The departure of M. Brindeau from the St. James's Theatre
has brought to an end the semi-serious condition of M. Talexy's company, which now performs broad farce under the chieftainship of M. Leclerc, the veteran comedian of the Varietes. The chief vocation of this ex- cellent actor is the representation of elderly gentlemen, sometimes of the sentimental, sometimes of the unequivocally comic species. In a little dramatic piece called Dear Anges Gardiens, he is one of those pets of the French stage, a retired militaire, skilled in the science of carte and tierce' but tender at heart as Mr. T. P. Cooke in a nautical melodrama. As the old citizen, who in spite of good advice will let his lodgings, and writes up "Furnished Apartments," (the title of the piece) as a bait for Britons, he is the incarnation of vulgar pomp and conceit,—a man irre- vocably bound to his own whim, and forced to follow it, whithersoever it may lead. If we were to say that his line was that of Mr. Farren, when not employed in high comedy:, we should not be very inaccurate.
An attempt to produce a a very indelicate and very uninteresting pic- ture of loose French life, entitled Paris gui don, has failed utterly, and M. Talexy has showed his good sense by withdrawing it, as soon as the feeling of the English public was ascertained. The Merry Wives of Windsor, cast in a manner most creditable for the present day, has been revived at the Princess's. Mr. Phelps, of course, represents Sir John Falstaff which is one of his most highly elaborated characters.
Tonight Miss Amy Sedgwick will take her benefit at the Haymarket, when a new comedy by Mr. E. Falconer will be produced. This per- formance will terminate her engagement, and on Monday next, Mr. and Mrs. C. Mathews will reappear in Mr. Tom Taylor's Overland Route. A new drama, in four acts, will be brought out at the Adelphi on Monday.
The pieces selected for Mr. F. Robson's benefit at the Olympic on Tuesday next are Slay/ock and The Porter's Snot.
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