The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-17 00:00:00

SURREY.

The very name of " the Surrey" is enough to conjure
up in the minds of holiday goers, a world of enchant-
ment, which haunts the imagination like the phantom of
first-love. Hence all the world go to the Surrey in the
hope of realizing all their past dreams of enjoyment, and
revel for the moment in the illusions of forlorn hope.
And no wonder ! Every one likes to be happy,
if but once in their lives—and those who go
to the Surrey are sure of catching all's that
beautiful, romantic, enterprising, wonderful, and
almost improbable in one evening's incomparable enter-
tainment. " Wouldn't you like to go and be happy? If you
don't make haste, all the world will be there before
you, that's all." And certainly, judging from the over-
flowing crowd of last night, we do not think " the
Surrey " was ever so crowded before. The soul of
attraction was no less than Murat—the brother-in-law
of Napoleon, and King of Naples—a piece which was
the admiration of Paris for six months—a phenomenon
in itself, for nobody ever heard of the Parisians admiring
anything but themselves for six minutes consecutively.
Indeed the notice in the play-bill groups the merits of
the piece very graphically. It says—" The excursive
nature of this drama—which embraces the whole period
of the manhood of its celebrated hero—carrying the
peasant son of a village innkeeper on the wings of that
moral tornado, the first revolution of France, through
all the military dangers and unequalled triumphs of
the Republican and Imperial Armies, to the various
grades of General-Marshal of the Empire—Prince
—and King ;—and the peculiar construction ne-
cessary to stretch the short time given for dramatic
representation, over so extended and sanguinarily marked
an epoch, renders it necessary to prepare the minds of
the spectators, in some manner, for the rapid changes
of locale and of time, exhibited in the progression of
exciting and swiftly varying scenes ; France, Italy,
Egypt, Naples, Russia, France again, and the final
and closing tragedy on the shores of Calabria,
are all visited in turn, and the unparalleled for-
tunes of the first equestrian soldier in the world,
all duly chronicled ; • nay, more, the realms of the De-
parted Brave beyon this mortal breathing world,' are
invaded by the eye of imagination—the spirits of the
heroic dead assembled, and the great master mind, whose
warlike and indomitable will made Europe one wide
battle field, is summoned from his willow-shadowed
tomb of rock,' to grace and hallow all. It only re-
mains with the management to state that this Drama,
for the unexampled space of six successive months, kept
the populace of Paris in a fever of delight and admiration
—it became, therefore, a duty to transport it to the
English stage, for the gratification of the patrons of this
establishment, and that every care has been taken to do
strict justice to its effects, regardless of expense or labour."
Everything is comprehended in the above description,
with the grand exception that nobody will understand it
till it is seen, for " seeing is believing,"—and of course
people will like to see the truth, and in these
days of sporting—" back it too." We shall give
one specimen of the heartinesss with which the
performers entered into the spirit of the scene, as a
sample of the rest. So intent were the horses and
men—we always give preference to those who have two
to one over the other, and those horses always put
their best legs foremost, which men, from modesty.
or something worse, seldom do—that the Battle of
the Pyramids was turned into a real tragedy ! Yes,
a real tragedy. Each actor seemed to feel that the spirit
of forty centuries was looking down on him, and him
alone; and, acting on this chivalrous idea, one of the pike-
men actually thrust his offensive weapon into the sabre--
hand of a cavalier, to the wonderment of the spectators,
and the sudden astonishment of both man and horse !
It was a master-stroke of heroism, and will no doubt
be repeated every evening—if the sufferer will per-
mit his assailant to try his hand at it again.
But these are mere trifles, serving only to prove how
deeply interested the actors are in doing their duty, and
no mistake. It would occupy about two columns of The
San to describe the battles, vicissitudes, and moving
scenes by flood and field, in the eventful history of
Murat, at the Surrey ; and as we cannot spare the
room, we advise people to go to the Surrey, and judge for
themselves ; and when they have seen it out, to thank us
for such good amusing advice. Perhaps the piece might
be improved, for those who have notmuch time to spare,
by discounting the bill of fare about ten or fifteen per
cent. This would make the residue more precious ; for
what with the wonders of the ring, the races, and truly
grand displays of horsemanship—aye, and womanship
to—oevery one must allow that there is plenty and to spare
for his or her money. The pony races were ex-wed-
ingly amusing—the more so as a monkey contrived, by
hook or by crook, to win the race. " Go to the Surrey," as
George Robins would say, " and look at the lot"---we
say laugh at tl, e lot, for there are lots of fun.

VICTORIA.

The spirited proprietors of this favourite place of pub-
lic amusement, anxious if not to surpass, at least to
equal the rival establishment on this side of the water,
produced last night for the amusement of the holiday
folks, a new drama of great domestic interest, entitled
Jane Paul, or the Victim of Unmerited Persecution.
The principal character in the drama, which was most
ably and cleverly sustained by Miss Vincent, is perse-
cuted with unmerited severity by a disappointed suitor,
Philip. Necker (Mr. Dale). She, however, through
the instrumentality of a tribe of Gipsies, endeavours to
evade all his machinations, and ultimately succeeds; her
accuser, when on the point of death, acknowledging the
unfounded nature of the charge he had made against
her, and leaving the whole of his wealth to the
victims of his persecution, her husband, and their
only child. Michael Paul was ably. personated by
Mr. E. F. Saville, and Mr. Paul in the character
of Hedgehog Jack, the captain of the wandering gang,
looked everything that an admirer of the predatory
tribe could wish for. The scenery was in perfect keep-
ing with the piece, which was announced for repetition
amid unbounded applause. The entertainments of the
evening concluded with the drama of The Mill of Bere-
zina, and a new version of the Forty Thieves. The
house, we are happy to say, was crowded in every part.