The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-30 00:00:00

HElt MAJIISTY'S VISIT TO THE
CONTINENT.

Copunn, AUG. 24.--`I his will touch
upon two most incongruous subjects—the church anti the
theatre—inc,mgrunus, at least. in England, but not so
here, if cite may judge from the manner in which the
Sunday is spent. Thee strict onservers of religious
forms who, in England, are shocked to hear Low the
Sabbath is spent in Roman Cattiehe c,,untries on the
continent will he transported with horr,..r, to knew
that the very sate, or no irly the I,ieter deseeration
take, p'ac• eerie, it, this Prot:-taut :stare. The people
attend Divine service in the merniug, a d in the al-
terno-n and tgvetiing. as in most U oleoic vow, tries,
th y recr, at, th tug, iv s with niu-ic, thouting, sing
lug, or any ()Vier amu,ezheets ,hart coal, within
their red. h. The place wh•-re the festival of Gt.-igo-
rius was bell the other day is now en -it inereai ,orupi‘oe
fair. A travelling th, acre is opeti, where tumbl-rs and
.tinjurors i,xitiint their feat, ; the r unda'aiuts are in
full play. and th re are crewels of pi,opl, of all ages
and class s, and of both sexes, who are eithrx dancing
to the net nest ef music, or sittbz it the booths
drinking beer and smoking. Others are busily iingagw'i
some in fryieg, and more in eating, sausages cooked al
fresco. The children of the town schools with the dresses
they IA ore at the festival, the boys in their fancy cos-
Lanes, and the girls in their white dresses and their
heads boned with ivy, are waltzing away in a buildio.g
which stands on the ground, to which they are evidently
admitted by authority. These are the Sunday amuse-
ments
of the inferior classg,s ; fir the higher, there are
concerts and other muskal reunions. Under the late
Duke the theatre was always open on the Sund:iy even-
mg, but since the accession of the present Duke that
practice has been discontinued.
To come, however, to the proceedings of her Majesty.
Last night she visited the theatre, and this morning at-
tended Divine service at the church of St. Maurice, at
Saxe Coburg.. The former comes first in the order of
time.

The theatre of Saxe Coburg is a handsome building,
the external form and architecture of which are unpre-
tending and appropriate, and the internal decorations
elegant. In form and size it somewhat resembles the
Haymarket, but it is, if anything, larger than that
theatre. The shape and arrangement of the interior
almost proclaim it to be the place of royal amusement.
The whole of the centre of the dress circle, from the one
bend of the house to the other, is occupied with a
spacious royal box, which, of course, directly fronts the
stage, and commands a better view than the royal
boxes in English theatres, so oddly placed either at the
proscenium, or .close to it, and from which only a very
imperfect coup d'tril can be obtained. But the attend-
ance of the Duke and his family at the theatre is so
constant that any other arrangement would seriously
interfere with their gratification. There is over the
dress circle a second circle, and over that two galleries.
The parterre exactly corresponds to our pit, and there
are also stalls, called he parquet. Some idea of the
rate of prices will be formed from the fact that the ad-
mission to the parquet and the dress circle is 2s. Bd. of

