The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-28 00:00:00

SADLER'S WELLS THEATRE.

11assinger's Fatal Dowry (his cliff e according
to some critics, one of his greatest works according to
all) was revived here last evening, with all that attention
to the mire en scene which has so favourably distin-
guished the managemeet of Mrs. Warner and Phelps at
this theatre. This play is the joint production of Mes-
singer and Nat Field, the actor—to the latter, however,
we are not disposed to award any large portion of the
drama, and we think that even Mr. Gifford allows too
much to him. That Massinger, a poor author, was glad
to avail himself of the name of Field, the popular actor,
and was thus led to announce him to the world as his
collaboiateur, there can be no doubt. That Field may
have given him hints as to his stage eff,cts, &c., and that
after the book was delivered at the theatre, and during
the course of the rehearsals he may have " gagged" the
play in various parts, we can readily believe; but there
is such a perfect unity, not only of construction but of
thought and language, about the tragedy that we can-
not bring ourselves to think that it aas the work of
more than one mind. One or two of the comedy scenes,
indeed, we are disposed to assign to Field, because they
are so disgusting to good taste that we feel intuitively
that they are interpolations; that Massinger, although
he might have tolerated, could not have written them,
and it is only because Massinger could not have written
them that we assign them to Field. These were of course
all rigidity excised last evening, and we do not believe
that in the Fatal Dowro, as it is acted at Sadler's Wells,
there is one line of Field's, except, perhaps, the open-
ing scene of the second act, between Beaumelle, Bella-
pert, and Florimel. The Fatal Dowry was a stock play
from the time of its production to the time of the great
rebellion, when plays and players were proscribed, as
well as thrones and kings. For royalty there was a
restoration—for the drama a revolution. The works of
the manly, rough, vigorous poet dramatists of the
preceding age—works which were thoroughly and in-
tensely English, and thoroughly and intensely
dramatic, were utterly neglected for the heavy
heroics of Dryden, or the digesting filth of Mrs. Aphra
Behn. Poor Messinger was more vilely treated
than any of his contemporaries. They were suffered to
rest in oblivion—he was first plundered and then abused.
Rowe, having stolen a great portion of the language and
plot of the Fatal Dowry, diluted down the proceeds of
his theft with a sufficient quantity of maudlin sentimen-
tality to suit the vitiated taste of his time, and produced
The Fair Penitent. Its success was complete—so
complete that Rowe found it to his interest to represent
Massinger as an author not worth the attention of any
critic or scholar more than a century. For the " Fair
Penitent," the most " wishy-washy" and most immoral
of dramas, kept possession of the stage, to the exclusion
of the Fatal Dowry, one of the most nervous and the
most moral. Even Dr. Johnson, sturdy old moralist as
he has been somewhat inappropriately called (bigoted
old conventionalist better describes the cha-
racter of the man)—even Dr. Johnson penned
a heavy eulogium on the Fair Penitent. At
length, in the year 1786, Cumberland wrote
three papers in his periodical (the " Observer ")
for the purpose of drawing a comparison between the
Fatal Dowry and the Fair Penitent ; and when Massin-
ger and Rowe were thus placed in juxtaposition, the
superiority of the elder writer was at once apparent.
Shortly afterwards Gifford undertook his edition of Mas.
singer ; and from that time justice has been done to
the genius of this " mighty master." This play, the
Fatal Dowry, was produced at Drury-lane some few
years since, when Wallack appeared as Charalois. The
version then produced is the one followed at Sadler's
Wells. The following was the cast of last night
Rochfort, Mr. G. Bennett ; Novall, Mr. H. Mellon
Charalois, Mr. Henry Marston ; Young Novall, Mr.
Buckingham ; Romont, Mr. Phelps ; Beaumelle, Miss
Cooper ; Bellapert, Miss Lebatt ; Florimel, Mies
liuddart. In this version the first act and the
commencement of the second are given nearly
as they were written by Massinger. There
is a slight alteration at the conclusion of, the
second act, which is also an improvement. In the scene
in which Charalois accompanies his father's funeral to
the gates of the prison, and is there stopped by his re-
morseless creditors—the procession is interrupted by the
appearance of Rochfort and Beaumelle—and Rochfort,
overcome by his admiration of Charalois' virtue, re-
leases him by paying his father's debts, and at the same
time gives him his daughter. This not only gives all
effective concluding scene, but avoids the awkwardness
of the marraige procession following directly upon the
funeral one. The manner in which the guilt of Beautrielle
is discovered is necessarily altered. In the original the dis-
covery takes place in a manner too gross to be tolerated
in these modern days. Charalois having found a
letter
from young Novall to Beaumelle, appointing an assigna-
tion. meets the iruiltv nair. and kills Novall. This
alteration is also judicious, but we could wish that the
adaptor had left the catastrophe, as far as it re-
lates to Beaumelle, in the same state in which he
found it. It is a magnificent scene—is that in the ori•
ginal, in which Charalois, calling upon old Rochfort to
resume once more the functions of a judge, produces
before him his own daughter as the criminal ; beautiful'
too, is the repentance of Beaumelle, which invests her
character with an interest which it is impossible to
feel for her as represented in the adaptation ; and when
the father sentences her solemnly to death, and seeing that
sentence so unexpectedly executed by Charalois, throws
himself upon the body of his dying daughter in an agony
grief, a climax has been attained perhaps the most
heartrending in the course of the drama. In-
,tead of this, however, Charalois appoints Roch-
rOrt to meet him at the tomb of his father—there
brings forward his accusation, and when the old man
has devoted his daughter to death shows her corpse
to him and tells him judgment has been already
executed. Here we have indeed the fine passionate
Burst of paternal anguish from Rochfort, but it is neither
so natural nor so effectively delivered over the dead as
over the dying daughter. The piece was admirably
acted. Phelps never appeared to greater advantage
than as the rough, honest, plain-speaking, bold Romont.
It is one of those characters full of vigour, energy, and
power, with an occasional dash of sentiment which
is exactly suited to the effective, but somewhat
coarse style of Phelps. The scene in which
he frightens young Novall (most amusingly represented
-)y Mr. Buckingham) into confession, and extorts from
trim a written promise to see Beaumelle no more,was ad-
mirable. G. Bennett, as Rochfort, was sedate, yet
,ffective. His last scene was beautiful. The lugubrious
voice of Mr. Marston was rather advantageous to him
than otherwise in his delineation of Charalois. He
'tad evidently studied the character well, and thoroughly
understood his author's meaning. As a whole his
haralois was a pathetic and scholar-like performance,
out he must beware of an occasional tendency to rant.
The other characters were all well supported. The
ouse was crowded to excess, and the audience were en-
thusiastic in their applause.

