the formality of their artificial style is resorted to as a preservative against the infection of their national disposition. One quaint line in a thousand sad ones, operating on their mercurial and volatile spirits, would turn the whole to farce. The English are sufficiently tenacious of strong passion to retain it in spite of other feelings: the French are only tragic by the force of dullness, and every thing serious would fly at the appearance of a jest.1

MR. HARLEY'S FIDGET.

3

4

[Lyceum] August 6, 1815.

MR. HARLEY 2 is an addition to the comic strength of the Lyceum. We have not seen him in the part of Leatherhead, in The Blue Stocking, in which he has been much spoken of; but as an intriguing knave of a servant, he was the life of a very dull and incredible farce, which came out the other night under the title of My Aunt; and we afterwards liked him still better as Fidget, in The Boarding House," where he had more scope for his abilities. He gave the part with all the liveliness, insinuating complaisance, and volubility of speech and motion, which belong to it. He has a great deal of vivacity, archness, and that quaint extravagance, which constitutes the most agreeable kind of buffoonery. We think it likely he will become a considerable favourite with the

1 This article was signed "T. M." in The Examiner.

2

John Pritt Harley (1786-1858) made his début at the Lyceum, July 15, 1815, as Marcelli in The Devil's Bridge.

3 M.P., or The Blue-Stocking, by Thomas Moore, was produced July 20.

By S. J. Arnold, produced August 1; Harley was Rattle.

5 The Boarding House; or, Five Hours at Brighton, by Sam. Beazley, Junr., produced July 15. It was repeated on August I after My Aunt.

H

public; and the more so, because he is not only a very amusing actor, but also possesses those recommendations of face, person, and manner, which go a great way in conciliating public favour. These are the more necessary in those burlesque characters, which have little foundation in real life, and which, as they serve chiefly to furnish opportunities for the drollery of the actor to display itself, bring him constantly before us in his personal capacity.

We are really glad to be pleased whenever we can, and we were pleased with Peter Fidget. His dress and his address are equally comic and in character. He wears a white morning jean coat, and a white wig, the curls of which hang down like lappets over his shoulders, and form a good contrast with the plump, rosy, shining face beneath it. He comes bolt upon the stage, and jumps into the good graces of the audience before they have time to defend themselves. Peter Fidget, "master of a boarding-house, with a green doorbrass knocker-No. 1, round the corner-facing the Steyne --Brighton"-is a very impudent, rattling fellow, with a world of business and cares on his back, which however it seems broad enough to bear, the lightness of whose head gets the better of the heaviness of his heels, and whose person thrives in proportion to his custom. It is altogether a very laughable exaggeration, and lost none of its effect in the hands of Mr. Harley.

In the new farce of My Aunt,1 Mr. Wallack played the character of a fashionable rake, and he is said to have played it well. If this is a good specimen of the class, we can only say we do not wish to extend our acquaintance with it; for we never saw any thing more disagreeable. Miss Poole played the Niece to Mrs. Harlowe's Aunt; and seemed a very proper niece for such an aunt. Mr. Pyne "warbled his love-lorn ditties all night long;”—for a despairing lover, we never saw any one look better, or flushed with a more purple 1 Wallack was Capt. Dashall; Miss Poole, Emma; Mrs. Harlowe, Mrs. Gorbett (Aunt to Capt. Dashall); and Pyne, Capt. Vincent.

grace

He appears

as one incapable of his own distress. to have taken a hint from Sir John Suckling;

"Prythee, why so pale, fond lover,

Prythee why so pale?

Will, if looking well won't win her,

Looking ill prevail?

Prythee, why so pale?” 2

3

[Haymarket.]

