The National Register.
London, England, 1811-01-20 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTEI%

44

DRAMATIC REGISTER.

LYCEUM THEATRE.

THE BEE-lIIVE, A FARCE.

A new Musical Farce was last night produced at this Theatre,
under the title of The Bee-Hive.

The name of this piece might be considered of itself sufficient
to attract the 'critical wasps in great numbers. How far this
may really happen, I cannot take upon myself to say, but I must
be allowed to observe, that if they repaired to "The Bee -I live"
in the expectation of being able to purloin much honey from its
Proprietor or Proprietors, they must have been disappointed.
The Piece opens with the view of an Ina, at a seaport town,
(the Beehive), from which the Farce is named, and at the
moment of the arrival of a Fleet with troops from foreign ser-
vice. A yobng lady, (Mrs. MOUN rAIN,) arrives at the
Beehive, at the same time, with the Intention of learning the
character and disposition of a young Officer, expected by the
Fleet, to whop., tho' " unknowing and unknown," she was, at
the desire of both their Parents, to be married. The two
Lovers had corresponded, and had thus anticipated a real by a
Platonic love. The young lady is under a false name, and the
Captain, whom she is seeking (Mr. WRTNCII,) is obliged to
conceal his from the fear of bailiffs; in tins double disguise
they fall in love with each other; but the Captain dis-
coNesing the character and quality of his mistress, first
resolves to put her love to the test, by introducing the mi-
litary friend w v had just arrived with him, (Mr. Lovegrove,)
under his own real name. Much regret is in consequence
shewn on the par. o the lady, and she, at the moment
influenced by her pz ekliliction for the other Officer, doubts the
reality of his character : the real lover however furuishes him
with documents to confirm the introduction, gnd the lady parts
from hini in disappointment. The Landlord of the Inn soon
undeceives her, and she, in her turn, determines to revenge
herself upon her lover, by feigning a real attachment for the
friend to whom be has thus lent his name; this occasions
rather a ludicTous scene between them, but all the parties soon
unveil themselves, and after the laugh has been ultimately
turntd 4,.litist each of the two Officers, the Piece concludes by
the two lovers joining hands.
- -

The first part of it is exceedingly dull. MAT rirEws in the
Gabbling Landlord of " The Beehive," endeavoured to keep the
audience in good humour by exclaiming, " lots of smiles, lots of
ogles, &c." but the character was so ridiculous, that those who
listened with any degree of attentian, could only exclaim,
gi lots of nonsense !'"Fowards the end it improved very much,
and, in addition to the bustle which pervades the whole, consi-
derable humour was thrown in, to which the whole of the
Performers did perfect justice. Throughout, no attempt is made
to awaken interest. The effect however, is pleasing, and if
considerably shortened in the first part, and slightly pruned in
the last, will go off with greater spirit, and probably become a
f .vourite. Nothing would improve it more than disburdening it
of one or two of the inferior characters. The part of the
landlady is not only useless, but offensive, as though fully
sketched it is preposterously extravagant: The character of
a soldier, who can only speak in military phrases, is ably
dniwn by the author, and admirably sustained by LOYECROVE
. ktF.:4CII, in a bustling lover, deserves much praise, and MA-
Tti Ews, though his character is not a good one, contributed
greatly to the success of the piece. Mrs. MOUNTAIN and Miss
r.t.v are entitled to the author's best thanks.
The name of the author of this piece, we are informed, is
MILLINGE N. The music, by Mr. HORN, is very pleasing.

mighty busy in spreading wonderful reports throughout our town
respecting Mr. Jowl ICE tdecz's extinguishment of lights, and
tho several tolerably disposed people have hinted that his inten-
tion in so doing was merely to produce a better effect on the
stage, yet I cannot forbear telling you, what the insinuations of
some and surmises of others, have taught the generality of our
townspeople to look on as the true cause of this affair.
Two or three of our leading men have stated that Mr. KEW.
Fe felt himself slighted by the fair inhabitants of the Dress
Circle, who seemed too often to pay more attention to each
other's charms, than to his Declamatory powers ; and conse-
quently by putting them a little more in the dark, he should
bring himself a little more into light : now, it must be owned /
Mr. Editor, that all this was very fair, by way of argument'
but our Dons, not chusing to subscribe to this opinion, tho' they
granted the fact, they denied the cause ! They argued that
Mr. Manager KgMBLE had no other view than te trench-
ment ! and consequently in the reduction of lights, he
flattered himself wilt a reduction of expences, at all events
in the department of War, Tallow, and Spermaceti ; and those
who embraeed this side of the efiestion,wert further; they said,
that owing to the late disastrous 0. P. war, which had brought
on a wonderful variety of accumulated expenses, every system
of economy was now become absolutely necessary within the
walls, and that M. KEMBLE bad only made a beginning in his
propsed system, since by taking away the lights from the
people, be might ca, ry on more extensive operations in the dark,
Now, it must be owned also, that this was a very fair
matter of argumentation, but as parties at the time this
new, l'reived in our little town were running high, so
the belief o* the one and the disbelief of the other, had liked to
have caused tooth and nail destruction among us, had not all
argument been put an end to by a real matter-of-fact grievance,
to which I alluded in the beginning of this letter.
You must be well aware, Mr. Editor, than the manners. the
fashions, the squabbles, and the follies of a great city, are soon
aped in small towns, and therefore when our Manager became
acquainted with Mr. KEMBLE's curtailment of candles, he used
the extinguisher so freely in our Theatre, that we are literally
almost in the dark, so that till the awful moment arrives when
the curtain rises, we sit more like the audience at a phantanna-
gorical exhibition than the spectators of a play, which said dark-
ness, to look further than the real grievance, may obviously tend
to the perversion of good order and good breeding.
In common then with others, I am at a loss to know for what
reason the theatre in London should be deprived of its resplen-
dent dignity, or a generous audience partially obscured by such
petty limitations. I pray you, therefore, Mr. Editor, to give us
some more distinct information on this subject, for, by so doing,
you will not enly clap an extinguisher on the opinions of our
Dons, hut you will teach our manager to return to his duty, and
moreover you will lay under personal obligation.
Your most obedient Servant,
RUSTICULUS.

MR. I,EWIS.
On Sunday morning died, at his house, ht Westbourn-plact,
Mr. Wm. Thomas Lewis, aged 65, a Gentleman poiiessing an
excellent private character, of sin..tular merit as a performer, and
fir many years manager of Covent Garden Theatre. He en-
joyed the smiles of a London audience for thiel-six years,
during the whole of which long period, he never for a moment
departed from his duty ; the, proudest aim of his life was to
merit approbation. He would frequently remain by himself
for a whole day together, eudeavonring to threw some new
light beauties into his different characters. His favourite parts
were Belcour, Ranger, Benedict, Afertutio, and the Copper.
Captain, in which last he took a final leave of his generous
friends and admirers, about eighteen months ago: He then
assured the audience that it would be gratifying in his seclusion,
to reflect, that during the long period 4n4 had been in their
service, he, had never once incurred: their dlipleasure. To his
family he was most affectionate ; often denyint himself the
enjoyment of the fruits of his labours, in order that he might
make them independent of the world.

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