New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-04-19
r. BURTON IN THE COMEDY OF
ERRORS.

GA where he took and passed the jest with every
He vas fond of dropping into strange
-. bsunis; and above all, the travelling thester
~ DAY, with Its company Of strolling players,
!. him an especial delight. But the children Of
yS.in. beautiful or merry, have not been 60 omn-
~ ~ their glorious parent. In his own native
j q vith sorrow and with shame we speak il, they
X-,xn driven from those temples which we're built
II 1ebrsts bis works, and dedicated to his genius
Itrced to seek q miserable shelter in such small
,<san thesters as the Surrey and Ssdlers Wells
a l.ummers, and folders and dancers, and horses
IIka,ts, grin and scrspe and wbirl and prance
al Ibcw on the spot where Garrick stood, and KEN.
Locke ard Kesn made the world think he was
\. Keep, but Richard We did not know that
ISspere's offspring found home upon the boards
In Burtons Theater. We had thought this abode
Lad to "VIhkiDs and "Toodes," and gentle.
Of that csss; doubt respectable people in their
h, but not exactly Shsksperesn. Aud when we were
IA almost a, theater hour, that Mr.. Burton was 70 D
3sin l" The Comedy Of Errors, we really thought
tst it was some pleasant travestie or adaptation;
lit we cheerfully lend the compliment of our at
6sn, 1t Is because wherever Shskspere goes, we
Soe to follow, and to tender generous hand 10 all
love him and strive to give their affection prac-
n proof. OF Mr.. Burton in other Of hs persona
u O. we know nothing. However personally disin-
I'D it is utterly impossible that we could speak
N rwise than with uDmeasured reprobston Of exhi-
4 ans Of human crime and weakness, which are pre-
ed not TO improve Or correct but 10 excite laugh
j and which often have the most demoIazing In
Il nee by Surrounding tae most lostbsome vices with
s4itious glare. 1t is such representations which de-
&c the stage, and raise against it the hand of 90
Sy good men. Neither would it be just to Mr..
irest, who has never for a moment descended from
ssieher walks of the drama TO soil spear by d
an any lower list Men forgive what they may mo-
ssarDy deem an injury, especially when they find
,tm eventual good. But they seldom pardon a
IT. In this spirit we tender TO Mr.. Burton our
sepeDdstion for introducing this Shsksperesn plsy
4 ilh our notice of the Comedy of Errors" is not
rvnpete as that merry creature of the merriest of
4 1 merry fances deserves, IL is that we trust to
Emory that time forbos and we could not even pro-
I are an acting copy Of the play.
The traveller in Italy who wishes to pay homage to
rrus, will pause above the grave of the Sarsinian
ret Plautus, and read upon his tombstone these
rnds:
a, niue. are mute and vie with esch other to mourn over
u fate"
he tempest has stayed its step, and Time withheld
s hand TO leave untouched these words which bring
10 the travellers mind so beautiful memory of the
past and such humiiating Of the present. The
vices which gave TO the satire of Psu'us keen and
polshed edge, still live. SO live the works which
hey Inspired, though their author flourshed 200
wears before the dawn of Christianity. Horace and
Cicero reli.hed him with delight. Molere founded
mon bis plays his celebrated "Avare." and
"Amp6ytrion;' and Regnsrd adapted his
"Msnse ,hmi " to the French, as Shakspere
adspted il to the English in his Comedy of
Enors." As Shskspere drew many of his ere.
atiots from the Italian novelists, Plautus drew
his from tie comedies of Greece. AS Shak-
spere took the Comedy of Errors from "Me-
nsechmi," 80 Plsutus, before him, took Menaechmi
from Menandre. Plsu,us adsp'ed Greek ideas to
Roman facts, Shakspere swallowed Greek aud
Roman In his capscous gulf. Like Shakspere,
Pisutus bad to avoid offending the sensitive prejudice
Of courts-for courts and aristocraces ever the
sane, whether seated at St James, or ia the Capital
Of the Consuls in Plsu FUSS time Shskspere, like
Pieutus obliged TO strike indirectly at the vices
Of his day, in the person of some foreigner, and
through IN Italian Greek or Roman counterfeit dealt
his blows on every side al the folly and meanness
and vickedness around. Hence many of those shafts
which appear withou, point, in our own time, were
kee My aimed and keeny appreciated st the time they
eft bis culver. Thus when Dromio says IN reference
10 the greasy kitchen wench Ii she lives TILL doom''
.. dav .he will burn a week longer than the whole
world" he alluded and al understood the alluslon, 10
IA, Ia6y Of the day. who was as little in soul as large
in person. and universally despised. Adrisna was
bit also upon woman OF the day, whose jealousy
was the subject of much pleasant comment Sna<-
mere desiring to tmn to account every opportunity
10 reform and satirze indirectly, where seitin'eres,
and that prevailing servity of the age which be
.bsred prevented his doing directly, wss ever on
the look out for novel or comedy on which TO paid
play which might allow him to castigate the ioi'es
around him and at the time, in the richness oil
their nature afford field Of revel TO bis Fn iuAurl-
ant fancy and glowing Imagination. fiau'us
:. Mensecbmi" was translated in England by Mr..
Warner. and in France, Regnard, and kosron, ana
Ia Mercier. and the Able Lemonnier founded
o,,od;es mon IT, Ii was translated into Spanish and
italian and represented in Ferrara as early as l'so
s.id that even before Shsksperes time, II was
o,torr,ea in England. For him II possessed pecn-
',sr attraction. Plsutus's Mensechm resided IN
pn;d.mnum-s name which implies THAT al VINO
:. entered the city were damned - II sadly needes
The Maine Law and Mayor Wood. The streets were
cnad nth PROSTITUTES and drunksrds. 50 notorious
-. !, for xickedness ths. the Romans, on conquer
mo :, changed the name to Dyrrhschima London
IN Sbsksperes time, wss Dot much better. 1t was
hen under the merry reigns of coostaole'. Inc
conr,ezsps whom he introduces in his COMEDY OF
!. Frrors are the same as those who aoounaed' ID
b;s time. in the culde-s of Bos-st.' as now IN
or Leicester. square and the prOhigacy
,nd coarsepess with which he clothes characters
- c;tv on the Coast OF lnyris were, untortu'