A WARM HOUSE.
—"Locum sume Gni in Adelphns."— TERENCE—Hem !—
THE Adelphi is the only place just now in London where you can enjoy totality of warmth ; for even at his own fire side a man's hands are in two different zones, and whilst the head haply is in an oven, the feet may be in a well. It is indeed a snug box to thaw one's frozen body in, and release the congealed spirits, which under the united influence of warmth and fun, MATHEWS and MONCRIEFF, rise rapidly to the degree of exhilaration. The new piece, which the more learned papers call a burletta in three acts, is founded—on what ?—guess reader, for thy life, who
host not seen nor heard of it !—The Letter T. "Monsieur Mallet, or My Daughter's Letter," is an insipid misnomer ;—it should have been called "Mallet with a T." It may appear a slender founda-
tion on which to build three stories high ; but by this T hangs a Tale, which every body knows ; and therefore we will not tax our frigid right hand—which has the ill-luck to be on the off-side — to tell it. Every body knows, we say, for it
is now some time since the" Trip to America" made the public aware of the adventure of M. MalleT at the post-office. However, to satisfy those who in their ignorance or simplicity may be apt to think it a frail or inadequate substratum for a plot, we would have them bethink themselves, that the addition or suppression of a T might hang a man or transport him ; certainly, General Mallet was within a T of becoming an exile for life. Too comfortable, cozy, and complacent to be critical, the SPECTATOR had leisure only for enjoyment ; and was too much in love with the player to be severe to mark what was done amiss in the play. Indeed, whatever suit MATHEWS indues, he makes it so entirely his own, that the vision of the playwright, with his seis- sop "and paste, recedes into obscurity ; and we remember him no more than we do the scene-shifter in a successful pantomime. This perfect putting on of the part, which allows not so much as the tip of the playwright's nose or even of his toe to protrude itself any- where into sight, is the forte only of LISTON and MATHEWS- arcades ambo—a pair of players, who discourse too excellent music together ever to be properly put asunder. Now were it possible to steal LISTON from the big brewhouse, and stow him in the Adel- phi, what a happily constituted and agreeable select society would the little warming-pan comprehend ! The humour of Lisrox, as different from that of MATHEWS as oil from vinegar, yet com- mingles with it so rarely, as to make the finest sauce imaginable to the salad of the piece. MATHEWS is a general gocd,—a running—no, not exactly a .running, but a perpetual commentary on the times ;—so that if you had been absent from town some three or four years, you would only need to visit MATHEWS at home in the Adelphi some three or four times, to learn all the rarest jokes, cries, slang, bulls, blunders, and humours, of the whole interval. Though one and the same, MATHEWS is ever new ; or, more properly speaking, as the Atlas, which once understood these things, said—" he exhibits the same talent that all the world has already admired, and, though familiar with it, still witnesses with the same pleasure." It is a gratification to us to find, that the melancholy anticipations of the Atlas (August 12,1827), founded on the lameness of this inimit- able actor, are to all appearance no nearer being realized, than when lie amused the world with his versatile talents Before Break- fast. However, we repeat the injunction then and there given :— " All those who have seen and relish his performance, we advise to make much of the present time : to all those who have still to see, we recommend, not to lose an opportunity,"—or as our text more shortly and pointedly bath it,
Lecuni surue tibi intIciciphos,"
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