The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-31 00:00:00

STRAND TR HAZIZB.

The long and highly successful run of " Joan of
Are " terminated on Saturday evening, and, in its
place, Mr. Byron's burlesque, " The Pilgrim of
Love," was revived and performed for the first time.
The extravaganza is, probably, one of Mr. Byron's
best, though early productions, and last night it was
received with as much favour and applause as it was
when first performed at the Haymarket Theatre
nearly ten years ago. Miss Robertha Erskine, a
lady new to the Strand Theatre, appeared
as Prince Uhmed, and gave the tripping couplets,
with which the part abounds, with such point
and spirit as to call forth the loudest
applause. Miss Kate Newton, also a new engage-
ment, made a lively and loquacious Parrot, and
Mr. Edward Terry represented the King of Toledo
with great fun and humour. The tutor, Ebben
Bonabben, was sustained by Mr 11. J. Turner,
and Princess Aldegonda by Miss Fosbrooke, both
of whom supported their parts excellently. The
text of the extravaganza has been altered to suit
the present day, and a number of popular ditties
introduced, which gave a freshness to it that was
much enjoyed by the audience. The dresses and
scenery are of the most chaste and, elegant deicrip-
tion, and under such circumstances it is no wonder
that the revival gave the greatest pleasure to the
audience. Mr. J. S. Clarke Is becoming quite at
homein " amongst the Break era" and the" Toodles,"
and, taken as a whole, the entertainments at this
favourite theatre were never more amusing than
they are at the present time.

DINNEI?. TO THE INTERNATIONAL

UNIVERSITY CREWS

The competitors in the boat race between the 'Univers-
ties of Harvard and Oxford were entertained, on Monday
)vening, at the Crystal Palace, by the London Bowing Club.
Upwards of a hundred gentlemen sat down, the room
Icing gaily decorated by flags and other devices
uitable to the occasion, and the chair being occupied
)y Mr. James Layton, President of the Club. On his
Sight were Messrs. Simmons (Harvard Boat Club) Mr.
Charles Dickens, Fay (H.8.C.), Sir James Anderson (cap-
.ain of the Great Eastern steamship), Mr. Blaikie (secretary
)1 the H.8.C.), &c. On the chairman's left were Messrs.
Willan (0.U.8.C.), Lyman and Burnham (H.8.C.),
Ur. T. Hughes., M.P., Sir Aubrey Paul, and Messrs.
Bass and Bice, who occupied seats in the Harvard crew
vhcn they first came over to England. After the dinner
.he guests left for some little time to witness the display
-)f fireworks prepared for the occasion, among which set
,ieees in honour of the crews were received with much
acclamation. Harvard, in crimson letters, being the first
•et piece to the right, and Oxford, in dark blue, to the left,
each being surrounded by a wreath with crossed oars un-
lerneath.
On returning to the dinner table the customary healths
f the Queen and "loyal Family were proposed by the
chairman, succeeded by that of the President of the
United States, both being received with considerable
Ithusiasm.

Mr. CHARLES DICKENS (who was ITCuil7O(l with loud
and hearty cheers) said—Gentlemen, flushed with fire-
works, I can warrant myself to you as about to imitato
those gorgeous illusions by making a brief spurt and then
dying out. (Laughter.) And, first of all, as an invited
visitor of the London Rowing Club to this most interest-
ing occasion, I will beg, in the name of the other in-
vited visitors present—always excepting the distinguished
guests who are the cause of our meeting—to thank the
president for the modesty and tho courtesy with which
he has deputed to one of us the most agreeable part of his
evening's duty. It is the more graceful in him to do this

because he can hardly fail to see that ho might very

easily do it himself, as this is a case of all others in
which it is according to good taste and the very prin-

ciples of things that the great social vice of speech-
making should hide its diminished bead before the great
social virtue, action. (Loud cheers.) However, there is

an ancient story, of a lady who threw her glove into
an arena full of wild beasts to tempt her attendant
lover to climb down and reclaim it. The lover, rightly
inferring from the action the worth of the lady, risked
his life for the glove, and then threw it lightly in her face
as a token of his eternal adieu. (Laughter.) I take up
the President's glove, on the contrary, as a proof of his

