The Sun. — 1852-05-18 (London, England)

ADELPHI THEATRE.  Mr. Mark Lemon has contributed a piece to the repertoire of this establishment Which bids fair to rival in longevity the moat popular of those celebrated productions which never appear to lose their charm over an Adelphi audience. This interesting drama, produced last evening, bears the title of Sea and Land, and the plot rues thu- —The inhabitants of a village on the English coast (time, the close of the last century) are all smugglers, or friends of smugglers, in connexion with a merchant named Crouch, the " bad man" of the story. This Crouch is enabled to do a world of michiet in all directions. Having failed in-a venture through the untimely interference of the Government c ffieers, he contrives to fix the failure upon Ned Bradley, a smuggler just about to quit his profession, so that poor Ned is not only imprisoned as a contrabandist, but runs great ri,k of being torn to pieces by his tellow-contrabandists as a traitor to their cause. Then he manages to learn of a aceffla which occurred some ten 3 ears back between Sir Thomas Burton, the great gentleman of the place, and his own gamekeeper, and terminated in the death of the latter. The scuffle loses nothing in the hands of Mr. Crouch, for though the gamekeeper was killed by the accidental discharge of his fowling-piece, the ingenious merchant twists the story into a case of murder, which be is able to employ in terrorem against Sir Thomas, thus making the worthy Baronet look very ill and careworn, and almost obtaining the hand of his daughter, Miss Burton, notwithstanding that young lady has bestowed her affections on a well-looking young gentleman named Major Brownlee/. However, with all bis faults, Mr. Crouch has one being in the world to love him. He employs as a sort of spy a ragged girl, called Wild Meg, whom in the largeness of his munificence he rewards with an occasional shilling or sixpence, at last extending his bounty to a donation of some tawdry clothes. Nleg, who is only knocked about at home by her father, Shambling Will, and has never met with aught but rough usage from her companions, regards with posittve adoretion the ono creature who has given her a kind word. When she hears that Crouch is likely to marry Miss Burton she flies into an agony of jealousy, and frustrates his plan by giving a faithful account of the gamekeeper's death, which she witnessed in her childhood, and when at last he is led off to justice to receive the reward of his misdeeds she falls dead upon the stage. Mrs. Keeley's performance of Wild Meg was stamped with extraordinary talent. The part is not what may be termed a gracious one. It is the delineation of a semi-savage, being ragged, halfwitted, yet with fleshes of natural feeling occasionally illuming the gloom, but it gives Mrs. Keeley occasion for a thrilling display of artistic skill. Mr. Emery acted the young smuggler, Ned Bradley, with admirable propriety, and Mr. Hughes and 0. Smith, as Sir Thomas Burton and Crouch were, what they always are, excellent. Mr. Worrell and Mr. C. Smith satisfactorily sustained the characters of Major Browelow and Shambling Will. The comic element consists of a group, formed of Mr. Wright, a retired ccckney, who indulges in a yacht, and engages Paul Bedford and Mr. Cullenford, two Greenwich pensioners, whom be designates his cook and housekeeper. How Mr. Wright enacts a cockney who goes to sea, how he translates the nautical terms, how he ultimately becomes very ill, and is at last seen only in a rear view, with bis legs up in the air, and his poor head over the side of the heaving vessel, he himself being in an equally heaving state, must be seer to be enjoyed. It keeps the house in a perpetual roar for a long scene, and he never makes his appearance after but the laugh is renewed. Mr. Bedford, as a boatswain, also obtains his share of the approbation, and this part of the drama was singularly felicitous. Miss Kathleen Fitawilliam sang with great applause a pretty ballad composed by Mr. Mellon. "A thunder of applause," says the Times' critic, " and an universal shout for the author marked the conclusion of a piece which promises to rival Green Bushes in popularity. Wild Meg, as played by Mrs. Keeley, is just one of those creations which are likely to become a town-talk." The house was crowded.