Covent-Garden Theatre.
The Times, 1824-11-10T00:00:00

An old comedy of Rowley's, called Woman ncvrr Vexed, was re- vived, with some alterations, last night at Covent-garden Theatre. The Covent-oarden piece claims to be Rowley's play, with i' ?atera. tions" and " additions ;" the " addltionu" of thc scene-painter are splendid, (and of the proiperty man), but we observed very few others; as far as the " alteration" goes, hovwever, that has been done with suf. ficient discretion and skill, and the success of the revival, upon the whole, is undoubted. The plot of thecosnesvr runs somethinlg thus:- The" woman never vexed" is Alistress Agnes Welsted, a widow, of Cornhill; and her character is one of those exaggerated humours which the old dramatists lessoned us vrith pretty nearly as the nodern French do vwith theirproverbs; except that our own countrymeni, with quite as much in the way of instruction, contrived to give us rather more in the way of entertainment. The life of the WPidow of Coin/hll is Iwritten to besa commentary upon the umaxim-" Better to be bomn fortunate than ricl." Since her birth she has never known vexa- tion, all she undertakes prospers, every thing she wishes comes to pass ; and this desirable condition is purposely contrasted with the lot of her gossip 11'istressFesiter,who, llavini a tasteof the Tartar in her disposition, finds, truly or untrulv, that with her tiotling can go righ t. These two ladies, opposed in state and temper, arenevcrthelessunited, in the beginning of the play, by the ties of chit-chnt : .and in thc progress of ittheybecomie joined still cl-ser,ifnotin friendship,at least in relation. T7,oma fioster, a wealthy merchant, and Mintress k'oster's husband, has a younger brothler, Stephen, who stands but scurvily in his sister-in-law's opinion. Alaster Step7en wastes lhis owin means, and those of any body else who will trust hin, and gets into the prisoh of Ltudgate. Robert Foster, the son of Thonias, pays his uncle's lebts with his fathier's moneRy, and, for this pious deed incars the penalty of disinheritance. Being at liberty, our friend Stephten borrows tbrty shillings; lays a plan of reform; but goes straight to the dicing-houise. To catcl him here, " in the fact," andi make her griefs notorious, Mrs. Thaorlnce Poster comes perdue, and bsrings her dear friend Irs. We/lsted. But the figure of the diissipated rogue, who, even as they enter, has a chair uptifted, slaying a bully who has cheated him, strikes the fair widow with a sudden whim, which looks very like a sudden inclination. He threatens his sister with the ducking-stool, but the widow thinks him hanidsome; he refuses to hear her a-lvice, and then she makes love to himi. In the end-upon the spat-she marries him- and, fromi being a beggar, the Indies become placed at his dispo- sal. This is at all points an extraordinary wedding, for it takes place in the second act of the comedy; but what follows flags very seldors, though the plot is scarcely more than single. Mistres Welsted, who has wedded .Stephen Foster (as she alleges) only in the hope of at last being made miscrable, is again disappointed. The fortune of this lady is invincible-she leaps from the Monument, and must fall upon her fect. MPfaster Stepen, wsho was adicer. and a six bottle man, while fie had not sixpence, finds safety, and fbrty thousand poundls, advantages beyond all reasonable risking; so he even adopts -his nephew Robert; visits the counting-house in nreterence to the bowling-alley; looks to his debts and credits; keeps a splendid house; and becomes a miracuilous husband, as well as a nman of worship. Aflistress WZe l4ed is not the only party disappointed in this afrair-the tables are clhanged some- I thing between our new-made merchant and his brother. Thomas can'L well stomach seeing a man rich whoun he has been used to prophesy ill of, nti censure for being poor. Stephen, who has a touch of the family temper, remembers tihe poverty too, but in a ji1T1er-IL way; tie ,ieets hits brothier upon the market; buys and sells for thousands in his teeti ; and is accounted (which is still more provoking) rather the warmer citizen of the two. This is the feeling upon which the author founds his catastrophe; and, thoughi simple enough, there is power in the detail with whicil it is broughmt about. Thomas Foster, in jealousy at his brother's wealth, tries an adventure, which is to put him at once past competition. HIe is halfsharer in three shiips