30 NOVEMBER 1850, Page 9

4tairto nut Vuoir.

The assumption of the character of Cassius by Mr. Macready is the first departure from his accustomed track during his present engagement at the Haymarket. That his rendering is perfectly successful, is not only a het, but might almost be demonstrated A priori by those who have not witnessed the performance. Of all the states incident to humanity, there is none which Mr. Macready more aptly depicts than one of irritability ; and in Cassius there is a finer field for the display of this peculiarity than perhaps in any other character of our drama. But with all Mr. Mac- ready's talent, he cannot make Julius Cesar popular. A scanty audience 'witnessed the noble Romans on Saturday; whereas on Thursday so great was the multitude assembled to see Sir E. B. Lytton's Richelieu that standing-room could be with difficulty obtained. The production at the Haymarket of a little satire against Communism —doubtless an adaptation of one of those many Gallic effusions that made their appearance in Paris when M. Proudhon was the favourite butt—is a -complete mistake. A London Cockney, who figures in the French capital as a "sympathizer," is healed of his Communistic propensities by the per- so-nal danger he incurs, and the inconveniences that arise from an un- controlled system of barter. The Radical Cure thus effected gives the name to the piece. Such transactions as the payment for a supper with a mahogany table, a rope of onions being taken as change, raise an occa- sional laugh ; but the piece has this fatal defect, that if it does not tell as a satire it has no telling qualities at all, and that considered as a satire it is pointed at a mark of no general interest in this country.