WE went to the Haymarket Theatre on Thursday, to see Mr. Meggett in The Iron Chest, with that laudable desire which we always feel to find out any error in our former opinions; but in this desire, as it generally happens, we were disappointed. We however consider Mr. Meggett's Sir Edward Mortimer as a much more successful delineation than his Octavian. The character is taken from Falkland, in Mr. Godwin's Caleb Williams, which is unquestionably the best modern novel. The character, as it is treated by Colman, is one of much less genius and elevation than the original. It is harsh, heavy, fierce, and painfully irritable, but at the same time forcible and affecting. Such, at least, was the impression we received from Mr. Meggett's representation of it. What this actor wants is genial expression, and a certain general impulse which is inseparable from all passion. The tide of feeling in him frets itself away in narrow nooks and estuaries. His habitual manner is too hard and dry-he makes too dead a set at every thing. He grinds his words out between his teeth as if he had a lockjaw, and his action is clenched till it resembles the commencement of a fit of the epilepsy. He strains his muscles till he seems to have lost the use of them. If Mr. Kemble was hard, Mr. Meggett

1 Hamlet, IV, vii, 179.

5

2 Misquoted from Suckling's song commencing "Why so pale and wan, fond Lover?"

3 By G. Colman, Junr.; played at the Haymarket, August 3.

4 Things as they are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams, 1794. 5 March 12, 1796; see pp. 268-9, post.

is rigid, to a petrifying degree. We however think that he gave considerable force and feeling to the part, by the justness of his conception, and by the energy of his execution. But neither energy nor good sense is sufficient to make the great actor-it requires genius, which nothing can give. Study may teach us to distinguish the forms and classes of things; but it is genius alone which puts us in possession of the powers of art or nature. This play, when it first came out, excited a great deal of idle controversy and vulgar abuse. It appears to us to be a play of great interest; but that interest depends upon the sentiment, and not on the story or situations, and consequently is very little understood by a mixed audience.

Miss Greville made an interesting representative of Helen, the mistress of Sir Edward Mortimer. Mr. Barnard had considerable merit in Wilford, the Caleb Williams of the piece; though he seemed somewhat too insignificant an instrument to produce such terrible effects. Mr. Tokely played the ruffian (Orson) admirably well. Mrs. Belfield,' his Dulcinea in the gang of robbers, perfectly frightened us in the cave scene. We felt as much disconcerted by the uncalled-for frenzy of this theatrical amazon, as the Squire of Dames 3 in Spenser did, when he was carried off by the giantess, Ogygia; or, as Mr. Capel Lofft must have done the other day, when Mrs. Mary Ann Bulmer pounced upon him in the Chronicle.

2

3

Mr. Foote was the brother of Sir Edward Mortimer. This gentleman is of the Wroughton school; that is, he belongs to the old English class of honest country gentlemen, who

1 Mrs. Belfield was Judith; Foote was Capt. Fitzharding, half-brother of Sir Edward Mortimer.

2 The Iron Chest, II, v.

3 The Faerie Queene, III, vii, 47-51. The Squire of Dames was carried off by the giantess Argante. Ogygia is the name of Calypso's island.

4 Mrs. Mary Ann Bulmer wrote a letter to The Morning Chronicle of August 3, in reply to one from Mr. Capel Lofft on the preceding day, on the proposal to send Napoleon to St. Helena.

abound more in good nature than good sense, and who have a most plentiful lack of gall and wit. Mr. Foote does not discredit this branch of the profession. These persons are always very comfortable in themselves, and busy about other people. This is exceedingly provoking. They speak with good emphasis and discretion, and are in general of a reasonable corpulence. Whenever we see an actor of this class, with a hat and feather, a gold belt, and more than ordinary merit, we are strangely reminded of our old friend Mr. Gyngell, the celebrated itinerant manager, and the only showman in England, who, after the festivity of the week, makes a point of staying the Sunday over, and goes with all his family to church.

LIVING IN LONDON.

[Haymarket] August 13, 1815.

A NEW Comedy, called Living in London,' by the author (as it appears) of Love and Gout, has been brought forward at the Haymarket Theatre. It is in three acts. The first act promised exceedingly well. The scenes were well contrived, and the dialogue was neat and pointed. But in the second and third, the comic invention of the writer seemed to be completely exhausted; his plot became entangled and ridiculous, and he strove to relieve the wearied attention of the audience, by some of the most desperate attempts at double entendre we ever remember. Thus a servant is made to say, that "no one can bring up his master's dinner but himself." We are told by very good authority, that "want of decency 1 Mr. Gyngell's dwarfs-Mr. Hauptmann and Miss Nanette Stocker -appeared before the Royal Family on August 9, 1815.

2

By R. F. Jameson, produced Saturday, August 5. Miss Greville was Lady Killcare; Jephson was Neville; Jones, Vivid; Mathews, Motley-Vivid occasionally assumed the name of Neville.