20 JANUARY 1838, Page 13

THE THEATRES.

Tire Lost Pleiad has noule some stir in the world before now, and various speculations as to its fate have been indulged in ; but certainly the must palpable, and therefore the most satisfactory solution of the mystery, is that which presents to us this " bright particular star" at the Adelphi, where it is visible to the naked eye, without the aid either of telescope or opera glass—in the attractive shape of Mrs. Nisatsrz. The author of the dramatic fiction entitled Allfur Love, or the Lost Phiad, has evidently bud in his eye the hoyden character which Mrs. Nisei...TT played so much con amore in the Love Chase ; for be has not only preserved its principal features, but also imitated the style of SHERIDAN lisowt.ss's comedy. He, however, lays most stress, as imitators are prone to do, on the staring peculiarities of style; and has caricatured that prevailing fault of KnOwsEs's writing, an inversion of phrase, so as to demonstrate in an amusing manner the absurdity of such an affectation of quaintness. Asterni, the lust Pleiad, according to the drama, is sent by Urania to earth for the mere purpose of making sport of tie poor mortals ; and first lighting on an unsophisticated young wood-cutter named Boland, she coquettes with this modern Cymon to such a degree, that, intent upon fascinating him, she becomes entangled in her own net ; and when, tired of her tantalizing persecution, the smitten swain reta- liates, she is fain to give up her starry immortality and become a ter- restrial Joan to her earth-born Darby. Mrs. NJSBETT is so completely at home in mortal eay over which, by the by, she wears a splendid suit, tricked out in all the colours of the rainbow—and her speech and behaviour are so familiar and off. band, that she seems " native and to the manner born" of the daughters of earth; an excellence to be looked for in a " star " from above, though rarely seen in " stars " of a lower sphere. Perhaps it is this that makes her attendant breezes Boren; and Flutter (the cognomen assumed by the South wind on this occasion) seem so very much out of their element : certainly they are as dull and disegreeable as any clods of earth can well be. Mr. HARRY BEVERLEY, as Burma, his suit of bearskin, is particularly unfortunate in his efforts to be funny : and YATES, as the coxcombical Flutter, is hardly more successful, though he does his best to make himself ridiculous. The defect in the mirth-creating department is, however, chiefly chargeable on the author, who is not happy in the humorous : more- over be has pitched his serious strain in too high a key. For a light .fanciful subject of this kind, the heroics of blank verse are too grave a measure: the tripping feet of couplets, if the metrical medium were essential, would have been more appropriate, and have conveyed his ideas—and sonic of them are really poetical—more deftly. Mr. LYON, as Roland, the young wood-cutter, expresses Lis passion and bewilderment with abundant eloquence of look and gesture ; and Miss SHAW, as Lucette, his mortal intended, returns his aversion in a aver spirited style.

The scenery is, as usual, romantic and effective; and one scene of a moonlit fen with exhalations has quite an imaginative character. The atmosphere seems dank and unwholesome, and the dim lights of the daimons emit a most melancholy flame. The chorus and the dancing of the will-olhe- wisps are too noisy : they should be seen and not heard. For the singing, the less said about it the better.