ALFRED THE GREAT.
WE never witnessed so enthusiastic a reception of a play as was given to Mr. SHERIDAN KNOWLES'S Alfred the Great, at Drury Lane Theatre, on Thursday night. That the appearance of AtFanD on the stage would be warmly greeted, was to be expected; but the heartfelt enthusiasm with which the audience applied the sentiment of the drama to present circumstances, surpassed our idea of the public-spirit of English play- goers. • The play abounded with allusions to kingly virtue and national character, ,but not more than the subject warranted ; and we are not among those who think that " claptraps" have been added for the occa- sion. But if this has been the case, the bait is of so genuine and honest dkind, that it took hearts as well as hands. The moral position of WIri.i.tar the Fourth corresponds with the personal situation of ALFRED when he leads his subjects to meet and overcome their common enemy : and King WILLIAar, by his integrity of mind, firmness of pur- pose, and a just sense of his duty as the King of a free people, has in these respects proved himself an ALFRED—let the people prove them- selves Britons.
The triumphant success of Mr. KNOWLES'S play is undoubtedly owing in a great measure to the auspicious time of its production; but it would be doing injustice to his claims to overlook the fact that the patriotic sentiments, the true poetry, and the sweetness and pathos which adorned the drama, would have insured its success with an audience less cordially inclined. The story of ALFRED is slot in itself suited to stage- representation, though the two popular incidents of his disguise are dramatic in situation. The character, as given in history, is passive in its ene,rgies, and appeals to the moral feeling, rather than the passions ; it excites sympathy and admiration more than astonishment and sur- prise. It required, therefore, an underplot to support it, by adding to the incidents the conflict of will and passion, and thus to give it a due dramatic effect. To manage this, so as not to diminish the importance of the principal character, was a difficult and almost impossible task, without sacrificing the ideality of the historical personage. Mr. lissowLas has wisely preserved the latter ; and he may be pardoned, therefore, if he has eclipsed the interest of Isis principal by that of the secondary plot. The union of the two, however, is skilfully manages!, not only with sufficient probability, but with an added glory to the cha- racter of ALFRED.
Ina, the daughter of Guthrum the Danish King, falls in love with Oswith, who, with Edric, had been taken prisoner by the Danes. She • saves the life and obtains the liberty of Oswith ; whose refusal to follow the example of his fellow-prisoner by going over to the Danes, subjects him to Guthrum's vengeance. Edric, in the mean time, obtains from Guthman the promise of his daughter's hand ; and, coming to claim her, breaks in upon the mutual declaration of love between her and Oswith. They are about to fight, when the King enters, accompa- nied by Alfred in the disguise of a bard. The lovers avow their pas- sion ; and Guthrum, at the suggestion of Alfred, agrees to the rivals de- - ciding their claims to his daughter's hand by single combat, in which he shall be deemed the conqueror who first disarms his adversary without shedding his blood. Oswith is the victor, and receives /nu as his bride. Alfred is then about to take his leave ; but Guthrum commands him to stay and celebrate the nuptial feast. During the banquet, the wife of Alfred enters ; and is discovered to be the Queen, by her recognition of her child, a prisoner in the Danish camp. She also recognizes her hus. band, but averts the danger of the discovery by her presence of mind. Her agitation is observed by the disappointed traitor Edric; whose suspicions, that the minstrel's garb is only assumed, are increased by the recognitions exchanged between Oswith and Alfred, to whom the 'latter had secretly discovered himself. The disguised Monarch is about to depart from the camp for the avowed purpose of seeking Alfred, to bring him to Guthrum. His wife, being permitted to speak with him apart, betrays her agitation 0 the suspicious Edric, who, as Alfred is leaving the tent, stops him and asks to see his face. As Edric knows him, all appears to be lost ; but Alfred darts such a look of reproof at the traitor, as disconcerts him ; and it is not till Alfred has had time to escape, that he finds courage to betray his sovereign. Oswith is over taken and condemned to die, by Guthrum ; who, enraged at the disco- very, will not suffer his daughter to wed him. Ina sinks into a state of insensibility ; and Alfred and his troops having been victorious, enter just in time to save Oswith from being immolated at the shrine of Odin. Alfred is generous to his vanquished enemy ; and rewards the valour of his own followers by instituting "Trial by Jury," and the curtain falls.
The scene in which Alfred first appears in the neat-herd's cottage, with the incident of the burnt cakes, was well managed ; and his soliloquy was beautiful. Macaasay performed the character with skill and energy ; particularly the assumed one of the bard—he looked the inspired philosopher well. Miss Pissi.s,teati had a simple, touching, and truly natural character, in Ina; which she sustained with extreme delicacy : her scene, when under the influence of a stupor of grief, was one of the most perfect representations of rapt senses, and of feelings trammelled up into torpor and bewildered by a despairing sorrow, that we ever beheld. COOPER, as Getthrunz, the Danish King, played the character extremely well. WALLaca should have taken the part of Oswith, filled by his brother ; and, if it is true, as we heard it said,
that he refused it, we are sorry for his taste. •
The audience, though so loyally alive to the patriotic parts of the play, were not less sensible to the poetry, even where it did not bear upon political feeling; and warmly applauded the most strikingly beau- tiful passages with which it abounded. The generous and delicate sen- timents which Mr. KNOWLES infuses into his dramas are no less true and manly that they glow with pure feeling. There is nothing effemi- nate or merely ornate, either in his ideas or his mode of expressing them ; though there may be some of the sentiment too domestic in its object, and of too tender a quality, to be effective on the stage. 1st paying their tribute of applause to the author, the public will not for- get that it is to him we owe Virginias, Caius Gracchns, • and William Tell, as well as Alfred. The author of these dramas deserves well of his country. We have been somewhat political in our account of this play, but the subject and the times will excuse us. In the days of ALFRED, it behoved every friend of Isis country to throw his sword into the scale : in these days, we throw the pen—a light weight—a feeble force, perhaps ; but the pen has done more and greater wonders than the sword ; and it has a talismanic power, also, which the sword does not possess—ghat, when it advocates truth and justice, it is a hundred times more efficient. The sword may be wielded by brute force, by savage strength, by a hires ling arm;. but the pen depends for its efficacy, not merely on the skill of him who holds it, but on the honesty of the cause it advocates. It would gladden the heart of our good King William to witness the performance of Alfred the Great, heightened as it is by the genuine expression of ardent loyalty and grateful affection in his people.
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