At the St. James's, an unsuccessful attempt was made to
represest the diameters and incidents of Box's entertaining story Oliver Twit. We only notice it, to condemn the piratic practice of certain °permit e dramatists, who lay violent hands on every popular fiction without scruple, and horribly maltreat their victims with remorseless barbarity. Dead heroes we must be content to see made into theatrical mummies ; but to burke poor little Oliver Twist for the purpose, was cruel. These stage-craftsmen overlook the obirious truth, that what is attractive in a narrative shape, may, when description is exchanged for stage personation, be ineffective and even repulsive. In this case, the great merit of Box's writing, verisimilitude, militated against the sue. cess of the attempt : for the ordinary aspect and occurrences of life are least suited to dramatic purposes. The principal characters were capitally dressed but the stage picture did not equal the desciiption.
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