Public Amusements.

it was acted on Michaelmas night , the two brothers , the young lad } -, and Lawes himself bearing a part in tlie representation . "Comus" is un exquisitely beautiful poem , but nearly destitute of everything we more especially look for in a ^ drama . Passion , character , and story are quite absent , and there is very little action or

movement of any kind . The poem flows on in a continuous stream of eloquence , fancy and most melodious versification ; but there is no dialogue of a thoroughly dramatic character , no replication of divers emotions or natures . The masque , as we have said , was set tcr music by Henry Lawes , the valued friend of Milton , whose own musical taste had been cultivated in Italy .

His music of " Comus " does nob appear to havo been ever printed , and , with tho exception of some fragments , is irrevocably lost . Dr . Arne , however , one hundred . years later , reset " Comus " and many have considered this the masterpiece of that composer . The prominence given to the operatic rendering of thc masque ou all previous occasions has been again ensured by tho engagement of competent vocalists to render the

songs and concerted pieces , and the scenic resources ol tho theatre have been developed in aid of the supernatural effects with Mr . William Beverley ' s usual skill and taste . In the depths of a wild wood we have nearly the whole extent of the stage picturosquely employed , and thc change from the Enchanter ' s Palace and Hall of Revelry to the water nymph ' s retreat and

Sabrina ' s translucent homo is one of those glittering developments of pictorial and mechanical art which spectators hitherto have only had revealed to them about thc last week iu December . 31 r . Walter Lacygives tho ( lowing line- ; of Comus ivith dramatic force and due elocutionary expression ; Mr . Edmund Phelps as the Elder Brotherand Miss E . Falconer as tho

, Second Brother , impart the requisite iraprossiveness to the admonitory speeches ; and Mrs . Hermann Yczin is a perfectly efficient interpreter of the fine blank verso with ivhich the poet has endowed the lips ' of tho lady . Miss Augusta Thomson , who mado her debut here ns Sabriii' . i , is understood to havo been a pupil at tho Paris Conservatoire , and to have been one of the

principal members of tho Bonfi ' es Parisicnnes as well as a provincial actress at tho chief toivns in thc norths of England . Her appearance is prepossessing , her manner pleasing , and her * voice , as first hoard in the "Echo " song , fresh and well managed . The aid of such welltried vocalists as Miss Poole , the attendant spirit , and Mr . Henri Drayton and Mr . Wilbyc Cooper as the first

and second bacchanals , secures the most effective rendering of tho familiar solos . "Haste thee , nymph " was very spiritedly given , and , with some other songs , invited a demand for repetition . Tho archosological researches and artistic services of Mr . E . W . Keeno have secured thc completeness of the decorative accessoriesand the ivhich has been

, masque , produced with unusual care , obtained by the brilliancy of its appointments and tho charms of its music a loudly expressed verdict of public approval , whilst tho curtain fell on thc refulganb glories of tho final tableau in which the triumph of virtue is now so brilliantly recorded .

HAYMAPJvET . When the admirable acting of Mr . Sothcrr . iu , ; Tho Woman in Mauve" continues to be a sufficient attraction to thc theatre , no prudent manager like Mr . Buckstone would of course think of disturbing the programme . Accordingly the Easter audience liad tho gratification of

seeing this ludicrous exposition of the extravagances of thc ' -sensation" school provided as their entertainment , and thc extent of their cnjcyniont , if measured by tlie laughter provoked both by Mr . Sot-hern and Mr . Buckstone , must have reached the extreme point of their most sanguine expectations . Mr . Sot-hern further contributed to the merriment proper to tho occasion by

appearing as the illustrious Dundreary in the whimsical production called " Lord Dundreary Married and Done for . " Mr . Charles Matthews ' s clever adaptation from the French of ' ' My Wife ' s Mother , " originally produced here in 1833 , and not acted for seventeen years , was revived with effect in the earlier part of the evening . ADELPHI .

The new burlesque extravaganza of "Pan , or the Loves of Echo and Narcissus , " appears to be none tho loss enjoyed for the greater smoothness attained by repetition . What John Keats would have thought of Mr . Toole ' s notions of the satyr-King "bethinking how melancholy loath thou wast to loso fair Syrinx , " it ivould be hard to conjecturebut certainlhis exquisite " Hymn

, y to Pan , " where the poet refers to " thinking such as dodge conception to the very bourne of Heaven , " must have been a foreshadowing of the bewildering puns which Mr . Byron has perpetrated on the same subject . What the audience thought of Mr . Toole was tolerably well expressed in tho laughter and applause which alternately attended his performanceand tho extravaganzapreceded

; , by thc comedy of " The Love Chase , " in which Mr . Webster's Wildrdlce is such a treat to tho lovers of good acting , and followed by tho new -farce of "Tho Steeplechase , " gave tho utmost gratification to a very good attendance .

LYCEUM . A brilliant audience on Monday night assembled to welcome Mr . Fcchter back to thc elegant theatre which ho has succeeded in bringing into fashionable repute . He has chosen for his rentrce a pieco tho popularity of which has again and again been proved . Tho title of tho lay in question has boon alteredbut tho "

Mountep , bank" proves to bo nothing but "Bclphcgor , " under a new name . Of the English impersonators of tho mountebank hero , Mr . Webster and Mr . Dillon were the most successful ; and it is the version made for tho latter gentleman by Mr . Charles Webb that , with a few modifications , has been adopted by Mr . Fechter . Not content with vindicating single-handed thc histrionic reputation

of the country of his education—to cite Gibbon ' s expression—Mr- Fechter has strengthened his company by the engagement of Mademoiselle Beatrice , who assumed tho part of BeipJief / or ' s wife , and , to cite himself , has " added to the attraction of tho ' Mountebank' by introducing for the first time on any stage his son , to impersonate the character of thc mountebank's child . " Purel

y havo more strikingly dramatic situations been devised than those which mark the various epochs of the mountebank ' s motley career , and not often has an actor made better use of his opportunities than Mr . Fechter . In thc congenial part of Bclphcgor '' s son , Master Fechter evinced such genuine feeling for his early adopted art as should soon ripen into great histrionic

capability . Tho part of tho poor conjuror ' s high-born wife admits of no very varied expression , but the natural grace and unobtrusive earnestness of Mdlle . Beatrice lent constant interest to a somewhat monotonous character . Mr . H . Wkldicomb absolutely revelled in the practical fun in which Farfayou , the mountebank's morryman delihtsand kept the audience in a roar of

g , laughter whenever ho was on the stage . The scenery and appointments were as picturesque and tasteful as they always aro at this house . ST . JAMES'S . "Ul "— Tho -counselledmuch-enduring

ysses many , hero , thc Scotchman of tho Archipelago—is one of the few pro-historic figures that have been permanently interesting . That impartial author , Mr . F . C . Bnrnaiid , has always been fond of Odysseus , aud it is now for the second time that- ho traces thc story , with a patient pen ,