The Sun.
London, England, 1823-01-29 00:00:00

THE THEATRES.

Datitry-LANE.--Mr. litsToN last night made
his first appearance at this Theatre, as Tony
Lumpkin, in GOLDSMITH'S pleasant Comedy-of
She Stoops to conquer. He was received on his
entrance with the most gratifying testimonies of
public favour. His merit in. the part is too well
known to require any comment from us, and it is
only necessary to say that he tiever exerted
himself with More spirit, and may be said to be
the best representative of the character since
the admirable original, Mr. Quicx, whose versa-
tility .of tafents altogether have not been equal-
led since he made his voluntary retirement.—
Previous to the play an apology was made
by Mr. Coop sit for the absence of Mr. Musiou,
on account of indisposition, and stating that Mr.
TEatty would take the part of Hardeastle, which
indeed he performed with so much ability at the
Haymarket Theatre, without detracting from the
merit of the former, as to afford much pleasure to
the audience. The comedy altogether was well
supported and very amusing.
COY ENT.GAILD EN.—A new play, partly derived
from Nigel, one of those Scottish Novels which
have excited so much popularity, was brought
forward at this Theatre last night.

Ible

IDs;

001

King James
Buckingham -
Dalgarno - -
Nigel -
llerlot r
Skourlie (a Scrivener)
Trapbois - - -
Jin Vin -
Strappet .
Peppercola
liildebrod
:Alargaret -
Martha Trapboiu -
Bridget - -

DRAMATIS PERSON/E.
- Mr. BARTLEY.
▪ . Mr. HUNT.
• • Mr. C. KEMBLE.
• - Mr. A/3BOTT•
• - • Mr. EGERTOX.
. - Mr. W. FARREX.
- Mr. BLANCHARD.
▪ - - Mr. Cobalt.
• • • Mr. FAWCETT•
"• • • Mr. YATES.
- • t Mr. TAYLOR.
•. Miss FpoTE.
- Miss LACY.
- Mrs. CHATTERLEY•

