The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-19 00:00:00

THE THEATRES.
HAYMARKET.

The forcing system of prizes or premiums having
failed to produce the result expected from it, we are
glad to see the management of this house a shelter
for English comedy, resorting to the simpler principle
to which we owe so many sterling plays, and to which
we hope to be indebted for many more—that of bring-
ing forward the production of authors who have al-
ready proved their ability as dramatic writers, and
who, to the genius that nature alone confers, have
added that knowledge of the stage and the public
which experience alone can give. The theatrical
world owes much to Mr. Webster for reviv-
ing the many old comedies which, but for
him, would have remained unknown to the
present generation, except in the closet, where the
wit that is of the day, and the repartee whose point is
almost of the hour, loses as much as the pathos and
grandeur of tragedy often gain ; and but for the new
comedies that have been produced at the Haymarket
within the last three
.years' we should have lost our
belief in the possession of such a thing—we should
have been compelled to fancy that we had become
wholly dependent on foreign supply. Not one ob-
jection have we to offer to a clever adaptation of a
clever drama in whatever language written. But we
would fain have a proof now and then that invention,
constructive power, wit, or something like it, re-
partee, or what passes for it, have not yet
wholly deserted the young writers of Eng-
land ; and sometimes, though at long intervals,
we have evidence that these qualities are yet to
be found. They are all to be found, for instance, in
the comedy of Old Beads and Young Hearts, from the
pen of Mr. D. Bourcicault, produced last night at
this theatre, and, as a consequence, it was completely
successful. The plot is, if anything, too intricate ;
but this is, perhaps, more forcibly felt by the critic
who has to describe it, than the spectator. The dia-
logue is free and flowing, sprightly in many places,
in a few witty, and at no time dull. There is the
same tendency to run occasionally into farce observable
in the author's former productions; but the line between
it and comedy is hard to discover precisely, and an
audience will at all times forgive much for the sake of
a laugh ; it will forgive almost anything, indeed, but
absolute vapidity—but of this Mr. Bourcicault is never
guilty. Only premising farther that the applause was
warm and cordial during the first act, that it was
well and equally sustained throughout the other
three, and came to a close with enthusiasm at the
end of the fifth, we will descend from these generali-
ties to a slight detail of the plot and sketch of the
characters. The piece is written on the plan that
seems now to be a sort of recognised law of modern
comedies—each act is a "set" scene, all the person-
ages having their exits and their entrances without
the aid, or, as often happens, without the hin-
drance, of the scene-shifter. The first act passes in
the chambers of Mr. Littleton Coke (C. Mathews)
in the Temple. He is a barrister, of course, and just
the sort of one that you can see, at a glance, will
never be Lord Chancellor. Gay, careless, and
studious of little but pleasure, if he knows any law
at all, it is only that peculiar law of real property in
virtue of which the faster it is spent, the sooner it
comes to an end—the conclusion at which Mr. Lit-
tleton Coke has arrived, with respect to his pa-
trimony, at the rising of the curtain. Thus
mnc"h we gather from a conversation between him-
self and that real blessing to comedy writers, a
barrister's nondescript, who is clerk, agent, boots,
butler, and valet, all rolled into one, with enough
roguery to set him up in either of them
separately. This worthy, " Bob" by name, is
capitally played by Mr. Buckstone. In the
midst of their discourse Lord Charles Roebuck
(Mr. Holl), an old Eton friend of Coke's, enters ; he
has just landed from the Continent, summoned home
by the Earl of Pompion (Mr. Tilbury), his father, to
undergo the two inflictions of marrying a rich widow
and being returned to Parliament for Closeborough.
He imparts his troubles to Coke, who offers to take the
widow and stand the contested election instead of
him, and rid him of two troubles at once. Bob at this
juncture enters and apprizes his master that two sus-
picious characters are on the staircase, and recon-
noitres them through the slit of the letter-box; as
they can be nothing but bailiffs, Coke and his noble
friend decamp as the two strangers enter. They prove
to be Jesse Rural (Mr. Farren), a good-hearted,
simple, unsuspecting, worthy old soul of a Yorkshire
minister, Littleton's tutor when the scapegrace of the
town was a boy. He has come to London with Tom
Coke, the brother of Littleton, who have been
estranged from each other for fifteen years, hoping to
reconcile them. The very cool reception they meet
with from Bob enrages the brother and astonishes
the old minister, and the curtain falls on the rage of
the one and the attempts to pacify it made by the other.
The second act takes us to the Earl of Pompion's
mansion, and the boudoir of the Countess (Mrs. W.
