The National Register. — London, England, 1811-12-15 00:00:00

kTION L REGISTER. T • ` ROBE of SMAKISPEAR, I should hope the name of SYDN EY will aot appear in the list of accomplices. G. TO THE EDITOR OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER. %It—Cariosity led me on Monday evening to witness the perf)rmance of that eccentric, Mr. COATZS, " the Amateur," se the Haymarket Theatre ; when among the many other cir cumstances that occasioned the very frequent bursts of laughter, liras the fullowing--(though first I should tell you, I could get no *at except amongst the Ce/estia/a—vulgarly yclept Gods, where you rnivt know that every thing, or any thing, that touches their tumour—is ‘‘ litnny" ).—So when it was announced from the Stage " that Mr. had met with a hart—hut would ;ire truly be ready"—my neighbours were impatient and cIa n:LC:WO US. Then came another announcement, which made them ready to crack their sides, (poor dear souls! a Jel'otty feeling—and they irta4c the case their own).—" Ladies and Gentlemen, what has delayed Mr. being ready was, his Brother—having broken kis neck by failing through a loop hole at the New lirop." " Lapsus Linaue—exclaimed an old Gentleman that sat beside me!—but the dear Gods supposed the Brother was hanged ist the morning—being the modern hanging day—and that there- Arc the Performer had been to see him well put under ground ! Now, Sir—the error of a single word caused this idea—for the announcer sai 1 " Drop"—in lieu of " Docks,"--for the accident 'vas at the London Docks, in a warehouse..—Thus you see ta how what is grave was turned to Farce."— However, the more risible part of the Entertainment was amply sufficient to divest them of those . fine feeling; which touched them on the casualty—and they vent avay u vise as rooalencks--and bring so inured to these things-..-one exclaimed with P2ACIItINI in the Bepfar's Opera— 44 It's what we must all come to."— I a►n, Sir, Your CONSTANT READER. FINE AR TS. BRITISH INS l'U TION. it is customary in the present :age to represent every art but hat of war, as in a state of neglect and decline. Liberal patro• n,igo bas ceased to exist, we are continually told,- and the arts and i .cienct.s,that flourished under its shelta-, are fait drooping to the ground. It is true that events have turned the chief energies of the nation into the channel of military exertion and glory, aid that whilst unsupported by any earthly power, we de ride the hostility of the Contincot, and uphold the tottering fate of kingdoms, we experience privations and encounter diffi culties which decrease the general means of patronizing talents and productions less immediately necessary to the welfare of the country. Bet patronage, though less general and curtailed of some of its resources, has neither lost its existence nor its libera- lily. It is extended to ev , -ry branch of art and scitnce ; but to none more abundantly than to that of painting. A noble in stance of it may be seen in the establishment of the British In stitution, where the chefs d'afuvre of the first masters, contained in the richest p ivate collections in this country, are exposed tor imitation by their possessors, for the improvement of British art;:it,;. Hire are found many of those works which formerly could only be studied at Rome, by those who had sufficient means to defray the expence of travelling so far, and sufficient independent leisure to leave their native land fur months, and Sometimes for years. Here, also, besides affording models to be copied and rivalled by the British pencil, the annual exhibition of these copies with the originals, introduces native talents to the knowledge and patronage of the public, whilst prizes teed emulation and rew_ird exertion, ana meta obtains the most va hs..d jewel—Eime. The originals exposed for imitatien this year consist of eleven paintings ? the works of PAOLO VERON ESE, GUERCINO, SEBAS TIAN DEL PIOMBO, VANDYKE, and other masters. They arc surrounded with copies, which prove, that a considerable number of young artists are rising to excellence. On their performances, as well as their models, we shall in our next begin some observations, which it is our intention to con tinue occasionally; as nothing can be more gratifying to liberal minds than to assist merit in its advance towards success and fame. In the present instance our task will be the more pleas ing, as there is little to blame and much to praise. -.... 11 1.--.. ROYAL AC ADE MY. DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES. The Prtzes granted by the Council of this Institution to the Students who distinguish themselves most in Painting, Sculp ture, and Architecture, were delivered last Tuesday evening by the venerable President. Mr. PERIUGAL received the gold medal with 50 guineas for Painting; Mr. BAYLT that for Sculp ture, with an equal sum ; and that for Architecture, with 50 guineas, rewarded the superior excellence displayed in that art by Mr. FDWAKDS. The silver medals for drawings, and for models from the antique were bestowed on Messrs. MEDLAN and Bo NE. • Mr. Wes sr then read a discourse on the principles of the polite arts, and the best methods of attaining excellence in each• The chief object to which he directed the attention of the Stu• dents was, the infusion of a visible mental agency into their performances. As an illustration of his meaning Mr. WEST al luded to the basso rrlievo brought from Greece by Lord EL4SIN, in which some young Athenians are represented as in . the act of curbing their horses, and all the figures seem to have been in• stantaneously transformed by some magkal stroke from a state of action to inaction, still preserving all the animated expression of lite. When ArEttxs had excited the greatest admiration among his countrymen by his paintings, the philosophers and critics of his day congratulated all Greece, that now they were happy to declare that painting had arisen among them to an. unusual height of excellence, notwithstanding that Sculpture was on the decline. As this opinion was published at the very period when the demi-divine PIIIDIAs had been chiselling his incomparable 111,91/0, it liecame since in a degree unaccountable how it could be m.tintaint d. Mr. V/Es r very ingeniously justified this idea, by inferring that the sculptors who existed previous to . PHIDIA2 9 hatimingled more mind in their objects than he did, whose first ambition was to give the proportions of manly beauty, rather than the sentiment arising from feeling; and he alluded to the figure of the man who restrains the charger on Monte C-tvallo, at Rome, as a proof of the propriety of the assertion ; inasmuch as it was the work of earlier times, and involved those required significations of a mental agency in the object, which it was so clearly the desire of the President to inculcate among his hearers in genera!, and the disciples of the Royal Academy in pant cular. He then descended to periods less remote, -in which the arts flourished with brighter lustre. He paid due homage to the superior talents of MICHAEL ANGELO, whose figure'' Moses he particularly described, and contrasted with that of our Re deemer by the same Author, remarking that the superiority of the former arose from the tendencies of the mind of this stern prophet being more in unison with the bold imagination of Bo- NFKATTI, than the calm but celestial character of the World's Saviour, whose attributes were more perfectly conceived and embodied in thought by RAPHAEL. Some allusions Co . the frailty of Mortal existence, just com pliments to his MAJESTY for his protection of the arts, and an assurance that they would meet with equal encouragement un der his Succ ssor ' whenever it may be the will of Heaven to call.him to the throne, concluded a discourse Which was heard with admiration, and will be long remembered with interest,