The Sun.
London, England, 1807-02-20 00:00:00

THE 7WEATIIE.

Drury-Lane.
THE. high dramatic repute which the late Mr.
TOBIN has acquired by The Honey Moon drew a
crowded Audience to this Theatre last night, 'as a
new Play, entitled The curfi-a,, from the saute pen,
was announced for representation.
FABLE.
The scene of this Play lies chiefly on the sea-shore, in the
neighbourhood of the castle of the Baron De Tracey, ',Nilo had
accompanied the Conqueror to England. Some years betel:"
he quitted NOrmandy, his native country, instigated. by jea-
lousy, he had stabbed his wife, and believed her to have pe-
rished at sea. 3n making her escape, Nfatilda, the wife of
the Baron, had been driven by a tempest, with het only
son, on the 6:1111e coast, and is discovered living in obscurity
near the castle where, amongst the neighbottrheod, she passes
iota' witch. Florence, the daughter of the I3aron, is attached
to Bertrand, who had saved her father's life, who refuses his
consent to their union, on account of Bertrand's low birth ;
,
they" make their escape from the castle, .to solemnize their
marriage at a neighbouring:monastery, but are attacked by
robbers in their way, who carry oil' Flor-nee, whilst Bet-
trattrils,brought back to the caStle by a party sent by the Ba.
rom: Fitzharding, the leader of the robbers, haVing received
a galling insult front the Baron, pursues him with unrelent-
iog haste, and resolves, at the' soundinwof the Curfew, to at.
tack the curie, having previously gained admission in thcdis.
guise ofa Friar, whom the. Baron had sent for, to make con-
. fes',.;:irf of his sips.. Three of the robbers, disguised as Min-
Strels, also gain admittance to the Castle : Matilda, accused
of•Witcheratt, is [nought before the Baron, and, on making an
able delenc,e, is d,isinissed. At this moment' Florence, hav-
ing been delivered over. to Robert, the son of Matilda who
had joined the robbers,' and having been resoled by him, is
b:nught bet Ore the Baron—she predicts the attack of the Cas-
tle, and puts tltctn On their guard. litzharding having ap-
pointed a meeting with the Baron, to give blue absoluti4i, in
a lonely chapel, there Aiiscoyers himself, and as he is about
to kill.bitn; Matilda enters with a party of the vassals, and
use= her husband• in the meth-while an uproar is heard
inv the Castle, the robbers, enter and are overcome; Roh&t,
ain is amongst thehi, etastled by the Baron, is saved be the
interposition of Matilda; and the Piece finishes by the Beron's
reepficifiation with his wife and daughter, whom he bestows
on Jiertranct.
The
,general charatier of this Piece is exaetly
what might be expelled from the Author of The
Hon,/ Ninon.. It was evidently his design to corn,
pOutid a. Play with different parts of other Dramas,
rather than to produce a Fable purely original—re-
lying upon his vigour of sentiment, variety of ima-
gery, and power of language. .1-knee we rind in
his chief charadter, Fitzharding, parts of Jago and
of Lava, but more particularly of the latter. In
the chara&ers of De Tracey and Matilda, we are
strongly reminded of Leontes and Hermione, in The
Winter's Tale. The scene between Robert and Flo-
, rence, in which the former, in conformity to the
orders he had received, is going to kill the latter, we
have in Hubert and Arthur, and the Sallie charac-
ters are involved in a subsequent danger, which is
n
may be traced in
conclusionpttralel t o aagascene
i in
reminds 2 'he childrenusoftheboi
osthee
of lrood.
me
Re_
variousvengt:. 'oßut
other works,
h
thee p
uts Authorhis
materials together
with great skill, -and produces a whole that is very
\yell calculated. to gratify a mixed audience, who are
L their feelings than di-
verted likely tfor-obnel
the
ere interestoccupiedof t
ty ;.Piece by retie& ions on
its dramatic coincidences. Nor will the Piece before
us fait to interest the more critical auditor, as it
abounds in iMpressive sentiments, with occasional
touches of humour, and neat and powerful expres-
sion.—There were some excesses last night that will
undoubtedly be lopped -off, There is not so great
a proportien of humour as in the former work of
the writer, but he has managed his fable with more
art, and therefore a stronger interest is excit&d.
A writer of the present day would not have been
so bold in pl.lgiarisni, and few indeed would -have
been, able to re-mould borrowed matter into so
striking a shape. The- style in general has an
antique cast,' that strongly leads the imagination
into the time 'when the aetion is supposed to have
taken"plk:T..

The performers in general deserve great praise,--
ELLISTON, BARRYMORE, H. SIDDONS, and BAN...
LISTER, supported their chargters with distinguish-
ed ability. Mrs. PoWELL was admirable thrcughout.
Miss bLINCAN'S voice is. quite ultit I'drtragic Jan-
guage, tint otherwise she -acquitted herself Very well.
The FLiy was received with such strong and uni-
form applause as promises a very .successful career.
The Prologue, on the difference of the time of aEtion
and the present, was well written, and v.'ell spoken
by BARTLEY. The Epilogue was playful, but had
Ii entitled to much notice. It was not happi-
ly delivered by Miss DUNCANT, who
.had as
gestLulations as a Clown in a Pantomime. ntanr