The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-03 00:00:00

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ADELPHI THEATRE.
Spanish plots seem at present to be in the %scene-s,. , se."
dant in the dramatic, as well as in the political eieerldo:-"',l'kale
and accordingly we find that a new Spanish drama
was produced here last evening, under the tit:o cif
Sidonia di Molina. The action takes place during'the
war of the Succession, which was terminated by the
Peace of Utrecht, and the hero of the piece is the
Duke de Saavedra (Mr. Hudson), who, although
nominally a partisan of the Archduke, the Austrian
candidate for the throne, is in reality a partisan of the
Duke. of Anjou, the French candidate, son of Louhi
XIV+ and who ultimately, as king Philip, ascended
the Swish throne. At the opening of the play
Saavedra is on the point of marriage with a daughter
of a neighbouring grandee, but the match is broken
off on account of his profligate character. Just at
(his juncture the Baron de Madly (Mr. Selby), a
French officer, enters and informs Seaetdra
that his intrigues have been discovered, lhat
the Archduke has ordered his arrest, and that Lie
only chance of saving his estates is to settle them itn-
mediately on his wife. A wife is consequently wanted,
And steward, Nunoz (Mr. Wright), prov.des him
with one in the person of Sidonia di Molina (M drone
Celeste), a poor girl who has been brought up in a
neighbouring convent, and who consents to the match
to save the life of her father, a prisoner in the hands of
Saavedra. There is barely time to sign the marriage
contract and the settlement of the estates, en
lecade enters, arrests Saavedra by virtue of a se arraut
from the Archduke, and conveys hint it p -bore e to
Nledrid. The castle is sacked, and Sidonia, di.ge;;,en
a Franciscan friar, flies under the protectien
Nunoz. They fall into the hands dm party .o.Freneli
.01diers commanded by the Baron de AlaTy; and in
the Baron, Sidonia recognises a young officer with
whom she had fallen desperately in love some time
nefore. lle discov-rs that tile pretended frier is a
woman, and the woman whom he adores, but hie suit
rejected, for her marriage with Saavedra is an
nsuperable obstacle. Saavedra, who has escaped
i'rotn Madrid, arrives in the French camp just as the
Baron is about to sally forth on a mconnaisit, ce. Ile
learns from the Baron that he is in love, and bets
him 10,000 pistoles that he discovers and e ins the
lady in three months. The pretended Franciscan is
brought to Sriavedra's tent, tied su' jec ed to all arts
if insults. 'We must protest against the intro luctit
into this part of the piece a scene of " pra3ers for
two," as Saavedra profanely calls it, which will, we
iope, be omitted in all future representations. In a
' !remade point of view it may, perhaps, be not inefe
teethe, but it is in veryl-al taste, and ikcalcitlated to
shoe( the prejudices—if you will— of a numerous
class, who are at present not inclintel to regard dra-
matic amusements with an unfavourable eye, and
whose good-will it is policy to conciliate. It is not
necessary for the conduct of the plct, and the piece
would not go the worse for its entire omission. All
such parr:K.4:s of religious ceremonies are highly
objectionable. The Baron enters, and then Saavedra
discovers that the friar, whom he has inellted, is now
no other than the lady whom he has undertaken to
win. A lapse of some months intervene between
the second and third acts. In the third act
we find Philip on the throne of Spain, and
Sidonia installed as Camerara Mayor to the
Queen at the Palace of Buen Retiro. The
Baron, raised to the dignity of a grandee of Spain, is
anxious to form an alliance with the all-powerful
Camerara. Saavedra has just returned from an em-
bassy to Rome, where he has procured a divorce (rem
his wife, which only awaits her signature to 11.11%11
effect, and on the strength of which he also is making
love to the Camerara. By chance he meets with
Nunoz, and offers him a rich reward to discover his
wife, hoping, by means of a bribe, to induce her to
c)nsent to the divorce. He hands the divorce to
Sidonia, to convince her that he shall soon be free ;
she siezes it, signs it, and gives her hand to the Baron
Saavedra, discovering, too late, that the Camerara is
his own Duchess, losing, at the same time, his wife,
his bet, and his reward to Nunoz. The piece was
admirably acted by Madame Celeste, Hudson, atei
Selby. Wright, as the Steward, was i,resistibly
funny, and Miss \Voolgar, ae his wife, and Paul 13ed-
ford, as a drunken French dragoon, made a erect deal
of two rather insignificant parts. On the ammunee-
ment of the piece for repetition there wes a slight
attempt at opposition, which was, however, it-wee-
diately overruled, and the piece may be considert'd as
having been completely successful. The admirable
drama of the Mysterious Stranger followed, and the
burlesque of Norma concluded the evening's enter-
tainment, amidst the hearty laughter of a uurnernus
audience.

