The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-24 00:00:00

DRURY-LANE THEATRE.

A new play, in five acts, from the pen of the late Mr. Ge-
rald Griffin, entitled Gisippus, was brought out last night at
this theatre. It was highly successful, and deservedly so, for
it abounds in passages of sweet and graceful poetry ; and the
majority of the incidents are dramatic, without being forced or
exaggerated, in order to produce effect. Gisippus, we un-
derstand, was written by Mr. Griffin before he had completed
his twentieth year, and was shown to two judges, both of
whom pronounced unfavourably of it as an acting play ; fortu-
nately, however, it was afterwards submitted to Mr. Macready,
who reversed this decision, and the reception the piece met
with last night has proved the soundness of his judgment.
Before detailing the plot we may as well give the cast of the
characters. It is as follows :—Titus Quintius Fulvius, Mr.
Anderson ; Gisippes, his friend, Mr. Macready ; Medon, the
brother of Sophronia, Mr. Graham; Pheax and Chremes,
Athenian youths, Mr. Elton and Mr. Hudson ; Lycius, a
Phoenician and freedman of Fulvis, Mr. G. Bennett; Davus,
an usurer, Mr. W. Bennett ; Sophronia, betrothed to Gisippus,
Miss Helen Faucit ; and Hero, her friend, Miss Turpin.
Gisippus, in the opening of the first act, is presented
buoyant and joyous in the extreme ; he is on the eve of
his nuptials with Sophronia ; indeed, the scene repre-
sents the Parthenon, or temple of Minerva, on the Acro-
polis, with the hymenial altar, whose sacred fire already
blazes, preparatory to the ceremony. Fulvius, it appears, has
loved Sophronia, who, however, has promised her hand
to Gisippus. Fulvius and Sophronia meet ; they have neither
of them understood each other ; Fulvius is all passion, but
Sophronia tells him that it is too late, that she is not her own
mistress—that, in short, she is betrothed to Gissippus, his
friend. Mutual regret is expressed, but Sophronia,. overflow-
ing with the highest regard for Gisippus, declares her attach-
ment to him unalterable. Gisippus has overheard this, and,
after many and severe struggles, gives up his bride to his friend,
her first love, and their marriage is immediately solemnized.
Meantime Davus, the usurer, presses certain pecuniary claims
upon Gisippus; he cannot meet them, and in his exigency he
applies to his richer friend Fulvius.----Athens is up against
Gisippus, the popular clamour is, that he has sold his
peerless bride for p lf. The usurer is inexorable, Fulvius
is summoned by the Emperor to Rome ; Gisipl'us, in
agony, has made an appointment with him on the subject of
his pecuniary embarrassment; but Fulvius departs without
keeping it, leaving Gisippus to deprecate the tfoilowness of his
friendship. The claims of Davus are pressed; Gisippus, the
scoff and scorn of Athens, is sold as a slave and sent to home.
Fulvius has returned, covered with honour fi um his conquests
in As menia ; an oration is awarded to him, and he is made
a l'rtor. In the sordid garb of a slave, Gisippus meets the
Praetor, is struck down by his het ors, and seeks refuge in an
adjacent burying-ground. Heic Chremes is assassinated by
Lycius, the freedman of Fulvius, between whom there had
been anything but goodwill. Gisippus flies to the rescue ;
it is too late, however. Weary of life, he gives himself up
as the murderer, and is condemned to death. Fulvius just
arrives in time to stay the execution, Lycius having ad-
mitted himself to be the criminal. The result may be
easily anticipated. The friends, convinced of their mu-
tual honour, are reconciled, and the curtain falls.
The acting of the piece was excellent throughout. Mr.
Macready's Gisippus was one of his chastest, most careful, and
most spirited performances ; and not less successful was Miss
Helen Faucit's Sophronia. Mr. Anderson was at times toe
boisterous as Fulvius; nevertheless. thexe" were many points
in his stung that deserve praise. Thescenery was excellent,
and the curtain fell amidst loud and general applause. As a
spi cimen of the poetry of the play, we quote the disappointed,
and world-weary Ciisippus's reflections in a burial-ground, where
lie has taken refuge at night :

•` This is his court,
Here does he hold his reign of stirless fear,
Silence his throne—his robe of Majesty,
The hue of gathering darkness. Here, his minister--
The night-bird screams, and the hoarse raven iterates
His warning from the left. Diseases flit
Like spectres through the gloom, clothed in damp mist
And tainted night-air—yet the grim slaYer
Will send no kindly shaft to me.

