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

'MIR (\IN
fr_ •

SUN OFFICE, 7 o'CLoor.

SPORTING INTEL LIGENOE—This Day.

EALING RACES—Tms DAT.
(Br ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
SELLING HANDICAP.

Leotard .
Baverley

1

Seven ran.
HUNTERS' STAKES.

Laurence
Meerschaum

Kingfisher . 3

Seven rae.
TOWN PLATE.

Helice
Toni Coke
klopvine
Seven ran.
GRAND EALING HANDICAP.

Garus
Capt. Crosstree

A rie scot

Eight ran. Won by a neck.
MIDDLESEX HANDICAP.

The Guide 1
Garus

Nabocklish

Five ran. Won by half a length.
LOCAL CUP.

Harold 1

Caustic 2
Miss Franklin 3

Four ran.

LATEST CITY INTELLIGENCE.
. CITY, 4.30 P.M.

Since two o'clock there has been no change in the
value of the English Funds. Consols closed at 92j
for money and the account.
Foreign Stocks have shown less firmness. Italian
5 per Cents. have declined f, to 441 i ; Greek
Bonds to 12 12} ; Mexican Stock t, to 15a ;
and Turkish 5 per Cents. f, to 32i 33.
The annexed is from Messrs. Alexander Collie
and Co.'s Manchester Report :—Dnring yesterday
and to-day there has been even less disposition for
business than on Tuesday, and in the absence of
transactions the quotations then given are un-
changed.

The following are the latest current quotations of
same of the principal railway company shares :
Caledonians, 73 73k ; Great Eastern, 31f ; Great
Northern, 137 109 ; Great Western, 44 41k ; Lan-
cashire and Yorkshire, 1221 to 123 k ; Brighton,
49f 50}; 'Metropolitan, 1151 1164 ; Midland,
1021 1031 ; North-E tstern (Berwick), 98 99 ; and
South Eastern, GGI 67-41.

SOUTHAMPTON, Dec. 27.
The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
Ceylon passed the Needles at 2.10 p.m. to-day.

LONDON GAZETTE.-THIS EVENING.

FOREIGN OFFICE, DEC. 26.
The Queen has been pleased to approve of Don Adolfo
Rivadeneyra as Vice-Consul in the Island of Ceylon, to
reside at Colombo, for her Majesty the Queen of Spain.
The Queen has also been pleased to approve of Mr. 11.
Le Boutillier as Consul at Caspi Basin, Canada East, for
the United States of America.

COURSE OF EXCHANGE.--This Evening.

Amsterdam Short. 11 18
Ditto 3 Months. 12 01
•

11. 19
12 1
12 1
25 40
25 40
13 10
25 22±
_ _ .

12 Oi
2e. 35
25 35
13 91-
Short 25 121-
3 Months. 25 30

Rotterdam
Antwerp
Brussels
Hamburg
Paris
Ditto
tlarseilles
Frankfort on the Maine
ienni.
'Priest°
l'aersburg,ti
Berlin
Niadrid

25 35.

25 30
1201
12 4U
12 4U
Sli
6_261

25 35
120,1
12 45
12 45

Cadiz

Leghorn
Milan

Uenoa
Naples
Palermo

6 27

CHRISTMAS AMUSEMENTS.

DRURY-LANE.

