The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JULY 15, 1867.

SPITHEAD GRAND NAVAL REVIEW:
EXCURSIONS ROUND THE FLEET.

The Elegant and Original Saloon Steamship ALEX-
ANDRA, 249 feet long, and 141 horse-power, expressly
brought round from London for this occasion, will embark
Passengers on TUESDAY, the 16th July, at frequent in-
tervals, for Excursions round tho Fleet ; and on WED-
NESDAY, the 17,11, will convey a limited number of
First-class Passengers to witness the whole of the Review.

TIME TABLE.
TUESDAY, 16th July.—Excursions round the Fleet leave
Portsmouth at 9 n.m., 12 noon, and 3p.m., calling at Ryde
and Cowes each journey.
WEDNESDAY, 17th July.—The DAY OF TETE GRAND
REVIEW, leaves COWES at 9 a.m. ; RYDE, 9.45 ;
SOUTHSEA (Portsmouth), at 10.30 a.m. Accompanying
the Fleet, and witnessing the whole of the evolutions of
the Grand Naval Review throughout the day, and arriving
at Portsmouth in time for the Return Trip to witness the
GRAND ILLUMINATION OF THE FLEET at night.
The Illustrated News thus speaks of the magnificent
steamship Alexandra :—" The deck saloons, formed upon
the plan of the hurricane deck known in America, consti-
tute the great novelty. . . . . This is considered a great
advantage to the present steamship. Her burden is 157.29
tons, and, being flat-bottomed, her draught of water is
scarcely four feet, enabling her, therefore, to carry the
weight of a deck saloon, &c. .. . . Her horse-power is
calculated at 140. . . . She is capable of travelling at the
rate of 20 miles an hour. . . . She is calculated to carry
1,048 passengers, and these can be so distributedthat there
need be no fear of ' overcrowding.'"
Fare for the Review, 21s. No luggage allowed. First-
class refreshments can be had on board. The ship's brass
band will perform popular airs throughout the day.
Tickets may be had of Mr. Griffin, Portsea ; Mr. Char-
pentier, stationer, Portsmouth; at the Southsea Pier; and
Messrs. Gibbs, Ryde, I.W.

EUROPEAN ASSURANCE SOCIETY.
Empowered by Special Act of Parliament.
CHAutmAN— Gen. Sir FREDERIC SMITH, K.11.,F.R.5.

Policies payable during life, indisputable, not liable to
forfeiture.

The ROYAL NAVAL, MILITARY, and EAST
INDIA Life Department, affording peculiar advantages to
Officers and others in the Navy and Army, is under the
especial patronage of
HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY THE QUEEN.
The Report of the European Assurance Society for the
year ending 1866, presented to the Ordinary General
Meeting, held June Ist, 1867, stated that—
The Premiums on the new Life and Gua-

rantee Policies issued during the year
amount to
In the Fire Department, the Premiums on
new business amount to £20,842 11 1
Total Premiums on the new business of
the year £63,593 4 6
The gross amount received in Premiums
during the year was £349,143 0 7
The Life, Fire, and Guarantee Claimspaid -
during the year were, including Bonus
additions £262,089 14 8
The highly satisfactory progress of the new business will
be seen by a comparison of the new business effected
during the past nine years—namely, from 1858 to 1866,
taken in triennial periods.
New Premium Income in 1858, 1859, 1860—X76,000,
being at the rate of £25,000 per annum; ditto in 1861,
1862, 1863—X117,000, being at the rate of £39,000 per
annum; ditto in 1864, 1865, 1866—£171,000, being at the
rate of £57,000.
While the New Premium Income, for 1866 alone,
amounted to £63,593.
The progress of the Society's Premium Revenue con-
tinues satisfactory, it having now reached, in 1866, the
sum of £349,143, as against £310,623 in 1865.
Life, Fire, Guarantee, and Annuities at advantageous
rates.

The EUROPEAN is the only Society authorised by the
Imperial Parliament to Guarantee the Fidelity of Govern-
ment Officials.

Full particulars of the popular principles of this Society
will be found in the New Prospectus, which will be for-
warded to applicants, post free.
Offices —316, Regent-street ; 17, Waterloo-place, Pall-
mall; and 69, King William-street, City.
HENRY LAKE, Manager.

TEE T H. —Messrs. C- A B R I E L.
(ESTABLISHED 1815).
NEW PAMPHLET, FREE BY POST FOR FOUR STAMPS,
Explaining the Painless System of Dentistry, and
self-adhesive Teeth without springs,
AT MODERATE CHARGES.
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*** 56, Harley-street, Cavendish-square, 1 London*
*** 134, Duke-street, Liverpool.

