The Adelphi again throws open the wide and tempting lobby
that litres so irresistibly the passengers along the Strand. The bait of this taking trap of laughter-loving folks, for the present season, is neither French giant, Indian dancers, nor Arab leapers, but a couple of well- seasoned American comedians ; Mr. HACKETT, the Kentuckian, and Mr. RICE, of Jim Crow celebrity. Mr. HACKETT: is a robust specimen of hard, hearty, homely humour, of a genial sort ; and in his favourite character of Nimrod Wildfire, "half horse, half-alligator, with a touch of the 'arthquake, and a sprinkling of the steam-boat," he is seconded by the " Nigger " drolleries of Mr. RICE, who is never tired of " Gittin up stairs," any more titan his audience. The new piece, a four-part melodrama, called Mount St. Etrnord, or the Goldsmith if Grenoble, is as full of exciting incideno.z. such as robbery and murder, iusurrection and manslaughter, as the most voracious appe- tite for horrors can desire ; and the scenery surpasses any thing that the Adelphi stage, famed for its scenic effects, has hitherto produced. We will not attempt to thread the mazes of the plot, where crime aod misery, danger and rescue, follow each other in quick succession, inter- posed with comical scenes. To give an idea of the dreadful doings. it is sufficient to mention that Count Maurepas, the villain of the piece, steals the title-deeds of her estates from Alice, the girl he loves ; murders her guardian, the Goldsmith of Grenoble ; accuses her husband of the crime ; flings her child over an Alpine precipice, and tries to throw the mother after it; and finally, is himself precipitated down the same " horrific chasm ;" whence, though all but smashed to atoms, he crawls up again with strength enough left to make a stab at his rival, and treat the audience with a vigorous death-struggle. The child, whom all thought dead, is picked up alive and well by a dog of the Hospice of St. Bernard ; the title-deeds, that had lain in the snow for a long time, are recovered safe and sound ; and the persecuted husband of Alice is restored to his wife and property. Mr. LYON is intensely vehement as . the perpetrator of the villany 31iss ALLISON, as the heroine, tempers the expression of her agony with due discretion ; Mrs. KEELEY shows her laughing eyes, sings a ditty, and looks a perfect picture of a merry girl at a window ; and l'ArL BEDFORD trolls a drinking-song, and divides her admiration with his rival Blivi:ai.ey.
The scene representing the middle plateau of Mount St. Bernard, with an avalanche, and the One following showing another Alpine view, and Mr. I.yos hangirg by a rope over the " horrific chasm," antici- pating the horrors of :et:ing go, both painted by TELLIN, of the I Aympie, are really grand landscapes. The size of the figures destroys the scale to a critical eve but that portion of the audience whose fancies have been excited by the events. do not mind siteh niceties. Nor should the Goldsmith's house, showing the whole interior through the windows, or the Market-place, the scene of the inneute, be passed over without due praise to Mr. PITT'S architectural painting. But where art thou, 0! SMITH?
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