The Press.
London, England, 1853-11-26 00:00:00

INCEU3I.

I'n the past week the Lyceum company have
contimted to demonstrate How to make Home
Happy. The meagre moral of plot induces us to
doubt the probability of many bestowing a second
visit, with the hope of obtaining a hint as to the line
of conduct which would lead them to :hat difficult
desideratum, although Mrs. F. Matthews and Mr.
Wright use ever exertion to render the visitors of the
Lyceum home happy. Putter versus Clatter has also
resumed a position in the bill, and Mr. C. Mathews
received the usual portion of well-merited applause
that invariably attends his impersonation of this dia-
meter, which he alone can portray. Mr. Tom Taylor's
A Nice Firm improves upon acquaintance. The
an :tor de serves great credit for ingeniously extracting
amusement from so dull a subject as the law. But
we nevertheless hold to our alccauly-expressed opinion
that the piece, though carefully written, would be
much improved by contlensat'
On Wednesday was produced a bantling (of the
welilnown French breed) entitled A Bachelor of
Arts ; a favourable reception its fate. The chief de-
fect of this piece is its confused and improbable
plot, which is rather too highly flavoured with the
Gallic sauce of challenges and duels to he relished
by an English audience. All-powerful love—the
rineipal ingtedient of plays, serious and comic—
induces a llama seacum master of arks, though
bachelor by condition, to become a tutor. During
the exercise of his (Alert numerous acts of kindness
on his part towards pupil and parent, an exposure of
a usurer and libertine, are repaid by the Intuit of his
inamorata. The success of this piece forty be attn
tatted to the individual exertions of Mr. Charles
Mathews, whose admirable development of natural
manner carried with it the sympathy of the entire
audience. We conles, however, that to our mind
more might be mule of the serious vein which runs
through the part of Jasper. Mr. F. Matthews hit
personated a fraudulent bankrupt very successfully ;
and the quiet, unobtru-ive intelligence with which
Mr. Basil Baker played the small part of Mr. Thorn-
ton is deserving of special notice. The drawing-
room scene (which tar excels the scene in Time
Lancers at the Princess's Theatre) is most tubnira-
bly designed and executed ; and the well-contrived
time in the most elegant of chituneypieces helped to
dispel a slight chill that prevailed fur a moment—
perhaps the result of fog. Wright at Last we trust
may not last much longer. Laughter, with the Ly-
ceum materials, should be excited by other methods
than eccentric pantaloons, fabulous coats impossibly
split, and a brace of crushed hats : one thunaged
gibes may be legitimate in a pantomime, but two in
a farce !! Too much of a good thing is good for
nithing.
SADLER'S WELLS.
Tie production of Henry the Filth by cetionatel of
her Majesty on Thursday, Nov. 10th, and at this
theatre on Monday last, recals to our recollection
the brief but glorious reign of Mr. Macreally at
('event Garden, when this play, illustrated by the
pencil of Stanfield, was put upon the stage with an
effect which, in all probability, we shall never again
see equalled. Though Mr. Phelps, we pr,!stune, in
no way invites comparison with Mr. Macreatly, he
has done hin.sell infinite credit by the manner in
which he has accomplished the task imposed upon
him ; and without being conjurors we think we can
give reasons why this revival will meet with com-
plete success. A purely historieal ',lay like Henry
the Fifth does not depend for its 4441 on any un
known incident or skill in construction. but, to use
the words of Coleridge, "takes that part of real hiso try
which is the least known, and infuses a princi-
ple of life and organisation into the naked faeta,
and makes them all the framework of an ani-
mated whole." The consequence is, that a play of
this doseription will interest the class et persons who
frequent Sadler's Wells far more than the cultivated
audiences of the West-end theatres, to *lion time