our money.
The stage is about the siza of 'that at the Haymarket,
and much better furnisled with bckuery tort " proper
ties." The dresses alas), without being qeite first-rate,
are better than are tmrelly met with in our large theatres.
The play selected foes performance, in order to 'give the
Queen an opeortuuity of seeing toe different kinds of
German theatrivala, was Schills r's 13- ide of ilessino, in
which the fire and genius of the poet etr-geled almos
in vain Kith the rigid forms he was costfined to in hi,
attempt to Construct a tragedy on the old Greek model
The plot is as painful and revolting as the txperimen
of the poet was in a drsmatic point of view wai.; inerte
but the language is full of nervous energy, • god the
sentiment ie -.often dFlicate in the ..xtrsene. Tee OW
idea of a fate or destiny, cesepelling all the character•
in the drama toe nrds a lame unc,,nsinou3 partni•
patison in a dreedful cetastrephe, is pre•ersed in
this imitation of the Greek tragedy. A propte c', indi-
cates the dowufal awe roy el house of Mesterei. to .fate
from the birth of a princess, lied, to evede the fulfil.
tnent of this toredictio.., the :nether of a eeneeter, we
in course of time is born to the b 005.% c010...0ts . fe:i
of her birth, !sad brings her op in
Convent. Here she is disc-vs-red b) one of 'll- two
Prince 3of Messina, ser brothers in fret, ho lee-eines
enamoured of her, as also does the saber b subse
quently. A tleaikr . ninny is aroused her w. en the two,
-and the fluc'uatiens of chi* hate buoys.. n easeion and
reconeilintioe, brouget about by their mother, who i,
not aware that the cause of their enmity is th,ir sister,
form, together with the aexieties of the lovers, she chief
part of the plot of the piece. The great art of the dra-
matist consists in the skill with which be has brought
the different parties into contact, arid yet allowed each
to keep his or her secret. until at last the two bro-
thers, on a fresh burst of passion, fly to arms. One
kills the other, and then commits suicide from remorse,
and the Princess (the Bride of Messina) now for the
first time made aware that the favoured lover is in fact
her brother. dies under the accumulate d affliction. A
plot like this does not seem the most appropriate for a
.publio.theatee; ..but they have different ideas on these
subjects in 'Germany fro n those which prevail in
England.
The performance began at about seven o'clock. The
royal visitors, who with their attendants occupied more
than half the dress circle, did not all arrive together.
Her Majesty arrived shortly after the play began. It
was a singular circumstance, perhaps it is a pint of
etiquette, that none but reigning Princes and Princesses
sat in the front seats of the royal box. Even Prince
Albert sat in the ordinary dress circle, with the Duchess
of Kent. The Queens of England and of Belgium sat
in the centre, and on their right and left the King of the
Belgians and the Grand Duke of Baden. Coffee and
ices were brought into the box in profusion, arid. eaten
with the 40' 'qmifect ease and nonchalance before the
audience.
There is the same absence of ceremony and exclusive-
ness in the theatre here that has been stated to exist in
the pabces. Everything seems open to the public eye,
even the private houses and villas on the road side have
no fences or railings round them.
The. royal party seemed to be much interested in the
acting, which, on the whole, was good. Between the
acts a fine orchestra played some airs, as also the marches
and choruses which are incidental to the play. Tee
regal party left at about half-past 10 o'clock, on their
return to Reeenau, attendee by outriders, carrying
enormous flambeaux.-
- This morning the Royal party attended Divine service
at the Church of St., Maurice, in Coburg—a structure
of unpretending:Chtiketer, whitewashed' in the in:eritir
and presenting a very bare and common-place, but
no doubt a very good Protestant. contact to the
gorgeous splendours of the church. 8 and cathedrals
in Catholic countries. The church is of very
plain conatrucuon, without transepts, and the only
appearance of ornernent about it consists in
a stupendous monument to three deceased Dukes of
Saxe Coburg, the tomb of whom, placed as it is, before
the communism table, leeks exactly like an altar. The
upper part of tie. monutn.-nt consists of sculptured
figures, life-size (the fee es painted in imitation of flesh).
and some very spirited sculptured scenes from scriptwe.
There are no pews in the church. but the ho 'y it fitted
with seats, and approprist•-•ti ex,iu_i,ely to eales, the
galleri, s being 4 ccupi..l b 3 the tn:tie Th.. •i
overlooks the c .inm•Aito!..t4ide It tA ri•orn
than spew. heing shut itfwiiti wind ,w.,, wiiich were ti.ov,
of course, thrtvin (yeti. Tr, pu.pt is ax ~.ti.)
and the realiog-itesk un the fl .‘ r, be;..w, tAvey, th
tw... thi,sseeeeisse, thechildren oho assisteti a, tn.-file
of Gregorius on Ft iday were all a ass•.mb.eri In the chan-
cel, in the dt•,sea they wore the girls :vreathed with ivy,
and the effect the warm bright sanlight Was very pic-
turesque.
Her Majs sty, the Prince. the Ceburg Princes, the
liteg and Q.teen of the Belgians, and r-e suite, arrived
at the church at about a quarter to 11 o'clock. * They
were received by the clergymen in.their robes, and con-
ducted over a carpeted way to the royal pew. The ser-
vice then conitneneed, the church being crowtied with
people. The service, began with the chanting of a few
verses by the clergymen standing at the Communion_
table, to which -there were respoeses from t•le choir.
Then the congregation generally joined in a hymn ;
then portions of Scripture were read, then another
hymn and a short prayer, and then followed the sermon ;
after which there was a blessing from the Communion-
table, as in a Roman Catholic church. A military
brass band was stationed in the church, tied accom-
panied with their music the chaisting of a T'e I)eum—
not the Te Deurn of our churches, but a sort of hymn in
rhyme. The music was composed by Schicht. Thus
wars sung by the choir alone. The effi--ct of this hymn,
and of the fine eolume- of' sound tolling through the
church, was magnificently grand. In certain parts of
the service the congregation also sung, and in a manner
which evidenced sound musical training, Producing an
effect very different from t .at of our English psalmody.
The service lasted till twelve o'clock, and the royal
party left the church to return to Rosenau. From the
foregoing sketch it will be seen that there was much in
this performance of divine worship quite different from
our English custom. Still more strange was it to see a
great part of the congregation adjourn to the outskirts
of the town where, in the course of half an hour, many
were riding on hobby-horses, or witnessing, the exploits
of conjurors, while the little boys and girls were waltz-
ing away in happy ignorance that there could be any im-
propriety of that sort of innocent enjoyment.

