The Sun.
London, England, 1835-09-15 00:00:00

HE ENGLISH OPERA HOUSE.

_
night a new piece of diablerie, entitled The Dice
.cath, in three acts, the music by Loder, was performed
this Theatre. The plot is complicated ; but the general
:e,.llcePtion of the piece is good and well worked out. An
isee/ernal fiend (the well-known Mephistophiles) is repre-
6A4ted as walking about in a bodily form—or rather in va-
a'lls for
of tns_among the persons of the drama, taking ad-
betlttage the propensities to evil that lurk among the
he ter elements of their nature, and instigating those whom
li__leund the most liable to his seductions, first to fol-
47,_an_dothen. to crimes, till he involves them in destruction.
iols,:sutaunabeepair are bethrothed and about to be married. The
an has a tendency to fickleness, and has a fancy for
ase.ther woman. She is an artful wanton, and with the
of her brother persuades him that she has
long loved him, and is pining in grief on account of his
tapproaching marriage to her rival. Under the spell of
Q_e fiend he not only abandons his betrothed bride, but
YvalPels
her, by frantic threats, to return the ring he had
grsliecia.bnas.a pledge of fidelity. The poor girl dies of
first "416111ng the destiny revealed to her lover, when he
put himself into the demon's power, by endeavouring to
thus
the secrets of futurity. Ernest, the young man.
te 8 Involved in misery and crime re-appears, after an in-
iarval of two years, still under the influence of the fiend,
st the shape of deadly hatred of the man who had been in-
hardamental in betraying him, the brother of the woman who
the pretended to love him. They meet accidentally ; and
an q
, tend still prompting, Ernest ruins his enemy at play,
ld "ins from him, as his last stake, his own ring which his
letsa.rY wore on his finger. He is now seized with afrantic
hit
ernunation to recover the counterpart of this ring, which
s (lead bride carried to the tomb with her ; and the
hren'°° throwing himself in his way in the guise of the
tale-teller whom he had first met, undertakes to raise
a living form, from the tomb, on condition that
thesuall stake his life against the ring on a throw of
de,,e_sa,lne dice which he had just been using. On the
the u.ll s evocation, a being appears in the garments of
east 'cad, and the dice being 'thrown, Ernest loses the
' and the demons disappear together, announcing. to
whinoutibat his life is forfeited.. Meanwhile his enemy,
he bad ruined, is instigated by the fiend to recover
bits .:'°neY by the murder of its possessor. He follows
isrnprioto the churchyard, and shoots him just as his doom.
a Prig to
He seizes his murderer, however, with a
..eath •
are grapple, strangles him, and they die together. These
of ate,Prineipal incidents of the piece, relieved with others
schooler cast. They are too much in the
.ultra-German
iur! ; and heightening, extravaance and excessive hror
whin,ofttead. of the very impressive idea on
011,0 .;tle piece is founded,—that the indulgence of our
anion evll Passions is the fiend who constantly walks about.
hiCig us, seeking whom'to devour. It was got up with
841?1; splendour, and admirably acted in all its parts. 0.
°f course, was the Mephistophiles—not a niFlo-
snp—lle devil breathing fire and smoke, but the laughing,
pa;ePcg, familiar fiend of Goethe. Serle displayed great
end-81°11
gentledan energy in Ernest. Miss Healey was
,sweet
in the deserted damsel. Miss P. Hortpn s part
:Ls a disagreeable dne, but she made the most of it. The
kieure is a masterly composition. in the style of Weber
wer ,
eontaining not only some charming melodies, but very
fill orchestral effects.