THE PANTOMIMES.
WE have been assured. by an old playgoer, that he saw the famous pantomime of Mother Goose sixteen times. As we have not been favoured even with a sixteenth in such a grand prize as the goose with golden eggs, we cannot by any means take in the extent of this beatification. We, however, venture to assert, that to see one of the present pantomimes twice, would be a wonderful stretch of human endurance ; though, as there is no saying in what noise some people can sleep, we think a resolute person might sit out a second representation—provided he did not snore so loud as to wake the rest of the audience.
The two Great Houses have both seized upon Little Thumb to sup- port the ponderous weight of their pantomimic structures. We should deplore the coincidence as unlucky, but that the rival monopolies seem desperately bent on playing the same game, and running each other out of breath in the race of competition : therefore we sup- pose it is not accidental. The story, if our nursery reminiscences serve us, is correctly told in both. Gaffer Thumb, the woodman, starved into cruelty, determines to cut off his seven little Thumbs at a blow, by losing them in a wood ; but Jack, who, though the least of the Thumbs, is a cunning hand, defeats his father's pur- pose, and saves his digital brethren. We see little Jack or Hop-cl- my-Thumb scatter his bread-crumbs along the path into the wood,_ and the birds come and pick up the clue. The brothers Thumb fall into the power of the Ogre, and they are put to bed previous to being put to death ; but Jack saves them by changing nightcaps with a bedfull of Ogrets asleep in the same room. The Ogre coin- ing to the bed of the Thumbs, feels the coronets of his bantlings, and goes to the other bed, and • cuts off the heads of his progeny in mistake. He then goes to sleep ; and while dreaming of a7dish of Thumbs for his breakfast, his fancied victims escape, taking with them his seven-leagued boots. Thus far both pantomimes ; but the Little Thumb of Covent Garden appears in arms, like a miniature Achilles, and kills the Ogre in single combat. Miss POOLE'S armour and attitudes, and her war-song, seemed to realize the visions of the urchins before the curtain. She was quite Tom Thumb the Great ; and played her part with extreme cleverness. Her acting, and the greater completeness of the nursery legend, together, make the Covent Garden pantomime so far the better of the two • but in all else Drury bears away the palm. Miss MARY ANN MARSHALL, the Hop-o'-iny-Thumb at this house, is a, pocket edition of a child, and was very great in her exceeding smallness. The scenery of the introductory tale is magnificent at both houses ; and the Ogre's kitchen, with the capacions beds on each side of the fire-place, is equally faithful in each. The Harlequinade of Drury Lane is the most bustling and full of tricks.; that of Covent Garden is very meagre in this respect. Both are equally deficient in interest and connexion ; at Covent Garden there is not the show of a pantomimic chase. Among the topics in common, are PAGANINI, the Whale, and Monsieur MARTIN and the Lions; all of which are made the most of at Drury Lane. The change of the skeleton of the Whale, with the visitors in its ribs, into a 'living leviathan floating in the sea, and there disgorging them, is good. So is PAGANINI Zing the wonders of Orpheus upon a sympathetic audience. A sailing-boat changed into a balloon is very well managed; and the art of" raising the wind," exemplified by the Clown klowing a model of Buckingham Palace into ruins, is "a palpable hit." At Covent Garden they have a wag at the Unknown Tongues, and give a peep at the Cla- rence Vase; but the best bit of fun is Clown snuffing out the moon. There is a very well-managed representation of the launch of the Thunderer ; and there is graceful tight-rope dancing by HERR CLINE: a Dutch rope-dancer seems an anomaly—he ought to skate along his line. The grand scenic attraction is the Cosmorama, by Messrs. GRIEVES, of the progress of the King and Queen to the opening of New London Bridge; which is cleverly painted, and would be much more admired, did not STANFIELD s Diorama of Venice at Drury Lane so fin• outshine it in brilliancy of execution, and in the superior beauty of the scenes, as well as their romantic character. The Grand Canal, the palaces and churches, the Docrano, the Lido at sunset, the Lagunes at night, the Bridge of Sighs by moonlight, the Ducal Palace, and the Grand Square of St. Mark, float before the audience as in a waking vision, with all but the vividness of reality. Yet it is not so grand and various a subject as the Alpine scenery of last year; and the difficulty of preserv- ing the true perspective of the buildings in the shifting scenes is great : we also thought that sonic of the edifices lost a portion of their effect by being seen in so near a view that the eye could not take in the whole building at once. These objections are perhaps hypercritical, and we lose sight of them in the gorgeous truth of the sunset scene.
The Managers have fumished themselves, the one with a couple of Clowns, the other with a brace of Harlequins ; but they have only a pair of Pantaloons between them. There was more agility than grace, and more slaps and tumbles than humour or drollery, in the Harlequinade. It appeared to be very hard work for all parties ; we are sure it must have been so to the juvenile visitors, who have to sit out a play or opera which they can but imperfectly enjoy, before the Pantomime, which does not commence till past their bed-time. The Managers must make the Pantomime a first piece, on alternate nights at least, and not surfeit the little play- going folk with a long dull dinner before the appearance of the dessert, which alone is their share of the Christmas festival.
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