The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-01 00:00:00

OLYMPIC THEATRE.

Oa Saturday evening a performance took place at
this pretty theatre in aid of the Metropolitan Typo-
graphical Widow and Orphan Fund—a rociety
worthy of the utmost support of the printing, trade. The
entertainments commenced with Tobin 's admired
comedy of the Honeymoon. To, what high, rank
Tobin might have attained under happy auspices, is a
question impossible to decide, and melancholy to con-
template. Tne tine sensibilities of his genius were ill
calculated to contend with the coldness and neglect
he met with. It has been objected, that Tobin is not an
original writer. What, since the days of Dryden,
Wycherley, and Congreve, is original ? Gibber and
Fielding's comedies are most certainly " taken from
the French." Those of Murphy are precisely in the
same situation ; and even Garrick and the elder
Colman were very liberal borrowers. Is Sheridan
original ? We think not. Of the authors of our
own times the far greater number illustrate a remark
which Sheridan took from Churchill—they have
stolen the thoughts of others, and, as gipsies do
children, disfigured them to make them pass for their
own. Shakspere's Taming the Shrew, Much Ado
about Nothing, and Twelfth Night furnishekTobin
with the plot of the Honeymoon, and also with,sume
of its principal characters : for instance, Juliana and
the Duke are, with, some variations, Katherine
and Petruchio ; Rolando and Volante bear some re-
semblance to Benedick and Beatrice ; and Zamora
is a decided transcript of Viola in the last of the
comedies above-mentioned; but to return to tbesper-
formance we witnessed last Saturday night. It is
not usual in amateur perforaaances to pick out pas-
sages here and there, or to particularize the acting of
this or that would-be actor, bu,t in such a perferm-
ance as the one we are speaking of, we will in a, great
measure step out of the usual course, and make a,few
remarks on those gentlemen who we think deserved,
and richly, too, the applause they met with. The.
Duke Arnim was very ably sustained by Mr.,Dor-
rington, kis reading and acting of the part was really
excellent. Mr. 11. Thomas made a very spirited
Rolando; he rattled through the part with. the' ease
of an old stager. Mr. Ross, as Jacques, the. mock-
duke, was irresistibly comic, with his droll visage and
peculiar walk. Mr. Bustin was the Count Montal-
ban, and Mr. Pringle made An excellent Balthazar ;
his make-up was exceedingly good. . The pars of
Juliana, the proud high-soaring lady, was given, with
great truth and beauty by Miss E. Clayton. The
cottage scene in which the Duke, her husband, calls'
for chairs for himself and friend, was, true acting.
Of the Volante of Miss J. Coleman, the expecta-
tions we had 'formed were not disappointed.. We
never saw this young lady act with greater taste
and vivacity ; the meaner in which she acquitted her-
self won the admiration of the audience completely ;
the merry ringing laugh of the light-hearted
happy girl was given in a manner that was
quite refreshing. She was much applauded, and
exhibited throughout the play very superior his-
trionic powers. Miss Moss made a very interesting
Zamora. Mrs. H. Thomas was very excellent as the
Hostess. The principal ladies and gentlemen were
called for at the conclusion of the comedy. After
the first piece we had a variety of singing and danc-
ing. Mr. Smith and Miss Rose gave a very grace-
ful pas, and Miss Louisa Coleman also gave us one of
her prettiest hornpipes in capital style -it was
honoured with an encore. The evening's amuse-
ments terminated at a late hour with The First
Champagne. The house was crowded.

NARROW EiCAPE.-A horse and cart, the property
of Mr. Blythe, butcher, were left standing for a short time
against the foundry on the Nottingham road, in Mansfield,
ou Tuesday morning last, when from some cause the horse
started off towards the town, passing along the Nottingham-
road, Cock-pit, and Market-sireet, at a terrific speed.
On its arrival in the market-place, a person stood on the
road, and by bellowing and waving his bat succeeded in
turning it round the corner of the l3entinck monument.
where it immediately afterwards made another sharp turn
towards West Gate. The horse was stopped in the lawn
without doing any damage, although there were several very
narrow escapes. Immediately after the above occurrence, a
boy who was gathering manure in Leeching-street, only just
saved himself from being :run over by the Worksop coach,
by throwing himself dawn, and rollißg towards the pavetnent.
—Nottingham Journal.