The Examiner.
The Examiner.
The Examiner.
The Examiner.
July 28, 1816.
We insert the following letter, which has been sent us, merely to show our impartiality:
‘Mr. Editor,—I have been to see the new Comedy Exit by Mistake, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. As this piece issansmoral andsansinterest, I am surprised at its being called aComedy, for many of our oldFarcesare more worthy of the name. Perhaps the author fondly anticipated much pathos from Mrs. Kendal’s scene with her son (Mr. Barnard), but it would have been much better if both mother and son had been omitted, for the latter is a hot-headed blockhead, who commits a most unjustifiable assault upon astranger, in astranger’shouse, by turning him out, which gross affront is in the last Act overlooked. In consequence of a letter about Mr. Roland’s departure, accompanied by his will, it is supposed he had departed from theworldinstead of thecountrywhere he was. This is the ‘Exit by Mistake,’ but the chief mistakes arise from theentrancesof the performers. The executor hearing that Roland (Mr. Terry) is alive and in town, goes to an inn to meet him, but most unaccountably mistakes Mr. Rattletrap (Russel) an actor just arrived from America, for his own friend, and even calls the actor by the name of Rattletrap. Poor Mr. Roland, in order to recover his property, inquires for an attorney, and is told there’s onebelow. Soon after the executor enters, and though dressed in abrowncoat, he is mistaken for an attorney. There are other inferior mistakes in the piece, but the greatest mistake is the author’s—for it is a Farce instead of a Comedy. As the play-bills state, that this piece has since been applauded by ‘brilliant and crowded audiences,’ and that ‘no orders can be admitted;’ the proprietors have no right to complain of their rival, the Lyceum Theatre, except Mr. Arnold should produce a good Opera tooppose this Farcical Comedy, and then the public will see the utility of rival theatres. Mr. Tokely’s character in it (Crockery) is the same which the same gentleman performs in the author’s ‘Love and Gout,’ with this difference, that in one he is a dissatisfied gentleman, and in the other a whining servant. Mr. Jones’s character (Restless Absent) keeps him in motion the first two Acts, but in the last he is quite stationary.
‘Dramaticus.
‘July 25, 1816.’
‘July 25, 1816.’
‘July 25, 1816.’
‘July 25, 1816.’
We do not agree with Dramaticus on the subject of the piece, which he so resolutely condemns. He puts us a little (though not much) in mind of John Dennis, who drew his sword on the author of a successful tragedy, without any other provocation. As to the title of this play, to which our critic so vehemently objects, we leave him to settle that point with the author. We do not judge of plays, or of any thing else by their titles.
The writer says, the Proprietors of the Haymarket have no right to complain, ‘except Mr. Arnold should produce a good Opera to oppose this Farcical Comedy, and then the public will see the utility of rival theatres.’ We wish Mr. Arnold would lose no time in convincing the public. As we have not the same faith as our correspondent in the power of rival theatres in screwing up the wits of their opponents, we did not go to the new comedy of Exit by Mistake, expecting either a profound moral or high interest; and so far we were not disappointed. But with a good deal of absurdity, there is some whim in it: there are several very tolerable puns in it, and a sufficient stock of lively passing allusions. It is light and laughable, and does well enough for a summer theatre. The part of Crockery in particular is very droll, and to us quite new, for we are not acquainted with ‘the dissatisfied gentleman,’ his predecessor, in Love and Gout. Crockery is a foolish fat servant (personated exceedingly well by Mr. Tokely) who complains that every thing is altered since he went abroad with his master, ‘cries all the way from Portsmouth, because the mile-stones are changed, and is in despair because an old pigstye has been converted into a dwelling-house.’ This whimpering, maudlin philosopher, is as tenacious of innovation as the late Mr. Burke, and as great an admirer ofthe good old times, as the editor of a modern Journal. In one thing we agree with honest Crockery, where he does not like to see the sign of the Duke of Marlborough’s head pulled down for the Duke of Wellington’s; in the first place, because the Duke of Marlborough had a very good head, and the Duke of Wellington’s is a mere sign-post; in the second, because we think it a more meritorious act to drive out the English Bourbons, the Stuarts, thanto restore the French Stuarts, the Bourbons, to the throne oftheirancestors. So much for the politics of the Theatre.
There is another new piece, A Man in Mourning for Himself, come out at the new English Theatre, which, whether it is Comedy, Opera, or Farce, we do not know. But—de mortuis nil nisi bonum. So let it pass. But there is a Mr. Herring in it, whom we cannot pass by without notice. He is the oddest fish that has lately been landed on the stage. We are to thank Mr. Arnold for bringing him ashore. Thisdidrequire some sagacity, some discrimination. We never saw any thing more amphibious,—with coat-pockets in the shape of fins, and a jowl like gills with the hook just taken out. He flounders and flounces upon the stage with the airs and genius of a Dutch plaise. His person detonates with boisterous wit and humour, and his voice goes off like a cracker near a sounding-board. With these preparatory qualifications, he played a valet who is his own master; and the jumble of high life below stairs was very complete. This gentleman’s gentleman was very coarse and very mawkish; very blustering and very sheepish; and runs his head into scrapes without the slightest suspicion. We have never seen Mr. Herring before; but on this occasion he was, according to our tastes, in fine pickle and preservation.
The Beggar’s Opera was performed on Thursday, when Miss Merry appeared in the part of Polly, and Mr. Horn as Captain Macheath. Miss Merry displayed great sweetness and taste in most of the songs, and her acting was pleasing, though she laboured under considerable embarrassment. We liked her ‘Ponder well,’ and ‘My all’s in my possession,’ the best. She seemed to us not to be quite perfect either in ‘Cease your funning,’ or in the exquisite little air of ‘He so teased me.’ We have no doubt, however, that she will make in time a very interesting representative of one of the most interesting characters on the stage, for we hardly know any character more artless and amiable than Gay’s Polly, except perhaps Shakespear’s Imogen. And Polly has the advantage on the stage, for shemay be sung, but Imogen cannot beacted.
Mr. Horn’s Macheath was much better than what we have lately seen. He sung the songs well, with a little too much ornament for the profession of the Captain: and his air and manner, though they did not fall into the common error of vulgarity, were rather too precise and finical. Macheath should be a fine man and a gentleman, but he should be one of God Almighty’s gentlemen, not a gentleman of the black rod. His gallantry and good-breeding should arise fromimpulse, not from rule; not from the trammels of education, but from a soul generous, courageous, good-natured, aspiring, amorous. The class of the character is very difficult to hit. It is something between gusto and slang, like port-wine and brandy mixed. It is not the mere gentleman that should be represented, but the blackguard sublimated into the gentleman. This character is qualified in a highwayman, as it is qualified in a prince. We hope this is not a libel. Miss Kelly’s Lucy was excellent. She is worthy to act Gay.