The National Register.
London, England, 1811-03-10 00:00:00

*SA

DRAMATIC 'REGISTER.

LYCEUM.
In my last it will be remembered I expressed an intention of
taking up the new' comedy of " Ourselves." I. was induced to
make this promise because the play is something above the pro-
ductions of most wiiters of the present day ; and as it is very
seldom that I see a new comedy that I can conscientiously pro-
rounce to be gold, when one Appears that at all, approaches that
description, I cannot find in my heart to part with it imine-
dtately. •
The plot has already been given in the daily newspapers; but
givt!ri so, that it loses all its effect, and appears flat and uninte-
resting. As, k really seems to' me a very difficult task to avoid
this, I am afraid if I were to attempt giving it, I should but add
(me to the number of abortive efforts which have already been
inade. With this feeling I shall content myself with giving my
*pinion of its general merits.
The fable of "Pur.leires" is ingriiious, and if it boasts nothing
singularly striking, it has one great claim on our approbation in
coataininz nothing offensively extravagant. Its progress Is pleas-
ing, and some interest and much curiosity are excited There
kno attempt to fix the attention by conjuring isp those horrors
which are so much in request in this laughing age. Nothing is
introduced but what is perfectly consonant to the principles of
genteel c3niedy. A delineation of real life is all the author has
attempted, and exposure of lashivaabl e follies appears to have
been her grand object.

Having stated this, it may naturally enough be asked, how
the has succeeded in the execution of her design. Tu this I am
happy to beiable to reply, she has succeeded, generally speaking,
better than most writers of the present day; and in some in-
stances she is not merely entitled to applause, but to admiration.
The incidents which occur in the course of the piece, are not
only pleasing in thent;elves, but they have great pretensions to
•riginality; and it is no small praise to say of a niGderil nt'lL9 co•
Weedy that it, boasts nove'ty.
The dialogue is uncommonly good. It never swells into the
turgid bombast of R EY tsoLos, when he wishes toile serious, nor
does it ever sink into his maudlin inanity an.l flimsy imperti-
nence whet: he strives to be comic. The :,raver parts ate free
from cant, and the lighter scenes are never lengthened out with
• a string of worn out jests, or unmeaning puns. The attempts
at humour are for the most part fair, and they are seldom fol-
lowed up too far so as to give the audience 44 too intich rfa good

• The characters are well drawn, and the lovers in particelat
have been so far attended to, that they are really persons of
some importance. None of the Dramatis Pers,lna• are entirely
new to the stage, but the manner in which they are disposed of
prevents this detect being sensibly felt, and though some ificon-
sistenies of conduct migilt Le \veil noticed, which detract in
some ni:•asurc from the value of the whole, yet where there is
.c) much to praise, I thin:: something may well be forgiven. If
ill? critic will never praise till it i* impossible for him to find any
thing to censure, I fear he might lonj be silent, and finally fall
the victim of leis own spleen, as

" Whnever thinks a faultless piece to we,
Thinhs what nor i 3, ma was, nor e'er will be."

I cannot take my leave of Miss CuAMßl:lis on' tile present
ace. ,sion without noticing the appeals to feeling with which
we are treated in tiie Frolunge and Epilonge on account of
the piece !ring thc• production 07 a Lady, and of the Au-
thor of " The Sch,ol fur Friends." That piece is written
by aj,ady ig corta!tdy much to the credit of the s(-x, and
04: :t was written by the Author of " The, Scitholfbr Frir:rds,"
was certainly holding out A promise of something tolerable,
yet &filter of these considerations ought to have been so
uergd , and ne.ithcr of them would have had the effect of dis-