The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-23 00:00:00

stt grama.

THE LYCEUM—LOVERS' AMAZEMENTS.
THE play which was brought out under the above
title at the Lyceum on Wednesday last, though never
before acted, was, if we rightly remember, published
a few years since in a periodical of which Mr. Leigh
Hunt was the editor. Although the scenery and

characters bear French names, we are not aware that
the author is under any obligation to French sources ;
and should this prove to be the case, the English
drama will have reason—in these borrowing days—
to be proud of a piece, which in addition to the
literary merit naturally to be expected from its
writer, possesses the additional qualifications of
rapid movement, well-sustained interest, and extreme
neatness of construction.
The plot, though simple enough as regards its
motives, is worked out by certain intricacies of detail
perfectly clear on the stage, but calculated to as-
sume a very perplexing appearance on paper. It
may suffice to say that the four principal characters
consist of two pair of lovers—the Chevalier de Torsey
(Mr..l. U. Shore), engaged to Madame de Montalais
(Miss Woolgar), and Captain de la Rousse (Mr.
Charles Dillon), engaged to no one, but with a
general tendency to flirtation and haunted by the
remembrance of a solitary sincere attachment to
Louise Lamotte ( Mrs. C. Dillon). De Torsey has
on a former occasion unsuccessfully wooed Louise,
and she has his letters to testify to the fact.
Madame de Montalais has also, but without serious
intentions, corresponded with La Rousse, under his
previous name of Delorme, and their mutual recogni-
tion in De Torsey's presence gives rise to a duel, the
result of which is a wound to La Rousse, and the re-
jection of De Torsey for having doubted his fiancée's
assurance that he was her first love. When we add that
Louise visits her wounded lover disguised as a Sister of
Charity—and that the ladies, having been schoolfellows,
compare notes respecting their correspondents—it will
be easy to imagine that a very pretty embranglement
is the result. The acting was throughout of great
merit, if we except a slight stiffness of which Mr.
Shore has not been entirely able to divest himself,
and a certain harshness of utterance which Mrs. C.
Dillon sometimes falls into in her laudable desire
for clear enunciation. De Torsey, who belongs to
the sentimental class of lovers, is balanced by La
Rousse, who is rather of the D'Artagnan type, but of
a more open, foppish, and rollicking disposition.
He is excellently represented by Mr. C. Dillon,
whose acting in the scene where he has been
wounded was fresh and original, and who was not
less amusing in the subsequent scene with the Sister
of Charity—with whom he attempts to flirt after the
manner of the Black Mousquetaire in Ingoldsby'e
legend. The moral of the play—if so airy a pro-
duction can be said to have a moral—is conceived in
a similar spirit to that which pervades the " answers
to correspondents " in some of our contemporaries,
where the parity of obligation between the sexes in
respect of amatory matters is occasionally insisted
upon in a very strongminded fashion. In Mr.
Leigh Hunt's drama the masculine characters
decidedly play second fiddle, and are treated to an
amount of persiflage and objurgation sure to prove
highly satisfactory to a chivalrous British audience.
Louise assails ber lover with light banter; Madame
de Montalais confounds hers with severe reproof.
As the latter, Miss Woolgar was dignified and lady-
like, and evidently commanded the entire sympathies
of her hearers. We have seldom seen her in a
character in which she appeared to more advan-
tage. A crowded house seethed thoroughly to enjoy
and appreciate the pointed repartee with which
the dialogue abounds, and after the actors had
received their well deserved ovation, uninterrupted
by the slightest appearance of disapproval, loud
calls for " the author" summoned the literary
veteran on the stage. It was interesting to see a
man who appeared in print before the commence-
ment of the present century, who has gone through
such a variety of experiences, who has outlived his
contemporaries, the great literary lights of the last
generation, and who still retains the freshness of
feeling and versatility of mind necessary for the
composition of this pleasant and amusing comedy.
And although his anissis ineohmses non redeunt
yens, the general air and lineaments remain essen-
tially the same as those which figure in the excellent
portrait prefixed to an early edition of the " Indica
tor." We cordially congratulate Mr. Hunt on the
very efficient embodiment which his ideas have
received at the Lyceum, and on the unequivocal
success which bas attended what we sincerely hope
is not to be his last appearance in public.

THE ROYAL ACADEMY.-Mr. John Henry Foley,
the sculptor of the well-known group, " Ino and
Bacchus," and of "The Houselesa Wanderer,"
"Youth at a Stream," and the statue of Hampden
erected in St. Stephen's-hall, has been elected &Royal
Academician in the room of Mr. T.