The National Register. — London, England, 1818-12-13 00:00:00

1)1Nt. 13 TWE DRAMA. . . • trl a: isttruit - , co :•r Jed .„ -. COVENT GARDEN, , o its Crbleill appeared on Thursday eighty :fiertiai erst , i k ste ,: in the character of Angela, in The Castle Saeldne. IThe admirers of this excellent actresa.will i m ,n e ,fi t nely :porceive, that this is rather an honour confericid on a very. humble delineation, than a source hods seisaine studs addition can be derived to her well eitsbliihed.reputation. Yet the part of Angela is not without , pass,oes of beauty and feeling. The descrip tions of the happy days and pure pleasures of early youth, and af the • rise and progress of her attachment to Percy, are warm and glowing, and demand great powers, to express in the true vein of feeling. It is needless to stay, Alit Miss O'Neill gave to the character all the effect of which it was susceptible: her scene with. the Ghost was particularly striking. The Earl of Warwick was revived on Friday night. The characters were popularly sustained, and the per formance was .received with great attention. Miss Sontervilles Margaret is not her best effort. She dis played force anti passion, and some touches of sarcastic scorn were given by her with great strength and effixt. But her manner was too loud and violent. She over strained her voice, and over-excited herself. The decided sad daring character of Margaret was lost in those moments when the soul was calm, though it is then that habitual character may be most effectively de veloped..—Her performance, however, on the whole, was successful, and warmly applauded. Macready was the Earl, sad a mealy, correct, and animated represen tative of the great disturber in the most troubled days of England. The feelings which once exalted this man into a hero have long given way to those more rational and more healthful principles of ,public life which brand Ititn as an ambitious agittaor; but the play holds its in terest upoa the stage; and in Macready's hands the character of Warwick is a noble transcript of the force and simplicity of the antique. Every body was prepared fir in admirable representation of the haughty and ha pctuous Warwick by him. It was one of the finest per formances we have seen. When the first suspicion of Edward's treachery rezpecting Elizabeth, flushed upon him, it produced a touch of ncting but rarely equalled, and, in our experience, not excelled. The value of the Bart consists chiefly. in the speetles, and they were de claimed by Mr. Macready with singular power and flexibility. He has that art which so few besides posess, and which is the perfection of declamation—that of giving the langnage of the part the art of being unpre meditated. The Wedding Day followed. Farrell was the Sir Adam, and was excellent. This was a night of activity, f)r the representation of Tke Libertine with the fit:lst appearance of Mrs. Dickens in Zerlina, followed The lreddiskz Day. We have not now space to detail this accomplished Anger's performance. The music is of the first orrice; sabtle and sweet, with sudden exal tations into vigour and magnificence; to do this justice requires not simply voice, but knowledge. The singer must. have, besides volume of tone, elegance of taste.— na Dickonsliabitudea of Italian study have given her striking advantages over less scientific performers, and in Mozart's music she enjoys a triumph, in which she is likely to have but few rivals ou this aide of the Alps. • Miss Keux.—This excellent actress has pubfished the following letter. It is almost needless to say that the compact alluded to is utterly void in law:— .6. Henrietta street. Covert Garden. Dec. 9. " DEAR nm much obliged by the opportunity which your kindness afforils me of contradicting, in the proper way, the report which a few days ago required De eimtrniliction. My engagement at Covent Garden Theatre wooPed, and settled, excepting as related to the-consent of the Sub-Cinnmittee of Drury Lane The atre,. which I find Mr. Harris deemed it necessary to obtain, in consequence of a certain compact between the two Theatres, by which each is bound not to en gage any performer who has belonged (within twelve months) to the rival Theatre! The Sub-Cumnaittee, who have not chosen to retain my services is Drury. Lane 'ilieatre, lave thoaglit it proper and just to refuse-theirconsent ; being resolved that, as they do not want rti:: services themselves, they shall not he cm pioyeti in any other Theatre to which their influence - can reach I by this ant of the Sub Conrnitsce I um deprived of a liberal, and in every respect advantageous engagement at Covent Garden, Ira for aught thcv know to the contrary, may be explsed, together with all those dependent on my exertions, to want the coin • 'non necessaries ter life ! So much fur the merciless compact. I urn, dear Sir, your cbliged servant, K M. KELLY." When we first read the above, w considered the lady injured ; but utter -perusing- Mr. Stephen Ketnble's explanation, we can only allow that she is capricious. We hope, howarer, sonic arnnigetnenf may he made which will secure to the public the delight of witness ing her great talents. Theatre 8.12,1, Drury Lnne, nec. " SIR,—/ks you have gives publ6ty to Miss Kelly's letter in your widely extended raper of this day, re flecting on the conduct