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HAYMARKET THEATRE.

Nov. 19 1861

An odd, rambling piece in three acts, called Our American Cousin, is so far valuable that it introduces to the London public a most original eccentric actor, who once played at Birmingham, but made his reputation on the other side of the Atlantic. Mr. Sothern (such is his name) represents an English exquisite, with peculiarities forced into the very extreme of caricature. His dialect is of the ultra "swell" kind, his whiskers are of the most outrageous dimensions, the vacancy of his countenance is astounding; his remarks seem to blend aristocratic inanity with Irish bullism. Fops have been done to death on the London stage, but none ever saw the exact fop presented by Mr. Sothern, under the name of Lord Dundreary. To test him by anything in the natural world would be to ignore his special merit, which consists in giving to a conventional notion the most novel and fantastic expression that can be imagined. You are perfectly aware that the noble lord is talking absurdity on which an equestrian clown would not venture, but you watch his alternations of puzzle and sagacity until you admire the impudence of his stupidity in fancying every man a lunatic except himself, and denote your admiration by a roar.

The piece itself is scarcely worth description; indeed, there is some difficulty in believing the statement that it was written by an eminent author in this country, and then sent to the United States, so completely does it resemble both in thought and in construction the farces that are commonly imported by American representatives of Yankee humour. The exquisite is brought into sharp contact with a type of Vermont 'cuteness and good feeling, who, of course, has the best of it. “Our American cousin” comically played by Mr. Buckstone, proudly puts forth his native rudeness, saves a respectable family from destruction by deeds that oscillate between the chivalric and the burglarious, and forces the empty aristocrat to obtain a ship for an aspiring young officer by withholding the dye that changes his hair from red to black until the favour is granted. This Yankee hero, as sustained by the ever popular Mr. Buckstone, is almost as amusing a spectacle to the audience as the ridiculous aristocrat, but surely all that they do might easily have been brought within the limits of two short acts, and we need not have had a “three-act comedy,” in which a number of meritorious actors are made to perform most unthankful parts.

To the fantastic “fun” of Mr. Sothern, and to the hearty humour of Mr. Buckstone, is the loud applause which followed the descent of the curtain alone to be attributed.