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Article PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. Page 1 of 4 →
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Public Amusements.
PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS .
THEATRE ROYAL , DRURY-LANE . Jan . 25 . A NEW Comedy was produced this evening , under the title of il KNAVE OR NOT , said to be written by Mr . Holcroft , author of several dramatic pieces . The plot of this play is shortly as follows : AdmiralRowland , on his death-bed ,
appointed two executors and guardians of his infant daughter , Amelia . They resolve to divide her fortune , and bring up the orphan in obscurity . The play . opens when she is twenty years of age , and when she is received into the family of one of her treacherous guardians , now become SirJob-. Ferment , a humble companion to Lady Ferment . A son of Sir Job , by a former marriage , becomes enamoured of Aurelia , and their affection is reciprocal . Harry Monrose , who calls himself Count , and who is the tutor of Jonasthe
favou-, rite son of Sir Job and the present Lady Ferment , discovers the iniquity . of the guardians , and resolves to turn it to his own account ; and he brings to town his sister , Susan Monrose , to assist , him in his design , —This girl , an ingenious , simple-hearted creature , will not abet any thing like roguery , and he is counteracted by her virtue . The plot , however , proceeds , " and is artfully managed . Sir Guy , the brother of the other guardian , is also a man of inflexible honour , though of whimsical manners , and his house is the asylum
of Aurelia , when she flies from that of Sir Job . —Jonas , the darling son of Lady Ferment , a youth of the Tony Lumpkin school , falls in love with Susan Monrose ; and the piece concludes , of " course , with the exposure of the villany of the executors , and the happiness of the lovers . In the conduct of the fable there is very considerable dramatic art . If we were to regard only the regularity of the plan , and the skill with which the materials are made to tend progressively to one point ; the incidents to
support each other ; and the integrity with which the distinct characters are preserved , we should say that the authormust be very conversant with the drama , and an adept in stage composition ; but if we were to view it on tiie side of the indiscreet mixture of abstract doctrines with which the dialogue is charged , we should attribute it to some young and ardent writer , who having read the bold licence of the theatre , in the manly times of the British drama , had caught its fervour , and determined to lash our vices as our forefathers used to lash them . Some expressions of Sir Guy , even in the second a _ f . rnnsc-d the ouick sensibilirv of a Jealous audience an . ! t-h . . no-1 . < - ! ... ; ,-,.,- „ tvui 1
_ — - . , j - . _ . ' . . . . . .- , ,, ., ^ jiwu y soon melted into the most pathetic tenderness , the shock was given to suspicion , and it eagerly watched , criticised , and even tortured every subsequent sentence . It is certain , however , that many passages were hi ghly injudicious . A dramatic writer has no business , in Comedy , with any thing but the follies and the foibles of the age ; its crimes must be corrected andits " character vindicated in a more solemn tribunal . The passages , however , to which we allude are few ; they make no part of the genuine texture of the fable and are not
, even features of any one of its characfers . The' charafter of Susan Monrose is new to the Stage ; and it was represented by Mrs . Jordan with such force and simplicity as to be irresistible in its effect upon the heart . None of the other characters had the recommendation of novelty ; but they were well employed ; and though the Comedy has nothing striking in its wit or epigram , yet it is not debased by that vile substitute for spirit , buffoonery . '
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Public Amusements.
PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS .
THEATRE ROYAL , DRURY-LANE . Jan . 25 . A NEW Comedy was produced this evening , under the title of il KNAVE OR NOT , said to be written by Mr . Holcroft , author of several dramatic pieces . The plot of this play is shortly as follows : AdmiralRowland , on his death-bed ,
appointed two executors and guardians of his infant daughter , Amelia . They resolve to divide her fortune , and bring up the orphan in obscurity . The play . opens when she is twenty years of age , and when she is received into the family of one of her treacherous guardians , now become SirJob-. Ferment , a humble companion to Lady Ferment . A son of Sir Job , by a former marriage , becomes enamoured of Aurelia , and their affection is reciprocal . Harry Monrose , who calls himself Count , and who is the tutor of Jonasthe
favou-, rite son of Sir Job and the present Lady Ferment , discovers the iniquity . of the guardians , and resolves to turn it to his own account ; and he brings to town his sister , Susan Monrose , to assist , him in his design , —This girl , an ingenious , simple-hearted creature , will not abet any thing like roguery , and he is counteracted by her virtue . The plot , however , proceeds , " and is artfully managed . Sir Guy , the brother of the other guardian , is also a man of inflexible honour , though of whimsical manners , and his house is the asylum
of Aurelia , when she flies from that of Sir Job . —Jonas , the darling son of Lady Ferment , a youth of the Tony Lumpkin school , falls in love with Susan Monrose ; and the piece concludes , of " course , with the exposure of the villany of the executors , and the happiness of the lovers . In the conduct of the fable there is very considerable dramatic art . If we were to regard only the regularity of the plan , and the skill with which the materials are made to tend progressively to one point ; the incidents to
support each other ; and the integrity with which the distinct characters are preserved , we should say that the authormust be very conversant with the drama , and an adept in stage composition ; but if we were to view it on tiie side of the indiscreet mixture of abstract doctrines with which the dialogue is charged , we should attribute it to some young and ardent writer , who having read the bold licence of the theatre , in the manly times of the British drama , had caught its fervour , and determined to lash our vices as our forefathers used to lash them . Some expressions of Sir Guy , even in the second a _ f . rnnsc-d the ouick sensibilirv of a Jealous audience an . ! t-h . . no-1 . < - ! ... ; ,-,.,- „ tvui 1
_ — - . , j - . _ . ' . . . . . .- , ,, ., ^ jiwu y soon melted into the most pathetic tenderness , the shock was given to suspicion , and it eagerly watched , criticised , and even tortured every subsequent sentence . It is certain , however , that many passages were hi ghly injudicious . A dramatic writer has no business , in Comedy , with any thing but the follies and the foibles of the age ; its crimes must be corrected andits " character vindicated in a more solemn tribunal . The passages , however , to which we allude are few ; they make no part of the genuine texture of the fable and are not
, even features of any one of its characfers . The' charafter of Susan Monrose is new to the Stage ; and it was represented by Mrs . Jordan with such force and simplicity as to be irresistible in its effect upon the heart . None of the other characters had the recommendation of novelty ; but they were well employed ; and though the Comedy has nothing striking in its wit or epigram , yet it is not debased by that vile substitute for spirit , buffoonery . '