The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-11 00:00:00

THEATRE ROYAL, DUBLIN.
If Knowles had pourtrayed no other character
than that of Julia in the Hunchback, it would at once
establish his name as a true poet; for, with a ten
that sheds a flood of light into the most secret re-
buses of a woman's heart, he reveals the hidden
truths of nature in language earnest and impressive,
and there is a naivete in the relation that at once
excites sympathy. But if the part creates deep inte-
rest even when perused in the closet, how much the
~12201 re does it attract when realised as it was by Mrs.
Kean on Saturday evening ? It was a piece of acting
which, with all the refinements of high art, had none
of its coldness, and which carried a conviction of its
truth that no incredulity could withstand. How truth-
ful the manner in which the impressions made on a
young heart by the fashionable follies of a city
were displayed—the self-reproach of one's better
nature at the change which has taken place, and the
Petulant anger that seeks to avert reproof of making
the cause for quarrel apparently arise from the oppo-
site party. The third act was truly admirable, that
in which Julia, after her estrangement from Sir
Thomas Clifford, in the first heat of womanly passion
consents to accept of the hand of the Earl of Roch-
dale. The quick beating of the breast swelling with
emotion—the rapid stet—the fitful bursts of chiding
against the still loved one—the effort to subdue regret
by dwelling on the splendour which must cause her
to be envied—these marked the struggle with an ac-
curacy that left nothing to be asked for by the au-
dience ; but Mrs. Kean's greatest triumph was in
the history of the finer passages of the heart ; when,
therefore, Master Walter asks her to sign the con-
tract with the Earl, the fond remembrances of the
Past return, and all this was displayed with exquisite
grace and pathos. Her scene with Sir Thomas Clifforcl,
now reduced to the rank of mere secretary to Loru
Rochdale, on the occasion of his bringing a letter from
his rival, is one of the most telling in the modern
drama ; and here again the earnest delivery—the
winning tenderness--the varied accents which marked
the alternations in the conflict between duty and
affection, and the beauty of the by-play, all evidenced
the consummate ability of the artist. The Sir
Thomas Clifford of Mr. Kean was a well marked and
clearly defined study, but the character is not one of
those in which he is seen to most advantage. He
appeared to us to be too self-collected, too much a
master of his own feelings, but this may have arisen
from his reading of the part; and, to judge from the
cheers of the house, his interpretation would seem to
have been regarded as the truest to the text of his
author. The Master Walter of Mr. Calcraft tended
to the strength with which the play was, gene-
rally speaking, cast; and Mrs. Ternan as Helen,
and Mr. King as Modus, are entitled to favour-
able notice. The afterpiece of Follies of a
Night proved quite a gem in miniature. '[he Duke
de Chartres of Mr. Kean was a gay, easy, and most
successful performance • and the Duchess found in
Mrs. Kean a truly charming representative. This
vaudeville is one which never grows dull for an
instant; it has been adapted to the stage in a kindred
spirit, and bears a person back to the days of a
brilliant period, when the most serious part of life
was a comedy, and the business of existence to learn
to be amused. The mistake at the masquerade—the
innocent accident by which the Duchess finds herself
in the sixth pair back room of the rustic Pierre Palliot—
the entry of the Duke, who makes love to his own wife,
unconscious of who the lady in the pink domino is—
the difficulties of Pierre—all these are very happily
treated, and the afterpiece passed off admirably.
Mr. Smythson did justice to his part, and was
humorous without apparent effort. There was some
excellent dancing during the evening, and the per-
formances were such as to eminently merit, what they
received, the plaudits of a crowded and fashionable
house.—Saunders's News Letter.