The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-16 00:00:00

STRAND TBEATitE.

A one-act comedietta, entitled "In the Wrong
Box," evidently from the French, by Mr. W. IL
Swanborough, was produced last night with perfect
success. It seems very much such a piece as Ravel
would delight in.
Harry Radcliff (Mr. Parselle) is employed by 3
friend to get back from a danseuse, Madame Pn'
vernay, who does not appear, certain letters he has
written to her ; and now he is courting a rich
young widow, Mrs. Armitage (Miss Maria Simp-
son), with whom he wishes to appear respectable.
The two ladies live next door to each other, and
Radcliff, who is a blunderer, goes to the wrong
house and treats the widow as the danseuse, disclos-
ing the real intentions of his friend. Of course he
mars his fortunes, and produces a great imbroglio;
which is further added to by the waiting-maid LucY
(Miss E. Johnstone) who makes him believe over
• again that he is right in his wrongdoing. After the
confusion has been kept up long enough the widoW
is merciful, and seeing that Radcliff is an hones
agent of a disingenuous fellow, gives him encour-
agement, and the curtain goes down to her saying
he may come again to-morrow evening and try his
fortune.

--
There is not much in this trifle, but the blunder-
ing of the agent is amusing ; and Miss Simpson'
Miss E. Johnstone, and Mr. Parselle sustained the
little piece to a perfectly successful issue. The
actors and the author were called for and enthusias-
tically applauded.
The new burlesque of " Der Freischutz" is rat'
ning, and seems to be a great favourite with tse
audience.

" ANNALS OF A QUIET NEIGHBOURHOOD." J3l
George Mac Donald, M.A., author of "Alec Forbes," tSG;
3 vole.—" This story is one to be read. No skimming
it will do. There is scarcely a page in the book which b 35
not an attraction of its own, either in the shape of sonili°
peculiar beauty of expression or of soma thought wbi.e'
deserves examination. The characters stand out life-1110,
on the canvas. The book is a charming counterfoil to tlio•l't
unhealthy sensationalism of most modern novels. 5111%
Mr. Mac Donald has shown us how much of poetry th°!"
is in our everyday life, how muel of interest there is la
simple things, proves him to be a story-teller far above