Clifford). Lord Charles enters with his friend Coke,
and an admirable scene follows—one of the best of the
piece. His mother, divided between her affection for her
lap-dog, her fashionable nervousness, and her curi-
osity as to the Parisian fashions, gives her son
the Most heartless, elegant, and lady-like of
receptions to his home—hoping that he has bronght
the Eau de Cologne, and taken care of his morals—
that is to say, that he has not been too attentive to
any " unmarried women," and that he " does not
swear in English." The Earl, on his side, is equally
careless of everything but his son's dinners at the
Embassy and visits to Versailles. Lady Alice Haw-
thorn (Madame Vestris), the widow-cousin to whom
Lord. Charles is destined, is introduced in this scene,
and Littleton Coke, who had undertaken to accept her
in jest, is captivated by her in earnest. Thus the plot
thickens; but this is not all. Littleton's brother s
Tom has just been really elected for a Yorkshire
borough, and, as the old Earl knows that fact,
without having any acquaintance with the new
Member's person, he receives the briefless, placeless,
and penniless Littleton as the legislator with; a vote
to dispose of, and is most cordial and courteous. A
Colonel Rocket (Mr. Strickland) is also introduced ;
he is an old retired Indian officer, full of military
phrases and prejudices, a passionate sort of Uncle
I with a very red face and a very pretty
daughter, Miss Rocket (Miss J. Bennett), with
whom Lord Charles is in love. But the real Mem-
ber arrives, and the Earl's warmth to Littleton under-
goes a great abatement; Lady Alice, out of mere co-
quetry, it would seem, is more than polite to his
brother; the young barrister is enraged, the country
Member enchanted, and so ends act the second. The
third act passes in a splendid suite of drawing-
rooms in the Earl's mansion. All the cha-
racters are assembled, the Countess and her lap-dog
on a sofa with Littleton endeavouring to appear un-
concerned at the desperate flirtation that is going on
between his brother and the beautiful widow; Miss
Rocket and Lord Charles are playing ecartt ; the old
clergyman is reading by the fire-side; and the Earl
and the Colonel are discussing the merits of Captain
Warner's shell. All this is excellently managed;
but now commences the intricacy of the plot, which I
we altogether despair of rendering clear by descrip-
tion. Littleton pretends to make love to Miss Rocket
to vex the widow, and a whole series of cross pur-
poses arises, caused mainly by the old clergyman,
' who believes all he sees, and all he is told, to be what
it appears, not dreaming that all the fine people round
him are each playing a part, more or less, of false-
hood. The Earl refuses his assent to his son's mar-
riage with Miss Rocket because she is of less than
noble birth. Colonel Rocket has a special contempt
for Norman blood, and doubts whether there ever was
a battle of Hastings, because it is not in the army list.
He determines to take his daughter down to Ghuznee
Hall forthwith, and, to prevent a separation, Lord
Charles determines to assume the character of the
postillion who is to drive them there. The old clergy-
man, who is always in everybody's way, and every-
where when he is not wanted, overhears the
plan, the source of fresh confusion. The fourth
act passes in the same apartments, but in this Bob in-
troduces himself to the Earl, having assumed the
name of Crawl, a Parliamentary agent, a partner in
the firm of the Earl's confidential solicitors. He here
learns from his Lordship that he is his illegitimate
son, having been left by him in the care of one of the
partners. His Lordship expresses a wish to see the
boy he has been estranged from so many years, and
Bob tells him he is then in the house, attending on the
Rockets as groom ! He sends for him and introduces
Lord Charles, in livery, to the Earl as his natural son,
evoking thereby a gift of 1001. The old clergyman
afterwards tells the Earl that his son is going
to elope with Miss Rocket, dressed as her groom !
The Earl is too happy at the good fortune of his na-
tural son, little dreaming that it is his heir. Littleton
assumes the same disguise to elope with Lady Alice,
and they do get off, but Bob has sold the " exclusive
intelligence" to the morning papers, and all is known.
The old folks hurry down to Ghuznee Hall, where the
parties have arrived, and every one visits' their wrath on
the poor old minister, who has done all for the best,
meddled with everything with the purest intentions,
but only with the result of throwing all into con-
fusion. The idea of this character seems to be taken
from that of Michael Perrin, so exquisitely played by
Bouffe ; but here the simple-minded pastor is mixed up
with the intrigues of fashionable life, instead of those of
the French police. The part was dressed and acted by
Farren to the very life. The denouement is brought
about by Tour Coke resigning a fortune which Lit-
tleton had signed away to supply his extravagance,
after being refused by the widow, and the Earl is
brought to reason by Bob threatening to reveal the
secret of his birth to the Countess. To avoid this the Earl
gives his consent to the marriage of Lord Charles and
Miss Rocket, and all ends selon les regles. The piece
is admirably brought out; the scenery is excellent—
those of the boudoir and the suite of drawing-rooms
are perfect in their way. The play went smoothly,
and had evidently been well rehearsed. Altogether
its success must be gratifying both to the author and
the management. On the fall of the curtain
.it was given out for repetition every evening