The flow of merriment at the Lyceum has been dashed
by an in- fusion of domestic pathos, which the audience relished heartily ; their eyes glistening with sympathy as well as laughter. Home Again, or the Lieutenant's Daughters, is a melodrama manufactured by Mr. FITZBALL from a novel called Ben Bradshaw, or the Man Without a Head. Ben is no spectre, but a jolly fellow, headless only in the sense of having a block on his shoulders in lieu of a brain-case ; and his deficiency of head is made up for by an extra large heart, a good share of pluck, and, what is more to the purpose, a heavy purse. Lieutenant Leslie, ,being sent to gaol out of spite by a rich scoundrel, Squire Dillon, whom his daughter Alice had refused, is liberated by Ben ; who brings the Lieu- tenant "home again," and is rewarded with the hand of the other daughter, Sophy. Alice is freed from the persecutions of her odious suitor by the timely arrival of her favoured lover, Ben's brother, from India ; to whom Dillon, now ruined and repentant, gives up a contract of marriage that Alice had signed in a moment of desperation. The apparatus for "piling up the agony" is too obvious, and the money- power is omnipotent in restoring happiness : but two daughters in dis- tress, played by Mrs. KEELEY and Miss FORTESCUE, with KEELEY as Ben Bradshawe for their rescuer, are irresistible in working on the feelings ; and the laughter at Ben Bradshawe's blunders and benevo- lence compensated those who were proof against the ponderous pathetics of Mr. F. ltlaTTREws as Lieutenant Leslie and the formal villany of Mr. VINING as Squire Dillon. Mrs. KEELEY makes the merry daughter, Sophy, so natural a person, that both her crying and laughing seem genuine emotions, and excite sympathy accordingly.
The Rent-Day has been revived at the Princess's, with good effect ; WALLACE resuming his original part of Martin Haywood, Mrs. STIRLING playing the wife, Rachel, and WALTER LACY the burglar, Silver Jack, At the Adelplii, the Wreck Ashore has been revived, with Mrs. YATES and 0. SmiTn in their former characters ; and WRIGHT in Jowls REEVE'S part of Marmadake Magog. WRIGHT is also playing Cupid with his peculiar drollery.
Previous page
