The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-15 00:00:00

QUEENS THEATRE.

The tragedy of Pizarro was produced last even;
ing at this theatre, and was very effectively put upon
the stage. Mr. Hudson Kirby sustained the cha-
racter of Rollo with :admirable effect. His person-
ation of this difficult character was energetic anct
true to nature. The address to the Peruvian army
was very effectively delivered, and drew forth ap-
plause. The bridge scene, too, in the fifth act, was
exceedingly well managed. We should not omit to
notice how well Mr. Parry played Alonzo. It was a
very creditable performance. Miss Rogers, as 91(:.
gentle, loving Cora, was a delightful representatave.
of Alonzo's doting wife. The tragedy was received
throughout with much applause by a crowded
audience.

ADELAIDE GALLERY.
Last night the Adelaide Gallery re-opened, after
having been " entirely remodelled and beautifully de-
corated," with the first of a series of lectures on the
dances of all nations. The expounder was Mr. Al-
fred Ormonde, who formerlyj lectured on Scottish
music, aid the " experiments" were performed by
corps of Parisian dancers, who exhibited on "an ap-
propriate stage," erected for the purpose, embellished
with " beautiful scenery," a " splendid new drop
scene," and " magnificent costumes." Previous to
the lecture there was a concert by the Sax Horn
Band, who performed several popular airs very ef-
fectively, but the great attraction was the experimen-
tal lecture on dancing. The lecturer was mounted
on a platform at the end of the long gallery, and im-
mediately above him was the ballet laboratory, fitted
up in all respects as a stage, with procenium, foot-
lights, &c. Mr. Ormonde having held forth for a
short time on the origin of dancing and on the pecu-
liar dances of the Greeks, called on Mesdames Jo-
sephine, Mason, and Fanny Genty, and M. Alexandre
Vandris, for their first experiment, illustrative of the
classic dance of the Greeks. Next came the experi-
ment of the Spanish seguidella, with castinet appa-
ratus, very cleverly performed by Mademoiselles
Louise Pierron and Fanny Genty; and so the lec-
ture proceeded—a little uttering of smart things by
Mr. Ormonde, then some dancing by the Parisians,
until they arrived at the grand climax, the Polka,
which was performed in good style by six dancing
philosophers.

SOUTH DEVON RAILWAY.—The railroad works
are proceeding in the neighbourhood of Dawlish with
great celerity. The miners in the tunnel work day and
night, and a most animated scene presents itself all along
the coast, from Langston Cliff to Smugglers' Hole, the
cliffs of which latter place are the scene of the tunnel.
The work of blasting the cliff is carried on with great
daring to the astonishment of the natives. On Saturday
last one of the most interesting and extensive explosions
"came off" under the auspices of Mr. Glennie, who is
Mr. Brunel's chief lieutenant : 1,550 pounds weight of
gunpowder was exploded in three separate charges. The
miners had made three chambers in the cliff, one a short
distance from the head, another near the centre, and the
third near the base • the heaviest charge was on the top.
The charges were drid by a safety fuse, each being ex-
ploded one minute later than the preceding. The first
charge took off the head of the cliff, upheaving the great
mass with resistless force, and tumbling it into the sea.
' The headings were made in the cliff immediately to the
westward of Mr. Phillott's beautiful little cove, which it
is intended to cross by making two short tunnels through
the projected headlands. The face of the cliff to be
blown down was about 120 feet high, and the chambers
contained altogether about 1,5501b5. weight of powder,
the highest being about 650, the next 550, and the
lowest about 350 ; another headland was also loaded
with about 3001bs. The time fixed was 10 A.M.; the
morning turned out favourable, and there was about 50
or 60 parties present, amongst whom were T. B.
Esq., of Bickham, and friends, several ladies, Mr
Har-
rison, Mr. Dymond, Mr. Dawson, and other gentlemen
ere several
connected with the railway. On the_w_,
boats, which kept at a very
time drew on, the natives. rerer, seen ascending and
respectful distance. As the
and diving into the
descending their hanging i"
and just that undefined
headings and their insecurity,,r
combined to give a very pleas-
ingfeeling of possible danger,
1 Soon after 10, Mr. Glennie,
interest to
the engineer, gavtieletiwie signal, and the fusees were lighted,
and then might be seen -a
tle movement, and shifting
of places, and more distant positions were thought near
enough to see well. After the lapse of eight minutes, the
top charge exploded, and heaved up the surface with a
deep stifled sound, and down it rushed, in thundering
masses, to the beach. The second followed with the
same effect ; and then the third, which was bedded in
the rock, rang out like a ship's broadside blowing the
heading out to sea, and shaking down huge fragments
that the two first had loosened. It was calculated that
about 15,000 tons fell, and quite as much more remained
sustained apparently by two points, and which has most
probably ere this followed. The last blast was now
made ; the part to be blown down was a projecting
angle in Mr. Pennell's down, and the 'result was perfectly
successful. The grolind heaved up several feet, and then
toppled to the beach, where it will form the platform of
the railway. The whole sight was magnificent to the
spectator, and highly gratifying to the engineer, as testi-
fying the correctness of his judgment and calculation.
Smugglers' Hole is a most romantic spot—the property of
Luke Pennell, Esq.—Western Times.
PLYMOUTH CITADEL.—CoIoneI Sir George Hoste,
Sir Thomas Hastings, and others, are expected here very
shortly to survey the citadel and the surrounding
heights, preparatory to the direction of fortifications to
defend the cost.—Devonport Independent.
The Earl of Aberdeen arrived in town yesterday,
from a visit to her Majesty at Windsor Castle.

