420 



Monthly Theatrical Review. 



[April, 



circumstances, imwoithy the writer or the 

 subject. The composition of the parts, 

 talcen separately, confers no common ho- 

 nour on the author, since not one is affected 

 or overcharged, and several touched witli 

 sucli spirit as to compete with any corres- 

 ponding actors in tlie first novels of the day. 

 Rochester, Buckingham, Charles, Lady 

 Castelniaine, the Burgomaster, and Winky 

 Boss, are in our opinion the superior charac- 

 ters of their class. Jocelyn, the hero, is 

 verynaturallypoiu'trayed, and skill is shewii 

 in displaying the weak points of his charac- 

 ter ; they seem, for the most part, meta- 

 physically correct. Constantia, though not 

 a difficult character to conceive, is finely 

 coloured, while the depth of tone is irra- 

 diated by almost superhuman gleams of 

 brightness. Stricklaml is another, not ori- 

 ginal, character ; but handled with so much 

 dexterity, as to give it the appearance of 

 greater value than it deserves. Julia has 

 greater claims to originality; and, unless 

 the writer delineated her C07i amore, must 

 have given him more labour tlian many of 

 the others. Rochester shines wherever he 

 api)ears ; the scene between him and the 

 drunken mountebank, in the second vo- 

 lume, is replete with Cervantean humour ; 

 his freaks and frolics before his king are 

 touched with a similar comic power. The 

 Burgomaster is a well-drawn picture, 

 richly coloured; his exit from tlie drama 

 appears to us a fault, arising from negli- 

 gence, and not a want of ability to have 

 made it less commonly place ; we speak as 

 to the incident, not as to the description. 



Winky Boss has n© superior in his line. 

 Constantia is always attractive, and in some 

 instances, strikingly eloquent. Julia has 

 more variety of character than she has been 

 given scope to display with that effect, which 

 she might have done without becoming too 

 prominent. The style is well collocated, 

 and, on the whole, pure in diction ; excepting 

 in the part of Constantia, it never rises to 

 that height wliich may be termed eloquent, 

 and seldom sinks below the proper stan- 

 dard. The tendency of the work is de- 

 cidedly good, and is thickly interspersed 

 with sentiments highly creditable to the 

 writer. It strikes us that the autlior was 

 afraid of using the means within his grasp ; 

 or he would not have merely shewn us 

 Cromwell at his levee, and given us a mere 

 glimpse of the mighty Milton ; he would not 

 have shewn us only the roue in Charles, 

 nor passed over the cavaliers and round- 

 heads with a superficial glance of their cha- 

 racters. In a word, he would not have 

 used these principal ingredients as the mere 

 pageants to adorn his story. There are no 

 descriptions of scenery above mediocrity, 

 and the account of the Plague and the Fire 

 of London, are not a degree above that 

 mark, and, of course, without claim to ori- 

 ginality. » 



We have been thus apparently captious, 

 because the work is superior to nine-tenths 

 of tlie novels published, and must have 

 been written by a man capable of placing 

 himself on an equal footing witli any living 

 writer in that line. 



MONTFILY THEATRICAL REVIEW. 



king's theatre. 

 MORLACCHi's opera, entitled Tehaldo e 

 Isolina, which was rather injudiciously pro- 

 duced immediately after the Crociato, suf- 

 fered much from comparison, and did 

 by no means answer the expectations of 

 the managers or of the public. It contains 

 undoubtedly some few pieces of great merit, 

 which have been duly appreciated : such as 

 a beautiful air sung by Curioni, which was 

 always encored ; and a romance introduced 

 by Velluti ; but they were not sufficient to 

 compensate for the lamentable heaviness of 

 the opera. After three or four represen- 

 tations, a wish for some relief was loudly 

 manifested by the public, whose taste for 

 serious music and crying scenes had been 

 during several months put to too severe a 

 trial. Their impatience was besides in- 

 creased by some awkward incidents : De- 

 ville and Signora Cornega could not, fi-om 

 indisposition, perform the parts allotted to 

 them, which therefore woe first acted 

 without singing, and the words wholly 

 omitted. 



Under these ciicumstances, recourse was 



had to the lively Barhiere di Seviglia, and 

 for three successive nights this chef-d'amre 

 of Rossini dispelled the gloom which had 

 overshaded the temple of the Muses. A 

 celebrated artist of the Parisian Theatre 

 Italien, Signor Pellegrini, happened to be 

 in London, and he was prevailed iijon to 

 perform the part of Figaro, in which he 

 has acquired a great celebrity on the Con- 

 tinent. His voice is a barritone, partaking 

 of the tenor and the bass ; not very power- 

 ful, but flexible and melodious. His taste 

 and method are above all praise. In the 

 character of the Spanisli barber he shows 

 himself a consummate actor, and lie is 

 always comical witliout ever degenerating 

 into vulgarity. His duet with Rosina was 

 encored each night -. it is a beautiful per- 

 formance. 



We understand that before the holidays 

 Signor Pellegrini was not yet engaged; but 

 he was so well received by the public, that 

 slioiUd the manager be able to make so 

 valuable an acquisition, he will not, we 

 presume, let tlie opportunity escape. 



