The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-23 00:00:00

HAYMARKET THEATRE.

1 After the performance of the Wife's Secret at this
theatre last evening, in which the attraction of Mr.
and i‘lrs. Charles Kean continues undiminished, a
lively, sparkling, two-act comedy, from the facile pen
of Mr. Dion 13oureicault, was produced, with the
most complete and the most deserved success. The
title of the comedy is the Knight of Area. The
hero is an Irish gentleman (capitally played by Hud-
son, who seized, as though by intuition, the nuances of
the character, that of a Preux chevalier of Ireland of
the olden times, and developed them to perfection).
The scene is laid in Spain. The time is A.D.1480. The
Knight of Arva, though fantastic, is interesting.
"The language is apt, poetical, and sprightly—
the dialogue is brilliant and rapid, and never
suffers the attention to halt or wander. The hero
(the Knight of Arva) is an Irishman of so noble a
lineage that his ancestors, whilst Noah was sailing in
his ark, disdained to share the refuge, but defied the
deluge of waters in a " boat of their own." Un-
fortunately, having braved the grand cataclysm on
nature, the fortunes of his race have been ship-
wrecked in the lesser turmoils of life, so that to
Connor, Knight of Arva (Mr. Hudson), no heirloom
has been lea except a trusty sword, .'yclept (by the
bearer, according to the fashion of Paladins
and Knights Errant of old) not Durinda or
Alcoban, but Tippitywitchet. Connor is there-
fore as poor as Don Cresar de Bazan, and as ready
in his services as Roquefinette—as gallant and loyal
as the chivalric leader of Condottieri the great Italian
Republic honoured with a still existing tomb. After
following several royal leaders, the Knight of Am,
having shared in the defeat of Charles of Burgundy,
has taken refuge in Catalonia, at a posada, where be
pays the host for his reckoning by a flash of his sword,
whilst he bewitches the hostess by a flash of his eye.
As he takes his morning walk he descries a cavalier
beset by armed men. He rushes to his rescue, but only
reaches the scene of the conflict in time to kill two of
the assailants, and to save from their grasp a letter and
dispatches they had torn from the dying man, who
is no less a personage than the Earl of Suffolk, sent in
disguise to urge the suit of the Prince of Wales, son
of that cautious monarch Henry VII., with the
Princess Marina, the lovely heiress of Catalonia (Miss
Reynolds), at whose Court the beau damoiseau, the
Duke of Chabannes (Mr. Vandenhoff), on the part
of France, and the heavy Count Offenboer (Mr.
Rogers) on the part of Austria, are-likewise urging
the matrimonial behests of their respective royal
masters. Don Diego Volpone (Mr. Tilbury),- the
Prime Minister of the young Sovereign, finds the
aforesaid dispatches addressed to him in the hands
of Connor at the moment he is about to expel
the bold adventurer, who has dared to cast eyes of
" love at first sight" on the Princess, from the
Spanish realms. He supposes him to be the Earl of
Suffolk, and all his denials and his cavalier language
and bearing he only deems exquisite diplomacy. As
the dispatches contain a heavy bribe from the English
Monarch, and as the Minister possesses in a remark-
able degree that gratitude which is " a lively sense of
future favours," he encourages Connor to make love
to the Princess, who listens nothing loth to this new
language of the heart, which, like truth, is unknown at
Courts. The Ambassadors,who see his influence, wish to
enlist the good offices of the Knight in favour of their
Sovereigns' interests, shower upon him all the greatest
distinctions their Royal masters can confer, so that
the Knight encounters no opposition but a trifling
one on the part of the Princess's chaperon, the stiff
Baroness Buckramstern (Mrs. William Clifford),
" whose office," the Knight says, " is to threw buckets
of cold water on those whcm the Princess has set in
flames," and who is "just thirty years too old
to understand the language of passion." Whilst
Don Diego Volpone and the two Ambassadors are
detaining one another to allow the Knight time
to work out the object of the several errands they
have commissioned him to perform, he marries the
willing Princess, not by proxy for the Prince of Wales,
as the Minister thinks, but takes her for his own
" entire." At last the great oppcinents resign them-
selves to their fate, each ambassador consoling him-
self with the defeat of his rival diplomatist, whilst
Volpone forgets his mistake in his elevation to the
dukedom of Lerida. Miss Reynolds, as the Princess,
looked brighter than a picture ofVelasquez, and
acted with even more than her wonted grace, feeling,
and dignity. Mr. Hudson dashed off his part with
true Hibernian spirit, not losing sight of that touch
of chivalry necessary to maintain the interest of the
part. Mrs. William Clifford, Tilbury, Rogers, and
Vandenhoff were excellent, whilst the costumes,
the scenery, and the whole mise en scene were
characteristic, picturesque, and withal most splendid.
The success of the comedy, which had never been
doubtful for a moment, for the audience had tho-
roughly appreciated the beauties of the piece, and had
received every happy hit in the dialogue with the
most rapturous applause, was, at the fall of the cur-
tain, triumphant. Hudson was called for, Miss
Reynolds was called for, the author was called for,
and the piece was announced for repetition three
times a week amidst the most enthusiastic applause.
The house was crowded.