The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-26 00:00:00

LYCEUM.

The Lyceum soes on flourishing under the ma-
nagement of the Iteeleys, who are exerting themselves
to the utmost to deserve that patronage which they
have since the opening of the theatre enjoyed. A
new original drama, entitled The Three Wives of
Madrid, founded on a tale in Roscoe's Spanish No-
velists, was produced here last evening with the most
complete success. The three wives are—Laura (Miss
Fairbrother), wife to Luca Moreno (Mr. F. Mat-
thews), a miserly money scrivener ; Beatrice (Miss
Woolgar), wife to Geloso (Mr. Emery), a painter, a
rough jealous libertine; and Camilla (Mrs. Keelery),
wife to Diego de Morales (Mr. Keeley), a retired tracer.
The three husbands are boon companions, frequenters of
taverns, wine-bibbers ; and their wives, at the insti-
gation of a certain Count Vasco, determine to hoax
the husbands, with a view of curing them of their
propensities—a diamond, which had been found in
the public garden of Madrid, on the Festival of St.
Blas, being proposed as the reward of the wife who
should be most successful and ingenious in lier hoax.
Camilla, having caused Diego to be sent a fool's
errand, of a dark and rainy night, to the gate of
Fuencarel, a distance of four miles, manages, during
his absence, to transform his house to the semblance
of a tavern, and, on his return, he finds it filled with
guests, who tell him that the place has been an inn
for years. Among others who are in the plot is his
friend Geloso, who coolly asks him how he came there
from the other inn. Poor Diego is completelybewildered,
and at last gets turned out and pumped upon for creating
a disturbance, and is eventually locked up for the night.
The acting of Keeley in this scene was inimitable;
he rolled about with open mouth and meaningless
gaze, the very personification of stupid bewilderment.
Luca Moreno is hoaxed into a belief that he is
actually dead ; and Geloso, to whom his wife has ad-
ministered a sleeping potion, is conveyed to a cell in
a monastery, and there becomes firmly persuaded
idea
of he has been all his life a monk, and that the
of his having been a painter and a married man is a mere
delusion. At the conclusion the joke is explained,
and the ladies are each rewarded with a diamond ring,
the owner of the lost ring having been discovered.
The piece ends with a Spanish dance by the charac-
ters. It owes its success mainly to the excellent
manner in which the principal characters were sup-
ported. Mrs. Keeley, as Camilla, was exceedingly
espeigle and coquettish. She seemed to enjoy the
bewilderment of her poor little husband exceedingly.
Miss Woolgar acted Beatrice with a great
deal of spirit and tact, and danced exqui-
sitely ; and Emery, as Geloso, was very amusing.
We must not omit to notice Mr. A. Wigan, who as
Pablo, the starved serving man of the miser Luca,
was exceedingly quaint and humourous. The piece
is interspersed with some pretty dancing, and is illus-
trated by some beautiful scenery. The three wives
of Madrid are most amusing personages, and to the
question put by Mrs. Keeley at the conclusion " Have
we not fairly won the diamond ring ?" we unhesi-
tatingly answer yes !

