HAYMARKET THEATRE. —A new piece, of some interest in its way,
was produced at this theatre on Monday ; but we have not seen it. We extract an account of the plot (the best we have read) from a light and agreeable daily journal of literature and theatricals only, called the Tatter. The Tatter is a very pleasant addition to the cheap enjoyments of the break. fast-table ; and its theatrical department purports to be supplied by the ori- ginal critic of the drama in the Examiner. We needed not that preliminary intimation, nor the indicatory hand in the corner, to assure us of his identity. The three acts contain three distinct portions of the lives of theparties concerned, and between each act a lapse of ten years is supposed to take place. In the first act we are introduced to the tavern of M. Mignot, (Farren) whose niece Marie, (Miss F. H. Kelly) a great coquet and am- bitious, is doubtful whether she shall marry Lagardie (Vining) whom she prefers, or M. Modeau, an old lawyer, who can make her rich and give her a carriage. The worthy cook is not so rich,. but his niece is a laundress, a trade which is here said to have been the original one of Marion de Lorme ; and Marion or rather Ariette (Mrs. Glover) is in- troduced as a lady of a certain character,' who is at once contemned and envied by Marie for the life she leads and the carriage she is ena- bled to ride in. Ariettel who discerns the ambitious temper of Marie and loves to mortify it, vexes her with a series of orders and complaints about a dress ; and partly in a fit of pique at this annoyance, and partly won by the eloquent arithmetic of Mons. Modeau, Mark, though she has just promised her hand to Lagardie, bestows it suddenly on the old lawyer. The rejected lover, unaware of his misfortune, comes in, and to his horror, and her confusion, encounters her about to depart for her carriage in a bridal dress. Marie is touched at the moment, but a new taunt from Ariette sets her ambitious blood mounting, and with a lofty presentation of her hand to the attorney, she marches forth, leav- ing the poor lover's happiness and the curtain falling together. In the second act, after the first lapse of ten years, we find Madame Modeau a widow, and the Marquis de Dinot, a field-marshal (Thompson), seeking her hand. This the lady is the more willing to accept, because the Marquis is intimate with Ariette, who affects to do what she likes with him ; but a difficulty is thrown in the way of the union by the King, who does not like his field-marshal to marry a laundress ; the field- marshal makes the lady very indignant, by doubting whether he can sa- crifice for her love a blue ribbon which he looks for in the event of his behaving like a good boy ; and Lagardie, who has pursued the law for her sake, coming back to renew his addresses, is played off by the heart- less coquette upon the Marquis's jealousy, till the latter resolves upon sacrificing his ribbon, and poor Lagardie is dismissed by a Marchioness. In this act is a scene admirably contrived between Ariette and the old cook, now calamitously advanced from his kitchen to be a gentleman- usher. In order to get rid of the visits of Ariette, Marie commissions Mignot to let her understand that they are no longer welcome ; and in order to dispense with Mignot at the same time, Ariette has the same cue given her, against' her will, to dismiss the cook. The two parties go through a ludicrous piece of equivoque, each endeavouring to break the matter tenderly to the other, and fancying from their remarks, that they comprehend it, till each is suddenly undeceived. The second ten years having elapsed, and the curtain of the third act drawing up, the old cook grown much older in appearance and mystified in memory, steps forward in grand costume, the major-domo of a King. This is Casimir, the abdicated Monarch of Poland, who made his appearance in the first act as one of the patrons of the beautiful Marie, and who has now opened to her the hopes of a throne by a promise of making her his wife ; for the Marshal is dead, and Marie is the Monarch's friend. To the attainment of this object, by persuading him to remount his throne, all the energies of the woman are directed : an ambassador comes from Sweden, a power whose favour she looks for : they meet, and Marie re- cognizes in Field-marshal Count Legardie, her old lover, who has become a soldier in the forlorn hope of making an impression upon her, has risen to his rank in Sweden, and who still loves her though not with his old ardour. Habit and a loving heart have been so strong in him, that he has even rejected a princess far her sake. The proud woman is affected, but ambition still prevails, and she rejects him with the intelligence that she is affianced to a king. The King, however, old and tired of the world, does not choose to accept the offers of his allies for replacing him on the throne: Marie tries all her powers, but in vain : she begins to fear she shall not succeed, and with an overwhelming impudence endeavours to retain the chance of an union with Lagardie, who has now become Viceroy of Livonia, should her projects fail. The Count's love, is by this time wearied out. He rejects her : the King goes into retirement ; and the miserable woman, who sees the man she preferred become a sort of king, and about to marry a princess, musters up a proud despair, and orders her carriage off to the Carmelites. She faints in the endeavour into the arms of her attendants, and the curtain drops. We must not forget, that in this last act, Ariette de Lorme makes her appearance, old, poor, and hysterical, with tears of misery in her eyes at one moment, but still laughing at her sister-washer-woman, the next. The Marchioness triumphs over her as well as she can ; but the King finally relieves her; and the piece ends with the intimation, that although improvidence and dissipation are very bad things for a woman's character and bring her into a frights. ful state of degradation, nothing is so bad as hard-heartedness and a selfish will."
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