At the French Play, Mademoiselle PLESSY made her farewell curtsey
to her admirers last night ; who crowded to her benefit on Wednesday, and warmly cheered their favourite on her retirement. Though by no means insensible either to the influence of the personal attractions or to the histrionic talent of this clever actress, we have been confirmed in the opinion that her modish graces and the mannerism of her style ob- scure those glimpses of nature that her performances occasionally ex- hibit. Her personation of Clemence, ou la File de l'Avocat, was the latest and most admirable of her sentimental characters, because her acting was more free from those little coquetries with the audience that interfere with the stage-illusion : yet even in the situation of a daughter, whose father—a Brutus of the bar—is urged by duty to his client to plead for the annulment of her secret marriage with the man of her choice, her agitation was so far concealed by a veil of conventional de- corum, that the depth of feminine emotion under such circumstances required to be inferred from very slight indications. The struggle of paternal fondness with the duty of the advocate was portrayed by M. LENADRE with so much truth to nature as to be really pathetic : he expressed intense agony of mind without either violence or exaggera- tion; and his acting moved the audience to tears. PLESSY is succeeded by Monsieur VERNET and Madame DOCHE, who appear together on Monday.
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