A glorious holiday audience assembled last night
at " Old Drury." Long before the opening of the
doors the crowd of holiday makers congregated
before every one of the numerous entrances of the
theatre, was far beyond all former Boxing-nights,
and when the massive doors were thrown open,
had the occasion been the gratuitous distribution
of Bank of England notes, the crush to
obtain admission could not have been greater.
Within 10 minutes every available seat was occu-
pied, yet such was the intense anxiety of the out-
iiiders that, in spite of all remonstrance, they in-
siszed upon still paying for admission, in the hope
of securing even standing room. Those who ob-
tained even this very questionable comfort
felt content, as it was Christmas time,
and those who failed had nothing left but to re-
turn to the pay-box and there receive their money
back, which hundreds were compelled to do. The
appearance of the interior of the grand theatre,
crowded from floor to ceiling with laughing, jolly,
good-tempered people, is of itself a sight worth a
great deal of trouble to witness, as on no other
occasion than " Boxing-night" is a similar sight
to be seen. Everybody has come to see the
pantomime, and the farce that invariably precedes
it is merely looked upon as a breathing time for
the crowded and delighted audience, who are not
slow in passing their opinions aloud upon the merits
of the pedlar Inez s. The farce over, excitement reaches
its climax as Mr. Tully makes his way up the centre
of the orchestra to lead the overture. The bell
rings, three slight taps are heard of the musical
director's baton, and then the harmonious introduc-
tion to Mr. E. L. Blanchard's great pantomime for
1867 commences. The selection of music is of course
highly appropriate to the merry occasion, and
therefore it embraces most of the melodies that have
become popular during the year. Each air has its
admirers, but when the first few notes of the comic
song " Not for Joseph " is heard the whole
of the "gods" take up the strain, and join
the chorus with such hearty goodwill, as to
make the walls ling again with uproarious
delight. Cheer after cheer followed the close
of the jolly chorus, and an attempt was made to
obtain its repetition, but the many amongst the
gigantic audience were so anxious for the panto-
mime that the overture was allowed to pro-
ceed to its conclusion, and then up went the
curtain on the latest production of our
King of Pantomime writer 3, which is entitled,
" Faw Fee Fo Fum ; or, Harlequin Jack the
Giant Killer." First `,,we have a view of the
Giant's Causeway by moonlight, with a bevy of
Leprechauns with glowworm lamps, seeking the
four-leaved shamrock. They don't find it, how-
ever, but are alarmed by the coming of the Giants,
who have convened a "monster meeting" at this
appropriate spot. Here we have same clever phan-
tasmagoria of giants going to the meeting, and
finally the great gathering of the Irish giant, Brian
Boroihme ; the Greek giant, Mr. Titan ; the Chi-
nese giant, Mr. Chang ; the Syrian giant, Mr.
Anak ; with Messrs. Og, Gog, Magog, Polyphe-
mus, and other big-boned personages. For their
resolutions, which, with the Irish giant in the chair,
are of a most Fenian character, we must refer to
their debate as given in Mr. Blanchard's report of
the meeting. The alarmed Leprechauns turn in-
formers, and convey the particulars to the Fairy
Ondine (Miss Poole), of the Peerless Pool. Of
course this leads to a complication ; but, ad interim,
Miss Kate Harfleur as Nectarine, chief of the Fruit
Fairies, makes some pretty speeches, in a very
pretty dress, to a crowd of very pretty fairies, in a
very pretty garden, and Miss Poole sings a very
pretty song, " I am a light, bright, water sprite," to
a very pretty tune, scored by J. IL Tully. After
all these pretty things, which young masters and
mises must go to see, we come to a clever change
of scene, wherein, by slidings horizontal and ver-
tical, and workings which a Yankee would describe
as" slantingdicular," the fairy gardens become a
village on the Cornish coast. The Duke of
Cornwall (Mr. Moreland), his daughter Adel-
githa (Miss Edith Stuart), with his knights,
returned from the Holy Land, appear, and Jack,
who seems to be " Nobody's Child," comes in flying
a kite. The giant Cormoran swims from St.
Michael's Mount, discomfits the Duke, carries off
his daughter, and the brave knights run away. Not
so Jack ; he pursues the giant, cuts off his head in
the sea, rescues the duke's daughter, and returns
in triumph to hear the triumphant distich—

" This is the valiant Cornish man,
Who slew the giant Cormoran !"

" The Logan Stone," on the road to St. Ives, is
the next scene. The man with seven wives, in
terror of a two-headed giant, comes in. Jack
drops Blunderbore, the Welsh giant, into a hole
" whence ships take ballast when they go to sea."
Here he receives the Sword of Sharpness, the Coat
of Darkness, and the Shoes of Swiftness, with
which his after-exploits are achieved. The in-
terior of Fee-Faw-Fo-Fum's Castle shows us the
three-headed giant at home, mourning the fate of
Blunderbore. The old legend of the log of wood
which Jack places in his bed to be pounded by the
Giant's club is represented, and finally, to the air
of " Not for Joseph," the log gets the clubbing in-
tended for the bones of Jack. Finally, Jack per-
suades the Giant to perform the hasty-pudding
trick, by taunting him to follow his example, and
the three-headed Giant falls a victim to his con-
queror. The battlements of the Giant's Castle, in
ruins, leads up to the " Fairy Boudoir, and Presen-
tation of the Bridal Gifts" of Jack and Adelgitha.
This, the great transformation scene, is one of the
most resplendent beauty and refined taste. The
sprays of the four-leaved shamrock open and dis-
close to view a palace of lacework, and drooping
orient pearls, in the centre of which is a gigantic
specimen of fairy jewelry, resplendent with glitter-
ing diamonds. Fays in sparkling attire flash out
the splendid prismatic rays of the rainbow, and
when to that is added the effect of emerald and
ruby-coloured fire and the electric light combined, a
scene of dazzling brilliancy is disclosed, altogether
eclipsing anything that has ever yet been produced
even by the renowned scenic artist Mr. Beverley. The
applause was tremendous, and before anything ap-
proaching silence could be procured the painter had
to bow his acknowledgments. The harlequinade now
commences with three sets of pautomimists :—Three
Harlequins (Messrs. J. Cormack, S. Saville, and
Alger), three Columbines (Mesdames Adele Marian,
Fanny Lauri, and F. Valckeneare), three Panta-
loons (Messrs. Barnes, J. Morris, and J. Rus-
sell), three Clowns (Messrs. H. Boleno, C. Lauri
and Tom Dot), and two Sprites (Messrs. Sidney
and Jelina).
Mr. Chatterton has, in this instance, as on all
other occasions, kept his word—he promised the
most gorgeous pantomime ever produced on the
boards of the theatre over which he presides ; and
anything more brilliant or splendid could not have
been imagined or invented. The entire audience
were pleased beyond measure, and the Christmas
annual for 1867 must be pronounced a great and
well-deserved, in fact, a gigantic success.