SWIM 211ING.

first event was in grand style by Mr. Davis, who killed all
his birds, and the second was tied for and divided between
Mr. Di:lwyn and Mr. Monk. Captain Nesbett carried off
the third sweepstakes, and Captain N. Burnand and Mr.
Gregory shared the fourth. Mr. Davis and Captain Nos-
bett cut up the fifth, and the sixth and seven sweepstakes
were won in gallant styleiLy Captain A. Burnand. The
eighth`was cleverly carrie4 off by Capt. N. Burnand. Mr.
Monk obtained the ninth.: Mr. Davis and Captain Nesbett
divided the tenth, and Mr. Uillwyn, who shot admirably,
won the eleventh and final sweepstakes. The rain, which
fell heavily during the last sweepstakes, put a regular
stepper on the amusements, which terminated much
earlier than usual. The winners went back a yard in each
handicap.

We aro requested to state that in consequence of the im-
mense number of gentlemen intending to shoot in the
great handicap on Thursday next at these grounds, Offer,
who supplies the birds, has received orders to be on the
ground at twelve o'clock with 100 dozen of his best blue
rocks.

Dramatic Fete and Fancy Fair.

That it is good to be merry and wise, as well as,
to be honest and true, may be remembered among
the wholesome recommendations of a certain old
ballad, which conveniently set forth in a lyrical
form a curiously concise code of morals. The song
may have exerted through successive generations a
direct beneficial influence over the hearts of its
hearers quite sufficient to justify the oft-quoted re-
mark of Fletcher of Saltoun ; but wh itever effect
it may have had in the past, there can be no doubt
the sentiment was felt in its fullest force at the
Crystal Palace on Satialay. Neither better merri-
ment nor more profound wisdom could easily be dis -
covered in conjunction than at the annual fete and
fancy fair, which remind so many thousands at
Sydenham of the existence of the Royal Dramatic
College at Maybury. Prudence, under the mask of
Fun, has already invited many to listen to her sug-
gestions
who would otherwise shrink from the
grave utterance of a formal lecture on the vicissi-
tudes of Fortune, and we have long since found out
that charityis not the less a dignified cardinal virtue
for occasionally donning the cap and bells, and em-
broideiing the white robe with motley devices.
When actors and actresses assemble at the Crystal
Palace to augment the fund they have raised in
maintenance of the asylum for their less prosperous
brethren and sisters, they work with a will to
lighten even other hearts than those of the aged
and infirm inmates of the Dramatic College. Dull
must he be of soul who could have passed by any
of the " shows" of Saturday without feeling more
buoyant in spirits for their contemplation. That
a closer intimacy with the wonders on view gene-
rally led to the further removal of all weight
about the region of the pocket only further testified
to the force of the agency employed. There is a
supply of amusement provided on these occasions
which ought to satisfy the most eager appetite for
mirth, and, to do the public justice, they evince a
relish even of a feast which is found occasionally to
partake of a Barmecidal character, that always
shows a kindly determination to make the most of
the good feeling with which the entertainment is
given. Many counteracting influences on Saturday
drew a large number of the usual supporters of the
fete away in other directions ; but as if the grand
law of compensation operated to make amends for
the deficiency, the Thespian festival was on this
occasion honoured by the presence of an illustrious
visitor, who will have to be recognised in the
sentence which records the profits of the day as a
noun of multitude signifying many. At an early
period reports were circulated that the Viceroy of
Egypt was likely to attend the Dramatic College
Fete, and his arrival was awaited with considerable
eagerness. Soon after fuur o'clock his Highness
entered the building, accompanied by their
Excellencies Raghib Pasha, Minister of Foreign
Affairs; Telaat Pasha, Chief of his Highness's
Council ; General Seymour, Colonel Stainton, and
Mr. Larkin. The Viceroy was received at the
central transept entrance by Mr. lonides and the
other directors and chief officers of the company,
who then conducted his Highness through the
Egyptian and Roman corridors, across the nave by
the Renaissance and Italian Courts, to the open
balcony communicating with the Royal box, which
was specially prepared for the reception of the
Prince of Wales on the occasion of the late festival
in aid of the Restoration Fund. The Viceroy
gazed with evident delight on the thoroughly
English landscape which was before him, and the
upper series of fountains being brought into play
the grounds of the Palace were presented under
their most effective aspect. From the Royal box
the Viceroy then surveyed the busy scene which
was being enacted in the central transept,
and the surging movements of the throng,
the tasteful appearance of the stalls with
their fair occupants, the clamorous invitations
of the managers of the various shows, and the
zeal with which all the " entertainers" were en-
gaged in their various departments produced a
visible impression on the distinguished spectator.
The interest which his Highness took in the fete
was increased by au explanation of the object for
which it had been organised, and with a munifi-
cence which will be long gratefully remembered,
the Viceroy added to the funds of the Royal Dra-
matic College the sum of five hundred pounds,
giving at the same time another donation of five
hundred pounds to assist in restoring that portion
of the Crystal Palace destroyed by the late fire. It
scarcely needed a knowledge of his Highness's gene-
rosity to increase the enthusiasm ofithe assemblage.
They had previously greeted the Viceroy after a
truly English fashion, but on these facts becoming
known the acclamations which resounded from
every part of the building were naturally intensified,
and as each successive announcement of the princely
gift was made to the audience at the different ex-
hibitions, it became the signal for a series of pro-
longed and often renewed cheers. llis Highness
and suite left the Palace at half past five.
The general arrangements of the fete differed in
no essential respect from the plan adopted in past
years, which had its justification in the belief that
by no other mode could so large a sum for the Col-
lege be raised in so short a time, and with so much
amusement to the public. For many more than the
16,000 visitors there was, indeed, no lack of amuse-
ment provided, even if they pursued the unprofit-
able course of passing from end to end of the nave,
without deigning to enter one of the many alluring
exhibitions ranged along the sides. Among these
temporary edifices the usual prominent place was
noicfhathrdessotraig'se,
Show," where that
esteemedwassasi
found his old post as money-taker;
Mr. Robert Keeley,
assigned
s atjeldi
to veteran tbo e'
thus giving a countenance always secure of respectful
recognition to this counterfeit presentment of the
famous booth fraught with recollections of Green-
wich and Bartlemy. To those old enough to
remember the kind of theatrical entertainment then
enjoyed with such zest, and got through with such
rapidity, the mimic representation of the Richard-
sonian drama must have afforded intense delight.
The parade, with its motley throng of hirsute ban-
dits and buff-booted cavaliers, perpetually engaged
in broad-sword combats, its dense population of pan-
tomimic personages, its indispensable clown, and its
traditionary countryman, were maintained through-
out the day in a state of unflagging activity. If the
audiences who afterwards gathered within retired
with a somewhat confused notion of the plot of that
exciting melodrama, " The Rightful Heir; or, the
Ghost of the Hollow Beech Tree," their high ap-
preciation of the author and the actors was in no
degree affected by the circumstance. When the legi-
timate was essayed, Shakspere's "Richard the
'Third," reduced from five acts to five scenes, was
got through in as many minutes. It is no disparage-
ment to the tremendously tragic powers of Mr. J.
Clarke as the crook-backed king, or of the histrionic
abilities of Mr. J. G. Shore as Richmond, and Mr.
H. J. Montague as Catesby, to record that roars of
laughter followed every exit, and that when the
Ghost of King Henry appeared at the end In a blaze