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MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT,__FouIt
. LIVES LOST,
Yesterday morning, between six and seven o'clock,
a lamentable accident took place in the drift- way, or
guide mine, of the tunnel at present forming under
the New I'own, in connexion with the Edinburgh,
Leith, and Granton Railway, which, we regret to says
proved fatal to no fewer than four of the workmen,
The tunnel is about two thirds of a mile in length,
and runs in a straight line from Canal-street 'neneath
St. Andrew's-street and square, Duke-.street, and
Dublin-street, to the foot of Scotland-:Areet, where it
opens into the Mill Ilaugh at the beck of Canonmills.
The drift-way of the tunnel, which was about
six feet square, was all completed, with the ex-
ception of a small,, barrier about midway near
the foot of Duke-street. In order to remove
this, and to !et off the water which was known to have
accumulated in the upper portion of the mine, work-
men have been employed for upwards of a week past,
It appears, however, that in consequenee of some in-
accuracy in running the drift mines of the tunnel, the
southern and northern portions passed each other at
the point where they should have met; and hence the
difficulty of joining the two—the workmen not being
aware of this deviation. On Thursday, they began
to have an idea that the two were not exactly oppo.
site, from seeing several small jets of water Issuing
from the west side of the mine ; and some alarm
was even then entertained b 7 the 'workmen that
they would be flooded. The flow from this
source, however, soon stopped, and the men pro-
ceeded with the work, which is carried on without
intermission day and night, one set of men being re-
lieved every few hours by another. When the acci-
dent occurred (which was about a quarter past six),
the two night ahiftmen, John Blair and James
Philips, were still working, though it was beyond
the time that they ought to have been relieved, the
other two having, fortunately fur themsfAves, been
rather later than usual in coming to their work that
morning. Mr. Peter Mitchell, brother of one of the
contractors, and Mr. Thomas Erskine, ganger, had
also just gone down to see how the work was getting
on. The former went down from mere curiosity,
How the accident occurred is not known, as all who
were in the tunnel at the moment have perished ; bat
it is supposed that the water, which had accumulated.
in the upper mine, had suddenly broken in upon them,
and swept them all away in the torrent.
The first notice which was given to those above
the ground that something had gone wrong, was
by a boy, named Jack, who had just gone down the
shaft in Dublin-street (about seventy yards below
where the barrier was), and who, hearing a fearful
rumbling noise like thunder, and suspecting that the
water had burst, instantly gave the signal to be pulled
up, which was promptley obeyed, and he reached the
surface just in time to escape in safety, for in a mo-
ment afterwards the water came rushing up the
shaft with tremendous violence, striking the roof
of the wooden shed which covers the opening..
and rushing down the street. This shaft is about
sixty feet deep. Nor was this all, for in another
moment a second rush of water was seen forcing its
way upwards through the street, about 150 yards
further down, and flooding the area of the shop oc,
pied by Mr. D. Bruce, spirit-dealer there. A; this
spot there hail formerly been a shaft sunk, which was
afterwards covered up, which accounts for the water
coming up in that direction.
The bodies of Thomas Erskine and John Blair
were soon discovered near the bottom of the shaft, the
one holding the other by the foot ; but the other two
were not found till between two and four o'clock, in
the afternoon, having been carried much further
down. They were all married men in the prime of
life, and have left wives and families to lament their
untimely loss.
To account for the large body of water, it must be
understood that the ground through which the tunnel
passes is full of springs in all directions, and there
having been no workmen employed in the upper
portion of the mine for a considerable time past, the
water had been allowed to collect. We understand,
from the engineer of the tunnel, that no ground fur
further apprehension exists, the works being unin-
jured, and the body of water nearly removed. Crowds
of people were yesterday collected at the different
spots where the effects of the accident were visible,
and the event created great excitement in every
quarter of the city.
Bailie Mack, Mr. Dymock, Procurator Fiscal, and
Mr. Raining, superintendent of police, were early elf
the spot, to investigate the circumstances conee,k94
with the accident, and several witnesses hae,01304,
--e-e-nosced on the subject.—Scotsman of iSaiturclay.--,

pina
regime 0
an to
IIiCIIEASE OF OFFICERS IN THR I NDIAN All)m-
-a
Orders will be Overlandnext
tonl ca captain Mail
to l%
dia, for the
appointment
regiment f infantry. The Governor-Goneral had autho-
rity.sent outb
oyftah an additional
ti
to this effect when he was appointed ; but in the
,vent of his not having done so, he has been directed to
. arry it into immediate operation. This measure given
•,.n additional threcappointtnents to each Director; and we
.Tncerely hope the sons of a few distinguished and meri-
torious offic.,rs may be provided for. We continue to re--
ceive many extrotrie cars of a total want. of consideration
to the sous of Q.,,at Cers who have done some sorvik* to am
statkr—:Nanal and .Minn; y Gazette.'
THE CHIJIWII IN DANGBII.—The hew church of
St. Lit\Yrellool
about which so many pathetic appea!s hay%
been made to the public regarding its unfinished tower
and uncommenced spire, is already, it appears, falling
into a state of dilapidatiou.—Hcnrshife indevoicient