T .vr it :t holy the tteet attractive—novelty of the
week at the Tit. :are,. 71 -t a play by a d:ainatist, but an act by a manager. .1teeon.o. in de- w..• neh el hie gratitude to persons who come to tiat i.∎-eeenn. inn Lot se eotb-.r, I Fist llIs tilt III each with an ice, gratis! Mr. Ale:doe], has to Iicd c,: mope., rs coolly enainell already. Musical cam. po-ers make tile rmineeer presents of opeoos, and he in return gives those who voine tothem ices, gratis—and it quotation front Silent. ii,t0 the booreeinn, about " thin ililug regions of thick ribbed ice," that from the book of the Panorama of the Polar Regions Ines got into the play-bills, and will doubtless go the round of every confectioner's shop in town. We' looked in at the Lyceum the other ti:glit to ascertain the work- ing the "ire, gratis ''• system. 1."e expected to see an andience densely packed. perspi ri lee at every pore, awl a rush into the refresh:neut- rino:II to snatch Mr. A neoties bounty, surpassing the annual scramble
for tarts at the Lord Mayers Easter Not so: the numounee-
aie t 1"... i.e. setene,I to have had the effect of deterring peisont from leaving the. Lent el a iattatre that required "ire, gratis" to keep the eimialice from thole in;; • mai the intiuctio • of the ice itself was t..1:kW:1 lie II:e. ete a f ..•apriety of the Coe:m..11,m. of those who -over: there. ita.ein Hods tit cite gallery, mei the hall•priee people in the pit, who are catai. anied ton expo:eatery the fate el lantalus in this respect, sharea the eaolieg effect of the ices swallmved by their full-price neieblaans. Itliether this will provoke a rivalry on the part of Mr. AinNoi.o'S brother managers, remains to .be seen. MORRIS perhaps will deli- berate whether he can afford to give his audience iced water, instead of water ice; but having gone to the expense of engaging Mr. CATII• CARf from the Victoria, we fear he will hardly be able. He must depend upon the thinness of his audiences to keep his theatre cool.
Mrs. Nusasar us yet is content with the " Eastern style of ventila- tion "—what that is we are not learned enough to tell—mid with pledg- ing herself that her theatre is the coolest in London. We found it hot enough, the other night ; and all that we perceived of the " Eastern style of ventilation," was a few round holes above the box-doors, like
what one sees cut in shop-shutters : and in our simplicity we thought they were intended to have been filled with ventilators, but for the noise. As Mrs. isforaer is on the " Eastern" tack, if she finds any other cooling process necessary, she will doubtless have recourse to sherbet. BONN, who is fond of froth and flummery, will be treating his audi- ences with " trifle; " a battery of champagne gooseberry should be inked in the refreshment-room of the King's Theatre ; and a running Ere of ginger-pop be kept up at the Surry and Victoria—all gratis, of course.
The other novelty of the week at the Lyceum, is a new farce, called /and my Double; in which the incidents are so complicated and unac- countable, that they are alone sufficient to provoke laughter, without the irresistible impulse given by the acting of Weetscit and KEELEY, who are each other's representatives.
. A pleasant mythological extravaganza, called Cupid in London, by the author of the Loves if the Angels, has been brought out at the Queen's ; in which JOHN Reeve figures as Cupid, in his Adelphi costume of knee-breeches and gauze wings, and Mrs. HONEY as Psyche, but with- out her butterfly. Some of the parodies are very droll ; and the po. pular sirs, though they might be better sung, give life to the entertain- ment. The piece is capitally well got up, n-la-Vestris, and gave unmixed satisfaction. Reeve, as usual, was oblivious, and extempo- rized ad libitum. He was better read in the part of Bacchus than of Cupid ; and but for BARNLTT.S spirited performance 'of the jelly god, we should have desired to see RLEVE in his proper character.
At the Victoria, which we see has reopened with the old company, they are playing a burlesque of the Sonnambula, written by the author of the Revolt of the Workhouse, and called The Roe y:Serambler ; in which Murcia:La plays " Molly Brown, a greasy roamer over house. tops." We have not seen it ; but the subject is a fair one for ridicule; and both author and actor are expert at fun. Matoneas, junked, has a genius for burlesque.
At the French Theatre, LEONTINE FAY and M. VOLNYS continue to fill the in inripal characters; but only for a limited time. We re- commend all who admire quiet, natural acting, to go and see them. Their style is admirably suited to each other ; being unaffected, and free from grimace or gesticulation. They give one the idea of the manners of the best French society. The effect of their acting depends solely on the expression of the lace; which, with the aid of slight and spontaneous gesture, depicts their emotions. In (.ice Porte, where Voases as the Injured husband repudiates his wife, the scene is as fondling us if it were acted by the real parties in a drawing-room. The cold politeness of the husband, and his painful look of grief and mute indignation, and the inward, silent agony of the guilty wife, which bursts out at last in an irrepressible scream of agony, appeal far inure powerfully to the feelings than the boisterous rage and termagant sorrow of must of our stage heroes and heroines.
Voarivs' personation of L'Ami Grandet, in the piece of that name, is inimitable in its way. Grandet is the friend of a General of Bona- parte's army, who is in love with a Dutcheas of the rieille roar. The lady is a coquette, and treats her parvenu lover with an indifferenre that only kits short of utter neglect and disdain. Grandet, who has himself been the victim of a jilt, and has become in consequence a cynic philo- sopher in respect to the sex, without any ceremony visits the Dutehess, unintrod wed, and calls upon her for an explanation of her intentions towards the General. His (awl hfusgnerie. imperturbable self-posses. lion, and sarcastic wit, quite batik her ; the General acts according to the directions of Is'Ami Grandet ; the proud arid wilful [heelless is I bled, her better nature prevails over the iulluence of habit and education, and the lover is made happy. The coquetry of Lt comer FAY was charming and piquant ; but the brilliant uoritsrations of her scorn and raillery were scarcely so admirable as the lightaisig play of her rage and vexation. Votaass looked a stern Republiaan hater of courts and coquettes. One great merit of his performance was that it was never coarse.
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