The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-14 00:00:00

DRAMATIC INTELLIGENCE.

We are to have bur 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
an eye to its representation on the beards, bearing in
mind 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, bDth 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 m arried
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 on 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.

SHIPWRECKS.
WRECK OF THE ST. MUNGO.
By letters received in the City on Saturday, from
the Cape of Good Hope, dated September 28, we are
informed of the total loss of an East India trader,
called the St. Mungo, a fine barque, 355 tons burthen,
commanded by Captain Lamond, and, what was worse,
ten of her unfortunate crew met with a watery grave.
It appears the melancholy event occurred on the night
of the 20th of that month (September), on the point
of Cape L'Agullas, during a severe gale of wind from
the westward. She was on her homeward passage
from Calcutta to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, to which
place she belonged, and had a very rich cargo on
board, consisting of merchandise of every description.
For several days the weather, it seems, was exceed-
ingly stormy, when, on the night in question, the
wind blew terrifically, in the height of which the ship,
to the consternation of the crew, struck on some rocks,
which subsequently proved to be those on the extreme
point of Cape L'Agullas. In a few seconds after-
wards the vessel pitched on her broadside, followed
by the mainmast giving way and falling overboard.
Whether any of the poor creatures took to the boats
or not we are unable to say, but at daybreak ten of
the crew were foumi to be missing, and in the course
of the morning it was ascertained beyond a doubt that
they had perished. The remainder of the crew were
saved.

The names of those who were drowned are as fob
lows :—Mr. Thomas Sheppard, first mate ; T. W.
Milne, second mate ; J. Webster, ship's carpenter;
Joseph Harrison, sailmaker; John Thomson, steward,
Williams, cook ; Thomas Rose, seaman ; Francis
Ramerro, seaman ; Robert M'Arther, apprentice ;
William Hunter, apprentice.
The names of those saved are :—Captain Lamond,
master ; Williani Miller, John Truman, James Jack-
son, James Fisher, John Frolick, and T. Shank, All
the sugar has been washed out of the bags. The
ship was buit at Glasgow in the year 1839, and, with
the cargo, was valued at 60,0001. The loss, it is
stated, will amount to 25,0001., of which, we believe,
no part will fall on any of the metropolitan insur-
ance companies.
DREADFUL WRECK NEAR HARWICH.
During the heavy north-easterly gales on Tuesday
morning last, a vessel was lost under the most dis-
tressing circumstances on Langguard East Beach,
near Harwich, accompanied with shocking loss of
lite. The vessel was the Hero (a schooner of 180
tons), belonging to Amsterdam, Mr. South, master,
to which port she was bound from London. The
master, observing the weather was not likely to mo-
derate, and the gale direct against them, attempted to
run into Harwich harbour, but unhappily it proved
fatal to the ship, as well as to all (except one) on
board. In running along the coast, past Walton, she
struck on the sands called the Andrews, within 200
yards of the coast, upon which she was dashed about
with fearful violence by a heavy sea. Thecrew, seven
in number, including the master, took to the rigging,
for safety, but the excessive darkness of the night pre-
vented them being seen until the ship had almost broken
up. The first attracted to the spot were the men
belonging to the revenue cutter Scout, quartered at
the Harwich station, who fired rockets and blue
lights, for additional help, but, alas! no life-boat was
sent, or any other apparatus, from the adjacent coast
guard station. As .the vessel was thrown by the
waves towards the beach, a man and a boy could be
seen clinging to the bowsprit. The principal officer
of the Scout endeavoured to save them by a line,
which he had contrived to throw over the wreck, by
the aid of a common rocket ; however, the poor
fellows were so benumbed with cold, there being an
intense frost, that they were completely powerless, so
that they could not keep a tight hold, and sunk in
the boiling surf beneath and perished. All the rest
met with a similar fate, except one, who was washed
ashore, lashed to a spar alive, though in a dreadful
state of exhaustion. He gtin regiains in a precarious
state.. The vessel, by the following morning, 'as
discovered to have gone entirely to pieces, and her
cargo strewed for miles along the beach. None of
the bodies have yet been found.