The Sun.
London, England, 1837-10-09 00:00:00

DRURY-LANE.

This theatre opened for the season on Saturday night.
During the recess no pains or expense seem to have been
spared in restoring, and in many instances, such in parti-
cular as the gilding, entirely renewing the costly and ele-
gant internal decorations, and the effect of the whole, when
lighted up, and adorned by the presence of " stores of
whose bright eyes shed influence," is splendid in the highest
degree. The corps drantatigue comprehends many per-
formers of considerable eminence in their respective branches
of the profession, and the orchestra is of extraordinary mag-
nitude and power. Mr. T. Cooke conducts, and Mr. Elia-
son leads the band. The house on Saturday was crowded
in every part. Not above two private boxes were unoc-
cupied, and before half-price not a scat was to be had in
pit or boxes, except a few in the slips. At the rising of
the curtain the stage appeared occupied by the whole
strength of the company, who twice sang "God save the
Queen" in the finest style. The Merry Wives of Windsor was
the comedy selected to begin the season with, and it is to be
hoped that a judgment in selection equally good may be dis-
played throughout. We trust that, having so excellent a Fal-
staff as Dowton, the manager of this Theatre will take
case that the play just alluded to appears pretty fre-
quently in his list of presentations for the season. Mr.
Dowton dressed the character to perfection, and executed
the scenes with Mistress Quickly, with Master and with
Mistress Ford in particular, with true Shakesperian feeling.
Mr. Compton, as Master Abraham Slender, 'kit the true
point of imbecility. We look upon his personification of this
character as masterly. Mr. Cooper's Ford was a highly me-
ritorious performance, and these personages were thoroughly
well acted up to by Missaomer and Miss S. Came as the
Mete yWives,:and Mrs. Jones as accurate a Dame Quickly as
we could wish to see. Miss Poole was a very " sweet Ann
Page." The other performers in the comedy did their
best in honour of its author ; and the result is a warm
desire on our parts to see. the same play acted by the
same actors again and again. Several of Shakspeare's
songs, as set by Bishop and others, were introduced with
admirable effect. After the comedy, a new drama, by
Mr. Planche, as we understand, was produced, under
the title of The Chihl of the IVreck, and was quite suc-
cessful. The scene lies in Hamburg; Maurice, the hero
of the piece, (Madame Celeste), is the child of an
unknown lady, who, twelve years previous the opening of
the drama, was shipwreck off Heligoland ; Maurice is
the only person saved, and he adopted by Coun-
sellor Tremens, of Hamburg, and in the family of the
widow of this benevolent person we find him, at the com-
mencement of the piece, a youth of twenty. He is dumb.
From the earliest years he has been tenderly attached to
the daughter of his benefactor, Louise (Miss Fitzwalter),
and she returns his affection, but as she imaginJs with only
a sister's feelings. She becomes, however, enlightened as
to the true state of the case on beholding his despair
when she informs him, on her return from Berlin, that she
has been affianced by her mother to her cousin Albert
and that the marriage is to take place on the morrow.
Maurice, upon these tidings, without communicating the
secret of his love to its object, determines upon instant
flight from the home which has become miserable to him,
and he arranges with an attached tenant on the
estate to accompany him to America as a common
sailor. At this juncture of affairs, Albert (Brindal), a
young man who has been led into the vortex of gam-
bling, and who has forsworn play at the urgent prayers
of his father Hartemann (Cooper), intercepts a letter
to his father, from a person to whom, notwithstanding his
promise, he has just lost a thousand florins at play, and who
threatens to disgrace him if the sum is not paid before
night. Maddened with the apprehension that his father
should discover his transgression, Albert abstracts the re-
quired sum from the cash-box of Greindel (WY. Bennett),
the steward of Madame Tremens (Mrs. C. Jones), with the
intention of replacing it next morning out of his bride's
portion. The theft, however, is discovered, and suspicion
is thrown by the malignant steward on Young Maurice,
who, on his way to meet the Captain of the American
vessel, has been seen at night by Greindel in the apart-
ment next to that in which the cash box was deposited.
Under these distressing circumstances it is that Mr.
Ilartemann, by means of a portrait which Maurice wears,
discovers in this youth the son of a lady whom he had, some
twenty years before, married and deserted for the wife
chosen for him by his father. Ultimately the real culprit is
discovered, and Maurice, received into his father's arms, is
acknowledged the heir of his wealth, in exclusion of the son
who has disgraced him. The mute action of Madame
Celeste as the Dumb Boy is highly graceful and expressive.
Mrs. C. Jones was exceedingly amusing as Madame Tre-
mens, a lady of nerves, and the other characters in the
piece were well sustained.