The Sun.
London, England, 1828-09-09 00:00:00

COBURG THEATRE.

A dramatic satire, in one act, entitled Wives by
Advertisements, or Courting in the Newspapers, was
produced last night at this theatre, to which we of
course resolved, being bachelor., to pay all due at•
tention, being in some measure a party interested.
We were, it is true, somewhat alarmed that it was
an attempt to destroy one of the mast profitable
sources of income attached to a newspaper, and in
this we were not much disappointed ; but then we
consoled ourselves with the reflection that all such
attempts must be considered hopeless in the face of
the astounding fact, that these species of advertise-
ments have been trebled since the publicity of Cor-
der's trial and confession, in which latter he admits
that he received upwards of 90 answers to his "little
production," as Miss Broomblossom so sentimentally
calls her's, in the Morning Herald. Having our
minds at ease upon this point, we felt better dis-
posed to enjoy whatever the spirited proprietors of
this very pretty theatre might have prepared for our
enjoyment; nor were we startled by the line, printed
in most carefully legible letters, as a nota bene in the
bills," Wedding Rings may be had at the Box-office
or in the Saloon." The fact is, we were determined
to be pleased, and if we quitted the theatre in the
same state of single blessedness in which we went
thither, it must have been because we ourselves
. .

lacked those attractions requisite to attract the eye
of beauty, the Managers having found every thing ex-
cept the Parson, of whom no mention was made in the
bills, at which circumstance several of our acquain-
tances, more remarkable for gallantry than sincerity,
were not a little delighted.

Love light as air;"
but the quotation is hackneyed, and we will there-
fore refrain from being poetical.
The piece is a good-humoured, good-natured, and
laughable attempt to shew the easy way in which
those may be duped, who are such simpletons (and
alas, nine out of ten young folks are but simpletons
in the ways of the world) as to confide in the de-
scription which an advertiser thinks proper to give
of his own qualifications, mental and corporeal.
The advertisers are the lion. JenAins Cigar, with
twenty aliases, and Miss Broomblossom, an elderly
female, always exclaiming against the immorality
of the age. They advertise under the initials
A. B. and J. C., and the Blue Lion, Wapping
(how sentimental !) is the place appointed for the
interview. Here the parties answering each adver-
tisement meet, and a scene, very extravagant, it is
true, but still very amusing, keeps the audience in
one continued roar of laughter. The scene termi-
nates by one of the candidates for matrimony being
taken up by the parish beadle for deserting his wife
and family, and this ma! a propos proceeding takes
place just as he is on the point of being united to Miss
Broonzblossom, who takes him for a Captain in the •
Navy, whey he is, in fact, only the humble sweeper
of a street-crossing, an occupation to which he has
taken after having left his ears in the pillory.--
Cigar is taken up as a swindler, as he is about to
be equally successful with a fair damsel, who had
answered his advertisement ; and after these disco-
veries the whole concludes with the folloning
epilogue :