CORONER'S INQUEST.—On Tuesday erening, an
inquest was held at the Queen's Head, Chatham, by Mr. J.
!Thule, Coroner, on the body of Mr. Lackett Coker, a Custom
House officer, belonging to the port of Rochester, who received
a blow on the had from a boom, while on duty on board her
Majesty's ship Aigle, 24, Captain Lord Clarence Paget, the
effect of which injury was to cause almost immediate death.
After examining several witnesses, whose testimony went to
prove that the deceased met his death by his own carelessness
in not getting away from under the boom while it was being
lowered, the jury returned a verdict of " Accidental death."
THE GALLANT CAPTURE or A PIRATE SLAVES

BY THE PANTALOON.—Dispatches have been received by the
Government, officially confirming the accounts of the gallant
capture of a pirate slaver, by the boats of her Majesty's ship
Pantaloon, Captain Wilison, which appeared in yesterday's Sus
The Pantaloon had two men killed, and seven wounded. The
pirate had seven men killed, and two wounded.

THE CHINESE LANGUAGE.—A Chinese " pro-
fessor" has been engaged at the Collegiate Institution, Liver.
p,ol, for the purpose of teaching the pupils the Chinese tongue,
which now forms a part of the curriculum of studies. 6. Pro..
fessor Hoo Sienseng," we are told, speaks the " Court dialect'
of his country.
FAMINE AT SHOREHAM.—This town was deluged
on Saturday by some 2,000 visitants from the metropolis, who,
during their stay, consumed all the " breadstuffs" in the town,
and, on their departure, the inhabitants were literally going
about begging for bread. It is stated that, contrary to the
general practice, refreshments were distributed to the hungry
Cockneys at the usual prices.—Sussex Paper.
SOMEWHAT NOVEL (IF TRUE.)-1t is currently
rumoured at Malta, that a gallant officer of that distinguished
corps, the 42d Royal Highlanders, is about retiring from the
pomp and vanity of a military life, and seeking retirement and
seclusion in the cloister, under the unassuming garb of a The..
sian or barefooted Carmelite.

UAIOURED AFFAIR OF HONOUR.—LPtIeF3 from
Malta of the 15th inst. make mention of a rumour having been
Tread, skortly after the arrival of the packet from the lonian
Islands, that a hostile meeting had taken place at Corfu be-
tween two officers of the Rifle,, in which affair one had been
so seriously wounded as to render it expedient for his antago•
nist and the second to keep out of the way ; but, as neither
names nor dates are mentioned, there may be no truth in
the story.

S PATE OF TRADE.—The unfavourable weather
continues to affect the demand for goods, and the market con-
tinues quiet, without any sensible change in prices. The yarn
market is still very firm, and the spinners are generally under
contract for some time to come.—ROCHDALE FLANNEL
MARKET, Acct. 25.—0 n account of the wakes and races last
wek, few pieces have been brought to market to-day, but
those few have been eagerly bought up at good prices. The
wool market has undergone little change ; prices remain much
tie same, but low wools are very scarce. Manchester
Guardian.

CHESTERFIELD RACES.—The Duke of Devonshire
has been induced to renew the support, so long rfforded by his
aucesters and himself, to the ancient races of Chesterfield, and
his Grace proposes to give a 501. plate to these races.—Derby
paper.

RACES.—We understand thlit ,ur race= are

fixed for Tuesday and Wednesday, the 14th and 15th of Octo-
'or. From the very strong iceitng existing in tavour of re-es-
tablishing these races, no doubt they will be very well sup-
ported. The time fixed is undoubtedly late, but it is intended
to hold there earlier in future years.—Deck Mercury.