The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-18 00:00:00

He replies :

" Is it so large ?
There still is room ? how many will it hold ?
In such a sense as it is due to all,
' • ' -

Then, all the human kind ; hut i❑ that straiter
And inner clasp where love lies hoarded up,

Then only thee."
Ilis words, his manner frighten her, but all further
parley between them is prevented by the entrance of
Jahez, who announces that a troop of horse are in
the court below, sent to arrest a malignant, who had
sought shelter within the mansion. In an agony Lady
Evelyn demands of her husband to shield him from
danger. Roused to madness, Walter rushes, sword
in hand, to the door of the bower chamber, but Eve-
lyn throws herself across his path. In a voice chok-
ing with rage and agony, Walter commands her to
give way, declaring that her own life is not safe ;
when, placing- herself before the door of the bower
chamber, she replies—
" Why, take it then—
So his be spared. Living thou shalt not pass me.
Here is my pit, and if thou wilt advance,
My heart lies upon thy bloody road."

This scene was magnificently acted by Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Kean. Walter, however, will not have her
disgrace and his dishonour made public, and therefore
dismisses the Parliamentary officers without suffering
them to search the bower chamber. He, however,
determines to separate from her for ever, and an-
nounces to her his determination. She seeks in vain
to mollify him ; she is ignorant of what cause could
urge him to such extremity. He speaks of the fugi-
tive as her paramour, and then the truth bursts upon
her. The acting of Mrs. Charles Kean at
this trying moment was beautifully pathetic,
beautifully true to nature ; never have the
mingled workings in the heart, of pride, indignation,
and sorrow, been more truly, more exquisitely deli-
neated. She now consents at once to their separation.
If the accusation be true, she is not worthy of him ;
if false, he is not worthy her. Still, he would fain
hare some hope ; he almost asks her to declare her
innocence, and that will satisfy him. He asks—
" Can we again be what we have been?"
Lady Evelyn replies—

" Never I
The woman once suspected, from that hour
Is never safe again—the sacred fence
That hedged her in, when once a doubt has entered,
Is broken down; another doubt will follow
With less obstruction—easier still the next—

Till they have worn themselves a beaten track,

And trust dwells there no more."
He gives her a safe conduct to France, tells her to
take what she will with her, and orders Maud and
the Page to accompany her. He hands her the safe
conduct. She observes it is not signed. "And can
she be so calm at such a moment ?" observes Walter,
in a tone of the most intense agony. The pass is de-
livered to Evelyn, who gives it unobserved to Maud.
An alarm is heard without; a man on horseback is
seen escaping. The plot is evident to Walter—
it is his wife's paramour escaping with the pass. He
demands the pass of her, and , rushing to a window,
gives orders to fire on the fugitive. In an agony
she clings to him, and exclaims—
"Ha ! It is my brother
Walter, it is my brother! "
It is too late; he believes her not; a shot is fired,
and the fugitive falls; his horse, however, alone is
shot, and a moment after the Lord Arden is brought
in a prisoner, and Evelyn's honour is cleared.
This most effective play was most effectively acted
by all concerned. Mrs. Charles Kean was beautiful
exceedingly as the Lady Evelyn. No living artist
could have acted it like her. We have no one
on the stage who can perform the high-born,
high-bred, proud, impassioned lady like Mrs. Charles
Kean. Witness her performance in Love—witness
her exquisitely beautiful and most womanly and lady-
like performance of Lady Evelyn last evening. Mr.
Charles Kean has vastly improved during his long
Sojourn in America. An actor of high genius (the
only actor of real genius as contradistinguished from
mere talent at present on the stage), he occasionally
marred his efforts by the besetting sin of men of genius,
—exaggeration ; but his artist-like feeling, his ex-
quisite taste, and his intense study, have enabled him
to overcome every tendency to this fault : all is
chaste, all is pure, and yet he is as intensely
impassioned as ever— as effective, as picturesque.
Taste has in him chastened genius, so as to form a
perfect artiste. Webster, as Jabez, dressed and
acted the old steward to the life. Mrs. Keeley, as
Maud, was quaint and most amusing, and Miss
Reynolds looked the prince of pages. All were
called for at the conclusion, and the reception of Mr.
and Mrs. Kean, like their welcome on their first
entrance, was most enthusiastic. 'Webster announced
the piece for repetition every evening of their engage-
ment ; after which there were loud calls for the
author, who bowed his thanks from a private box.

