The Press. — London, England, 1854-10-21 00:00:00

OCTOBER 21, 1854. server of character; it is as a writer whose reputation has perished with the personalities that alone gave it zest; it is as a comedian who so exclusively addressed himself to the audience of his theatre that posterity has been obliged to decline having any business or concern with him. Yet a careful examination of Foote's . . . . writings has satisfied us that they are not unworthy of a very high place in literature . . . for it is not because real characters are there occasionally introduced that the verdict is at once to pass against him. In all these cases the question still remains whether the indi vidual folly or vice obtruding itself on the public may not so far represent a general defect as to justify public satire for the sake of the warning it more widely conveys. This may be true; but another question equally re mains as to whether "be who assumes is entitled to exert a censorship over morals and manners;" and whatever may be the advantages of personal satire for the general benefit, yet it cannot be denied that irreparable wrong is as often done to the " least offending," as a wholesome correction is administered to any prevailing vice. And it is upon this point that the verdict of posterity is recorded against Foote It was less by h:s deliberate intention as a writer than by the ready mimicry and humorous impromptu as an actor that Foote gave mortal offence to so many of his countrymen—began himself to pay the penalty in suffering before he died, and is paying the penalty still in chai acter and fame. Of his quickness of repartee, his ready wit, and his humorous resources, we have many amusing in stances offered to us in the present review Coming Coming out of the "Bedford" one night, Foote dropped a guinea from his purse : impatient at not finding it, he exclaimed, " Where on earth can it have gone to?" " Gone to the devil, I think," rejoined Garrick, who bad OFO sought for it everywhere. " Well said, David," cried Foote; " let you alone for making a guinea go farther than any one else." To put him out was not possible : He was talking away one evening at the dinner-tahle of a man of rank, wheu, at the point of one of his best stories, one of the party interrupted him suddenly with an air of most considerate apology, " I beg your pardon, Mr. Foote, hut your handkerchief is half out of your pocket." " Thank you, sir," said Foote, replacing it ; "you know the company better than I do," and finished his joke. At one of Macklin's absurd lectures on the ancients, the lec turer was solemnly composing himself to begin when a buz of laughter from where Foote stood ran through the room, and Macklin, thinking to throw the laugher off his guard, and effectually for that night disarm his ridicule, turned to him with this question. in his most severe and pompous manner—" Well, sir, you seem to be very merry there, but do you know what I am going to say now ?" " No, sir," at once replied Foote ; "pray do you r' One night at his friend Delayers, when the glass had been cir culating freely, one of the party would suddenly have fixed a quarrel upon him for his indulgence of personal satire. "Why, what would you have?" exclaimed Foote, good humouredly putting it aside ; "of course I take all my friends off, but I use them no worse than myself, take myself off." " G adso !" cried the malcontent, " that I should like to see," upon which Foote took up his hat and left the room. The review comprises a good sketch of the leading incidents of Foote's life, and an able defence of his wit and works. This clever essay may probably be referred to the pen of the present accomplished editor. The other articles are upon the history and office of church bells ; a short paper on " Law Amend ment," expressing great dissatisfaction at the manner in which the House of Commons transacts its busi ness •, and a review of Mr. Rogers's " Eclipse of Faith " and his " Defence," in which justice is done to the merits of those original and eloquent works. Fern Leaves from Fanny's Portfolio. London: _ _ . Ward and Lock. A CHEAP and compact edition of these light and lively sketches, comprising both series in one volume. Fanny Fern will find many admirers among her own sex. BOOKS RECEIVED. Palgrare's Poems. L V Parker and Son. A Plea fur Urania; or, a Sketch of Celestial Philosophy. Piper and Co. Chapman and Hall. The Falcon Family. PAIIIPHT.ETS. The Book of the War. P. B. St. John. Ward and Lock. Dates in Revelations. E. Eyton. Seeleys. Sand and Shells. J. Hannay. Routledge. ONE of the pleasantest of evening entertainments in London is that given by Mr. Charles Cotton at the Philharmonic Rooms, Newman street, Oxford-street. Having fitted up the room like the quarterdeck of a man-of war, Mr. Cotton takes his stand by the cap stan, and accompanies a moving panorama of the various events of Nelson's life, with a series of sea songs and anecdotes, sentimental and amusing. The panoramic views are well painted, the songs admi rably well sung, the anecdotes well told, and the sub• ject