THEATRICAL INTELLIGENCE. 411 



Vandenhoff personated Adrastus, which he got through respectably* 

 Would we could say as much for the rest. With the exception of 

 Haines, in Agenor, nothing could be worse. Vining, in Ctesiphon, 

 " tore a passion to tatters" as a red Indian would a wild cat ; nor was 

 his brother much more subdued in Phocion. Medon ? the high 

 priest, was murdered by Selby, while Cleon, the sage, enacted by 

 Gough, tipped Sergeant Talfourd's verse with a rich fringe of Muns- 

 ter dialect that convinced us the Argive sage must have vegetated at 

 some period of his life in the neighbourhood of Tipperary. 



Notwithstanding these blemishes, the tragedy brought a great deal 

 of money to the treasury, and was played three times a week for a 

 long while, and still continues to be attractive. 



August 11. At the early hour of eleven o'clock at night, when the 

 audience had been well wearied out by " The Tempest'' and " The 

 Youthful Queen" (seven acts !) a new musical drama, entitled "Second 

 Sight, a Tale of the Highlands," was presented for approval. Mrs.W. 

 Clifford played a spae Wife, and elicited bursts of well-merited ap- 

 plause. Sinclair sung some Scotch melodies very sweetly, and was rap- 

 turously encored, but the piece was a full hour too long, nor was the 

 interest sufficiently strong throughout. It consequently sunk gently 

 into the arms of oblivion, and was instantly withdrawn. It proceeded 

 from the pen of Mr. Ryan, who has written some successful farces. 

 We recommend him to forswear the pathetic and stick to jocularity ; 

 it will be pleasanter, and more profitable. 



September 15. A beautifully written and deeply tragic drama, 

 called " The Cavalier," was performed with very equivocal success. 

 Audiences, it must be confessed, are at times very capricious; some- 

 times the stage cannot be too thickly strewed with dead bodies to 

 please them, while at other times they manifest a delicate distaste of 

 the unnecessary waste of human life. In the present case poison and 

 steel were both pressed into the service to bring about the catas- 

 trophe, and the audience would not tolerate either. The hisses rose 

 from the pit like mist from a canal ? and formed a most inharmonious 

 accompaniment to the dying agonies of the Cavalier. The denoue- 

 ment was altered after the first night, and the piece was made to end 

 happily. The performers exerted themselves greatly, particularly 

 Vandenhoff and Miss Ellen Tree. 



We sincerely regret the ill success of this drama, which certainly 

 might have been conceived and executed with better taste, and a 

 greater regard to the delicacies and decencies of life, for it contained 

 several forcible passages and many imaginative speeches of consider- 

 able talent, which were skilfully constructed, developing, in an emi- 

 nent degree, originality of genius and variety of intellectual acquire- 

 ment. 



We cannot close this article without stating that the manager of 

 this theatre has entered into a new arrangement with dramatic au- 

 thors, namely, not to remunerate them until after the third night of their 

 productions. It is clear that the bargain is all on the manager's side, 

 and that he can thus make an experiment with an author's property, 

 getting, perhaps, three good money-houses, and then withdrawing 

 his piece to save paying for it; this is a certaiu result ; the tempta- 



