The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-16 00:00:00

DRURY-LANE THEATRE.

Balfe's grand opera of The Daughter ofSt. Mark
has filled every corner of this theatre during the past
week, and has proved one of the greatest cards the
manager has yet played. The present is the only week
it can he performed in conjunction with The Peri,
in which Mademoiselle Plunkett appears.

DRAMATIC INTELLIGENCE.
We are to have our Christmas pieces this year, in
a manner, before Christmas, and the changes are to
be rung on Dickens's " Chimes" at our theatres
before they are even published. This rather unusual
course is about to be pursued at the Adelphi and at
the Lyceum in the first instance, where productions
founded upon the new Christmas tale of the writer
of " Pickwick," " Oliver Twist," " Martin Chuzzle-
wit," &c., are to be brought out, " by permission of
the author," in the middle of next week. In the one
case the work has been dramatised by Mr. L. Rede
and Mr. G. A'Beckett, and in the other by Mr.
Stirling. We happen to know the principal ingre-
dients of which the two works will be composed,
and it is easy to predict that they will be popular.
The theatres we have named will have the start of
their rivals, but sure we are, that when the tale itself
appears, there is hardly a minor theatre in or near
metropolis that will not bring out some version of it.
Such was the case with Mr. Dickens's last " season-
able" performance ; but the difference now is, that
people are in such a hurry to have and to see it upon
the stage, that they cannot wait even until Christmas
is past. The story itself will be found of a very
novel and attractive character, quite unlike the last
in most essential respects, but with a little ingenuity
not ill-adapted to theatrical purposes; indeed, it seems
to us, that while the author was composing it, he had
eye to its representation on the beards, bearing in
•l the manner in which his former " Carrol" was
run after to all parts of the metropolis.
Scribe's new vaudeville of Rebecca has already
reached this country, b3th in its original and in its
translated form. We shall no doubt soon have it pro-
duced in this country, perhaps, first, at the Princess's
Theatre, to which we are told a version has already
been forwarded. The heroine, as our readers may be
aware from the French papers, is a young Jewess,
who has two lovers, one •of whom is confined in prison,
and near the period of his execution ; he is married
to Rebecca, expecting within an hour to leave her a
widow ; but he is reprieved, and hence arises the di-
lemma, for her other lover hoped to have married her
with her full consent, after the death of her first hus-
band. However, the author, with great inge-
nuity, contrives to overcome the difficulty,
and the piece terminates, not like his former
drama, of which a Jewess is the heroine, with
the firm adherence of the lady to the ancient faith, but
with her somewhat sudden conversion to Christianity.
We doubt how far this instantaneous conviction
might be relished by an English audience, and yet we
cannot see how a happy catastrophe can otherwise be
brought about. Our adapters are unquestionably
very ingenious, and they may accomplish the end in
a way that we do not anticipate ; or, possibly, they
may adhere to the original story.
The vivacious and enterprising lessees of the
Lyceum have been put in possession of an admirable
and most' laughable burlesque en the story of Valen-
tine and Orson, which is in preparation, and is to be
produced immediately after Christmas-day. Prepara-
tions of the same kind are proceeding at Drury-lane,
the Haymarket, and indeed at nearly every theatre,
great and small, in London and its neighbourhood.
A new impulse seems to have been given to theatrical
affairs, and it has been operating most beneficially
during the whole autumn ; people are now beginning
to talk of " going to the play" in something like the
old style, when families were in the regular habit
of visiting a theatre so many times in the season, or
they did not think they had had their due share of
amusement. Thirty or forty years ago most respect-
able tradesmen seldom omitted to take their wives
and families once a fortnight at the least to a dramatic
entertainment of some kind or other.—Observer.

min,

THE FROST.
The weather during Saturday and yesterday has been
most variable, and a thaw has at last succeeded the frost
of the previous ten days. During the early part of
Saturday the mercury was as low as 25 degrees, with a
boisterous wind from the N.E., but by seven o'clock it
had risen to 29 degrees, and at noon to 32 degrees, at
which point it stood at six o'clock in the evening. About
noon the wind veered from N.E. to S.E., and for a short
time to S.S.E., with a light fall of sleet, but just before
one o'clock a fall of snow commenced, which continued
at intervals until eight o'clock in the evening, when the
wind returned to the N.E. The lowest point of the
thermometer at the Royal Humane Society's Receiving-
house, Hyde Park, was, during Saturday night, 31 de-
grees. Yesterday morning at seven o'clock, the mercury
had risen to 35 degrees, a thaw having commenced about
two hours previously. The sky during the morning was
particularly dense and hazy until between ten and eleven
o'clock, when the wind shifted from N.B. to S.E., and
for a time the sun pat tially appeared. Shortly after
eleven o'clock, however, the atmosphere assumed its
former density, and at noon the mercury stood at 39 de-
grees, at which point it remained during the afternoon.
About one o'clock there was a light drizzling rain, which

Continued until nearly two, when the wind was again
N.E. In the early part of last evening the new moon
was visible, but was afterwards obscured by the hazy
state of the atmosphere. At seven o'clock the thermo-
meter in Hyde Park was 37 degrees.
During the early part of yesterday morning, the ice
on the Serpentine was quite dry, and from between seven
and eight o'clock until about nine the skaters enjoyed
some excellent sport ; but their number having then
become much increased, and the cracks in the ice having
been affected by the thaw, some water oozed through,
and eventually the whole surface became covered, in
some parts to the depth of full an inch. Throughout
the middle of the day and the afternoon, the number of
spectators was very great, but the number of the skaters
during the day did not exceed 4,000. Towards evening
the ice became very dangerous. About three o'clock
much amusement was occasioned by a lady, accompanied
by a respectably-dressed man, appearing with skates on
the ice. For about an hour she performed various
evolutions with much ability, but she then had a fall, and
immediately left the ice. About four o'clock, a number
of lads, coaling off the ice to the north shore, were im-
mersed, but the water not being more than two or three
feet deep, they were immediately got out. At an early
h3ur yesterday morning, printed bills, of which the fol-
lowing is a copy, were posted against the trees round
the ice:—
" Notice.—ln case of accident on the ice, the public
are requested not to crowd round the spot, nor to inter-
fere with the icemen. J. Charlier, Secretary, Royal
Humane Society."
The number of skaters on the Serpentine on Saturday
was about 6,000. No accidents occurred.
On the Round-pond in Kensington-gardens the number
of skaters on Saturday was 3,000, and on the Long-water
4,000, without any accidents. Yesterday, on the latter
piece of ice, the number of skaters was nearly the same.
Amongst them were several members of the Skating
Club, who were easily distinguished by the silver skate
suspended from their necks. On the Round-pond,
although the ice was throughout the day nearly dry, not
above 600 skaters ventured upon it. No accidents oc-

curred.
The ornamental lake in St. James's-park'was attended,
on Saturday, by about 3,000 skaters and sliders. The.
ice was in excellent condition, and in thickness about
three inchei and a half. Yesterday, u the day ad-
vanced, the continued thaw having melted the snow,
rendered the ice sloppy and disagreeable. There were,
however, about 3,000 skaters and sliders during the day,
and the banks were crowded with well-dressed company.
No serious accident occurred.
In the Regent's-park, where, as we mentioned on
Saturday, the ice was very much cut up, and so full of
flaws as likely to prove dangerous in the event of a thaw,
4bopt 0,000 sitaters and sliders attended on that day, the
banks being lined with spectators, but yesterday the ice
was found to be sloppy and dangerous. The park-
keepers and the men from the Royal Humane Society,