tion, as also the exercise of an analysing faculty. It produced great applause. It possessed that tenseness of thought, impetuosity of feeling, enthusiasm bordering upon mania, and intuitive political wisdom, which form the character. We cannot speak too highly of Denham's King Henry; or Pritchard's Sir Richard Vernon. Brough, as Douglas, was well enough; but, speaking of the character, .we cannot but express our wonder that Shakspeare should have selected the Douglas, who commanded at Homildon, as the flower of Scottish chivalry, when he, in Scotland, was so unpopular as a general, on account of his repeated defeats, that he acquired the agnomen of Tineman. The only battle he ever won was that, of Beauge in France; and he was the only one of his family not celebrated for military talent. Miss Lacy acted Lady Percy; and we would hint to her, that those graceful bendings of her form, which are so captivating in dancing, are quite ridiculous in acting. I A ROLAND FOR AN OLIVER. We really conceive this to be the most unintelligible, absurd sort of a thing ever brought out. We can put up with the improbabilities of the old farce, because they employ that sort of machinery, which at once calls upon us to discard common sense and reason; and, for that reason alone, we prefer Pantomime, and even Punchinello, to many modern farces. But, in A Roland for an Oliver, the characters are every-day ones and common place; and yet their conduct is irreconcileable with any rational hypothesis. It is one of those hodgepodge productions, so very common now-a-days, framed for the express purpose of concentrating, as much as possible, the peculiar powers of certain actors in their representation. The trick may take in London, where those same certain actors flourish; but it ought to be scouted everywhere else. The only passable characters in this piece, are Sir Mark Chace, Fixture, and Maria Darlington. The two first are certainly performed in a most superior style, by Murray and Stanley; but as for Miss Halford's Maria Darlington, it falls so far short of the vivacity, grace, and versatility of talent required in it, that it positively disgusted us. Mr. Charles Kemble appears to-morrow as Benedict in Much Ado about Nothing. We expect great things from his performance, and have an implicit reliance upon Mrs. Siddons' powers in the part of Beat.ce. · THEATRICAL INTELLIGENCE. Mr. Vandenhoff performs for the last time this season upon Friday. His retirement should naturally draw from us a remarks. We believe him to be the greatest and most popular performer, who-has ever had an engagement in our theatre for any length of time. Until Mr. Vandenhoff's appearance here, there seemed to be an utter ignor. ance of the talent, which was exercised and encouraged in other provincial theatres. We mean to pronounce no studied eulogium upon Mr. Vandenhoff; our former critiques are sufficiently explanatory of our opinions respecting him. "Take him all and all," we think he is scarcely to be matched; indeed, we think he is not to be matched. And here we must pay two compliments, first, to the aristocracy of the city, who have evinced a public spirit, highly honourable to them, in patronising Vandenhoff with unexampled zeal; and, secondly, to Mr. Murray, who, we understand, has, viva woce, acknowledged the transcendant abilities of Mr. Vandenhoff. That Mr. Murray was aware of his merits all along we never doubted, for we conceive Mr. Murray to have excellent judgment and taste. It remains for us, however, to say, that, wanting Vandenhoff, the company is quite unequal to tragedy. There are not two opinions upon the subject, among the intelligent class of society; and it is a prevalent feeling in all ranks, that our theatre, in point of respectability, should vie at least with all others out of London. That the comic strength of the company is great-nay, unequalled we admit; but we are loath to dispense with a great leading tragedian. It is not our wish to inquire from what motives Mr. Murray re-engaged Mr. Vandenhoff; but his doing so, showed something like respect for public feeling; and a grateful feeling for his conduct on that occasion, indisposes us to push our argument so far as we might. We can refrain ourselves from- -every observation but this, that Vandenkoff, during his engagement, has, of himself, brought great houses, while neither Young nor C. Kemble, without the co-operation of Mr. Vandenhoff, ever brought a decent house. We must say more. Mr. Vandenhoff, in every play where he had to act along with Mrs. Siddons, was most indifferently supported by that lady, while the casts of the pieces showed the greatest impartiality. PUBLISHED DAILY, BY J. L. HUIE, INFIRMARY STREET; Theatre-Ropal.am 2002 This evening will be performed, the Comelty of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Watchmen, Mr. Aikim and Mr. Js Stanley at 10 paras In the course of the comedy will be sung the Sigh no more Ladies, By Mr. Bing, Miss Nicol, and Miss Halford. After which will be added the favourite Melo-Drama of... Yo! Dramatic Review. "...Good, my Lord, will you see the Players well bestowed ? My Lord, I will use them according to their desert." www SHAKSPEARE. No. CCCXCVII. THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 1824. Vol. VIII. Theatre-Ropat. