The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-09 00:00:00

LYCEUM THEATRE.

A new and original drama from the pen of Mr.
Shirley Brooks, was produced at this Theatre last
evining with the most complete success. It is entitled
The Creole; or, Love's Fetters. The scene is laid in
the Island of Mauritius, at the time of the outbreak
of the French Revolution. The following description
of the social state of the Island at the time (extracted
from Mr. Pridham's work entitled " The History
of England's Colonial Empire"), will enable the
reader to understand completely the plot of this most
interesting drama :—" The Creole part of the popu-
lation made themselves remarkable by the intrepidity
they displayed on board the fleets of France, or by
the efforts of individual enterprise. But the Euro-
pean looked with disdain upon the Creole, who, in
turn, regarded the former as an adventurer. . . . The
Islanders were held in contempt by the poor noblesse
of Mauritius, on account of their ignoble extraction.
. . . It was remarked also, towards the latter end
of the century, the French inhabitants of
Mauritius appeared neither independent in their cir-
cumstances, nor easy in their minds, though they
afected dress and gaiety. ..rhe condition of the slave
was that of the lowt st and must abject degradation.
Numbers of these unfortunates had European blood
in their veins, being the offsprirg of liusons between
the planters and their slaves,
,b,ut such a pedigree
yon
only increased their misfortune.
tlhplemirirseendceh
(Mr. Leigh Murray), an efficer
revo-
lutionary it
army, a Mauritian by birth, but educated
in France, has succeeded to the posstssion of a large
estate in the 'Mauritius. His father has placid him
under the guardianship of Darairon (Mr. F. Ma-
thews) a planter, and has so left his property as to
deprive Alphonse of the power of emancipating any
of his slaves for five years. Damirtin is largely in-
debted to the father u; Alphonse, and wishes to bring
about a match between his daughter Virginie (Miss
Mary Keely) and Alphonse, so as to cancel the debt.
Alphonse, in his rides, has seen a beautiful creature
Louise Fauriel (Miss aiay), with whom he has fallen
desperately in love. Anthony Latour (Mr Emery)
who, to repair his shattered fortunes, is anxious to
marry Virginie, but who has been rejected with dis-
dain on account of his birth, knows of this penchant
of Alphonse and determines to exploiti it to his own
advantage. Anthony possesses no property, and,
moreover he owes a large debt to a Jew Bokes (ca-
pitally acted by Keeley), to whom he has given
what English lawyers would designate a warrant
of attorney upon the whole of his property as
security. Anthony, to further his own ends, under-
takes to introduce in public Alphonse to Louise, and
does so, but he introduces Louise to him as his slave.
It is too true. She was the slave of the father of
Alphonse, and a union between them is impos-
sible. He cannot emancipate her according to
the provisions of his father's will. He can-
not marry his slave according to the laws of
the island. His regiment disembarks, and here we
are introduced tohis Lieutenant, Hyacinth St. Emilion
(Miss Dickenson), a dandy, but still a brave officer
and a capital swordsman, and to the Vivandiere of the
regiment, Bellona St. Mars (Mrs. Keeley) who
keeps the whole regiment in order. Bellona is present
at the discovery of the situation of Louise, and Bokes,
pursued by a mob, enters, when she at once takes
him under her protection, and expresses her regret
that she is not in Paris, where she would have got up
a little revolution on her own account, and have freed
Louise. Anthony Latour, then proposes to Alphonse
that he should sell Louise to him and promises to
emancipate her, so that, being a free woman,
Alphonse may be enabled to marry her. Alphonse
falls into the trap, transfers Louise to Anthony, who
makes it a condition that Alphonse shall obtain for
him the hand of Virginie. Old Damiron at once
rejects such a mesalliance, preferring to brave Al-
phonse and to encounter beggary, which will be his
doom if Alphonse calls upon him to liquidate his
debt, to giving his daughter to a creole. Virginie,
too, is equally opposed to the match. She has fallen
in love with the dandy Hyacinthe, and the conse-
quence is a duel between Hyacinthe and An-
thony, in which the latter is mortally wounded.
Anthony is brought in dying, but the creole
is determined to have his revenge ; he be-
queaths his slave to his cousin, a planter in the Island
of Bourbon. Bokes, by command of Bellona, claims
all Anthony's property as hiS, and the slave amongst
the rest, but Anthony appeals to the law of Mauri-
tius, which declares that no alitn can hold a slave,
and Bokes being a Jew, is an alien, and cannot possess
slaves. The revengeful creole triumphs even in
death, when suddenly a shout is heard without. It
is an arrival from France. A decree of the Conven-
tion, abolishing slavery throughout the French
dominions, is put into the hands of the Governor.
Louise, no longer a slave, rushes into the arms of
Alphonse. Anthony dies, and the curtain falls.

This is an admirably built, admirably written, and
admirably acted drama. The interest never flags,
anti its success was complete. We congratulate Mr.
Shirley Brookes on his success. lie has produced
the most complete drama that has been presented to
the public for many a long day. The scenery
was very good, and the music, by Alexander Lee,
the prince of inelodists, was beautiful exceedingly;
The melody, " Waves of gold in music breaking,
sung by Miss Mary Keeley, is a gem. There are
divers excellent hits in the course of the dialogue;
among others we marked the following :—The Creole
debtor would fain do his Jew creditor and proposes
that as they are both individuals of a proscribed race,
they should enter into an alliance, an &dente cordiale
against the rest of mankind. "Ah," replies the Jew,
" Entente cordiale. I don't exactly know what that
means, but I suppose it is the French for humbug."
This was received with three distinct rounds of ap-
plause by a house crowded to the ceiling.