The Sun.
London, England, 1829-11-30 00:00:00

DRURY LANE THEATRE; - • •

Oa Saturday night anew Comedy from the pen avow-
?dly of Lord GLENCIALL, entitled " Follies of Fashion,"
was brought out at this tlitatie. It Wai eminently suc-
cessful, and deservedly sO, being modified on the sterlinp

works of CONGREVE and SHERIDAN, both of whom the
Noble author frequently brought to our minds. The cast
was as follows :
Lord Splash ton Mr. Wallack
Sir Harry Lureall Mr. Jones
Mr. Counter Mr. W. F. men
Mr. Simon Foster Mr. W. Bennett
George Foster (his son) Mr. Cooper
Major O'Sinsper Mr. Id. Wallack
Lady Splashton Miss Mordaunt
Mrs. Counter Mrs. Glover
Lady Mary Fretful Miss Faucit
Emily Mrs. Newcombe
Jenny Mrs. Orger.
The plot of this Comedy, which we extract from a
judicious analysis in the Chronicle of this morning, is to
the following effect
The first act introduces us to all the characters, ex-
cepting Lord and Lady Splashton. In the first scene,
Lady Mary Fretful laments that at a party, on a preceding
night, Mrs. Counter was attired in as fine and fashionable
a dress as herself, Mrs. Counter being the wife of a
rich Alderman and a retired merchant, with whom she
became acquainted when the citizen transplanted his family
west of Tottenham-court-road. While Lady Mary is
conversing with her maid, Sir Harry Lureall enters, and
informs her that the affairs of Lord and Lady Splashton
are in a ruinous condition, and that they are over head and
ears in debt; at this interview we also find that Sir Harry
is not altogether an unwelcome admirer of Lady Splash-
ton, while his Lordship was strongly attached to Lady
Mary Fretful, to whom he was to have been married be-
fore he was united to Lady Splashton. Emily Counter
calls to visit Lady Mary, and she is soon followed by her
lover, George Foster, the extravagant and guinealess son of
Sir Simon Foster, a wealthy bet careful Baronet of Somer-
setshire. It appears that Mr. and Mrs. Counter refuse