(From the Times.)
The long dramas produced of late have not been
successful, and while the number brought out has
been far greater than at previous epochs, the oftener
has recurred to us the painful duty of recording
failures more or less respectable. And in the case of
the Haymarket Theatre this duty has been particu-
larly painful. It is in this house that authors, who
have aimed at a literary kind of dramatic composition
have chiefly found a field for their exertions; and,
probably, in theatrical records, there is not to be
-found a manager more liberal than Mr. Webster in
the encouragement of dramatic productions.
The course of failure seems at last happily inter-
rupted, and we may declare the fate of Mr. Lovell's
new play to be a legitimate success. Let us not be
misunderstood in the use of this word " legitimate,"
so often employed without any definite meaning at
all. This drama scarcely even pretends to belong to
the highest class of composition, nor does it aim at
anything like creation or original collision ; poetical
passages of beauty occur here and there, but these
cannot be said to constitute the characteristic of the
work. By " legitimate" success, we mean that the
audience really liked the piece, and that many future
audiences are likely to be pleased with it also. They
were not merely moved by that mischievous sort of
etiquette which compels a sanguine author to put his
head out of his snug private box on the first night of
his piece,when he is doomed to see it slip out of the bills
within a week after the felicitous event.

The theme of the Wife's Secret (so the play is
called) is the reverse of new, and is simple to an ex-
treme degree. The author has been compelled to use
obvious artifice to work it out so as to render gradual
progress possible. When a mutual understanding
between the dramatis persona would have solved a
mystery too soon, and prematurely cut the knot that
was to be unravelled, he has delayed the critical mo-
ment by employing seeming accident to avoid expla-
nation, or by,sealing up the mouth of the principal
speaker with an oath of secrecy. But he has managed
his work skilfully, he has sustained the interest of his
audience through five acts, and while his subject is
transparent he has succeeded in exciting surprise at
the successive stages of development.
Though new to the London boards, the Wife's Se-
cret has been played in America by Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Kean, who brought it with them to this
country. They made their debut in it last night ;
and in consequence of its success, it is to be repeated
every night during their engagement.
Lady Eveline, the wife, is played to perfection by
Mrs. Charles Kean. She makes the character ex-
quisitely gentle and feminine, rising on occasion to
a haughtiness of conscious right, and looking with
abhorrent indignation at the imputation of wrong.
It was by the admirable preservation of the
tenderer side of the character that the sterner
traits produced their effect, for in her whole
performance there was nothing forced or exag-
gerated. While conscious that she has a secret
which she cannot disclose to her husband, the honest
fearlessness with which, in one of the critical situa-
tions of the piece, she looks unshrinkingly into her
husband's face, is beautifully conceived : and when
towards the end she is plainly accused of infidelity,
the change in her countenaner., and the deliberate
manner in which she says

---11 I did not think
I could so nearly hate thee,"
is exceedingly fine. It should be observed, that al-
though she
is aware that'she is suspected of harbour-
ing a fugitive, it is not till late that she finds a doubt
is entertained as to her virtue, and the disclosure of
this doubt comes upon her as a thunderbolt, the shock
of which her pure soul is unable to sustain. The in-
trinsic goodness of the Lady Eveline is never lost
sight
of by Mrs. Kean, who endows virtue with all
its cheerfulness and all its indignation.
The character of Sir Walter Amyot, the husband,
though well conceived by the author, is one capable
of less delicate effects than that of the Lady Eveline.
Bursts of sorrow, rage, or despair, mark the chief
phases in his position. Mr. Charles Kean, who played
the character, has, in a great measure, softened those
mannerisms by which he was distinguished prior to
his departure for America. He read the part well
well throughout, and though there was perhaps some-
what of sameness in the more violent passages of the
character, many of the strokes of pathos were given in
a really touching manner. The attitudes, expression
of dejection, and a sense of abandonment, which often

occur in the course of the piece, and which give a
picturesque character to the part, were well devised
and striking.
That admirable actress, Mrs. Keeley, plays a
lady's-maid, forced into puritanism by the manners of
the time, yet dropping the garb of sanctity at every
possible opportunity. The alternation of the nasal
twang with her own merry little voice tells with ex-
cellent effect, and the piquancy of the actress renders
this trifling part one of the most interesting in the
piece. Mr. Webster plays the crabbed dishonest
steward with care and judgment, and dresses the cha-
racter to perfection. Indeed, in the art of dressing so
as completely to change his exterior individuality,
Mr. Webster has scarcely an equal on the stage.
Mr. and Mrs. Kean, at the end of the performance
last night, were enthusiastically called by a crowded
house, and received a shower of bouquets ; Mr.
Lovell was invited to bow from his box ; Mr. Web-
ster was loudly applauded when he announced the
play for repetition ; and, lastly, Mrs. Keeley and
Miss
_Reynolds (who acted a page) were summoned
before the curtain.

