tht ihtatirs.
There is a certain degree of elevation, especially in the course of human events, which foretells a speedy downfall. Tyrannies, before their decline, become more and more abominable; and probably the last tyrant is the one who deems his position most secure and his impunity best established. We were forced to this reflection by a burlesque on Auber's Enfant Pro.' ague, brought out this week at the Olympic. Here we have the most affecting story of sin and repentance, derived moreover from the lips of One whom almost every inhabitant of this island esteems as sacred, made the peg whereon to hang the ordinary jokes which we hear usquo ad nau- seam every Christmas and Easter. There must be an overweening con- fideece in the safety of burlesque to make such an experiment possible. We are by no means anxious to assume the Puritanical tone, or to lay down the doctrine that certain subjects are to be excluded from any de- partment of art The most sacred themes are worked into oratorio-books, and the most straitlaced portion of the community applauds their combi- nation with music. But when a subject is in itself solemn, let it be solemnly treated. Opinions may be divided as to whether the story of the Prodigal Son can with propriety be represented in the form of serious opera or spectacle, but -that it is an improper theme for burlesque there cannot be the shadow of a doubt. Our dramatic au- thors have too long been in the habit of trying to raise a laugh about everything, and we have too long been inundated with a species of drama in which the chief wit is anachronism and the chief wisdom a Cockney familiarity with the disreputable works of the Metropolis. We trust that the debflt of the " Prodigal Son " at Vauxhall and the Casinos is that crisis of a disease which precedes a return to health, and that henceforth we shall hear less about liar= Aleashid's views of the polka, and Julius Caesar's estimate of eider-oellars and cigars. As for the Olympic burlesque itself, it is by no means void of humour ; nor is it unsuccessful. We only stigmatize it as the perfection of a bad genus. A little farce at the same theatre, called Caught in his Own Trap, is only worth mentioning on account of the superior acting of Mr. Farrell as an old gentlemanlike jurist, in whom manner is everything. A com- bination of old age with the appearance and deportment of good breeding bee never been effected by any living artist with so much success as by Mr. Farren.
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