of blue fire the spectral visitation excited only irreve-
rent mirth. It will in like manner not affect the repu-
t Ilion of Mr. J. Robins for courage to declare that
wl:en he appeared among the wild animals exhibited
in Wombwell's menagerie that his perilous position
created amusement rather than alarm, and if we also
aid that most of the statements made by the keeper
with regard to the natural history of the inmates of
the caravan were not implicitly believed, the strict
veracity of Mr. Addison beyond the canvas boun-
dary will still remain unimpugued. Should Mr. J.
L. Toole, who prefaced the performances of his
clever Japanese troupe by a lecture on Japan, be ac-
cused of affording the smallest amount of geographical
information, he may be accredited, on the other hand,
with enlightening his hearers on every other topic, and
atleast nothing could be more nationally characteris-
tic than the " happy despatch" with which he dis-
missed one audience to minister to the diversion of
another. Mr. and Mrs. Howard Paul had to con-
tend with the disadvantage of "an auditorium"
which allowed every sound to penetrate from with-
out, and permitted hardly anything to be beard
within ; but here, as in other places, it was pleasant
to find the imagination was kept in a healthy state
of activity. Mr. Buckstone zealously devoted him-
self to the encouragement of athletic pursuits,
though compelled through indisposition to remain
for only a short period ; and if those who took les-
sons under his guidance are not by this time stronger
of arm and lighter in purse, the fault rests not with
the liberal distributors of the prizes, nor with his
able assistants, Mr. Frank Matthews and Mr. 11.
Widdicotnb. To protect the professional ladies who
presided at the stalls from that excessive attention
which was found in preceding years more compli-
mentary to their attractions than profitable to the
institution, a light wooden railing fenced off the
crowd of mere gazers and left a commodious alley
open to all intending purchasers. Those who once
entered here might leave all hope behind of reach-
ing the further extremity of the avenue without at
least carrying about them a sufficient collection of
autographs and photographs to render the hand-
writing and the features of every notable personage
in the kingdom a matter of easy identification. Of
the earnestness with which the occupants of the
stalls and the providers of the various forms of
entertainment exerted themselves to promote the
cause in which they were collectively engaged evi-
dence was afforded at every turn. The visit of the
Viceroy may be remembered as the distinguishing
feature of this year's fete, but if not prominently
remarkable in other respects, it is worth noting that
the unflagging zeal and unabated activity of all
concerned in its management remain as conspicuous
as ever. If the funds of the Royal Dramatic Col-
lege are not materially augmented by the proceeds
of that popular fete and fancy fair which is to be
resumed this morning, there will be an excuse for
losing faith in the power of feminine persuasion,
denying the attractive influence of varied and amus-
ing entertainments, and being wholly sceptical as
to there being any advantage in the recommenda-
tion of a good cause.