(From the Chronicle.)
There was a double attraction at this house last
night—the representation, for the first time in this
country, of Mr. Lovell's five act play, called The
Wife's Seeret, and the re-appearance, upon London
boards, of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean. The drama
achieved a complete triumph, and the success of its
principal performers was not less decided, and not
less deserved. Indeed, we have not often known the
applause of a "first night" so evidently spontaneous
and genuine, and it was bestowed with equal hearti-
ness upon the play and the two old favourites who
filled its principal characters.
We shall speak of the drama first. The Wife's
Secret will be in some quarters called a melodrama.
And it is a melodrama, but a good one, and we have
yet to learn that a melodrama—that is, a mixed
drama in which skilfully built up story and
striking situation and effect are added to poetical
conception, and keen and acute delineation of cha
racter—we have still to learn that a play of this class
may not take equal rank as a work of artistic genius,
with dramas which possess far higher pretensions and
far lower capabilities. The Wife's Secret is, in the
first place, an interesting play. That is one great
point gained. The man who sees the first act will
stay to see the last. The story, in its general fea-
tures, is clear, simple, and natural; while the interest
flows on in a broad, unbroken current. The tale, too,
is managed with great dramatic tact and ability; you
feel that a clear head has guided its course, has planned
out every scene, and put an artistic finish to the
work, which is not in these days to be frequently met
with. The characters have little subtlety in concep-
tion or execution. They are struck out broadly and
boldly with a hand which is steady in outline drawing,
and not unskilled in more minute filling in—touches
which show the master. The dialogue is not bril-
liant, neither is it dull. Here and there are touches of
poetry, put naturally and effectively; but in general
—and it is high praise to say so—the characters talk
very much in the fashion they would have used had
they been realities instead of fancies.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean did their parts full
justice. We doubt whether the character of Eveline
is one which calls Mrs. Kean's full powers into play,
but she rendered it with a genial force and exquisite
touches of simple pathos. Were we to name the
grand characteristic of her performance we should
say it consisted in the full, tender, womanly spirit
which she breathed forth over all the delineation.
There was an utter absence of all exaggeration and
straining in her performance, but there was in it a
heartiness, a full earnest glow of mingled passion and
pathos which the audience not only appreciated but
shared.

Mr. Charles Kean has made decided progress
since we saw him last. His manner is much toned
down, and that without the loss of energy or power.
He played last night with great passion and with
great 'pathos. He is more artistic than he was.
Nothing could be finer than the bursts of grief
which choked his utterance after the discovery of
his wife's supposed infidelity, and the closing scene
was [given with great energy and commanding
power.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean were recalled on the
fall of the curtain amid a perfect storm of applause.
The subordinate parts are comparatively slight,
Webster's make pp as the old steward was quite
Vandykean, and Mrs. Keeley played a little part—
that of a saucy handmaiden of the heroine—Puritan
in a ppearance, but Cavalier in heart—with exqui-
sitely clever sauciness and great apparent relish. :she
shared with the hero and heroine of the night the
honour of a call.

