The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-06-14

lto receive the royal APPROVAL Of theIt effort
i Nor did the Qceen and Primes meSeIy besto'
Applause. Her Majesty took seventeen place
"a Joint contribution of herself and the Prime.
headed the list of subscriptions with fl50, max
ling the sum total Of E225 tits said that III
receipts of the night exceeded II 900. Anothe
representation at Devonahire House takes plac
on Tuesday, the admission being e. Tn
Duke throws open his house. and ball will fol
| low the comedy and a new farce written for Tn
occasion, called = MIR. Nightingale's Diary"
farce in which Charles Dickens and Mark lie
mon have principalcharacter Both the gentle
men are admirable actors. II is by no means
amateur playing with them Dickens seizes tn,
strong points of character, bringing them GU
as effectively upon the stage as his pen indy
| ingly marks them upon paper. Lemon has al
the ease of a finished performer, with capita
relish for comedy and broad farce.
1t has been rumored that the company Of
Guild and Literature viii act one night in tho
city, under the patronage Of the lord MAYOR and
corporation. This would be worthy Of the mayo,
and prince merchants of that city that distanced
all competitors in its offer for the autograph OF
Sbakespeare--an immortal bit Of writing, we
hope.more endurable than London stone.
disqualification to the Duke of Deyonshire
which is prefixed to this comedy, says the Lon
don Examiner, will probably precede what we
have to say respecting it as work Of art. The
truth Of the feeling expressed in these few sen.
fences communicates its charm to the language
employed:
My Lord Duke-This play is respectfully de-
dIcated to your grace in token Of the earnest
gratitude, both of authors and pcrforulers, FOR
the genial and noble sympathy which has be-
friended their exertions in the cause of their
brotherhood.
The debt that we can but feebIy acknowledge,
those who come after us seek to repay; and
may each loftier cultivat6r of art and letters
whom the institution established under your
auspices may shelter from care and penury, see
on its cornerstone your princely name--and
perpetuate to distant times the affectonate
homage it commands from ourselves
It is this hope that can alone render worthy
the tribute which in my own name as author,
and in the names of my companions the per-
formers of the play first represented at Devon
shire house, | now offer to your grace, with
every sentiment that can deepen and endear the
and admiration
With which have the honor to be,
My Lord Duke,
Your graces most obedient and faithful
servant, Il. BULWER LYTTON.
May, 1851.
The title Of the play describes its moral. The
great poet and teacher of humanity had already
expressed it through theslips of walking gen.
tleman In one of his comedies very rarely seen
upon the stage. "The web of our life is of a
mingled yarn, good and i'll together. Our vir
tues would be proud if our faults whipped them
not and our crimes would despair, if they were
not cherished by our virtues" From which
arises the most important truth that society can
at any time be impressed by, namely, that the
secret of human intercourse must always be, to
freely with each other the largest
allowances of charity.
It is of course incident to such. a design that
the author should have devoted hN chief care to
the exhibition of character 1t being necessary
to work out the conception that to every char
acter there are many sides, and that, rs a gen.
eral rule each character has bitter side than is
apparent, it would seem to have
been also necessary to introduce larger num-
Der ofprominent dranatis persona than are usu-
ally essential to the agencies of a play. But the
mode in which these are managed while their
are gradually developed, and espe-
ciay the way in which, towards the close, the
various threads Of interest complicated by many
different motives and influences, are cleared and
disentangled for the unity of feeling and action
essential to the catastrophe, we think triumph
of dramatic skill. The more closely the comedy
is examined, apart from the limitations and
necessities Of stage repr, sentation, the more
this is like TO be perceived and acknowledged
The date of the play is that of Sir Robert
Walpole's first administration, and is well
selected to bring together classes of Eng
80, Ia, ka
exhibit democratic aspirations side by side with
aristocratic condescensions and, at n time when
the author, the politician, and the robleman
formed classes still strongly marked and widely
separate, TO show by what resistless advances
they were yet silently approaching each other
and helping forward a time for freer intercourse
and wider sympathies for all
The two principal persons of the play, Wimot
and Hartman, are peers son at the head Of
the fashion, and yeoman's son, who has strug-
ged into the House Of Commons as an adher-
ent Of Walpole Hardman has not few char
acteristics Of Walpole himself-the genial heart
mess Of nature which made him welcome TO
others even when intriguing most resolutely for
himself; the determined aims, concealed from
even the nearest associates; and the ready per-
ception Of character by which the weaknesses
Of other men were turned TO his own strength
and support. The type Of Wilmots character
we NAV find perhaps similarly expressed in that
Of Walpole's troublesome assaiant, the Duke
Of Wharton, whose public capacity was so sing.
ularly overshadowed by his not less public ex.
cesscs, and whom nothing would satisfy short
Of the chair of Scion or Cicero, after quitting
the chair of the He'll Fire Club. The interests
Of these young men are brought into collision
by love. which at the same time tends torefne
and exalt the natures Of both.
The father Of the girl for whom they are RI
walls, Sir Godfrey Thornside, is n man naturally
sbrewd and brave, who, becoming coward as
well as simpleton by yielding to the habit Of sus-
picion, falls an easy prey to the wicked boast
Of proAigate nobleman against the honor of
his wife, uttered in mere rage at her scornful re-
lection Of his advances. To reconcile this in.
jured wife and husband, and win the daughters
affection bv restoring the happiness Of her home,
becomes Hardmans min action in the play but
meanwhile he has discovered Wimot's rivalry,
and to defeat IL makes himself master Of the Sc
ctet Of Jacobite plot affecting the life of Will
mot's father In this plot are engaged, ne prime