PARISIAN THEATRICALS.
A huge drama in eight acts, crammed full of incident from beginning to end, has been produced at the Gaiete. Its authors are the indefati- gable MM. Amicet Bourgeois and Michel Masson—it is called Es Preteur sur Gages. The personages are English, or at least such is the intention of the author. Bob the usurer—(what a name for a sentimental grandsire !)-- haa. a convict, son, resident at Botany Bay, and this son has a daughter named Lucy, lodged in the Foundling Hospital Being doatingly fond of his grandchild, Bob resolves to purchase her release from the govern- ment by giving up a proscribed felon. Shade of the venerable Mr. Ceram, by which of thy provisions hest than enabled the crown to swop foundlings for runaway thieves ? An innocent gentleman, named Milt- reed (again a bit of British), having incurred the displeasure of another gentleman, named Barckley (a sort of' hybrid between Barclay and Berkeley), by occasioning Miss Anna, the lady to whom the latter pays ha-addresses, to give birth to a-son, is burthened with a false accusation, Rob acting as the accomplice of Barckley for the reason above described. However, Bob has taken all his trouble in vain, for, although Miltreed Is transported, Lucy has run away from Guildford Street, and gene to Botany Bay, on a visit to her father. Fourteen years: pass, and leery, new grown up, has not only consoled her unfortunate parent, but. has fallen in love with the other convict, Miltreed; whose innocence she as- certains, and with whom' she jumps into the sea, that she may swim to a homeward-bound vessel Min seaming in a rough sea is ene. of the grand "effects" of the piece. When Miltreed and Lucy have returned to their native land, the paincipal object of interest is Olivier, Miss Anna's illegitimate son, who has:been brought up at Greenwich Hospital, and to whom a Targe for- bane has been bequeathed by his mamma's aunt, on condition that he has
done nothing .onourable—a provision that must have been regarded with: an angry eye by. many. a chancery-barrister. Faffing, this condi- tion, the property reverts to that bad man, Mr. Barekleye who has.theree fora every motive to make-the first legatee as wicked as. possible. With ounmunmate ingenuity, he entangles the Greenwich. lad, who knows nothing of his own prospects, into a connexion with a gang of robbers, that he may assist in stealing,the will from the house of the-notary, in which it is kept. If Olivier obtains the document, the foundation of his title is destroyed; if he ei caught in flagrante delicto, lie has forfeited his claim by virtue &Ilia great-aunt's proviso. Poor Olivier; who is not aware of the villainy, of the task on. which he employed, is thrust' into the no's house, by the thieves, and receives a shot in the arm, which, as well as his name, causes- us to suspect that he is a reproduc- tion of the Oliver Twist of Mr. Charles Dickens. He is recognized by his mother, but is soon seized by the police, and is confined in a roam: adjoining that of his father, who has been, apprehended as an escaped- convict. Lucy; eedl fliitlifel; though fully aware of Miltreed's love for Anna, frees Olivier, and hidechim in' the limas of his grandfather Bob, who resides in some odd corner of London, that the French are pleased to call--/e guartier ifaut4t. This. new position of affairs causes a ces- sation, of the frieruldep: between Bob and Barekley, and the latter attempts to blow up the former with gunpowder, but only succeeds im blindingline —while, Olivier is concealed in the very sanctum.of unknown London, the subterranean vaults of the pillory ! Liebe end, virtue is.triumpliant, and-Barekiey is shot by Bob.
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