much higher worth, and of my real interest in the cause
in which it was thrown down, and I now profess my
readiness to do even injustice to the duty which he has
assigned me. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, a very remarkable
and affecting volume was published in the United States
within a short time before my last visit to that hospitable
land, containing 95 biographies of young men, foe the most
part well born and well nurtured, and trained in various
peaceful pursuits of life, who, when the flag of their
country waved them from those quiet paths in which they
wore seeking distinction of various kinds, took arms in

the dread civil war which elicited so much bravery on
both sides, and died in the defence of their country.
(Cheers.) These great spirits displayed extraordinary

aptitudo in the acquisition, even in the invention, of mili-
tary tactics, in the combining and commanding of great

masses of men, in surprising readiness of self-resource for
the general good, in humanely treating the sick and the
wounded, and in winning to themselves a very rare amount
of personal confidence and trust. (Cheers.) They had all
risen to be distinguished soldiers; theyhad all done deeds
of great heroism ; they had all combined with their valour
and self-devotion a serene cheerfulness, a quiet modesty,
and a truly Christian spirit ; and they had all been edu-
cated in ono school—Harvard University. (Loud and
prolonged cheering). Gentlemen, nothing was more
remarkable in these fine descendants of our forefathers
than the invincible determination with which they
fought against odds, and the undauntable spirit with which
they resisted defeat. I ask you, who will say, after last
Friday that Harvard University is less-true to herself
in peace than she was in war? (Immense cheering.) I
ask you, who will not recognise in her boat's crew the
leaven of her soldiers, and who does not feel that she has
❑ow a greater right than ever to be proud of her sons,
and take these sons to her breast when they return with
resounding acclamations. (Cheers.) It is related of the
Duke of Wellington that he once told a lady who foolishly
protested that she would like to see a great victory,
that there was only one thing worse than a great vic-

tory, and that was a great defeat. (Hear, hear.) But,
gentlemen, there is another sense in which to use the
term a great defeat. Such is the defeat of a handful
of dating fellows who make a preliminary dash of three
or four thousand stormy miles to meet great conquerors
on their own domain—(cheers)—who do not want the
stimulus of friends and home, but who sufficiently hear
and feel their own dear land in the shouts and cheers of
another—(renewed cheers) and who strive to the last
with a desperate tenacity that makes the beating of them
a new feather
.in tha proudest cap. (Great cheering.)
Gent!emen, you agree with me that such a defeat is
great, noble part of a manly, wholesome action ; and I say

hat it is la tho essence and life-lbod of sach a dcfetit

to become at last sure victory. ((fear, hear, and cheats.)
Now, gentlemen, you know perfectly well the toast I
am going to propose, and you know equally well'that in
thus glancing first towards our friends of the: white
stripes, 1 merely anticipate and respond to the instinctive
courtesy of Oxford towards our brothers from a dis-
tance—a courtesy extending, 1 hope, and Ido not doubt,
to any imaginable limits except allowing them to take

the first place in last Friday's match, if they could by
any human and honourable means be kept in . the
second. (Laughter.) I will not avail myself of the
opportunity provided for me by the absence of the greater
part of the Oxford crow—indeed, of all but ono, and that
its most modest and devoted member—(cheers)-1 will
not avail myself of the golden opportunity considerately
provided for mo to say a great deal in honour of the
Oxford crew. I know that the gentleman who attends
hero attends under unusual anxieties and difficulties,
and that if ho were less in earnest his filial affection
could not possibly allow him to bo here. (Hear,
hear.) It is therefore enough for me, gentlemen,
and enough for you, that I should say here, and
now, that wo all unite with one accord in regarding
the Oxford crew as the pride and flower of England—
_ . _ _

