itOe theatres.
Although Murphy's Way to Keep Him, revived at the Haymarket on the occasion of Mr. Buokstone'a benefit, may appear at the present day a very mediocre purposeless piece, failing with respect to the moral it pro- fesses to carry out, exhibiting no type of character that was not much more forcibly depicted by the author's predecessors, distinguished by no brilliancy of dialogue, it still illustrates the known fact that the audiences of an hundred years since must have represented the intellectual condi- tion of the nation in their time much more accurately than the mind of the present day is represented by the mixed masses who now fill our theatres.
Lovemore, it is true, is one of the least sparkling of rakes, Sir Brilliant Fashion is the flimsiest of beaux, the Widow Belmour is but an aquatint toast, Mrs. Lovemore is an amiable nonentity, Sir Bashful Constant is a mere fool; but, nevertheless, all these persons amused in their day, be- cause they in some degree reflected the prevailing manners, and moved in a region that did not lie beyond the limits of possibility. We clearly see that the author, deficient as he was in many elements of attraction, could still draw his breath freely in the atmosphere of high life, never gasping after a farce-incident to awaken the pleasing sound of a roar, never dreaming of a clap-trap to stop up a weak place in his dialogue. The Way to Keep Him may be a weak comedy, an immoral comedy, a dull comedy ; but a comedy it is nevertheless, to be confounded neither with farce nor with melodrama. Such a work is not even attempted by the dramatists of the present day, and the absence of the attempt may be ascribed to the state of modern audiences, who demand a coarser fare than a mere representation of manners. If it is played again we earnestly recommend all who take an interest in dramatic literature to seize the opportunity of seeing it as a specimen (not indeed a very fine one) of a bygone school, that flourished when the divorce of the stage from real life was not such a settled affair as it is at present. From the point of view we have indicated, it will be readily seen that there was a fallacy in the very humorous speech with which Mr. Buck- stone took leave of his audience, for the few weeks that are to be de- voted to the embellishment of his theatre. He pointed to the various dramatic establishments of London, referring successively to the splen- dour of the Princess's, to the success of the Olympic, to the proposed en- largement of the Adelphi, and to his own good fortune, and considered that the alleged decline of the drama was triumphantly disproved. This was confounding the prosperity of the manager with the elevation of dramatic literature. Measured by the amount of pounds, shillings, and Pence received by the money-takers of the London theatres in the course of a year, there is no doubt that the drama has never been in such a thriving condition, as at the present day. Judged by its approximation to the intellectual standard of the age, its state was never more lowly.
In putting together the very singular drama, which has lately been Produced at the St. James's, with the title Elisabetta Regina d'Ingkil terra, the author, Signor Giacometti, seems to have had in his eye, two very different models, the Louis XI. of Casimir Delavigne, and the his- torical plays of Shakspere. Following the former, he has elaborated a single royal personage to such a degree, that his piece almost becomes a monodrame, and he has, moreover, wound up his plot with a terrible death-bed scene, which shows, for the edification of democrats, what a frightful thing it is to be an absolute monarch, even when one is not such specimen of base and unmitigated villany as the Louis of Casimir "elaViglIC. Indeed, in the details of this last scene, imitation amounts to plagiarism. The ae Shaseearian influence may be seen in the attempt to comprise he characteristic events of a long reign, within the precincts of a single
play in utter defiance of those laws of unity, that are generally regarded by the Italians with quite as much veneration' as by the French of the classic era. The execution of Mary Queen of Scots—the destruction of the Spanish Armada—the career of the Earl of Essex—are all introduced with several deviations, indeed, from the historical record, but neverthe- less with considerable ingenuity, and with evident knowledge of tbe effect that can be produced by separate scenes. In the selection of his inci- dents Signor Giacometti has been guided in a great measure by a desire to show the Queen of England, under the most various aspects. Some- times her feminine vanity is 'minent, either as an innocent weakness, or as a motive of cruelty. " en the Spanish Armada is the "topic of the day" she is the martial heroine, who brandishing the sword of " Enrico Ottavo " invites sympathetic admiration, and causes all ignoble qualities to be forgotten. The story of Essex, which is the most com- plete episode of all, exhibits the offended Queen in contrast with the loving woman, and the scene in which this contest is carried to its height is the most powerful in the play. In the last act, remorse is combined with the feebleness of old age, and, a new series of details is the necessary consequence.
In spite of the oddities which now and then provoke a smile, as for instance, when James VI. not only comes to London, but stands before Flieebeth as a paragon of manly courage and filial piety, we are of opinion, that if this Anglo-Italian play had been brought out at the time when the appearance of Madame Ristori excited curiosity and in- terest throughout the upper classes of society, it would have been one of the most successful in her repertory. Less ideal than most of the characters in which she has hitherto shone, the part of Elizabeth reveals a versatility and a minuteness of detail never previously displayed by the actress. She is successively the " Grande Coquette" of comedy, the woman torn by strong tragic emotions, the representative of physical weakness combined with mental suffering, and in all these various po- sitions she is equally at home. However a dramatic artist who " stars " in a foreign language in throe consecutive seasons will always find it a difficult matter to maintain an excitement, and for this reason—ne other—we feel that Madame Ristori's very fine delineation of Queen Elizabeth will not make the impression it deserves.
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