THE THEATRES.
THE stately new front of the Adelphi—which makes up in height what it wants in breadth, and atones fur its deficiency of proportion by redundancy of ornament—was scarcely completed on Monday ; and the workmen were driven away from their work by the eager crowd that rushed into the widened embouchure of the new entrance: a squeeze of half an hour's duration beyond the usual time for admission, made people feelingly sensible, that, however much the mouth had been wideiled, the swallow was as narrow as before. The winding stair- case to the boxes has a handsmne aprearance, and allows of the ex- ternal air being freely admitted upon occasion; but the approach for the visitors to the pit and boxes is not more convenient than before. The audience pert has been newly decorated, in a style similar to that of last season ; the most ornamental additions being a sumptuous eine tain and a new net-drop of elegant design, both painted be TELBIN : a licit drapery, imitative of dark green velvet, also adorns the proscenium, serving at once to veil the " wings" and to frame the scenic tableaux.
The sanguinary melodrama of Robespierre, or Tam Days qt the French Kt relation, was ushered in by a stimulating and characteristic overture by lit. l'Havm, descriptive of an 6meute—the shouts of the multitude and the tolling of the tocsin being heard above the harmo- nious din of the orchestra. 3Irs. YaTEs is the heroine; and her epeear- ance was erected with reiterated applause, till the welcome :detest rye r- came her. She is thinner, and has not wholly recovered. her p'lysieal power; but her delicate aspect is suited to the character, and lies per- formance is as admirable as ever for intensity of emotion and ti its of natural feeling. She personates Honore de Ali opric the darg liter ()I' an ernier6.: to save the life of her lover, site aMcts complittece with the infamous proposals of Robespierre : whose fall saves her honour aild her lover's life. This story serves to connect a series of animated scenes representing the horrors of the Revolution, that convey some idea of that mixture of the ludicrous; and t he terrible charect mist le of those ghastly saturnalia of popular licence and mob-madness. The nintley group of sans-culottes mid soldiers, poissurilea and citizens, ilanelug round the tree of Liberty, singing the Cartnagnole—the reyoluthmary ball, where the Roman toga, Grecian coiffere, and newest fopperies of the Muscadins are mingled in the medley of costumes—the victims of the Revolutionary tribunal awaiti)mg their doom—and the stem:sale in the hall of the Convention, where Robespierre stands at bay, and at last sinks under the yells of execration—the two last tebleattx embe)lied from paintings by lion act: VERN ET mid Render—are the principal fea- tures of the spectacle. The catastrophe is a necessary deviation from his- torical fact ; Robespierre being shot in an 6meute, instead of attempting Ins own life, and finishing it at the guillotine. This and other devia- tions front history are allowable; but the want of exciting interest and stirring action is a capital defect that the playgoiug public will not so readily excuse. The difficulty of working up such formidable materials into a two-act sketch will, however, be conceded to the author, Mr. BER.• NAND; whose dialogue is above the level of vulgar melodrama, and who has indicated the main features of Robespierre's character with fidelity and tact. YATES makes Robespierre a less ignoble person than he is de- scribed to have been; but he gives the idea of a base and malignant monster whose business is bloodshed, and who transacts it coolly except when his own life is threatened or he is disturbed by the reproaches of his victims. BEDrunn as Cato, a leader of the mob, WILKINSON as Gracekus, a National Guard, and WRIGHT as Heraull &e/wiles, a dandy member of the Convention, are more interesting personages than even Duneme the Jacobin journalist and lover of Honore, played by LYON.
lieneonn's manner of twanging off the burden of a song about " the lovely sex," is very significant of the character of his devotion to it ; and Wm:lees burlesque eachouca is admirable. The scenery and cos- tumes, it is almost superfluous to say, are characteristic, being taken train the pictures of Parisian artists.
On the falling. of the curtain, Robespierre jumped up, and, with the patch of blood still on his face, came forward bowing and smiling, to announce the piece for repetition: then stepping to the wing, he handed on Mrs. YarrEs ; who spoke a smart address in a pleasant conversational style, suited to the familier intercourse which exists between manager and audience in this theatrical snuggery : it was received with an ap- plause that showed how perfectly it was adapted to its purpose.
A " piece of fun " followed, called the Flip-flop Footman; in which Wiceeeo perfbrins an infinity of gymnastic drolleries and fantastic
antics, and displays his musical accomplishine»ts : his mimicry of
DUCROW riding round the ring, and burlesque of Cuenees KEAN'S gesticulations, arc capital; as also are Mr. 1%.■IGHTINliALE'S imitation of Mr. Mecneem- and other performers. Mrs. lieer.er and Mr.
H. Ilat.t, are likewise introduced ; but the vehicle, freighted with its load of fun, was somewhat clumsy, and dragged so slowly along that manager as well as audience became impatient ; and its career was cut short by YATES, in his dressing-gown, clearing the stage for the company to sing "God save the Queen." The vocalists, thus sud- denly mustered, were not quite agreed as to their parts, and the per- formate:kJ was toe ad libitmot to be strictly musical.
Yams lets got together an excellent company ; and he has secured the services of two of the most successful dramatists of the day, Messrs. Lenox-tutu and Peeee : these, with his own clever stage-management, and the popularity of the A delphi, canuot fail to make this a prosperous season—if, instead of relying too much on these resources, he regards the dramatic coherence of the piece as a whole, instead of calculating on the effect of the several scenes,
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