New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-03-04
LAURA KEENE' S VARIETIES.

In one Of the cold silent streets which of Cow
ept Garden, London there is plain, quaint old ale
house celebrated for its fine home-brewed and Welsh
rabbit. At times some stout yeoman cabman,
biting Of his nails" may be seen seated at small
round table or standing at the counter taking in good
English cheer But, as a rule, the place has lonely
urfreduenied look Yet is II place Of infinite wit
ard merriment for within this old slehouse Is room
in which. at hours "when church-yards yawn' may
be found gathered the gayest and peasantest spirits
within London town. The chamber in which the
knights of the Fielding Club, for so Il is called hold
their tournaments of wit and jouss OF fun, IS pain
one. bearing as its solitary ornament a huge
Eastern curtain of gorgeous drapery, which over
hangs a bow window looking on the street.
But i needs no adonments. Its wit Is ITS
luster II is essentially democratic, this Fielding
Club, the qualification for entrance beng of divine
gift not human creation. The stamp of genius j. the
only coin recognized by the angel who guards the
Fielding door There may have been found on Winter
nights when the theater and opera had sent forth
their crowds, Thackeray, Billy Russell, The Timess
Crimean correspondent, the kindes and most genial
of mem Albert Smith, Angus Reach Mark Leman,
and Douglass Jerrold Of PHnch julien, Kelley, the
actor Ksogh the Irish Attoney-Generai Edwin
James Sergeant Wilkins and troops OF gay young
GuGrlsmen. The Alma and lnkermann have made
vacant many chair from which the merry jest was
PASSED or a carcature for the next Punch concocted.
But there are many Of the old spirits still lingering
round the spot and among these are Tom Taylor and
Charles Reade, the twin parents of Two Loves and
a Life" which the gentle directress OF The Va
reties" recreated here last night.
TAYLOR and Reade may well be cassed as the Beau
mont and Fletcher of the present time and we doubt
not in future days the house in which they made
most pleasant home and the genial club which they
frcquented will be pointed to with emotion by those
lovers of the stage who come when we are gone.
They are doubtless the best comedians Of the day.
Theirproducons flow from pure fresh spring; not an
unhealthy Reservoir; and there is sweet, wild good
ness and kind of gentle melancholy hanging round
some of their Characters as Peg Wellington aud Ruth,
which will build for them enduring home in
the worlds heart.
"Two Loves and q Life" is not equal, as an acting
play. to Still Waters run Deep" which has proved
So rich in attraction both in this country and England
Int the dction is beautiful the situations good and
two Of the characters Radcliffe the jesuit and Ruth,
are drawn in bold color and greatness of outline. The
play is placed in that closing period of the romance OF
Scotch history, when the Highland clans, with loyal
devotion to house, made chiefly noble by the heroic
love and self sacrifice of these gallant mountaneers,
cathered for the last time round the standard of the
Stuarts and poured down with the claynore from their
hills TO do battle for "bonnie Prince Charlie" The
first act opens at a seaport town on the northwest
coast of England near the borders, with Morecombe
Rev and Ieyen Sands in the distance, where we are
introduced to Radcliffe, Jesuit, and Sir Gervase
Rokewood two Jacobites, one in the disguise OF a
Quaker and the other of fisherman, under the name
of Fisher and Master Hyde
They are surrounded by the usual village accesso'
rts-a schoolmaster barber and postmaster the last
Of whom possesses a curious appetite which has de-
scended even to our day, of prying into letters
tina, pass through his post and Observation-Disclosures
the distinguished example Of MIR. Crampton-not de
liyernp them until some time after date. While all
these various characters awaiting the arrival OF
the usual evening post young peasant girl, OF bold,
bright bearing Ruth RaveDscar who carries the bags
across the sands appears and quickly after her mes
senpers with the news that the Duke Of Cumberland
with his Culloden dragons fast bearing down to
meet the rebel forces Suddenly he is attempting
to cross the Ieven Sands; but mist surrounds him.
and his destruction is inevitable unless some one on
shore consents to risk his life in the effort to procure
the ROYAL Princes safety. Rokewood. with gallant
generosity, offers but Ruth forbds; and, boldly ven
turing across the Sands, brings back the Duke and
party in safety As reward, the DIXIE gives to
Ruth ring. which proves afterward the tallsman to
saye tho life of Rokewood. He then posts on the
village cross an offer Of reward Of one thousand
pounds to the who would arrest the rebel traitors
Radcliffe and SIR Gervase Rokewood.
The postmaster eager to gain this prize resorts to
his old habit of opening night the letters in his
l,t,r-- lie ak DIR
the betrothed of Rokewood-to be his instrument. In
a letter directed to Radcliffe, from Jacobin Lancas-
tran squire Of the even to this day Catholic name of
Towneley, he deciphers the hour and place OF meet
ing and PUSHES to give information. He IT, however,
forestalled by Anne, his daughter, who rescues
Rokeyood. and By Ruth, who really encounters the
danger, and risks her life to save him, though Anne
appears as his deliverer. Rokewood is, however,
found afterward concealed in Anne Musgraves cham
Der. and only rescued from the scaffod, to which
he has been condemned, by the ntercesson and pre-
sentation TO the Duke by Ruth of the ring he had,
in the hour Of his deliyerance by her brave hand
given her She, however, but rescues her lover to
find him welded to her rival Anne by her own father
for such Radcliffe found to be, who, like many OF
the Roman Catholic clergy, had entered the priest
hood 10 conceal an early sin and SORROW, and recog
pzes in cross Ruth on her bosom the child Of
that sin and sorrow. The piece wears throughout the
perfume Of one Of SCOTS best stories, and nearly all
the characters appear to have taPed from the canvas
Of the novels which tell of that period-Wayerey and
Rob Roy. At the denouement, too we feel the same
sorrow in seeing Rokewood marry the nspid Anne In
stead Of Ruth, az in seeing Wayerey marry Rose
Bradwardine instead Of Flora McyOr or Iyanhoe wed
Royena instead of Rebecca.
The feeling was heightened, too, by Miss keenes
-. Lo.,,.:f,i ,oroo,a,ior ~ Rnth Alone abe NAV