1 FEBRUARY 1840, Page 15

THE TREAT RES.

A monniNr: English vocalist toiling sturdily through abut% part in a eolith• opera, reminds one of a clodhopper floundering through a quag- Mire in chase of a butterfly. More than one such ludicrous instance of hopeless pursuit and wasted labour w as exhibited at Drury Lane on Wednesday, in _fly Lord i8 Not my Lord—an adaptation of a forgotten opera by lloihniEr, Le Neureau Seiginur du Village, whose resuscita- tion was attempted by galvanic process, but certainly- not with electric effect. A plot wont threadbare by frequent usage, characters so yeller- able in their Lbsurdity that one could not find it in one's heart to laugh at them, dialogue that would almost repeat itself by force of habit, and mu: ie so ffinilliar to the ear that it lulls like the fall of water,—such were the materials which Messrs. 11. Pnimmts, MonLEY, LErrmat, and

Dr to deal with ; and had Re mirth been commensurate with their efforts to be droll, prodigious would have been the success. As it was. the andiAtee, after sitting out the new " tragedy "—which, now that 110 longer sings, and the points of drollery tire mitigated, is become a serious business—were impatient for the relaxation of the pantomime : and the musical interlude was treated as an interloper, and s(onewhat too rudely. In justice to Marl/ Stuart, we must add, that the house was crammed on this occasion; thouL,11 the presumed

attraction of i.sie must also be taken into account. YACIIIZADY knows how to exalt melodrama while giving it full effect.

Miss DELev, on the previous t.,,ming, made fresh progress in public favour by her delightful perffirmance 01' Zerlina in Fra Dimwit,. She is not merely an engaging person herself, but gives a charm to the cha- racter she personates, proper to it. "..11iss DIA.cv was inefficiently sup- ported, however ; and the opera is not got up in a style worthy of a great theatre.