for variety of talent, and admirable personation of every character intrusted to him, he has not his match in the Theatre. We might refer to his Ben Block, his Scrub, his Giles, his Calepepper, and many others. As to Mrs Stanley, she is not a whit inferior to Mrs Siddons, excepting in delicacy of voice and person; and her mind is of much greater compass. Yet Mackay alone, who acts. Bailie Jarvie and Caleb, and little else, is prized more highly than both of them. Miss Halford, again, who occupied the part of second singer at Newcastle, while Mrs Stanely occupied the first line at York; who can act none, and whose singing, God knows, the public would gratefully dispense with,-has 3 3s; and is thus rated higher than either Mr or Mrs Stanley and placed upon a level with that great actress Mrs Renaud! Then look at Mason's salary of £2.; and consider his general usefulness, and his unrivalled performances of Trapbois, Nipcheese, Menenius, and numberless others. Why, Mason has more genius in his little finger than Mackay has in his whole body; and yet he has not one half of his salary; he has only two thirds of what is allowed to Miss Halford; two shillings more than is allowed to Bing and Brough; and, (Ō shame!) five shillings more than is allowed to Duff: Impartial justice rendered to a relative is praiseworthy; but positive injustice is monstrous. Then, again, we find Miss Halford has fully a third more than is given to that invaluable actress Mrs Nicol, and nearly a half more than is given to Miss Nico!, who is worth a dozen of her. Then we have Miss Rae, who (if we forget her performance of a French Milliner in some Farce) is a perfect automaton, gets £2., while Miss Eyre -that modest and-considering her years-talented actress, gets only 15s. But we must close our remarks at present, as we have some intention to resume them. Gentlemen desirous of possessing this publication, may have it delivered at their houses, by leaving their Address with the Publisher. PUBLISHED DAILY BY J. L. HUIE, 14, INFIRMARY ST. AND BOLD BY W. HUNTER, 23, HANOVER ST., AND J. & P.WATT, LEITN. Cheatre Royal. This Evening will be performed the Play of PAY OLD DEBTS. Lord Lovel, Mr Denham.-Wellborn, Mr Calcraft. Sir Giles Over-reach, Mr Vandenhoff Allworth, Mr Pritchard.-Justice Greedy, Mr Mason, Marrall, Mr Mackay.-Tap, Mr Duff. After which, for the 6th Time this Season, the favourite LIFE IN LONDON, OR THE ADVENTURES, OF TOM, JERRY, & LOGIC. Corinthian Tom, Mr Calcraft. Jerry Hawthorn, Mr Murray. Bob Logic, Mr Stanley.-Squire Hawthorn, Mr Faulkner. Baron Nab'em, Mr McGregor.-Saucy Dick, Mr Brough. The Hon. Miss Dorothea Trifle, Miss Nicola The Hon. Miss Jemima Trifle, Miss H. Lacy Susan Rosebud, (attached to Jerry) Miss Halford, Dramatic Keview. --Good my Lord, will you see the Players well bestowed?- SHAKSPEARE. No. CCCXIV. THURSDAY, JAN. 15, 1824. Vol. VII. Cheatre Royal. A NEW WAY TO PAY OLD DEBTS.- We have fre quently thought, that the fastidiousness of Mr Vanden hoff's taste is a drawback upon his performance in certain characters-villainous characters, for example, with which his own nature acknowledges no sympathy. In others, where the nobility of virtue has to be expressed, whatever artificial barriers his taste may have set up are swept away by a flood of generous feeling, which 1 66 Like to the Pontic sea, Ne'er feels retiring bb, but keeps due on We have now been prepared to expect a shortcoming in his performance, in every paroxysm of evil passion,-in every crisis where malignity and fear are concentrated upon an individual object. In his truly splendid performance of Sir Giles Over-reach, we saw that he came "tardy off?' in certain passages, peculiarly descriptive of the coarseness of the character as well as its ungovernable fierceness. His advice to his daughter to "kiss close," is given in the most temperate mood, though we apprehend that Sir Giles, in avowing so much depravity, must have been in a state approaching to desperation-not to speak of the policy of overbearing every delicate consideration upon the part of his daughter by a torrent of authority. In the scene with Lord Lovel, where he explains his contempt of public opinion, and his disregard