FRENCH PLATS.—Madame Albert's benefit, on Wed
nesday, was attended by a crowded and fashionable audience,
among whom we observed the Marchioness of Ailesbury,
Lord and Lady Ernest Bruce, Earl of Wilton, the Countess of
Nelson, Baroness Dimsdale, Earl and Countess of Shelburne,
Earl and Countess of Morley, Viscount Templetown, Lord.
Robert Grosvenor, the Marquis of Worcester, Lady Georgians
Codrington, Lord Brougham, Lord Alexander Lennox, Ear]
of Scarborough, Count Esterhazy, Sir Henry Mildmay, the
Turkish Ambassador, Baron and Baroness de Rothschild,
Earl of Belfast, Lady Curteis, Lady and Miss Quentin, Hon.
Spencer Cowper, Hon. General Upton' Mrs. Standish Standish,
Mrs. Mountjoy Martvn, and Lady Larpent.
THE LYCEUM THEATRE. —Amongst the distin-
guished personages who have visited the Lyceum Theatre
during the present week, we have noticed the Marquis of
Clanricarde. Countess of Tankerville, Earl St. Vincent, Lord
and Lady Folkestone, Lord Grimstone, Lord Fitzroy So-
merset, Lady Radnor, Sir Henry Mildmay, Lord Ponsonby,
Lord Sefton, Lady Verulam, Captain Cox, Sir John Gyse,
Lady Romney, Hon. Fitzroy Stanhope, Lady Lawley, and
Mr. and Mrs. Johr Stanley.
ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.—The Polka, that wonder-
ful dance which has so suddenly shot up into the meridian of
popularity, dividing the public attention with the most vital
questions of state, has at last found its way to this house.
The little piece in which the Polka has been introduced
at this theatre, danced by Madame Albert and a Mademoiselle
Forgeot, is entitled La Prods de la Polka, and is as absurd
in its purport as the subject deserves. It represents the court
of some provincial town as occupied with the trial of an
action, brought by the citizens of the said town against a
certain instructor of the Polka, on the plea of its turning the
heads of all the female inhabitants, and causing the terror of
all respectable fathers of families as to the moral welfare of
their charges. The cause is regularly tried before the Lieu-
tenant-General, and pleaded on the plaintiff's side by an old
lawyer, whose distaste to the dance arises from his lameness,
and on the defendant's by a plump young advocate, who is
himself under tuition to acquire the incriminated Polka.
After citing various ancient authorities in favour of dancing
generally, he calls upon the court not to decide until they
have themselves seen the Polka. The request is granted,
and forthwith two ladies in full Polka costume, armed with
brass heels, enter the court, one of whom, to the astonish-
ment of the judge, he finds to be his wife. The Polka is
danced in the open arena, and its fascination is so powerful
that ere long the whole court in wig and gown are seen
jigging to the measure. This, of course, decides the affair,
and the curtain descends on the triumph of the Polka over
the moral prejudices of bourgeois and peres de famille. It is
needless to say that a vociferous encore was the result,
and it was accompanied by the projection of one or two
bouquets.
ADELAIDE GALLERY.—Dr. Jones, the manager of
this institution, took a benefit on Wednesday. What kind of
attendance he had in the morning we know not, but in the
evening the gallery was crowded to excess. There was then
a variety of exhibitions—for those who could get at them.
The concert seemed to have great attractions, and the exer-
tions of the vocalists were much applauded. In the course
of the evening Dr. Jones delivered an address (explanatory
of his services during the two years of his management),
which was attentively listened to, and warmlytomplimented.
Between the acts of the concert some clever performances on
the musical glasses by a Mr. Smith, of Edinburgh, attracted
much notice.
EXETER HALL.—The • Oratoria of " Deborah" is
announced for performance on. the 26th (this evening).
It will be recollected that this work was performed for the first
and only time by the Sacred Harmonic Society last year,
and that its not being repeated was the source of very
great regret.
SHAIESPEARIAN READIRrGS.—We understand that
Mr. Charles Kemble will give a series of six readings from
Shakepeare during the ensuing month. They will comprise
selections from Cymbeline Much Ado About Nothing, As You
Like It, Macbeth, the Merchant of Venice, and Romeo and
Juliet. Her Majesty, her Majesty the Queen Dowager, and
several distinguished members of the nobility have expressed
their high approbation of the forthcoming entertainments.
The readings will take place at Willis's Rooms.
LATE HOURS or BUSINESS.—Last evening, a
numerous meeting of booksellers' assistants was held at the
London Coffee-house, Ludgate-hill, Mr. Ives, of the firm of
Messrs. Swann and Ives, in the chair, to consider the expe-
diency of petitioningthe employers for an abridgment of the
hours of business. The Chairman, the Rev. Mr. Cumming,
Messrs. Lawrence, Ottan, and other gentlemen, delivered
eloquent addresses, deprecatory of late hours of business, as
being equally injurious to the employers and the employed,
both in a physical and moral point of view. Mr. King stated,
that the booksellers of Liverpool had resolved to close busi-
ness at seven o'clock, P.M. He mentioned several instances
of employers being so engaged in business that they were
unable to discharge their duties as heads of families ; in
conclusion, he read a petition to the master booksellers of
London, praying of them to shorten the hours of business, in
order that their assistants may be enabled to improve their
physical, moral, and intellectual condition. The petition was
ado_pted,
DEATH OF THE HOT. HUGH LINDSA.T.—At his
luinse in Berkeley-square, on the morning of the 23d inst.,
aged seventy-nine, flie Hon. Hugh Lindsay, brother to the
late and uncle to the present Earl of Palcarres. He served
in early life in the Royal Navy, and was present in several
actions under Lord Rodney and Lord St. Vincent, and among
others that of the Ist of June. He afterwards entered the
East India Company's service, and for the last thirty years
held the situation of one of the Directors. For many years
he represented in Parliament the boroughs of Perth, Cupar,
daughter of Lord
and Dundee. Ife held also the situation of Marshal to the
Tug NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE FOR MAT will Admiralty.i His death will be lamented not only by his
Rattachedockvilflrei,e nfdo
Gordon, relations but by many
comprise. we are informed, papers by the following fa-
vourite writers :—John Poole—Titmarsh—The Author second Earl of Aberdeen, Urthlisoonmo4f"llVP4illia4mile,
and the Countess of Dumfries,
of " Peter Priggins"---Horace Smith—James Kenney, leaves two children, Hugh Hamilton Lindsay M.P.,
the dramatist—Leman Blanchard—Mrs. Trollope—Mrs. i for Sandwich, and Lady Antrob wife of Edmund An
us,
(kore--IV% bioncrieff, and " the Medical Student." mho, DAM

