The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-16 00:00:00

PRINCESS'S THEATRE.

A neat little fake, entitled Gone to Texas' the productiOn,
it is. understood, of Mr. .1. Oxenford, whose former contribu-
tions to the stage have achieved much popularity, was
brought out at this house on Wednesday evening, and met
with complete success. The plot of the piece turns on the
deception practised by a gentleman, of easy habits and de-
cent exterior, -upon a milliner's assistant, whom he induces to
become his wife, under the pretence of having a comfortable
situation and a trifle in the funds; whereas, iu fact„he is, on
the contrary, in general difficulties, and much annoyed by
duns and bailiffs. The exasperation of the lady at making
this diSCovery, through the 'medium °fa I:ery'cliatty maid-
of-all-work, is-only heightened by finding, that the second-
floor lodger is her jilted lover, one Frederick Rapture, who
has taken-to- the-cornet-a-piston as'a solace-for-his grief, and
as. a means of melting her obdurate heart: , The manner in
which lie declares his passion, and the ability with which he
executes the obligato accompaniment-of the Light of other
days," has no other effect upon. Mrs. Swellington (the changed
name of the ladv) than creating supreme contempt for the in-
dividual, who thus dares to intrudehicaself upon her privacy in
the hour of misfortune, and the comfort she seeks in the altered
position of her affairs -is in the reflection that Swellington
was always " unexceptionable iu his choice of a 'Valenti*
waistcoat, ' and unsurpassed in the tone with which he or-
dered up a glass of mixed." Swellington being driven from
pillar to post, at last avows openly to his wife his distressed
condition; and, in order to gain time for the arrangement of
his difficulties, proposes that he himself should go round to
the creditors, none of them being acquainted with his person,
and tell them, 'as "a frieudfrom the family," that he (Swell-
ington) had " gone to Texas." With this determination he
'goes to the legal representatives of one of his creditors, and
assumes the name of Rapture, and while descanting upon his
own virtues, -is attacked by that gentleman, and charged, on
the authority of a-letter from Rapture's father, with cawing
on an intrigue with Mrs. Swellington. This was the best
*scene in the piece ; the rage of Swellington in discovering the
supposed intrigue between Rapture and his wife, and which
is attributed to remorse for his conduct by the legal adviser,
was inimitable; the way in which he expressed, sotto voce,
his determination to annihilate the guilty couple, and the
broken delivery of his sentences, when, in a state of fear and
jealousy, he gave vent to his opinion, elicited much applause
from all quarters of the house. The whdle affair is not
explained till Rapture, at the suggestion of Mrs. Swelling-
ton, has assumed- the part of Swellington, and finds him-
self arrested at the suit of one of the numerous creditors,
who is lenient enough to accept 101. as a compromise. From
first to last the piece was kept up with much spirit, Keeley
and his wife takingthe parts of the married couple, Fitz-
james that of Rapture, and Granby, the lawyer. Mrs. Keeley
displayed her usual vivacity of cha:racter and played ex-
ceedingly well ; her surprise and chagrin, at finding herself
the dupe of her husband, was only equalled by the acidity,
with which she treated the communication .of the servant,
relative to the state of her master's affairs. Keeley never
flagged at all in his exertions to bring his character out pro-
minently, and at the fall of the curtain the announcement of
the repetition of the piece every evening was received with
unanimous applause. After the many translations and
adaptations that we have had of late from the French, it is
rather refreshing to see something which at all events, among
its palicular class, approaches near to English mariners and
English customs, and which may be found in the every -day
walks of life.

RAILWAY BUSINESS IN PARMA.
MENT.

South Eastern Railway Bill,—" To enable the South Eastern
Railway Company to complete and maintain a branch rail-
way and approach to the harbour of Folkestone, and to
construct other works in connection with the said harbour
and also to effect certain alterations and extensions of the
works of the Maidstone branch of the said South Eastern
Railway, and to amend the Acts relating to the said Com-
pany,' presented, and read a first time.
Leeds and Selby Railway Purchase (No. 2) Bill,—" For
vesting the Leeds and Selby Railway in the York and North
Midland Railway Company, and for enabling that Company
to raise a further sum of money to complete the purchase of
such railway," presented and read a first time.
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway Bill,—Reported ; Report to
lie on the table, and to be printed.
Maryport and Carlisle Railway -Bill,—" To amend the
Acts relating.to the Maryport and Carlisle Railway, and for
making certain extensions and branches connected therewith,"
presented,.and read a first time.
Chester and Holyhead Railway Bill,—" For making a
Railway from Chester to Holyhead," presented, and read a
first time. • '"

Blackburn and Preston Railway,—Report (13th March)
from Select Committee on Standing Orders read ; Bill or-
dered to be brought in by MOVilson rotten, Mr. William
Feilden, and Sir Hesketh Fleetwood.
Eastern Union Railway Bill,—" For making a Railway
from Colchester to Ipswich," presented, and read a first tiros.

