27 FEBRUARY 1841, Page 12

Miss KELLY reopened the snug little theatre of her "

Dramatic School " on Monday ; not as before, with a company composed of vete- rans and tyros, but she alone filled the stage, with the succession of characters interspersed through the clever narrative of her Dramatic Recollections—the same, or nearly so, with which she amused the public at the New Strand Theatre a few years back. Whether it was the want of novelty in the entertainment, or the evident ill-health and nervous agitation of Miss KELLY, (by no means lessened by the gaucheries of the assistants behind the scene,) or the feeling that this kind of per- formance had become obsolete, were the cause, certain it is that the evening passed rather heavily, not to say painfully ; and the impression produced resembled rather the imperfect revival of a past enjoyment, than the vivid excitement of a new gratification. Miss KELLY showed herself to be still the mistress of her art ; though the process of teaching it to others may have contributed, with other causes, to make its me- chanism more apparent than is desirable. This, indeed, is the great drawback of the peculiar class of entertainment ; and it was felt even when ltIaTnEws, with his inimitable powers and varied resources, strove by his surpassing skill to conceal the inevitable defect. Then the adventures arc mostly of the stage, stagy : the incidents smell of the lamps and sawdust. Actors, however, are coming to be regarded, as they ought, in the light of artists, to be appreciated according to their performances—not vagrants of genius to be stared at, as country clowns gape at the " player-folk " of a fair-booth : and this improved view of their character Miss KELLY herself is contributing to promote by means of her Dramatic School.