The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-29 00:00:00

~--~-

.j 4
own costs ? He has not surveyed s
at present ; and if this work is to
nnw, I can-assure him, and so can Mr. linKlicicttitt.WAY
will not be ready by the 30th of Novemb tv Ack 11l do all
I can to assist him; and as my survey and sections are
ne:triyr completed, he shall be welcome to then] as soon
as tie solicitors have completed the book of referer,ce.
Title, is very liberal, considering that lie has appro-
priated my Mille years' labour without asking leave; but
it will show nim that I do not humour resentment,
sal am willing to return good for evil ; his shareholders,
however, will do well to inquire whdth,r he can avail
himself of my liberal otfer in time to comply with the
standing orders ? If not, I fear that their sharks will
be at an alarming discount before the 30th of Novern-
ber.—l am. Sir, yours ob?diently,
August 28, 1845. GEORGE REMINGTON.

HER MAJESTY'S VISIT TO THE

CONTINENT.

COBURG, AUG. 24.—This communication will touch
upon two most incongruous subjects—the church and the
theatre—incongruous, at least, in England, but not so
lane, if one may judge atom the manner in which the
Sunday is enent. Those strict observers of re-ligious
forms who, in ,England, are shocked to hear how the
Sabbath is sprat ht Roman Catholic countries on the
continent will be transported with horror to know
that the very same, or nearly the same, desecration.
takes place here, in this Protestant State. The people
I attend Divine service in the morning, amid in the af-
ternoon and evening, as in most Catholic countries,
they recreate themselves with nitt-,ie, dancing, Bing
ing, or any other amusements that come withtn
their reach. The place where the festival of Grego-
rius was held the other day is now once were a complete
fair. A travelling theatre is open, where tumblers and
..ainjurors exhibit their feats ; the r, undabouts are in
full play, and there are crowds of people of all ages
and classes, and of both sexes, who are either dancing
to the merriest of music, or sitting at the booths
drinking beer and smoking. Others are busily engage:',
some in frying. and more in eating, sausages cooked
frevo. The children of the town schools with the dresses,
.tho• vore at the festival, the boys in their fancy cos •
And the girls in their white dresses and their
head buond ivy, are waltzing away in a builditeg
which stank on the ground, to which they are evidently
admitted by aui3vority. These are the Sunday amuse-
ments of the inferiOr classes ; for the higher, there are
concerts and other nrusicel reunions. Under the late
Duke the theatre was alway open on the Sunday even-
ing, but since the accession pf the present Duke that
prPetice has been discontinued.
To come, however, to the procee dings of her Majesty.
Last night she visited the theatre, it,nel this morning at-
tended service at the church or' St. Maurice, at
Saxe Coburg. The former comes first the order tit
time.

The theatre of Saxe Coburg is a handsome building,
the external tOrm and architecture of which are unpre-
tending and appropriate, and the internal decoraticns
elegant. In form and size it
,somewhat resemiNes the
marker, but it is, if anything, larger than Art
theatre. The shape and arrangement of the inteinir
almost proclaim it to be the place of royal amusement,
The whole of the centre of the dress circle, from the one
bend of the house to the other, is occupied with a
spacious royal box, which, of course, directly fronts the
stage, and commands a better view than the royal
boxes in English theatres, so oddly placed either at the:
proscenium, or close to it, and from which only a veryy
imperfect coup Wail can be obtained. But the atterkl--
ance of the Duke and his family at the theatre 'is sa,
constant that any other arrangement would seriously
interfere with their gratification. There is over the
dress circle a second circle, and over_ that two galleries.
The parterre exactly corresponds to our pit, and there
are also stalls, called the parqua. Some idea of the
rate of prices will be formed from the fact that the Ad-
mission to the parquet and the dress circle is 2s. Sd. RC

