1831.] Things Theatrical. 549 



daughter. Sadhusing, thus hunted, forms a league, offensive and de- 

 fensive, with the beasts. He sleeps with a lion, and has two to serve 

 as body-guards. It is in a high degree interesting, to see a couple of 

 these animals, as much under his command, and as zealous in his defence 

 as two dogs. In the arena, which is altogether a capital scene, he fights 

 the lion with a javelin, and the beast seems really conquered. It under- 

 stands so well, however, when tli;^ nght is over, that it seems playfully 

 to bite the weapon before the scene closes. The spectacle excited uni- 

 versal astonishment, and in the last scene, which, for splendour, sur- 

 passes every thing we have seen, a lion lay at Maitin's feet as passive 

 as though it were dead. There was no resisting the mass of splendour, 

 and the assemblage of extraordinary objects which this scene presented 

 —among which were two elephants, and every thing that we have been 

 accustomed to associate with ideas of Eastern magnificence. Since the 

 first night, the piece has undergone considerable alterations, particularly 

 as to length, and is now received with great favour. JMartin is a won- 

 der ! he seems to regard a lion or tiger as he would a rabbit ; and, we 

 understand that, to any one but himself, these identical brutes are as 

 ferocious as the rest of their species. The various combats and pro- 

 cessions in this drama surpass any previous effort, and the last scene 

 may certainly be stamped as the ne plus ultra of scenic art. 

 But— 



" Envy does merit, as its shade, pursue. 

 And, like the shadow, proves the substance true." 



The exploits of the lions, and the rumour that Drury-lane has made 

 £3000 by them already, have stirred up the genius of parody ; and 

 the Adelphi has produced a burlesque, bearing the same name as 

 the Drury-lane spectacle. Reeve the Lion of the drama ; Wilkinson 

 enacting the Tiger ; the Ghost of the Kangaroo assumed by Buckstone ; 

 and i\Irs. Fitzwilliam personates the Wild Cat, in which she will do 

 honour to the comic mews. Sad\h)usiiig is borne by the patient Yates ; 

 and S. Smith is (what the magpie was to the misfortune of the maid) 

 the Hi/der. This burlesque, besides the advantage of being acted with 

 great drollery, has the rarer merit of being very humorously written. 



Having dispatched the lions, settled the Chancery suit of Covent 

 Garden, and launched the Adelphi on its way to fame, we now turn 

 to the lighter matters of the world of theatres. 



Sinclair, one of the sweetest of our English singers, and whose ab- 

 sence from cur stage, temporary as it is, every lover of song must regret, 

 has, in the theatrical phrase, made a " hit," — a perfect hit amon^ the 

 Yankees. He made his first appearance on the 24th ult., at the Park 

 theatre, in the Cabinet, was greeted with the most enthusiastic recep- 

 tion, and encored in every song. 



The American managers certainly have discovered some peculiar act 

 of seduction, for they carry off our stage corps ad libitum. Among 

 their other exportations, they have exported Barrymore and liis wife — 

 two of our very best contrivers of melodrame. What will Mr. Wallack do 

 without his bandit's bride ? They are now busy in tlicir vocation, get- 

 ting up Massaniello for the singing of Sinclair, the astonishment of 

 America, and the triumph of gold leaf, insurrection, and themselves, 

 along tiie whole range of the Alleghanies. 



The story is again revived that Joe Mundcn, tlie inimitable and un- 



