The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-16 00:00:00

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
The royal play which was performed at Windsor.
Castle on Thursday, under the superintendence of
Mr. Charles Kean, was reproduced on Saturday
night at the Princess's, with as nearly as possible the
same cast, and right royally was it put upon the stage.
The play was the first part of King Henry 1 V., and
certainly never in our time has such attention been
paid to the mise en scene of this play. The great
feature of the evening was the re-appearance of Mr.
Bartley, after an absence from the stage of eight
years, in the character of Sir John Falstaff.
After witnessing his performance, both those
who had then seen him for the first time,
and those who recognised him as an old friend,
asked why he had so long remained aloof
from the stage. The former acknowledged that in their
I time they had never seen such a Falstaff, whilst the
latter recognised in him the same vigour as ever ;
while his genial, rich, and unctions humour seemed,
like good wine, to have been ripened and mellowed by
age. His power is unabated, and we hope that, having
once returned to the stage, Mr. Bartley will not think
of again quitting it so long as be preserves
his present vigour. The truth is, he can-
not be spared. his greeting was one
the most cordial that could be bestowed, and he
seemed to feel as an old friend should, his hearty
welcome—" Fat Jack" is himself again. Mr. Charles
Kean was the Hotspur, and was excellent in every
phase of the character:; by turns fiery and sarcastic
(witness his admirable rendering of the letter scene),
he was the very chivalrous Harry Percy that
Shakspere drew. His admirable fencing in the con-
cluding scene of his life told with magical effect ; and
the flashing eye, the compressed lip, and the despe-
rately determined onslaught, gave to the whole
scene an air of reality which we have
never before seen imparted to it. Mrs.
Charles Kean, to her credit be it spoken, con-
sented to take the part of Lady Percy, and raised it to
a first-rate character by her admirable acting. The
scene between herself and her husband was in conse-
quence, if not the finest scene of the play, certainly
among the finest. Mrs. Keeley's Dame Quickly was
quaint, testy, irascible, yet shrewd withal ; not quite
so " Gampy" as that of some of her predecessors, but
perhaps none the worse for that. That promising
actor, Mr. Belton (from whom we expect great
things), makes a spirited, gentlemanly, and " most
sweet young Prince." In the latter scenes, more
especially, he was admirable, and at the conclusion he
was honoured with a call, which, however, he was
some time in obeying. Addison's Bardolph was very
excellent, perhaps the best on the stage at present ;
since poor Strickland we have bad no one who
can approach him in this line of character.
Meadows resumed his old character of Francis;
and Keeley and Harley were the carriers ; we
mention these facts in order to show the un-
paralleled strength of the cast. We cannot conclude
without bestowing high praise upon the very careful
and artistic manner in which Mr. King acted the
part of King Henry IV. We have never before seen it
nearly so well performed. The house was crammed
in every part long before the commencement of the
play. All the principal performers were called at the
conclusion, and Bartley was again honoured with a
most especial and enthusiastic greeting.