Nature and Art, November 1, 1806.] 
THE DRAMA, 
187 
period ; but it remained only three nights, and 
then was succeeded by Mr. and Mrs. Charles 
Mathews, and the dramas specially concocted for 
them. Such is the swiftness of time, and his 
rapid destruction of novelty, that the young critics 
are crying out that the joyous Charles wears hats, 
stocks, and trowsers of a past age, and notwith- 
standing his airiness, is evidently getting behind 
this age. There may be some truth in this ; but 
no time can destroy, until he is utterly incapable, 
the exquisite taste that marks all he does on the 
stage ; or dull the vivid intelligence that enables 
him to indicate a thousand humorous notions ; and 
by a wave of the. hand and a slight intonation of 
voice to depict character and produce a situation. 
Mrs. Charles Mathews depends on qualities which 
time will find more assailable ; but which are not 
diminished at present. A new comedy is pro- 
mised, and what is thought more important, Mr.- 
Sothern will appear at Christmas ; but the Dun- 
dreary mania has greatly subsided. 
The Adelphi, with its extremely easy-going 
management, opened with a sloppy rendering of an 
Olympic piece, in which Miss Kate Terry appeared, 
and looked very much like a piece of rare Dresden 
china amongst rough kitchen utensils. Not that 
the Adelphi does not possess some excellent per- 
formers in Mrs. Mellon, Mr. and Mrs. Billington, 
&c. ; but the rough style of doing everything lately 
at this theatre gives a coarseness to the general 
performance. A new piece, in four acts, from an 
unacted French piece, has been produced for Miss 
Terry, in which she enacts not the breaking but 
the disease of a heart. There is a rough purport 
in the play to show the brutality, vulgarity, and 
cruelty of mere moneyed people, and the suffering 
and misery of the truly refined and delicate. This 
purpose, however, is shown in too coarse a style ; 
and in manners and circumstances foreign to our 
general proceedings. A political allusion to Hyde 
Park riots, put into the part of a young actress by 
herself, as it appears, from Mr. Webster junior’s 
letter, caused a great opposition on the first night, 
and was very nearly creating a “regular row.” 
The fortunes as well as the management of the 
Lyceum Theatre have been entirely changed, Mr. 
Boucicau.lt becoming the real acting manager. 
M. Fechter indeed still remains the responsible 
lessee ; but he does nothing but receive a- large 
share of the profits. It is a strange power Mr. 
Boucicault has of going into a theatre and taking 
its government entirely into his own hands, bring- 
ing out a piece of his own, and pensioning off 
the actual lessee. He seems to be doing with his 
new play of “ The Long Strike,” at this theatre, 
what he did with the “ Colleen. Bawn,” at the 
Adelphi — benefiting the manager in spite of him- 
self, and making his own fortune. The piece itself 
is clever, and is very well acted, especially by 
Mr. Emery and Mr. Widdicomb ; and the “ Irish 
Sailoi - ” (surely an anomaly) by the author-manager 
(Mr. Boucicault) is much liked ; as is the gentle 
acting of Mrs. Boucicault. This piece is very good 
of its kind ; but its bind is not good, though 
outrageously popular. We have not space or time 
just now to analyse or describe its qualities. The 
dramatic mirror here holds up to intense admiration 
the accurate reflection of the interior of a telegraph 
office, amongst other actualities. 
The Princess’s Theatre continues “ The Huguenot 
Captain ; ” but has also revived a three-act comedy 
of intrigue, entitled “ The Triple Alliance,” adapted 
some three years since by Mr. Oxenford, from a 
comedy of Scribe’s. 
The Olympic, after an interregnum, in which all 
sorts of drama were enacted, has re-opened under 
the regular management of Mr. Wigan, with a very 
feeble Irish piece, called “ The White Boy,” by 
Mr. Tom Taylor. It turns out that it is an early 
production of that' clever dramatist, produced in 
rivalry to the Irish dramas so lately successful 
under Mr. Boucicault’s management. If there be 
any truth in this, it is the strangest kind of avenge- 
ment we ever knew ; for it can but injure its 
author and its producers. From its stagy common- 
place, clumsy verbosity, and inaccurate allusions 
and actualities, it was wittily described as “ an anti- 
Boucicault ” piece — the last-named author having 
certainly put melodrame on its legs, and taught it 
to use them properly. 
St. J ames’s Theatre, which moves in a somewhat 
remote orbit, has pursued under its tasteful 
manageress — Miss Herbert — a renewal of the last 
century comedies, and by her elegance and care 
makes them endurable ; being very well seconded 
by Mr. and Mrs. Frank Matthews, Mr. Walter 
Lacy, and altogether a good working company. The 
weak though sprightly comedy of the “ Belle’s 
Stratagem ” is the last new experiment, and is 
attractive and amusing. 
The little Strand Theatre sticks to small, verv 
small, comediettas, and to frolicsome burlesques. 
The novelty is one of these last-mentioned pieces by 
Mr. Burnand, who has the greatest talent of any 
modern dramatist for making utter nonsense amus- 
ing to a large number of persons. He is not truly 
satirical : he does not parody : he does not invent ; 
but he is simply absurdly frolicsome, and leads his 
audience into the same nonsensical mood as his own 
animal spirits seem to carry himself. All that can 
be said for this childish kind of drama, is that it is 
pure as well as childish, and is free from grossness ; 
or if the last is imported, it is done in the acting 
and not in the writing. W ere it not simply foolish 
gaiety, it would be hooted from our theatres. The 
last subject is “ Der Freischiitz,” which is befooled 
to the utmost. 
The Prince of Wales’s Theatre, which, under 
the management of Miss Marie Wilton, the 
guidance of Mr. Henry Byron, and the writing of 
Mr. T. W. Bobertson, has taken a higher stand than 
any of the other smaller theatres, opened with a 
new comedy by the author of “ Society ” — Mr. T. W. 
Bobertson. It is named “ Ours,” and its dramatis 
personal consist principally of officers of a crack 
regiment, who are, however, more engaged in 
making love than war. Mr. Bobertson has the 
ambition of a literary man, as well as of a successful 