SHREWSBUR Y, WOLVERHAMPTON,
DUDLEY, and BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY.
At a numerous and most respectable public meeting of the in.
habitants of Wolverhampton, convened pursuant to a requisition,
held at the Public Office, the 14th October, 1844,
THOMAS HARLEY, Esq., in the Chair,
There were present on behalf of the Shrewsbury, Wolverhamp.
ton, Dudley, and Birmingham Company—
WILLIAM ORMSBY GORE, M.P., Chairman.
The Hon. R. H. CLIVE, M.P., Deputy Chairman.
WILLIAM CHAD WICK, Esq.
There were on behalf of the Grand Junction Company present—
T. GLADSTONE, Esq.
Captain HUISH.
J. SWIFT, Esq.
And on behalf of the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton
Company—
GEORGE BENJAMIN THORNEYCROFT, Esq.
Proposed by JOSEPH WALKER, Esq., and seconded by RICHARD
FRYER, Esq., and carried with seven dissentients.
"That as the inhabitants of this important town and neigh-
bourhood have derivrd but few advantages from the pre..
sent railway communication, It is the opinion of this
meeting that the projected Railway from Shrewsbury to Birming-
ham, through the mining and agricultural districts of Wellington,
Ketley, and Shiffbal, and also the important manufacturing towns
of Wolverhampton and Dudley, and the densely populated
districts of Oldbury and Smethwick, will be of considerable public
advantage, and of very great benefit to those several towns and
neighbourhoods, and this meeting pledges itself to use every ex-
ertion to promote such a measure.
Proposed by SIDNEY CARTWRIGHT, ESQ., and seconded by JOSEPH
COOPER, Esq., and carried unanimously,
That a railway communication, as proposed, from Wolver-
hampton to Birmingham, by way of Dudley, through a population
almost unequalled in density, and a neighbourhood unparalleled
for the extent of its trade and manufactures, cannot fail to insure
very great advantages to all parties locally connected with such
trades and manufactures ; and that the inhabitants of Wolver-
hampton would experience great convenience by having a First.
class Station in their important town.
Proposed by ROBERT SIDNEY, Esq., and seconded by J. R.
ANDREWS, Esq., and carried unanimously,
" That the thanks of this meeting be offered to the gentle-
men forming the deputation from the Committee of the
Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton, Dudley, and Birmingham line of
Railway, for their candid explanations, and the interest manifested
by them towards this town and neighbourhood.
Proposed by the Hon. ROBERT CLIVE, M.P., and seconded by
WILLIAM ORMSBY GORE, F.sq., MP., and carried unanimously,
That the thanks of this meeting be given to the Chairman, for
his impartial and able conduct in the chair.
By order,
HILTON THOMAS JENKINS, Secretary.
3, Mcorgate-street, Oct. 15, 1844.

NEW INVENTIONS IN DRESS AND

U SEFU L LUXURIES.

