The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-27 00:00:00

ADELPHI THEATRE.

A new and original play, in three acts, by Mr.
Tom Taylor and Mr. W. Dubourg, entitled " A
Sister's Penance," was produced here last night
with perfect success, notwithstanding that the com-
mon fault, now almost universal among play-
writers, viz., extreme length, prevailed, the three
acts occupying three hours and a half in representa-
tion. A gentleman with the experience of Mr. Tom
Taylor might reasonably have been expected to have
guarded against such a mistake, but it seems now to
be the rule to test the patience of the audience on a
first night in order to properly condense the
play, acting on the principle said to have
been in practice in China, that of burning
down a house in order to convert a pig
into roast pork. " A Sister's Penance" might most
advantageously be curtailed without in the slightest
degree injuring the two principal parts, and the
pruning knife should be used almost unmercifully
with the comic business, because it has nothing at
all to do with the plot, and beside which it is un-
pardonably dull and stupid. The moralising upon
the mode of English rule in India might also most
advantageously be cut away ; and supposing this
course is adopted there will remain quite enough of
"A Sister's Penance" to form a very excellent
play. The plot is briefly as follows. The scene

opens in a villa near London, the residence of a
merchant family, who, by sudden reverses, have been
ruined, and there seems to be no prospect for the
girls but to go out as governesses. The younger
has unfortunately conceived a romantic attach-
ment for her sister's sweetheart, a young engineer.
By delivering to him a letter intended for another
and less favoured suitor she induces the man to
whom her kinswoman is betrothed to believe that
she no longer cares for him. In this unhappy con-
viction he leaves England for India, whither the too
fond author of his misery also repairs in company
with her uncle, who is in command of an infantry
regiment. The elder sister, believing the engineer
to have jilted her, marries a man whom she does
not love, and consequently makes wreck of her hap-
piness. Then the Indian mutiny breaks out, and
affords an opportunity for a treacherous native,
who has fallen in love with the heroine, to
wreak his vengeance on her for having rejected
him. There are plots and peril, through which the
young engineer passes unscathed, thanks to his
intrepidity. But his life has been darkened by the
supposed perfidy of the woman he loved ; and when
he discovers the deception that was practised upon
him his sorrow is keener still. Meantime the hero-
ine suffers the bitterest anguish. her sin was the
wrong she did her sister ; her " penance" is to en-
dure in silence the sense of guilt, and to observe that
the man for whose love she transgressed so fatally,
so far from reciprocating her passion, views her
with disdain.

The conclusion of the play is left a good deal to
supposition, each person being at liberty to picture
the future of the repentant sister according to his
own liking.

With the parts of Alice Vernon and Frank Mark-
ham the authors seem to have taken the greatest
care,- and in representing them Miss Kate
Terry and Mr. Hermann Vezin acted with an in-
tensity and pathos that at once secured the success
of the piece. The great scene in the play is in the
second act, where Markham discovers Alice's
of the terror caused by
Indian mutiny. Nothing
the outbreak
i n the
of midst:he
could have been better than the telling manner in
which both lady and gentleman acted, and at the
fall of the curtain the applause was as enthusiastic
and general as it was highly deserved. There is also
a very fine little bit for Markham in the last act, his
meeting with the sister of Alice, now Mrs. Drayton.
Mr. Vezin made good use of the opportunity afforded
him to exhibit his powers as an accomplished actor,
and the audience acknowledged the fact by the
most rapturous applause. Miss Hughes, as the
elder sister, acted with great taste and feeling, and
Mr. Ashley, as the kind-hearted but over-worked
army surgeon, gave an excellent rendering of
the part. The mounting of the piece might
have been better, as there was ample room for
display, but somehow or other the Adelphi pieces
are not now produced in the effective style of former
days. There were also some ridiculous blunders
almost unpardonable in a London Theatre. In the
second act the moon almost took fire, and finally
went out altogether, and the fastenings to the doors
of the Indian dwelling most provokingly would not
act at the time when the interest of the piece was
just at its height. These, however, may be consi-
dered trifles, but when completeness and attention
to detail are now so much in fashion they ought not
to be passed over without notice.
The applause at the fall of the curtain was en-
thusiastic, and the principal performers having
acknowledged the compliment, the piece was an-
nounced for repetition every evening till further
notice.

It is with a deep regret that we record here the
death of a man who has served his country for up-
wards of half a century. Mr. George Lenox-
Conyngham, Chief Clerk of the Foreign-office, expired this
morning at his house in Eaton-square. lie was a supernu-
merary clerk in the Foreign-office from July 5, 1812, till
July 5, 1817, when he was appointed to a clerkship. He
fulfilled for two years (from 1817 till 1819) tho functions of
precis-writer to Viscount Castlereagh, and was appointed
chief clerk, April 5, 1841. He discharged the duties of that
important post almost to the very dayof his death, with an
integrity and a zeal which those oven who did not sympa-
thise with him have always respected and admired.
Orders were received at Aldershot last night at
6 o'clock for the 28th (North Glocestershire) Regt.,
Col. Master, C. 8., and the 52d (Oxfordshire Light
Infantry), Lieut.-Col. Lennox Peel, to be held in
readiness to move to Ireland at a moment's notice.
A Horse Guards' order, signed by Major-Gen.
Lord W. Paulet, K.C.8., Adjt.-General, has been
received at Chatham garrison, in which it is an-
nounced that his Royal Highness the Field-Marshal
Commanding-in-Chief desires that at stations where
military gymnasia have been, or may hereafter he, '
constructed, all young officers of infantry, on join-
ing their regiments or depots, arc to be put
through a complete course of instruction in fencing
therein, and that all other officers be encouraged to
take up the same in their leisure hours as much as
possible. The order also directs that officers of
cavalry regiments are to continue to receive instruc-
tion in fencing as heretofore, whether there be a
garrigon, or gymnasituz or not,