The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-24 00:00:00

PRINCESS'S THEATRE.

Shakespere's tragedy of " King Lear" was per-
formed here last evening for the purpose of enabling
Mr. Phelps to make his first appearance this season.
Mr. Phelps's conception of the fine and difficult
part of Lear is a thoroughly sound and intelligent
one ; and if his execution of it does not reach the
highest point of imaginative delineation, that is
almost the only fault that can be found with it.
The irritability, the ycarning for affection, and
also in the higher development of the love, inter-
mittent as it is, for the truthful Cordelia, are de-
picted with great feeling and a thorough apprecia-
tion of the poetical beauties of the character. The
two curses of the datghters, the growing madness,
the odd combination of worldly shrewdness with
the maniacal weaknesses, the mixture of dignity
and folly, are all presented with the utmost care.
Mr. Ryder is well suited to the rough and warm-
hearted Kent, and Hiss Heath is a satisfactory
Cordelia, and contrasted efficiently with the Regan
and Gonereil of Meidames Murray and Atkinson.
Mr. Phelps, jun., is an actor of promise, but has
neither force nor iramatic power enough for the
extremely difficult part of Edgar. Mr. Phelps was
I called for at the end of the second and fourth acts,
and at the close of the tragedy.

i 3 REAT HEAT.

TO HIE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—Yesterday was hotter than any day during
the year 1860, as the following brief record will
show :

. _
Degrees.
Mean temperature in wade
Greatest heat in shade 79.8

In 1860 the mean temperature of the two warmest
days was 63.4 deg. on the 22d of May and 63.5 deg.
on the 15th of July. The greatest heat occurred on
the same day last year—viz., the 21st of May, and
the temperature reached was the same in both pars
—viz., 79.8 deg. In former years a much higher
temperature has been reached, the greatest heat in
shade being for May, 1846, 81.4 deg. ; 1847, 84.5
deg. ; 1848, 83.0 deg. ; 1853, 82.0 deg.; 1855, 81.9
deg. ; and 1858, 84.0 deg. In contrast to this, the
greatest heat in May, 1842 and 1843, only reached
67.0 deg., and in 1845 only 69.0 deg.
During the past 50 years the coldest May was in
1856, when the mean temperature was only 48.5
deg., the hottest May being 1848, when the mean
temperature reached 60.0 deg.—l have the honour
to be, sir, your obedient servant,
E. J. LOWE.
Observatory, Beeston, May 22.

THE BISHOP OF SALISBURY AND

" ESSAYS AND REVIEWS."

The following important letter, addressed by the
Bishop of Salisbury to the Archdeacon of Dorset,
appears in this day's _Dorset County Chronicle :

" The Palace, Salisbury, Whit• Monday, 1861.
" Dear Mr. Archdeacon,—Last week I informed
Dr. Rowland Williams, whose name is prefixed to
one of the essays in the book entitled Essays and
Reviews, that I have determined to institute legal
proceedings against him in the Court of Arches.
" I have come to this decision moat reluctantly,
and only after the most anxious consideration of
the consequences which may arise out of the course
which I have now adopted. But my duty seems
to me clear. As I still agree with the opinion ex-
pressed in the letter addressed by his Grace the
Archbishop of Canterbury, on February 12th, to
one of my rural deans, the Rev. H. B. Williams,
with regard to this and the other essays, and as I
believe (on the very best advice) that the writer of
this essay has brought himself within the reach of
the ecclesiastical law, I cannot escape from the con-
clusion that I am bound to endeavour to show that
the Church of England does protect her members
against such false teaching as is contained in diffe-
rent parts of Dr. Rowlana Williams's essay.
" I will only further say that the feeling of my
clergy, as expressed to me both privately and in
public addresses, with regard to this essay, has
quickened my own sense of responsibility about it,
and that I am now acting in full reliance on their
prayers that the issue of these proceedings may be
such as to vindicate the truth of God, and that we
may be all kept from mixing up with the pure feel-
ing of loyalty to the Church of England any leaven
of bitterness and want of charity.
" I shall send a copy of this letter to the two
other Archdeacons of my diocess.
" I remain, dear Mr. Archdeacon,
"Your affectionate friend and brother,
" W. K. SARUM.
" The Ven. Archdeacon Buckle."

THE PRINCE OF WALES.—His Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales arrived yesterday at Portsmouth, and
was received at the King's Stairs by Vice-Admiral Henry
William Bruce, the Rear-Admiral Superintendent, the
Hon. George Grey, &c. His Royal Highness, on alight-
ing from the Queen's carriage, most kindly shook hands.
with the gallant Commander-in-Chief. The Prince then
embarked in the Admiral's galley to go on beard the Fairy,
which was made fast to a buoy in Portsmouth harbour.
Master Commander David N. Welch had the honour of
being his Royal Highness's coxswain on the occasion. In
a few minutes the Fairy cast off her warps, and proceeded
to Osborne.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge
honoured Lord and Lady Clarence Paget by his company
at dinner on Wednesday evening, at their residence at the
Admiralty, Whitehall. A select party was invited to meet
his Royal Highness.

Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cam-
bridge and the Princess Mary will return to their residence
at St. James's Palace on the Ist proximo, from Cambridge
Cottage, Kew, for the season.

Lord Ashburton, as president of the Royal Geo-
graphical Society, will give his next conversazionne on the
sth proximo at Bath House, Piccadilly.

Lord and Lady Monteagle have returned to their
residence in Park-lane, from a visit for the Whitsun holi-
days, at Oakhamyark, the seat of the Right Hon. Stephen
Lushington.

The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone left Downing-
street last evening for Flintahire.

RUMOURED MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF NEW-
CASTLE.-It is rumoured that an alliance is likely to take
place between the Duke of Newcastle and the Princess
Mary of Cambridge, and that, too, with the concurrence of
the Sovereign.—Doneaster Gazette.
HEALTH OF RECORDER HILL.—We regret to hear
that the health of the Recorder of Birmingham is in such a
precarious state as to nesessitite his leaving England far
Germany for a time.
The passage of the Great Eastern to New York
occupied 9i days. _

MISS ANNA WrarrY.—This young lady,
daughter of the proprietor of the Liverpool Daily Post, who
has been pursuing a most successful musical career at the
principal opera housos of Italy during the last six years,
made her debut in her native town, Liverpool, on the even-
ing of Tuesday, at a subscription concert given in the Phil-
harmonic Hall. As might have been expected from her
antecedents, the fair debutante was enthusiastically received
by one of the largest audiences ever assembled in the town.
She sang both in Italian and English, and succeeded in
satisfying the audience that her powers had not been over-
rated in the Italian journals.