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Mr. Tom Taylor, -well known, and Mr. Iteade, less known in the dra- matic world, have by their joint efforts produced a dramatic picture of the life of a hundred years back, which may be fairly set down as the chief theatrical notability of the day, not so much from the genius dis- played in the outline, as from the elaboration of the colouring. To repre- sent the notorious Peg Woffington, who really was a charitable creature, as a miracle of benevolence—to introduce us into the garret of a starving poet, the supposed object of her bounty—to show us the same Peg Wof- fington eminently practising the virtue of self-denial, and loosening her hold on an erring husband, at the solicitation of his devoted wife—re- quired no great power of original invention. The merit lies in the filling up ; and we cannot too highly praise the taste and care with which the authors have managed a dialogue of sustained repartee, the force they have given to the several scenes and characters, and the ease with which they move in an artificial period. Personages and manners, which now have only an existence in literature, are handled by men of obvious lite- rary culture ; and Masks and Faces with its finish and its strongly- marked dramatis personce stands forth with honourable prominence, in an ago when commonplace metaphor and turgid unreality have been ac- cepted as the characteristics of legitimacy. It should be edded, that Mrs. Stirling and Mr. Webster are exceedingly well fitted for the characters of Peg Woffington and the starving poet, and that they turn their fitness to the best possible account. The minor personages, together with the ward- robe and the upholstery, are likewise satiafactory.
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