Oscar the Bandit, or the March of Crime, is the
attractive title of the new melodramatic Durletta at the Adelphi. The incidents are of the most approved description for this species of entertainment. Oscar the bandit exchanges his profession of freebooter for the more safe and pro- fitable one of stockjobber; makes a splendid fortune in a day, by means of forged papers and false Intelligence ; gets introduced into the highest circles by a Countess, whom he had captivated by the polite manner in which he returned some trinkets that his band had robbed her of ; and is appointed, by her influence, judge of the criminal court. He had escaped being identified as Oscar, by shooting one of his gang who had followed to denounce him, and whose dead body he passes off for his own : he is at last exposed, however, by his former lieutenant and soi-disant father, whom he entraps in order to get him killed out of the way, but who lives just long enough to repay the treachery. Just at this moment, too, it is discovered that he Is the deserted son of the Countess, and consequently, that her daughter whom he bad fallen in love with, and, in the delicate manner of Adelphi heroes, had stabbed in attempting to force her away when she had uninten- tionally discovered his real character—was his sister. The moral ostensibly set foul) as the excuse for this complication of villany and wretchedness, is twofold—exemplifying the evil conse- quences of child-dropping and highway robbery. The latter is the moral of the Newgate Calendar also : but we prefer less lively illustra- tions. Not so the Adelpbi audience ; who hailed Oscar the Benda with applause, as out and out the best exemplar of the evils of wrong- doina.
The scenes and the acting are as vivid as may be desired. YATES as Oscar is " every inch a sca,np s" and 0. SMITH as the white-haired aobber, who follows his vocation like an instinct, prevented the oft- m_peated character from being commonplace, by a few genuine touches ef nature. Bucssrores is very amusing as a rascally adventurer, who, ander the disguise of many crafts, carries on but one--cheating. Some severe hits at gambling, stockjobbing, and commercial morality, are put into the mouth of Oscar. The scene at the Bourse, with the clamour of the throng of jobbers bargaining and quoting prices, was managed with a striking effect of reality. IVILKINSi■N'S personation of Old Gram, in The Christening, is a choice specimen of dry saturnine humour.
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