The National Register. — London, England, 1816-01-14 00:00:00

,THE NATIONAL REGISTER: E 4 = DRAMATICREGHTER. D RU RY-LAN E. • Illness has prevented our Critic from witnessing the revival •f 4 ' A TIM irdy to Pay Old Debts." However, we shall avail our selves, for the present, of the labours of a brother Critic, and shall,. hereafter, give full attention to it among the rest of MrsKEases• character:; ttiho seems, with Miss O'Nsie, to divide, without tines- Con, the imperial rank in the region of. the Drama. .Wi had in tended to have said something uptin Mr. Youan'a Rolla, which. we think inferior to Mr.KEMBLE'S in all its most beautiful passages , . and to have held up to just censure the unmeaning dulness of harlequin and Fortuni•, which is defective, in all that constitutes ,• the excellence of that capricious extravagance of scenical 'magic called an English Pantomime. We are certain, the majority of boys and girls at the Theatre would prefer such plays as Pizarro to any Pantomime that has not the best qualities of a •13.4mtonlimo. This class of the audience is' treated with too much contempt when they are supposed to want taste, fveling, guodsense, and judgment. They like Jun, but it must be gaud fun. " A new Way to Pay Old Debts" was revived at Drury-lane Thea tre on 'Friday night. This play has re-appeared under such favour able circumstances as will ensure to. the London audience a long course of rich and rational delight; and the name of MAsssas ER a full measure of justice. Of Mr. KEAN'S performance of Sir Giles Orerrcach, we have some fear of being charged with the ordinary fault of exaggerat ion, if we attempt to convey to others our own c inception of its excellence. We think it by many degrees his grandest and noblest effort. The character, indeed, belongs, in the strictest sense, to tragedy ; it is a vivid picture of terrific and untameable passions, leading to the commission of the most odious crimes. Shakspeare, perhaps, has scarcely ever sketched a more daring l ortra . a. The split e, malignant, and ironical oppressor; the hardy bravo, that maintains by his sword the wrongs he offers—the • miser, loaded with the spoils of triumphant ararice, dressing up to himself a second idol in ambition, that he may be refreshed by the acquisition of a double stimulus to the accomplishment of further wickedness ; all these are thrown together by a vigorous and lux ttriant invention, and go to form, in the person of Sir Giles Over reach, a model which could only have sprung from a mind pin foundiy conversant in human nature, and gifted with an extraor dinary power of generalizing and combining its observations. Mr. KERN gave to this character throughout, a complexion of the of the deadliest hue. lie gate it all its subtlety, coarseness, and ferocity. Tyrant and destroyer were written as legibly on his brow, as ever they sat on the countenance of Richard. His occa sional relaxation into an assumed and designing levity was not the least striking instance of skill, and was in frightful harmony with tha schemes lie nu ditated, and passions he but half concealed. His finest reenes were his first communication to his daughter of her intended marriage with Lard Lovell—his avowal to that Noble man of his disdain for every upright principle, and moral obliga iioll--Rna the last—in which his villainies were detected—his sc h e mes disappoiated— his nephew liberated from his gripe—and his daashter niar, led, under the authority of his own signature, to .Aliworth. The variety, and at the same time the intensity of pas- Bios, w Lich burned within him throughout this high-wrought scene, has never been' surpassed by any actor. The whirlwind of rage and vengeance, sweeping; before it every creature within its succeeded by despair so terrible—and concluded by a to:por Fn fixed and shoel,ing, that the look which accompanied his renoval from the stage bore no resemblance to any thing we ever witnessed, es cept the expression which sometimes remains upon the human countenance when a violent death lots imprinted there the imase of its final agonies, As a proof of the force with which this impression was communicated by Mr. KEAN to others besides ourselves, Mrs. Geov En, who stood near him immediately before 1w was carried off, was so far overcome by it, as to sink into a chair beside her. The other characters were respectably repre sented. Lady Allicorth did not admit of much exertion, but Mrs. CLUVER gave it felly as much importance as belonged to it. Alt sns:st's .littiastil was in his best stale of redondant, but irre sistible humour. HARLEY was the il'ellborn—witich he played with less exuberance, and more like a gentleman, than we had ex pected. 