DEBUT OF THE ELEPHANT AT THE ADELPI-H.
A NEW melodrama, called the Elephant of Siam and the Fire Fiend, was produced at the Adelphi on Thursday ; the principal characters of which were personated by the young female who gives name to the piece and our old friend 0. SMITH. We do not know whether the play, like the actress, be of foreign growth ; but, from the marvellous stu- pidity of the dialogue, we incline to believe that it is genuine English. The story, so far as it is made out, consists of a struggle—in which, as usual, all the might is on the one side and all the right on the other— between a certain Zorasstin, as the Adelphi folks call him, an usurper, and one Almansor, the true prince of Siam. The usurper has recourse to the assistance of the Fire Fiend ; which is granted on the usual terms, that either the petitioner or some one in his stead shall be sacrificed to the fiend at the termination of the contract. Zorassiin having engaged "metaphysical aid" on his behalf, Almansor has re- course to aidbphysical ; and the remainder of the two acts is dedicated in consequenceto an unnatural contest between the "Devil and the Flesh" —the Fire Fiend and the Elephant. The issue of such a combat of wits as Satan and a female, may be easily foreseen : the usurper is de- feated in all his plans, and at last fried a la Fri eschutz, as he deserves ; Almansor recovers his crown and his mistress, by the interposition of his mighty friend ; and all three are as happy a.s the day is long. There is an under plot of high farce to accompany the upper plot of high tragedy, in which JOHN REEVE performs the part of a traveller for the Zoological Society ; in which capacity he is introduced to our notice searching for minerals amid the rocks of Siam dressed in a coat and spencer. The part is preeminently bad, and was acted indifferently well, or rather more indifferently than well. The wife of the zoolo- gist gatherer of stones is more amusing. She also, by accident, finds herself in Siam, where she fills the situation of lady's maid to the princess. They call her Zillah. The Siamese bring their names from afar. That exceedingly clever woman Mrs. FITZWILLIAMS played Zillah, and sung a song about flirtation, with a running accompani- ment of monopolylogue, almost as well as MATHEWS himself would have done. The piece altogether has a plentiful sprinkling of puns, a few tolerable, a few bad, but the majority of that kind which CHES- TERFIELD calls the caput mortuttnt of common sense—neither good nor bad. Among these were several highly indecent, which, in defe- rence to the foreign actress, might as well be struck out, lest she carry back .a bad report of our moral population. We come now to the real attraction of the Fire Fiend—the beastly part we mean. The Elephant is really—we are guiltless of the atro- city of a pun which has been hackneyed most scandalously for the last eight days—a great curiosity. Elephants have been tried on the stage before. One of the two belonging to Mr. Caoss, it will be recollected, figured at ASTLEY'S some time ago. He was "a wild young youth," like Billy Taylor, and too little conversant with the gentilities indis- pensable on the Surrey side, to be tolerated by the fashionables there. The present debutante is not only of the gentle sex, but all her claims are gentle. Her stature is, we should suppose, about nine feet and perhaps a few inches more. Some of our contemporaries talk of twelve feet bid the loftiest males even in India seldom attain to ten feet, i The colour of the animal, it may be supposed, is the ordinary one, blackish brown—not that very rare and much-prized cream or rather dun colour that characterizes the Royal Elephant of Siam. The tricks performed were—the delivery of bouquets to the princess and her attendants ; the carrying of a letter from the princess to the prince; the shutting of the tomb or his father on the conspirators against the latter ; his deliverance from a box in which he is enclosed for assassi- nation; his extrication from prison ; and several others, too tedious to mention, as the:catalogues say. In what is called the Elephantine Ban- quet, the enormous creature couches on its hams, and lunches on biscuit and wine, with equal grace and dexterity ; draws the cork of the bottle, and drains it down its "throat's tremendous gutter," in a fashion which to be understood must be seen. Her mightiness having lunched, dances a minuet. The picture which the" hill of flesh" ex- hibits moving slowly round like a seventy-four swinging to the tide, while the members of the cops de ballet are skimming about it like so many light and gilded wherries, is extremely striking. The last part of the Elephant's acting is the best. When the curtain dropped, the audience were most uproariously applausive, and the clapping of hands was continued, with a perseverance that none but John Bull in good humour can maintain. We confess we were much inclined to laugh at what we deemed the simpletons, around, above, and below us, who would have the Elephant forward to receive their thanks. They were not, however, so simple as we deemed them, for after a minute's pause the curtain drew up, and the "noble animal of India" came gravely forward to the foot-lights for that purpose—salaaming the while, and uttering the shrill whistling cry that the elephant gives forth when highly pleased. The creature was unattended in this last _instance, and the exhibition, if not rational, was extremely like it. 179-6 ouldrt to mention, that the stage has been greatly enlarged for the performance of the Fire Fiend; that the dresses and scenery are splendid in the highest conceivable degree ; that the melodrama was ushered in by a prologue, spoken by YATES, in which were a number of good punning points ; and given out for repetition "every night until further notice," by the same gentleman, amidst an applause more loud, long, and unanimous, than any we have heretofore witnessed even at the Adelphi. The house was crammed to the ceiling.
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