peculiarly suitable at the present moment. The room is nightly crowded, and we have no doubt that Mr. Cotton will meet with the success that his enter tuning talent deserves. THE PRESS. Ott prama. PRINCESS'S THEATRE. MR. CHARLES KEAN made his first appearance this season on Wednesday evening in The Courier of Lyons. His peculiar delineation of the characteristics of two opposite men, his complete change of voice and expression, and perfect transition of identity, were faithfully exhibited in the characters of Dubose and Lesurges on Wednesday evening. This drama has lost nothing in the interest attached to it, and will yet bear many repetitions. The house was crowded, and Mr. Kean was enthusiastically received. The Courier of Lyons has been repeated ou alternate nights with The Heart of Gold. ADELPHI. ON Monday evening Mr. Morris Barnett took his farewell benefit previous to his departure for America. The performances consisted of Monsieur Jacques and the short drama of The Old Guard. The house was crowded, and Mr. Barnett was very warmly received, and loudly applauded upon the conclusion of his performances. On Thursday evening a new drama, in four acts, The Summer Storm, was produced. We have not space to enter into a minute description of the plot, which is about as wildly improbable as any plot that was ever devised for the Adelphi ; we can merely refer to the principal characters, which consisted of two mysterious young ladies, one who is deserted by her father, and the other whose father is a forger and a murderer; of a gentlemanly blackleg, a faithless lover, a parish constable, a vagrant bird catcher, and an energetic old maid. The forger is the true Adelphi melodramatic villain, and the charac ter was excellently played by Mr. Leigh Murray. Miss Woolgar played the villain's child with much feeling and delicacy. M►s. Keeley was the old maid, and Mr. Keeley the itinerant birdcatcher. The acting throughout was effective, but the drama itself was a chaotic complication of absurdities, horrors, and mystifications. Everybody mistakes everybody else, the wrong man is murdered, while the intended victim is arrested for the murder, and the murderer himself escapes, but breaks his neck as retribution : both young ladies are arrested as acces sories to the crime, one dies, and the other dis covers her father in the sitting magistrate. Then there are the usual thrilling situations, terrible con flagrations, bottomless pits, and false floors opening out by secret springs, &c. &c. The dialogue is dull, the action, such as it is, not even continuous through out the piece, and the result very unsatisfactory. Considerable compression, and a better and more connected arrangement of plot, might gain a moderate degree of popularity for the piece, but at present its success is very doubtful. OLYMPIC. THE first new piece for the season was produced at. this theatre on Monday evening—an English ver sion of the French vaudeville line Existence Deco lerie, under the title of A Blighted Being. Job Wort, the blighted being, is a young man with literary aspirations but brewery duties. His uncle the brewer sneers at the one and insists upon the other, till Job in a fit of desperat on cuts the count ing-house and the mash-tub, and devotes himself and his energies to an "Antediluvian Epic in Sixteen Books." With the usual fate of great men who are in advance of the world, Job finds his epic poem re jected by the publishers, his tragedies meet the same fate, and his magazine articles are returned as "un suitable ;" the consequence of which is that Job conceives himself to be the most injured individual upon earth, and finally settles into a morbid melan choly, "refusing to he comforted." He comes down to the seaside and determines at length to put an end to his life, but, failing in pluck suff►cient to do the deed himself, he gives his last hundred pounds to an Irish toxicologist, who promises to poison him without any pain. But meanwhile a medical friend, suspecting something wrong, inter. cepts Job's letter which asks for the deadly powder, and, instead of the word " poison," substitutes "blue pill," which is immediately sent by the apothecary, and carefully administered in a cup of tea by the waiter. However, no sooner has Job Wort discovered a pleasant and painless method "of shuffling off his mortal coil " than his pretty landlady animates him with sensa tions of love, betrays her own affection for him, and promises to confer upon him perpetual happiness by becoming Mrs. Wort. Here is a dilemma. He has written for poison, sought for death in an unknown form, is ignorant how and when the fatal powder is to be administered, and now be does not want to die at all ! But the melancholy truth is broken to him by the waiter, who solemnly informs him that the powder from the apothecary's was administered in the last cup of tea. Job, horrorstruck at his posi tion, faints, falls into paroxysms, and lays himself out for death, entreating with his dying breath that the apothecary and waiter be arrested for murder. At this critical moment the medical