15 JUNE 1839, Page 19

'ARDOR'S ANDREA OF HUNGARY AND GIOVANNA OF NAPLES.

hi these two connected and consecutive dramatic poems, Mr. LAN-, Dolt has pushed to an excess the mistake of the age, which substi- tutes any thing for the one thing needful in a drama. There is much of terse and poetic though frequently quaint versification, and a good deal of pretty though commonplace dialogue : the characters, with very few exceptions, are what ANNIBALE CARACCI, speaking Of a picture, called " figures to be let ; " but two or three

are nicely discriminated, although the purpose of the writer is too risible. Of dramatic action, however, there is none; of epic or narrative, very little ; the only incidents are the closing scenes of each play, the last being spoken, not acted ; one attempt only is

made, or at least succeeds, to remedy such great defects by a vigo- rous dialogue approaching to passion ; whilst the whole conduct of

each play is tedious, and with much of seeming art very inartificial.

The object of Mr. LANDOR in writing these dramas, is to "re- store the fame" of the Queen of Naples, whose enforced husband,

a Hungarian, was murdered, and, it was said by her enemies, with

the Queen's connivance. To effect this purpose, the earlier poem, Andrea of Hungary, is devoted to painting the characters

of the Queen Giovanna and the husband Andrea, and to the organization of a conspiracy to murder him. The first is managed with skill and feeling, the last is a total failure. Andrea, simple- minded almost to foolishness, but good, affectionate, confiding, and expanding with his new condition of husband and full age, is a very nice conception, elaborately wrought, though touched with affecta- tion. The mingled sense of womanly duty, childish associations, and a kind perception of Andrea's native good, which induce Giovanna to devote herself to the husband whom an old treaty has forced upon her, is a still more exquisite, because a more delicate piece of workmanship. The elements of a conspiracy exist in a high degree, by means of a mercenary soldiery, a nobility discon- tented with the presence of foreign barbarians, and Fra Rupert,

PIIROvet D Lt. ttttt MUUMUUS priest' veil() nact aggravated his pupil's

natural deficiencies in the hopes of ruling him. But the opportu- nities these materials afforded are thrown away. Fra Rupert's un-

successful efforts with the nobility are critically speaking undra- matic, and in a political sense feeble and foolish ; his success with the soldiery is improbable; and when the last of five acts ends with the murder of Andrea, we are left to guess both at conspiracy and conspirators. The second play, Gionanna of Naples, is less able, and, if that is possible, less dramatic than the first. It is occupied with a judicial inquisition into the conspiracy, and the trial of Queen Giovanna before Rienzi the Roman Tribune. Of the in- quisition we see nothing, but are told about parts of it ; and of the trial we are presented with a tame wind-up—a sort of dull judge's charge.

The better points, interwoven as they are with a succession of dialogues, do not bear quotation ; the others do not invite it, with a few exceptions. These are good.

MARIA.

How can we love . . .

GIOVANNA, interrupting. Mainly by hearing none

Decry the object then, by cherishing The good we see in it, and overlooking What is less pleasant in the paths of life. All have some virtue if we leave it them In peace and quiet; all may lose some part By sifting too minutely bad and good. The tenderer and the timider of creatures Often desert the brood that has been handled Or turn'd about, or indiscreetly look'd at. The slightest touches, touching constantly, Irritate and inflame.

• ANDREA.

Had you seen the church ! The finest lady ever Brest for court

A week-day peasant to her! By to-morrow There's not a leg of all the crowd in Naples But will stand stiff and ache with this day's tiptoe; There's not a throat will drop its paste-tape down Without some soreness from such roaring cheers ; There's not a husband but whose cars will tingle Under his consort's claw this blessed night For sighing " What an angel is Giovanna!"

PRA RUPERT.

Go, go! I cannot hear such ribaldry.

ANDREA.

Rather should you have heard as there you might, Quarrelsome blunderheaded drums, o'erpower'd By pelting cymbals ; then complaining flutes, And boy-voiced fifes, lively, and smart, and shrill; Then timbre's, where tall fingers trip, but trip In the right place, and run along again; Then blustering trumpets, wonder-wafting horns-

Evvivas from their folks, hurrahs from ours,

And songs that pour into both ears long life And floods of glory and victory for ever.

It may be said by Mr. LANDOR, or some of his thoroughgoing partisans, that it was not his intention to write a drama. The ob- vious answer to this is, then why throw the materials into the dra- matic form Each style of composition has its own advantages and disadvantages : the unbroken dialogue of a play gives strength, force, and animation, when properly used, but otherwise it checks or fetters the use both of narration and description, without gaining the easy flow of prose fiction or poetic tales.