their consent to the union of George and Emily. George
Foster therefore proposes the following ruse for impos-
ing upon the old citizen and his wife :—That as lie was
totally unknown to both, he should assume the cha-
racter of Lord Henry Drummond, brother of the
Duke of Dunbar, and make written proposals for
the hand of Emily, while to aid the deception, he
sends another letter to the same effect in his real name.
This other letter Sir Harry Lureall promises to
deliver to Mr. and Mrs. Counter, the latter of whom, it
should be remarked, is extremely anxious to acquire the
airs of fashionable society, while her husband is never able
to avoid the use of his plebeian technicalities. In the next
scene, Major O'Simper, a fortune-hunter (Irish of course,
but, nevertheless, a gentlemanly sort of a man,) who
makes pretensions to Emily, soliloquizes on her prospects,
and entrusts to her waiting-maid, Jenny, for delivery, an
unaddressed letter. Mr. and Mrs. Counter, having re-
ceived the written proposal from the supposed Lord Henry
Drummond, are delighted with the prospect of having a
coronet in the family; and the last scene of the act is em-
ployed in the delivery of the letter signed by George Fos-
ter, requesting to be admitted to pay his addresses to
Emily, which, of course, is disdainfully rejected. The
fashionable indifference of Lord and Lady Splashton for
each other is well represented in the opening of the second
act ; and Sir H. Lureall arriving does not fail to excite
the jealousy of Lady Splashton, in order to promote his
own designs upon her ; and from him she learns that
her Lord had presented Lady Mary Fretful with his por-
trait in a bracelet. After Lord Splashton has withdrawn,
Lady Splashton listens to the addressee of Sir Harry (who
professes the warmest and sincerest friendship for her Lady-
ship,) not because she really likes him, but because it gra-
tifies her wounded pride. In the mean time the jealous
fears of Lord Splashton are awakened by Major O'Simper,
that his lady is, in fact, in Jove with George Foster, never
dreaming of the duplicity of Sir Harry Lureall. 'We have
then a very good scene of fashionable scandal at the house
of Lady Mary Fretful, where nearly all the principal cha-
racters assemble, and it terminates very satirically, each in-
dividual being unwilling to quit first lest their characters
should be assailed by all the dear friends they left behind
them. This, and some other inferior portions of the
comedy, reminded, but only reminded us of the School
for Scandal. This brings us to the end of the second act ;
and in the first scene of the third act, George Foster,
splendidly dressed, passes himself off as Lord Henry Drum-
mond, and obtains the eager consent of Mr. and Mrs.
Counter to his marriage with Emily. His pretended
Lordship is, however, placed in an awkward dilemma by
the arrival of the Irish Major, who, not seeing the sup-
posed Lord Henry, affects to old Counter that he is inti-
mately acquainted with the brother of the Duke of Dun-
bar. With the assistance of hats to conceal their faces,
and a few falsehoods, George Foster escapes from this
difficulty : but he is no sooner out of it than he is
plunged in another scrape of the same kind, still
more threatening : his father, Sir Simon, arrives un-
expectedly at his old friend Counter's from the country,
but George is luckily able to quit the room without being
recognised. In the next scene, Jenny is about to carry
Major O'Simper's unaddressed letter to Emily,when she is
observed byMrs. Counter, who seizes the billet, and open-
ing it in the excess of her vanity and of her ambition to
be fashionable by having an admirer, although she is
married (like Mrs. Malaprop in the Rivals), she fancies
that it is meant for herself, and that all the tender and fervent
expressions it contains apply to her charms and virtues.
The entrance of the Major does not undeceive her ; and
while he, clasping her hand, is pleading hard for that of
Emily, she imagines that he is ingenuously expressing his
attachment to her. While in this equivocal situation
they are surprised by Sir Simon, and when he and Mrs
Counter have retired Emily enters, and the Major on his
knees declares his unalterable affection for her. She affects
not to be able to endure his bewitching gaze, and placing
a silk scarf over his face she substitutes the hand of Jenny
for her own; and when, just afterwards, Mr. and Mrs.
Counter and Sir Simon enter, the Major, removing
the bandage, discovers, to his confusion, that he has
been " wasting his sweetness on the desert ear" (air,
in Irish) of a chambermaid. This forms a very hu-
morous and effective conclusion to the third act.—
A very good, but rather too protracted scene com-
mences the fourth act, in order to expose more ef-
fectually the empty, hollow, and deceitful character of
Sir Harry Lureall, who subsequently. endeavours to bor-
row three thousand pounds of Mr. Counter. Sir Simon
having discovered the heartless falsehood and perfidy of
Sir Harry, warns Lord and Lady Splashton (to the latter
of whom he was uncle) against his machinations, but
they will listen to nothing to the prejudice of their dear
and true friend. One of the best situations of the co-
medy follows in a scene in which Lord Splashton re-
ceives a note of amorous invitation from Lady Mary Fret-
ful, and Lady Splashton a similar epistle from Sir Harry.
Of course neither dares to avow by whom the notes are
sent, and yet each, 'Auspicious to jealousy, is eager to
learn from whom they come: Lord Splashton obtains no
satisfaction, and retires under the belief that his wife's
projected amour is with George Foster : this belief
amounts to conviction, when, just afterwards, he finds
young Foster in the act of innocently kissing his cousin
(Lady Splashton'e) hand. He compels George Foster to
quit his house instantly, and his place is supplied by Sir
Harry Lureall, whom Lord Splashton, in full confidence,
leaves with his wife. Sir Harry falls upon his knees
to the lady, and when detected in this situation by
his noble friend, he has the address to convince Lord
Splashton that he was only entreating Lady Splash-
ton to bestow more affection upon her deserving husband.
This forms the principal business of the fourth act. The
fifth commences with hiding the Major in Mrs. Counter's
bed-room. He had entered the house drunk, and could
not quit it without detection, and, anxious that he should
not be exposed, Jenny recommended to him this conceal-
ment, from which he is subsequently driven, before the
whole family, in some of Mrs. Counter's finery. Matters
are now approaching a crisis; and in a scene between the
pretended Lord Henry Drummond, Emily, and the two
old folks, the marriage is finally arranged ; but some sus-
picion is raised in the mind of Mr. Counter by Sir Simon
Foster, who, obtaining a sight of his son (who covers his
gay clothes with a sober coat he found in the room), tells
the citizen the fact, but cannot prevail upon him to give
it credence. The young couple have agreed to take ad-
vantage of a masquerade to be given by Lady Splashton, in
order to escape to a clergyman, with a special license whom
they have in waiting; and the last scene of the comedy is
in a room adjoining to that in which the maskers are as-
sembled, and among whom are all the characters. Major
O'Simper has received a promise from Emily to make off
with him on this occasion, but he blunders upon Jenny,
who is disguised like her mistress, and is thus taken in
his own trap. Lady Splashton and Sir Harry Lureall
meet, and the formes is only prevented from finally dis-
missing her contemptible admirer, notwithstanding the
infidelity of her husband, by the arrival of Lord Splash-
ton himself and Lady Mary Fretful, in consequence of
which Lady Splashton and Sir Harry hide behind two
curtains, and overhear a scene in which Lady Mary, in-
stead of yielding to Lord Splashton's suit, ,reproaches him
with his inconstancy They, also, are about to conceal
themselves behind the curtain, owing to the arrival of
Sir Simon Foster, when they discover Lady Splashton