has since appeared in personations of similar capacity, and with merited applause. 'Isabella,' in the 'Fatal Marriage,' is a character almost forgotten on our stage; but those who saw its representation by the almost immortal Siddons, affirm, that from them it can never fade. Mrs. Sloman has hardly sufficient power for the part, but her readings evinced judgment and good taste. Mr. Sloman, of 'Betsey Baker' memory, who can have forgotten him? What mighty guffaws and cacchinations did that song produce! The very walls trembled, and the scenery shook its wings. If it should be repeated during this engagement, we will not answer for the continued solemnity of the visage of Mrs. Siddons on the drop curtain. Nobody sings comic songs exactly like Sloman. His manner is always peculiarly quiet, and particularly insinuating. He creeps along as gently as a mouse to his bit of cheese, stealing his way into the very sanctum of Momus, until he tickles the quiescent god into a broad grin, before he knows it. Certainly, nobody sings a medley like him. We have heard these eccentric musical, nonsensical, poetical mad minglings, many's the time before; but they were a discordant, unintelligible jargon of sounds; abrupt, and uncomfortable to our auriculars. Not so with the amalgamating harmonies of Sloman's medley, which interlace, like a wreath of many-tinted flowers, in eccentric and gay varieties, tastefully woven and contrasted, from grave to gay, and flung off with the grace of Apollo. Singers are generally supposed to follow the orchestra; but there is such a gallopping variety of airs and graces hurried one after another in these minglings, that the tables are turned, and the orchestra follow the singer; and hard work they seem to have of it. We welcome the Slomans.
The National.—The main attraction at this establishment, has been the production of a new play by N. P. Willis, Esq., entitled 'Tortesa, the Usurer.' We made leisure to attend its first representation, which was enjoyed by a fashionable audience, so dense as to crowd the theatre from pit to dome. In its dramatic execution, 'Tortesa' is a manifest improvement upon previous similar efforts of the author. He has studied stage effect, with the eye and spirit of an actor; and although some of his 'situations' are rather melo-dramatic, yet all are striking, and all were successful. As nearly every city journal we open contains a sketch of the plot of 'Tortesa,' and as these will have radiated widely on every hand, before these pages are given to the public, we shall deem the reader amply informed upon this point, and proceed to offer a few desultory remarks upon the play and its representation. As a literary performance, it is of a high order of merit. Its language is rich and flowing, its figures forcible and graceful, and its passion deep, yet subdued. The tender seemed to us a little overdone, in some instances, especially in a somewhat protracted téte-a-téte between Isabella and her father; and we did not affect the divided points of interest, created by slight episodical dialogues between subordinates, which seemed, as we thought, to answer no specific purpose in the progress of the drama. Sir Walter Scott somewhere remarks, in substance, that the plot or business of a play should advance with every line that is spoken; one single interest, to which every other is subordinate, should occupy the entire piece; each separate object, in an interpolated under-plot, having just the effect of a mill-dam, sluicing off a portion of the interest or sympathy, which should move on, with increasing rapidity and force, to the catastrophe. The scene of the picture-frame, and the death-test over the apparently lifeless body of Isabella, are admirable conceptions, and they were well portrayed. Tortesa is a fine creation, and the character was embodied by Mr. Wallack with eminent faithfulness and power. We can say little for the performance of the heroine, Miss Monier. This young lady is wholly unequal to the leading parts which she assumes at the National. Art, ill-disguised stage art, and 'French grace,' are the prominent characteristics of all we have ever seen her attempt. There is not a touch of nature in any thing which she performs. The walk, the gesture, the voice, the glance of the eye, all are assumed, and so palpably assumed, as utterly to destroy all illusion. As 'Isabella,' it cannot be denied, that her inaudible voice, with other less excusable defects, detracted in no slight degree from the interest of the play. Conner sustained the part of the enthusiastic artist and lover with much credit. More variety of tone, and less uniform modulation of voice, would leave little to be desired in the personations of this promising young actor. The character of 'Zippa'—we understood Miss Monier to pronounce it Dipper—was well sustained by Mrs. Sefton, who seldom plays indifferently; and the same remark will apply with equal if not greater force to Mr. Mathews, whose dignified manner, clear, distinct enunciation, and evident appreciation of the meaning of his author, have won for his performances deserved praise. Lambert made the most of his part, and that was but little. The play has been repeated several times, and may be said to have established a permanent popularity, to which very beautiful scenery, dresses, and decorations, may have contributed something. We cordially congratulate the gifted author upon the complete success of this his third dramatic effort.
