a
coarseness which cannot well be reconciled to the characteristic
delicacy of such a young lady, even by the _ex post facto_ discovery
that the object of her love was in reality a person of condition. We do
not think that love at first sight, which is in reality nothing more
than Forwardness indulging itself in the airs of Romance, and Prurience
calling in Fate to sanction its indelicacy, ought to be clothed in such
a respectable and captivating dress as our author has bestowed upon it
in this play.

Yet with these defects to counterbalance them, Speed the Plough is
replete with beauties--the dialogue is neat, spirited, and forcible; and
there are many delicate touches of the pathetic, and much excellent
moral sentiment to recommend it.

The best character, beyond all comparison, is that of Farmer Ashfield.
It is a picture of real life, originals of which are found in multitudes
in England--plain, honest, benevolent, and under a rustic garb,
possessing a heart alive to the noblest feelings. No man that we know in
this country possesses such happy requisites for exhibiting the farmer
in the true colours of nature as Mr. Jefferson. In the rustic deportment
and dialect--in the artless effusions of benignity and undisguised
truth--and in those masterly strokes of pathos and simplicity with which
the author has finished this inimitable picture Mr. Jefferson showed
uniform excellence: and as in the humorous parts his comic powers
produced their customary effect on our risibility, so in the serious
overflowings of the farmer's honest nature the mellow, deep, impressive
tone of the actor's voice vibrated to the heart, and excited the most
exquisite sensations.

Mr. Wood performed Bob Handy. He was given out in the bills for sir
Philip Blandford; but was, by a casualty, obliged to take the part of
Bob: a change which, on more accounts than one, the audience had no
cause to regret. Nor in our opinion, had either Bob or sir Philip any
cause to lament it. Mr. Wood is at home in light comedy, while Mr.
M'Kenzie, whose merits seem not to be sufficiently appreciated, is well
calculated for such characters as Philip Blandford.

The judgment of Mr. Warren enables him to perform any character he
undertakes with propriety--but there are some parts in comedy for which
he seems admirably qualified by nature and knowledge of stage business.
We could enumerate several; but this is not the place for doing so--his
representation of sir A