I. ' FA ULE.
The time of action is about the dose of James's reign, when
,0 the feebleness of the government, as evinced in the impunity of
,e ,• Overbury's murderers and other great offenders, had relaxed
the morals of lhe higher classes, many of whom, for purposes
of lewd intrigue, and even lucre, retained as dependents,
and otherwise leagued with, the desperate adventurers that
fre4uented Patirs4iiele, and other places of public resort.
e Worn°, a gay nobleman subservient to Buckingham, is the
hero of this play : and his tools are, the bully Peppercole, and
!,... Skourlie, a scrivener, who, though of middle ege, has contracted
a passion for Margaret, the object also of Dalgarno's lawless
(Intim. Her preference fur Nigel, and the circumstance of
e Nigel's being assisted by the King, who was his father's
i'l debtor, with jewels whereon James authorises hint to raise a
sum fir paying off a mortgage of his estates (pledged greatly
e below their value, nominally to Skourlie, but in secret for Dal.
gerno's use), are considerations which irritate Dalgarno against
Nigel ; who, for having drawn his sword within the royal pre.
. eincts in rescue of Margaret from an attempt of Dalgarno to force
1.. her off, is fain to take sanctuary in Whitefnare, (alias Abatis), at
the house of Trapbois, the usurer, who is to raise the money on the.
k jewels. To prevent the completion of the payment within the few
re renaming hours of die mortgage-terni,Dalgarno,whtkuti failure 1
,
of redemption would become sole lord of Nigel's fortunes, come',
masked and cloaked, with Peppercole into the usurer's house,
with a view of seizing and secreting the jewels till theaux of
the time. • Trapbois is gagged' by Dalgarno with a scarf; and
it ireh is struggle, the noose of the scarf sliding, becomes entangled
round his throat and strangles him. Dalgarno is wounded by.
„
K Nigel in the wrist, but escapes with the Jewdis. The play how
deviates still further front the tract of the novel: Nigel, being
r proved to have suddenly quitted the fatalaceneet Ifii the old nian's
(laughter and some valuable property, is next morning at Dal-
garno`e suggestion; charged with the murder ; a charge cor-
roborated b4l the non.appearance.of the daughter at the in quest
held by Hil ebrod. A aw minutes only before the expiration of
the term, the mortgage is.paid off to Skourlie by Strapper from
a secret' source : while Nigel is brought from the Tower, and
examined by the King, in the presence of Margaret : she having
claimed, under suspicious circumstances, and in the disguise
of a Scottish Peg!, a promise which James, when she had sung
befOre him in that dreg:eat- tt. unnwrobig; -hrat made that he.
would grant the Page a boon ; which boon she wishes to receive
in the shape of Nigel's pardon. The evidence of the murder
l„ now pressing Nigel, ' Skourlie, who has before unsuccessfully
sought the hand- of Margaret' promises that on her consenting
to bestow it on him, he will acquit the accused. She, in agony,
it yielding, when the rich usurer's daughter strives.-.accounts
for her absence from the ingtiest by explaining how she has
secretly been employed in raising the redemptioneritortey of her
deliverer's estates t.--and finally, by scarf, which is identi.
fled for Dalgarrio's, as well as the wound on his wrist, .proves
,j him the 'real felon. Margaret is thus rescued front Skourlie,
, and united to Nigel.
' We confess with regret that we: have not
~.. perused the novel, and therefore cannot say
Ili" whether or not the author of the play has kil-
t proved-on the original. It seems, however, to
have been his intention to bring forward a Variety
and contrast of characters, and in this he has
1, fully succeeded. In this respect the Managers
! have very successfully assigned the characters to
the respective performers. It was the avowed
intention of the author also to found
.the play
.upon the model of our earlier Dramatists in
t• point of style, adopting occasionally, as the scene
1 .requires, blank verse or simple prose. This plan,
1. as the 'style of the elder Dramatists has been in
,a great measure superseded by the language of
i SHANSPEARE, w hicil his genius will render the
.language of this country for ever, necessarily
/ renders the play rather quaint to a mixed
/ audience, who are not conversant with the
• phraseology of a distant period. The play
altogether, though it requires truncation, is well
i'; • constructed in point of interest, and with skit-
/ ful pruning will become more so. We never
. attended the first performance of any play in
which the representation in general was more
. ; correct. Having given an outline of the fable,
' and repeating our opinion that, when judicious
~.
curtailment has. condensed its interest, it. will
snore strongly excite attention, we . have nothing
g. . to.add in the way of comment. There was some
1 apparent licence in the description which Dalgarno
0 gaveof the amorouspretensions of t hen Id Scrivener,
k,
:which seemed to be an outrage upon that delicacy
-which should always characterizes the Stage, but
menre not sure that the pruriant imagination of
the audience did not give greater latitude to
the
_passage than was intended, when they
marked it with decided censure ; • but, however,
;it wilt of course be omitted in the future
. representations of the Play. Even supposing
• that the meaning was rather too free, it may
be inferred, that in studying the style of our
elder Dramatists, the author's mind might catch
something too much of the broad kvity which
characterised the manners of their times.—lt is
difficult to -say too much in praise of the
acting, and we have only to refer to the
1, • Dramatis Persomi, as • given above, to assure
our Readers that all the characters were well
supported. The gallant bearing and spirited
elegance of CHARLES Kt:mimc rendered his part,
naturally revolting, highly entertaining. FARR.F.N
t, . was •admirable, and so was BLANCHARD. AUUOTT
' ' was very respectable. FARt.re matte as much
i . . of his character as it required. Miss LACY fully
If • Justified all the favourable reports which we made
of her former exertions. Her performance last
a
'- , • Aligkrt Was deeply affecting, and was so chum,

teristically just, that she deserves to hold a very
high station on the London Stage. Miss FOOTE and
Mrs. CHATTERLEY both exerted themselves very
successfully. BARTLEY gave a humorous sup-
port to the character of King James. ERTON
displayed his usual judgment in herb t,—
and CHAPMAN would doubtless have been
more effective, if he had not been disabled
by a severe cold.—The Managers have rendered
full justice to the Author in magnificence of cos-
tume and picturesque beauty of scenery, in the
latter of which the taste, talents, and correctness
of Gluey': appear to great advantage.—The
play, upon the whole, was so well received, that,
with the exception of those passages which gave
offence, and those which hung heavily upon the
attention, we have little doubt that it will be
hardly less successful than the other dramatic pro-
ductions which have been derived from the same
Caledonian storehouse. We know not who
is the author of this piece, but we are as-
sured that the report which assigns it to
Mr. HORACE TWISS is unfounded ; and from
what we know of his character, the passages
which excited censure.on the score of imputed
indelicacy are not likely to have issued from
his pen. There was a strong mixture of
applause and opposition when ABBOTT came
forward to announce the Play for repetition,
but we are persuaded that, with judicious
abridgement and compression, it will maintain its
ground, and, considering the admirable skill of
the acting, and the general beauty of the decora-
tions, &c. it will experience the general support
of the public. The house was very well attended.