The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON. FRIDAY, AUGUST' 2,', iB4l.

ENGLISH OPERA HOUSE.

Last night found the stage of the English Opera
House devoted to a purpose widely different from any
for which it has heretofore been employed. The con-
certs and the gay promenaders had ceased their pleasan-
tries : the season of the regular drama had closed, and
the stage was consequently left as a bare platform,
upon which a trial of strength was to have issue,
and which was to be productive of an ultimate decision
with the public as to whether a play—and by inference,
plays—which had by the censors and managers of the
Theatres Royal been adjudged as unactable, were or were
not; standing upon the base of their own naked excellence,
calculated to attract an audience, or exact applause.
Martinuzzi, or the Patriot, from the pen of Mr. George
Stephens, was the drama put forward to stand the test,
and great expenditure was made to supply the rich rob-
ings and apparel, as well as the scenery. Cardinal Mar-
tinuzsi, the leading character, and about whom all
the (vents of the drama wheel, is gifted with the
same superabundance of that priestly Jesuitry which has
in all ages distinguished the pontiff of the scarlet hat.
The events on which the drama is founded have all their
origin in his deep-laid serpent-policy, and the roots of
ambition in bis heart. The cradle of the regal house of
Austria is, shortly after the birth of the child by the
Empress of. Duke John, imposed upon by the wily Car-
dinal ; the rightful male heir is brought to his own
Palace :at Ermstadt, while a changeling, his own
daughter, is substituted in the young Prince's stead ;
the girl, of course, being reared as the future
Queen of Transylvania. These things are all, as the
Cardinal hopes, hid in trusty darkness, and the disco-
very of certain documents wbich passed between him-
self and his coadjutors at Court at the time, and which
come subsequently into the hands of the Queen and King of
Hungary, alone unravel the nefarious designs of the arch-
prelate, and ultimately defeat his schemes. For his own
aggrandizement, he had premeditated marriage between
the soi-disant Czarina of Hungary (Miss Maywood), his
daughter, and the young King Sigismund (Miss Fitz-
waiter), his ward ; but a rapid blasting of his political
prospects takes place, and, at the marriage scene, poison
is secretly administered him by the Queen Isabella (Mrs.
Warner), who feigns to pledge him in a brimming cup;
Castaldo (Mr. Elton), whose plans have been thwarted
by the Cardinal, stabs, by mistake, his daughter, whom
he was embracing, and the curtain falls, like a fu-
neral pall, over the life and designs of Martinuzzi.
Martinuzzi, of the characters, is undoubtedly the ablest
drawn. The quick intuitions of the jesuitical priests—
the clearness which his own quick apprehension
possesses of piercing into the souls of others
—the subtle and enthralling webs which his
crafty policy have wove around himself, and the dread
earthquakes of spirit experienced on the frustration of
his schemes, were represented by Mr. Phelps with great
tragedial ability. The gorgeous Queen-Mother, per-
sonated bey Mrs. Warner, was 'an imperious part, and
capable ot power.

It
certainly might be cried out upon as a vexation
that intermediate song and music should spoil the con-
tinuous current of the drama, as was the ease last night
by compulsion, butt it must, nevertheless, be
confessed, that Miss Collett rendered it an
intrusion far more pleasant than offensive. The
play, on the whole, abounds with scatterings of poesy
and good thought : it is throughout flowery as the
fields of Enna, perhaps to an over-luxuriance—a fault
altogether on the right side. The house was very fully
attended, and the play was encouraged with marked ap.
plause. The entertainments concluded with a burletta
in one act, entitled the Cloak and the Bonnet.