THE NEW HISTORICAL ROMANCE, " WIIITEPRIARS
OR, THE DAYS OF CHARLES THE SECOND."—The popularity
foretold by the critical press for this work seems to have been
already attained—a third edition having appeared. The in-
exhaustible variety of character, the continual change of
scene, and the.highly wrought complexity of plot which dis-
tinguish this romance have certainly rarely been excelled.
Indeed, it is among the curiosities of the criticisms on this
work that the author is taxed with exhibiting too great a
variety. " Take," says the Examiner, " merely a few of the
scenes in which the here is concerned. He is present on the
eve of the murder of LordAumerle in the Tower. He has a
narrow escape from death in the,Great Fire of London. -He
sits on the lap of Nell Gwyn, the orange girl. He is student
with Titus Oates in the Jesuit College of SL Omer. He is
witnessio the mysterious death struggle of Sir Edmondbury
Godfrey. He is with Blood in his desperate robber), of the
Crown jewels. • He is. side by side with Sheriffs Bethel and
Cornish at the dripping scaffold of the Popish plot . ffe
stands by the side of the. Duke of Monmouth at the battle
of Bothwell Brigg. Ile is confederate conspirator with
William -RuSsell and Algernon Sydney. He is present when
Shaftesbury:plots against his master, and Howard of Esrcicke
is dragged down the chimney. He is with Captain Rumbold
at the Rye-house, and with Charles in his Alsatian rambles.
He takes part in the death of his mother, the infamous. Lady
Howard; attends his father-in-law, Sydney, to the scaffold;
and is at the gallows with a friend and protector in the person
of Claude Duval."

'1 c. O'CoNNELL.—We give the following.. extract
from acountry paper, the Ten Towns' Messenger, published at
KiddelminSter, to show how far the London press is behind
-the Tory provincial papers in elegance of style_ and powerful
writing DINNER TO O'CONNELL.--This most disgraceful
but instructive exhibition of contempt for all the decencies of
public life,''took !place on Tuesday last, at Covent-garden
Theatre,.when that already degraded temple of the national
drama was subjected to the yet further debasement of being
made the scene of a banquet, given by a ' most reflecting public'
to a' convicted conspirator,' who, in a few short days will, we
hope, find his mere fitting place among the felons of a public.
gaol ; who has striven, as rarely man has strove, to dismember
the British empire; has' exhausted the vocabulary of even
his abuse upon the men of England, and,dared to brand her
women as prostitutes at heart. This man, shamelessly living
upon the misery of which-he-is the very source, yet affects to
be the redresser, sat down to a public entertainment at which
no fewer than 1,200 guests assembled to meet him, with boxes
and galleries crowded to the roof."
Tun NAPOLEON MUSEUM.—We have been highly
gratified and historically amused, more than. once, when in-
specting that singularly unique and very extraordinary ex-
hibition at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly—the Napoleon
Museum.' On the last occasion, the proprietor hid the ho-
nour of handing a volume of autographs to his 'Grace the
Duke of Wellington, who appeared to examine them with
much interest, and on seeing those of the unfortunate Marie
Antoinette, the Noble' Duke said to the proprietor, ".Has the
Marquis of Huntly been here ?" "I do not know, your
Grace," was the answer. The'Duke replied, " I shall inquire ;
for the Marquis of Huntly has danced with the Queen Marie
Antoinette at Versailles, and with . Queen Victoria at Wind-
sor." On ascertaining shortly afterwards whether the Noble
Marquis had lieen.—for everything that our illustrious hero
notices is interesting to the British public,—we were informed
that a few days after his Grace asked the foregoing question,
the Marquis of Huntly, accompanied by some ladies, had in-
spected the satnevolume that his Grace the Dukeof Welling-
ton took so much interest in, and, with his Noble party,
remained several hours looking over the Napoleon Museum,
which we were not surprised to hear, considering its very
great historical importance.
1714 E MICROScQPICAL SuciETY.—The attendance
of members was unusually large at the last meeting of this
society. Mr. C. Pearce was called to the chair. The first
object brought under the focus of the microscope was the
dividend of a Waterloo-bridge share. After many experi-
ments, in which the strongest light, including the hydro-
' oxygen, had been thrownupon it, the dividend was declared
to approach nearest in. shape to that of a round figure, with
nothing at all -in it,. which, upon an increased force of the
glass, was found to 'be a perfect 0. The shareholder whose
eyes had been opened during the investigation seemed to be
forcibly, struck with the accuracy of the result. The divi-
dend was ordered to be depoSited in the museum of the Mi-
croscopical Socieo. • The next object submitted to the mi-
croscope was one day's ration of food as allowed by the Com-
missioners in a poor-law union. The microscope was magni-
fied to its utmost • power to allow this operation a fair chance
of success ; but, after every experiment had failed, the Presi-
dent said " that in all his experience of atoms he bad nevex
seen anything so surprisingly wanting .in size or substance,
though a microscope which magnified objects no less
,than
60,000,000 times had been used to•help the discovery." This
samorua sanguineient dimd
members
erssc en
bad to
endeavouredaurise antyob oindayn
ifyAfttheer
surplus of the revenue, the interest of a Pennsylvanian bond,
and ".the sense" of the House of Commons, the microscope
was locked up for the night, and the President and members
adjourned to the tea-room, to refresh themselves after' the
labours of the evening.—Funch.
The poor's rates for the parish of Lavenham
(Cosford 'Union) for the past year were about seven hundred
pounds.', Previous to the enactment of the Poor-law Amend-
ment Act. they sometimes amounted to that sum for t h

.~ . 1