The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-13 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—ln the narratives of the destruction of this theatre,
seine inaccuracies, calculated to mislead the public, and to
do little credit to my work of the late Revel Opera house,
having now had a press-wide circulation, make it incum-
bent on me to beg of you, in common justice, to insert a
few facts by way of correction.
The statement that the building was " remodelled" by
me, " and converted into an opera house," does not fairly
describe my part in it, which, as rest acts the sudienoe
part within the main walls, and from the foundation to
the roof, to say nothing of the extensive alterations and
numerous additions and improvements in entrances, new
staircases, saloons, hall, offices, Ice., it seems ought to be con-
sidered quite a new structure. I obtained possession of the
promisee on Dec. 1, 1846. In the emirs° of the first five
weeks the whole of the interior of the audience part, from
the roof to the foundation of the vaults, was taken downy
and the proscenium wall cut from top to bottom tee widen
it, and a new foundation laid; and this, net for the
audience merely, but under the western side of the stage,
and two new fire-proof staircases. The new foundations
were laid about 20 feet under the level of Bow-street, on.
Yorkshire stone landings (and not upon tit:Jibe-, as in
the ceso of the old main wall), on which three rows of
walls and vaults in two tiers were built under . the pit
corridor box and corridor of the pit tiers, to make this
part fire-proof. On the two nearest the main walls rested
the five tiers of eastdtou colninue supporting the six tiers
of boxes, and the two main tire-proof staircases built for
the safety of the audience, ascending from the Bow-street
level up to the highest tier of boxes, with two fire mains,
Scc ,in each tier, as a precaution azeinst fire. Beside*
which, to the box chosen by her Majesty and the BOyal
family, private and state apartments were built fire-proof,
with staircase entrance and a portico for alighting nader
cover, to say nothing of the saloons, grand staircese,:pit
and box-office, and entrance in Bow-street, the whole built
in the most workman-like retuner, as certified at the time
by the metropolitan official refei ee. The audience pirt,
which was thus placed on new foundations, increased from
three tiers to six, rebuilt, painted, decorated, fitted witi
every attention to the public comfort. was opened as the
Royal Italian Opera House, on the Gth April, 1117, in
which the whole press concurred. May I not, therefore,
fairly ask, 4f works of such magnitude, se elaborate in
d- tail, and which were carried on night and day by relays
of three sets of men, under my incessant personal superin-
tendence, and executed in so short a time, can be accu-
rately described as " rernedolled" or " converted," or too
expensive for the cost really incurred and herewith men,
tioned
The published statements as to the cost of my works
have been very erroneous, varying as they do from 46,0001.
to 75,0007.
The whole of the cost of the works of building, peintiog,
ke., was under 23,00)1. ; besides this sum 4,0001. were ex-
pended for fixtures, chandelier (which I had converted
from the old one at the trifling expense of 3507.), gas-fit-
tings, looking-glacece, carpeting, and furnishing most gor-
geously her Majesty's apartments, boxes, saloons, artistes'
rooms, &c. As to the most prattle expenditure, justly
commented on by the press, it was incurred by the direc-
tors in mounting the many operas and ballets produced in
that season with an extraordinary expense, in which I book
no cart at all. The insinuation that " bond timber" seems
to have been introduced, or left in the walls at the last al-
teretions to agreater extent than was "supposed," demands
a flat contradiction ; as I not only did not insert es single
inch of bond timber, but extracted the whole tiers of bond
timber which had originally been insetted in the-mein
walls. So strongly did Ifeel on this point that I considered
it to be a duty to give the profession the benefit of my ex-
perience on the (larger of using this material. I addressed.
a paper to the Institution of Civil Engineers, with a
drawing of the mein wall as constructed, and specimen of
the bond timber, which was read at ono of the meetings
in May, last, 1847, of which I beg to extract a few lines.
I stated that the bond timber had failed, and that in
takinie down the old vaults, at 13 feet from the founda-
tion, I found a tier of Memel bond timber 12 feet by 6 had
been introduced in the main walls, all round which, exter-
nally, appeared merely to have shrunk, but on examina-
tion proved to be not only useless, but perfectly decayed ;
of this there were five tiers up to the level of the ceiling,
the whole of which, amounting to above 2000 ft., I directed
to be removed in small lengths, as the week programed, anti
filled up with brick and Roman cement to cenaolidate the
wall. I found also that the timber lintels above the doors
were rotten, and I had recourse to York stone lintels ; fiat
arches with relieving arches above theta were necessary,
which was a work of great extra labour and expense. I may
add, to strengthen the work, and as a preesution enlist
fire, as far as practicable, I introduced in its construction
above 2,000 cwt. of cast and wrought iron.
I have to apologise for intruding with these dry details;
however trivial they may seem to the general reader, they
are of great importance to a professional man who did his
duty, and who, in this his first appeal to the press, confi-
dently trusts to obtain justice at your hands.—l aa, sirs
/cc., B. ALBANO, C.E.
22, King William-street, March 11.

On© of the little Aztecs lately exhibited at Paris,
Theodore, aged 14, has just died at Berlin from au at-
tack of fever.
SUICIDE OF A LICE MANUFACTUMEIL—Yesterdy AA
inquest was held at Manchester, before E. Herford,
Esq., coroner, on the body of a young gentleman named
W. A. Webster, of the firm of Messrs. Taylor and Web-
ster, silk lace Manufacturers, aged 21 years, who had
committed suicide on the previous day by taking pruesin
acid. It appeared that the deceased had before medi .
tated suicide, having once taken a dose of opium, which
was inoperative, and afterwards having procured prussic
acid, which, in consequence of a knowledge of his inten-
tion having been suspected by his friends, threw away.
On Tuesday, however, he took a person with hitn from
the mill to a druggist's shop, and procured more prussic'
acid, on the assurance from himself and his companion
that the poison was wanted to destroy a dog.
He took the poison soon afterwards, and though a
surgeon arrived before death his - life could not
be saved. It was stated by his relatives at the in-
quest that he had suffered severe iejnries of the head
when young, and had been subject to temporary
fits of insanity. The jury accordingly returned a verdict
to the effect that be destroyed himself in a fit of ten3po..
• rary