BUENOS AYRES and COLOMBIAN

BONDS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—About eighteen months ago I addressed,
through the medium of your paper, a few lines to the
holders of the above bonds, advising them to exer-
cise that inestimable virtue of patience a little longer,
and not to dispose of their property at the prices then
quoted ; since which, the Buenos Ayres have risen 15
per cent., and the Venezuela portion of the Colom-
bian debt is at 40, paying the dividends regularly.
From undoubted information which I have recently
received, I now seriously, caution the holders of these
bonds not to part with the remaining portion of their
Colombian at the
Venezuelan
paltry quotation of 15 per
cent. ; for, if the part, consisting of 28i
per cent., of the original debt be worth 40, and the
arrears of coupons 12 per cent., surely the remnants,
consisting of 50 per cent.,- New Granada's portion,
and 21i per cent., the Equatorian portion, with the
arrears of dividend since 1826, must be very consi-
derably under their value at 15 ! The almost cer•
tainty of the arrangements being complete with these
States and the Committee of South American bond-
holders within a very short period, renders this quo-
tation of 15, one of those Stock Exchange anomalies
which so frequently occur in marking prices in that
house.
The dividends on Buenos Ayres Stock will probably
be resumed upon the termination of the war, by the sur-
render of Monte Video; the news of which event may
be expected to arrive by the next packet. The amount
of this loan-is -only one million stock, contracted, at
about 80 sterling per cent., by "the respectable house
of Messrs. Baring and Co. in 1824; but as no dividend
has been paid since January, 1827, there is due next
July, 105 per cent. arrears of couPons, which will
prpbably be consolidated into a deferred stock, similar
to the Chilian ; therefore, a purchaser of Buenos Ayres
at 36 (at which price all arrears of dividends are in-
aleded), stands a fair chance of realising the present
value of Chilian, upon his investment, within the next
twelve rapnths.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant,
ACONSTANT READER AND SUBSCRIBER.
April 24, 1844.