Theatrical Review: 101 



malous dress, with a queer straw hat stuck on one side of his head, for 

 all the world like a bee-hive hung on a nail. Of the rest of the cha- 

 racters we have nothing to say. 



December 1st. The " Devil on Two Sticks." This ballet is said 

 to be founded on Le Sage's romance called " Le Diable Boiteux." 

 This is so far true that " Cleophas," a student, sets free a lame imp 

 imprisoned in a bottle, who, in gratitude, assists him in his search 

 after pleasure. After leaving the magician's chamber, the ballet de- 

 serts the novel and takes its own course. Then follow many enter- 

 taining scenes, in which " Cleophas" wooes in succession an opera- 

 dancer, a widow, and a country girl, which last carries him off in 

 the closing scene. The second act contains the cream of the ballet, 

 in which we are introduced to the dancing academy, where " Asmo- 

 deus'' replaces the ballet-master and superintends the practice, much 

 to the discomfiture of the corps dansant, as may readily be supposed. 

 There follows a scene which represents a theatre, at the back of 

 which the audience are supposed to be sitting, so that they have a 

 view of the reverse of both scenes and actors, the back part of the 

 stage representing a crowded theatre, the mimic audience of which 

 applaud or hiss according to the most received rules. " Cleophas" 

 was represented by a smart, good-looking Frenchman, who did full 

 justice to the part of the hair-brained student. Wieland was inimi- 

 tably funny in the " Devil," and danced a mock pas-seul, the droll- 

 ery of which was irresistible. Duvernay was all that could be 

 wished ; her pantomime was expressive, without being over-acted ; 

 and in a pas-de-deux with Miss Ballin she acquitted herself with a 

 grace and dexterity unequalled by any save Ta<rlioni. Grace indeed 

 and lightness are her distinguishing qualities. She appears to move 

 without an effort, and that ease alone is the best proof of the perfec- 

 tion of her art. Miss Ballin and Mademoiselle Keppler deserve 

 praise, and still more is due to Madame Guibilei; but we reserve to 

 the last the best plum in the cake, Duvernay's Cachoucha dance at 

 the end^'of the second act. Her beautiful person, arrayed in the rich 

 and elegant costume we are used to call Spanish, was alone a sight to 

 feast the eyes on ; add to which, a dance, which combined the es- 

 sentials of grace and novelty in the very highest degree, performed 

 with unerring accuracy by a most lovely woman, and you may form 

 some faint idea of a picture that would charm the eye of a puritan, or 

 melt the soul of an anchorite. The scenery contains nothing very 

 striking. The ballet was eminently successful. 



Saturday, Dec. 10th. The LYCEUM, no longer an English Opera 

 House, has taken up its old name again, but not with a view to its old 

 uses. It is now employed as the scene of dramatic representations of 

 a kind in some measure new to our stage. 



The Opera Buffa only is to be represented here, and for the pre- 

 sent at least the music has not the adventitious aid of dancers to at- 

 tract a crowded audience. The high price of admission, as well as 

 the nature of the performances, renders it a truly aristocratical enter- 

 tainment, and a higher treat has not been afforded for a long time 

 past to the lovers of music and song. The drama selected for the 

 first night was the " Elisir d'Amore" of Donizetti, originally written 



