C44 ttotrts.
The novelties of the past week are of trifling moment. At the Olympic, there has been a melodrama, called The Last of the Fairies ; a stale make- up of those quasi-supernatural effects which five-and-twenty years ago were taken wholesale from the Waverley novels, interspersed with flashes of that kind of humour which is popular on the Surrey side of the water. The Olympic Theatre has morally crossed the Thames.
The other novelty—Matrimonial Prospectuses—is a farce, not without merit, produced at the New Strand. The idea is an extension of the mutual fraud practised by the Copper Captain and Eatifania in Beau- mont and Fletehees comedy, and by many couples since the Elizabethan days; with this difference, that the cheats are not the lovers themselves, but a brace of matchmakers who would pass them off for what they are not. The neatness of construction would lead one to surmise a French
origin ; and the dialogue, though somewhat too elaborately smart, does credit to the author, Mr. Palgrave Simpson, especially in these days, when pointless dialogue is so much in vogue. Meanwhile, theatrical prospects are extensive. Mr. Balfe's new opera is announced for this evening at Drury Lane. A five-act tragedy, on the subject of the Gowrie conspiracy, written by the Reverend J. White, is on the point of starting into light at Sadler's Wells. Then comes a farce written by Mr. Tom Taylor for the Princess's Theatre. Finally, Made- moiselle Dejazet's engagement, which has been attended with the most brilliant success, terminates this week, to be followed by the appearance of M. Frederic Lemaitre.
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