the persuasive eloquence of dress; when beaux and belles, enamoured of themselves in one another's follies, fluttered like gilded butterflies in giddy mazes through the walks of St. James's Park! The perfection of this gala out-of-door comedy is in Etherege, the gay Sir George! Then comes Wycherley, and then Congreve, who hands them into the drawing-room.—Congreve is supposed to have been the inventor of the epigrammatic, clenched style of comic dialogue; but there is a great deal of this, both in Wycherley and Etherege, with more of a jaunty tone of flippant gaiety in the latter, and more incident, character, and situation, in the former. The Country Girl holds unimpaired possession of the stage to this day, by its wit, vivacity, nature, and ingenuity. Nothing can be worse acted, and yet it goes down, for it supplies the imagination with all that the actors want. Mr. Bartley had some merit as Moody, Mr. Fawcett none. Barrymore, at Covent Garden, played Harcourt well. We have seen him in better company, and he reminded us of it. He was much of the gentleman, and as much at home on the stage (from long practice) as if he had been in his own apartments. As to the two Miss Peggys, we hardly know how to settle their pretensions. If Mrs. Mardyn overacts her part to that degree that she seems only to want a skipping-rope to make it complete, Mrs. Alsop is so stiff and queer that she seems to have only just escaped from a back-board and steel monitor. If Mrs. Alsop has the clearest voice, Mrs. Mardyn has the brightest eyes. Mrs. Alsop has most art, Mrs. Mardyn has most nature. If Mrs. Mardyn is too profuse of natural graces, too young and buoyant and exuberant in all her movements, the same fault cannot be found with Mrs. Alsop, whose smiles give no pleasure, and whose frowns give unmingled pain. Mrs. Alsop's Peggy is a clever recitation of the character, without being the thing; and Mrs. Mardyn's is a very full development of her own person, which is the thing itself. Mrs. Alsop is the best actress, though not worth a pin, and Mrs. Mardyn is the most desirable woman which is always worth something. We may apply to these two ladies what Suckling said of one of his mistresses: "I take her body, you her mind— INDEX ABBOTT, William (1789-1843), "Delaval," as "Col. Briton," 251; "Col. "Abel Drugger" (in The Tobac- Abington, Mrs. Frances (1737-1815), xvi. Actor, a respectable, 91; genius of, Agreeable Surprise, The, by J. O'Keeffe; at Haymarket, 226-7. All for Love, by Dryden, 20. 343 Andromaque, by Racine, 252. Anstey's New Bath Guide, 335. Apostate, The, by R. L. Sheil; at Apprentice, The, by Arthur Murphy, 2. Arnold, S. J., as a poet, 104. As You Like It; at Covent Garden, Atkins, William, 155. Aurora; or, The Flight of Zephyr, 66 66 Baker, as Sidney," 225. 66 Barbarossa, by John Brown; at 66 Bartley, George (1782-1858), xxi, Beaux' Stratagem, The, by Far- Becher, Lady. See O'Neill, Eliza. at English Opera, 219. Beggar's Opera, The, by Gay; at Begri, Signor, as "Guglielmo," 237. 66 'Duke of Gloster" (in Jane Shore), 283-4; "Lieutenant Gov- Bertram, by C. R. Maturin; at tinax," 194, 225, 281. Bland, Mrs. (Maria Theresa Ro- Chip of the Old Block, A, by E. P. City Madam, The, by Massinger, Claremont, William (d. 1829 [?]); Coates, Robert (1772-1848), 36 and Cobham, Thomas (1786-1842), dé- Coleridge's Letters on "The Drama Deaf and Dumb, by T. Holcroft, Decamp, Vincent (1782[?]-1839), Dennis, John, his Remarks upon Devil to Pay, The, by C. Coffey, Dickons, Mrs. (Maria Poole, 1770[?]- at King's Theatre, 29-32. 66 Don Giovanni, Il, by Mozart, 316; Double Gallant, The, by Cibber, at 'Gripe," 148; "Heartly," 132; Drouet, M., 191-2, and n. 66 66 Edmund (in King Lear), com- "Richard III,” 110, 192. Egerton, Mrs. (Sarah Fisher, 1782- 66 |