The Sun. — 1835-04-21 (London, England)

ENGLISH OPERA-HO USE.  Last night not less than three new pieces were produced. The first was an opera, called Sadak and Kalasrade ; or, the Waters of Oblivion. It comes recommended to the public by the clever pen of Miss Mitford, but nothing which that pen was capable of effecting, able and versatile as it is acknowledged to be, could possibly redeem the too manifest defects of the music. The composer is Mr. Packer, a pupil of the Royal Academy, and however unpromising to his future fame has been this essay, it has still exhibited some proofs that when his judgment is more matured, and his taste better cultivated, he may come forth under very different auspices. As every body must be conversant with the original tale, it will be unnecessary to say any thing more of the plot than that Sadak (Mr. Phillips) an officer in the service of Anzurath (Mr. Wilson), Caliph of Persia, after having crushed a rebellion in one of the provinces, discovers on his return that duringc, his absence his palace had been burned, and his wife Kalasrade (Miss Romer) carried off by his ungrateful and tyrannical master. Abandoning the purpose of taking vengeance on the spot by means of an armed band, he flings down his sword, and, appealing to the feelings of the Caliph, implores him to release the partner of his life and hopes. The tyrant promises to do so, upon what he believes to be an impracticable condition, namely, that Sadak should, within the course of a month, bring him an untouched cup of the Waters of Oblivion. The fates, however, are propitious to the latter, and, surmounting every difficulty, he presents himself with the cup in his hand, accompanied by his guardian spirit the Nymph of the Fountain. Anzurath takes it from him, and quaffing off its contents, instantly falls upon the ground in a state of insensibility, never to rise more, and justice triumphs in the restoration of Kalasrade to the anxious arms of her delighted husband. Mr. Phillips sang with all his accustomed power and scientific taste, and Miss Romer acquitted herself to much advantage. At the conclusion, the audience would not suffer the opera to be given out for repetition—a long and ineffectual struggle being made by a few against the loud dissent of the majority. The piece, thus virtually condemned, was followed by a curious trifle, called My Fellow Clerk, which met with a far better fate. The humour of it turns on Cockney scrapes and squabbles of a pair of attorney's clerks, Victim and Tactic, the former personated by Mr. Oxberry, and the latter by Mr. Wrench. These brother quill-men, neglecting their business at their employer's desk, give themselves up to nightly revels in all quarters of the town ; and at last, Tactic, whose inventive genius bas rescued him from a variety of critical situations, is detected in his schemes, and proved to have led Victim astray, while he sought to subvert the latter in the affections of Fanny Dobsou, a young lass whose mother keeps a lodging-house. Everybody laughed heartily at My Fellow Clerk, and it was given out for repetition amidst loud applause. The next piece was called The Shadow on the Wall, and it takes its name from a particular spot where the scene is laid being presumed to be haunted. The story has in it a good deal of romantic interest, and the principal characters are personated by  e '  Mr. Srle, Mr. 0. Smith, and Mr. and Mrs. Keeley. The action of the piece is s.upposed to take place shortly after . the time of the Commonwealth ; and two needy cavaliers, Walton and Norris, are leagued together by a private\s. compact ; the result of which is that the latter falls by the hands of the former, while Luke Ei,elyn, a "retired scholar" and sentimental lover, is denounced as the murderer, and at the close establishes his innocence, and takes to himself a spouse, though not his first " lady love." Re-: peated plaudits greeted Mr. Serle's ears, while he announced the piece for repetition.