The amateur performance °file Hunchback which took place on Tues-
day at the St. James's Theatre, for the benefit of the distressed Irish and Scotch, and in which Mrs. Butler also played, was far superior to the professional performance at the Princess's; if we except Mrs. Stirling, whose Helen must stand higher than that of Miss Jane Mordaunt, though the performance of the latter is not without merit. The amateur Sir Thomas Clifford had at any rate graceful bearing, and a feeling for the character; the amateur Modica did not make the pedant a low comedy part; the amateur Tinsel did not bear you down with stage foppishness; while the amateur Fathom adopted a country dialect, and actually gave a new colouring to the quaint servant of Sheridan Knowles. A certain want of force was the prevailing fault of the performance: and this will always exist among amateurs, from the dormitory of Westminster School to the snuggest drawingroom. But then, there was a very "picked" audience; and Lord Morpeth had written a prologue, which was spoken by Mr. Vandenhoff; and Lady Dufferin had written a better epilogue, which was far better spoken by Mrs. Butler; and the Queen and Prince Albert were present; and thus a certain extrinsic gayety was given to the whole affair.
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