Note 17 — THE DRURIAD, &c.
Reading edition
The dramatic productions of Mr. Colman have a real claim to the title of motley. As a proof of this assertion, we beg leave to refer our readers to the Mountaineers and the Iron Chest, in both of which plays are lines not unworthy of a Congreve or a Rowe; but these are debased most miserably by others, which are beneath the notice of criticism. Upon the whole, it appears, that the genius of this gentleman is happily adapted to the size of his theatre:
Humano capiti cervicem pictor equinam Jungere si velit, et varias inducere plumas Undique collatis membris; aut turpitur atrum Desinat in piscem mulier fermosa superne Spectatum admissi risum teneatis, amici?—Hor.
It may be worth inquiry, why the public should permit the performance of the Iron Chest at the Haymarket, after the decided sentence pronounced upon it at Drury-Lane; as it must be obvious to the most ignorant spectator, that the play was cast with much greater force at the last-mentioned theatre; for, while we respect the talents of Mr. Elliston, we hold it something like blasphemy to place him in competition with Mr. Kemble, the first tragedian of the age; and how must the broad farcical humour of Fawcett suffer in comparison with the acting of the late excellent Dodd! Perhaps it may be urged, that Fawcett stood next to Dodd in the personification of such characters as Adam Winterton: if so, it must certainly be, as Virgil expresses it, “Proximus, sed longo intervallo.”