1li.; replies to his uncle in the Concluding scene were de 'livered with s pirit and I c eli:tz. Oxnralty, iu Justice Gi•eedy, and JAN. 14. S. PENLEY, in Allworth, got through these subordinate parts with. out offending. Mrs. Hoerr made up in loveliness of appearance what she wanted in spirit; but the piece, played as it is altogether, cannot but become a favourite. - - ALARM IN THE TOWER. . • • For some weeks past, a family residing in the Toviee of Lou. don have been very much annoyed anti disturbed by a variety of unpleasant and strange noises heard in different parts of the house during the night ; anti the sentries on duty at the door of the Royal Regalia, to which this house belongs, have frequently been disturbed by the most violent knocking, and (according to their account) even deep and hollow groans have been heard; and the feeling of superstition having spread very much among the soldiery, with whom the ghost is now a (rant phrase, an additional sentry has lately been placed on-the rampart im mediately over the mysterious spot, and every possible exertion used by the occupier of the house towards elucidating the cause of the disturbance. Officers of the garrison have watched for whole ; nothing but a continuance of the noise was beard but no visible cause discovered, until late on the night of Thurs. day last, the inhabitants of the Tower were thrown into the eatest possible confusion, by the screaming and roaring of the sentry stationed at the door of the Regalia depot, and the turn ing out of the guard, which, upon repairing to the spot, found the soldier extended on the pavement in a senseless state. He was immediately carried off to the guard room, and, when suf. ticiently restored to his senses, positively affirmed, that whilst upon duty, a small figure crept from under the door at which he was stationed, and gradually made its approach to him, at the sometime changing its appearance to that of a human being, dog. and afterwards into that of a do. These sudden transforma tions so completely affrighted the soldier, that, after alarming the whole neighbourhood with his bellowing, he fell down senseless. Nothing was seen by the soldier placed on the rampart ; and the must rational conclusion is, that imbecility of mind has in this case been worked upon by the ridiculous and absurd tales of " the ghost," with which, most probably, the poor fellow's weak brains have been crammed ; and certainly no rational per son can say that doubling the sentries for such reasons as in this case tends much to assure the uneducated mind of such lunacies as it uppeats this soldier has fallen a martyr to. At the same time, it is absolutely necessary that proper me• thods should be resorted to, to clear up the mystery with which it is at present enveloped ; atthough there is very little doubt but that in a building so ancient as the one in question, con taining innumerable passages and blocked-up apartments, loop holes, and crevices, Boreas occasionally gives a concert, in which he is most musically accompanied by all the bats, and many cats of the garrison. • A letter from Hamburgh says .—A tobacco pipe made of stag's horn, with extraordinary ingenuity, and in the most finished sty le, by a Saxon artist, and designed as a present to his Grace the Duke of Wellington, has been sent to a mercan tile house to be forwarded. I here are carved upon it represen tations of battles, portraits, Brc. with the most masterly exactness and elegance. The list of Insolvent Debtors for the months of February and March next, contains the names of more than 800 persons, who claim their discharge under the terms of the Act. A morning Paper says :—" The report of an intended mar ria ~ e between the Princess Charlotte of Wales and an Austrian or ellussian Prince, is contradicted. It is rumoured, that a 3'oung German Protestant Prince, now in this country, is more likely to have the honour of her Royal Highness's hand." GRADATIONS IN SociETY.—The late Mr. Garrick used to tell the following story :—He was walking in London, in company with. Weston, the celebrated low comedia ag n they passed two young soot-bs, and other professional ac chimney-sweepers, with time companiments on their shoulders. One of them recognised the two actors., and with an at. 711 sneer, said—" I say, Itill—Player- , nie n.”—" Don't insult 'em, Jack," said the other ) " thee dust uot , know what thou way'bt come to CI 4,' -•-,