ton, well known as the author of Speed the Plough, Cure for the Heart Ache, &c. Our opinion of it corresponds so nearly to that of Mr. Holcroft, as well as other reviewers, that we cannot do better than to transcribe his own language.

"The piece Mr. Morton has last produced, like most of those which he formerly wrote, is a strong mixture of the serious and pleasant, or might, perhaps, more emphatically be called a tragi-comedy. -Voltaire, in his Preface to The Prodigal Son' · L'Enfant Prodigue, has given an opinion more liberal than is customary with French criticks, and which perhaps he would not have given had it not been applicable to his piece, which opinion ought to be generally adopted. Speaking of dramatick pieces, he says, "Were I required to pronounce which species is the best, I should answer, that which is the best executed." Were this rule made the test of merit by criticks, we should hear less of the unities, and more concerning the excellence or of the failure of effect, and its causes.

"There is indeed a unity which, when it is observed, never fails of receiving its due reward; and this may be either called the unity of action, or more properly perhaps, the unity of story, or fable. When every scene and incident, throughout a dramatick piece, contribute to produce one effect, it must be very strange if that effect should be feeble, Should an audience be made to laugh and cry, at various passages of the same piece, this, instead of being a defect cannot but justly be considered as effecting the best purposes of dramatick poetry, whose double province is the imagination and the passions of

man.

"These effects however should be produced by natural and probable, and not by forced, incongruous and impossible events. When writing The School of Reform these simple means were not suf

ficiently present to the mind of the author; at least, he has failed in imagining and giving them a due arrangement. He has most judiciously been intent on producing the planned and double reform of his two heroes, but he has not scrupled, to employ very romantick suppositions for that purpose. The crowded and multifarious events which make up the plot, are nearly impossible, and yet the play, on the whole, produces continual and strong effects on thé passions. There are two species of probability; the probability of events, and the probability of the pas sions and emotions of the human mind. To the first of these probabilities Mr. M. has been very defective, but to the last he has been delightfully true and therefore deservedly triumphant.

"Mr. Morton has declared himself the enemy of the German plays; yet he is eminently, and almost devotedly, a student in the German school. That there is a mixture of virtue and vice in all men iş true; but virtue and vice ought not to be confounded. When servants, bailiffs, jailors, and all classes of people, are described as sentimental and generous, those precious qualities become too common; and the danger of being false to nature is imminent. When such people are really so, they should be giv en as exceptions, and be drawn with force and at full length.".

Among other inexplicable events, we cannot see how there came to be folding doors before an altar, nor how a lady procured admittance to place herself in an attitude behind them.

In speaking of the performance of this play, it will be impossible to recollect the excellent acting of Mr. Bernard without bestowing on it the highest approbation. The character of Tyke was so justly conceived and so finely executed, that it can hardly be too much admired. Mr. Caulfield had a heavy, up-hill part in Lord Avondale, but acquitted himself

respectably. Perhaps the author might here be accused of immorality. He has made Avondale a villain, hateful to himself, but by no means to the audience. To them he is the second hero of the piece, and is much too fair a character to excite in the mind that detestation of vice, which strict morality enjoins.

Mr. Dickenson in the old General was " perfect. to a letter."

Mr. Usher was tolerably successful in Frederick. It is not one of those characters in which he is seen to most advantage.

Mr. Fox exhibited Ferment in a terrible state of fermentation. A little less dancing and a little more moderation in speaking, would have added a little to the dignity even of Ferment.

Mrs. Powell appeared very well in Mrs. Ferment. It is the principal female character in the piece and Mrs. P. made it lively, interesting and amusing. Mrs. Usher did what little she had to do with pro priety.

Mrs. Downie ought to have credit for so often and so elegantly introducing into the part of the housekeeper," a fiddlestick's end," which the au. thor unluckily forgot.

We have reserved the character of Mrs. St. Clair · for the last and most conspicuous place in our remarks, that we might do ample justice to the superlative merit of Mrs. Shaw. So much ease and dignity of action, such exquisite pathos in execution, such admirable knowledge of the author, added to elegant orthoepy, we venture to assert have never before been seen united in one person. Of this latter accomplishment, gentle reader, take a specimen.

"Ah! do I again behold the place which gave : me birth; where I fondly gambl'd round my parent's knees! Alas, how changed! For the lowly cottage, I see the gaudy pallus! 'Stead of the mod

est woodbine, tangling its eglaments [ligaments] on the humble thatch,-behold the proud exotick just emblum of its imperious master."

Dec. 8. School of Reform and The Quaker.

Dec. 17. Provok'd Husband, Dr. Last's Examination, and Dermot and Kathleen.

It is one of the greatest pleasures a critick feels to bestow on genius and talent the well-earned meed of approbation. This pleasure we feel, though not without some particles of alloy, when we recollect Mrs. Stanley's personation of Lady Townly. "Grace was in every step, in every action dignity"-The effect of her speaking was sometimes injured by that sameness of sound, which we have before condemned. From this censure, however, justice demands that we exempt the last scene of the play, in which she far exceeded any Lady Townly we have before seen.

Mr. Dickenson made a pretty good Sir Francis, though he once or twice forgot his Yorkshire dialect.

We were pleased with Mr. Bernard's John Moody. He certainly has a very modest way of telling an immodest story.

Mr. Morgan seldom appears in any character of more importance than a letter carrier, and even then he only irritates the nerves of the spectator. But for once we must acknowledge, (and he is welcome to the compliment) that he appeared more respectable as an actor than some who had characters of more consequence.

The gentlemen who personated Lord Townly and Mr. Manly, seemed, "to dumbforgetfulness a prey,' and the best retaliation we can make them is to re member to forget the pain they gave us by their dullperformances.

Lady Wronghead belongs to that class of charac-. ters in which we have ever professed ourselves the real admirers of Mrs. Shaw.

Miss Jenny by Mrs. Poe was well. The hoyden is Mrs. Poe's forte.

Dec. 19. Every One has his Fault and The Sultan-Irwin, Mr. Caulfield; Sir Robert Ramble, Bernard; Solus, Dickenson; Harmony, Fox. Lady Eleanor, Mrs. Powell; Mrs. Placid. Mrs. Shaw.. The performances of this evening were for the benefit of the orphans of the late Mr. and Mrs. Jones. ' The receipts of the house amounted to 765 dollars.

A crowded and brilliant audience testified by reiterated plaudits their approbation of Mrs. Powell's Lady Eleanor, and Mrs. Stanley's Roxalana.

Dec. 22. School of Reform, The Ghost, and Dermot and Kathleen.

No essential difference has been observable in the repeated representations of this play. We review it with the same feelings of pleasure, indifference and disgust, as on the first evening. We are still delighted with the incomparable acting of Mr. Bernard in Tyke, still gratified with the enchanting spirit and good humour of Mrs. Powell in Mrs. Feriment. And Mrs. Shaw still continues to torture feeling with the artificial heavings of her breast, and grate the ear with her gambles, her eglaments and her emblums.

Dec. 23.

As you

like it and The Four Seasons. The Jaques of Mr. Caulfield is sufficient alone to pronounce him an actor of superiour powers. We hare seen this melancholy hero played by Messrs.