friend arrives, explains the joke, revives Job, and the curtain falls 1003 upon the thorough restoration to the world and connu bial happiness of the blighted being. The success of the picce was perfect, the dialogue extremely well written, and the situations, at once natural and ab surd, were well adapted to the peculiar powers of Mr. Robson. His wretched hypochondriacal look, his absorbing and thoroughly selfish grief, his nervous irritation, and suspicion of everybody being in a league against him, and his extraordinary rejiexibility of face, all exhibited to a remarkable degree such a tragic-comic fiction of hopeless misery, maudlin felicity, and desperate terror, as kept the audience in a roar of laughter throughout. The other charac ters in the piece were well supported. Miss Turner was one of the prettiest and neatest of landladies, and Mr. Cooper gave one of the best de lineations of a " waiter" that has been seen upon the stage. His dress, and his peculiar crispness of man ner and utterance, were perfect. Mr. Danvers was a forcible Irishman ; and Mr. Leslie a good nautical surgeon, but rather too bluff for a doctor. The other performances of the evening consisted of A Match in the Dark, in which Mr. and Mrs. Wigan acted with their usual talent, and Miss Maskell performed the part of Ellen Marsden with delicate skill; con cluding with To Oblige Benson, in which Mr. Rob son acted the jealous Trotter Southdown with inimitable humour and talent. The house was crowded, and the repetition of A Blighted Being was announced amidst loud applause. ST. JAMES'S. On Monday evening was revived the petite comedie of Vanity Cured, or the School for Old Gentlemen, in which Mr. Ranger as Lord Witherly, and Mrs. Stanley as Mrs. Marcum, made their first appear ance at this theatre. Mr. Ranger, as the irresistible ci-devant jeune homme, who easily believes that he has entirely conquered the heart of a young girl, was admirable for the lively animation and super lative vanity that he threw into the character. Mrs. Stanley, as the worldly matchmaking mamma, who will sacrifice her daughter for rank and fortune, also acted with her usual power and effect. The dialogue of the piece is very animated, though the plot is not remarkable for novelty in incident or character. The house was well filled, and both Mr. Ranger and Mrs. Stanley were warmly received. On Wednesday evening a " terpsichorean semi burlesque burletta," entitled The Spanish Dancers, was produced. It turns upon the disappointment of a manager in not engaging " the Spanish dancers," and his resolve to improvise a substitute out of his own corps de ballet. The introductory dialogue is bad and with out point, but the imitation of Signora Peres Nena by Miss Lydia Thompson was very perfect and successful. Mrs. Seymour, we are happy to see, has made judicious alterations in The King's Rival ; the plague scene is omitted, and the dialogue in many places reasonably curtailed. The clay now acts with more effect, and is better appreciated by the audience. SADLER'S WELLS. SHAKSPEARE'S play of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, laws been revived at this theatre after a slumber of up wards of 150 years. The offensive character of many of the scenes, and the inferiority of the play to any other of Shakspeare's, have banished it from the modern stage ; but Mr. Phelps, with careful discrimination, made such alterations and omis sions in the objectionable scenes as to render the play at least capable of representation last Saturday evening. Mr. Phelps's Pericles, though a fine and an artistic performance, was yet wanting in animation in some of the inferior scenes ; but in the great scene of the ploy, where, believing his daughter to have died, his mind has fallen into a lethargy of grief, from which he is aroused by the artless ques tions of Marina, who discovers herself as his child, his acting was most effective. The gradual awakening of the mind from its torpor, the eager question, the removal of the doubts and fears, and the intense burst of parental love for the recovery of the lost child, were given with consummate skill and feeling. The other characters were well sustained throughout. Miss Heraud, as Marina, was natural and happy in her manner ; Miss Atkinson, as Dyonizia, was good; and Mr. Marston's Cleon was a performance of great tragic excellence. The scenery was remarkable for its beauty ; and the artistic skill displayed in the representations of the Temple of Diana, the views of Tyre and Mitylene, and the moving panorama which accompanies Pericles from Mitylene to Ephesus was worthy of the highest praise. The costumes were in good taste, and the whole miss en seine was brilliant. The house was crowded, and the au&enze enthusiastic in their applause. HAYMARKET.—The Spanish dancers have returned to this theatre for a short period. DRURY LANE opens on Monday, the 300, with the first of M. Jullien's Concerts Monstres. AN EMINENT JoURNALIST, M. EUGENE BRIFFAULT, who was at different periods a writer in the Sack, the Temps, and the Cmaire, is just dead. ? i