(Lie leans on a tomb.

Will the dead
Afford me what the living have denied,
Rest for my weary limbs, and shelter ? Here
At least I shall find quiet, if not ease,
And host who do not grudge their entertaining,
Even though the guest be misery. Colder hearts
Than those which rest within this sepuichre
I've left in all the health of lusty life
Informing bosoms harrier than its marble;
Then I will be your guest, ye silent dead;
Would I could say, your fellow slumberer

SOCIETY OF ARTS.

It is with very great pleasure that we learn that active exer-
tions are being made to revive this most useful Society, to re-
storeank it m
onto prosperity, and to enable it again to resume that
rant amongst the scientific institutions of the country, which
a
it had for so many years deservedly held. There is cer-
tainly no scientific Society in existence which has done so
much to advance the interests of the country as the Society of
Arts, and it has therefore been matter of deep regret to all who
have seen the gradual decline of this Society during the last
few years. It in fact arrived at that point which rendered it
probable that in a few months it would cease to exist, and it
was evident that nothing but the most strenuous exertions on
the part of its best friends could save the Society from ruin.
By the resolutions proposed and carried at the meeting of last
WedneEday, it is evident that there are those yet attached to
the Society who are willing and able to save it and we look
forward with much interest to the result of their labours.

There is, perhaps, nothing that has done more harm to the
Society than the manner in which the Wednesday evening
meetings have been managed, or rather mismanaged ; in place
of scientific and instructive discussion on new and useful in-
ventions, nothing has been heard but idle and absurd wrang-
ling and personal disputes; in consequence, those whose pre-
sence was most to be desired retired from the Society in dis-
gust, or ceased to attend its meetings. One of the measures
brought forward last Wednesday was the appointment of a
Committee to superintend and arrange these meetings, to pro-
vide new and interesting matter, to invite the attendance of
inventors, to encourage scientific discussion, and to put a stop
to idle talk and personal remarks. if this is carried out, and
we feel sure it will be warmly supported by the members Gf the
Society, if the members of this Committee will regularly at-
tend, and exert themselves in the work they under take, ii will
go far to raise the sinking name and failing funds of the So-
ciety. The other resolutions proposed and cart ied on Wedni s-
lay were likewise for tht- most part vet y good, and highly cre-
ditable to the members who brought them forward.

UNWHOLESOME FOOD.—On Saturday the carcase
of a cow, which had been seized the previous night in a stable near
to the Old Church, slaughtered and cut up ter sale, and condemned
by a jury of respectable butchers as unfit for human mood, was
burnt at the usual place at the end of Leeds-road. We have fre.
quently had occasion to draw public attention to the nefarious prac-
:ices of a set of scoundrels, who, taking advantage of the distress
of the labouring poor, offer, under cover of the night, such stuff as
in reality is not fit for dogs.— York Courant.
DREADFUL EXPLOSION OF FIRE DAMP AT BARNS-
Lay.—On Tuesday morning a dreadful explosion of fire damp took
place in a coal.pit at Barnsley, belonging to Mr. Hopwood, by which
awful occurrence, we lament to say, four persons are numbered
with the many who have lost their lives in a similar manner at the
ill fated town of Barnsley. The catastrophe to which we refer took
place shortly alter the colliers had descentied the pit for the pur.
pose of commencing work. The names of the unfortunate sufferers
are William Gantry, Mary Day,
Ann Mallender, and Elizabeth
Mallender.— York Courant.

On the evening of the Bth instant, as an old farmer,
named Gourreges, at Lasseube, in the Basses Pyrenees, was seated
by the fire-side, smoking his pipe, four men entered, and demanded
his money or his life. Although seventy years of age, he refused
to comply, and immediately seizing one of the fire-irons, stood
on his defence, while his servant.mmd did the same. The robbers
advanced, one wounding him twice with a dagger, while the other
snapped a pistol, but it fortunately missed fire. A desperate con.
/ha ensued, but the cries of the woman alarmed a manservant
who was out of doors, and at the same time put the thieves to
flight. The man met them in the passage, and beat three of them
severely, but they all effecttd their escape. One of them was re.
cognised as a Spaniard.
BRUSSELS, I'EB. 22.—The number of robberies at
Brussels is increasing in a most alarming manner