these plays-Ethwald is the younger son of a Thane of small consequence-on hearing that Oswal King of Mercia is passing by at the head of his troops, he makes his escape from his father's castle-a battle ensues-Ethwald particularly distinguishes himself, and is made an Earl-Ethwald, with the assistance of Alwy, who is an artful adventurer, secretly excites another war-Ethwald again distinguishes himself - he becomes so popular among the soldiers that he aspires to the crown-he wishes however to shed no more blood than may be necessary to accomplish his purpose-he becomes King-Oswal is killed-Edward, the heir to the throne is imprisoned-Elburga the daughter of Oswal is proud and imperious-she consents to marry Ethwald-Bertha, to whom Ethwald had been attached, enters distracted -just as the marriage ceremony is about to take place, Ethwald is wounded, and to all appearance, mortally-with this the 1st part closes-in the 4th act, Ethwald, on hearing from a boy, who attends him, some particulars about the Druids, goes to Ethelbert's chamber-Ethwald and Ethelbert enter instantly—a conversation of some length is supposed to have passed, tho' no time is allowed for such a conversation-Ethelbert says "Then by the morrow's midnight moon we meet "At the Arch Sister's cave: till then farewel!" 5 lines more are spoken and then Ethwald and Ethelbert re-enter at the Cave of the Druids-the scene is a good one-the absurdities by which it is preceded, are the more inexcusable, as they might easily have been avoided. VOL. VIII. The 2d part begins with Edward discovered in prison-in the 3d act, two ruffians murder him in an inner apartment-Ethwald and Alwy are on the stage--this is the best scene in the play-Ethwald becomes bloody, and commits murders without scruple-Ethelbert, the friend and instructor of his youth-and Selred, his own brother, are imprisoned and killed-Ethwald is wretched and suspicious of every body-he is perpetually afraid of seeing the ghosts of those whom he has murdered-in the last scene several Thanes break into his apartment and kill him-Miss Baillie has drawn the character of Ethwald in a masterly manner-she flatters herself that either of these plays might with little trouble be fitted for representation-the best alteration would probably be, to contract the two parts into one, if it could be done there are several scenes, particularly in the 2d part, which might be omitted, or shortened, to advantage. 7. Second Marriage-Seabright, a gentleman of independent fortune, had been left a widower with a large family of children--between the 1st and 2d acts, he marries Lady Sarah from interested motives she is the sister of Lord Allcrest - Seabright, through the influence of her brother, becomes a Member of Parliament-he is made a Baronet, and looks forward to a Peerage -he loses his property by a foolish speculation - Lady Sarah leaves him— Morgan, the uncle of his first wife, who is rich, takes care of the children and the domestic comfort, which had been interrupted by Lady Sarah, is restored this is a dull Comedy-Robert's disguising of himself as the devil is a poor incident, and badly managed-Miss Baillie says, she has given a view of Ambition, as it is generally found in the ordinary intercourse of life, excited by vanity rather than the love of power. Vol. 3. The 1st edition of this volume came out in 1804 —the 2d in 1805-the plays contained in it form no part of the series of plays on the Passions. 8. Rayner-the scene of this T. lies in Germany -Rayner had reason to expect that he should have inherited the large property of his great uncle-he was however deprived of it by the artifices of Hubert, who had prevailed on the old man to bequeath to him his wealth-Rayner was naturally much disappointed-in this state of mind he had formed an acquaintance with Count Zaterloo-the Count is the chief of a band of lawless Gentlemen, whose fortunes, like his own, are ruined-they induce Rayner to join them in their intention of murdering Hubert -he is separated from his associates in a storm, and is at some distance from them, when the murder is committed he is taken up on suspicion and condemned to death-Elizabeth, to whom he was betrothed, and Hardibrand, an old General, who was the friend of his father, use their utmost endeavours to obtain his pardon-but without success-in the last scene Rayner is led off to his execution—Ohio, a negro, to whom Rayner had shown some kindness, saws the main prop of the scaffold across-the executioner, who mounts the first, falls down with the platform, and is so bruised that he cannot execute his office-this gives time for a messenger to arrive with Count Zaterloo's dying confession, in which he acknowledges that he had committed the murderthe play ends happily-Count Zaterloo, in the attack on Hubert and his followers, had received a dangerous wound-he conceals himself in a cottage he requests a courtezan, who seemed to have much regard for him, to come to him-she deserts him-his mother attends him-the Count dies soon after he has made his confession-some improbabilities occur in the conduct of the plot-but on the whole this is an interesting play-Miss Baillie has again been guilty of a most flagrant violation of the laws of the Drama-in the 4th act, Countess Zaterloo makes her exit into an inner chamber of the cottage-and instantly re-enters in her own house, which is at the distance of some miles-Miss Baillie is the more inexcusable, as after the publication of her two former volumes, the absurdity of her conduct in this respect must have been pointed out to her. 9. Country Inn-this is a poor C. with very little plot or incident--Miss Baillie, in her advertisement to the 2d edition, acknowledges that it had been generally disliked-in the 1st scene of the 3d act, Lady Goodbody and her nieces are discovered in an inner room-Sir John Hazelwood and Worshipton, who are in an outer room, overhear their conversationit would be difficult to find, in any play, a scene so badly managed as this is. 10. Constantine Paleologus, or the Last of the Cæsars-the scene lies in Constantinople, and in the Camp of Mahomet-the play begins about 20 hours before the taking of the City-Constantine's principal friends are Rodrigo and Justiniani of Genoa-and Othus, a learned Greek, who in the extremity of the danger takes up arms - Mahomet, the Turkish Sultan, is a part of importance in the 3d act, Othoric, a Hungarian, makes an unsuccessful attempt to stab Mahomet-he is of course condemned to death, but by a stratagem he escapes a death with torture, and dies laughing-in the 5th act, Constantine fights with great bravery, and is killed - his widow, Valeria, stabs herself this is on the whole a good T.-it is considerably too long—and might have been improved by the total omission of the character of the Fortune-teller, and by the shortening of some of the scenes-particularly of those which occur after the death of Constantine-when the main incident of a play is over, the remainder of it can hardly fail of being, more or less, flat for the history on which this T. is founded see the 68th chapter of Gibbon's Roman Empire. Vol. 4. In this volume, which was published in 1812, Miss Baillie resumes her series of plays on the Passions-all the plays, except the Siege, are supposed to take place in the 14th Century - Miss Baillie in her address to the reader observes, that the enormous size of the theatres is obviously a great disadvantage to natural and genuine acting, and that the stage boxes ought to be removed-whereas, at present, an unnatural mixture of audience and actors, |