COURT CIRCULAR.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, Prince
Alfred, the Princess R-yal, and the Princess Alice were
taken on the sea-beach on Wednesday inort;ing, and
were taken airings in the pleasure grouuds of Osborne
Hou,e, the slime afternoon.

On Thursday morning the juvenile Ro) al Family all
walked on the ti,-:ach. In the afrernoon the Prince of
%1%1,5, Prikiee Alfred, aiid the Princess Royal rode on
ponies in the plea,ure grounds. The Princess Alice
was also taken an airing.
Murphy, the Mexican Minster, transacted bir
ness yesterday at the For ign office.
Mr. Gr, hurl an interview with Sir James Craham
yesterday, at the t!otth -office.

otr p,sterclay evening, from the
Ci)l,.nitil-.,dire, for tho cliwern.,r of' SiPrra Leone.

.Lady Cowan, the wi!low aryl r•-iiet of the late Al-
derman Sir John Cowan, Bart., has by her will. made in 1843,
b. queathed the whole of her estates. troth real and personal. to
her brother, .Itullett, Esq of Brighton, for his absolute
use, anti appoitited him sole executor. She executed a codicil
the week bel,re her death, lead ig a legacy of 5001. to Catlik,
rine, the daughter of :lir. Jahn Beaton, of the Bank of
land. With this exception her brother takes he a hole of her
property. The personal estate is sworn under 14,00 d/. Her
Ladyship died on the 7th inst., at Forest-hill, Sytienliam.
ritiliTlNG.—Thursilay morning a man
named ••ames Goodhue, . recently in the service of a gentleman
residing at Charlton, In Kent, expired at St. Thomas's Hos,
pital, from the effects of severe internal injuries which he heti
received in a fight a few days since. ire decea,,eit was very
brutally treated by the man whom ‘ he.
%N ?s ighting with, as it
is stated that he Jum.
9J2
PC(PAPO-4 41. e deceased's stomach several
Masi whilst he vfas ',tog the frand,
• • •-