11 SEPTEMBER 1841, Page 13

THE THEATRES.

THE first night of the season is a sort of theatrical reunion : the pub- lic, as it were, shake hands across the stage-lamps with their old friends the players ; the warmth of the reception marking the degree of esti- mation in which each is held. At the reopening of Covent Garden, on Monday, Madame VESTRIS was greeted with a cordiality amounting to fervour, and Mr. CHARLES MATHEWS with scarcely less ardour ; a well-merited tribute to the liberal spirit that animates the management of this theatre. It is not merely the business-like order of the arrange- ments and the elegant -taste of the scenic appointments that are ad- mirable; the audience are sensible that every thing is done as well as possible, and mostly it is in capital style. The Midsummer Night's Dream, on its sixtieth representation, went off as well as ever : the moonlit haunts of the Fairies looked moist with dew, the golden panoply of Oberon glittered gorgeously, the flowers that wreathed the heads of the elfin train seemed fresh culled, and the torches that filled the house of Theseus with coloured light burnt brightly as at first. The beau- ties of the poetry were watched for and duly recognized ; and every humorous point in the drolleiy of the Athenian clowns was responded to with a burst of merriment, Bottom and his fellows being welcomed with a roar of delight. OXRERRY, as Flute the Bellows-mender, did not manifest the horn-lantern glimmering of intellect that shone through the fog of KEELEY'S conception : OXIIERRY'S insignificance is shallow, pert, lively, and somewhat coarse ; KEELEY'S is dense, profound, and sluggish, with a dash of the imaginative in its vague simplicity : his brain is a " globe of thought," which has not been illumined by the ray of an idea. Madame VESTRIS was in good voice, and gave the recitatives finely.

The Rivals drew a full pit on Tuesday : Mrs. GLOVER'S Mrs. Mala- prop, though we had so lately seen it at the Haymarket, appeared more stately and vivacious than before, as though it breathed a purer atmo- sphere of comedy : she scattered her " epitaphs " with prodigal pro- fusion and a lofty disregard of their value in provoking mirth. Mr. WALTER LACY filled the part of Captain Absolute well enough to pre- vent any glaring inequality in the representation ; notwithstanding that FARBEN played his best as Sir Anthony, mellowing the tone of his finished picture of the paternal despot with a glow of heartiness. HARLEY, as Acres, less of the grimacer than usual, brought out the uncouth drollery of the character with touches of a master hand. BROUGHAM'S Sir Lucius was easy, but homely almost to vulgarity : the gallantry and gentility of the Irish fortune-hunter were wanting. Ma- dame VESTRIS and Mrs. NISBETT, as Lydia and Julia, looked most charming in their piquant costumes ; and Mrs. HURRY, in her little black bonnet, was the spirit of town-bred cunning in the guise of rustio simplicity. There is this advantage in the finished and proper dressing of a .play, that it gives an air of refinement to the representation ; like varnish it brightens the colours of the picture: correct costume is the mask of comedy, serving not only to screen deficiencies but to heighten excellences. London Assurance was played on Wednesday ; and these performances are to be repeated for the present.

The muster of the corps at the singing of " God save the Queen" showed several new faces, but no new voices were heard; Madame VESTRIS, Miss RAINFORTH, and Mr. HARRISON, being the vocalists. If the gentleman could repress the strong tendency he has to nasal tones, it would be a very great improvement to his singing.