534 



Monthly Review of Literature. 



[Nov. 



valier of the oW opinion of Englishmen, with 

 reference to the rank of foreigners 



" A French Count, an Italian Prince, a Spanish 



Grandee, 

 A British yeoman is worth them all three." 



and we doubt not but] our young heiresses 

 will soon discover the truth of this illustra- 

 tion. Some few, indeed, of weak minds, and 

 credulous dispositions, may be led away by 

 the false glare of titles they do not under- 

 stand, and to such as these we earnestly re- 

 commend this little book as a traveller's vade 

 mecum, during their next autumn on the 

 Rhine, or winter in Italy. Needy adven- 

 turers are plentiful in all countries, and mar- 

 quisats are as easily attached to the name 

 as mustachios to the lip. The author's ad- 



vice, therefore, to have nothing to do with 

 any foreigners, who* are not introduced by 

 their ambassador, is invaluable, and may save 

 many a youthful and ambitious aspirant for 

 rank from misery and disappointment. We 

 do not think it necessary to enter into a dis- 

 cussion of the relative claims of nobility and 

 gentility. We are perfectly satisfied with 

 the station allotted to each in their own coun- 

 try, and we do not believe that either have 

 occasion to grumble at their reception 

 abroad, when their pockets are in a condi- 

 tion to pay for the respect they require. 

 Those who cannot afford to pay, must e'en 

 submit to the common neglect of poverty, 

 and console themselves with Paddy's ditty, 

 " When I'm rich I rides in chaises," &c. 



MONTHLY THEATRICAL REPORT. 



THE summer theatres closed with eclat. 

 The Haymarket had the good fortune to 

 produce two of the smartest translations 

 from the French that we remember. " The 

 Bride at Fifty," by Kenny's rapid, and 

 certainly dextrous turn for adaptation, 

 was remarkably effective. The burlesque 

 of late marriages was easily understood, 

 and slightly as the allusion might have 

 been made to the opulent lady who was 

 so conspicuously in the predicament of 

 the heroine, it was sufficiently piquant to 

 secure popularity to this pleasant little 

 production. Cooper's performance of the 

 rakish husband was very amusing, and it 

 might be reckoned among the proofs of 

 how little the stage is the mirror of 

 life," that his vice improved his reputa- 

 tion, that his drunkenness did credit to 

 his judgment, and that he never appeared 

 to more advantage than when he would 

 have deserved to be sent to Coventry by 

 all mankind. 



" The Rencontre," translated and adapt- 

 ed by Planche, was similarly successful : 

 without the force and immediate applica- 

 tion of the " Bride at Fifty," it had supe- 

 rior grace. There was a want of charac- 

 ter in the personages, but it was made up 

 by the happy interest of the plot. It had 

 the advantage of being admirably acted, 

 and we would advise those who desired 

 to see Farren, Vestris, and Miss Tree 

 in their happiest talent, to see them 

 in The Rencontre." This piece does 

 great credit to Planche, and, we hope, will 

 encourage him to transplant more of the 

 pretty and ingenious dramas ofthe "Opera 

 Comique." 



The winter theatres opened with a 

 strong determination to struggle for po- 

 pularity. But it has always, to us, seemed 

 surprising, that to this bold determination, 



which commences every year, and with- 

 out which they must perish, they add so 

 little of the obvious means of success. 

 Both theatres have now been open a 

 month, and in Drury-Iane but one new 

 performance has been presented, and in 

 Covent-garden nothing. The ill conse- 

 quence of this tardiness is palpable in the 

 thinness of the houses. Yet every man 

 who knows London, knows that there are 

 every night, of even its thinnest season, 

 ten thousand individuals who would be 

 rejoiced to find any theatre open, in which 

 they might have a chance of amusement 

 for the evening. It is said that the 

 Londoners are not attracted by the 

 theatre, and that the chief audience are 

 strangers. But the stage coaches bring 

 into London, every day of the year, thou- 

 sands of people, who have, for the most 

 part, no resource for the evenings of their 

 remaining in the capital but the tavern or 

 the theatre, and who would chuse the 

 latter alternative, in ten instances to one, 

 if the performances were new, and tolerably 

 attractive. 



But nothing can be more unfounded than 

 the idea that the Londoners are not fond 

 of the theatre give them something that 

 catches the public taste, and they crowd 

 the house; but they will not go to the 

 perpetual repetitions of old plays, to see 

 even our ablest actors for ever in the same 

 parts to be bored with heavy melotlrame, 

 or have their ears and eyes equally ex- 

 hausted by the horrors of dull debutantes 

 in exploded tragedies. 



This plan has been adopted long enough, 

 and has shewn its weakness by its failure. 

 The old system of putting off the public 

 with every kind of weariness until the 

 meeting of Parliament, is made to fail, for 

 it is founded upon a total disregard ofthe 



