The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-04-30 00:00:00

ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.-THE JEWESS

The production of this grand spectacle, which the great
space afforded by the Amphitheatre, and the extensive
resources at his command, have enabled Mr. Copeland to
give with a degree of effect to be equalled in no other
theatre in the kingdom, unless the two great London
houses had been pressed into the service, will deservedly
form an era in the history of Liverpool theatricals. So
picturesque and gorgeous a display of the chivalry and

this town, or even imagined by more than a very small
portion f the community of this plain matter-of-fact
age. The dresses are of the most rich and expensive
description ; the armour, manufactured in Paris expressly
for this piece is magnificent ; and the whole of the harac-
t..rs and scenes are in perfect keeping, and strict historical
truth. The opening grand entree and procession of the
Emperor of Sigismund, attended by the nobility and
church dignitaries of the empire, transports us back to
an age in which monarchs vied with each other, not only in
arms and in policy, but in magnificence as well, and when
the Church of Rome was in the zenith of its pomp and
power ; and the effect may be conceived, when we state
that to place it effectively upon the stage the aid of 200
supernumeraries is required.
The plot of the " Jewess" is very simple, and soon
told. Eleazer, a Jew of Constance (Mr. Barry Sullivan)
has received into his house a Christian knight, the Prince
Leopold, (Mr. Chamberlain,) who, under the guise of a
Hebrew, has won the affections of his daughter Rachael,
(personated by Mrs. H. Vining, of the Surrey Theatre,
who has been expressly engaged for the occasion.) Whilst
secretly performing the rites of the passover in Eleazer's
dwelling, they are surprised by the entrance of the Prin-
cess Theodosia, (Mrs. H. 'Wallis,) who comes for the
purpose of purchasing a necklace of great price and
beauty, to present to her husband, Prince Leopold, on
his expected return from a victory achieved over the
Hussites. The Prince, who is present as the Hebrew
Youth Reuben, evades recognition; and, immediately after
the princess succeeds in prevailing upon the Jewess to
elope with him. This step, however, is frustrated by
Eleazer, who has overheard their conversation, and a fine
scene ends by the prince avowing himself a Christian, and
departing for the court.
In the next scene the court is assembled, and Leopold
has received the congratulations of the Emperor and his
nobles, when Eleazar and his daughter enter to deliver the
necklace to the Princess, by whom it is placed upon the
shoulders of Leopold. The Jewess, however, recognizes
in him her perjured lover; and having snatched from his
person the necklace, in a frenzy of revenge, she denounces
him before the court and Cardinal, as having been guilty
of holding commerce with herself, the punishment of
which is death to both. Excommunication pronounced
by the Cardinal immediately follows ; and Eleazer and
his daughter, with Leopold, are led off prisoners. This
is one of the most effective scenes of the play. The last,
however, in which the Jewess is to suffer death by fire,
and Eleazer is brought in from the rack, to which he has
been subjected by the Cardinal, to wring from him a
secret, in which he ;s deeply interested, and which the
Jew refuses to disclose, is most striKing ; and brings be-
fore us with fearful truthfulness the power once swayed
by the Church of Rome, and the horrid instruments by
which it worked out its persecuting tyranny. The con-
clusion of the story, in this and.the preceding scenes, we
have refrained from giving, lest we should detract from
the entire piece. The whole was most enthusiastically
received. _

The Ballet and a series of light pieces have varied the
entertainment every evening.

EXPERIMENTS ON THE FARMERS.—When I hear men
like Lord Fitzwilliam, Lord Kinnaird, and Sir Robert Peel
talk about a " fair trial" of this " great experiment," it
reminds me forcibly of an eminent surgeon of the name
of Magendie, who excited the indignation of every hu-
mane mind, and the public were horrified, by the state-
ments which were given of the cruelties he inflicted upon
dumb animals, though with the excellent purpose of
advancing surgical science for the benefit of mankind.
Why the public would not endure it, and they exclaimed
with one voice that even so great a good should not be
secured by such merciless means. Yes ; and you, the
farmers of England, have been classed with dumb ani-
mals, and all sorts of experiments are inflicted upon you
for the sake of proving some mere abstract notion or
theory. But there is a better illustration than that.
Some of you may possibly have read the novel of
" Edward," by Dr. Moore, in which an incident is re-
lated of Edward, who is the hero of the tale, having
fought a duel, and received a wound. A surgeon very
dexterously extracts the ball, and in reporting the state
of Edward to a friend of his patient, perfectly horrifies
him by the relation of the sufferings which he had com-
pelled his patient to endure. The shuddering friend at
length exclaims, " Dear me, it must have been very
painful ;" to which the surgeon replies with the utmost
sang froid—" Painful ! oh, not in the least, I can assure
you. I performed the operation with the greatest pos-
sible pleasure." (Laughter.) " Oh, but," said the
friend, "it must have been painful to the patient."
" Oh, oh ! the patient you mean ; yes, I suppose it
might have been." (Much laughter.) And so with you,
gentlemen—you are the patients, and these speculators
are the surgeons—(laughter)--and they think nothing
whatever of your sufferings so long as they can try their
" great experiment.".--Mr. Young's Speech at Devizes,
last week.

CURE FOR THE WHOOPINGCOUGH.—" I know," said
one of my parishioners,. " what would cure him, but
m'appen you wouldent believe me." " What is it,
Mary ?" I asked. " Why, I did everything that every-
body told me. One told me to get him breathed on by a
piebald horse. I took him ever such a way, to a horse
at —, and put him under the horse's mouth ? but he
was no better. Then I was told to drag him backward
through a bramble bush.. I did so ; but this didn't cure
him. Last of all ;. I was teld to give him nine fried mice,
fasting, in a morning, in this way :—three the first morn-
ing : then wait three mornings, and then give him three
more; wait three mornings, and then give him three
more. When he had eaten these nine fried mice he
became qtlite well. This would• be sure to cure your child
air."—Notte And Qyeriesi.