The Sun.
London, England, 1828-09-19 00:00:00

ANECDOTE OF MR. KEAN.

I was walking, my purse being somewhat low,
from --- to Waterford, on my to join the thea-
trical company in that city; and being uncommonly
t
being exceedingly hot, stopped
a!ty
tiiarsiitl alend the
public-house by the road-side. In front
of the house stood a very large tree, and under it
was placed a rude bench and table. On the beach
sat an elderly hearty-looking man in a red waistcoat
and blue coat. From his appearance, I -supposed
him to be a bailiff or servant of some sort to some
gentleman in the neighbourhood' He eyed me at-
tentively for a long time, and at last addressed me,
by observing it was very unpleasant walking on such
a hot day, and then asked 'me how far I was going.
Not being used to disguise what I was or who I
was, I frankly told himl was a player, going to join
the Waterford company. The old man seemed
much pleased at this information, shook me heartily
by the hand, and insisted on my going home to his
house, which he said was but a short distance.
Being thus pressed, and little inclined to walk much
farther that day, at least during the heat, I accepted
his invitation, and proceeded towards his domicile.
I fully expected to arrive at some cottage or farm i
house at the most ; judge my surprize then, when
we arrived at the porter's lodge of a fine Park, with
an elegant modern building, the residence of it owner.
My guide pulled tte bell. Well, thought Ito my-
self, ha is I suppose then the porter or perhaps a
game-keeper. I was mistaken. A servant in
livery made his appearance--opened the gate--and
showed those marks of respect only paid to a supe-
rior. My Cicerone walked very fast, and continued
to chat in the most frmiliar manner possible, an on
every possible subject, till we arrived at the man-
sion. A liveried sesvant conducted us into a very
handsome lofty room, most superbly furnished—
many elegant oil paintings decorated the roam. At
a table sat a lady reading, and at another table, near
a window opening upon a beautiful lawn, sat a young
lady intent upon thawing. On our entrance they
both rose and received us with en air of well-bred
women, combined with a hearty welcome, which
showed how much they loved my kind inviter.
Refreshments were soon ordered in abundance.
I wanted but little 'inducement to pay my re-
spects to them--and never felt myself more at
home. 'The ladies had retired, and -my host
with a bottle of excellent claret-upon the table, be,,
came still more animated. He listened apparently
with the greatest pleasure to a number of theatrical
stories which I related ; I may perhaps be allowed
to say I have a pretty good stock, and have the
credit of telling them in tolerable style. I shall not
not attempt to tell all that possed ; it must suffice
that we retired as sometimes happeneth to all his
Majesty's lieges. In the morning I partook, in com-
pany with my host and family, of a real Irish break-
fast; after which we, at his request, withdrew into
a private room, when, addressing me in the kindest
manner, he said he supposed I was not over-loaded
with cash, and throwing down at least a hundred
guineas, he pressed me to take as many as I pleased.
Having refused this munificent offer in the most po-
sive terms, he then declared that if I informed him
when my benefit took place, he would at all events
be there, and support me to to the utmost of his
abilities. (He faithfully kept his promise.) I ex-
pressed my admiration and astonishment at his
generosity, when stepping up to me, while ani-
mation and pleasure beamed in every feature of his
countenance, the old man seized my hand, and
giving it a hearty shake, bade me be seated.—
He then said, " It is new many years ago that one
day as I was seated under the same tree, in.front
of the public house on the Waterford road ; I saw a map,
with his wife and a litte boy, trudging along the road. They
seated themselves on the same bench you sat upon yester-
day. I fell into conversation with him—invited him and
his wife home—treated him as you have been treated this
day—and in the morning, after much pressing, the man
took twenty guineas of me, and pursued his journey to
Waterford.—A few years since, as I was sitting at the
window where my daughter sat when you first saw her I
observed a strange equipage drive up the avenue—from
which a strange gentleman alighted, and was introduced to
me. Sir, said he, lam come to pay you a debt of grati-
tude, and to return you thanks for the kindness and libe-
rality you showed me many years ago. I could not recall
his person or the circumstance to my mind, till he men-
tioned the old tree and other details. He then presented
me with the money I had lent, and poured forth his ad-
miration of my conduct in terms I cannot repeat; and in-
formed me of his unparalleled success ; need I add that this
man, whom I once saw so poor, and who now stood before
as the first performed of the age, was Edmund Kean."
Brighton. Gazette. THESPIS.

