The Sun.
London, England, 1827-01-03 00:00:00

NOON-DAY DARKNESS.

In our last we mentioned the extraordinary darkness which oc-
curred here upon the Monday previous, about 11 o'clock in the fore-
noon, and with equal propriety might we have noticed the same
phenomenon upon the succeeding Tuesday. In town, the darkness
of the latter day did not excite so mrich attention, as it was at-
tributed to a very thick fog, which rendered the smoky atmos-
phere of Glasgow almost palpable ; but along the Clyde, as far as
Greenock, it appears that much greater had been the cause of
wonderment, and even of alarm. According to the communica-
tion of a friend, who at the time was on his passage from Glas-
gow to Greenock, the navigatioa of the Clyde was for a while al-
most utterly impracticable. We shall quote our friend's letter
The navigation of the Clyde was almost entirely suspended upon
Tuesday last, owing to the immense fog. Only one or two of
the steam-boats completed their passage between Glasgow and
Greenock, the greater part having either run on shore or
been forced to lay at anchor for the space of twenty-four
hours. So great was the darkness, that either side of
the river was hardly discoverable at Govan, and at Dum-
barton the land-marks could not be discovered at the dis-
tance of a dozen yards. To those, therefore, who were so fortu-
nate as to escape the sand banks, there remained no alternative
but to anchor ; and there soon were nearly a dozen vessels within
hearing of their different alartim-bells, although the fog rendered
them quite invisible to each other. Indeed, so closely were they
moored, that the swinging of their respective cables sometimes
brought them into contact ; but, by the prudence and skilfulness
of the pilots, no accident occurred. Some of the boats
displayed great daring, in attempting to accomplish the pas-
sage. The Helemburyls was four hours between Dumbarton
Castle and Greenock, yet she accomplished her double trip in
the course of the day, as usual. A party from the Ayr attempted
to land at Dumbarton Castle ; but though they traced out two or
three of the perches, they completely lost their reckoning, and,
after rowing and tugging for nearly five hours, they were picked
up in the dusk of the evening, near Port-Glasgow. The pilots
found much difficulty from the land-marks not being distinguish-
able ; they even were at a loss to know whether such perches as
were visible were on the south or north side of the river.
would be a very easy matter for the trustees to have these perches
marked or numbered, so as ,to enable every pilot at once to discover
where he is, though be saw only one of them. We were no less
than sixteen hours at anchor. The passengers amused themselves
through the night iu the best manner they could ; and it might
have awakened bright visions in the mind of a poet, to have
listened from the shore to the sound of our music and (lancing,
which broke in upon the deep stillness that brooded over the
waters. To me, who was in the midst of it, the scene was more
ludicrous than poetical. On deck, crowds of Highland lads and
lasses were dancing merrily to the strathspeys of an itinerant
fiddler ; and beneath, in the cabin, were to be seen crowds of lazy
people, sleeping without beds ; others yawning, with jaws of no
common length, and eyes of no common heaviness ; while my
right-hand neighbour, who had fallen asleep upon a sofa, started
up shortly after in a dream, and ordered the captain instantly to
put his paddles in motion ; adding, We should have been down,
Sir, by five o'clock, should'nt we ?' after which he quietly fell
back again in the embraces of Morpheus. Such was my memo-
rable passage down the Clyde, upon dark Tuesday, 26th Dec.,
' eighteen hundred and twenty six years."— Glasgow Free Press.

THEATRICAL CHANGES.—The Theatrical pro-
perty in London, during the past year, has undergone great revo-
lutions. Out of four patent Theatres, and eight miner ones, there
are but two which can be said to have prospered—the Haymarket
and the Adelphi. Covent-garden and Drury-lane have both
changed their direction—the one being under the Lord Chancel-
lor and the other under a new Lessee. A valuable actor has been
suddenly lost in Mr. Connor ; and in Mr. Knight there has been
a loss never to be repaired. Mr. Elliston is deposed and about to
begin life, as it were, anew ; and Mr. Charles Kemble has, in
some degree, withdrawn from the active exercise of power. As
for the Minor Theatres, one is burned down, one sold into new
hands, and one opened under new lessees. The death of Mr.
Kelly has almost broken up the coteries of the school, between
the old and new ; and those who were lately reckoned among the
directors of the present taste, are now beginning to be considered
only as the remembrancers of the past. Abroad, especially in
France, the changes in theatrical, matters have been still more
serious. The stage has lost one of the greatest ornaments it could
ever boast, in Telma ; and as sterling a comedian as ever trod the
stage, in Michot.— The Opera Glass.