The tragedy (as it is called) of Calaynos, now acting
at Sadler's Wells, is a weak piece, with some strong points in it, and with the merit of being very well written. Calaynos, who is probably named after the hero of one of the old Quixotic ballads, is a Spanish gentleman, played by Mr. Phelps, with a false friend and a pretty wife. The former elopes with the latter, after informing her that her husband is of Moorish origin; thus arousing her national pride. She afterwards comes back to Calaynos, receives his pardon, and dies; whereupon the Moor fights the traitor, kills him and is killed himself,—a lame and impotent conclusion. The character of Calay- nos—a recluse student, who has trained himself in a sort of philosophical discipline, that apparently enables him to control his passions, but is of no avail when the Moorish blood is actually stirred by a wrong—is well con- ceived; and the first display of his grief is forcible and pathetic. But when we consider that the interest of the play does not begin till the fourth act, and that the conclusion is an anticlimax, we find we must give strong qua- lification to any praise we can bestow on the work as a whole.
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