The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-09 00:00:00

PRINCESS'S THEATRE.

A little play, new and original withal, by Mr.
H. Holl, called " Caught in a Trap," was produced
at this theatre last night, amid the hearty applause
of a numerous audience. The plot is of simple
structure, and may be described in few words. The
story is Spanish, and the scene is laid chiefly at
Toledo, where Donna Vittoria, a young and beautiful
widow, charmingly personated by Miss Carlotta Le-
clerq, lives in melancholy seclusion, the only com-
panions of her solitude being Marcella (Mrs. Weston),
a grim duenna of the most despotic disposition, and
Montafar (Mr. Graham), an old steward, who is as
liberal of his advice as faithful domestics usually
are, upon the stage. Attracted by the fame of the
lady's loveliness, Don Juan de Sylva (Mr. Melville)
a romantic and adventurous cavalier, devises a
scheme for procuring admission into her castle.
Under the pathetic disguise of a waylaid traveller,
who has been shamefully maltreated by robbers,
he invokes the hospitality of Donna 'Vittoria,
who, struck by the noble air of the stranger, and
touched by his well-dissembled sorrows. is not long
in crossing the narrow boundary which divides the
domains of pity and love. Don Juan improves his
occasion with such rapidity and expertness that in
a few days he is the accepted suitor of the widow,
whose happiness, however, is suddenly over-
clouded by the unwelcome intelligence that
the gentleman who has taken such summary
possession of her heart must proceed without de-
lay to Madrid upon some mysterious errand con-
nected with the Court. He departs vowing eternal
constancy, and promising a quick return. The
lady believss him with all the fond credulity of her
sex, and is only awakened to a sense of his perfidy
upon discovering a packet of letters which he has
forgotten behind him, and from which she learns the
true motive of his sudden departure, whioh is no
other than to marry another—a richly-dowered dam-
sel, whom he has never seen, but who has been chosen
for him by his father, who has enclosed her miniature
in one of the letters. The widow's heart is wrung
by this bitter revelation ; but her pride also is
piqued, and, plucking up courage, she determines
to foil the deceiver with his own weapons. In com-
pany with her faithful serving-man, she repairs
forthwith to Madrid, and there plays her cards with
such address as completely to out-manoeuvre her
antagonist at his game of false pretences. She takes
upon her the character of a duenna, and in this
unamiable disguise, which her grace and beauty
certainly render rather difficult of assumption, she
is employed by the father of Angelica (Miss
Clifford), the very lady to whom Don Juan is
about to 'be wedded, to keep a jealous watch over
his daughter, and especially to debar her from
all opportunities of communication with Don
Valdez (Mr. R. Cathcart), to whom she is de-
votedly attached and privately affianced. Of these
duties Donna Vittoria acquits herself with Punic
faith. She fosters Angelica's love for Valdez and
her aversion for Juan with equal zeal, and finally
denounces the latter as a married man with three
children, who is intent not on an honourable suit,
but simply on the offence of bigamy. In the last
scene of all she undertakes to personate the apocry-
phal wife whom he has so heartlessly forsaken ; but
when she lifts her veil the sense of her beauty and of
his own perfidy is too much for her faithless lover,
who admits his folly—to call it by no harsher
name—and incontinently returns to his allegiance.
Thus diamond cuts diamond, and he who had set a
trap for another is caught in it himself. There is
a lively underplot, showing the rise and progress of
a passion, more ludicrous than tender, in the hearts
of Lopez (Mr. H. Saker), the cavalier's squire, and
the widow's own-woman,

Miss Leclercg's acting in this little piece is
marked by singular grace, delicacy, and refinement.
Mr. Melville, too, is seen to good advantage in the
hero, but the effect of his performance is, as usual,
greatly impaired by his unhappy habit of per-
petually tossing about his arms, and waiving them
circularly in the air like the sails of a windmill.

It is due to Mr. Harris to add a word of praise
of the anise en scene, which is very beautiful.

CANTERBURY HALL.

To a gallery already rich in gems of art Mr.
Morton has lately added a number of paintings of
the most exquisite beauty, well calculated t• fur-
ther the great object he has in view, viz., the re-
finement of the taste of the industrious classes for the
fine arts. Amongst the new pictures adorning the
walls of the gallery are " The Lobster Catchers
off the Coast of Cornwall." by J. C. Hook,
A.R.A. (an admirable specimen of this ar-
tist); "The Red Gown," of H. M. Anthony (ex-
hibited at the Manchester Fine Arts Exhibition);
" The Cottage Door," by J. Linnell; " The Young
Gleaners," by Verheyden (who painted the fine
picture of " Coming Events cast their Shadows
before," in Mr. Morton's collection) ; "The Cook
turned Politician," by E. Frerc ; " The Foot Bath,"
a finished picture by Schlesinger ; a scene from
" Hamlet," representing Ophelia and Gertrude (a
fine specimen of the late Frank Stone) ; and "Pierre
Buonaventari and Bianca Capello," a picture re-
pt-educing a romantic incident in Venice in the
sixteenth century, painted by Muller. Of histori-
cal pictures there are four exquisite paintings re-
presenting stages in the Battle of Cape St. Vin-
cent, by Anderson; and a newly painted picture
of the Battle of Trafalgar, by W. J. Knell. A
colossal picture, depicting the scene of one of the
great inundations in France, grandly conceived,
and as ably executed, by the French artist Antigna,
occupies a large portion of one end of the gallery.
While the enterprising proprietor's attention
has been given to the enrichment of his picture
gallery, he has not been idle in his search for talent
in the sister art—music. The latest engagement
entered into by him is with Mr. Henry Herbert, a
gentleman possessing a tenor voice of the greatest
purity and freshness. Unlike many of his prede-
cessors Mr. Herbert's voice has not been spoiled by
over work or over taxation, and new as he is to the
metropolis, in a few months he will take his place
among the leading artistes of the day.
A II

USBANI) FOR PRINCESS ALICE.—The Brus-
sels correspondent of the A,i.sterrlamsehe Cortrant states
that King Leopold, as uncle of Queeu Victoria, has received
an official communication of the projected marriage between
the Prince of Orange and the Princess Alice. The King of
the Belgians is said to have invited the Prince to visit
Brussels, when returning to Holland.
THE RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P.—
We arc happy to state that Mr. Gladstone was so far reco-
vered from his severe indisposition as to be able to take a
carriage airing yesterday afternoon. The right hon. gentle-
man remains rather weak from his illness, but up to last
evening it was hoped that ho would be capable to make his
financial strtteutoilt in the Ifot6o of ConAuions to-morrow.