1826.4 Monthly Theatrical Report. 549 
spyswasa daughter of Mrs. Glover—a smart 
girl, exhibiting something. of her. mother’s 
intelligence, and playing, the pantomime of 
the part adroitly,;, Warde, was, the, Major 
Bridgnorth, ; made, up of the, Bridgnorth 
and Christian of, the novel ; and if, stern- 
ness; and,a, look, as remote as possible from 
human.nature, could.constitute excellence, 
the; part, was, sublimely, played. . But no 
powers,could. prevail against its, native, in- 
capabilities... Warde is a. judicious, actor, 
and, must«always be important; but his 
sternness of feature is here doubly stern, 
and, the Major looks more a compound of 
the.jesuit and executioner, than the prin- 
cipled, soldier. of the republic. 
+ Ehe,other.characters—Miss Paton, the 
daughter; of Bridgnorth ; Fawcett as the 
Eider Peveril, and Sapio as the Younger, 
were played as well.as the parts deserved. 
Sapio’s voice-has power and sweetness: but 
his effort is, excessive, and he trequently 
failsin the more;subtle displays of taste and 
facility... The. scenery was poor. But in 
this; point, Coyent Garden seems to have 
surrendered its glories to Drury Lane, and 
consents:.to dingy decorations and land- 
seape, guiltless of looking like any thing 
“under heaven, without a struggle. 
We were right .in our conjecture of the 
origin. of the farce,of the ‘“‘ Green Room.” 
It is. ‘* Les Comédiens ;”’-a five-act play of 
Casimir Delavigne’s,. with the nonsense 
squeezed out, -and brought by this simple 
operation into, two acts atonce. This is 
nearly, the. general proportion of French and 
,dinglish plays,;.and itis not every French 
comedy, that, will. squeeze, down even so 
= productively... Casimir is. infinitely feeble 
dn his,most vaunted ,labours—but the peo- 
jople for.whom he writes areas feeble as he ; 
and more; sense, in, either plays or politics, 
» avould, overload the brains of the “* Grande 
, Nation,” i 
) )Deury, Lane has, commenced the season 
_Spititedly, and if success may depend on 
/activity—and it is sure to come to a speedy 
vend where,.this. incomparable, quality in 
_ Btage-matters-is.wanting—the season will 
probably, be, one of triumph. The novelty 
. @e£fmanagement is, always something in fa- 
»vour of; theatre. ;,The American mana- 
»ger has had. at least experience, and he has 
.jjbut, to, exert qualities, the very opposite of 
j» these, by which, stage affairs are generally 
-opteguiated,,to,. make a firm stand in his 
q fe son The, Dame, Blanche” has been 
.jytransported, from, Paris, where she made 
_oy the delight of, the “capital of the graces’ 
,omfor some, months, and where all the world 
oiJearmed,to,.be, enraptured with Boidieau's 
bnemusi¢,., But, the ‘Dame's’? voyage has 
»{oqhot improyed.her,captiyations. |The whole 
ow performance ismere melodrame, and melo- 
-yafidgame,,of the most established kind. A 
~ young heir to a castle, excluded by an am- 
«biog nete=ehen admitted only to be put 
, to death-—then drugged with opium and sup- 
| ypersrthen watched by the heroine, who has 
rapidly fallen in love with him by the flash 
of a highwayman’s sword in a scuffle in a 
wood ;, then falling asleep, and followed by 
an assassin, who prow]s about his sofa, mea- 
suring him for the blow, .yet is unprofes- 
sionally scrupulous as to the spot where it 
shall be given ; a half-fool, who catches the 
dagger and puts the assassin to flight; and 
a spectre, acted yery much to the life by a 
sister of Miss Paton, make up the princi- 
pal dramatis persone. The music is a 
good deal weeded out of the original, and 
is, with all this, selection, heavy; the ear 
is caught by nothing—and a confusion of 
sounds, beginning and ceasing at intervals, 
is the chief indication that the orchestra is 
at its labours. But some of the scenery is 
very pretty ; and a moonlight river is one 
of the cleverest products of Stanfield’s able 
pencil. The translation is by Mr. Beaz- 
ley, who builds his lofty rhyme this, season 
with great assiduity. 
In tragedy and comedy, little Miss E. 
Tree is the heroine. She has played in 
the “ Belle’s Stratagem,” ‘‘ Town and 
Country,’’ “‘ The Will,” “ Jane Shore,’ 
and probably some dozen others: for she 
runs through the theatrical round with the 
rapidity of a meteor. . She has other ta- 
lents than_that of getting by heart so many 
hundred or thousand pages of intolerable 
prose and worse poetry, for she has grace 
and feeling, with eyident intelligence su- 
perior to her present powers of conveying 
it. Her feebleness of frame, and limited 
compass of voice, must, for a while at 
least, preclude her success in the higher 
drama; but time and practice may give 
her vigour and tone, and she will then be 
among the most valuable additions to the 
stage of our day. 
The English Opera-House has closed, 
after an advantageous season... The mana- 
ger’s personal character excites an interest 
in favour of his house; and the public 
have received with much popularity the 
crowd of pieces which he has brought for- 
ward in his. brief season. . Melo-drames 
compiled from noyels, are but. humble 
things at best ; but Mr, Arnold has given 
something better to make, the melo-drames 
reputable, ..His. introduction of Winter’s 
“* Oracle”? was a bold attempt, second 
only to the hardihood of generating 
Frankenstein, and nationalizing the Freis- 
chiitz; but if the work of Weber has 
been, and is likely to be without a riyal, 
the work of Winter was a very honourable 
successor, and does eredit to the diligence 
and taste of the theatre. 
The Adelphi has opened for the season, 
and its proprietors, Messrs. Terry and 
Yates, are carrying all before them; the 
Pilot still swims, and a ballet swims above 
it. Luke the Labourer, a strong and sul- 
len story of love, murder, and house- 
breaking, swims above both; and every 
taste may be thus gratified, from the 
sailor’s, who comes from the East-end to 