commonCATHOLICS IN RUSSIA.—A. letter from Novgorod,
in the Monde, says—" Without including the Grati
Duchies of Warsaw and Finland, there are 610,000 liereA-ii
tary nobles in the Russian empire. Of these there are232,i'y
in the provinces purely Russian, and 377,500 in Lithalas„is'
Volhynia, and Podolia. The whole of these latter are Or
tholics. AtWilna, out of 51,078 nobles, onlylo are orthodosl
and at Kowno thore is not a single one out of 90,392. Antl3„ll
that population, acquired by treaties stipulating the freede-
of the Catholic faith, has only exiled or dependent prie6t,.
and has not a single journal or an educational establish in the
That injustice becomes especially insupportable when
concessions concessions are considered which are made by the GOO";
ment to the sectarians.who profess doctrines infinitely as9Aro
dangerous than the Catholic, as it places no other boas 7
than the Divine law to the submission due to the authc't-
ties. These sectarians have for their chief place a terr:t
called Khvalinsk, not far from Saratof. The Gobs has /till
published a description of it. They are there lords as
masters, possessing, in a park eight versts (5-Bths
mile each) in extent, monasteries, a bishop, and a catbedr°o
and no stranger dares penetrate this oasis. What Passlieo
there ? How many malefactors seek refuge there ? rt
authorities allow everything to pass over without net';.:
whereas if a Catholic only suspended a lamp before a VI-,
ture in his own home all the journals would immediate'
exclaim against the scandal."
SEALS OF OFFICERS WHO PERISHED IN. AFF6III‘;
s
sisTAN.—ln October, 1852, Mr. Bayley transmitted t 0 to
from Futtehgurh three seals, supposed to have belonged to
officers who fell in the Affghan expedition, with a vies' ©g,
their being identified and restored to their representativea
We described the seals, and one of them was identified tly
restored to the family of its former owner, and was the oji
relic of him ever recovered by them. The same geatleist`iie
has now forwarded from Simla five more seals, with
following following letter :—" Simla.—Dear Sir,—Major-General
Cunningham, C. 8., has placed at my disposal, for transi%g
siert to you, four more seals collected by him, with 01,0
and gems from Central Asia, and which he believes to hsi
belonged to officers of the late Cabul force. I add s bft,ts;
which came similarly into my hands a short time ago. oqo
I ask you to give publicity to the impressions on the by
seals, in the hope that some of them may be recognised
jf
and restored to the friends of the original owners ?The
not recognised, you can dispose of them as you like.
three with heraldic devices ought to be recognisab
Yours, &c., E. C. BAYLEY." The following is a deseriPlioa
of the seals :-1. On a shield, semd with fleur-de-lys, s
rampant. Crest, a demi-savage with club in dexter if 0°
Motto, "Fides spectatior auro." 2. Argent, a chevron
between three boars' heads, erased gules. Crest, it d:1
lady from the girdle, holding in her dexter hand a t° v.eof
and in her sinister a branch of laurel. 3. Crest, a traitor°
an oak tree, thereon a buck's head caboched bet Ween, the
branches sprouting from the sides. Beneath the ass' tea
letters aW. P.," in old English. 4. A thistle surinoll.f:os
by the words, "Dinna Forget," and below the
old
"T. A.," in old English. 5. The initials " S',,"„-Sros°
English letters. Nos. 2 and 3 are probably Elnui—
and Pottinger.—Notes and Queries.
.01
THE 1-IUNTERIAN MUSEUM.—From the last nial , it
report of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeeli'lr
appears that Parliament having voted £42,500 for thelloo-
chase of the extraordinary collection formed by Jebllcaita
ter, and towards the erection of suitable buildings 'll-
display and preservation, the largo sum of £61,0% far
been supplied from the college funds up to 1847, Ivb.°:ssari
thor enlargement of the building having become 11e0'1 is
by the continued increase of the collection, the C°ll°A-ilder
that year purchased the extensive premises of lgr• seo
man Copeland, in Portugal .street, formerly the site
Jonson's theatre, for the sum of £16,000, and in 1-852,„;
ceeded to the erection of the Eastern Museum, at t;
pease of £25,000, Parliament granting £15,000 'OOl-
thereof. The re-arrangement of the specimens watecli°
pleted, and the additional portion of the building °P ea 005 t
visitors, in 1855, since which time considerable 0),, doog
valuable specimens have been added by purchase and
of the
tion. Mr. Flower, the indefatigable conservator °OOO-
Museum, has for some time past been exploring the 0,,00/
logical stores which have been accumulating fore' " sad
years in the subterranean apartments of the Collegt 00'
which are now gradually yielding up the treasures ° '
00
rich the Museum. Among the particularly valuable the
tions from this source, which appear to have escaPef
attention of previous conservators, is the skeletoaisa pie
rare and probably extinct bird the Greek Auk 61 cwa to
pennis), of which only three other skeletons are 101% wet'
exist in Europe, and none BO perfect as the 6Peos et
lately added to the collection. Some of the I),°, ats'
this valuable Hunterian specimen ware already cce to
logued in the collection, but without any referelltil the
the remainder being in possession of the college the par
examination of the boxes in the store-room during AO'
d 9
sent year brought tolight all the others require" eg.
Tbe of
the skeleton, with a few unimportant exceptions. gas
of this bird at auctions have recently fetched 1111050110
£3O each, from their great rarity. The Hunterian of
possesses half a dozen. Another rare skeleton is tila',l iros'
Awantibo (Arctocebus calabarensis), alemuroid
Old Calabar, and is the only skeleton of the gooti,j,
fr
to exist. The skeleton of another very rare as'i't-i; otli
Aye-Aye, has been added during the past years W
interesting additions, to the Hunterian Museum' 011:4;
of
TIIE CONVICTION OF A SERVANT GIRL AT h sv°
—The following is the reply to a memorial s'raie- th
presented to the Secretary of State on behalf t
Loughurst, who was lately convicted of larcenY_%e,
Nv a
before Mr. Alderman Evers and Mr. Alderman av
Jai tc'
about whose case some rioting took place a Ae` , dirt% tO
—" Whitehall, Oct. 10, 1866.—Gentlemen,— 311-tiaes" 5,
by the Secretary of State for the Home DiVrth Ves,
thank you for your report on the case of Eli'lberastasetio
burst, and to acquaint you that, under all the eirc:wirli
he does not propose advising any interferellest ohedi
prisoner's sentence.—l am, gentlemen, your v? Alr'ica
humble servant, BELMORE.—Mr. R. Reeves, J_l)os. si;o,l
Wade, J.P., York." Mr. Lowrie states that the
000101:4,,
by his late servant, Elizabeth Loaghurst, was 3.9: is is Por
Indian box, for which he paid 10s. in India; in
ad its
fectly good condition, and he values it far heYeo,ia4S.
trinsic worth. The writing case alluded to he P
hltaly
for, and it had been little used. Duill'
THEATRES IN EUROPE.—The total 337,
theatres in Europe is 1,584, of which France Iritoio !jot
(including Venetia) 346,
Austria 150, Germany 191, Russia and Polallusoford 00
34, Holland 23, Switzerland 20, Sweden and,, gouts°
Denmark 15, Portugal 16, Turkey 4, Clreeee
Spain 168, Great ;Po, oolb is
3, awl §cryiir 1.