A nobleman in Ayrshire has the following
very proper advice placed over his kitchen fire, in large
letters :—" Neither waste nor want."—Glasgow Chron.
That beautiful phenomenon in the heavens,
popularly called a lunar rainbow, was distinctly visible
here for a considerable time last night:— Greenock Adv.
Six different actions are commenced
wealthy comedian, always " at Lune" to his friends,
iw.,',,/,,:),
was rash enough to embark in one of the bubble comp; i
ii to be
during the existence of the mania. The,sumf'h(e)"gdemands
recovered amount to some thousand pounos. s
Sunday
are resisted by the irritable " son of THESPI:.
Tinges.iN lIDDLESEX MAGISTRATES. Yesterday
o f Magistrates as-
morning, at eleven o'clock,
Mr. CONS? had been appoin.tev,
that he would, at the next
beg
n
e
shops, together with a yard for
syeeianri)d ei‘di
ra.t
FtLhoe,,irnß Sessions
whichgagave notice,
hldrliasootptftittiots,h,rneead,frt:e,lCC3(ose')hittenhorcikeutriliernliilpa:ini'ieo:(3.lfli
oel'airrlnteiittateeetig(lcificiotl:juiu(lsifiitttan-ile
vagrants; and
le
vagrants, an
I for boys : and that there should in
fift • female
alsoH, Generali.
sae s
of
fpCa
Correctionorautdie• tt,p,coco,elis•
ate;:nvd(ai
ri.„ d
acid
the male vagrants ..
breaking stones,
if n ovided. The whole of this might, he calculated,
e
ebaes-,l‘yffe'crt,4 fora stun not exceeding 10,000/., and by it
convenient provision would be made for between 700 and
sop prisoners at present confined in that prison. Sir G.
FARRANT also gave notice, that whereas the late Act of
Parliament amply provided for the regulation of Private.
Mad-houses, he would at the next Quarter sessions move,
~ that no further steps be taken for the present towards
erecting a Lunatic Asylum for this county." Some other
business was then disposed of, and the Meeting adjourned.

