A French paper contains the description of a new theatre
lately con- structed at Constantinople, which will shortly be inaugurated with some pomp. It is beautifully situated on a spot near the Bosphorus, opposite Scutari. A peculiarity of this new theatre is, that it contains a suite of most magnificent apartments and reception rooms for the special use of the Sultan. Amongst them is a banquetting room, nearly a hundred feet long and fifty broad, with twelve plate-glass windows, a gilded ceiling, silken tapestry, chairs and tables of perfumed wood, bouquets formed of rubies and diamonds,—in short all the wonders of the Thousand-and-one Nights. This saloon, chiefly destined for diplomatic banquets, contains likewise two mysterious boxes, invisible to the guests, but from which everything can be seen. These boxes have been constructed, the first for the Sultan and his ladies, and the second for the orchestra, which thus remains hidden from the audience. The theatre itself is built after the model of that at Versailles ; with this difference, that the whole upper tier, and part of the first tier, are closed in by gauze curtains, behind which the fair occupants of the harems belonging to the Sultan and others will be allowed to sit. At all this the old orthodox Turks, of course, shako their bearded heads ; but Abdul Medjid's younger subjects are as loud in their praise as the others in their condemnation.
Madame Bettina von Arnim, the " child " who corresponded with Clothe, and the sister of Clement Brentano, died on the 20th instant.
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