MISS MITFORD'S TRAGEDY.
Miss Marino's tragedy of Charles the First, which the pious Li- censer refused to sanction on the score of the profanity of Crom- well's canting speeches, has, after being in abeyance for five years, found a coat of appeal from this sapient decision, at the Victoria Theatre ; and the verdict of public opinion has been pronounced in its favour. Miss MITFORD has dramatized the closing scenes of the life of CiisaiEs in a simple, straightforward, and effective manner, without the introduction of any fictitious characters, and with as few and slight departures from received history as need be. These consist principally in making theQueen present at the trial of her husband, and imploring the meicy of Cromwell in the last ex- tremity. This is very excusable; for the Queen only does what she might have done had she been in the country at the time of these events; and as the tragedy wanted a heroine, who so fit an actor as the wife of the King ? The drama opens at the time of the King's imprisonment at Carisbrook ; and proceeds through the scenes of his interview with the Commissioners there, his arrival in London, his trial, and his parting with his family (in which STOTHARD'S picture is embodied as a tableau vivant), to his execu- tion. These are alternated with other scenes, iu which the means by which Cromwell accomplished his ends, and the manner in which he swayed his friends, gaining over the timid and pre- venting the opposition of the bold and powerful, are skilfully dis- played.
The characters of Charles and Cromwell are spirited copies of HUME'S party version. Though this is far from the truth, we will not quarrel with the fair authoress: at this time she could hardly have done otherwise. HusiE's view is the popular one; and it appeals to the sympathies most strongly. The historian's vindica- tion of Cromwell's character, must precede the poet's a far longer time than has yet elapsed. Charles appears only as the amiable, injured monarch, who dies in defence of his crown and lawful pre- rogative, and the rights of his successors. Cromwell is the bold, subtle, and relentless hypocrite, whose sole passion is ambition, seeking supreme power, anti accomplishing his aim n by flattery, bribes, threats, and simulation. Henrietta Maria appears in a beautiful light, as the heroic queen and the devoted wife. These characters are forcibly developed by the means of the incidents and dialogue of the drama. The writing is good; vigorous for a fe- male pen, with only a slight redundancy of phrase, and a sparing use of rhetorical aids. Without pretension to high imagina- tive power and profound insight into human nature, it is far above the level of commonplace. The various little current anecdotes are skilfully turned to account, and throw an air of reality over the scene,—such, for example, as the incident of the crown-top of the King's staff falling off and rolling at Cromwell's feet ; which told well. The execution SCOW iS managed with a proper delicacy, so as to avoid shocking the sense, while the effect on the feelings. is equally impressive. The interior of the Banqueting-house is shown, with the steps, covered with black, leading up to the win- dow through which the King passes to the scaffold without ; the fatal block and the executioner with the axe being dimly visible. When the King reaches the scaffold, the casement is closed; and soon a knell from the Abbey proclaims that all is over.
Almon looks the King admirably : he resembled the original of VANDYKE'S portrait, grown old and haggard with suffering; his hair and heard being slightly grizzled. We wish we could say that his personation was otherwise complete.
A Mr. CATHCART, of provincial reputation, essayed the difficult part of Cromwell, with a degree of ability that surprised and inter- ested us. It was, indeed, a very unequal performance, hut with many good ,..points about it. Ile is an intelligent though by no means an accomplished actor. His eye was expressive, though his gesture was not ; and he was quiet, and always intent on the busi- ness of the scene. He has taken KEAN as his model ; but the Imitation is not offensively palpable; and he has adopted more of the good than the bad characteristics of that actor's style. He gave the familiar colloquy of the dialogue, the brief, decisive replies of the man of action, with good effect he assumed the fanatical look and manner without overdoing it; and a slight nasal twang in his
voice, whether natural or affected, was quite in ke-ring. His best efforts were in those scenes where he had most to do,—as in the trial scene; that where he induces the Commissioners to sign the death-warrant; and the last. In this he depicted the restless anxiety and apprehensiveness of Cromwell before the fatal bell tolls, and the grim fiend-like smile of exultation, with truth and feeling : his hurried manner here contrasts remarkably with his cool, detertnined self-possession in the earlier scenes. Unluckily his physiognomy resembles that of the real Charles more than Cromwell's.
Mrs. FISHER, though inadequate to the part of the Queen, did her best. It is a character that only ELLEN TREE Could do justice to. For the rest, the most we can say is, that they did not so greatly interfere with the effect of the drama, because we had never seen their parts otherwise tilled.
The costumes are correct and picturesque. The scenery, by
misvsan, especially an interior of the King's apartment in Sir' Thomas Wootton's house, is good; and the trial scene is very well represented,—though, after the usual custom of on stage, there is but a scanty show of spectators. Mr. SERLE volunteered a pro- logue ; which he spoke with great fervency. The tragedy was extremely well received, anti bids fair to be popular. The applause would have been unanimous, but for the hissing of some silly person in the pit. The improper intrusion of a policeman, to dislodge the dissentient, caused great uproar ; but ABBOTT dexterously averted the storm, and the individual had the satisfaction of giving a final hiss at the conclusion. We are in- clined to think that it was a political opposition : indeed, we fan- cied we discerned the feeling of partisanship in the reiterated ap- plauses which particular passages met with that bore in favour of either Charles or Cromwell.
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