We must protest against the very indifferent non-operatic dramas which
are brought out at the Princess's. The manager produces his operas with a great deal of spirit, and has a good company for that purpose. His pan- tomimes and spectacles are well put upon the stage; and the pencil of Mr. Beverley enables him in point of scenery to compete with any manager In London. But of late, that is since the departure of Mr. and Mrs.Mathewe the department of farce and melodrama has been meagre in the extreme. Indeed, it would be far better to make the theatre an operahouse alto- gether, with ballet and spectacle, than to produce such unmeaning plati- tudes as are now allowed to intrude themselves into the presence of the London public. We cannot conceive any living soul being entertained with such vapid stuff as a two-act piece called The King of the Brigands, produced this week. A common cut-and-thrust melodrama of the old school, like that of Roby Rattler, brought out (likewise this week) at the Surrey, is a far better thing; for there, though the jokes are all old and the situations all hackneyed, there is at least the physical excitement of red fire and broad-sword. But the King of the Brigands is a dreary blank.
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