The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-20 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR, THURSDAY. —The Queen and Prince
Albert walked for some time this morning in the
pleasure-grounds adjacent to the Castle. On the re-
turn of her Majesty, his Royal Highness went out to
shoot in the royal preserves, attended by Mr. Anson
and Sir Edward Bowater. The royal party left the
Castle on horseback.

Viscount Hawarden left the Castle for town this
morning, but is expected to return to the Castle to
dinner.

Lady Caroline Somers Cocks and the Hon. Frances
Devereux have arrived at the Castle, and have suc-
ceeded the Hon. Misses Liddell and Hamilton as this
Maids of Honour in Waiting on the Queen.
The royal dinner party at the Castle this evening
included her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent,
Lady Fanny Howard, the Countess Wratislaw, Mr.
George Edward and the Hon. Mrs. Anson, and
Captain Francis Seymour.
the band of the Royal Horse Guards was in
attendance during dinner.
Her Majesty's private band afterwards attended,
and performed the remainder of the evening.
The Countess of Gainsborough is expected to arrive
this evening.
The Duchess of Kent has been pleased to appoint
Dr. M‘Carogher, R.N., to be one of her Royal
Highness's Physicians extraordinary.
Their Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge,
and the Hereditary Grand Duke and Duchess of
Mecklenburg- Strelitz, visited her Royal Highness
the Duchess of Gloucester yesterday, at Gloucester
House.
Baron de Brunnow, the Russian Minister; le Com-
mandeur Lisboa, Brazilian Minister ; and M. Stra-
tenus, the Netherland Charge d'Affaires, transacted
business yesterday at the Foreign-office.
Dispatches from the Governor of the Cape of Good
Hope, the Mauritius, and Sierra Leone, were received
yesterday at the Colonial-office.
Lord Wharncliffe, Lord President of the Council,
left town on Wednesday, on a visit to Lord Francis
Egerton, at Ratchford.

OPENING OF THE ENGLISH
THEATRE at PARIS.

The first performance of the English dramatic com-
pany, for whose representation this play-going capital
is indebted to the enterprising spirit of Mr. Mitchell,
took place on Monday night, at the Theatre Ventadour,
or Les Italiens, as it is called, since the harmonious
troupe, which boasts Grisi, Persiani, Lablache, Mario,
Fornasari, &c., has again migrated to that elegant house.
For the debut of our countrymen Othello was judiciously
selected, it being, probably, of all Shakspeare's trage-
dies, that which our neighbours are best acquainted with.
The first of the twelve nights which Mr. Mitchell has
announced has proved quite successful. When the
curtain rose at about eight o'clock, the aspect
of the house was already promising, and the
play had made but little progress when almost
all the boxes were occupied by most distingue
company, who would, no doubt have been more
numerous still, had it not been for the receptions pro-
ceeding, at the Palace of the Tuileries, on the occasion of
the marriage of his Royal Highness the Duke D'Aumale.
The audience comprised a large proportion of English
and other foreign spectators, and the toilettes exhibited
all the elegance observable at the Ventadour Theatre,
when its stage is devoted to the execution of the lyrical
productions of Italy. The reception given to Mr.
• Macready and Miss Faucit at once dispelled the appre-
hensions of such few as fancied that the rancour against
their country, which party feeling has for some years
past so zealously and perseveringly striven to kindle in
France, might attempt to mar the exertions of those
eminent artists. Both were received with general and
cordial plaudits, and their countrymen in the pit and
boxes had not a single hostile manifestation to resent or
to despise ; in short, cur iniquities in the Medi-
terranean, in the Pacific, and, indeed, where-
ever, salt water exists, seemed to be generously and
hospitably forgotten, together with the ascendancy we
have not in Spain, and care not to have at Otaheite.
Even the " right of visit" made room :forthat admira-
tion which Shakespeare's language has to command
when uttered by Mr. Macready to a people that appre
ciate the sublime and beautiful so readily as the French.
It is unnecessary to dwell here on the merits of the per-
formances, suffice it to say that the whole went off ad-
mirably. Mr. Mitchell, with his wonted good taste, has
issued to his visitors an elegantly printed pia) book, with
a French translation corresponding to the text, and when
Othello and Desdemuna's miseries were over, there was
as numerous a display of carriages at his doors as the
municipal guard can have to govern at the premieres re-
presentations of the most fashionable theatres of this
drama-loving capital.

COVENT•OARDEN THEATRE.—This national esta-
blishment opens at Christmas under a new management,
M. Laurent has engaged a talented company, and will
produce an entertainment quite new to the British public,
being a translation of The Antigone of Sophocles, with
choruses by Mendelssohn. It is hoped that so praise-
worthy an effort will be seconded by those whose patron-
age and influence can alone assist the lessee in attaining
so desirable an object, The services of Mr. Edward
Sterling have been secured—a sufficient warranty for the
excellence of the stage arrangements.