pratrrs.
At the Surrey Theatre, which opened under its proper managers and for its proper season on Monday last, we have one of those attempts to make a suburban population digest poetical drama, which are so frequent in the outskirts of London, and are so rarely attended by permanent
uccess. The name of Shakspere has a charm in it, and there is a power s in his works which fascinates even the lowest class of Englishmen ; but
a new play, wntten 171 verse, has almost invariably been found distaste- ful even to the public of Sadler's Wells. However, Mr. Creswick, being a legitimate tragedian, has a right now and then to use his house for the patronage of authors who are at any rate literary in point of form, and there is no doubt that Mr. J. Wooler's " tragic play" of The Branded Bate will prove just as fortunate as a score of other versified works that sparkle on their first appearance and are forgotten before a twelvemonth has elapsed.
Of the principle of Mr. J. Wooler's play we cannot approve. He has selected for his theme the deposition of Henry IV. of Castile, but in no one instance has ho followed the detailsof the historical record. The hero of the play is a fabulous prime minister named Diegarias, who, endea- vouring to repair the dishonour caused to his house through the heartless seduction of his daughter by a Spanish noble, is baffled in his hopes by the discovery that he is in secret a Jew, and then falls a victim to the persecuting spirit which, during the middle ages, was such a fruitful source of misery to the Israelitish race. The wrongs endured by this man, both as a father and as a Hebrew, are forcibly exhibited, and the sentiments which he utters When the cup of wretchedness is full corre- spond to the views of toleration entertained by every unprejudiced thinker of the nineteenth century. Moreover, his energetic qualities are eminently suited to Mr. Creswick, who, finding himself in possession of an effective part, makes the most of his opportunity.
But why associate this tale of a Jewish Minister with the deposition of Henry IV. of Castile ? If we must introduce a Spanish King into a dramatic illustration of the collision between Hebrew and Christian, old Alfonso VIII., with his mistress, Rachel, is always at hand for the emergency. But we have no right to foist upon Henry IV. a Jew pre- mier, who is not even an exaggeration of any historical personage, or the symbol of any historical circumstance. A tragedy on the abdication of Ames II. of England, which should exhibit William Penn as keeper of the seals, and terminate with a massacre of the Quakers' would be truth- fulness itself, compared with the introduction of this strange Hebrew episode into the chronicles of Castile. And no object is gained by the strange violation of history. The same collision might have been pro- duced by means of a dramatic tale. A very rich Hebrew gentleman, who kept his creed to himself, and lived comfortably in his villa near Seville till his secret came to light, and then miserably perished, would answer all the purpose of an imaginary Jew Richelieu, who is supposed to govern Castile with infinite wisdom about the middle of the 15th century.
The dramatist may doubtless take liberties with the lesser details of history, but he has no right to force incorrect types upon his audience. Be may for instance, make our Charles II. take a walk in the Mall on a particular day, when an alibi could be proved by a reference to Pepys, but he ought not to make him become an Archimandrite of the Greek Church. Moreover, in the particular case of Mr. J. Wooler's play, we should say that the introduction of a king of Castile rather alienated than attracted the sympathies of his transpontine audience. What does a mixed English multitude care about the political squabbles that preceded the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella ? Absolutely nothing, and though the other new drama at the Surrey Theatre, which is entitled Harold Hawk, is somewhat too repulsive in its main incident, there is no doubt that the story of a modern bush-ranger, who breaks into the house of an Australian settler and attempts to murder his wife awakens a much more lively interest, than all the tragic collisions that can take place within the supposed atmosphere of a Castilian Court.
Two farces have been produced in the course of the week. One at the Olympic, written by the Mr. J. Wooler to whom we have alluded above, shows the scrape that a gentleman gets into by playing upon a friend, the trick which the Anglo-Saxon Ethelwold practised upon King Edgar, when, sent as a wooer by proxy, he made himself principal instead of agent. The resemblance of the new plot to the old incident is not acci- dental, for the story of Elfrida is narrated in the course of the piece, and the title, a Ttoice-told Tale, indicates the author's disclaimer of any un- due pretension to novelty. The other farce, produced at the Strand, works out the theory propounded by the great moralist, Mr. Peachum, that a want of affection between a gentleman and lady may be accepted as a proof that they are married. A lovely widow quarrels so very much with her admirer, that mischief-makers and hungry relations conclude that he must be her husband, and that she has consequently forfeited the Property bequeathed to her in her husband's will. Their suspicions are correct, and the battle fought between those who wish to discover, and those who wish to conceal, is extremely amusing. The title of this little Piece, which emanates from the pen of Mr. Selby, is My Aunt 's Husband. The Princess's will open tonight (Saturday) for Mr. C. Hean's fare- well season, with the Merchant of Venice, the grand "revival" of the summer, and in about a fortnight, King John, with appropriate decora- tions, will be exhibited to the London audience.
PARISIAN THEATRICALS.
At the Vaudeville, a new five-act comedy by M. Jaime-fils has been Produced, with the title _Les Mariages Dangereux. The moral object of the author M to show the unhappiness that arises from the marriage of a vrorn-out rake, :with a lovely specimen of female innocence, and, as the Piece is a failure, we need not descend into more minute particulars.
On Monday last, a fresh version of Faust, by M. Dennery, was brought out at the Port Saint Martin. Goethe's poem forms, indeed, the founda- tion of the piece ; but new personages and incidents have been liberally 1114Th:bleed, chiefly, it would seem, with the view of effecting a grand oPeetacle.
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