trom Barbary, ricily laden whicil are al- ready in the Downs. Knowing their value, he odets 20,000L to buy out the interest of his copartner; pays down his last guinea in read(y cash, and even pledges his stock in goods to mnake up the amount. The shipstben sink i'3 the very n:outhoftheriver; Thomas Foster is beggared, ann flings hiniself into the prison at Ludgate, for shelter against bis credlitors; andt Stephen, who, in the mean time, to the (lespair of all graybeards, is made Sheriff of London, visits tile gaol in his official capacity, andl commands fbr the dispo. sition Of his brother in his dungeon. This ternination is foreseen pretty nearly froni the moment of Stephen Foster's marriage; but thlere is a great deal, in the circumstances which bring it about, of that straight.forward vigour whici belongs to the dra- matists of the 16th century. It is a homely incident, but an effec- tive one, the bringing Trhonuas Foster to beg at the grate of the prison at Ludgate-when he drives his son from hitm, thiat the latter may not "hear his old faiter beg, andcry, for a penny." T1he ideal in the gaol, too, of St5phen's coming, not inaerel as a man of wealth, but in a capacity of coumand, is a surprise over and above time mere clhange iir the brother's circumstances, which the au- dience very early suspect, antl are prepared fbr. The play concludes (ot course) with a general reconciliation; and the impending dit:. ficttlties are sotmething prolonged, for the sake of bringing about this accommodation before the King in person at (inililhall; but in return for this we have a splenlict pageant, represesting (according to the bills) the Lord Mayor's Showa in the year 1444; and a gre.at deal of very admirable acting from the beginning ot the piece to the end. jllr. Charles Kemble played the yoenger brotlher with great manliness and spirit: it was of the same order with some of his acting in CGharles 11., and full as efiective. The part ofT/Tomtas Foster tells less with the audience thiana Step/hen; but thc play niainly 'tinges npon MIr. Young's pertbrnmance of it: in manv seenes he was high- ly impressive; and thert: is scarcely a line iii his character which, in the mouth of an ordinary actor,' would not have been a failure. Mliss Chester did the lady whio wants to bevexed, but she wore light hair (as it Eeemed to us), and her coijflre generally did Ilot become her. Mtr. Bartley and Mr. Keeley. as two burlesque lovers, Sir Godfrey Speedr-ell and Master iitnocent ftam/tskin, were endurable. Miss Lacy played the wife of Thontas Foster, and carried awvay more applause than any performner in the piece. There is a plaii- ness anti gooti sense abdut all that this lady does which cannot fail to make itL vay. Iler figure-the truth imust out- was not fortunate ior the heroines of tragedy ; but she played the miser's daughter in the piece froml tIe Fortimes of Vi-e,m in a mnian- ner very extraordinary ; and her acting hi this play, which is the first time she ha sattempted conmedy, cannot tail to give her consi- derable reputatihn. Into the correctness of the " Lord Ilayor's S"bow for 1444," as arranged, tme lateness of the hour will not allow us to ilquire ; btit as a spectacle, it is far more gav than the reality of the pfesent day. The several companies of the city appear, tno withi their banners mnerely and devices, but eacii brings a pageant of its own-emblematic and expressive of its mnysterv or calling. There is a green dragon, for iustancc (we don't know what company he be- longs to) ; but, in these times, the sight of hhi might terrify a whole ward. Then the Fishmongers bring a salmon (on wiheels)-sea and all. The (oldtimiths yarade a magnificent service of plate. The Vintneis exihibit a Silenus, rstride upon a cask of wine; for tie Armourers, a red-cross knight carries a shield of looking-glass, and treads on thie neck of prnostrate Saracen; and the procession is t:srther graced (ni addition mo lignitaries innumerable who move in it) by the presen ce of the citv w.aits, and a company of morris-dancers, among whoii liae hmobby.korse" is not forgut. Upon the whole, tile play is get ap with very creditable talent and exertiOn. The scenerv is some of it very Curifius; aiid the street of practicable" hoases ihrougl which the procession passes is a new idea. It was given ou tbr repetition with general applause; and the houise was crowded in all parts at a very early hour. ____e_________ CO VR1VT_PSrBRDEN THEA TRE.