THE HAPPY UNITY.
ONE of the best cast dramatic pieces we remember to have seen, is the burlctta of Monsieur Mallet at the Adelphi Theatre. Excellent as MATHEWS is in the principal character, the inferior parts are so well filled as never to be thrown into the shade, and to stand forth sali- ently, and contributing a substantive share to the humour, of the performance. The scene is laid in America, with the friendly de- sign of " poking fun" at our Transatlantic brethren,—as we de- light to call them whenever any quiz is designed; probably because the relationship thus claimed is thought to warrant the meditated liberties with our kinsfolk. Mr. BENSON HILL is perfect as a Brigadier-General Innkeeper; a man of a self-satisfied, stolid tranquillity, whose only care is to increase his store, and keep himself, his only love, at home. He is a complete abstraction of the selfish principle,—a being who makes his person his inn, and hanging out the sign of humanity, never suffers his soul to stir from the bar. His visage is excellently made up for the part; and he wears a dry barren bush of a beard, which seems to bespeak the reluctance and costiveness of his nature. Nevertheless he is not a bad citizen, but merely what we should term " confoundedly sawney." T. P. COOKE'S Uncle Ben is an Uncle Ben which en- . tirely disturbs all our preconceived, and, as we thought, accu- rately-defined ideas of Uncle Ben ; nevertheless it is a right plea- .sant character. Uncle Ben is made a good-humoured jovial Dutch- man, but so " powerful 'cute" withal as to be apt to whip bullets through men's bodies too incontinently for social convenience. He recites epigrams; - some of which are sufficiently whimsical, especi- ally one which he names, rather arbitrarily, an epitaph on his wife,—settincr forth, according to the -USual form of deploration, that the lady is gone, and . . . " to follow
I should be content; But what I know not,
Is, which way she went."
A gallant Yankee, who elopes with Uncle Ben's daughter, is a good representation of a spree son of Columbia. His straw hat, smooth face,. placid with the calm of undisturbed conceit, and that entire abandonment to self which must ever distinguish a people not yet accomplished in the refinements of politeness, are all droll characteristics, though stretched to caricature. The eager relish with which he horsewhips a nigger, guessing it " considerable sweet," is particularly good. WILKINSON'S Postman, is the least American of the group ; but it is WiLxiNsoer's, and therefore must be laughable. The stage- struck niggers quotations of SHAKSPEARE, always " with a differ- ence," destroying the text, are irresistibly ludicrous. Othello's adieu to the camp, in which " the brazen" trumpet is converted by an s into an appendage to soldiery perfectly usual but by no means becoming a general's farewell, -diverted us, we must confess, rather immoderately. But, altogether, we know not when or where we have laughed so lustily and long as at this performance; and laughing at the Adelphi, we must add, is a serious matter, for the back seats, where chance visiters commonly sit, are so cruelly narrow, that it requires the nicest respect to gravity to preserve a place on them. They are literally shallow shelves, and it is necessary to hold on, nautically. We should at any time prefer the stocks for comfort and convenience. The phrase stock-pieces is indeed probably de- rived from this circumstance, that they are performances which, by the force of their merit, cause people to remain patiently in seats compared with which the stocks were downy ottomans. We con- fess to a bitter quarrel with the seats of all theatres and public places, Drury Lane only excepted, in which there are human chairs, and philanthropic benches that would.not afford practice to one of Mr. IteciimuesoN's balancers. The Covent Garden seats are especially atrocious. The backs are, as every one knows by sore experience, made to resist any tendency to repose which the business of the stage may invite.—They lift up, too, in such a way as to be exceed- ingly handy guillotines for incautious knuckles, and fall down again with capitil'effect on knee-pans.—But to revert from this episode on benches to Monsieur Mallet, of whom personally we have said little,. because criticism is not necessary to the perception of his chums to' praise. Those who wish to see how finely pathos and drollery can be associated, and how intimate is the neighbourhood between smiles and tears, must see MATHEWS in this clueracter. It is a perform- ance in every way of a very high order of excellence.
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