principal characters being now dead, the piece cannot go
on, and the curtain drops.

A word or two on the merits of _Nina Sforza_. There are two classes of
dramatists who are just now contending for fame--those who cannot get
their plays acted because they are not dramatic, and those who can,
because their pieces are _merely_ dramatic. Mr.--we beg pardon, R. Zouch
S. Troughton, Esquire,--belongs to the latter class. He is evidently well
acquainted with the mechanics of the stage; he knows all about
"situation"--that is, sacrificing nature to startling effect. His language
is essentially dramatic, and only fails where it aims at being poetical.
His characters, too, are not drawn from life, from nature, but are
copied--and cleverly copied--from other characters that strut about in the
"stock" tragedies of Rowe _et hoc genus_. The fable, or plot, is
deficient, from the absence of one sustaining, pervading incident to
excite, and keep up a progressive interest. With every new act a new
circumstance arises, which, though it is in some instances (especially in
the fourth act) conducted with great skill, yet the interest it produces
is not sustained, being made to give place to the author's succeeding
effort to get up a new "situation" by a new incident. Though the tragedy
possesses little originality, it will, from its melo-dramatic and exciting
character, be most likely a very successful one. Besides, it is very well
acted, by Miss Faucit, Wallack, and Macready, as _Spinola_; which, being a
most unnatural character, is well calculated for so conventional an actor
as Macready.

The author will doubtless become a successful dramatist, because he has
taken the trouble to learn what is proper for, and effective on, the
stage. Having gained that acquirement, if he will now study nature, and
put men and women upon the stage that act and speak like real mortals, we
may safely predict an honourable dramatic career for Mr. ----; but our
space is limited, and we can't afford enough of it to print his names a
third time.

* * * * *

THE QUADROON SLAVE.

A new discussion of the Slave question seems to have been much wanted on
the stage. It is, alas, the black truth that "The Slave" _par excellence_,
in spite of the brothers _Sharpset_ and Bishop's music, ceases to
interest. The woes of "Gambia" have been turned into ridicule by the
capers of "Jim Crow," and the twin pleasantries of "Jim along Josey."