436 
‘more, unhesitating, squeezers of a dozen 
oN comedies. into one, English, or from 
three to, six French drames into one farce, 
than this clever compressor, in the memory 
of Parnassian petty-lareeny. And as prac- 
tice has made, him more adroit, so bas time 
jade him more remorseless. It has been 
computed by, experienced calculators, that 
his melo-drame.of Henri Quatre cost the 
tives, of froma dozen to twenty French 
pieces on the same eternal subject: and as 
‘to the butchery of harmless fictions, the 
actual ,“* Massacre of the Innocents,”’ that 
preceded the.“ Slave,” independently of his 
‘plunder of all the speeches about “ liberty 
‘and my country,” that ever were spouted at 
the Crown and Anchor, the number was 
beyond all arithmetic. Kenny has a great 
name too in this line, and may be looked 
on asa yery vigorous specimen of what 
can be done by ‘spoiling the Egyptians.” 
Poole has.no blushes on the subject, man- 
fully scorns the pretence of smuggling, and 
carries his goods through the Dover Cus- 
’ tom-House. with the dignity of a licensed 
‘dealer. Still those are all clever fellows ; 
‘they all haye pleasantry, more or less ; they 
all know the stage, even to the depth of 
the lowest trap, and the remoteness of the 
farthest back-scene;, and they all have 
produced very amusing performances. Why 
is not every soul of them put in requisition, 
and compelled to exert the utmost of their 
plunders, to put their most ancient com- 
mon- lace books in desperate requisition, 
to fish up the wrecks of foundered plots 
from. the bottom of their brains, and 
‘give the ‘public something that will com- 
pensate them for facing the winter nights, 
and. shivering within the walls of the 
‘Coyent-garden “ Coliseum.” 4 
“Drury-lane bas been active, though its 
pew manager is playing the part of a second 
Columbus, and making discoveries along 
the east coast, of America. He is the 
general exporter of theatrical live stock; 
and we shall probably see, in the course or 
a few years, the perfection of Mr. Gurney’s 
steam-boat that goes without fire, water, or 
steam ; and by the mere force of instinct, the 
Drury-Lane company transported en masse 
back and forwards every “ spring and fall,” 
between Bridges Street and the banks of 
the Hudson. Little Miss Povey, who 
used to play occasional Cupids, but whose 
‘forte was “ cinder-wenches,”’ and all the 
other sentimental parts of culinary life, has 
Monthly Theatrical Report. 
[Ocr. 
just been spirited away to’ thé land - 
liberty.” Macready, the very lord of lungs, 
and monarch of mouthing, had gone just 
before ; haying made the whole commercial 
tenderness of Liverpool dissolve wate 
by a speech, in which he told them that He 
“read Greek” to make him understand 
Shakspeare ! an achievement Which all‘ his 
Greek has not yet achieved for ‘this 
learned Theban.. What other theattical 
calamities. may be in, store to shake our 
souls, we can only conjecture ; but we fear 
for the loss of Mr. Claremont by the’ next 
packet, and are already taught to shudder 
at the probable departure of Mr. West, 
alive as he is to “ the infinite value of his 
reputation.” But whoever has managed 
for the American manager, Drury-lane be- 
gins vigorously. It has engaged Braham, 
unrivalled as he still is; it has got Paul 
Pry, who once went by the name of Lis- 
ton; and Miss Stephens; and an interest- 
ing acquisition in a Miss Tree, an actress 
of the higher comedy, and likely to be a 
fine performer. She has a striking stage 
face, a showy figure, and an animated ex- 
pression. A multitude of new perform- 
ances. are promised, and the manager’s 
portfolio is understood to be in a more 
plethoric state than has been known since 
the days of Thespis. Tragedy upon tragedy 
struggling to burst their paper bonds; 
comedies. absolutely suffocating from mu- 
tual pressure, and seyeral ‘most excellent 
farces already stifled and slain; yet it is a 
bird of ill omen with’ us to seé the first dis- 
play a translation of a French melodrame 
translated from an English ‘novel, ‘itself 
translated. from a black-letter romance. 
This child of many fathers, the ‘‘ Dame 
Blanche,” or “ White Maid of Avenel,” 
is unfortunately the first stake that Drury- 
Jane flings down on the great dramatic 
hazard-table. We can wish it no success 
on this principle of the game: until a 
Frenchman has more brains than an Eng- 
lishman, and French nature is more natural 
than English; or grimace, rant, and gun- 
powder are better than grace, force, and 
genius, we shall desire to see English plays 
on an English stage. It would be unfair 
to Stanfield to forget his fine work the 
“ drop scene,”’ a classic portico with a dis- 
tant landscape: it is perfectly beautiful ; 
we have seen nothing like it since Louther- 
bourg’s day, 
NEW MUSIC. 
jpidise-worth yinotive for publication,we con- 
sider it as our'duty to lend a helping hand, 
By introducing this little work to the notice 
of the “London muse. This’ little book 
\ sieoth 
consists of two songs, a waltz and a ‘Ger- 
man duett.’ The first song, in F ininor, is 
plaintive and pleasing ; the waltz’ medioere, 
the second little ballad, in'6-8 time, is com- 
‘mon-place ; the duett-is the best eomposi- 
tion in the volume; but what could induce 
EH! C.'to write to German’ words? a certain 
bar to the'sale of the work.) 90° 940) 90 
