The Express.
London, England, 1846-09-10 00:00:00

Cbt Drama.

PRlNCEss'e.—" Love's Telegraph" is the name of a
new pion what& was produced at this theatre last 'ilea. Its
sums, was eemeiele ; and therefore, instead of deculing the
plat. we "Weld_ probe to lay before the reader on account of
the athlect which tar thaw has treated, and the manner of
his handling it. liwthellosthely, however, the play is nothing
Willis*, and it is ea, bytheeribingthe action with minute-
mos that we may hers Is Olavey an idea of it to others. In
I that part of Germany views princilities used, in the days
of hoops and wigs, to depend to ladies by bequest; dwells a
Princess, who has just quitted a convent to ascend a throne
left to her u a legacy by an uncle. She has brought from

the cloister her companion Alice, and both ladies await the
arrival of letters from Rome, dispensieg with the vows takes
by them at the commencement of their neviciate, to choose
a husband. Alice has cho•en for lover Arthur its
theyt64l6erarn, butg.g thehtato secretaryl
esersete feel that, ft
hlthabete,
Puerintinqtceftilitethtt'ecanodfdistt is
inste
cobeurttiloovne'plarreinvneavre-esta,
Re. m from speaking to ono another, except in the presence
of the princess, and the young lady Rice:fore sends a note to
her admirer' which contains a scheme for conversing in the
pretence of others. Whatever she shall utter with un-
furled fan, though addressed to others, is meant fur him;
and whatever lie shall say while waving his glove, she will
understand to beispokea to her. The l'rincess and Alice
made their appearance on the stage; the telegraph is set at
work, and a rendezvous for nine that evening in the garden
is arranged. The young secretary, in his joy, is silly enough
to let the fact that he has the assignation become known to
a thick-headed courtier' Baron Pumpernickel and his nice,
Marguerite, who, on his refusing to counsel the princess to se-
lect for a husband one of her own nobles, no other than
the high and wdl-born Pumpernickel himself, tell the prin-
cess out of sheer spite. Then it appears that she is herself
in love with Solberg. She resolves to send him at once on a
mission to the court of Heinalt, which is not far off, to attend
the assignation herself, accompanied by Alice, and so to die-
, cover her rival. When the order for his departure is coat-
i municated to the secretary, he is of course in despair; but it
turns out that one Count Theodore, an old university friend,
whom he had that day presented to the princess, is the
Prince of Heinalt, and it is arranged between them that
Solberg shall keep his appo:nuucut, and the prince receive
and answer the letter where he is. This scheme, however,
is so far defeated, that the princess sends off her secretory
with Pumpernickel as his companion, and orders the sup-
posed Count Theodore into arrest ; and so ends the first act.
At the opening of the second act, the Princess is all joy, for
the letters have come from Rome, and .1/ice has watched at
the trysting-place and has reported that no one cane. Soon
however the Baron appears all covered with mud to relate
some disaster, and to complain of treachery. Before he can
tell his tale the Secretary arrives also, and utterly confounds
him, by telling the Princess that the Baron got so drunk at
a castle on the road, where the travellers had stayed to
supper, that he had been carried to bed insensible, and on
his recovery sent back. As he also presents the answer of
the Prince, he is believed and made a count. The Baron,
however, lets the Princess know that her favourite had left
in the carriage in which they had travelled the miniature of
a lady, whose features he hod not keen ahle to recognise' as
the ('oust had demanded it back before he had had
time to examine it. Solberg is sent fir, and accused of
treason by the Princess, who requires him to Ore up all
the papers on his person. lie obeys, but refuses to part
with a miniature case which, in his hurry, he has exposed to
view. The Prince insists; and Alice snatching it from him,
dexterously substitutes a miniature of the Princess, which
in an earlier scene she has received as a gift from her. The
Princess believes herself beloved ; she dismisses all her
attendants but the secretai y ; then dictates to him a letter,
in which she acknowledges her love fur him; tells him be
shall have the portrait; and leaves him, calling him
" Arthur." Before he can recover from his confusioa,
Alice brings him a deapateli, which he is ordert.d to give to the
Prince of 11,itiall, whose incognito, on being accused of
treason, 'he had betraved. It contains the refusal of an
offer of marriage made for him to the princess, by his
minister. Before he e.n reassure Alice, both the Prince
and the Princess appear. Solberg gives to the former the
letter which the Princess had dictate I : keeps the devatth
in his pocket; and thus leads out his sovereign, who has
already announced to her ministers that lie is to be her hus-
band. Marguerite, however, has found and holds up the
note which contains the plan of the I 'errs' telegraph, and
she declares that Solberg shall net marry the Princess. So
ends the second act. its the third act, the contents of the
note are communicated to the l'riticess, from whom the
Count has kept aloof : she watches the lovers as the telegraph
is at work, and finds that she has hein decei, ed. After a
tempest of passion, in which she has ordered Su/berg to be
arrested, the Prince to be turned out of the house, and Alice to
be sent back to the convent, she yields with a good grace to
the adi lee of the man who will not flurry her, and, consenting
to the union of her favourites, gives her hand to the Prince.
The msrit of this piece lies chiefly in the complication and
distress of the personages ; in the selection there is no art, in
the motive which operates the relief no probability. The idea
of the lovers' signals is so happy and humorous, that though
the telegraph was clumsily worked, the effect was telling
and complete. Mast notable was the absence of any attempt
to adorn this interesting talc with any graces of language.
Neither wit, nor eloquence, nor even sustained propriety of
diction seems to have been thought of by the author; he has
relied on Ids plot only; and though- he has abstained from
' sentiment, sarcasm, jokes and puns, he has been successful.
Madame Vestria as the Prihress, and Mr. C. Mathews
as Arthur de Solberg, received the applause which
the ease and finish of their performance well de-
served. Miss Emma Stanley as Jlarguerite, sited
with the point and spirit which are so peculiarly hers.
To Mr. Compton, however, who played the part of Baron
Pumpernickel, the author is indebted for the PUCCVMS of the
piece. But for Mr. Compton, who gave vitality, reality and
I caustic significance to the part Pumpernickel ; who made a
character where the author had not conceived one ' • the piece
could not have reached the scenes in which it became in-
teresting, and engaged the sympathies of the audience. The
costumes and properties were gorgeous; so loudly, more-
over, was each new dress and piece of upholstery appinudid
that we expected to hear the makers of them tolled fur at
the end of the piece ; this compliment, however, •ats cue-
lined to the actors.