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

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.