The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-19 00:00:00

IL A Y3l A

EATRE.

Quid pro THE PRIZE COMEDY.
to
Quo; or The Day of Dupes, the comedy
which the Prize Comedy Committee unanimously
awarded the prize of 5001. proposed by Mr. Webster,
/or the best prose comedy illustrative of British
Manners and customs, was produced last evening, and,
as might have been expected, the House was crowded
to excess in every part. Long before the curtain drew
.there was not a nook or corner of the house
unoccupied. Boxes, pit, galleries were all crammed
--even the seats behind the pillars in the second
tier of boxes, whence it is all but impossible
to, catch a glimpse of the stage—were oc-
cupied. It would have been impossible by any
conceivable means to have crammed ten more
Persons into any part of the house. The overture
having been performed, Mr. Webster came forward
and spoke a prologue, of which the following is a
copy

"If, an eetablish'd rule from age to age
}lath authorised the lessons of the stage,
With comedy the pleasant duty lies
To paint the manners living as they rise;'
Present fair folly's face reflected here,
School with a smile, and chasten by a sneer;
'Tis time to turn some newer page, and show
Life as it is, and manners as they go !
The way to keep him' keeps no lover now ;
All in the wrong' forestalls no broken vow;
Fie wigs and stiff brocades our faith defeat, -
And trite. moralities are obsolete !
sententious prose bath said its parting say;
;:,team, with a thousand arms, bath clear'd the way;
No railroad waits for speechifying man,-
- The world's a game of Catch him if you can !'
" But if, in its perplex'd and motley scene,
Some pleasant interludes there intervene,
The stage should show—a true and wise recorder,
Confusion, worse confounded, brought to order I
Such is our aim !—To-night, our cost and care
Would picture—English manners as they are.
Be yours the kind requital of our task!
A patient audience is the boon we ask.
Submitted long to your supreme behest,
Writer and manager have done their best.
Should you condemn. to your decree we bow,
• But oh ! in justice, hear us, HEAR Us NOW."
4. After the prologue, which was well received, the cur-
Lain rose, and discovered to us the exterior of a coun-
try
at which Lieut. Henry- Grigson, P.N. (Mr.
II011), and Capt. Sippett Mr. Buckstone) have
Just arrived per railroad—the Lieutenant to meet by
the 130intment his aunt, Mrs. Grigson (Mrs. Glover),
Wife of a retired-tradesman, residing in the neigh-
bourhood, and the Captain, who is an inveterate tuft-
hunter, to proceed to the seat of the Earl of Huns-
:l" (Mr. Stuart), to superintend the getting up of
•,,le private theatricals. Lord Bellamont (Mrs.
4Nisbett), an Eton boy, the eldest son of the Earl,
a° admirable specimen of the aristocracy of the
racecourse and the betting-room, arrives to drive
the Captain in his phaeton to Hunsdon Castle, and his
k,ordship having learned from Sippett that Henry
is the nephew of " Hollyhock Lodge," as he
ter the
it, Hollyhock Lodge being the place of
the Grigsons, determines to indulge in the luxury of
Ltlizzing a snob, and is on the point of drawing down
;nil himself the summary punishment of the said
when Sippett very adroitly gets him off the
Bround, by drawing his attention to the country and
ataisiog the horses in his- phaeton. Mrs. Grigson,
F'ain-spoken, excellent-hearted, vulgar woman,
nhates gentility and sighs for the bustle of
raeechurch-street and the shop, then enters and
forrns her nephew that she has desired him to meet
her there in order to be enabled effectually to carry
ant the scheme which she had always entertained of
rlitio
u'g him to her daughter. True, it is, that they
• froere betrothed as children, with the consent of
Grigson, but since that period Grigson has retired
t1,1.01n business, set up as a fine gentleman, become
t'e intimate associate of Lord Hunsdon, and so de-
. Liril;ined a worshipper of rank that he will not suffer
th's daughter to wed any one save a lord. In order,
th,erefore, to win the old man's favour, she proposes
at lienry, who has been at sea ever since he was
4'teen, should introduce himself as a nobleman ; and
he has been for some years messmate with Lord
. I,l`gerrion Fitzurse, second son of the Marquis of
L; antgnet, it is determined that he shall introduce
B,r'self to old Grigson under that title. In the next
(Vitt. we are introduced to the Earl of Hunsdon
We Stuart) and his agent, Mr. Cogit (Mr. Tilbury).
Ce Earl is a high-born, high-mannered, cold, ambi-
to,.us aristocrat—Cogit a shrewd, unscrupulous at-
Cn.7) raising himself by ruining his patron. The
in -ri is endeavouring to raise money on mortgage,
order to contest county, hoping, that if he
014 return the countymembersand the member fur
g
boron h of Oldfield, to keep up his interest, in
Whieb
borough he condescends to patronise Mr.
he may be enabled to secure to himself the
.
Sat`er, the great object of his ambition. The second
!l( °Pehs with an admirable scene between Mr. and
5• Grigson, in. which old Jeremy Grigson (Mr.
, ear'ekland) announces his intention of becoming the
•ernil,idate for Oldfield under the auspices of the Earl
Llansdon. The acting of Strickland and Mrs.
la
arer in this scene was excellent, and kept the
er, l'nce in a roar; and the manner in which El-