of the tears and curses of widows and orphans, he improves considerably upon Kean, by assuming an air 2 of cool and magnanimous defiance. But here also he is too temperate: And in justice to Mr Russell, we must observe, that he does more justice to this fine passage than any actor whom we have seen in the character. Here our censure stops short. With the exertions we have stated, Mr Vandenhoff's performance was, as we have already described it, truly splendid. He most happily combined the qualities of the fox and the lion, the very qualities which, according to Lady Allworth's emphatic description of him, constituted his character. Sir Giles' ruling passion is self-aggrandizement; he has no respect for, but rather a lurking hatred of titles in the abstract; but he sets his heart upon ennobling his daughter, only as the means of exalting his own power and consequence. He has an appetite quite ravenous for despotic power; for the fawning and cring ing of those who, in point of rank, are above him, but who, intellectually, are beneath him. He is speculatively a proud Turk in the world of intellect, who will acknowledge no permanent distinction of rank in his dominions, holding all under him to be equally his slaves; but then, he is not de facto a grand Turk, but a wary politician, who is obliged to have recourse to "windlasses and assays of bias," to accomplish his grand purpose. Mr Vandenhoff, (excepting always as we have before excepted) was a perfect Sir Giles. In the scene where, immediately before Lovel is introduced to his daughter, he urged her to a compliance with his wishes, the earnestness with which he laid his injunctions upon her, and the libidiny (if we may use so strong an expression) with which he expressed the phrase, "Right Honourable daughter," were admirable. In the intermediate scenes, there was nothing in Mr Vandenhoff's performance which was not deserving of the highest praise. We would particularize his manner of seeming all at once to recognize his nephew, an idea as happy as it is original; and the hearty manner in which he acceded to Allworth's proposal of leaving out the name of the bridegroom, in his letter to the curate. It was in the last scene, however, where his genius shone most resplendently; but, find. ing that we have to observe certain limits, we must content ourselves with saying, that his performance in that scene could not well be excelled; and that it drew down enthusiastic bursts of applause. Owing to the lamented indispostion of Mr Jones, Mr Calcraft undertook the part of Wellborn upon a hasty summons, " on which account we do not consider him a fair subject of criticism. He was certainly wrong in dressing in a black suit, for reasons which must be obvious, Mr Jones, in the same part, most properly dressed in a suit of scarlet, though his countenance was much gayer. Jones, really looked like the ruined spendthrift; whereas Calcraft looked like an itinerant tragedian in want of an engagement. Mr Pritchard's Allworth is, we think, his very best performance. Mason's Justice Greedy is the finest piece of drollery we know; only we would advise him to forgo the silly piece of buffoonery of having flour in his hand, when he shakes hands with Lord Lovel. His appearing with a rolling pin and a dredging box, and his eating a piece out of the slice of bread held upon the toaster, are considerable improvements upon his first performance of the part. Mackay's Marall was, from first to last a piece of the silliest buffoonery. Mrs Renaud's Lady Allworth is inimitable in that line of character; and in the scene where she counsels her stepson, Allworth, her judgement and good taste were particulariy conspicuous. Why should not Mrs Siddons, (as she has hitherto done,) or Mrs Stanley, occupy the part of Margaret? NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS. We will attend to their Communications in to-morrow's Number. Gentlemen desirous of possessing this publication, may have it delivered at their houses, by leaving their Address with the Publisher. PUBLISHED DAILY BY J. L. HUIE, 14, INFIRMARY ST. AND SOLD BY W, HUNTER, 23, HANOVER ST., AND J. & P.WATT, LEITH A. Aikman, Jun. Printer, High Street, Edinburgh. |