Public Amusements.

PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS .

NEW ADELPHI THEATRE . This beautiful theatre is UOAV open , Bro . Benjamin Webster being the sole proprietor and manager , and much has he done for the comfort of his patrons , the house having been entirely repainted and re-embellished , and the seats throughout restuffed .

A neAV drama by Mr . Dion Boueicault , called " ' Rip Van Winkle ; or , the Sleep of Twenty Tears , " introduces a IIOAV American actor , Mr . Joseph Jefferson , and both are eminently successful . The story of Rip Van Winkle is familiar to every reader , and the subject has been more than once turned to dramatic purposes . Mr .

Dion Boueicault has made as much as possibly could be made out of the materials of the old tale , and the success of the piece the first night was never a moment in doubt . The success of the actor is even greater than that of the drama . Mr . Jefferson enjoys a very high reputation

in America , and holds the first rank as an artist of a peculiar line . The natural ease of his manner is surprising , and his style is exceedingly simple and free from elaboration . There is not the slightest tendency to exaggeration in anything lie does or says ; and it is really astonishing to observe the effect he produces on an audience Avho are accustomed to breathe tho very

atmosphere of extravagance and caricature . The drunken sot , goodnatured at heart , and fond of everything but his wife , whose illtemper worries him and makes him a vagabond , is sustained Avith marA'ellous skill throughout the first act , not a point in the details being lost sight of ; while the semblance of old ago in the last act is even

more striking , and has only one fault—thafc ifc is too real , and is occasionally overpoAvering in the intensity of its feeling . Some touches of pathos , indeed , are worthy of any actor Ave ever saAv . The scenery is beautifully painted and vei * y cleverly put upon the stage . The first scene—The Village of

Falling Waters—occupies nearly the whole depth of the stage , and is principally built , giving a reality to the exterior of fche cottages rarely seen on the stage . The second scene is a shut-in scene , to give time for the clearance of the first and the arranging of the thirda representation of the interior of Rip ' s cottage—almost

as elaborate in arrangement as the first scene , and Avhich is effected in the incredible short time of about two minutes ; all this reflects the highest credit on Messrs . J . Gates and Charker the scenic artist and machinist . The house is nightly eroAvded in every part , and the drama is sure to have a lono- run .

NEW ROYALTY This pretty little theatre has changed its management , and to a certain extent its class of performances , light and vivacious opera being hereafter the predominant attraction . Ifc wisely , hoAvever , does not forsake the more glittering and popular production of burlesque ,

Avhich has given the theatre so favourable a notoriety . Ifc is now open under tho direction of Miss Fanny Reeves , a singer of repute and ability , who has collected a very excellent musical company , consisting of Mr .

Public Amusements.

Eliot Galer as the leading tenor ; Mr . George Honey the inimitable buffo singer ; and Miss Susan Galton , Avho recently made a successful debut at Her Majesty ' s Theatre . Miss Reeves herself makes up the quartette , which is extremely efficient ; and , indeed , for so small a theatre , remarkably excellent , the leading singers being

all first-class artists , and having Mr . Kingsbury as the musical director , ifc is as well organised as may be . The pieces selected are "Poor Pillicody , " a new and original comic opera entitled " Castle Grim , " and Mr . Brough's burlesque of "Amabel . " Mr . Honey has the unction of the old comic actors ,

and is forcible Avithout being violent . Altogether the New Royalty has begun exfcremely successfully , and gives good promise of obtaining popular support .

POLYTECHNIC . The nearest approach to novelty at the Polytechnic Institution is the collection of fche performing birds , by Madlle . Emile Van der Meersch- —which was given for a short period some months since . The exhibition is indeed extraordinary . There is a Java sparroAV , a finch ,

and others , Avho seem to understand Avhatever is said to them , and fco select printed cards , AA'hich they read and present in reply . The gentleman from Java is funnier than the others ; as the peculiar collar mark round his throat gives hirn an air of being dressed for the occasion . If be is asked the day of the week , he hops from his

cage on to the table , and selects the right answer from a mass of closely packed cards , by the edge , and " hands it" iu with his beak . With a boAV he hops in doors again . A variety of such performances displays the perfection of his training , and gets through a vei'y amusing half-hour . The "Wonderful Proteus , " by Mr . Tobin

and Mr . Peppei-, is even increasing in attraction , whilst the mystery is in no way solved . Sir David Brewster may have mastered it , but he has certainly not divulged ifc , and ifc remains the most astonishing illusion of the age .

Literary Extracts.

LITERARY EXTRACTS .

LONDON IN SHAKSPEKE ' S TIJIE . —Our London is something less bright than ifc was in Shakspere ' s time . Coal was then burnt in London ; and Shakspere imagined it was common in Athens , Rome , and Troy ; but only iu great houses , feAV and far betAveen ; and the smoke produced from chimneys Avas not much more apparent than that from pipes . Green trees brightened the streets .

The river bank Avas a series of lawns ancl shrubberies . Fruit for tho royal table was groAvn under the walls of Denmark-house . Near the Strand there Avas a botanical garden . Field-lane and Saffron-hill were famous for wild flowers , and prisoners confined in Newgate spoke of tho scent of roses floating into their yards from the fcrellices of Ely-place . The houses ivere more picture-like

than ours ; at least , than those Avhich come to us from , the Georgian era in our lifeless Harley-streefcs and Dorset-squares . We are Aviser HOAV , returning to the good old English style of dwelling—to the porch , the sky-line , and the planted path—to the love of roses and lilacs , fruit-trees and thorns . Then every tavern hacl its bush , every doonvay its creeper , every roof its stonecrop and mosses . The squares Avere less common and less lively than with us . The streets were narrow and unpaved , and the people more gaily dressed . On the whole we