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

ADELPHI THEATRE.
Spanish 'lots seem at present to be in the ascen-
dant in the dramatic, as well as in the political world,
ria odduicAredaihnaer. e
Thelast action takes
and accordingly we find that a new Spanish drama
k eusnpd
place
et
duringhe title
the
wSiasdopn
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 Louis
XIV., and who ultimately, as King Philip, ascended
the Spanish 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
this juncture the Baron de Madly (Mr. Selby), a
French officer, enters and informs Saavedra
that his intrigues have been discovered, that
the Archduke has ordered his arrest, and that his
only chance of saving his estates is to settle them im-
mediately on his wife. A wife is consequently wanted,
and his Steward, Nunoz (Mr. Wright), provides him
with one in the person of Sidonia di Molina (Madame
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, when an
Alcade enters, arrests Saavedra by virtue of a warrant
`from the Archduke, and conveys him a prisoner to
Madrid. The castle is sacked, and Sidonia, disguised
as a Franciscan friar, flies under the protection of
Nunoz. They fall into the hands of a party of French
soldiers commanded by the Baron de Aladly, and in
the Baron, Sidonia recognises a young officer with
whom she had fallen desperately in love some time
before. Ile discovers that the pretended friar is a
woman, and the woman whom he adores, hut his suit
is rejected, for her marriage with Saavedra is an
insuperable obstacle. Saavedra, who has escaped
from Madrid, arrives in the French camp just as the
Baron is about to sally forth on a reconnaisance.
He
learns from the Baron that he is in love, and bets
him 10,000 pistoles that he discovers and %sins the
lady in three months. The pretended Franciscan is
brought to Saavedra's tent, lied sul jested to all sorts
of insults. We must protest against the introduction
into this part of the piece a scene of " prayers for
two," as Saavedra profanely calls it, which will, we
hope, be omitted in all future representations. In a
iramatic point of view it may, perhaps, be not inef-
fective, but it is in very lad taste, and is calculated to
shock the prejudices—if you will—of a numerous
class, who are at present not inclined 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 plot, and the piece
wou!d not go the worse for its entire omission. All
such parodi-s of religious ceremonies are highly
ibjectionable. The Baron enters, and then Saavedra
discovers that the friar, whom he has insulted, 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 from
his wife, which only awaits her signature to have
effect, and on the strength of which he also is making
love to the Camerara. By chance he meets wit
Nunoz, and offers him a rich reward to discover his
wife, hoping, by means of a bribe, to induce her to
=sent 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, and
Selby. Wright, as the Steward, was irresistibly
funny, and Miss Woolgar, as his wife, and Paul Bed-
ford, as a drunken French dragoon, made a great deal
of two rather insignificant parts. On the announce-
ment of the piece for repetition there was a slight
attempt at opposition, which was, however, imme-
diately overruled, and the piece may be considered 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 numerous
sudience.

i

,___.)

MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT-FOUR

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
:he New Town, in connexion with the Edinburgh,
Leith, and Granton Railway, which, we regret to say,
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, beneath
St. Andrew's-street and square, Duke-street, and
Dublin-street, to the foot of Scotland-street, where it
opens into the Mill Ilaugh at the back of Canonmills.
Ile drift-way of the tunnel, which was about
;ix feet square, was all completed, with the ex-
ception of a small barrier about midway near
the toot of
this, and to let off the water which was known to hare
accumulated in the upper portion of the mine, work-
men have been employed for upwards of a week past.
It appears, however, that in consequence of some in-
iccuracy 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 hare 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 by 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),
--he two night shiftmen, John Blair and James
Philips, were still working, though it was beyond
the time that they ought to have been relieved, the
ether two having, fortunately for themselves, Lees
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
alsojust gone down to see how the work was getting
on. The former went down from mere curiosity.
now the accident occurred is not known, as all who
were in the tunnel at the moment have perished ; but
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 occu-
pied by Mr. D. Bruce, spirit-dealer there. At this
spot there had 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 for
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. Haining, superintendent of police, were early on
the spot, to investigate the circumstances connected
with the accident, and several witnesses have been
nrecognosced on the subject.—Seotsnian of Saturday.

`
INCREASE OF OFFICERS IN TIM INDIAN AWAlli.—
Orders will be sent out by the next Overland Mail to In-
dia. for the appointment of an additional captain to each
regiment of infantry. The Governor-General had autho-
rity to this effect when he was appointed ; but in the
event of his not having done so, he has been directed to
carry it ienntoslitmhte mreee sons
operation. This measure gives
appointmentssofa
few to each Director;
ntoar;dri.
andmewe
meri-
torious d
nrciaoeduresilt3'oi'ffi hope h
officers may be provided for. SYe continue to re-
ceive many extreme cases of a total want of consideration
to the sons of officers who have done some service to the
state.—Naval and Military Gazette.
THE CHURCH riv DANGEit.—The new church of
St. Lawrence, about which so many pathetic appeals have
been made to the public regarding its unfinished tem.er
std uncommenced spire, is already, it appears, falling
into a state of dilapidation.--Hampshire independent.