25 NOVEMBER 1848, Page 11

TMEA.TRES AND MUSIC.

Dramatic novelties have been -somewhat numerous this week; in feet, more numerous than important. At the Haymarket, the novelty—The Ifrught of Arva—is a drama in two acts. Were it-not called-in the bills an " original " prodnetion,we should have set it downwithout inquiry as an adaptation from the French. It is exactly like those pieces the scene of which is laid in the time of the Spanish Kings Charles the Second or Philip the Fifth; and which have for their hero a Gascon chevalier, with a good sword, who makes his way amid statelier and more wily person- ages. The fact that the hero ofthe-new piece is an Irishman, would have confirmed our view; since in adaptations from-the French to the -English, the transformation of a Gascon into-an Irishman is the natural proceeding. As, however, we are told that The Knight of Area is the original-creation of Mr. Bourcicault, we accept the fact; and express an opinion thatttite-piece is an ingenious production according to an approved Galilean planovritten with smartness, but not remarkably strong. The nominal period -is that of our Henry the Seventh; and a certain Catalan Princess, played by Miss Reynolds, is the centre of attraction round which the rest of the dramatis personte are congregated. Diplomatists from different courts try to gain her hand, each for his own sovereign; but the handsome Irishman—mis- taken for a -secret envoy of King Henry, but in reality representing nothing but himself—.carries off the prize from amid the contending parties. This adventurer, whose character is marked by an easy impudence, and a devo-

tional attachment to his sword " Tippitiwitchet," makes an effective cha- racter for Hudson; and the piece is very well put upon the stage.