18-21).] 



Monllily Tliealriail Ilevien-. 



81 



retirecnent — coiiirivos to conceal lier shame 

 — and givf.'s Itirth to a boy, named Felix, 

 who is reared tiy a peasant woinnn of the 

 neighliourhood. Her brother, Philippo, at 

 the beginning of tlie piece, appears as a sol- 

 •iier of fortune, a cadet in a regiment of 

 which Don Carlos, enamoured of Leocadea, 

 is colonel, and in which Don Fernando, 

 wlio is upon the point of manying Leonora, 

 the sister of Don Carlos, is captain. This 

 marriage, we must observe, has little more 

 to do witli the storj' than to give occasion 

 to mucii amusing lamentation by Brancha 

 (niece to the alcade of tlie village which is 

 the scene of the drama), on finding that she 

 r:annot share the happiness she sees prepared 

 for another, and be married too. She is ath- 

 anced to Philippo, but her uncle accidentally 

 learns the relationship of the hoy Felix to Leo- 

 vadea, and forbids the union of her brother 

 with his niece. This relationship is still fur- 

 ther confirmed by a burst of matenial fond- 

 ness, which Miss Kelly gives, we need not 

 say how powerfully, on hearing that the child 

 has fallen into a river. Philippo, who has 

 learned the story of his sister's wrongs in 

 a short but pathetic dialogue, in whicji it 

 appears that slie does not know the person 

 of her undoer, is induced, by the mistake of 

 a picture, to fix the crime upon Fernando, 

 who has just married the sister oi Don 

 Carlos. He sends Fernando a challenge 

 in a letter ; it is read by Don Carlos, wlio 

 kindly enough resolves to fight liis brother- 

 in-law's quarrel, rather than allow gall to be 

 sipped in the honey-moon. In the mean 

 time Leocitdeu rushes, to prevent the duel, 

 into the residence of Don Carlos, where 

 the jiew-niarrii'd pair have taken up their 



abode ; she recognizes the apartments in 

 which lier ruin was accomplished ; Don 

 Carlos, wlio on the night of the debauch liad 

 not seen her person, finds that he had been 

 the guilty perpetrator of Leocadea' s wrongs, 

 and the piece closes by his making an 

 atonement in marriage. 



The whole interest of the drama is sus- 

 tained by Leocadea, and a more ])OwerfulIy 

 affecting scene has been seldom witnessed 

 on the stage than that with which it closes. 

 Miss Kelly's acting in it is above all praise ; 

 and whatever may be thought of the plot, iu 

 reading or from description, we cannot con- 

 ceive how its representation, with such 

 acting, can excite any of those unpleasant 

 feelings which usually arise from the ap- 

 pearance upon the stage of a female sup- 

 posed to have met the lot oi Leocalea. 



The music, by Aubcr, adapted by Mr. 

 Linus, has great sweetness, and there is a 

 recitative, in the second act, which is given 

 with much eflFcct by Horn. 



" A militarj' divertissement," in one act 

 (which should be termed a ballet) in which 

 the dance never ceases for an instant, 

 called '■ The Camp," lias been got up under 

 Mr. and Mrs. Noble. It is, like every 

 thing of which these accomplished dancers 

 have the direction or execution, admirable 

 in its way. 



Tlie company of this establishment are 

 yet weak in tragedy. A Mr. Priest luts 

 made a debut as Shy lock. His voice re- 

 quires much management ; his syllables 

 strike too shortly and hardly on the ear ; 

 but he is an at'tor of promise. His last 

 scene and his exit were more than respect- 

 able. 



NEW MUSIC. 



Tiie Melot/raphicon. 2ls. Clcmeidi and 

 Co., find Lindsaij. — 'I'he title of this work 

 is too voluminous to give at length, as it 

 comprizes a description of its uses and pro- 

 perties, wliicli wc shall embody in oui- no- 

 tice. The book, as its name implies, is a 

 vocabulary of musical bars or phrases, some 

 selected, but most of them original, di\ided 

 into 16 classes of 12 each, and so contrived 

 that any one bar of class A, will dovetail on 

 with any phrase of class B, forming a pleas- 

 ing succession of melody ; of course eveiy 2 

 bars may be varied in 144. different ways, 

 and the (changes in a song of 16 or 32 bars 

 will be endless. So far the idea is not per- 

 fectly new, as the ISIyriorama, and several 

 amusing toys of the same description, de- 

 pend on a like principle ; but'the execution 

 is so very sii^)crior, and the metrical part 

 exhibits so much ingenuity, that it may be 

 ■ almost entitled to the claim of originality. 

 The most useful and novel part of the work 

 is its division in I- j>arts, corresponding with 



31. M. Xew Series, Vol. I. No.l. 



the first and second iambic, the anapaestic, 

 and the trochaic measures, those species of 

 poetiy which are most commonly adapted 

 to musical composition ; so that any poet 

 (presuming that he is not a sufficient musi- 

 cian to compose an original melody), on as- 

 certaining what is the peculiar metre, turns 

 to that part of the volume, and writing in al- 

 phabetical succession bis selection of bars, 

 will find a complete air, with a conclud- 

 ing symphony and piano-forte accompani- 

 ment : he wOl then place the words under- 

 neath the melody ; and the first verse of the 

 song will be complete ; of course, all the 

 succeeding verses must be arranged to the 

 same air. The author professes that the 

 work is not addressed to the profession, 

 but to that large majority of amateurs, who 

 either want leisure or inclination to make 

 themselves acquainted «ith theory and 

 composition, but who iievertheless have a 

 taste for poetry and music. We may say 

 more : for to the musician who is no poet it 

 M 



