THE THEATRES.
COVENT Garden, on Thursday, was crammed to repletion with a good- natured public, willing to be pleased with any thing from the pen of the popular author of the Lady if Lyons, including a strong muster of ad- miring; friends eager t9 seize upon any telling point ; and the new play of Richelieu, or the Conspiracy, which had been publicly advertised as written by Sir EDWARD LYTTON BULWER, was welcomed with ac- clamations from the rising of the curtain to the going down of' the same—and after that too, when MACREADY announced the play for " every night till further notice," and lastly, when the author, being loudly called for, presented himself in front of the manager's box, and was greeted with a tumult of hands, hats, and handkerchiefs. If a first .night were the test of future success, the career of Richelieu would rival that of its more homely predecessor : but the triumph of the dra- matist, we fear, is already at an end ; his " vaulting ambition " to pro- duce an historical play has in this instance " o'erreached itself." He has aimed at the dignity of history by inflated speeches, " horribly stuffed with epithets of schoo/," and at the elevation of lofty sentiment by
bombastic commonplaces ; while he luxuriates in farcical incidents and
melodramatic situations. Save here and there a smart saying or a familiar truth cleverly expressed, there is nothing in the writing above mediocrity; and the originality of the imagery may be inferred from the circumstance of Richelieu chuckling at bestowing on one of the conspirators the epithet "fox," quoting PLUTARCH'S saying of LYSAN- DER about eking out a lion's skin with the fox's, and, when he is told "Orleans heads the traitors," making the novel and brilliant retort, "A very wooden head, then I" Zoological metaphors are almost as frequent as classical allusions.
Richelieu is the principal person, and the only character in the play ;
the imbecile Louis the Thirteenth is a caricature sketch, as slight as it is exaggerated ; and the rest of the numerous dramatis persomu are mere puppets of circumstance: but in order to beget a sentimental -interest to enliven the tedious and barren complication of political in- trigue, a pair of lovers are introduced, and their fate is interwoven with the main plot. These are, Julie de Mortemar, a ward of Richeliett- who cherishes a regard for her that seems purely gratuitous, and is not unmixed with contempt for her want of esprit; and the Chevalier de Mauprat, a ruined gamester, whom Richelieu had doomed to death, and at whose head a loaded carbine is actually levelled during the interview preceding the consummation of his happi- ness. To gratify Julie and to thwart his enemy Baradas, the Cardi- nal marries the young folks off-hand ; though with so little care for their security, notwithstanding he knows the King affects the girl, that immediately after their marriage the wedded couple have a minion of the court placed sentry over their actions. The bridegroom is lodged in the Bastile, and the bride lectured by Louis ; who not only declares the marriage null, but makes infamous proposals to the lady in the same breath : she repels and rebukes the royal profligate; for which the Cardinal, to whom she flies for protection, extols her as a paragon of virtue. Baradas makes De Mauprat believe that this is Richelieu's own doing ; and the silly youth joins the conspirators on the instant, and heads the band of armed men who assault the Cardinal in his castle. be Mauprat, however, enters the chamber alone ; and as he must needs make a speech before committing the murder, Richelieu has an oppor- tunity to explain ; and on Julie appearing, the doughty conspirator saves the Cardinal's life, by telling his fellows that he has strangled their vic- tim quietly, that no marks of violence may appear, and shows them the -pretended dead man lying snug in bed : the conspirators at once take his word for granted, and peaceably depart. The intrigue of Baradas, nevertheless, succeeds, and the King appoints him Minister in place of Richelieu; but the wily Cardinal so bewilders poor Louis with state business in resigning the seals, that the perplexed Monarch sinks over- whelmed with it torrent of papers, poured out of the Secretaries' port- folios ; and Baradas being as much bewildered as his royal master, Louis wishes Richelieu back again. At that moment a certain "despatch," with which a game of hunt-the-slipper has been played all through the last three acts, comes to Richeliett's hands—the said" despatch" being the plot
of "the conspiracy" ready cut and dry, and signed by all the band. The King reads it ; Baradas goes off to death ; and the Cardinal, who the moment before appeared in the last stage of decrepitude, rises like a phceuix, and Richelieu's himself again,—thanks, not to his policy, but to his good luck, which prevailed over the maladroitness both of his own agents and his foes.