of ou r S;ib-Caminittee with xvull to that lady, I trust you will allow rte the RFaitn e E R. like opportunity of stating the plain matter fact i which, as Manager of Drury Lane Theatre, I feel nt; salt called upon to lay before the public.. • ' " Previous to the opening of Drury Lane Thiiitti,l st the request of the Sub. Committee, code r were +nest anxious to retain all the prominent talent which they possessed last season, I wrote a letter to Miss Kelly, containing au offer of her former terms,, namely 20 pounds per week, provided she would restrict her as sistance, while it remained open, to their Theatre. to this letter I received an answer from Miss Kelly, de clining any eng,age:nent. How this agrees with Miss Kelly's assertion, that the Sub-Committee did not chuse to retain her services, the Public will judge. " This statement necessity has wtung from me ; and no feeling of hostility towards Miss Kelly, whose ta lents no one can more admire than I do, arid the loss of whose assistance in the Theatre, no one at the time could have more sincerely lamented. It is an honest relation of the truth: then surely neither Miss Kelly nor any of her most partial friends, can blame the Sub- Committee, if circumstances of distress (which I hope not likely) have fallen upon herself or those dependent on her exertions ; for if such were likely to be the con sequence, would she have rejected so hindsome an establishment? " I am Sir, your obedient Servant, •• STEPHEN KEMBLIt." Miss O'Neill, we are informed, made her first ap pearance on the stage at the early, age of seven years, in the county of Westmeath, fur the hem& or an old distressed Gentleman, a friend of her father. The part in which she made her debut was Angela, in The Castle Spectre. The talents of Miss O'Neill and Miss Soverville are about to be combined in Jones's Tragedy of the Earl of Essex. To the great powers of the former will be allotted the character of the Coantess of Rolland, and to the latter that of Queen Elizabeth. Next year will be the last of Madame Catalani's appearance in public. From Aix-la-Chapelle she goal to Be:lin, to pass the winter there; from thence to Warsaw, and afterwards to Petersburgh.. She will then return to France, to enjoy her large fistune. The only two pictures which Sir Joshua Reynolds ever marked with his name are those of Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse, and of Mrs. Cockburn and her three children: He wrote it on the embroidered edge of garments in both instances. The once celebrated spring of water which belonged to the ancient Convent, on a part of the groundsof which Covent Garden now stands, and which was granted by Henry VIII. at the destruction of religious houses, to the founder of the present noble family of Russell, is still in existence, and its waters continue to .flow in all their primitive purity. it is situated on the premises of Messrs. Black and Co. in York Street, op posite Charles Street, Covent Garden. AGRICULTURAL PETITION,--NotWilthlteedieg the opposition which has been raised agaiust this measure in the manufacturing districts, we have letters to-dap from various parts, which show that the design is by 'no means abandoned by the land-owners in most of the principal agricultural counties. In Sussex, and in this county, particularly in the neighbourhood of Maidstone, we find that the petition has received some very respectable signatures; at Colchester, also, it is circulated with some activity ; awl in Suffolk and Nor. - folk, the object of it is proinoted with great zeal by persons of much influence. It is proposed to form tmnsmittees of management in every county, Who may depute committee-men to attend at Westminster on the 14th of January next, in order to establish a committee of management for the whole kingdom, andsto arrange and conduct the evidence to bntubntiued to Parliameat in support of the petition. On the other hand, we have reason to believe that the inhabitants of such .towns as Biriniugluon, Manchester, Sheffield, &c, — have it in contemplation to meet this effort by ter-petition ; and public meetings ere talked of CH that purpose, which are, however, delayed, in order that it may be ascertained whether, without such a display of hostility, the agricultural Petition will not be entirely relinquished. Kentisit Gazelle. _ It is reported that the Bank means to call in the one and two pound notes, amounting to fire millions, for which purpose three millions of silver are now ready to be issued, and two millions more arc coining. . " It is understood," says a Morning Paper, " that the Bank of England will issue a new Note of m with mare difficult imitation than the present, early in the next year. Due notice of such an event wid of course ap pear in The Gazelle.