23 JULY 1853, Page 12

With a due exercise of fancy, the tragedy of Sardanapalus

might have been very effectively burlesqued; and the barbarous sublimities dis- covered by Mr. Layard might have been regarded from a point of view which would have given scope to "very admirable fooling.' But the Sa- tirical genius of the Adelphi, in his endeavours to travestie Byron and Kean, has missed his mark. A very commonplace and pointless bur- lesque is acted in front not of caricatured scenery but of serious imita- tions of the paintings at the Princess's. Thus, instead of a burlesque, we have a spectacle at second-hand ; which we must in justice say is liberally put upon the stage.