The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-20 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR, WEDNESDAY. —The rainy state of the weather
prevented the Queen and the Royal Family from leaving the
Castle this morning. From the saute zause the Royal
Princes were prevented from going.; Out on a shooting ex-
cursion.

Her Royal Highttgs the Duchess of Kent visitedthe Ro,ra
Family this afternoon.

Her irijesiy,;;JdPrince Albert, accot*hnied by their
Royal Highnesses the Priam aid Princen Augustus of
Saxe Cobourg and Prince George, walked out for some
time in theaftemoon in the pleasure-grounds.
Lord and Lady Stanley are expected to arrive this evening
at the Castle.

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, Lady Anna
Maria Dawson, and the Baroness de Speth, will join the
royal circle at dinner.
The band of the Grenadier Guards will attend during
dinner. Her Majesty's private band will afterwards attend
in the Castle.

A deputation of merchants of the City waited on the Earl
of Aberdeen yesterday at the Foreign-office, to present a me..
morial of British merchants and residents at Buenos Ayres
upon the state of affairs in that country.
' The Duke of Wellington visited Sir Robert Peel yesterday.
The Ecclesiastical Commissione,ls for England had a
meeting yesterday at the ofs.ce, in Whitehall-place. There
were present the-Archbiall'op of Canterbury; the Bishops of
London, Winchester, icath and Wells, Ely, Norwich, and
Oxford ; the Judge of the Prerogative Court, the Earl .of
Devon, and Lord Ashley.

The Right Honourable Sidney Herbert has arrived in town,

HAYMARKET THEATRE.

The Maiden Aunt is the title of a new comedy, from
the pen of Mr. Richard Brinsley Knowles, which was
produced last night with complete success. Mr. R. B.
Knowles is the son of the illustrious author of Virginius,
to whom be has dedicated this his first dramatic produc-
tion, and le has proved himself " the worthy son of a
worthy sire." Mr. Knowles, jun., has evidently taken
his father as his model, but there is nothing of servile
imitation about him. It might have been supposed that
he received some assistance from his father in the con-
struction of his comedy, but the play itself bears internal
evidence to the contrary. It is the work of a young
man—none but a young man could have written it—but
the young man is a poet and a dramatist, and is capable
of great things. The comedy is written in blank verse,
which is in general, easy and flowing. Like all young
dramatists, Mr. Brinsley Knowles is rather too fond of
long speeches, but that is an error which is easy'
of correction. He adopts, also, the fashion of
the oldest dramatists in making many of these speeches
conclude with a couplet. The comedy opens with a
scene in a street in London, between Montague (Mr.
Brindal), and Bevan (Mr. Caulfield), and from that we
learn that their old companion, Percy Sage, has just
returned to town at the wish of his uncle, Sir Simon,
who believes he has been to Paris, while in reality Percy
has never been further than Dover, having been detained
there by the charms of an unknown lady, who refuses to
tell him her name, but to whom, nevertheless, he has
plighted his troth. This Sir Simon Sage has been for
i—ears at deadly feud with a certain Peter Wilmot, but
Just at this time, out of mere caprice, he chooses to be
reconciled to him. Sir Simon Sage is, in fact, the most
capricious of mortals, as Montague observes of him :
" Mont. Caprice mocks all surmise
Of reason, and in that commodity
Sir Simon passes all ! He is one of those
Whose follies years, instead of wearing out,
Have worn in ! Full of his own opinion,
A meddler, nothing thriving that he touches,
Yet doing every thing in Wisdom's name,
Whose 'special minister he thinks himself!"
Sir Simon himself (Farren), and Peter 'Wilmot (Til-
bury), now enter, and we find Sir Simon proposing to
cement the reconciliation by a double marriage, he
himself proposing to wed Mktress Sarah (Mrs. Glover),
Wilmot's sister, "love of whom," as he says,

" Hath somewhat turned a sober-minded man
To youthful toys of verse and tender tokens,
And moved to face the priest at sixty years