(From the Advertiser.)
Last night the long-announced and anxiously-
expected new play was produced at this house with
triumphant success. On many accounts, the occa-
sion had been looked forward to as interesting and at-
tractive in an unusual degree. The first representa-
tion of an English drama, of "legitimate" preten-
sions, is, of itself, sure to offer powerful charms to
a large class of playgoers. Then, last night, there
was the pleasure added of once again greeting the
dramatic productions of an author who has already
succeeded, on several occasions, in gratifying the
public by effective comedies. Their titles—Love's
Sacrifice, Look before you Leap, The Provost of
Bruges, &c., will at once recal many a recollection of
hours right pleasantly passed in hearing " the quick
comedians" give utterance to his language, and
moreover, good effect thereto, as well. Greatly in-
creased interest, also, was imparted to the perforinancce
last night, in consequence of it being made the medium
of introducing Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean to a London
audience, for the first tune since their return from Ame-
rica. They have fulfilled various engagements, sub-
sequently to that return, in the provinces, and
very recently, in Dublin ; but, in the metropolis, they
have not appeared for many years. It is almost
needless, therefore, to state that the audience were
eager to behold once again those who have been so
well known on the English stage, and who were so
successful in their transatlantic trip. The delays
occasioned by the envious and unenviable influenza
(which caused the production of the play to be de-
ferred from last Monday) having been surmounted,
the first representation took place yesterday evening.
In recording this circumstance, and without regard
to the success or intrinsic merits of the piece itself,
we cannot avoid expressing the sense of the praise-
worthy and persevering efforts of Mr. Webster, in
support of our high-classed native draina. Through
good and evil days through encouragement and
frequent discouragement, he has proceeded, intel-
ligently and energetically, on his way, his exer-
tions ever having the tendency to elevate the Eng-
lish stage, and to encourage all promising, as well as
established and popular dramatic writers. Many
names which now hold an estimable position in
public repute, might be mentioned as having first ob-
tained a hearing for their plays at his delightful
theatre. But these facts are too generally known,
and we hope, appreciated, to require more remark
thereon from us on the present occasion. It will be
more appropriate, indeed, at once to proceed to de-
scribe last night's proceedings, and to record the
style, character, and fate, of this " new and original
play." It is entitled, The Wife's Secret, and has the
legitimate number of acts—five. Contrary, how-
ever, to what has often been obviously the result of
adhering to that set length, this production did not
in any respect suffer therefrom. There was no re-
tarding of the action of the piece, as too frequently
is rendered requisite, in order to make the incidents
last out the prescribed number of acts. Indeed, the
construction throughout was admirably skilful and
effective ; and the consequence was that not for one
minute did the interest flag, mar the progress of the
plot, halt or linger to the detriment of the general
effect. Too high praise could not well be bestowed
upon the performance of the principal parts in this in-
teresting play. Mrs. C. Kean (whose reception was
enthusiastic, while her husband's was also very hearty
and flattering to him) rendered the heroine a
character of great beauty and deep interest. Her '
performance was throughout earnest, unaffected,
elegant, and impassioned. liar concluding scenes
were especially fine. Mr. Kean was admirable as Sir
'Walter. It was a singularly careful and well studied
representation ; and the struggles between an ardent
and surely founded affection, and the dictates of
jealousy and strongly damnatory evidence, were
powerfully and efficiently displayed. Mrs. Keeley's
Maud was a singularly well sustained, finished, and
striking performance. It was wonderfully natural
and clever. Beneath the outward seeming of sanctity
which Maud has to assume, as she states, in accord-
ance with the fashion of the times, there ever and
anon peeped out the true and "carnal" spirit of the
woman. The quaintness, naivete and heartiness
which shone throughout were delicious, and were
enjoyed by the audience to the utmost. Miss
Reynolds, as a gay gallant, and many-coloured page,
made much of the part entrusted to her; and Mr.
Howe was also a *good representative of the fugitive
cavalier. Mr. Webster's version of Jabez was
painstaking and very effective. The canting, cunning
craft of the character was admirably well displayed,
and the dressing of the part was excellent. Indeed
the play has been, in every respect, beautifully placed
upon the stage. The scenery (by Mr. P. Phillips,
Mr. G. Morris, We.) is especially deserving of high
praise. It still remains to speak of the poetical merits
of the drama ; and it is gratifying to be able to pro-
nounce them, at once, great and numerous. The lan-
oagmrfui
odpas get
oftentimes
iul
da fiar ntboe
laudatory
yaa
unhtdyigtahhnl eyd
plaudits t
eh:
xmoacunao ggldl hie
tntnhsacetopi owerful, impressive,
audience,v weel ia n3a receivedt
o passagesgetwhietrh,
appeared unanimous in their favourable reception of
this interesting and impressive play. At its conclusion
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean were brought forward,
and numerous bouquets were cast at the feet of the
gifted actress. The author was then called for, and
bowed his acknowledgments from one of the stage
boxes. Mrs. Keeley was, most deservedly, afterwards