At Covent Garden, VESTR1S keeps public attention alive by her
spirit and alacrity in providing a variety of entertainments, each excellent of its kind, in quick succession. On Thursday, The School for Scandal was produced; on Monday, Ride a Wijii and Have a 1Vife is to be revived. with the new Leon; and on Wednesday we are promised a rehearing Of ARNE'S opera of Artaxerxes, with the new Mantlane. The " Olympic
Nights" also are popular ; and favourite harlettas tell as afterpieces, stead of the rich, broad farces that we have so losig missed at the glY11' houses.
The School for Scandal, regarded as a test of the cai.aliiiities of the - company and the resources of the new management of cut Garden in the representation of modern " genteel celeeasa" deserves coaal and similar praise to that awardea to the tragic ae:eginauces under MACREADY'S direction. The dresses and eppoietments of the stage are in correct and elegaut taste theoeabeut, fool% the plume- trimmed gown of Lady Teazle to the laced liveeies of Trip the Lady. s Magazine for 1770, the date of the costume, no doulst furnishes examples of most of the fitshioos The assemItly at Lady Sneerwell's and the dinner-party iit (II:tries Surface's arc dazzling realities, and bring back the scenes of Miss BURNEY'S novels. The dresses of the men are ugly enough, with latle ealeedour to adorn
diens ; but those of the ladies, for all the eau:Ill:ever ea.; oith the long
thick-powdered curl dangling behind like a huge alateil, ere sui erb, anl
even graceful : the broad hips set off the sle.eler waist, iu its
turn gives fulness to the bosom ; and the wide-rwing train of silk or
chintz, showing the satin petticoat in frent, the vetele structure of millinery crowned by a "pink porringer " f ribend, or a little bat and feathers set jauntingly on one side, prove that otlr grandie.othere ninst
have been as captivating as their descendants. V eegnis bore away the bell in the finish of her toilette, but all the ladies were polite de vies;
and the effect of the variegated colours, harmonized by the crimson baize that covered the stage throughout the play, was lively without being gaudy.
The acting is characterized by evenness and propriety, More than re- finement and brilliancy : there is much to please and not/lang to offend the most fastidious, while the general tone is rather above than below the pitch of public tage : moreover, it is the best thet the existing talent of the stage affords, with scarce an exception. Vagrats us holy- 7'earle exerts her powers ifn,,eimition with effect ; mind whether in toying and quarrelling with her husband, rebuking her admirer, ar ridiculing her friends, she equally shows the tact and skill of an accomplished actress: but there was too much of the experienced woman of the world in her ensemble for the young, high-spirited, yet simple-minded rural beauty, giddy with the whirl of delight in the vortex of dissipation, and who only recovers her senses when she finds herself on the eflge of a precipice. It strikes us that this character would more exactly snit Mrs. :N1SLET. Mrs. ORGER as Mrs. Candour gave utterance to sae spiteful inn:Jen:10es with the sting of a vonomed tongue, and pinata her personal t.lInsions with significant glances that pierced to the In;!rl'OVe. T11002:11 Mr,. GLOVER'S boisterous not to say vulgar breadth (redeemed, however, hy its gusto,) may be more popular, Mrs. ORGER'S chaste and expressive style is more piquante and lady-like. Lady Sneeruiell we are glad to see restored to youth and beauty ; though Mrs. 13000onam, who made her debut in this character, looked as Innocent of base purposes as any of her pre- decessors. Miss LEE iS a sufficiently interesting Maria. FARREN'S Sir Peter Teazle was on this occasion freer than usual from those offeusive manifestations of uxoriousness that delight the vulgar ; and he was also more sparing of grimace : in other respects this elabo- rate personation was deserving of its high repute. liairraav's Sir Ulcer, was bluff and hearty, but hard withal. COOPER'S Joseph Sutfilec was more smooth and subtle than ordinary ; though perhaps too staid and formal for the voluptuary when he threw aside the mask of hypocrisy, and too dull and sombre to captivate a lively, volatile girl like Lady Teazle. CHARLES MATHEWS trips lightly over the surface of Charles's character, with the gayety and easy confidence of a pretty fellow, with a neatly turned leg, a smart manner, and fine spirits; but he wants the depth and stamina necessary to embody the warm- hearted, generous, and thoughtless prodigal : as Car, Jess he would be in his clement : whereas Mr. Ferza.ge Es's fevity was somewhat ponderous. KEELEY'S .!./ves was butt an approximation to the Israelite ; and HAI:- Ltstv's 'Sir Bcojamin Backbite only deserves the negative priiise of pro- voking launitter without giving ,.ffenee. Cr,/4ti.,a is capi- tal. SM.:IV, IIS Snake, looks the and not like a burglar or pickpocket, as usea to i.e the Onggx as Trip is quite the fine-gentleman of the servants' hell.
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