The forms and varities of costume, and the multi-
plicities of elegant articles of personal and house-
hold luxury, have attained to such high artistic per.
fection, that one can hardly, with justice, refuse to
the inventors the merits and honours hitherto
exclusively accorded to the professors of what are
designated, par excellence, the fine arts. The utilita-
rianism of the age is beginning to make little dis-
tinction between the creators of what is ideal
or abstracted, and what is real or of positive use, un-
less it be in favour of the latter. People now
argue—lf the sculptor require genius, to dispose
gracefully the drapery around his marble images —if
the painter must be gifted with divine inspiration, to
give beautiful shapes and brilliant colours to the ac-
cessories of his paintings—must not he who clothes
the living man with classical and tasteful garments,
or he who invents new and exquisite articles of re-
finement for daily purposes, be equally endowed with
the highest mental attribute ? Sculpture, painting,
poetry, and music will not much longer be allowed
to monopolise the fame and glory of the fine arts—
they must condescend to share them with the other
branches of creative genius. At this moment, visit
the capital of the Russian empire, admire the fault-
less form of some fascinating princess, as she passes
you on her prancing steed, the chances are you will
be told she is indebted, for more than half her ele-
gance, to the Messrs. Nicoll, of Regent-street, who
are the artificers of her splendid riding-habit. See
the Emperor himself in his sable pelisse, looking, as
he does, every inch a monarch—you will be in-
formed that he too has received the embellishments
of his outer man from the same London fashioners
To the Prussian metropolis, likewise, Prince William
bears with him many samples of the perfect taste of
these artists, while the young and handsome Dec de
Montpensier is about to astonish the Parisians with
novelties in dress derived from the same source. Talk
of poets and painters—here is indeed a substantial
European reputation. Take another instance. Enter
the boudoir of some fair aristocrat ; note the rare col-
lection of superb bjouterie that surrounds, you on
every side, the glittering, nlinims, the fancifully em-
bellislml writing-desk, the gorgeous inkstands, the
matchless vases of Bohemian glass and other crystals,
the innumerable nick -nackeries, brilliant and beautiful
beyond expression—with each and all of these the
name and fame of Messrs. Barry and Son, of the
Egyptian Hall, are linked as indissolubly as those of
Corregio and Raffaelle with the Magdalene and the
Saint Cecilia. Examine the perfumed notes of in'.i-
ration and the visiting cards that adorn yowl drawing-
room table, and mark the admirably-emblar.oned
crests of the fair senders engraved and painted
thereon ; these, too, proclaim the art and skill of these
inventors of all tha. is brilliant in such articles of
luxurious fashion. Upon taking up Mrs. Pos,an's
agree-able work, " Facts and Fictions," the other day,
we were much amwed with a description of the
anxiety and impatience evinced by the ladies of Bom-
bay, on the arrival of each vessel from Europe, to
possess themselves of the latest inventions of the cele-
i.ra.ted modistes, Mesdames Herbault Nieces, of the
Rue Menard, Paris. Not a pelisse, nor a mantc!ette,
nor even a ribbon, would one of them select until she
had heard the last fiat pronounced by these oracles of
extreme gate. There is a fame, not merely European
hut universal. The renown of Alexander the Great
reached not so fax eastward as that of these famous
Parisian milliners. Remark any strikingly delicate
green, porcelain blue, or dahlia-tinted silk, of surpass-
ing richness; or admire any of those most stylish
combinations of tartans, woven into the loveliest tex-
tures of unnumbered dies—infallibly you will be
answered that they are the produce of the looms of
Lyons, and that they have issued from the magazine
of Mers. Gay and Denis, Rue de la Vrillire, Paris.
The inventors of novelties in dress and useful luxuries
have no right to complain of any want of appreciation
in the present generation.

LITERATURE.
ENGLAND AND FRANCE. 2 Vok
BentlT, London, 1844.

The title of this work is not warranted by the con-
tents. It is too ambitious, and raises expectations
which a.prusal of the volumes will be pretty sure to
However, there is much that is enter-
taining in them—many clever sketches of French
character—especially of Louis XIV. and the well-
known Madame du De:Tand—Horace Walpole's great
favourite, and who figures so compicuously in his
correspondence —and also an intelligent memoir of
Lady Rachael Russell. The work is essentially of a
desultory, gossiping character • is often subtle and in-
genious, seldom or never profound, in its reflections ;
and among the most amusing chapters, is one on the
subject of the introduction of operas into France. In
speaking incidentally of Charles 11., and of the trying
reverses and vicissitudes of fortune to which he was
subk!cted in the earlier portion of his life, the author
justly remarks that nothing was capable of making a
deep impression on him, and that the numerous shifts
to which he had been reduced, both here and on the
Continent, in youth, " had sharpened his wits without
enlarging his intellect."