Mr. Brooke draws crowds to the Olympic; but we fear
that, while the cheers of the multitude are as obstreperous as ever, he is not advancing in the opinion of the cognoscenti. The sarcasm of Gloster in Cibber's Richard the Third could-hot have been less deliCately rendered than by Mr. Brooke. He is no master of nuances, and his ironical passages are marked out with the most striking rigidity. We should advise him to adhere to characters of steady declamation and obvious passion. His voice, which is really fine, qualifies him for the former; his energy, for the latter. He should not trifle with the position which ha.gained,by his Othello. All the violence in the fifth act of his Richard may be conceded to him, for it shows stout material and daring energy; but, unfortunately, be is almost as boistCimis in some of the earlier scenes, where sarcasm predominates. Let us also exhort 'the,.,diestore_of the Olympic not to placard the walls of the Metropolis with :the ;inateinent that Mr. Brooke is the " greatest living tragedian." Ile -has not attained that eminence in the opinion of any impartial person, atul-there is no occasion to provoke comparisons.
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