The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-22 00:00:00

MR. BENJAMIN WEBSTER.

TO THE EDITOR Or THE OBSERVER.
Theatre Royal, Haymarket, January 20.
Sir,—l regret having to trouble you again, but in stating in
my letter to you, which you were kind enough to insert on
Sunday last, that "that great fosterer of the legitimate drama"
(meaning, of course, Mr. Materea4), " never gave more than
306/. for a five act play," I did not make it appear that I al-
luded only to Mr. M.'s memorable moral management (de-
lightful alliteration) of Old Drury, and which was preceded by
an oration at the Literary Fund dinner, remarkable only fur
egotism and misstatement, and that awfully virtuous and re-
fulgent squib, otherwise the preliminary circular pre-
paratory to opening the previously desecrated temple
of Shakspcare, where the really beautiful scenic effects
of Acis and Galatea, and the Anglicised Italian opera
of Sappho (not taken from the French), restored it to its pris-
tine and originally-conceived glory. What with the plated
encomiums attending Mr. M.'s retirement from Drury-lane,
and I had forgotten " the blaze," as one of his friends terraed
it, with which he went out of Covent-garden, where Shak-
speare was so painted and guarded with copper lace, that he
" smelt April and May" as much as any master of ceremonies
to a sweep's holiday. Talk of resuscitating Shakspeare! why
lie would nut have known himself, his eyes would have been
" worth all the rest o' the other senses," and he would
have exclaimed, with Nell in the Devil to Pay, " 1
dream'd of Heaven, and this is it." But to the point
in question. lam informed by the Argus-eyed friends of
Mr. Macready, who guard the Hespenan fruit of that
dramatic garden, that he did actually pay 6001. for the play
of Richelieu, having had the Lady of Lyons given hint,
which, according to my calculation, was rating the two at
300/. each ; and that " above 3001. has been paid for
more than one other play." These corrections upon assertion
having reference only, 1 believe, to the management at Covent-
garden, of which I was not thinking at the time I wrote. It
am in error it was suggested that 1 had better be the correc-
tor of that error myself, if you would allow me; though I do
so, owing the party no favour, with the same grace that the
great French actor Le Cain, whose statue stands side by side
with Voltaire and Talma in the hall of the Theatre Francais',
apologised, upon compulsion, to a provincial audience, and
commented with a significant expression, " I never felt de-
graded till now," which forcible appeal was considered suffi-
cient.—l am, Sir, with every respect, your obedient servant,
B. WEBSTER.

ARREST OF MURDERERS AFTER FOURTEEN YEARS.
—About fourteen years ago a most brutal murder was committed
in the town of Maryborough, in the house in which Mr. Turpin
now resides, the perpetrators of which have been arrested, and, it
is hoped, will be broughr to justice. As the circumstances of the
case may not be known to many of our readers, we may here give
them as concisely as possible. A respectable old couple, named
Cowen, resided in the house, with their nephew, and a servant
girl named Grimes ; a man and his wife, named Drennan, whowere
in the habit of working for them, alto resorted to the house. A con.
spiracy was entered into between the nephew and the others to take
away the lives of his relatives, that he might get their property ;
and on the evening of the murder he took his uncle to evening
prayers, leaving his aunt alone in the house. Grimes took the
dogs out of the way, and Drennan entered by the back door, and
with a loaded butt drove the poor woman's spectacles into her
brain, as she sat reading. He then dragged her towards the hall
door,lthat it might appear she had fallen down stairs. Drennan's
wife then went over to see that the foul deed was accomplished,
and finding that she still breathed, she chopped her face
nearly off with a spade. Circumstances came out which at.
tached suspicion to the nephew, and he was tried, but for want
of evidence was discharged on his own recognisance. Grimes
has since led a wretched life; and having been some time ago ar-
rested for some crime, she was put in gaol, fell dangerously ill, and
has made a full confession of the foregoing facts. She has since
got better, but still persists in her statement; and on her deposi-
tions Drennan and his wife have been arrested. For two years
subsequent to the murder, Drennan, though repeatedly sought for,
could not be found; and it is reported that Cowen, the nephew,
was killed in • drunken row shortly after the crime. But it is
earnestly hoped that the perpetrators of this diabolical deed will
soon be brought to deserved punishment.—Minster Eepress.

EXECUTION OF JOIIN ROBE/tn.—On Saturday
this unfortunate man, convicted of the murder of Lord
Derby's gamekeeper, suffered the last penalty of the law at
Liverpool. About half-past eleven the prisoner, accompanied
by the Rev. Mr. Appleton, Mr. Amos the late, and Mr.
Gibbs, the present Governor of the gaol, entered the chapel,
where he partook of the sacrament. On leaving it be em-
braced, in the most affectionate terms, his companion,
Jim Hunt. He placed his arms round Hunt's neck,
and pressed him most warmly. At this leave-taking
his firmness, which was so marked during his subsequent
movements, appeared for a moment to desert him—but it
was only for a moment, for when the Chaplain on the one
side, and one of the officers of the prison on the other,
moved forward, he took his place between them, and walked
with as much apparent nerve as those about him. After the
usual ceremonies, the bolt was withdrawn, and the prisoner
fell, the crowd setting up a hideous yell, the expression, ap-
parently, of their feelings of horror at the shock rather than of
bad feeling towards the dying man. He struggled violently for
a few seconds, and then ceased to move.
EXECUTION AT YORK.—Between twelve and one
o'clock on Saturday Joseph Dobson, who was 25 years of age, was
executed behind the Castle at York, for the wilful murder of his
father, by shoting hiai at Mount Tabor, near Halifax, on the 4th
of July last. The usual procession accompanied him to the scat.
fold, the burial service being read in an impressive manner. On
the termination of the funeral prayers, Mr. Salvin shook hands with
the culprit, saying, " Good by— God bless you, Dobscn ;" to which
he distinctly replied, " I am in His arms now." His lips con-
tinued moving in prayer until the executioner placed the cap upon
his head, and after adjusting the rope with much minuteness, the
bolt was drawn, and tho poor fellow launched into eternity. His
struggles were scarcely perceptible.
COLOSSAL LONDON.—AII admit London to be en-
titled to the appellation of " the great Metropolis ;" and yet few
are, perhaps, aware of its really immense and colossal extent,
From a curious calculation it has been estimated that, to make
another metropolis, It would require 534 towns as large as Hunt-
ingdon !-534 towns to make one city I Further, that 69 of the
principal cities and towns of England (including Liverpool, Bristol,
Birmingham, Nottingham, &c.) would not produce a population
equal to that of Giant London, It is also calculated that a POP
tion equal to th* of the city of Salisbury, is added to London
every three months