A little musical piece, called Harmony Hall, has been produced
at the ST. JAMES'S ; in which BARNETT personates another Fanatico per la Musica cleverly. The idea is not new, and it is so badly worked out that the character is strained into absurdity. BARNETT'S broken English is not Italian ; it has too much of Monsieur Jacques in it. Hg sings a mock Italian scena composed for him by his namesake, with good effect ; but his humour is somewhat grim, and has too much effort. The Miser's Daughter is played here every night. STRICKLAND'S personation of the Miser is a most powerful piece of tragi-comic acting. The mixture of the ludicrous and the pathetic, and the way in which the feelings of the father and the miser are blended, are very striking. The Miser's look of frantic despair when he finds his gold gone is appalling. STRICKLAND has some or the gusto and intenseness of MUNDEN, with a touch of the homely passion of EMERY; and his ease and naturalness make us forget the actor in the character. The effect of his fine performance is almost neutralized, however, by the false termination of the piece. A miser robbed of his daughter and his gold, by the same person, is not likely to acquiesce in the double deprivation, and be reconciled to the stealer, so easily and suddenly as they manage it here. The sympathies of an audience are as much trifled with, if not so greatly shocked, by a forced happy ending to in- curable distress, as by superfluously accumulating horrors to exaggerate the catastrophe. The denouement of a drama ought to appear to be inevitable. The Miser's Daughter is a strange mixture of literal truth of character with improbable circumstances and high-flown mock sen- timental diction. Miss ALLISON'S acting as the Miser's daughter is extremely clever ; but the artifice of simulation is too apparent, espe- cially when contrasted with the reality and vigorous freedom of STRICKLAND'S personation. Miss STANLEY'S hearty and earnest man- ner in the servant, shows her to possess the true spirit of acting : she was neither vulgar nor affected, but characteristically natural. The Strange Gentleman is now as much at home to the audience as he seems "abroad" to himself. HARLEY'S perplexities make immense fun.
BRAIIAM has recovered from his indisposition, and appears as Tom Tug to-night, and in Artaxerxes, with Miss RAINFORTII, next week.
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