The cycle of subjects from which the Adelphi melodramatist selects
a theme for his labour is not very extensive. A murder in a cross- road, or on a bridge, or in a lonely forest, coupled with the circum- stance that any one is suspected of the crime rather than he who actually committed it, is a sort of general foundation, on which the playwright raises most of his superstructures; and his ingenuity is shown not in con- triving new plots, but in giving novelty to his details of effect. The melo- drama of The Hop-pickers is as like as possible in its principle to Harvest Home; but it has peculiarities sufficient to endow it with a distinctive cha- racter in the eyes of an Adelphi audience. The scene in which the grand crime is committed, and which represents the junction of four roads, is " set " in an unusual and striking manner; and a situation in which the real and the supposed criminal are involved in one danger by being placed in a burning barn, is powerful in itself, and admirably illustrated by the me- chanical contrivances of the theatre. The whole strength of the company is employed on this melodrama; and the author, Mr. T. Parry, has shown great tact in fitting their various peculiarities.
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