NEW FARCE AT THE LYCEUM.
Tnz new farce at the Lyceum is very amusing, and we prefer it. decidedly to the comedy which it succeeds. It is called The Fetches, or the Onconvaniences of a Single Lif e; but is very little more in plot than an opportunity for seeing Mr.Edmund Falconer and Miss Lydia Thompson sustain very cleverly (in the characters of Tim O'Reilly and Mary Brady) the parts of an Irish peasant and an Irish pea- sant-girl. The other actors are mere dummies; but these are quite equal-to the task of entertaining the audience alone. The incident of the piece is remarkable for simplicity. An old gentleman, who has bought a Tipperary estate, refuses his daughter to her lover on. the ground of his poverty. The Irish maid suggests an expedient. She proposes that her lover shall sham housebreaker, overpower and bind the old gentleman, with a pretended view to robbing him, that the young lady's lover shall come to the rescue and WM the consent of the grateful miser to his suit. The attempt is to be made on the occasion of a neighbouring fair, which draws off the servants from the house, and is made the scene of a very spirited jig from Miss Lydia Thompson. Fortune favours the plan, by sending two real housebreakers at the same time to the same work. The false housebreaker and the true are all dressed up in the same disguise of "Peepo'-day" boys. This circumstance frightens the former out of his wits, under the impression he has seen his own fetch double ; and many excellent, if tune-honoured, Irish bulls are made on this mournful occasion by the alarmed 7m. On discovering his mistake he unites forces with the gentleman-lover to overpower and put to flight the real housebreakers, and the natural result follows. Mr. Edmund Falconer acts the Richman' with genuine brogue and humour. Miss Lydia Thompson is not by any means so accom- plished in the Irish manner and tongue, but the vivid life, liveliness, and fun which she throws into ail. her parts, render it quite impos- sible to criticize accent and manner with much nicety. The point on which the second title turns—The Onconvaniences of Single Lift— is merely a single and, very amusing scene, in which Mx is endea- vouring to mend his breeches for the fair, and Miss Mary Brady is ridiculing his efforts. The two principal characters are so well sus- tained that no one cares to observe that the fetches of Tim O'Reilly talk spoilt English rather than Irish ; and that the "pattern" is as little like an Irish fair as an English market. It is a good farce.
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