Jack Shepp«rd, which is the attraction of half-a-dozen different minor
theatres, has been got up at the Adelphi in the effective style for which this camera !tickle of stage pictures is famous. BocasroNE, the fitter of the story, has employed paste and scissors to piece out a suc- cession of scenes from Mr. AINSWORTH'S novel, which have been ar- ranged by YATES from the etchings of GEORGE CRUIKSHANK, under the direction of the author and artist ; whose sanction and assistance, however, are also claimed by the managers of Sadler's Wells and the sums The pictures are embodied after the usual absurd fashion of stage tableaux, 'where all the persons stand like petrifactions, instead of realizing the painter's intention by the addition of movement and speech. But the audience are so pleased at recognizing the groups, that the unnaturalness of the thing does not strike them.
Mrs. KEELEY personates Jack Sheppard, and not only looks the bold-timed bullet-headed boy to the life, but enters heartily into the spirit of the character. She chants the flash songs with gusto, wears Site broad-skirted coat and knee-breeches with the air of a gallant, and assumes the gayety and determination of the undaunted and dexterous
burglar. Her audacity, to be sure, lacks the villany and cunning proper to the real character ; hut the hero of the Adelphi is intended to be an object of sympathy and admiration, and the ugly features are softened down accordingly : lie is represented as the slave of circum- stances and the victim of Jonathan Wild's malignity ; and though he does draw a knife upon his fellow 'prentice, we bear nothing of his tin- dutifulness to his mother, or of his robbery of his kind-hearted master. Even the catastrophe is changed : instead of Jonathan Wild exulting
at the success of his purpose, the thief-taker is burnt in his house; and Jack, on his way- to the gallows, points triumphantly to his old enemy suffocating in the smoke and pelted by the mob, who dance round the flames as at a Guy Faux bonfire.
The scenes in the carpenter's workshop, where Jack Sheppard carves his name on the beam, are the best acted; for there is something like passion and development of diameter in the jealousy of Jack, his sullen and dogged resentment, his alacrity when kindly spoken to, and his vindictiveness. These phases of temper are cleverly depicted by Mrs.
KEELEY, though her adroit handling of the plane and hammer were
more loudly applauded. Sheppard's subsequent career of prison-break- ing gives no opportunity for delineating character ; Mrs. KEELEY has only to strut about in a laced suit and feathered hat, with a wench on each arm, and wear a disguise: the unfeminine nature of her share in this masquerade of vice and crime excited regret rather than admiration, as must always be the ease with talents misapplied. The whole per- formance, indeed, was to ourselves individually utterly distasteful—dis- gust overpowered every other sensation: but the audience relished it extremely.
The horrible scene of the murder of Sir Rowland Trenchard is real- ized with ghastly fidelity. The wretched victim of Jonathan Wild's sordid treachery is seen banging over the " well-hole ;" and while the Jew holds a torch, Wild hammers with a bludgeon the hands of the struggling man, till they loose their grasp and he drops down into the abyss. This representation of a cold-blooded murder under the most
revolting circumstances was vehemently applauded—though some hisses were heard, to the credit of a portion of the audience be it spoken. Jonwhan Wi/d was personated by Lox ; who made up fbr the ab- sence of base cunning by the coarse energy with which he depicted the brutal ferocity of this hideous monster. Benronn, as .71/seshie, with
his comical red nose, though abominably vulgar, was quite a relief; he bawled out the flash songs with full power of lungs, and the nasal drone
in which he gave the chorus their cue to "chant," was irresistible. Wii.xixsoN, as Wood the carpenter, looked the sober tradesman of the old school capitally. Y.sge.s played a trio of parts—an old sailor, the Jew turnkey, and, passing from grave to Gay, appeared as the author of the Bewar's Opera in the scene where Hoomeru and THORNHILL paint Jack Sheppard's portrait in prison.
The scenery throughout is admirable: the storm on the Thames, with the fall at old London Bridge, down which the wherries are dashed, and the city with its glimmering lights is seen through the darkness, is excellently managed ; only when the lightning shows the buildings more plainly, the lights in them should be dint instead of being more vivid. The street in the Mint is cleverly painted; though the near objects are not distinct enough. But the most beautiful is the twilight effect of a rosy sunset over the roofs of the houses in the scene where Sheppard scales the wall of Newgate: it is perfect of its kind. It is with difficulty we have controlled the feelings of loathing and Contempt that have been revived by the disagreeable task of recording tee merits of this representation, where scenes of crime, profligacy, and horror, are rendered ludicrous by low humour, and attempted to be made pathetic by maudlin senthnentalisms. The taste that can gloat over such an exhibition is surely not healthy ; and the moral in- fluence of deeds of villany unredeemed by remorse, and set off by cleverness and the melodramatic allurements of smart costumes, pretty laces, and striking situations, is of a very questionable kind. That love of strong excitement inherent in our nature, which finds gra- tification for its morbid cravings in such entertainments as these, only
requires some popular production of a more wholesome and intellectual kind to counterbalance its attraction, and consign the whole gang of robbers and cut-throats to the neglect from which they have been tempo- rarily rescued by the perverted talent and ingenuity of Mr. AINSWORTH.
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