548. 
tolerably gentlemanly and very respectable’; 
and we \are ‘tired of seeing the! character 
slovenlied through, as ‘if there were no dif- 
ference'» between’ the accomplished dons 
vivans of the youthful days of Sheridan, and 
the lounging, lackadaisieal, half-clownish, 
egotistical dandies of the present genera- 
tion. ©The fashionables' of those days, with 
all their follies and their vices, were gentle= 
men in theit\ manners ; and we could wish 
to see them sfill represented on the stage, 
if it! were oily that we might not lose the 
remembrance of whet the word gentleman 
means... The penalty of the exchange was, 
that we were obliged to see Mr. ‘Archer 
stalk through the specious and insinuative 
sentimentality ef ‘Joseph Surface, like a 
clerk through the mechanical business of a 
counting:house. Even Mrs. Yates, charm- 
ing little actress’ as ‘she is, gave us but a 
shetch of Lady Teaxle ; and the high-fashion 
belles,» Lavy Sneerwell and Mrs. Candour, 
had their places occupied ‘by Mrs. Knight 
and ‘Mrs Orger !!! 0A’ Mr. Downe, from 
York, attempted Sir Peter Teazle: but the 
humour in his doing, seemed principally to 
consist ina pr ovincial gait, and an accent half 
Yorkshire ‘and half Irish. He was endured, 
without audible murmur, to the beginning of 
the fifth act; when some hissing brought 
him forward to make’a speech ~in which he 
complained of a cold, and the great differ- 
ence between the text of the play as acted 
here and in the country, and craved sus- 
pension of judgment till another hearing: 
a prayer which the audience readily granted ; 
but the manager has not—at least in this 
character —and, probably, never will. In the 
name of common sense, what has become 
of Dowton?. He, though not a Sir Peter 
Teazle, would at least substitute something 
pleasant and amusing in its place. Tom 
Kine must rise from his grave, before we 
see the character again in all its fidelity. 
In the operatical department, on the Ist 
of the month,’ Mr. Sapio (of standard re- 
pute as a concert singer) made his début on 
thé stage as the Seraskier, in “* The Siege 
of Belgrade,” and may be regarded as a 
valuable acquisition. As an actor, in this 
line, he is not without promise : asa singer, 
not an- unworthy successor to Braham. 
His voiee has richness and compass; his 
tenor notes are full and sweet ;. and _ his fal- 
setto is clear, sweet, and discriminate : but 
he has the false taste of introducing it some- 
times, as in the martial strain “ Love and 
honour now conspiring,”’ where it is out 
of place.’ His’ physical power does not 
appear to’ be equal to his other endow- 
ments. It'was put, however, to'very sec 
vere ‘trial, by’ numerous encores. “* My 
heart with love is beating,’ was eminently 
brilliant and expressive ; as was his part of 
the duet, “ When thy bosom,” &c. with 
Miss Stephens: but in ‘* Confusion! thus 
defeated!” and in that alone, he failed. 
His début upon the whole. was brilliantly 
successful. Miss Stephens, the Lila, was 
New Musiciand the Drama. 
(J ansT,! 
in fine voice, ‘as sweet andclehyag ever 
and if asa singer she does) not tiprowejas 
an actress she does, beyond all: expectation. 
Miss Graddon, in Katherine; shewed? that 
she can ‘be less inanimate in more’ serious, 
than ‘she has been in lighterpseenésio °Lhre 
proper music’ of the ‘character, especially 
‘fell me, my heart;’? she sung With’ great 
effect; but shewed her want’ of judgment 
in the unnecessary and inappropriate! inttoz 
duction of Bishop’s “ Wheit ‘indisgrace,” 
in which she failed) Bedford’s! Anselm 
(another novelty), notwithstanding a°sort 
of slovenly lisping thickness ‘in his utterance, 
shewed an ability fairly ‘adequate tothe 
cast of character: he sung the’ introdueed 
“ Sapling Oak” better than we have ‘heard 
it since the days of Sedgwick, ©'8!-beo% 
Of tragedy we have had'but scanty shes 
cimens. Mr. Macready continues: to' play; 
in his fine unrivalled style, the lasé aet of 
Leontes, in the “* Winter's ‘Fale 3? and-to 
shew his incompetency tothe fitfuland 
gloomy turbulence of King Juin. Mr. Kean; 
of course, like the “other” figure’) ofthe 
weather house, cannot come’ out till he 
retires. What a bucket-in-the-well system 
is this! How can we have'a Stagé while 
this is tolerated? Is’ it play-actingy ois it 
mono-drama ? He has played, als6, Jacques 
in “ As You like it,” and has’ his ad- 
mirers in the character : ‘but his melancholy 
is too phlegmati¢ for the Tah ae - Shake! 
speare. 
This beautiful pastoral doriasitic! bphaptas 
been re-produced at both houseés--more 
marred than mended by’ the’ introduction of 
songs, duets and choruses: ‘not that‘it‘is 
the most unfitted of Shakespéate’s: plays 
for such innovation, but because itis one 
that demands high acting: the incompe- 
tency to supply which is probably the reason 
why recourse has been had to sing-song. 
But nothing can compensate for the want 
of an adequate Rosalind; and nothing ean 
more completely demonstrate the’ general 
feeling of the indispensableness of high 
acting in this part, —and that, even in'the 
* Cuckoo song” itself, so indecoreusly 
adopted from “* Love’s Labour Lost,’ no 
charm of voice or musical sciénce'can‘atorié 
for the absence of such acting, than the°cir- 
cumstance that: Miss Tree; at the other 
house, (fine vocalist as” she is, and, fur'a 
singer, no despicable actress, though not 
up to the heights of such a eharactet),' is 
the only performer we ever heard sing*that 
popular song without being honoured with 
an encore. 3290102 
But we have stepped, alreudyuémtewheat 
unceremoniously, from Drury tooo > 4) 
COVENT GARDEN. {11096 Jit 
A new tragedy under the name’ of Ree 
verina’; or, Téatidan= Love, was produced ‘here 
Dee} 3: ‘the jeint* production) of) ‘two 
young authors, whom we cannot yet-com: 
pliment as the Beaumont and!Fletcheb of 
their age. Ti “is founded,’ they inform 
ts, “upon the Cabal and Love of the lads 
mivable 
