The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-16 00:00:00

Princess's Theatre.

Mr. Vining, last night, commenced his summer
season with the production of Shakspere's tragedy
of " Antony and Cleopatra." The success of Miss
Glyn's dramatic reading of the tragedy doubtless
led to thi3 arrangement, as that lady re-appeared on
the stage last night as the imperious Queen of
Egypt. The return of Miss Glyn to the stage is
an event which will be hailed with delight by a host
of playgoers, as no other actress of the pre-
sent day is possessed of such high qualifications
for embodying effectively the stately heroines of
the great Elizabethan dramatist. The character of
Cleopatra has evidently formed the subject of deep
study with Miss Glyn•—at her readings it was her
great success ; and her powerful rendering of the
character last night at this theatre called forth such
an enthusiastic recognition of her great talent that
it must be ranked as her finest dramatic impersona-

tion. In her portrait of the Egyptian Queen Miss
Glyn makes Cleopatra a reckless, loving, coquettish
woman, and a better interpretation of Shakspere's
incomparable creation could not by any possibility
have been given. The sudden transitions of feel-
ing are all well marked. At one moment we have
depicted intense enjoyment, at another unboundel
love, at another heroic resolve, and at another
coquetry and curiosity, almost amounting to
jealousy ; iu fact Miss Glyn grandly portrays every
feature of the imperious beauty who enslaved the
conquerors of the world by her blandishments and
power of fascination. her every movement in the
earlier scenes of the tragedy was marked by a
queenly majesty, her attitudes were full of grace
and her appearance was magnificent. In the last
scene her acting cache into marked contrast with the
preceding portion of it. There we had despair, de-
solation, and irresolution most powerfully depicted;
and, finally, the death of Cleopatra concludes one
of tLu finOQt dr9 m do r.p.-ceseri to tiaz4o 01,1. perlo/ Mod
on the metropolitan stage. Mr. 11. Loraine has
greatly improved since his appearance at Drury
Lane Theatre ; he evidently had made the part of
Antony one of deep study, and his performance of
it was such as to entitle him to unstinted
praise. Mr. C. Verner, as Enobarbus, acted with
discretion, but a little more taste infused into
the enchanting and voluptuous description of Cleo-
pstra reclining in her barge would have added
greatly to its effect as a whole. The mounting of
the tragedy is remarkable for splendour, and speak-
ing of the scenery, it exceeds in beauty almost
everything hitherto produced at the Princess's.
Everything that refinedthetapstreinacnedss,lsavpirsohgeraxnplemne-
diture could accomplish in the production of "An-
tony and Cleop•itra" has been performed, and it
will
laninost übnealsurprisingfor
if
months to come.

Anthropological Society.

--o- -

On Monday evening a meeting of this society
was held in their rooms in St. Martin's-place—Dr.
Charnock in the chair.
Mr. MACKENZIE exhibited some bronze imple-
ments which were reported to have been found in an
urn in making some excavations for the railway near I
Hammersmith. He said he would not vouch for their
authenticity, he only knew that they had been pur-
w2inenh very suspiciously-look-
was a dagger—there
p
n g pd
pur-
chased from one of the workmen. On investigation
off
thee
roarticles—one
r nthe
figures,
dace
foalOnd the general impression of
i primitive,ui
or f ot
u ra
the l
the meeting was that the implements were forgeries.
'The first paper read was " On the Sequence of the
Phases of Civilisation and Contemporaneous Imple-
ments," by Mr. IVESTROPP, who endeavoured to
show that the progress of the civilisation of man
in all ages and all parts of the world were similar,
and that as he must go through the various stages,
of infancy, childhood, youth, and manhood, so he
must go through the stages of flint, stone, bronze,
and
rn implements, accompanied by the stages
barbarous, hunting, pastoral, and
g This view of the successive pro-
gressdevelopment
of civilisation he consi-
dered assisted in proving a unity in the develop-
ment of man, and an analogy in the endowment of
his natural instincts, and of the suggestive prin-
ciples of all races. These opinions, which were sup-
ported by many illustrations, were combated by
Dr. Hunt, the Rev. Dunbar Heath, Mr. Blewett,
and other gentlemen, and the fact that the Mexi-
cans and North American Indians had no sheep,
and never led a pastoral life, was adduced to show
a break in the supposed sequence, in America at
least. In the course of the discussion the subject
of the domestication of animals was introduced, and
the effect it is supposed to have on their general
physical condition, especially sheep. Dr. Blewett
attributed the difference on the woolly and hairy
covering to the variations of climate, and contended
that the sheep now domesticated in Europe came
from Asia, for the wild sheep of the northern part
of the world were untameable.
__

A paper was then read by Mr. FISHER, on "The
Migrations of Man," in which he contended that the
northern nations, being the stronger and more en-
during, had generally subdued and taken possession
of the countries in the south. The reading of the
paper led to an animated discussion, which deviated
from the strict consideration of the paper into the
question of the right to the possession of laud, cn
which subject Mr. Fisher,
who is an Irishman, holds
extreme opinions. He said that from the reign of
Anne four millions of acres, which were common
laud, had been enclosed and converted into parks,
and that if that land had been divided among the
people there would have been no occasion for poor
laws for their support. Dr. Hyde Clarke denied
that the enclosure of . commons had produced the
effects alleged. Dr. Hunt alluded to the division
and appropriation of land in the Shetland Islands
as being most atrocious. Major Owen, Mr. Mac-
kenzie, and other gentlemen joined in the discus-
sion.
Th.° meeting then adjourned.

NG, MAY 16, 1867

L A TEST INTEL LICENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)