With vows for life of constancy ;"
while Percy, his nephew, and heir (Mr. Hudson),
shall wed Wilmot's fair daughter, Catherine (Mrs.
Seymour). Peter consents to this arrangement, al-
though he would much rather secure the whole of
Sir Simon's property by wedding his daughter to
the knight himself. The next scene takes place at
Sir Simon's house, and the uncle telling his nephew
that it's time he were married, is about to dilate upon
the joys of married life, when he is thus interrupted by
the impatient Percy—
" Percy S. Pray, Sir, save.yourself;
Whoever would not, I would marry, Sir;
It is my wish ; I think of it by day
And dream by night. And I would marry, not
As doctors do, and clergymen, to gain
Repute for gravity and trust to cure
The sick of soul and body ; nor as rakes
To patch bad characters; nor thriftless heirs—
To do what industry lacks heart to do,
To fill the purses folly emptied for them ;
But as Sir Simon's nephew ought to marry—
To set example to society
And benefit the universe at large."
But when Percy discovers that his uncle has bespoke
a wife for him, and will not let him wed the object of
his choice, he at once declares that he will not go to
church to utter vows of love that he can never hope to
pay ; and with this scene concludes the first act, which
was loudly and deservedly applauded throughout, f:ar it
is full of good poetry and vigorous writing. 'lle se-
cond act opens with a scene between Sill Simon and
Peter Wilmot, in which the latter per'_:eades the former
that Catherine is a much more sortable match for him
than Sarah, and the knight 'consents to become the
suitor of the daughter, awl to discard the sister. The
scene then changes to Y;ilutot's house, and after a short
scene, in which Paer announces to his daughter the
altered intenticeas of Sir Simon, we find the knight him-
self leading in the maiden aunt Sarah.
"A good-hearted soul,
Who never saw a tear in any eye,
But her own kept it company,"
and announcing to her that his wooing had been merely
in the way of friendship, hallantry, and politeness, and
meant nothing. This scene was admirably acted by
Farrell and Mrs. Mover, and drew down shouts of
laughter and applause. Havieg got rid of the aunt, Sir
Simon proceeds tr, woo the niece. She is a gay, lively,
rattling girl, well. disposed to quiz the foolish old
bachelor. she completely overpowers him by her
persiflage, telling him he knows not how to
WOO, 'Ana when she finds he loses heart she
encrJurages him, until at last the old knight throws him-
-Bstf on his knees, pays her the most high-flown compli-
ments, and at length endeavours to snatch a kiss. "On
one condition," says the fair Catherine, " I will give you
leave to kiss me." " Name it," exclaims the amorous
old knight. " Catch me, if you can," is the reply, as
the damsel runs off and throws a chair in his way, over
which he stumbles and breaks his shins ; and with this
scene the second act concludes. The third act opens in
the Mulberry-gardens of St. James's, we presume,
thereby fixing the time of the play in the first half
of the seventeenth century. The aunt and the niece are
together, and we discover, from their conversation, that
Catherine herself is the fair incognita of Dover, who
bath fascinated the heart of Percy Sage, and that, know-
ing of the old feud between Sir Simon and her father,
she had concealed from her lover her name. She is,
however, somewhat of a coquette, and will not admit
to her aunt that she loves him. " I'm sure you love
him," says the aunt. " No," declares Catherine ; to
which the aunt replies—
" How came it, then, you met him every day
For a good week and more? Was it by chance?
What an uncommonly strange thing Chance is!
What heaps of sins, like charity, it hides;
Or, rather, altogether blots them out :
For who's to blame for what he had no hand in,
Which was not meant—was never once foreseen—
Which happened—some way—as a thing might drop
Out of the clouds; tho', very strange to say,
It always falls exactly where we'd have it !
Chance is a scapegrace, who, in all his life,
Did never do a proper action yet.
He puts his hand to nothing but t.ie blunders -
Mistakes his neighbour's n' ;;set for his own Ruins good causes;
,out fault in the pleader;
Giver, the wronv
-medicine, and kills the patient;
Anil, like an
'aiw.l-itward knave, makes poor young ladies,
The least designing creatures in the world,
Meet the same man, at the same place and hour,
Day after days Who never for a moment
Drea-At in atieir walks to meet with anything
ftsMs and trees, and charming scenery."
Th!, rt•Assage was delightfully given by Mrs. Glover,
;ad drew down repeated rounds of applause. As she is
urging her niece no longer, by keeping up a foolish mas-
-1 querade, to pain a true heart which for her sake was
willing to give up everything, Percy himself appears in
the distance. He is with two ladies, the one "a pleas-
ing girl"—
"The other, her intriguing artful mother,
Who to the wonder of the world, has married
Within three years seven daughters without portions
To men of wealth and family."
Poor Catherine wishes to go home, but is thus remon-
strated with and advised by her aunt :
" Home! not a step ! What ! see •
Your lover stolen before your very eyes,
With ne'er a better shift to save the spoil,
But run and leave it in the robber's hands?
Are you so tame? Home! home, indeed ! Die rather !
Forward at once and claim your property !
And tell him to his face he's no true lover—
Bravely—no tears; but should yon find, as much
I fear you will, they've coaxed him past recall,
Then laugh it off with what good grace you can,
And wish them a good morning !—Now sweet niece,
Love's arrow, this time barbed with jealousy,
Shall teach thy heart what quality's within!
I'll hide and listen !"
And accordingly she does hide and listen, and overhears
a tender love scene between Percy and Catherine, which
is interrupted by the appearance of Sir Simon, where-
upon Catherine drops her glove, and, having hurriedly
whispered to Percy to meet her there on the morrow,
rushes off, complaining loudly of his insolence in daring
to accost a lady. Percy's astonishment at this conduct
on her part is still more increased when Sir Simon,
rating him soundly for his insolence, snatches from him
the glove, and, declaring that the lady is his (Sir Simon's)
affianced bride, challenges him to fight for the glove.
Percy cannot believe that the girl will marry his uncle ;
but when Sir Simon says—
" Time was, the lady's hand might have been thine :
But that you slighted now your uncle takes ;
And, as a witness of the place I hold
In Mistress Wilmot's heart, here in my cap
I stick her dainty glove•--.'
Poor Percy knows not whether to laugh or swear, but
concludes by anathematizing all flirts, and vowing all his
life to bide a bachelor. In the opening scene of the
fourth act we find the maiden aunt informing the niece
of what had occurred between Sir Simon and Percy in
the Mulberry-gardens, and of the determination of the
latter to renouuce her. &tie would fain turn the whole
into a jest—she loves I.lm not—she is rejoiced he has
renounced her ; but when her father enters and an-
nounces that she is on the morrow to wed Sir Simon,
she at onct) declares that wed him she never will;
and the mai den aunt, having in vain attempted to shake
his resylutio n, determines counterPlet lumo PoFoy i$