Star.
London, England, 1809-01-06 00:00:00

TILE FABLE,

Lord efustencourt, the nephew of Sir Rowland, solicit! the band
of Hcten, the daughter of Sir Willoughby Worret, aigreat fortune.
at a time when he has won the affections of Fanny, the daughter
of Abel Grouse, and seduced her by a pretended marriage, to
which only ClDediinui, an Irish attorney, and his clerk Ponder, had
been privy. Meanwhile, Charles altieteneorrt, the son of Sir Row-
land, a young naval officer, beloved by Helm, returns from sea,
and confronts his cousin, who basely, during his absence, had en-
deavoured to rob him of the mistress of his heart ; the preten-
sions of Lord Austenroure, are favoured by Sir Willoughby and his
Lady, a couple mutually and incessantly persecuting each other,
while they are strenuously opposed lay the father of Fanny,
who considers his daughter as properly the wife of his Lord-
ROwland uses all his efforts to bring about the
union of his nephew with Helm, to the exclusion of his son,
from an apparent consciousness of having mis-appropriated
a great part of his Lordship's fortune during his minority,
he having been his guardian.—The grand secret of the story,
howlover is, that Charles is the real Lord alaiknourt, his cousin,
the soli of Sir Rowland, having been sobstituted for him by
his father, when both infants.—This secret is only known to
Groure, who under that assumed name has lived in obscurity
for a number of years ; he, however, comes forward towards
the end of the Play in his proper name and character, that of
Faulkner, formerly the friend and confidant of Sir Rowland, but
who was supposed by the latter to be dead. The veil of mystery
is thus !moved, the guilty are relieved of the weight of their ini-
quity, and the virtuous are made happy, as it turns out also that
the honest attorney had procured a real, in:.ead of a fictitious,
priest and licence, in the affair of the private marriage, contrary
to the plan of his mock Lordship.—The Piot,: ends with a general
interchange of forgiveness, and a renewal of confidence between
all parties.

The business of this Comedy is conducted through
every succeeding act with great skill—the incidents
are natural, and the interest is strongly kept up to the
very last scene. The dialogue is very sprightly, the
langualge not unlike that of Mr. Sheridan, indeed
many passages reminded us of that gentleman's
Rivals, particularly where the characters of Sir Wil-
loughby, Charles, and Helen were brought forward,
which appear to have been sketched with an eye to
Sir Anthony Absolute, FaulAland and Julia. The priest
and licence are evidently borrowed from GOLDSMITH'S
novel of 6 The Vicar of Wakefield,' but are fairly
objects of dramatic adoption.
If the plot in general, of which this event is the object
and conclusion, does not excite any very powerful
curiosity, the reason why the excitement of curiosity
is not among its greatest merits, is, that we see in the
early part 0 the play, what explanations, and events
will take place, though we not know exactly through
whom those explanations will be made. The smaller
incidents are all managed in a judicious and tasteful,
as well as entertaining manner ; and the dialogue is
in many instances polisheal to a very striking bril-
lancy. Mr. ELLISTON was a very able represen-
tative of Charles ; his manner, if it has not the perfect
elegance of a highly-bred man of fashion, has all the
ease that can be acquired for a naval officer who has
been educated as a gentleman. Mrs. JORDAN, in Helen,
was pleasing, but not quite well bred enough ; all
her ladies break out into the tricks of her hoydens,
but thus she contrives, even in her defects, to remind
us of her excellences. Mr. DOWTON'S performance
of his IVilloughby was chaste, natural, and highly
amusing; and Mrs. HENRY SIDDONS, though she
had but little to do as the wife of the false Peer, did
that little so sweetly, as to make every body regret
that such a creature should be thrown away on Lord
Autism:rt. Mr. MarmEivs was quaint and diverting
as the clerk, who, though he effects no material pur-
pose of the plot, contributes to the liveliness of several
scenes.

The acting of JOHNSTONE, Waoucut :cox, and Mrs.
SCOTT, were also deserving of the highest praise; of
which, with the Author of the Comedy, they parti-
cipated in a way which must have been highly grati-
fying to all of them.
The Prologue was, what Prologues have, seldom
been of late, very neat and pointed. It ddeit on the
difficulty of producing new dramatic features, parti-
cularly in matrimonial life. The following lines had
much effect s

" What, Man and Wife! I'm sure you'll all exclaim,
" Can any novelty be found in them ?
" If he should draw them of mild placid feature,
" You'll say they're certainly quite out of nature ;
" Or should he make them fight like dog and cat,
" I'm sure you'll my, there's nothing new in that!'

• • _
This was admirably delivered by MATHEWS. The
Epilogue was rather trite. It turned on the stale
point of supposing the author the culprit, and the au-
dience the jury, with candour as their foreman. The
pr.werful intercession of Mrs. JORDAN was however
unnecessary. We did not hear throughout the piece
a single dissentient voice ; when the curtain fell, the
house resounded with three distinct peal of applause ;
and, when the piece was given out for a second re-
presentation, these applauses were repeated.

A solemn dinner, which is usually preceded by
reading of prayers, wan lately postponed to an hour
so perfectly fashionable, that the officiating clergy-
man desired to know whether be was to read the
morning or evening service ?
A few days since, a hare being pursued by a dog,
in the parish of Ruardean, Gloucestershire, the sport
attracted the attention of ANN JONES, a pauper, in the
99th year of her age ! who followed the chase, andt
hearing the hare cry, she ran in upon the dog, beat
him el his prey, and bore poor puss off in triumph !