The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-14 00:00:00

THEATRE ROYAL LYCEUM.

Mr. Fechter as the Master of Ravenswood.

After a brilliant run of we don't at this moment
remember precisely how many weeks—in point of
fact, ever since the commencement of the present
season (a season, in truth, which this picturesque
and attractive dramatic version of Sir Walter
Scott's exquisitely pathetic romance of " The
Bride of Lammermoor," inaugurated, literally,
by a coup de theatre)—" The Master of Ravens-
wood " is announced as about to be imme-
diately withdrawn from the bills of the Theatre
Royal Lyceum. Another week, in effect, and it
will have disappeared—to give place on this very
day se'nnight to the grandest tragedy that
was ever penned—through the medium of which
incomparable masterpiece of dramatic art Charles
Fechter first won his fame amongst us as a tragic
and pathetic actor of refined genius, of rare gifts,
and of radiant accomplishments. Whenever under
Mr. Fechter's management " Hamlet, Prince of
Denmark," is thus announced for repetition—or
rather, we should say, for revival—it is always a
source of profound gratification to us, no matter
what may chance to be the impersonation of which
it necessitates the removal. With all our adini•
7,
ration for his " Ruy Blas"—the very " Ruy Blast'
of Victor Hugo!—with all our approciatiOn of the
airy and elastic grace of Mr. Fechter's "Don Cresar
de Bazan"—of the audacious devilry and dilapida-
_ .

tion of his "Robert Macaire"—of the tearful whim-
sicality of his "Belphegor"— of the haunting interest
excited by his portraiture of the hero of " The
Duke's Motto"—and of all the varied merits of his
other numerous histrionic impersonations needless
here to be particularised—his first and noblest jilt:
personation of all, to our mind, meaning as a matter
of course, his Hamlet, is always welcomed back by to
most eagerly, not merely for old associations' sake,
but in every conceivable way for its own intrinsic
excellence. It is announced, moreover, that this
now fast approaching revival yet once again of
Shakspere's " Hamlet" at the Lyceum Theatre
with Mr. Fechter, of course, as the Prince of
Denmark—is to be signalised (we presume,
exceptionally) by a powerful cast of charac
and of many appropriate properties. Now tb°/
ters, to say nothing of much costly scowl
the run of " The Master of Ravenswood"
at length, therefore, fast drawing to an end;
we cannot but acknowledge that that play
itself as a dramatic adaptation of the inci-
dents of one of the most enthralling of all
the fictions of Sir Walter Scott, and that that
character of Edgar Ravenswood—appear to us
to be wholly and unworthy, the one' as a tribute
to the genius of the Master Novelist, the other
as a vehicle for the manifestation of the genius
of Mr. Fechter as an Actor of exceptionally
noble endowments and qualifications. It is graceful,
it is pathetic, it is picturesque, it is in one or two,
points supremely melancholy ll
but that is a
Otherwise--commend us, far and away, by prefer"
ence, to Ray Bias, to Don Caesar de Bazalb
to Robert Macaire, to Belphegor, to almost any'
to almost every other character in Mr.
But
Fechter
comprehensive repertoire ! Beyond all fp:.4
and away, indeed --beyond them all, to
Islhaamklsepte!r e
sc ot
y re-
mnpoawr a—b
laef no--after r
masterpiece the re v revival a
l thusfc °
presentations only—let us direct public attention
aS
to very pleasant additional tidings, to the annolocco
menu—(following hard upon the heels of this °lnd
delightful 'announcement of Hamlet Prince ra
Denmark for this day se'nnight at the LorcelLe
Theatre)—that there is at present in aotact%
preparation at the Lyceum The Corsic is
Brothers ! The which .renowned melodrama
of
about to be produced upon those same boards
the Lyceum, with entirely new scenery, proPcraiti;
and effects, spectral apparitions, ghostly /nolo
and all—as performed at Paris—Mr. Fechter ,sls,by
taming the double part (as originally plaYea
.1)0
him) of Fabien and Louis de Franchi.
news, surely, all this ! now that we are really c°l""_
ing to an end of the brilliant run alreadY n°
corded to the " Master of Ravenswood."