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. This is one of the most delightful comedies ever penned; and it would require the genius of Dulness itself, to make the performance of it uninteresting: With some exceptions, it was performed last night with much spirit and ability. In the part of Benedict, Mr. Charles Kemble moved in his own proper element; and, passionately as we admired Mr. Young's Benedict, we think Mr. Kemble's by no means inferior to it. These gentlemen are both of the same school; and a sameness of style in their acting is pretty perceptible. It is that style which harmonises admirably with the cynical severity, and pungent wit of a Benedict, and the restrained freedom of ancient manners,-manners which did not incase the outward man in stays, or a strait jacket, however placable and lamb-like was the inward man, but which both required feeling and spirit, and checked their exuberance. Mr. Kemble was the very Benedict of Shakspeare; and he obtained that applause which he amply merited. We repeat that Mr. Calcraft ought to have been put into the part of Don John; and that Mason and Mackay should have changed characters. Mrs. Siddons' Beatrice, is known by all and sundry to be a pre-eminently great performance. The favourite glee of "Sigh no more ladies," is no great favourite of ours, when sung by those accomplished vocalists, Mr. Byng, Miss Nicol, and Miss Halford, the former of whom, we presume, has remonstrated with Mr. Murray upon the folly of engaging Sinclair as a star. THE FORTY THIEVES.-This is generally allowed to be the best of hippo-dramas. It has been brought out here as melo-drama; and it possesses merit of its kind of the first order. The author of the piece is unknown to fame; but it was first brought out at Drury Lane in 1806, with very great success, and was then called an operatic romance, or a romantic opera. The scene is Bagdad, and an adjacent forest. The story is taken from a tale in the 4th volume of The Arabian Night's Entertainments. Ali Baba, a poor wood-cutter, while pursuing his avocations in the forest, discovers a cavern belonging to a banditti, and overhears the magical words of "Open Sesame," by which he obtains admission, and returns to his home laden with wealth. His wife Cogia, having borrowed of her rich and proud sister a measure to ascertain the amount of her treasures, several pieces adhere to the bottom of the mea'sure, and divulge their concealed wealth. Ali Baba is therefore compelled to disclose the secret to his rich brother Cassim, who visits the cavern; but when he has entered, forgetting the words " Open Sesame," he is unable to escape, and being found by the robbers, is beheaded, and his body thrown into the forest, where it is found by his brother Ali, who succeeds to his possessions. To conceal the catastrophe, a cobler is led blindfold to stitch the head to the body: and he having mentioned this circumstance to the captain of the banditti, the captain is shown by the curer of soles to the house inhabited by Ali Baba. Pretending that he is a merchant trading in oil, he obtains admission into the garden attached to Ali's house for thirty-nine jars, in each of which a robber is concealed. Morgiana, the faithful slave of Ali, wanting some oil, goes to the jars, and, discovering the scheme, destroys the whole gang with some deadly liquid, which had been given her 19master by a beneficent fairy. To effect the destruction of the captain, Morgiana enters the banquetting room as a dancing girl; and while he is attempting to stab her master, wrests the dagger from his hand, and plunges it into his breast, for which she is rewarded by a marriage with Ganem, the son of Ali Baba. An episode is introduced, consisting of a benevolent fairy and a wicked genius, the latter of whom is at length subdued by the power of virtue. The programme of this piece, it is said, was sketched by Mr. Sheridan; the dialogue written by his brotherin-law, Mr. Ward; and some finishing touches were given to it by that gentleman, who has become so celebrated of late for his finishing touches, namely, Mr. Colman. The music of the piece, which is very beautiful, is by Kelly. The piece was remarkably well performed; three characters in it especially, Ali Baba, Mustapha, and Hassarack, which were occupied by Messrs. Mason, Murray, and Pritchard; but we have no room to dwell upon the performance; and must content ourselves with saying, that it deserves a run. CALEDONIAN THEATRE. We were last night again astonished by Monsieur Alexandre's wonderful powers; and think this gentleman may |