mo Yarnold) entered, and he cere-
' th,llll)hslv kissed her forehead, adding that that was
. w,sa• in which Lord Hunsdon did the paternal,
, rich in the extreme. Henry enters as Lord Al.
le„ "c and is, of course, received by Jeremy in the
fussily ceremonious manner imaginable, to the
l'ineat delight of Mrs. Grigson. The Countess of
• tla-lisdcm (Mrs. W. Clifford), accompanied by her
41111(14liter, Lady Mary Rivers (Miss
.Julia Bennett),
pnr SiPpett, are announced. They have come for the
tbe,ase of asking the Grigsons over to the private
dt„.,-;licals at the castle, and on Henry being intro-
Th-,%a8 Lord Algernon, Sippett is all obsequiousness.
Countess insists on his returning with them to
pl..eastle, recommending her daughter to pay him
d'Lleular attention, " for his elder brother is in a con-
itlwhile Jeremy Grigson recommends his
41,,.'d1er also to 'pay particular attention to Lord
ceernon. Mrs. Grigson is delighted with the Ric-
he; of her plot ; but Ellen has no heart to give to
hal,,,e°,osin in either of his characters. Her affections
i(is',:elog been bestowed upon Rivers (Mr. Howe),
ko,-4,1411 to the Earl, and nephew to Sir George
It (`tent (iklr. W. Farren), a rich old bachelor, who
tole,tl visit at the castle, and whose acerbities are
the rated by the Earl and his family on account of
al}; great expectances they have from him. This love
s nearly discovered through the prying pro-
tiati,ltts'es of Bridget Prim (capitally acted by Mrs.
stri-",,,Y), the servant of the Grigsons. However, old
4114 tk"rigson treats all Bridget's hints with contempt,
hb!.'e real state of the young young lady's affections
ti4lls undiscovered. The scene then changes to
hesirn Castle, where Rivers has joined Mordent,
(11' 111:ad imagined that Lady Mary was the object
Sot secret attentions, but finding that such is
tiNe:aeti-s:trteaal se,
he introduces him as Mr. Francis, a
g musician, who is desirous of superintending the
arrangements of the private theatricals.
tot Sippett and Lord Bellamont begin to sus-
• 'le truth as regards Henry, and, in order to
1•1g.4 rcatters to a crisis, they spread a report that Lord
!ISvin 11°11 has left his ship in India, in consequence of
itagliikiljed a brother officer in a duel, and Henry
ed
h earn' lately placed under arrest, notwithstanding
et nest asseverations of Mrs. Grigson that he is
i oenk
dtPlir; sew, and Lord Hunsdon goes to town to make I
L'rißs,;es at the Admiralty. A letter from Mrs.
fie to her nephew, while in durance, happening
011 .head the hands of old Grigson, he takes it into
I the to Wax jealous, while Ellen takes advantage
Gr.
isGrin usion to wed Rivers, a match at which
r0,.1,s
ago highly indignant, until he hears that Rivers
'er(l"--"ve of the Earl, and is the heir to Sir G.
64110 wit, when his sorrow is turned into joy, and he
• ttlires edges, Rivers as his son-in-law. The Earl
A,/alr_°lll London; but his return is too late, for
thrseles r3r, acting on her mother's advice, has made
)4 Ili co° sgreeable to Henry that they also are married,
,I• 1; 4041111,eieting the Grigson family with nobility
4 etioa ole alliance. In the meantime the hour of
of•Pigh'an fura Oldfield has passed over—and no Mr.
LI the PPearing, Mr. Cogit, who was in possession
ite Cprr, 4rlS letter of recommendation to the respect-
Air,ration of. the borough, which was intended
' eo., 'rigson 'uses it on his own account, and, as
tlce re'se
• fr,l, it, in order to preserve the Earl's influ-
qt., the b is returned Member of Parliament
LPes. iZrough, thus completing the day of
cette Wei;kle Comedy was followed by a lively epi.
b • 41'. spoken by Mrs. Nisbett. The dialogue
tbr'l,ll4-nt-°,lll„e,dY is Very well written, and at times
firs Sparkling, ga, and the actors all exerted
on " that Lo the utmost. It was evident from the
1° be q4ernninere • • party in the house bent
ex git if possible, and this was naturally
iitlt• Peeted• There were ninety-eight comedies
111, eobse
thlt he
quently there must have been at least
he en Persons, each of whom was convinced
0,, Was an ill-used need used individual, and that he had
frieT‘ecinledy infinitely superior to the prize
.-1.• W..
6tro Bof th ?., therefore, natural to expect that the
1,1511. last e disappointed candidates would --muster
1,4 drown,e,veoing. Their disapprobation, however,
in applause until the end of the comedy,
o,lle being
rheus effort was made to prevent the epi-
"ct b • glv eard. Webster, however, came forward
tip ret-LoYr_oiddressed the audience, after which quiet
iq "..13rliat°, and the epilogue spoken, and atten -
14144 decideuded to and applauded. The applauders were
thrournajorit7 during the evening, and having
h„finebtrough the ordeal of the first night, there is
aid beeti °lit that the comedy will have a run. It
hc.,,,vvill,l3%vuittkon the stage. in the best possible manner,
r'hht' lively
,b,aussto;ge judicious curtailment, make a
acting play. Webster was quite
hol,. was
0, circutnstances to produce it at first
tc„,", ti,4.:glnally sent in; having done so, he may
hio"vards thuiolt, venture to condense it—particularly
heir rapidel:lose•—so as to bring about the denouement
o eXe,tri: Great praise is due to all the actors for
.„.14:4.1v-.75, and more particularly is honour due
ttn,
other
for taking such a part as Mordent
utner bands it would have been a