The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-19 00:00:00

OLYMPIC THEATRE.

A new three-act tragedy, entitled The _Noble Heart,
was produced here last evening, in the most perfect
manner, both as regards acting and wise en scene,
and with, consequently, the most brilliant success.
The author is Mr. G. H. Lewes, a gentleman well
known for his intimate acquaintance with, and
thorough appreciation of, the great works of the
great Spanish dramatists—works which Corneille

thought it not beneath him .to adapt to the French
stage, and which our own dramatists of the Elizabethan
age studied as models of dramatic composition. The
Noble Heart bears, as might have been expected,
evident traces of the favourite studies of its author.
The plot is extremely simple, but at the same time
striking; and Mr. Lewes has most judiciously
avoided the introduction of any underplot, so that
the whole interest concentrates itself on the principal
personages, and is never once broken. The hero,
Don Gomm z de la Vega (Mr. G. V. Brooke), is a
Spanish nobleman, proud, chivalrous, and with the
most romantic notions of honour. He is about fifty
years of age, but still susceptible of love. He sees
Juanna (Mrs. Mowatt), the daughter of a merchant,
and loves her. He struggles long against this, in his
opinion, degrading passion ; but at length the pride
of the haughty Hidalgo gives way, and in spite of '
the warnings of Hermann (Mr. Ryder), an old
monk, who urges him to quit the world and retire to
a convent, Don Gomez demands the hand cf Juanna
of her father. Juairia, however, loves another, but
he is far away ; her father is on the verge of bank-
ruptcy ; she can save him from a prison
by accepting the hand of Gomez, and she makes
a sacrifice of herself to serve her father. Don Leon
(Mr. Davenport), the son of Don Gomez, returns
trom the wars on the day of his father's marriage. He
is met by the monk Hermann, and informed that his
father is about to degrade himself by marrying the
daughter of a merchant. Instead of being indignant,
as the monk had expected, Don Leon is delighted,
for be too loves a merchant's daughter, and now Don
Gomez cannot refuse to make him happy. Her
name, asks Hermann; Juanna, is the reply—yes,
that same Juanna who is bis father's bride is Leon's
love. He is about to rush into the church to prevent
the nuptials, when the organ peals forth and the
wedding procession appears leaving the church. Leon
and Juanna recognise each other; he flies from
her presence, but is followed by his father,
who would fain introduce his son to his
bride. In the next scene Juanna and Leon
meet alone. He is at first silent, but at length re-
proaches her bitterly with her falsehood, but when
he has heard from her how she bad been forced into
this marriage to save her father he relents, and she
falls into his arms, when recollecting she is his
father's bride, he leads her off, for though
her heart is his her hand is another s.
Gomez has witnessed the latter part of this last scene,
and enters agonized to madness with jealousy and
fury ; his servant Lissardo has also witnessed it, and
Gomez threatens him with vengeance if he dare dis-
close aught that he has seen, and then
dispatches him after Don Leon to demand his
instant attendance. Don Leon comes, and Gomez,
refusing to hear him, works himself up to such a
pitch of frenzy that, drawing his sword, he disowns
Leon. as his son, and insists on his drawing and engag-
ing deadly combat. At this point Juanna enters, and,
placing herself between the father and son,
relates the truth. Bowed down to the earth with
grief and horror, Gomez joins their hands, declares that
he will obtain from the Pope a dispensation to enable
them to marry, and retires himself with Hermann to
the cloister. The Gomez of Mr. G. V. Brooke is
'The
of the most powerful pieces of acting ever seen.
The whole of the last scene was sublime. Never
has the agony of wounded pride, of outraged
affection, and of disappointed love been more vividly,
more heartrendingly depicted, than by Mr. G.V. Brooke
in the scene immediately following the discovery of
his wife's supposed infidelity, and never has the hurri-
cane of rage, the madness of concentrated fury been
more powerfully delineated than by Mr. G. V. Brooke
in the scene which immediately follows with Don
Leon. It is only equalled by Edmund Kean's last
scene in Sir Giles'Overreach. The contrast between
the torrent of passion in these scenes and the
touching pathos and tenderness of the closing scene
which immediately fillows was appreciated by Mr.
G. V. Brooke with the taste of a scholar, and ren-
dered with the genius of a poet. Mr. Davenport's
Leon was a fine manly, chivalrous performance,
and Mrs. Mowatt's Joanna was full of tenderness and
beauty-4t was an embodied poem. The piece was
mounted in the most perfect manner, the scenery was
beautiful,: and the costumes superb ; the bridal pro-
cession was gorgeous. The principal artistes were
called before the curtain at the conclusion, and there
were loud calls for the author, who walked across the
stage, and was greeted with loud applause. The house
was exceedingly well attended.