Next, the favourable reports of Harlequin Mother Red Cap, or
Merlin and the Fairy Snowdrop, drew us to the Adelphi, in preference to Drury, which ought to have had precedence; and expectations unduly raised had perhaps some share in producing disappointment : certain it is that the fun fell far short of what was described. The tricks and allusions are plenty, but neither so pointed nor so neatly performed as to provoke hearty laughter and applause. The introduction of the exquisite author of the Sea Captain, and the apparition of his stage representative, tickled the fancy of the audience ; but the execution of the satire is slovenly. So with the " Windsor Castle scene," and the reception of the " Lamb "* (or ram rather) and the " Eagle "t—the latter to the tune of " Jim Crow "—with the repulse of the " Broom" and the " Peel :" the joke was marred by the poverty of the execution. The allusions to the Queen's marriage were not in good taste, and provoked some hisses.
The best part of this pantomime is TELBIN'S diorama of the scenery of the county Wicklow in Ireland,—a succession of beauti- ful views, admirably painted : the distant mountains and the skies are equal to the best efforts of scenic arts, but the foregrounds are weak and vacant, wanting both solidity and brightness, and the effect was lessened in consequence. TELP,SN, however, proves himself to be the best landscape-painter left to the stage now STANFIELD has taken his leave of the foot-lights.
The Harlequin, HARVEY, deserves especial mention, for the inimita- ble elegance and lightness of his movements : it is worth sitting out the pantonutne—or even standing it out, as we did—to see his dancing: his limbs are free and lissom, and his foot falls like a feather. He out- shines all the Harlequins in our memory.
The feats of the "flying devils" are more extraordinary than pleasing.
• Lord Melbourne. I Lord Monteagle.
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