The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-29 00:00:00

GAIETY I REA 7.

On Saturday Mr. Robertson's five-act play, en-
titled " Dreams," was produced at this th.cmtre.
The play had already been performed at Liverpool
with success, and the announcement of its repre-
sentation in Loudon drew forth a very large and I
distinguished audience. The piece on its first; pro-
duction was entitled " My Lady Cara," but it re-
ceived the name of " Dreams" on its coming to
London. The plot is not very novel, and although
the piece has been written in Mr. Robertson's
usual excellent style, it is deficient in dra-
matic interest, and therefore its reception
in the metropolis was not of a very en-
thusiastic character. '1 he plot of the piece
is briefly as follows :—A certain young German
musician, not being appreciated is his own country,
collies to England to get his opera " Dreams" per-
formed. lie meets with all sorts of difficulties,
and eventually tali... s to teaching. He is engaged
as tuner to th,lestablishn.ent of the Duke of Loam-
shire, and here he meets with Lady Clara de Fete,
the affianced bride of the E irl. of Mountforrest.
The young German falls dt:ep'y, and, as he fears,
hopelers'y, in love with the Duke's .:ranild aight:r,
but the lady, discovering the musician's secret.
flirts with him until lie deelAres his nasion, and
then she indignantly rejects him, and he is expelled
from the house by the Earl of Mountforrest. The
musician falls ill, Lina, the companion of his child-
hood, arrives and becomes his close attendant, and
thus, whilst broken in health, his opera is performed,
which proves a great success. Lina, oa Rudolph's
recovery, finding, as she thinks, his heart set only
on the Lady Clara, enters a convent, with the
intention of becoming a nun, and then Rudolph
discovers his love for his gentle countrywoman.
The Earl of Mountforrest eventually marries Lady
Clara, and Rudolph and his mother induce Lina to
forego her intention, and thus all ends happily.
The first two acts are decidedly the best, but the
interest falls off very much in those which follow.
\
The audience, out of compliment to the author, as
the saying is, " sat the piece out," but opinion was
very divided as to its milts at the fall
of the curtain. Mr. Wigan's part, Rudolph, is
not exactly suited for him ; he is umnistdkeably a
great actor, but in the play he has nothing to call
forth his talent. Miss Robertson has a very good
part, the Lady Clara ; and Mr. Clayton las one
which he plays remarkably well, the Earl of Mount-
forrest; and these, with the exception of a kind of
" comic commercial" part for Mr. Soutar, form
the principal persons represented ; that greater
success did not follow the production of the piece
was certainly not to be attributed either to the want
of talent in the actors-or the ability of the scene-
painters— each was truly excellent. The piece
was placed upon the stage with exquisite taste, and
everything was done for it in the power of a liberal
management, but after all the success it met with
was but partial. The " stentor" who kept con-
tinually shouting " Author, author," every time
there was the slightest applause, had his wish gra-
tified in the end, as " the author" at last made his
appearance before the curtain and bowed his ac-
knowledgments; and at one time it -seemed as if he
was going t() make aspeech.

MILITARY AND NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

Mr. Cardwell, the Secretary for War, paid a
second visit to Portsmouth on Saturday, arriving
by early morning train from London. Mr. Card-
well on arrival drove to the .dockyard, where be
went on board and inspected the Indian relief
screw troopship Serapis, Capt. John Soady. On
leaving the Serapis he embarked on board her
Majesty's paddle steamer Fire Queen, Staff-Com-
mander F. W. Paul, and proceeded down the Solent
to view the fortifications commanding the Needles
passage and the western approaches from the
_Channel to Spithead. On returning from the
Solent and disembarking from the Fire Queen,
Mr. Cardwell left Portsmouth for Loudon by even-
ing train.
oAr
sne orderr wasds
d r issuedg
tohne S 1
satt ud from
division
eeef the
the
Depot Brigade, Royal Artillery, numbering 18 °Ili-
! cere, 629 non-commissioned officers and gunners,
four officers' horses, 55 soldiers' wives, and 123
child: en to proceed fromu headquarters to Woolwich
on Thursday next. The Depot; Brigade will be
replaced at Sheermies3 by Nos. 4 and 5 batteries, 7th
Brigade It. )yal Artillery, under time comman.l of
Lieu'enant-Colonel A. P. S. Greene, together
with the headquarters of the Co.tst Brigad com-
prising
.B.outeilgaFd.eCwaimapbell. The Ist division of
prising No. 10 division, under the command of
probably occupy the tLhiee 111.).
bar-
racks at Woolwich vacated by the Royal Marines.
The order also directs the H battery, 4th Brigade,
Royal Artillery, to proceed from head-quarters on
Wednesday, and march to Bristol, at which port
they will embark for Cork.

The remains of the late Major-General Joseph
Oates Travers, C. 8., Royal Marines, were con-
veyed from his residence, 18, Dover-street, Pic-
cadilly, to Kensal-green Cemetery, on Saturday.
There were present, in addition to the relatives
of the deceased, a large body of his late brother
officers, and several non-commissioned officers and
others who had saved under him at various
periods, among whom was Lieut.-General Sir A.
B. Stransham, Major-General Foote, and Colonels
Lambrick, Schoenberg, Suther, Louis, Rodney, and
Stewart.

The dockyard and naval establishments at Chat-
ham were closed to-day, to enable the volunteers
to attend the review at Dover.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE...—This Day•

ASSAULT RWLIBLFOURL Dlki
OUGAIi REEh.
CaTr.lcs Lang was
Charged before Mr. Tyrwhitt with assaulting Mr. Louis
B
ergenheim, landlord of the Coach and Horses, at the corner
of Greek-street, Soho-square.
The prisoner refused to leave prosecutor's hOUSO
utor at
closing time on Saturday night, and on the prosec
attempting to put him out he gave him a severe blow on
the face, and on getting outside broke a pane of glass of the
value of 10s., and was then given into the custody of
Ellis, 99 C.
The only defence the prisoner made was that and did
d
not like to leave when told and refused to do so,
being put out ho struck the prosecutor.
Mr. Tyrwhitt said the prosecutor had a right to put the
prisoner out as he wanted to close his house. Ile should
fine the prisoner 20s. for the assault, and order him to pay
the amount of damage.
CRUELTY TO HORSES.—Robert Gibson, a cab-proprietor,
of Howard-road, Stoke Newington, and Charles Cook, a
man in his employ, appeared to answer the complaint of
the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani-
mals, the former for causing a horse to be worked in an
unfit state, and the latter for working it.
From the evidence of Inspector Temp
orley and Young,
officers of the Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals, it appeared that the horse was em-
ployed to draw a cart laden with washing from different
laundresses, and that it had several sores about it, was
old and worn out, and apparently suffered great pain.
Gibson was fined 10s. and costs, and Cook was dis-
charged, but on its being represented that Gibson had
been put to great expense, he was only ordered to pay the
costs-12s. 6d.