(loud cheers) -and that wo should consider it very weak
indeed to set anything shurt of England's very
best in opposit'on to, or competition with, America;
though it certainly must be confessed-1 am bound in
common justice and honour to admit it--it must be
confessed in disparagement of the Orford men, as I
heard a discontented gentleman remark last Friday
night, about ten o'clock, when ho was baiting a very
small horse in the Strand he was one of eleven with
pipes in a chaise cart—(laughter)-1 say it must bo
admitted, in disparagement of the Oxford men on the
authority of this gentleman, that they have woa so often
_ _

that they could afford to lose a little now, and that" They
ought to do it, but they won't." (Great laughter.) Gen-
tlemen, in drinking to both crews, and in offering the
poor testimony of our that ks in acknowledgment of the
gallant spectacle which they presented to countless thou-

sands last Friday, I am sure I express not only your feel-
ing, and my feeling, and the feeling of the Blue, but
also the feeling of the whole people of England, when I
cordially give them a welcome to our English waters and
English ground, and also bid them "God speed" in their
voyage home. (Prolonged cheers.) As the greater in-
cludes the less, and the sea holds the river, so I think it
is no very bold augury to predict that in the friendly con-
tests yet to come and to take place, and I hope, on both sides
of the Atlantic —(much cheering)—there are great river
triumphs fur Harvard University yet in store. (Cheers.)..
Gentlemen, I warn the English rortion of this audience
that these are very dangerous men. (Laughter and cheers.)
Remember that it was an undergraduate of Harvard Uni-
versity who served as a common seaman two years before
the mast, and who wrote about the best sea book in the
English tongue. (Cheers.) Remember that it was one
of those young American gentlemen who sailed his mite
of a yacht across tho Atlantic in mid-winter, and who
sailed in her to sink or swim with the men who believed
in him.

(Hoar, hear.) And now, gentlemen, in con-
clusion, animated by your cordial acquiescence, I will
take upon myself to assure our brothers from a
distance that tho utmost outhusiasm with which they
can be received on their return home will find a ready echo

overy corner of England—(enthusiastic clieers)—and
'urther, that none of their immediate countrymen—l use

the qualifying term immediate, for we are, as our president
said, fellow countrymen, thank God—(cheers;—that none
of their compatriots who saw, or who will road of, what
they did in this great race, can bo more thoroughly im-
bued with a sense of their indomitable courage and • their
high deserts than are their rivals and their hosts to-night.
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) Gentlemen, 1 beg to propose to
you to drink the crews of Harvard and Oxford University,
and I beg to couple with that toast the names of Mr. Sim-
mons and Mr. Willan. (Cunt inued cheering.)

Mr. SIMMONS, who was received with prolonged cheer-
expressed his best thanks, on behalf of the crew as
well as himself, for the honour clone them, and for the
kindness of the London Rowing Club, whose members
bad all vied with one another to advise and helleithe
Americans in every possible way. The Harvard men
came over under considerable difficulties, such as those of
change of climate, different water, and different boats and
steering. He trusted that if another crew tame over to
meet Oxford the results of the experience of those who
had gone before them would not not be unserviceable.
He had formed one of the unsuccessful crew, but from
what he had seen of English oaremen and F,nglish rowing,
he felt that it was no disgrace to be beaten by the Oxford
erew.

Mr. F. WILLAN next rose and apologised for the absence
uf the other members of the winning crew, who, he said,
all lived far away from London, and had to keep long-
itauding engagements, lio.. had rowed. he said, many

hard races from Putney to Morttake,-but none so -Clara as
the match of Friday. He complimented the Thine!!
Conservancy and their executive officer, Mr. Lord, upon
their successful endeavours to prccure a clear course for
the crews, and he considered it a matter of congratula-
tion that no unforeseen evil had occurred, either by
accident or design, to mar the race. The best thanks
of the Oxford men were, he also observed, due to Messrs.
Warre and Morrison for their unceasing efforts to improve
he crew in their rowing and in their physical condition;
.00th gentlemen had watched over the crew with fatherly
,:.are, and without them they would have made but an
indifferent figure.

Mr. THOMAS HUGHES next proposed " The Health of
the Members and rregident of the London Rowing Club,"
to which Mr. LAYTON replied, when

Mr. IL IL PLATFORD proposed the toast of "The
Visitors," and availed himself of the opportunity afforded
him to offer a little advice to the Harvard crew. It was
that in future they should secure the services of an effi-
cient coach to look after them, instead of trusting to
themselves or to the teaching of one of their own crew, in
which respect they might take example from the Oxford
men.
The company shortly afterwards broke up,