THE THEATRES.
DRURY LANE.
A NEW comedy, and at one of the patent theatres too., was a pheno- menon we were eager to witness. We might have saved ourselves the trouble. Patrician and Parvenu is but a farce in five acts, and dull in proportion to its length. The title was certainly not promising, and the subject is passe. We had faith in the humour of the author, how- ever. POOLE'S name promised something, at least, new and striking in character and incident, and droll in dialogue. But here also we were disappointed. The characters are neither new nor true ; the incidents
are few and commonplace ; and the drollery of the dialogue is of a kind that the facetious reporters of Police cases put into the mouths of costermongers and chimneysweeps with such comic effect. In short, the " comedy " is, to adopt its own phraseology, " Brummagem ;" arid the acting—FARREN'S excepted—of correspondent quality.
The two principal characters, the specimens of " their order," are Si,' Osbaldiston de Mowbray, a baronet tracing his pedigree to the Con.. quest, and Sir Timothy Stilton, knight, a retired eheesemonger, as rich as old Sir CHARI.ES FLOWER, and more extravagantly ignorant and vulgar. The manners of the Patrician are of the silver-fork school. He is as stiff and inanimate as an automaton ; and his display of high breeding consists in not remembering plebeian names, sneering at the vulgarity of the new-made knight and his connexions on the score of his trade, and an ostentatious assumption of superiority and affectation of disgust when he comes in contact with him. Had the Patrician encountered Stilton in his shop, he could not have been more profuse 19 his ;indications of some ill odour coming " between the wind and his nobility."Moreover, the old country baronet, wearing top-boots and a pigtail, is made to affect the airs and phrase of a stage exquisite of the present day. Sir Timothy Stilton is also a caricature, and equally inconsistent, but more amusing. For a shrewd man of busi- ness and of the world—which he must be, since he aequired his wealth by trade, and managed to gild it with the honours of knighthood—he is the most stupid of simpletons. He is taken in by the shallowest pre- tensions to wealth and rank ; and, though desirous to affect the airs and state of a " man of quality," is not only more ignorant of the ways of the world than any man with half an eye need be, but unused to the ordinary observances of decent society, and the most obvious proprieties of speech. His malapropisms indeed are so studied, that FARREN must find it a difficult task to remember them. The manners of Miss Sally Sanders, Stilton's kinswoman, would make a cook-maid blush for her gentility. And where did Mr. POOLE meet with an inn- keeper of the present day who addressed every gentleman travelling with four horses as "my lord duke," at the same time interlarding his answers with a recital of the bill of fare ?
The plot turns upon the Baronet mistaking Miss Sally Sanders for his son's intended wife ; and the Knight mistaking Dick Moonshine, who is in love with Sally Sanders's three hundred a year, for the son of the Baronet.
FARREN'S personation of old Stilton is so perfect, that it almost re- conciles us to the inconsistencies of the character. He looks as if his soul lodged in his breeches-pocket. Mrs. GLOVER'S Sally Sanders is a most unconscious piece of vulgarity. Mr. WaanE, as the patrician Baronet, is far more like a steward personating his master ; and COOPER and VINING, the gentlemen of the comedy, look like a couple of shopmen. HARLEY, as Dick .dloon.shine, indulged in the sort of buffoonery common to all the characters be plays.
TIIE KING'S.
After the delay of a month beyond the period at which the Italian Opera usually commences, the King's Theatre opened on Satur- day last,—if that might be called an opening which consisted of half an opera performed without a company. M. .LaroaTe has no
doubles ; and as his prima donna was disabled by an attack of the measles, he had recourse to a Signora GALVANI; who having never
before essayed to sustain the character of Amenaide, sung such parts of it as she knew, changed others, and omitted the rest. We suppose this lady to be one of that numerous class of Italian singers who, freighted only with a few popular songs, venture on the speculation of
a voyage to England, which the ignorance and credulity of our country- men, those especially of the privileged order, usually enable them to turn to good account. One of the airs in Tancredi and one duet she knew—and what young lady in Britain does not also know?—" Tir che accendi," arid " Lasciaini, non t' ascolto." The latter was trans- planted from its place in the second act on Tuesday night, when the whole opera was announced, and substituted for " L' aura che intorna spirit," in utter contempt of dramatic propriety or common sense : but these are matters of small account. PACINI'S " nsoare e il bel con- tento" displaced the Cavatina " Come dolce all' alma mia," and so on. And this is called performing the opera of Tancredi at the King's Theatre! Signora Baimairads made her appearance, after an absence of six years, in the part of the hero. Her voice, a contralto of considerable power, has somewhat improved by cultivation ; and her manner now shows the confidence of a practised performer. During her former visit to England, she was a sort of protégé of PASTA'S, and ventured only on the performance of a subordinate class of characters. She will be a useful, though not a powerful addition, to LaroarE's corps during the present season. It is in times of scarcity like these, that CURIONI and GIUBILEI come out and pass for singers. The former sung as if he bad slept since the close of the last season, and required the combined efforts of the prompter and conductor to rouse him from his dream. The latter, fortunately, had little more to do than to strut and swagger. The Orchestra displayed its usual strength ; indeed it never mustered a larger number of first-rate performers ; Mom having succeeded to the post which poor SPAGNOLETTI so long filled. The Ballet may deserve a word, for the pathetic acting of Made- moiselle CLARA, in Nina, ou la Folic par t Amour. She depicts the alternate feelings of love, distrust, and jealousy, of
grief and despair, and the varying phases of madness, with beautiful yet painful fidelity. There needs no words to describe her sensations. Coul.on personates her lover : and his pantomime is equally eloquent and sententious.
THE LYCEUM.
The French Plays are proceeding with increased attraction. A crowded and genteel audience welcomed the return of LE.MAI:TRE on Thursday. It seemed almost impossible to infuse more life into the character of Robert ltfacaire than he had already displayed ; yet on this occasion, while the villain remained as black as ever, the rogue was animated by a double portion of the spirit of mischief. JENNY VERTPRE was charming in the part of Celina,in Le Retour de Russie. Shall we not have the gratification of seeing the powers of these accomplished artistes combined for one grand treat before the rapidly-approaching close of their respective engagements ?
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