The Spartans taught their children sobriety by exhibiting intoxication in
the Helots ; and generally we may get a clear notion of what a thing is by a careful study of its opposite. Is there any one sufficiently a novice in theatrical matters not to know what constitutes an Adelphi piece ? Let him see Mr. Jerrold's drama of The Mother's Dream, originally brought out (as The Mother) at the Haymarket, and revived this week at the Adelphi. Here we have a pretty story, in which the peculiar feelings of a young parent who has lost her child before she has had sufficient consciousness to behold it, and who afterwards recovers it from a gipsy tribe, are set forth with some delicacy and elaboration, while vagrant life receives that poetical treatment of which it is always susceptible in skil- ful hands. Moreover, everybody who can be made to act a part in the piece is pressed into the service ; so that it is as effectively produced as possible. But with all the advantages of The Mother's Dream, it is easy to perceive that a neatly-evolved anecdote is not enough for the staple commodity of the house. A succession of strong situations, a system of violent contrasts, and let us add, length rather than brevity, are required to satisfy the Adelphian appetite.
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