. . ..
The Russians have a tolenibly good sort
of beer (pivo), which is commonly drank, and
resembles the German beer... But at.the tables
of the great, English bottledporter is considered
a luxury. Spirituous-liquors, however, seem to
be the rage among, the lower daiseg; and un-
fortunately, there is nO lack of means for procur-
ing them. There. is an open kabak :girdle corner
of every street; ready to .receive the sitabtind
and'the idle, who for a few kopecks .can burn
their throats and their digestive tubes to their
heart's content. I expectedmore outward and
visible tokens of popular drunkennessrfrom what
I had read of• St. Petersburgh, than-_I actually
observed.; and yet. I' walked. in the. evening veryg-,
frequently, in preference to riding, -and certainly
met much . less interruption froM drunkards than
I have- in. London, when
humble dwelling at night, ' -
profes-
sional succour to the patients.trudging ' to - some
to carry some
tutions. The cheapness, of git h
of charitable insti-
-1 as certainly
worked a wonderful change in this respect in
London, particularly among the lower classes of
women, so many of whom are constantly to be
seen going into, or emerging from, gin shops, in
a state of inebriety in which I never once saw a
Russian female during my stay in St. Peters-
burgh. No one can better ascertain such a fact
than the physician of a large dispensary. I can-
not be much in error when I aver, that the pre-
valence of drunkenness among the lower classes
in the -metropolis in 1817, and that in 1827,
are in the proportion of one to three ; not only
because we see three times as many pot-valiants
about' the street and id'hOusea* but because, in
the execution of our professional duty, three
times as many cases of disease, resulting front
hard drinking, now come under our notice.*
The. internal arrangement of a Kabak is not very
unlike one of the London sai,disant wine vaults
and gin shops: There appeared to me, from the
slight experience I have had, a very marked differ
recce between the drunken Russian and the
I witnessed of the former, the parties were invari-
ably English rabble. In all the instances which
ably merry and good-natured ; not savage and
brutal, particularly towards women. I have
hinted in another place at the prodigious quan-
tity of Champagme consumed in St.—Peters-
burgh. Other wines are also much esteemed and
drunk by all above the humble classes ; a glance
at the list of imports annexed to the 'present
volume will give an idea of the germerl
consumed. In the South of Russia they .are
striving to improve indigenous wine ; but as yet
it is not so good even as that of Ackerman,
which enjoys a certain degree of
isicessaaries, reputation.
quantity
After all, the best, the purest, the .must grateful,
the. most delightful, and really
Petersburg!), is time water of the Neva. Oh,
national beverage ialthY
of , the- inhabitants of St.
commend me to the water of that river, for
quenching thirst, pleasing the palate, and assist-
ing digestion ! Malvern water must yield the
palm to it ; and so, I take it, must every other
water in the world. According to the best
analysis made of this real nectar (the thing I re-,
gret most at St. Petersburgh), it would appear
that in fifty pints of it, taken up in the centre of
the town, only four grains of calcareous earth,
and five grains of vegetable extract, were found
to be present. 0 filices nimium, those who
can enjoy such a luxury con amore, and are two
thousand miles from the Dolphin and the Chel-
sea Hospital water courses ! The limpid and
ambrosial liquid should be taken up in the middle
stream of the Neva, in order to have it in per-
fection. When obtained near the shores whert4
there are no granite banks, it is somewhat turbid,
and its taste by no means genuine. The in-
habitants of St. Petersburgh, high and low, are
as fond of tea as I am of their Neva water ; but
I should be sorry to be condemned to drink the
former again, not because it is bad, but, on the
contrary, because it is too good. The perfume
and sapid qualities of their best sort of tea art
such as I have never tasted before ; and the
Sect of both upon the nerves is very distressing.
The Russians are quite finical about tea making
and tea drinking, and understand both arts fully
as well as, if not better than, the English. Their
tea urn, or Samowat, is quite a piece of ma-
chinery, and admirably calculated for its pur-
poses. The tea used in St. Petersburgh reaches
that market direct from China overland, and the
best is sold at ten rubles the Russian peund.
It, is presumed that, from the circumstance of
its not travelling by sea, the Russian tea re-
oSfstimo7st.erTsbluleryg are not, some
re-
tains all its bloom and strength,h which
makes
lint
xii'sePelpa all,e
d , situated so as to strike a
English tea loses during a long sea-voyage.
I know not how far this may be correct.
generally on the high basement,
story. Even those that are more
oafewnindifferent Take
o,
o of them
t it stranger,1 it
1:
e being
first
en all
ri
sn
tdegi
favourably exposed to view, as in the Nevskoi
gPi rnoi,
Isipnegk ta,nfdo r
middle
o f particularly
that street ar e about
ei
either
htehre b e
hid-
den- under piazzas, or concealed by projecting
columns, so as not to present that continued line
of shops, one more splendidly decorated and
flankedon the principal
ons skirting
i n g
richly stored than the other, which flanks our
finest in Europe. The Russian shops known
Regent, and makes it, without question, the
by the generic name of Gostinoi Dvor, claim the
T he Gostinoi Dvor is
first notice. This is an extensive pile of build-
ings of an almost triangular form, consisting of
lsidel obrc wide streets, the
an inner and an outer range of shops, two stories
high, placed all round, with a court in the
middle. An arcade runsin front ofthose that are
outside time building on the ground, as well as
it to time North, Nevskoi
colonnade.
Prospekt where it pre-
The building is
nd and fifty feet lon 0
one thousand g, and the shops,
d in two rows, are 340 •
dispose in number. All
conveniences, and even ' luxuries of'
which! the same' kinds of com-
maities are sold are placed together. What-
, ever imagination can devise,
with respect to time
handsome
life, is to be found •
in this place, which about the
middle of the day, being crowded with passen-
gers and carriages, assumes appearance • the of a
small town. Hard bargaining is the order of
the day. A young fellow is generally stationed
outside of each shop,- to allure passengers by a
rapid enumeration of the chefs d'oeuvre contained
those shhoapn:
within. Some of these shops arc really baud-
some, and fitted up with taste ; and their dif-
ferent commodities are sold at very reasonable
prices. - .

riennte.:,hunkenness were yet wet
State of the Metropolis was fromi,
ol*i c
et These
Committee
h andowhen the Report of the
pre-
sented to the House of Commons, wherein I find the truth
of my remark strongly attested, and illustrated by facts
which ate attributed to the same Cause—gin drinking.—
Dr. Granville:, Russia.
hands
s oe
fr :: i
thet itoh neps

The small village of Antisana, on the side of
the mountain of: the same name, one of the Andes, is si-
tuated at the amazing height of 13,500 feet above the
sea, and is considered to be the highest inhabited spot on
the surface of the globe.