THE THEATRES.
THE success of two adaptations, by Mr. PEAKE, of other authors ideas, that have been produced this week, attests the expertness of that practised playwright in the craft of dramatic joinery. At Covent Garden, Court and City have been brought together as they were severally depicted, " the Court" by Mrs. FRANCES SHERIDAN, in the Discovery, and "the City" by Sir RICHARD STEELE, in the Tender Husband ; two comedies not without some share of originality and a spice of wit and satire, but neither of them endowed with vitality to exist beyond their day. Nor is this incorporation of the liveliest portions of the two likely to enjoy a longer lease of life, though its tenure of public favour may be lasting enough to answer the purpose intended, that of making an agreeable variety in the entertainments of the season ; towards which the excellent acting and superb dressing materially contribute. The two sets of dramatis personaf, and the plots that put them in motion, are linked together slightly enough, but as neatly as the main business and under-plot of many a comedy spun out of a single brain ; and though unity of design and continuous interest arc not to be looked for, the pleasantries of the dialogue and the array of characters are strengthened by the combination : in effect, Court and City is a drawing-room masquerade of courtiers, cits, and rustics, all taking their parts in scenes of flirtation, and quarrelling, coquetry, and match- making, that amuse without exciting the audience, and (best proof of success) create an abundance of merriment. The most prominent and original character is Sir Paladin Scruple, a sexagenarian swain of the Chesterfield school, and a martyr to the ten- der passion. Internally consumed by the flames of love, he is outwardly a petrifaction of polished decorum ; his blood mounts like the mercury in a thermometer at the warm touch of love, but when it is at fever- heat he is as cold and immovable as the tube : so profound is his ardour, that his emotions grow cool from the depths they are buried in. He addresses his goddess with the air of a diplomatist, and his vows of adoration are so quaintly clothed in the cumbrous phrase of compli- ment, that their utterance provokes ridicule. His respect for the fair sex keeps him at such an immeasurable distance from the object of his devotion, that in proportion as he admires he "sails to the north- ward of the lady's opinion," and fairly retreats to the frigid zone, "where he hangs like an icicle on a Dutchman's beard." FARREN'S personation of Sir Paladin is a rich, quiet, and finished piece of comedy : in his plum-coloured velvet suit, embroidered with flowers, he reminds one of a courtly Strephon in chinaware, casting amorous glances at an Amaryllis in hoop-petticoat, on the mantelpieces of our grandmothers. He moves like an automaton, with measured pace and erect port : his style of "making a leg" is in keeping with this idea ; it seems as if he advanced the limb in order to make a wider base for his figure preparatory to the slight bend of the back which constitutes the obeisance, lie speaks with deliberate formality, as if reading a complimentary speech from a book, marking the punctuation by the pauses of his breath, and guarding his involved sentences with paren- theses of apology. Once he shows signs of animation, when he staggers back a few paces, shot by the black eyes of the miniature of his eighth mistress : when he talks about prostrating himself at the feet of the ninth, one involuntarily starts at the idea of so costly a piece of mecha- nism being damaged by the fall. Mrs. NrsstErr, as Mrs. Charnlington, the blooming widow, whose glances transfix this venerable mark for Cupid's arrows, plays off the arts of coquetry with such irresistible fascination, that one almost feels pity for the poor victim of her charms. CHARLES 3IAxnEws, as Sir Harry Whiffle, and Madame VESTRIS, as his lady—a boy and girl newly married, and affecting distaste of each other merely as a matter of fashion—quarrel con amore : they make their differences piquant by the well-bred air with which they bandy taunts and sneers, and the hearty spirit of contradiction that seems to animate them both. CHARLES MATHEWS hits off the levity and incon- sequence of the character to admiration : be is a very feather in the cap of fashion—as light, graceful, innocuous, and unstable—blown about by every breath of opinion. Lord Dangerfield, a profligate, who having a design upon Lady Whiffle foments the disputes with her husband— Lady Dan gerfield, who frustrates his scheme and reconciles the young couple, well represented by Mr. DIDDEAR and Mrs. W. Wierr —and their daughter Louisa, the ninth divinity of Sir Paladin's worship, very nicely personated by Miss COOPER—make up the " Court " party. The " City " folks are equally diverting after their fashion. Barbara Bearbinder, a banker's daughter, full of Cassandra and the romances of that school, and dying to exchange her odious name for a more eupho- nous one, is very cleverly played by Mrs. WALTER LACY; and Mr. WALTER LACY is an efficient representative of the gallant Captain Dangerfield, who carries lief off by humouring her passion for flowery speeches and romantic adventures. F. MATHEWS and Mrs. TAYLEURE, as Mr. and Mrs. Bearbinder, also contribute their quota of amusement, But the weight of the fun rests on the broad shoulders of the rustics. Sir Hector llunibushis a country knight of the Absolute family, who governs his household with the stick—cultivating a crab-tree as an heirloom to furnish a stock of cudgels for home use, and who, by way of backing his boast that he had been caned by his father the day before his own wedding, thrashes his son Humphrey on the eve of the young fellow's marriage : a character in which BARTLEY is quite at home : the vigour and gusto with which he wields his cane to vindicate his authority, calling for " Numps " to exercise it upon when he is crossed, is an edifying example of the old paternal rule. HARLEY, as Humphrey Bunibush, trussed up in his father's wedding-suit and brought to market like a prize turkey, has full scope for his grotesque humour : his habitual terror of the sapling of the family-tree is somewhat mitigated by the knowledge of his father's regard for the wedding-suit, but it entirely subsides on discovering that he is" as old as the pigeon-house, which is three-and-twenty this year," and therefore a man : the grimace that he makes behind Sir Hector's back is an expressive indication of the character of the brutish lout, with just shrewdness enough to redeem him from utter boobyism.
The costumes of the early part of George the Third's reign, ugly as they were, appear so rich and elegant, being arranged artistically in re- spect of colour, that, seen in conjunction with the appropriate fashion of the furniture and interiors, the stage presents a succession of moving pictures of the last century. The concluding scene, a brilliantly-lighted suite of drawing-rooms, with a dance of the characters, is most en- livening: the perpetual shifting of the motley array of dresses—the ladies with their trains tucked up, and their cauliflower head-dresses topped with jaunty hats smothered with plumes or flowers—transports us back to the palmy days of Ranelagh.
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