For a profound and astute statesman, Richelieu is certainly a dullard in his selection of tools to work with, for each one fails him: his page, the bearer of the all-important " despatch " on which the fitte of the Cardinal and the plot of the play alike turn, has the packet taken from him, and at last gets possession of it in a very unaccountable manner, after the Capuchin Joseph has failed in recovering it ; and even the captain of the guard betrays his master, being led thereto by overhearing a paltry piece of mean- ness that Richelieu never would have been guilty of—namely, de- luding a faithful servant with a promise of promotion, never to be fulfilled. It was not by despicable arts such as these that the RICHELIEU of history cemented his power, and acquired the almost absolute control over those whom he employed: utterly regardless as he was of all that stood between him and his purpose, and crafty and un- scrupulous as were the means he adopted to accomplish his ends, he was of too noble and lofty a spirit to deceive a trusty follower. This trait of duplicity is fatal. to our Admiration of the character in the play : the patriotic sentiments the Cardinal -utters sound false and hollow, like the lip-deep professions of a selfish ambition ; nor does his boastful complacency make them seem less insincere: instead- of the com- manding genius whose fine qualities and powerful energies enabled him not. merely to gain ,complete ascendancy over the feeble and indo- lent Monarch, but to exert a sovereign sway over the destinies of •
France, and lay the foundation of that kingdom's greatness under Louis the Fourteenth, he is an infirm, querulous old man, with more cunning than wit, and more will than force. In short, it is Richelieu in his dotage, fit only to figure in an Olympic burletta: the play, indeed, is a petite comedy spun out into five acts. We laugh at such farcical mcideuts as a ghostly: confidant being requested to scourge himself as proxy for the Cardinal, but the mirth is out of place : • nor is our sympathy for a great man strengthened by the exhibition of his bodily infirmity,—as where Richelieu calls for a two-handed sword, only to show that he cannot now lift the weapon he once wielded ; thought this is followed by a claptrap about "the pen and the sword." The literary vanity of Rientaauu (with which Sir E. Bui,wsia may be supposed to have a sympathetic feeling) is not lost sight of; and the allusion to the fate of the Cardinal's play was recog- nized by the audience as applicable to the dramatist of the night. This, of course, was intended ; but it is in questionable taste.
The only attempt at originating a character, in the person of a frivolous and gormandizing courtier, is an utter failure. The lovers are nonentities, as usual; and Marion de Lorme might as well be omitted, altogether, for she has only to convey intelligence of the plot to Richelieu, and to say in return for the bag of gold aud the kiss he gives her, "What a great man !" MACREADY plays _Richelieu with consummate skill and tact, and his usual force and discrimination ; but even he produced no great effect, so devoid of dramatic interest is the character. Miss Fame'', as Julie, expresses the various emotions of the woman vividly and grace- fully ; and ANDERSON, as De Manprat, looks a gallant cavalier enough, though his vehemence degenerates into rant. WARDE plays Baradas, Evros: the King, PHELPS the Capuchin, and HOWE the Page, admirably; in a word, all the parts are competently filled ; but there is no oppor- tunity for fine acting—every thing depends on situation and incident. The costumes, scenery, and other accessories, which are new throughout, are liberal and gorgeous beyond precedent; and the courtly magnifi- cence is realized by the numerous retinues of the King and the Cardinal. The splendour extends to the meanest attendant : the common soldiers wear chased morions, and the knights-conspirators are cased in steel armour from head to foot. Regarded as a mere spectacle, all is admi- rable. No pains, taste, or expense has been spared by the manager, to do justice to the representation ; and all that he could do to contribute to the success of the play has been accomplished. The Cardinal's dress is doubtless correct, but the ermine cape over the red cloth robe gives him the appearance of a Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench : the costume of Richelieu's portrait is much more picturesque and elegant.
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