The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-27 00:00:00

COVENT GARDEN.

In the olden days, when Covent Garden was ex-
cludvely an English theatre, its renown for pan-
tomime WaS great. Rich and Harris were names
of strength in the management for years before the
nimory of the present generation c.m reach. The
former, a harlequin by profession, though remem-
bered best by the met relating to the " Beggar's
Opera," which made " Rich Gay and Gay Rich,"
was great in pantomime, and so the old theatre con-
tained until, twenty years ago, when it was rebuilt,
interiorly, and turned into an Italian Opera-house,
for the seceding artists of her Majesty's Theatre,
Grisi, Mario, Costa, and their following; and thus,
deSpite the lamentable smash of its first proprietor,
Mr. Delatield, it remained. The new opera-house
which arose upon its ashes has, however, been the
home of English opera, under Pyne and Harrison,
as well as Italian, and has had its winter. dramatic
season for our home-born holiday folk, great and
little, and long may it remain so.
Last evening, after the laughable farce of " The
Goose with the Golden Eggs," the grand Christmas
Pantomime was produced. The book is by Mr.

Gilbert A'Beekett ; the scenery by Matt. Morgan,
Hawes Craven, and Messrs. Pitt, Willey, and
Cuthbert ; the music by Mr. Betjeman ; and the
stage arrangements by Mr. Augustus Harris. Of
the plot it is first "our cue to speak," and, so far
as we understand it, it is after this wise :—Black
Diamond, the Coal King (Mr. Lingbam) seated
upon his throne, and appropriately surrounded by
blackguards, opens the burlesque by drinking a
health to his lady-love, Brilliantina. While dwel-
ling on his passion for the Diamond Queen he
receives a telegram from his old friend the Baron,
who, worried to death by his troublesome nephew
and niece, thus asks his advice. Black Diamond
replies, and has no sooner despatched the mes-
sage than his guards, who have been on the look
out for her, announce that they have captured
Brilliantina (Miss Florence Eveleigh), Black
Diamond threatens her with his vengeance, when
she, artfully feigning affection for him, suddenly
snatches him from his charmed sceptre, and
transports him forthwith to her own palace in the
regions of the White Diamond. The Baron (Mr.
W. H. Payne) has been undergoing an unusual
amount of annoyance at the hands of his two
little charges—the two babes, Milendo (Mr. Fred.
Payne) and Primrosehilina (Mr. J. Clarke) —who
devote the whole of their day to the destruction
of the china, glass, furniture, and perishable
property belonging to their uncle. Maid Marian
(Miss Maria Harris), their nurse, does her best to
defend them, but in vain, and affairs are brought
to a crisis by the arrival of Black Diamond's
telegram, recommending the Baron to summon
his Villain (Mr. J. D. Stoyle) and get him to
" spiflicate" the children in the wood. The fearful
purport of this message is caught by Maid Marian,
who, threatening to call in the assistance of Robin
Hood, is thrown into a dungeon by the order of the
Baron. Freed from the nurse he sends for his
creature, the Villain, a bargain is soon struck—the
children are fetched, and overcome, notwithstanding
the Villain's unprepossessing appearance, by the
attractions of some sugar-sticks, and induced to
accompany him for a walk in the wood. Robin
Hood (Miss Amy Sheridan), with Little John
(Miss M. Marshall), Will Scarlett (Miss Nelly
Harris), and the Merry Men happen to be holding
a pie-nic in the forest. Marian arrives, and an-
nounces the danger that is hanging over the babes.
All determine to capture the Baron, and depart in
search of him. The Villain at length reaches a
secluded spot with the children, and is about to de-
spatch them, when their tears move him, and he
abandons his guilty design. The Baron, however,
who has been suspecting something wrong, and
watching, intervenes, when a fight ensues, in which
the Villain is worsted, and the defenceless babes are
left to their fate. Making up their bed of leaves,
they are about to terminate their career in the usual
manner when Brilliantina appears and sends the
Robins to their assistance. Instead of burying the
birds arouse them, and at length come in such num-
bers that the babes are struck with the idea of taking
them home to attack their uncle. For this pur-
pose they drill them, and all of them march off
toward the Castle. The Baron has in the mean-
time been caught by some of the Merry Men, and
and " ducked" in a neighbouring stream, while the
Villain, who has patched himself up with sticking
plaster, has been found by the others, whom he has
joined, after having promised to refurm his ways.
The Baron, having dragged himself home, goes to
bed with a severe cold. Here he is tortured by his
nephew, his conscience, and the cat, and is at
length aroused by the news that the castle is
attacked on all sides. Eager for the fray, he puts
on his armour, flies to the battlements, where a
desperate struggle of all concerned ensues, leading
to the mutual intervention of Black Diamond and
Brilliantina, and an adjournment to the transfor-
, mation.

We shall not pass sentence on Mr. A'Beckett's
libretto until we have seen what can be done with
it in the way of pruning, for, like most young
writers, lie has written a great deal more than is
North learning or repealing, and if worth both
more than any judicious audience can endure. Th
result of this, and somewhat too much made of a
bedroom scene of the Baron, and a rumpus with
the servants of the grotesque household, delayed
the transformation scene beyond eleven o'clock,
and gave to the introduction much clown's work
that was due to the harlequinade. That the pretty
actresses, Mesdames Maria llarris, Amy Sheridan,
Polly Marshall, and Nelly Harris, with the Merry
Men (of the corps de ballet) of Sherwood Forest,
did not console us for the length of the introduc-
tion it would be uncandid to deny. Still, people
who go to see a pantomime have some fixed ideas,
and do expect a fair half to be given to redhot
pokers, petty larceny, assault, battery, and murder,
with the other recreations to which Punch and the
Clown have a prescriptive right. A word, however,
of the scenery. He who does not see Matt. Morgan's
" Realms of the White Diamond" and " The Fleet-
ing Seasons" has lost a standard of comparison in
the merits of scene-painting. Another delicious bit
of built-up forrest is " The Merry Greenwood," in
which Robin Hood and his pretty men pie-nic. On
its disclosure a general call for the artist was
answered by the manager, who stated that Mr.
Hawes Craven was not in the house. The transfor-
mation scene is a coruscation of changing splen-
dours, in which the art of colour-blending brilliancy
of reflection, and the aids of machinery, dresses,
and the most statuesque positions of graceful
female forms are tceated with a happy combination
that approaches our idea of the perfection of stage
spectacle.
Description is futile, and nothing but a visit and
an attentive admiration ca❑ convey a true idea of
its splendour and taste. Of the actors in the in-
troduction, Messrs. Payne were, as they are well
known to be, nulli secundus in pantomime. Mr.
J. D. Stoyle sang and acted capitally as the Vil-
lain ; he was to the very Coburg manner bred and
born ; his sword fight with the Baron (Mr. AV. H.
Payne) embodied all the old glories of the days of
Bradley and Blanchard, Hicks and Cathcart, when
" grand combats" filled the transportine theatres
nightly.
Of the harlequinade we can say that what there
was of it was good, and smartly played by the
Harlequin, Mr. F. Payne ; Columbine, Mdlle Esta;
Clown, Mr. Harry Payne ; and Pantaloon, Mr.
Paul Herring. The events of the year and the
follies of the fashions were satirised in the usual
way, and the pantomime succeeded in giving gene-
ral satisfaction ; though the dense fog during the
evening had so cleared the streets of conveyances,
that we fear many of the visitors must have been
compelled to resort to the most primitive method of
reaching home.