27 FEBRUARY 1830, Page 10

THE SHARPER'S PROGRESS.

THE obligations of our stage to the French are unceasingly lamented, and it is seen to be a great evil that we should be diverted by inven- tions of foreign production. The Adelphi has avoided this common reproach, in a performance bearing the captivating title of the Sharper's Progress; the plot, characters, and sentiment of which, may be pronounced essentially English. In trifles on manners, and pieces of circumstance, as they are termed, our neighbours are in- comparably superior to us ; but in holding the mirror up to jail-birds, and showing felony its image, the BritiSh stage is original and un- rivalled. As the dramatic genius of our land is so peculiarly at home in Newgate, we wonder that it does not more frequently take the range of the wards. The wit of GAY was not necessary to the re- ception of the Be.v.,rar's Opera; for managers, with the praiseworthy design of proving that fact, have knocked out its brains, and yet it has preserved its favour, as we must infer, merely from the great de- light which the audience takes in the presentation of rogues on the stage. To speak profundities, it is the nature of man to delight in novelty ; and in this preeminently virtuous land, there is so great a scarcity of knaves, that the character exists by the crea- tion of invention, and has fallen into the departments of poetry. Aware of that truth, Lord BYRON, who aimed at originality, was at immeasurable pains to make the world believe him worse than it is convenient for social man to be, and he delighted in the concep- tion of brigands. For the stage, however, the lower the sphere of cri- minality is pitched, the more generally successful it seems to be. The enormities of tyrants have lost their power of excitement, and the public admiration attaches rather to the arts of cheating than to acts of violence. Hence the Sharper's Progress is calculated to be extraor- dinarily popular. The Patent Theatres, which copy with commend- able modesty from the Minors, should not fail to observe the set of the public taste, and will do well to get up pieces yet more level with the national fancy. The life of HARDY VAUX the pickpocket, offers some interesting passages for dramatic adoption, and the deeds of SOAMES and BARRINGTON are ripe for representation. These materials exhausted, a certain house which we may not name, in 'Westminster, will present a rich mine for the larcenous genius of dra- matic authorship.

We do not know how better to describe the effect of the Sharper's Progress, than by saying it is interesting and disgusting. With re- markable success curiosity is kept excited while the judgment is dis- approving. The acting, with one exception, is excellent. The piece begins with the fraudulent contrivances for a marriage. The Sharper's tool, a deserter from. the army, is passed off as a mar- quis, and in that character becomes contracted to a lady of rank and fortune, to whom he is really attached. He has scruples of con- science, but the Chevalier (d'industrie) always interferes in the nick of repentance to prevent their having effect. On the signature of the marriage settlements, the Sharper receives the marriage portion ' • and as the parties are returning from church, the bridegroom is apprehended as a 'deserter, the fraud discovered, and in the next act all the knaves are exhibited in Newgate ; the humours of which place are presented in so pleasant an aspect as must needs cheer any of the spectators who have forecasts of becoming tenants of the strong house. The gaiety of recklessness is the spirit of the scene, and the mad humour which is as unscrupulous as the morality of the worthy parties—all fish or all joke that comes to their net. REEVES'S personation of a veteran jail-bird is of that truth which is instinctively apprehended. It is scarcely necessary to have seen that rare phenomenon, a har- dened rogue, to declare that he represents the genus to the life,— to the coat, to the waistcoat, the pantaloons, the boots, the hat, the gait, the roll, the leer, the grimace, the scoff, and ever-ready hand or tongue for mischief. Hardened rogue as he is, there is nothing of hardness in his personal properties : on the contrary, he looks as oily as a porpoise, and as slippery as an eel. He is all suppleness, and fit to wriggle into any opportunity of crime. The fellow's face would convict him with any jury. The vulgar voluptuary is expressed in his blubber lips, and the cunning of his eye indicates that what his mouth lusts for, his wit will surely compass. Then, the beggary of his attire, in contrast with the sleekness of his carcase, shows the absence of the pride of decency, and the fulness of sensual indulgence. Altogether, it is an admirably complete personation of a disgusting creature of guilt. The Chevalier in gaol compassionates his tool Wilton, andresolves to effect his escape with the aid of his confederate in fraud. This ac- complished, the next act shows us the deserter and fugitive a pros- perous tradesman, cheering, with the account of his gains, the wife to whom he had been united underfraudulent pretences, but who had gene- rously forgiven his practices upon her credulity and the robbery of her fortune. His past Misconduct he here mildly terms a weakness; dis- covering thereby a remarkable moral sense of the character of that de- ception which is commonly called the wickedest cheating. The rogues, the Chevalier and his confederate, having escaped from Newgate, inter- rupt this worthy person's felicity, by claiming a share of his profits, or threatening exposure. While he conceals them, the benefactor who had set him up in business enters, and chances to mention that he has a large sum of money in his house. The villains overhear the remark, and when he is gone, propose to Wilton to rob his kind friend. Wilton requests them to abandon their purpose ; but as their minds are set on the money, rather than be denounced to the police, he accom- panies them on their expedition, informing his wife, who asks whither he is hastening, that he is going to rob their benefactor. This is another of the interesting hero's weaknesses. The intended prey is, however, warned of his danger by the dexterous management of the wife ; and the Chevalier and his confederate kill each other, one by mistake, the other on the reciprocity principle ; and the Sharper dies handsomely, intimating to Wilton that the secret of his misconduct and guilty participation dies with him. The effect of all this is to show, that the Sharper is not so bad a fallow after all, for he has touches of generosity, which always capti- vate; and also, that a man may play the part of a compliant rogue and yet escape detection, and thrivingly live in great respect. To give the finishing stroke to Wilton's character, he is summoned as a respectable housekeeper to serve as juror on the trial of the keeper of Newgate for conniving at the escape of himself and the two other confederates, he best knowing that the keeper was innocent of the charge. How he acquits himself on this occasion, does not appear ; but we feel assured that his weakness will not cause him to discover himself and exonerate the accused.

YATES'S Sharper is a little exaggerated in the grimace of devilry, but altogether it is a very clever representation, more especially in the latter part, where the once gay villain is broken down to squalor and wretchedness. His airs of gentility, his address of gallantry to Wilton's wife, in contrast with his mean equipment, have a Hogarth- like effect.

To sum up, the piece is an interesting immorality, very cleverly performed.