THE THEATRES.
WBEITEVER a comedy of the period ranging from the Restoration to the decease of Queen Anne is revived, it affords a fruitful theme for discussion. The very substratum of those plays is so decidedly immoral, that a party is sure to be found which will lament their transfer from the book-shelf to the istago; -while their abundant wit and worldly-wise reflection have a charm for a certain class of persona, that more than compensates for every other defect.
Properly to appretiate that school of drama, the magnates of which are litycherley, Congreve, Vanbrugb, and Farquhar, requires a particular sort of education. The coarse pleasantries in which these authors deal may, it is true, elicit laughter from the most untutored audience; but it is a laugh- ter that rather proceeds from a satisfaction at the gross than from a recog- nition of talent. Congreve's Love for Love, probably the most masterly specimen of continuous wit that was ever produced in any age or any country—a wit of which a Frenchman, notwithstanding his boasted esprit, never had a notion—must have a very special audience to be relished thoroughly. In fact, these plays, which held the stage when the theatre was ruled by the smart fellows of the court and the coffeehouse, do not resenresent to the modern mixed public an aliment that can be thoroughly t without some preparation. The natural man in the present day, though he may be guilty of delinquencies, is not without a moral sense; and it is requiring from him a great deal when we ask him to allow us an atmosphere of thorough profligacy, and be contented with the sport of mere talent. The coarse melodramas of the Victoria and Surrey, which are popular in the lowest sense of the word, all address themselves more or less to a strong:moral feeling. A labouring man who will not compromise, his honesty, or a female domestic who retains her virtue under the strongest temptations that wealth and power can offer, is sure to meet with ap- plause from an unsophisticated audience. Hence, the sentimental dramas of the beginning of the present century always retain a position in the re- pertoire of a country theatre, while the great names of Congreve and Far- quhar remain utterly unknown. With the Elizabethan drama it is another matter. However glaring the indecencies or immoral the intrigues in some of the lower works of the early English school, it is rarely indeed that the moral sense does not show itself in the course of the five acts. An admiration of the high, the chivalrous, the chaste, bursts forth, as it were, from amid a mass of profli- gacy, and shows that the dramatist has a grand ethical standard, though he does not always remain true to it. There could scarcely be a play more gross or indecorous than Fletcher's Elder Brother; but the character of Charles steps forth in all the nobility of virtue and of learning, evidently to be admired by his audience.
In the plays of. the Congreve and Vanbrugh period, worldly wisdom is everything, morality is nothing. A certain number of people want to in- dulge their own selfish propensities; and any human being who stands in the way is to be pushed out of it, by any means whatsoever. The cha- racters do not differ from each other by being more or less good, but by being more or less clever; and the whole affair is a trial of skill between a number of unfeeling individuals, the sharpest of whom gains the day. The eldest son of a rich family makes no scruple of his wish to see his father under-ground, certain that the same amount of kindly feeling will be dis- played towards himself by his younger brother. If any of the party has a handsome wife, she is considered a sort of fera natures, in the pursuit of whom all his acquaintances may exercise their talents and exhibit their personal attractions. In a word, everybody means to do precisely as he likes; and if his humour jostles against that of his neighbour, so much the worse for the latter. When a moral character does find himself in the midst of this goodly company, he is really a miserable fellow. The mo- rality which showed itself in the writings of the elder dramatists was, as we have said, the noble spontaneous assertion of a standard higher than the prevailing fashion; but the morality uttered by one of Vanbrugh's cha- racters is a dull soulless affair, executed without the slightest enthusiasm, and with labour, as if the author were obliged to write something " good" now and then, as a penance for the sins of the other part of the pro- duction.
This reign of mere intellect, while it had this disadvantage in shutting out the moral sense, was not without its advantage in the cultivation of brilliant dialogue. When no one could trust to his virtue, but every one relied upon his cleverness, a world of witty fellows was sure to be generated. The characters had to show their knowledge of the world, and to give smart "hits" at each other; their talent was their very life and soul. Hence the great delight which their plays give to men of the world who are tolerably well read, and of no very scrupulous morality. Congreve and his contemporaries amuse with happy repartees, and furnish a stock of selfish aphorisms that afford the same malicious pleasure as the first pe- rusal of Rochefoucauldt.
The Relapse of Sir John Vanbrugh is by no means one of the best plays of its class, or of its author. It has not the continued vivacity of The City Wives' Confederacy, nor the masterly delineation of character which dis- tinguishes The Provoked Wife; while it is at heart as immoral as the former of those productions. But its recent representation on the Olympic stage shows it to be a very good acting play: the dialogue improves when pointedly delivered; and the scenes which occur at the residence of Sir Tunbelly Clumsy abound in strong palpable situations. It was originally written as a continuation to Cibber's Love's Last Shift; the vicious hus- band, Loveless, who was reformed in that piece, being made to "relapse " in the sequel. When first produced, the audience were amused to find their old acquaintance in new situations; but the piece is quite intelligible without its predecessor, and the audience may laugh at the fopperies of Lord Foppington, wonder at the precocities of Miss Hoyden, and applaud the good things of Berinthia, without knowing the peer in his former con- dition of Sir Novelty Fashion, or being aware of the early delinquencies of Loveless. The comedy is excellently acted by the very able company now assembled at the Olympic Theatre; with almost the sole exception of Mr. Bolton, the lessee, whose acting is nearly as bad as his burlesque writing. As a manager, he is a model of a man; having got up the piece and dressed out his lathes and gentlemen with a costliness that reminds one of the Vestsis days of the Olympic.
The "reception," on the first night of this revival, showed love of mirth trimimhant over moral fastidiousness; for the audience were amused in the highest degree. By the way, the manager has shown his tact in reviving the old practice of closing the comedy with a dance by all the characters. Madame Vestris resuscitated the custom when Covent Garden was under her management; and we never saw a dance of the sort go off without the noisiest testimonies of gratification. With regard to the delight at the piece itself, it must be remarked that Vanbrngh is much more palpable and less subtile than Congreve. There is " fun " for those who cannot appretiate wit.
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