—This retain, which we give merely as such, is pretty generally credited." We regret to learn, by letters received front the Cape of Good (lope, dated October :3, that Mr. Burkhanl, an enterprising traveller, who had prosecuted his in. quiries in the interior of Africa, unties the name of Shieik-lbraham, died at Cairo, of dysentury. Ur. Lawn has declined the contest for the represen tation of the borough of Yarmouth ; bat another Ministerial Candidate is talked of. Mr. Cook, the barrister, and two o:her gentlemen, it is said, have recently left Eoglutid the Italy, on n mis sion of home consequence to the I'lincess of Walcs. % -At the retitle* ef.certairtlehmearsiseche at the com. • men cement of the Se:Winn; wain itilultied Ye plea& Guilty !tathe minor offence of having forged notes in thatr . pw.. session, application was made to the Court that they might be permitted to revoke that plea, and plead ge nerally—Not Guilty. The Court, at the time tithe application, would not ( I ,etermine upon it. Bat the , prisoners have since received notice fi•otti the Solicitor to the Bank, that they will be put on their trial fee the capital offence of having passed forged notes, though they have already been permitted to plead Guilty to the lesser offence of having forged nou.., in their possession, which plea subjects thorn to 14 years' transportation. Tile Bank, it is asserted, has the power to do so, in consequence of the following proceedings :—After the prisoners pleaded Guilty to the minor offence, they ought to have been arraigned upon the capital charge, and as the Bank would not have offered any evidcnee against, them to, that specific charge, having allow(' theta to plead Guilty to the minor offence, they would have been pronounced Not Guilty of the capital of fence, and therefore discharged from all fitters liability, . except that of transportation for fourteen years. Friday Afternoon Mr. Pullen the Under Sheriff, with that humanity which always characterises his conduct, having heanl that the unfortunate men, John Driscol. . William Weller and George Cashman, who are ordered for execution on Tuesday next, entertained an. idea that their lives would be spared, in eonseqnence of the de eishm of the Jury on Saturday week, visited them in their cells, having previously had a conversation with the Recorder, who was of opinion that that circuits'. stance weuld have no effect upon his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in commuting their punishment. The Worthy Under Sheriff endeavoured to impress upon theta the futility of indulging in such hope and amused them there was not the slightest fouudtt ' tire upon which they could be so buoyed up When Mr. Pullen quitted them, they thanked him fin. his,at tendon, and seemed resolved to make up their.minds to the awful fate that awaits them. THE NA TIONA SMITHFIELD CLUB CATTLE SHEW. Friday morning, at an early hour, Mr. Sadler's Yard • • in Goswell Street, was crowded with ealeamen ' drovers and others, from Smith fi eld Market, to handle and ed. amine the oxen, sheep and pigs, and pass their prolet sional judgment on the respective merits eat defects of each. In the ferenoon a respectable oomparty amerablesi, and for a considerable time quite filled the Yard. who expressed great satisfaction at the excellence of the stock exhibited. The labels were of nt the bead of the animals. Among them were—Mr. Jobn Warm, the Bedfurdean premium of 25 guineme- for his 5-year old dark red Hereford ox ' • Earl Talbot , the Bed fi ndean premium of 20 guineas, for his three 3 t-months old Leicester wethers : also the premium of IS guineas, • , for his 4-year old Hereford ex ; the Duke of Bedford, , two 4-years and 10 months old Hereford oxen : thc Earl of Bridgewater, four 3-year old Soutbdown wetheis commended by the Judges ; Sir W. Curtis, a Guernsey ball, 3-years and 8-months old ; Sir H. Ibbetson, a 4-year old ox ; tic Duke of Bedford, a 14-months'and 2 weeks oil Suffidk pig bred by his Grace. Mr. L. Phillips shewed fine specimens of mangel wurzel roots, and of I.•rgo purple potatoes, and seven I large glasses fi lled with :pechnen apples and pears, from the r. fruittrees in his nursery t.t Vauxhall. Mr. Plenty showed tionie ingenious ploughs, with three, with two, and with , one wheel, for lessening their draught or steiulying therm. Several other u►at tern were exhibited and notices given, kis A singular het, that at the present time :Nees arc at a price so much below their value, that they are shippine , back again to India ; asappears by the Custom House books of last week, where there- were enteeed for Bombay; upwards of 22,0901b5. of nutmegs and cloves only. The Ntniiilk Chronicle says—" Some individuals in and near the metropolis, whose names arc not made • known, have been circulating the turn of a petitiorr to Parliament, praying for same further alteration in the Corn Laws, adopting as a kind of motto, the principle of open ports and preteeting duties; It has, im4ever, been withdrawn from the place where it was fir.:a exhi bited in London. We do not Cod that the rc al 'vitt: tie i farmers give any sanction to the rmatgurei prithaWy thinking it most prudent to " ?el WELL alone—a %% le maxim, which will hold good in this as well us in evesy other speculation." The Lords of tha Manor of Brighton having given t notice that all persons arc liable to proseet, tions ter car- - eying away sand, stone, or rorks from the ses shore, . without a license granted by them, snd paying a certain suit per load, has created an extraordinary sensation:Alf ' align among the ship owners, fishermen, builder-, , brick makers, he. Tire . right of carrying aw a y t!.e .• productions of the sea has been 1 from frame. morial custom, but the Lords of the Manor disp4te the privilege, and accordinp,ly the Commts.,:orlei l ,_ e t th e two intead to try the questi)n. 4 .44(1