Mrs. Keble was so ill at Bournemouth when
husband's corpse was about to be taken away for nter.:
IS
ment at Hursley that she pathetically requested that
grave shouldnot be closed until she was laid in it. nt
THE COUNTESS OF FINGALL died this day wee--;
Brighton. Her ladyship was in her 71st year. The e;
ceased countess was the only daughter of Mr. Elias C'ci
bally, of Corbalton Hall, county Meath. By her hustn
the countess leaves a numerous family of six sons and
daughters.
DEATH OF LORD CLINTON.—We have to annoll ins
oce
the death of this venerable peer, which occurred aboutlo,
o'clock on Tuesday night, at his seat, Heanton, Satchlii
near Beaford, in the county of Devon. The noble lorcO
the 18th baron, was born in Nov., 1791, and was 0,3°,1.,
quently in his 75th year. He was educated at Oriel
ill
lege, Oxford, at which university he passed first-elgt
mathematics, took his M.A. degree in 1817, and
wards became a fellow of All Souls'. Ho succeeded
Lady Georgiana Kerr,
brother to the title in 1832, and married the year precedil
quis of Lothian, by whom he leaves issue living the III;
second daughter of the sixth Alt'''.
C. H. R. Trefusis, M.P. for North Devon, the Hon. 31a15•
Geo. Kerr Rolle, the Hon. W. R. Trefusis, the Ilon.j•
Trefusis, and seven daughters. The deceased noblevillii,
sat for Okeharepton before the passing of the Reform the
was appointed lieutenant-colonel commandant iv..
North Devon Yeomanry Cavalry in 1842, and a (ROI
lieutenant of Devon in 1846. Lord Clinton was a on
lieutenant
waive in politics, a kind and liberal landlord, generOltero
the poor, and in his family and social relations a PI sic,
father and a true gentleman. The Hon. C. 11. R. Tre'lltie,
M.P., eldest son of the deceased, who- succeeds to the tr'ciii
was born in 1834, educated at Eton and Christ
Oxford, is deputy-lieutenant and magistrate for the COO
and colonel of the North Devon Yeomanry CavalrY•
NATIONAL PORTRAIT EXHIBITION.—The
mittee met yesterday to inspect the collection of 11.°.,r;
the Royal Horticultural Gardens,
traits which has been formed in the arcades overlo.A7,
meeting in the central court, presided over by the I:3')xittee
Derby, K.G. The following members of the cant-vie,
were present :—The Earl of Derby, K.G., Earl rarlcie%.
K.G. Earl Cowper, K.G., Earl Stanhope Earl of War,,s't
Earl of Clarendon, K.G., Earl Somers, Lord lioug"ii:v.
and afterwards hell'lf
ti
the , Very Rev. 116" Dean of St. Paul's, the IreVrj3ecl,
Canon Rock, Sir F. Madden, Mr. A Darker, Ito% • t
Mr. Edgar A. Bowring, C. 8., Mr. Richard.Berebe
Reginald Cholmondeley, Mr. Henry Cole, 033', lkifr•
Colnaghi, Mr. John Forster, Mr. Andrew Fountall'e'joba
F. Y. Hurlstone, The MacLeod of MacLeod, ft.
Murray, Mr. J. R. Planche,
Redgrave, R.A., Mr. Samuel Redgrave, Mr. G. Well f •
A.R.A., Mr. W. Russell, Mr. Henry Shaw, gr:o.s.,
Sketchley, Mr. R. H. Soden Smith, Mr. NIT . Smith, (r. 11.
Mr. J. Spedding, Mr. Tom Taylor, Mr. Tite, '';eott,
Mr. J. 11. Pollee, '7llOOl,
B. Woodward, Mr. R. N. Wornum, Sir Sibbald D.
_bibi
Bart., Mr. J. A. Fronde. The private view of the ee'we to
tion will take place this day (Saturday) from t
to lli°
vcir
six, and on Monday the collection will be op
one
public.