The Sun.
London, England, 1833-03-05 00:00:00

A new live-act Play, entitled Reputation, or the State Secret,
was produced last night. Otto, Count of Splugen (Mr. WARDS),
Minister to the Landgrave (Mr. G BENNETT), is secretly married
to the Princess Frederica (llissT AYLoa),sister to the Landgrave;
for he dreads the fury of his master, who has declared that
he would not scruple to shed his sister's blood should she
marry even an Emperor without his previous sanction. Being
discovered by Rodo/ph, a courtier (Mr. ABBOTT), on his re_
turn from a secret interview with the Princess, he, to avoid
suspicion, declares to him, and subsequently to the Landgrave,
that his visit was to one Helena, a lowly maiden (Miss E.
TREE), clo! eto whose house he was discovered. To make
his tale the more plausible he bribes Fritz, a little boy
(Mis PooLE) whom he pretends to fear has seen him leave
Helena's house, not to betray him, knowing that Rudolph
sees and overhears him. The boy, however, is forced to
confess how he obtained the money by his granddame,
Dame Glackern (Mrs. Gums), who forthwith trumpets to
all the neighbours the story that the chaste Helena has
received a visit from a cavalier, and the consequence is that
she is shunned by the whole of her former companions. Her
brother, Hugo, a common artisan (Mr. C. KEAN), is deter_
mined to find out her calumniator, and, tracing the tale to
Fritz, takes him to the exterior of the Landgrave palace,
where he may see all the courtiers pass, and point out the man
who had bribed him, should he be among them. Otto is pointed
out to him. He obtains an interview with the Minister, and
accuses him as the blighter of his sister's reputation. Otto
declares the innocence of Helena, whom he affirms he knows
not but by name, and offers Hugo gold ; but the latter will be
satisfied with nothing but Otto's public evidence that his tale is
false, by proving an alibi on the night in question. As this
could be done only by the betrayal of his important secret, the
request is of course refused. Hugo vows he will have justice
and revenge ; and, shortly after, through a tissue of circum-
stances which it would be impossible to detail here, not only
becomes possessed of Ott.i's secret, but even of a letter written
to him by Frederica. Otto, seeing in him a dangerous
enemy, causes him to be seized and imprisoned; but, be-
fore this can be effected, Hugo has placed the fatal let-
ter in the hands of Anselm (Mr. HAINEs), the lover of
Helena. Anselne encounters the Landgrave, who has come in
disguise to see the vaunted and humble favourite of his Minis-
ter: a conflict arises between them, in which the Landgrave
possesses himself of his sister's letter, which is addressed in an
envelope to himself, but not before he has received a pistol
wound from Anscbit. On discovering the whole truth, his
rage knows no bounds : he orders his sister for immediate
execution, and passes a similar sentence on Otto, but expires
as he is about to give the signal to the headsman. Frederica,
as his next heir, is instantly snatched from the block. The
necessity for the concealment of her marriage is at an end ;
Otto is proclaimed her husband, she is hailed Lanclgravinc, and
the cloud which hung over the reputation of the artizan's
sister is thus dispelled. These incidents have been managed
with considerable skill. From first to last, it is scarcely pos-
sible to anticipate the incidents; and, consequently, the
interest is well sustained throughout, even to the ca-
tastrophe, which takes us by surprise at the last moment.
Mr. C. KEAN's Hugo was an unequal performance, sometimes
marked, if not with an ignorance of, at least with a non-atten-
tion to, his author's meaning; but we were for the most part
satisfied with his performance, and occasionally ranch more than
satisfied. WARDE'S Otto was a judicious piece of acting. ELLEN
TREE was interesting and natural as Helena. The piece was
given out for repetition this evening by Mr. KEAN, amidst
some confusion, in which the applause predominated.