THE THEATRE S.
SHERMAN'S pungent satire on the Whole trihue of theatrical people— authors, actors, critics, and' quidnunes— The 011ie, was played at Co- vent Garden last i. glut ; and welcomed as so clever and amusing a com- pound of' comedy and burlescate deserved, after nine years' absence front thee boards. The Critic, strange to say, has been shelved so long for want of a good " ; and 110W that CHARLES MATHEWS has come to the rescue with one of the very hest deseription—light, off- hand, graceful, and pleasant—we may expect it to be a frequent visiter. Mr. Pars extempore compliments to the performers, and hits at the cut and dry comumnplaces. that make up the "cant of criticism," are neatly turned, smartly delivered, and told 'well: Mr. MATHEWS very good- humouredly alluded to the somewhat exacting and depreciating esti- mate of his talents by the press, making Mr. Puff say of' his acting, that "though Mr. C. Mathews is unable to sustain a character in the regular drama, he hopped and skipped about with his usual vivacity "; let us add for him—" and showed himself to be a capital mimic and a perfect gentleman." His directions to the actors at rehearsal are given with scenting good faith, and his manner is that of a man perfectly at home and in earnest : altogether, his per- formance of Mr. Puff is admirable for its combination of finish and ease, freedom and elegance. FAnuEN, as Sir Fretful Plagiary, winced under the at inging compliments of his "damned good-natured 11 hinds" as though their sarcastic praise was a wreath of nettles ; that little irritable pig-tail of his writhing with agony. His grimaces are redundant, how- ever, and he takes the pit into his confidence too liberally ; nor aid his yelps of suppressed annoyance at the carbonado of his pretensions by Sneer seem like the genuine pangs of affected indifference. But the part being a short one, Mr. FAMIEN was resolved to make the most of it. COOPER spoke the words put into Sneer's mouth, but the venorn was wanting; and HEMMING is rather too grave and massive for Dany/e, who is the lightest possible tassel on the cane of the green-room lounger. The characters in the " Tragedy Rehearsed" are gloriously cast: Mrs. ORGEsi gives vent to the raptures and sorrows of Tillairina with vehement gusto and an apparent unconsciousness of the excessive manifestations that is the spirit of burlesque; and Mrs. C. JONES, as her confidante, supplied the breadth of buffoonery requisite in this dense exaggerated shadow of the comical features of itbut ina- she looked a little haystack in white muslin. HARLEY'S I Ili ideerandos is magnificently droll, without any seeming effort: indeed, caricature is the natural clement of this amusing actor ; and the same may now he said of J. BLAND. MEAnows, as Sir IValter Raleigh, had a hit at the modern fashion of tragedians turning their hacks to the audience ; and NV. H. PAINE, as the Beef:eater, exemplified the ingenuities of the " terrific combat," and its concluding series of stabs, in splendid style. Nor must the portentous pantomime of C. J. SMITH, as Lord Burleigh, he passed by ; though the shake of the head was not sufficiently deliberate nor prolonged: Lord Eurleigh's noddle should swing to and fro as ponderously as great Tom of Oxford—only without the tongue.
The dresses are splendidly comic—the real costumes a little parodied; and the fleets inamenvered with such imposing effect that Mr. Puff ought to have fainted with ecstaey.
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