The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-06 00:00:00

HAYMARKET THEATRE.

Holcroft's old comedy of the Deserted Daughter
was revived here last evening, under the name of
• The Steward, and it met with great and deserved
• success ; a success owing entirely to the talents and
the exertions of the actors for the comedy itself is
the veriest common-place imaginable. As to the plot,
to make use of the expression of a French gentleman
g on l' a invente, mais c'est pourri
who was present, but who is thoroughly conversant
in English dramatic literature, c' etait tres bien pour
le temps lonue
mazntenant. It is altogether " used up. " Item
(admirably acted by Farren) is the rascally
Steward of Mordent (Mr. Stuart), who is the guar-
dian of Cheveril (Mr. Hudson), a fine, high-
spirited, dashing young fellow, the husband of Lady
Ann (Mrs. Clifford), a sentimental lady of fashion,
and the father of Joanna (Miss Julia Bennett), the
deserted daughter of a former marriage. Old Item,
knowing that Joanna is legitimate, has placed her with
his cousin, Mrs. Penfold (Mrs. Stanley), and, to secure
to himself Mordent's property, would fain marry the
innocent Joanna. Lennox, a roué friend of Mordent,
seeks her as a mistress, and Cheveril seeks her as a
wife. The complications arising from the preten-
sions of these three furnish forth the love-plot
of the comedy. Item has a nephew, Clement
(Mr. Braid), a paragon of virtue, and a tool, Grime
(Mr. Tilbury), a paragon of vice, in whose name he
advances money, at a most usurious rate, to Mordent,
and who appears in the character of " the remorseless
creditor ;" but the remorseless creditor and the unjust
steward quarrel as to the sharing of the plunder.
Their quarrel is overheard by the virtuous country
farm-bailiff, Jonathan Winter (Mr. Webster), Mor-
dent's eyes are consequently opened, and Item hay.
ing left a pocket book, containing " a full, true and
particular account of all his villanies," on
a table, which pocket-book, through the in-
tervention of Clement falls into the hands of
Mordent, justice is done to all parties—that is to say,
Mordent is restored to his estates ; Lady Ann, who
is somewhat jealous of "a mysterious lady," is re-
stored to her peace of mind, inasmuch as the said
mysterious lady turns out to be her husband's
daughter, and not his lady-love ; the daughter is re-
stored to her rank and to her lover, Cheveril, who has
frequently met her as an unknown beauty in the
Green Park ; and Item and Grimes are left to save
Jack Ketch trouble by executing speedy judgment
on themselves. In this outline of the plot, we have
omitted to mention one character, which has
nothing to do with the plot, but yet which
contributes materially to the success of the play,
Sarsnet, Lady Ann's lady's-maid, which was ad-
mirably acted by Mrs. Glover. The comedy was
very strongly cast. Stuart, as Mordent, was full of
energy and power, and Mrs. Clifford, as Lady Ann,
was most artistical. Webster's Jonathan Winter
was an honest, warm-hearted countryman, acted to
the life—acted as Webster only can act it. Hudson,
as Cheveril, was full of life and buoyancy ; but we
would just hint to him that it is not necessary to
make every gentleman an Irishman, and that to
speak through the nose is a great defect. Is Mr.
Hudson a great snuff-taker ? From the tone of his
voice we suspect he is ; if so, let him leave off the bad
habit, and his voice will then recover that resonance
in which at present it is lamentably deficient. Miss
Julia Bennett made a most interesting heroine, and
Mr. Braid, as Clement, exhibited great judgment.
The character of the piece, however, was Farren's
Item. It was perfection. Why does not Mr.
Farren try the character of Sir Giles Overreach ? His
success would be certain. It is a cognate character
to that of Item, and in the same proportion that
Messinger is superior to Holcroft, would Farren's
Sir Giles be superior to his Item. He would give us
a perfectly new reading of Messinger; but we' are
inclined to believe that his reading would be more
correct than that of his predecessors.