THE THEATRES.

THE prolonged career of music and spectacle at Drury Lane has at last been varied by an interregnum of the tragic drama, that bids fair to be of no brief duration. The Provost of Bruges is a noble and spirit-stirring tragedy, well-constructed in the main, and written with point and elegance, if not with vigour. The interest is centered in the fortunes and fate of the hero and his immediate connexions, but these are influenced by and illustrate the condition of' the Flemings in the feudal times. The fall of Bertulphe, Provost of Bruges, the friend, champion. and councillor of Charles Earl of Flanders, by the ascendancy of his hated rival the stern and politic Thancmar, is the subject of the drama ; and the weak points in the position and cha- racter of Bertulphe, which bring about his ruin, are developed with tact and boldness. Bertulphe was born a serf, but by his prowess in the field won his way to the council, where his talents and energy gained him an influence over the Earl of Flanders, whom he placed and maintained on the throne. The secret of his birth was known but to one person, an old miserly fortune-teller whom be kept in his pay, and who, in revenge for an insult put upon him by Bertulphe in a moment of passion, betrays it to his rival Thancmar. By a recent law enacted in i3ertulphe's absence, the nobles are entitled to claim the serfs born on their estates, wherever they may be found ; and all persons, of whatever rank, who ally themselves with a serf, become serfs also. Bertulphe has a daughter—an only child, the comfort of his age, and the sole hope of his ambition to become the founder of a great name and an honourable house ; and she is just married to Bou- chard, a young noble. Her husband is accidentally led into a quarrel with Thancmar, and they exchange defiance; the Earl interposes his mediation in vain; Bouchard, urged on by Bertulphe, ssho clings to

this hope of compassing his rival's death, is resolute, and the day is fixed for the duel ; but just as the combat is about to begin, Thane- mar receives intelligence from the traitorous old miser of the secret of Bertulphe's parentage. He refuses to fight with a serf, and claims Bertulphe, his daughter, and Bouchard, as his property—for Bertulphe had been born on the estate of Thancmar, and hence his bitterness against him. Bertulphe obtains the Earl's leave to retire into banish- ment, but in the mean while the castle of Bouchard is sacked ; he is mortally wounded in an encounter with Thancmar, whom he kills ; his wife goes mad and dies ; and the wretched Bertulphe first kills the Earl and then stabs himself. to prevent his falling into the hands of • his enemies.

This is making a clean sweep of it indeed—even the old miser dies. No tragedy can boast of a more sanguinary harvest of death. This wholesale slaughter might have been necessary in SH A K SPEA RE'S time, when the taste of audiences was more obtuse, and required a feast of carnage to glut their appetite for horrors. We can dispense with such ghastly makeweights of tragic interest : they not only shock us, but shake our faith in the reality of the incidents.

Another objection to this tragedy is, that its purpose, or moral as it is called, is not distinctly evident. It is hinted at several times in the

dialogue, where the author ridicules and denounces the absurdity an i

iniquity of feudal slavery; but the character and acts of Bertulphe, the serf by birth and the noble in deeds, are not made to illustrate this so pointedly as is desirable to tell with the audience. Indeed his dying exclamation " No serf! no serf!" makes it appear as if his whole life had been but a struggle to revenge himself on the accident of his birth; he is made to be ashamed of what he ought to despise. This lessens the force of the drama by narrowing our sympathy to the fate of the hero, whom we do not greatly feel for,—instead of turning the tide of passion that flows through his heart into the broad channel of a nation's breast.

These and one or two slight defects in the structure of the plot apart, the tragedy is a fine work of dramatic art. The events arise naturally, and in quiet succession, until they completely environ the hero ; whose bad passions, however, are the sole cause of their fatal influence over his fortunes : so that, as far as Bertulphe alone is con- cerned, the action is perfect.

MACRE A DY plays Bertulphe ; and his personation is as completely in- dividual as it is possible for a stage performance to be. We need not

say it is most powerfully effective. As an instance of this individu- ality, we may mention, that in the 5rst scene, where Bertulphe vents his indignation to Bouchard at hearing of the law that has been passed, we thought MACREADY somewhat too bitter in his anger, and espe- cially in his severity of manner to the young noble : the after circum- stances prove that what appeared a defect is a nice touch of truth. To

do full justice to MACRE* 131"S performance, it would be necessary to

follow the course of every scene in which he appears ; we must be content with instancing, as triumphs of acting, the scene where his en- raged son-in-law taunts him with his base birth and treacherous alli- ance—his interview with the Earl, where he begs for a mitigation of the severity of the sentence that dooms him to be the slave of Thanc- mar—and that with his daughter in her madness. These are the most striking, because they are the most finely-wrought scenes of the drama : but in every passage the character of Bertulphe is preserved, and the

various conflicting emotions expressed with the energy and intensity of spontaneous feeling. The character is one exactly suited to MACREADY, and he has made it his own—perhaps we may add his greatest. ELLEN TREE, as Constance the daughter of Bertulphe, has little else to do but to be tender, affectionate, and anxious, until her mad-

ness; in which she gives loose to a thrilling burst of distracted

agony. COOPER acts Bouchard; and his energy and discretion, as a substitute for a fitting representative of the character, deserve

praise. What a part it might have been in the hands of

KEAN OP KEMBLE ! VA NDENHOFF had better have taken it—but COOPER is stage-manager. MEADOWS looks and acts the mi-

serly wretch Philippe admirably: the decrepitude of extreme old age is scarcely apparent enough, but it is in other respects a finished personation, with a dash of venom in it. The part of

Thancmar is just suited to WAEDE ; DIDDEAR fills the robes of the Earl grandly ; and BRIND AL playas young noble with spirit. In short, the tragedy is efficiently cast, (with the exception above mentioned,) and well got up. Its success was triumphant. COOPER spontaneously came to life in order to announce it for repetition : the subsequent re- suscitation of MACREADY to receive the applauses of the audience, was not therefore so startling an absurdity. The name of the author bas not yet been made public. After the tragedy, a new comic extravaganza in three acts—a three- act farce !—was attempted to be performed ; but the audience hooted it off the stage. Anticipating the verdict, we came away after endur- ing one act of the dulness. What wretched humbug, to tack such vapid trash to the tail of a fine drama, for the purpose of puffing about " the extraordinary attraction " of " a new tragedy and a new farce on the same night ! " Three persons called " the RAVEL Family," most extraordinary gymnasts, have been exhibiting at this theatre their proficiency in endangering their limbs with safety, to the gratification of those per- sons who like to be shocked : as our taste does not lie this way, we have spared ourselves the pain of seeing them.