THE THEATRES.
In the race between the two " young legitimates," the Marylebone Theatre is decidedly getting the start. As You Lila It, at Sadler's Wells, is done very well, " considering "; but The Scornful Lady, at Marylebone, is a really magnificent specimen of stage production. The scene of the lady's room, with ornaments characteristic of the period, is represented with a truth and completeness that have not been exceeded even by Mr. Macready and Madame Vestris, at the large houses.
Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady had not been performed for upwards of a hundred years; a fact which the Marylebone management deemed worthy of being stated to the public in very large letters. An altered version, called The Capricious Lady, brought out within that period, must not be cited in opposition to this statement. On the occasion of the present revival some alteration was found necessary; and not only have the gross indecencies with which the old plays abound been rooted out, but a very ugly incident at the end—which we should not like even to de- scribe—has been rendered void of offence. Beaumont and Fletcher were sad licentious fellows, both in plot and language; and it is astonishing what decent people they become under the discipline of Mr. Serbs, who has polished them up for Marylebone. But Mr. Serie has " done his spiriting gently," and in removing the blemishes has left the main structure (with the exception of the incident aforesaid) nearly in its original form. The Scornful Lady was one of the very coarsest of the coarse dramas which bear the names of Beaumont and Fletcher, yet here we have it as harmless as possible.
This play used to be ranked exceedingly high; but we agree with the last editor, Mr. Dyce, that it has been overrated,—unless, indeed, its fame rested rather on the truthfulness with which the manners of the time were delineated, than in its completeness as a work of art; for in that case the critic of the after age must always humbly bow to contemporary judges. The caprices of a " scornful lady," who torments her lover whenever he is in her power, yet grows uneasy whenever she is likely to lose him, consti- tute the main plot; and it is not impossible that there is a line of commu- nication between this fanciful beauty and the heroine of Lope do Vega's " Ferro del Hortelomo "—or, as we should say, " Dog in the Manger." The hero of the underplot is a younger brother of the principal character; who collects around him divers vagabonds, and thus gives ns a picture of the life of " fast men " in the days of Beaumont and Fletcher,—a life in which beer, tobacco, and vilely-scraped fiddles, are important elements. The military bully is always a favourite personage when this sort of exist- ence is portrayed; and the Bobadil of Every Man in his Humour, and the Copper Captain of Rule a Wife and Have a Wife, reappear in the shape of an anonymous " Captain " in The Scornful Lady. This personage seems to represent the scum of an unemployed army; and has totally vanished at the present day, together with the despised clergyman—here represented by Sir Roger, the Lady's chaplain—who may be insulted with impunity by menial servants, and whose humiliations were afterwards painted by Swift and Fielding. The play is exceedingly well acted at the Marylebone Theatre. The Lady is a character that requires great tact and care, as it can only be ren- dered by the exhibition of a great variety of nuances; and these are inter- preted with much intelligence by Mrs. Warner. The company in general is improved by working in common; and we may especially point out young Mr. Vining as one of the most promising light comedians of the day. Excepting Mr. Charles Mathews, we know of no one in London who could have acted so well the part of Wilford, and so comically have as- sumed the female disguise at the end.
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