our money.
The stage is about the size of that at the Haymarket,
and much better furnished with scenery and " proper-
ties." The dresses also, without being quite first-rate,
are better than are usually met with in our large theatres.
The play selected for performance, in order to give the
Queen an opportunity of seeing the different kinds of
German theatricals, was Schiller's Bride cf Messina, int
which the tire and genius of the pout struggled almost.
in vain with the rigid forms he was confined to in his:
attempt to construct a tragedy on the old Greek model.
The plot is as painful and revolting as the experiment
of the poet was in a dramatic point of view uulortunate ;
but the language is full of nervous energy, and the
sentiment i, often delicate in the extreme. The one
idea of a fate or destiny, compelling all the characters
in the drama towards a blind unconscious partici-
pation in a dreadful citastrophe, is preserved int
this imitation of the Greek tragedy. A prophecy indi-
cates the downfal of the royal house of Messina to date
from the birth of a princess, and, to evade the fulfil-
ment of this prediction, the mother of a daughter, who
in course of time is born to the house, conceals the fact
of her birth, and brings her up in .secret ink distant
convent. Here she is discovered by one of the two
Princes of Messina, her brothers in fact, who becomes:
enamoured of her, as also does the other brother subse-
quently. A deadly enmity is aroused between the two,
and the fluctuations of this hate between passion and
reconciliation, brought about by their mother, who is
not aware that the cause of. their enmity is their sister,
form, together with the stuxieties of the lovers, the chief
psrt of the plot of the pit c 2. The great art of the dra-
matist consists in the skill with which he has brought.
the different parties into contact, and )et allowed each
to keep his or her secret, until at last the two bro-
thers, on a fresh burst of passion, fly to arms. One
kills the other. and then commits suicide from remorse,
and the Princess (the Bride of Messina) now for the
first time made aware that the favoured lover is in fact
her brother, dies under the accumulata d affliction. A
plot like this does not seem the most appropriate 14 a
public theatre ; but they have different ideas on these
subjects in Germany from those v%hich prevail in
England.
The performance began at about seven o'clock. The
royal visitors, who with their attendants ocetipied more
than half the dress circle, did not all arrive together.
Her Majesty arrived Lhortly after the play began. It
was a sineilar circumstance, perhaps it is a point of
etiquette, that none but reigning Princes and Princesses
sat in the front seats of the royal box. Even Prince
Albert sat in the ordinary dress circle, with the Duchess
of Kent. The Queens of England and of Belgium sat
in the centre, and on their right and left the'King of the
Belgians and .the Grand-Duke-of Baden. Guiles, and
ices were brought into, the box in profusion, and eaten
with the most perfect ease and nonchalance before the
audience.

There is the same absence of ceremony and exclusive-
ness in the theatre here that has been stated to exist in
the palaces:— Everything-sceins open to the public eye,
even the private houses and villas on the road side have
no fences or railings round them.
The royal party seemed to be much interested in the
acting, which, on the whole, was good. Between the
acts a fine orchestra played some airs, as also the marches
and choruses which are incidental to the play. Trio
regal party left at about half-past 10 o'clock, on their
return to Rosenau, attended by outriders, earryin;
enormouq flambeaux.

This morning the Royal party attended Divine service
at the Church of St. Maurice, in Coburg—a structure
of unpretending character, whitewashed in the interior
and presenting a very bare and common-place, but
no doubt a very good Protestant, contrast to the
gorgeous splendours of the churches and cathedrals
in Catholic countries. The church is of very
plain construction, without transepts, and the only
appearance of ornament about it consists in
a stupendous monument to three deceased Dukes of
Saxe Coburg, the tomb of whom, placed as it is, before
the communion- table, looks exactly like an altar. The
upper part of the monument consists of sculptured
figures, life-size (the faces painted in imitation of flesh),
and some very spirited sculptured scenes from scripture.
There are no pews in the ehrireh, but the body is fitted
with seats, and appropriated exclusively to females, the
galleries being occupied by the males. The Ducal pew
overlooks the communion-table. It is more like a room
than a pew, being shut in with windows, which were now,
of course, thrown open. The pulpit is exactly opposite,
and the reading-desk on the floor, below, between the
two. On this occasion, the children who assisted at the,fite
of Gregorius on Friday were all assembled in the chan-
cel, in the dresses they wore, the girls wreathed with ivy,
and the effect in the warm bright sunlight was very pic-
turesque. . _

Her Majesty, the Prince, the Coburg Princes, the
King and Queen of the Belgians, and the suite,. arrived
at the church at about a quarter to 11 o'clock. They
were received by the clergymen in their robes, and con-
ducted over a carpeted way to the royal pew. The ser-
vice then commenced, the church being crowded with
people. The service began with the chanting of a few
verses by the clergymen standing at the Communion-
table, to which there were responses from the choir.
Then the congregation generally joined in a hymn ;
then portions of Scripture were read, then another
hymn and a short prayer, and then followed the sermon;
after which there was a blessing from the Communion-
table, as in a Roman Catholic church. A military
brass band was stationed in the church, and accom-
panied with their music the chanting of a 7'e- Delon—
not the Te Deem of our churches, but a sort of hymn in
rhyme. The music was composed by Schicht. This
was sung by the choir alone. The effect of this hymn,
and of the fine volume of sound rolling through the
church, was magnificently grand. In certain parts of
the service the congregation also sung, and in a manner
which evidenced sound musical training, producing an
effect very different from o:at of our English psalmody.
The service_ lasted till twelve o'clock, and the royal
party left the church to return to Rosenau. From the
foregoing sketch it will be seen that there was much in
this performance of divine worship quite different from
our English custom. Still more strange was it to see a
great part of the congregation adjourn to the outskirts
of the town where, in the course of half an hour, many
were riding on hobby-horses' or witnessing the exploits
of conjurors, while the little boys and girls were waltz-
ing away in happy ignorance that there could he any int-
propriety of that sort of innocent enjoyment.