The production of Mr. Jerrold's Housekeeper at the Haymarket, with
its present excellent cast, awakens a regret for a very pleasant period of the modern drama, when there was less of the cant of five acts than there is now, and the best writers of the day were content to take a length adequate to their subject. Many an agreeable piece in two or three acts owed its existence to that state of affairs, and a happy medium was hit between the heavy comedy and the light vaudeville. The days of Poole and Kenney marked the beginning, and the dramas of Jerrold the end of the period to which we allude; the latter author making a distinct peculiarity for him- self; by laying his scene in or about the last century, and giving his charac- ters the witty pointed dialogue of the Congreve school, with a mixture of sentiment, also carefully wrought. Since that period, five-act comedies have been plentiful as blackberries; but they have proved perishable com- modities. Of the whole number, Bulwer's Money and Bourcicault's London Assurance have alone kept possession of the stage.
The simple-hearted student Sidney Maynard could not be better repre- sented than by the quiet good-humour of Mr. Charles Kean; who has here an opportunity of displaying that bonhomie which always tells well in his comic acting. Felicia, a character subject to perpetual changes of emo- tion, is just suited to the minuteness and acute perception of Mrs. Charles Kean. Father Oliver, perfectly played by Mr. Webster, is a pleasant re- miniscence of the first days of The Housekeeper; the rakish Torn Purple is very cleverly rendered by Mr. Wigan; and if we go to the other characters we have the satisfaction of finding that every one is well-placed.
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