1827.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



201 



he summons Ms many powerful talent*. He 

 does uot write a novel, because a novel will 

 come into his head, but because he Las 

 said, ' I will write novels weigh me, I 

 am as heavy ; conjure me, Brutus can start 

 n spirit as soon as Caesar, tfec.,' or, as per- 

 chance, some blacksmith looking on at a 

 game of quoits, begins slowly to sympathize 

 with 'the movements of the players, and 

 awakening from a dream of admiration at 

 the dexterity of the chief performer, looks 

 down upon his own muscular arms, and 

 carrying his ponderous strength quietly and 

 modestly towards the spot, plays too and 

 matches the' winner. 



The plot is somewhat deficient in com- 

 pactness and proportion. A long, long epi- 

 sode about Reuben's dead parents, whom 

 we know only by report, and care not a 

 straw about, and who are clearly only intro- 



duced at all, in order to keep up a running 

 threat that he will go to India in pursuit of 

 them, is too impertinent to be read. We 

 sought the conclusion of it in vain ; and 

 found, to our vexation, (hat one short chap- 

 ter was all that remained of the text, alter 

 that history came to a close. But, if the 

 construction of the plot be exceptionable, 

 the characters bear witness to the master's 

 hand. Never do they come short of our 

 expectation, or deviate from it. Goldine;- 

 ham is excellent ; so is Timothy, the coach- 

 man ; so is Squire Hartfield ; so is Sir Har- 

 court Slingsby ; and so, to admiration, is 

 Jefferies. Yet we do not surrender all our 

 souls to the book, nor does the story hang 

 about our memories, like a song that has 

 enchanted us. How is this ? Because the 

 writer is not head and ears in love with his 

 own story. 



MONTHLY THEATRICAL REPORT. 



THE summer theatres are now making 

 their best and pleasantest efforts. The 

 Haymarket has brought into the field 

 probably as strong a company as the pre- 

 sent state of the stage can fairly muster ; 

 and the activity of the manager and the 

 fecundity of the habitual authors of the 

 house are put in full requisition. These 

 are the true secrets of popularity after all ; 

 and there is no instance where that de- 

 fi-rence for public opinion, which makes a 

 manager exert himself to his utmost, is not 

 fairly recompensed by the audience Lis- 

 ton's temporary secession from the com- 

 pany is a formidable loss. There may 

 hve been more genuinely dramatic come- 

 dians, or happier limners of the slight and 

 delicate pleasantries of the high comedy, or 

 more vigorous and susceptible deliverers 

 of manly dialogue ; but our time has not 

 Seen Listen's superior in that interme- 

 diate style between the breadth of farce 

 and the interest and strength of comedy, 

 of which Mr. Poolers writings are the mo- 

 del. Listou has his obvious faults : he runs 

 too rapidly into caricature j he indulges 

 tuo freely the gallery propensity to laugh 

 at his grimace and contortions of counte- 

 nance j he too frequently forgets the 

 stage, and carries" on an interchange of 

 burlesque with the audience ; but in his 

 range of character he is, for the liirie, with- 

 out an equal. Reeve, his successor, has 

 pa'pable humour, great adroitness of 

 VO.C3 and gesture, and so far as imitation 

 goes is perhaps the best mimic on the 

 stage. Bui he by no moans fills up a bar- 

 ren part with the richness and variety of 

 Listou. He suffers the laugh to die he 

 svitFers the jest to go off- nnsustained by 

 the living comment of countenance. The 

 plaasau;ry is uttered, and well uttered j 

 but the whole art of bye-play that then-' 



J1M. New Series. VuL.IV. Ni>.20. 



trical and visible echo of the author's wit 

 is yet. to be learned by this performer. 

 His adoption of Listen's character is pro- 

 bably the result of higher orders ; but this 

 adoption must always be unlucky for an, 

 original actor, as Reeve is. It obviously 

 compels him either to imitate, for the i-ake 

 of similar popularity, or, to take a dif- 

 ferent view of the character, for the sake 

 of establishing his own claims. But the 

 little Haymarket performances are not ca- 

 pable of this subdivision ; they have not 

 depth enough for true actors to float in, 

 without striking across each other. There 

 may be two Charles Surfaces, or two Lord 

 Oyltbys ; but there can be but one Paul 

 Pry and that one is already Listou. 



A very pretty performance, "The Ren 

 centre, or Love will find out the Way,'* 

 has been produced by Mr. Plauche, aa 

 ingenious writer, whose powers are evi- 

 dently improving, and who increases the 

 public interest in his productions by the 

 strict absence of all that can offend public 

 propriety. His '' Rencontre" is a little 

 bank tissue of pleasant improbabilities 

 for which, however, the latitude of the 

 stage allows. Madame de MerreiUe, a 

 young Parisian widow and a very hand- 

 some and graceful one, as personated by 

 Miss E. Tree molested by the passion of 

 an absurd Major Moustache, leaves the 

 capital for her uncle's chateau. Stopping 

 to change horses, she finds at the inn her 

 brother, in full flight from the<r/e.v-cfr/Hes, 

 sent to seize him for having* shot his adver- 

 sary in a duel. His horse has broke down r 

 and he has no resource but to adopt the 

 expedient of Madame Soulrefte name-, 

 ly, to take the horse of a gentleman who 

 happens to be in' the hotel. He writes a 

 line, promising to leave the horse at the. 

 Chateau, awl begging the geulleaian to 



2 D 



