some
places, and there was an appearance that more
would fall during the night. The very satisfactory intelli-
gence was received in. Newcastle and Shields on Tuesday
that the greater portion of the fleet of collier vessels which
sailed the previous day had arrived at Gravesend, and that
most of the large vessels bound on distant voyages which
sailed on Friday and Saturday were passing through the
Downs. The only wreck that has occurred the M'Leod,
which got on Haisborough Sands on her voyage to London.
THE SOURCES OF THE NILE.—The Royal Geo •
graphical Society propose raising a subscription of £2,000,
for sending an expedition under Mr. Petherick (her Ma-
jesty's Consul at Khartum), up the Nile, to explore its
sources, and to aid that of Captain Speke, already d espatched
by way of Zanzibar for the same direction. The society
gives £105; the Furegn-office, £100; Lord Ashburton and
Miss Burdett Coutts each contributed £5O. An appeal is
made to scientific men and others, and already £685 has
been secured. Should the required sum be quickly raised
Mr. Petherick undertakes to reach Gondokoro in Novem-
ber next ; he will then explore till March, 1862, and, after
the rainy season, start afresh, and continue his travels till
the end of 1863 or the beginning of 1864.

NE W S
•

REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.
PARIS, DEC. 21.
The Moniteur publishes a decree regulating the
right of precedence of the Ministers of State.

The Moniteur also publishes the report of General
Montauban, from which it appears that there are
some inaccuracies in the accounts of the plundering
of the Palace of the Emperor. The General states
that the booty was divided between the Allies.

PARIS, DEC, 20.

The truce at Gaeta having been terminated, the
siege is resumed, and is now in the same state as
previously to the unsuccessful negotiations.
The Count de Persigny is on his return from his
journey to London.

The Fatrie says :—" The negotiations for the
evacuation of Gaeta have failed. The bombard-
ment was to recommence on the morning of the
19th inst."