24 OCTOBER 1874, Page 3

If any one wishes to see how an actor can

allow himself to deteriorate in a part he has himself created, let him study Mr. Sothern in Lord Dandreary. He will find him, in manner, dress, and pantomime as good as he ever was, or better than he ever was, but he will also find him omitting, apparently from delibera- tion, all the intellectual nuances of the part. The play, always bad, has been gradually broadened into a mere farce, and the cool, vague-minded aristocrat, with his silliness so shot with gleams of capacity, arising obviously from experience and position, has degenerated into a perfectly-dressed, self -possessed fool. We are bound to add that the crowded audience apparently likes the change, and laughs more heartily than ever, though generally before the joke.