The National Register. — London, England, 1808-03-27 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. te,dom or dever know any thing of acting, it is useless to m rite g w d plays or good parts. We deny the necessity of giving the first parts to the singers. An Opera might be constituted, as many Comedies base been, of two di% isions ; for if a Comedy m ty contain at once a serious interest and a comic story, surely an Opera may combine t odivisions, one musical and one dramatic. Then we might s ee good actors in the chief dramatic parts, with rood singers in the chkt musical parts, and every class of the audience would go away satisfied. An attempt of this kind wa , made in an Opera called Peter the Great ; but the piece had no :access, for the music was nut particularly good, and the dia laeue was particularly bad. However this is NO reason why we should not sec a good play on this plait : and we must think that nothing hut the unfair partialities of Proprietors can ha‘c hitherto prevented the performance of some such Opera. But these gemten:n, even in their chace of emolument, are often turned aside by private influence; and w bile merit is overlooked or repulsed by the literary judges of the theatre, a play is per petually accepted because it, Author is acquainted with some, person high in the government. Thus misruled is the domain of the drama ; its cultivators impart the juices of the soil to gaudy blossoms and tall stalks that stare in all the impudence of datuiting vulgarity; while the modest flowers that form the proper ornament of the garden, must sprite; spontaneously or not at all, and perhaps perish under foot before they bloom ! We h:.ve a striking example of their is ant of judgment in the revival of Mr. Bate Dudley's Opera of The TraveMrs lit Switz erland. This piece abounds, not in character, for it has none, lint certainly in characters, for it comprehends almost all the esta blishment of the Theatre. It has, probably, some sort of plot ; but it is didicult to discover the affairs of the parties, till the end of the third act, when a discerning spectator may perceive by the relative positions of the actors, which of the ladies and gen tlemen entertain any matrimonial views. Perhaps the Proprie tor, may think that the dialogue has jokes ; but we confess that we could perceive no joke in the play itself, and certainly there is no joke in sitting to see it. In short, it appears to have no merit but its music : or, in the Irish phrase, the hest part of the venison is the currant jelly. But is it not disgraceful, that such a genius as that of Mr. Shield should ever have been employed upon such a piece ? Is it fit that the play should be but the ap pendage of the music, and that dialogue should float down the stream only when the fiddles have strength enough to tow it after theta ? The Proprietors who couple pieces like The Tra vqlers in Switzerland, and Two Faces under a Hoed, pith the compositions of such a master as Mr. Shield, can be compared only to the tyrant in the inteld, who procured putrescent car cases, and fastened them to the bodies of the living MARCH 21. ' works of •och an author. And we are tom that their only nio - the For this rash art was, t11;11 \fr. Theodore Hook written .ibasive criticisms on his theatrical friends in a Magazine, called SaiiriNi, fir i)itllititly NJlllll:thig. Madmen ! a, if they c o uld have hem. injured siic!l a step or as it' Mr. Theodore Hook, or any other young wit, had nut a perfect tight to show his hum.iur hr hi- per•oalit , and turn to a politic account the little gleanings that he might collect from the foolish ingenu ousness of private society ! NV hat there might have been in the piece thus rejected, we now can only coLjecture. l'erhap• there was a part with son g s for Mr. Braham—perhaps some puns for Mr. Matthew s—per haps a dance for M. IY Lg ilk's pupils—perhaps the piece con •.iiced original matter (such as never was seen before)—pealiaps .1 was all a translation from the French. Perhaps there %sit, a tog io it—perk :p= a devil— perhap•a flour-sack for the conceal ment of a hero—perhap• a seri ou• ballad with very comical poetry—perhaps there in.•y have been good grammar.— Pethaps, in this piece, thus shamefully rejected, perhaps, as Gray's Llegy has it : Perhaps in this bec,lected spot is laid —But the subject is too melancholy—we cannot continue LAW REPORT. COURT OF CHANCERY, LINCOLN'S INN HALL, 31 A 11C 11 22, !hit'. About a fortnight since, Mr. Parquet petitioned the Chan cellor to be dischare.,ed mit of custody, at the suit of Messrs. Kensington and Co. upon the ground that he had made a full and fair disclosure of his effects, under a Co, mis.:ion of Bank.- ruptcy awarded against him. lie complained of the great length of time he had been imprisoned, and the iieflexahiEty of his Creditors; tendering at the same time the athdav its of tuu medical men, who stated. that. if the Petitioner was not speedi:y removed out of prison, his life would fall a sacrifice. Sir S. Romily supported the prayer of the Petition. Mr. hart, on the other side, iiei.ted that Petitioner had not made a full and fair disclosure of his effects, but if he would find security in 2000/. for his not quitting the kiogdom, Messrs. Kensington and Co. would consent to his liberation. Upon this of f er the ease stood over till (hi) day, and on being called on. Mr. Parquet'!; Solicitor informed his Lord-hip, that death had relieved his Client from his sufferings, and hoped the Counsel employed again;t him would intercede with their Client; to pay the expellees of his funeral. The Chancellor enforced the propriety of this recommenda tion. Mr. hart said he did not know how he could interfere per sonally, but he trusted :after Lordship's recononntlation, that his C:ients would do what wio pt.iper. Yeiterday another interlocutory motion was expected rela tive to the Opera diTute, and the Court was prodigioibly crowded. The Lord Chair:olor inquired of the Conmod if they had not all Opera motion to imike, aml on beitig informed in the negative, Illy I.ortbhip • joeoseh• obwrved that he bad read in the newspapers t•ueh was to t•lke place. MR. THLODOKL 1100 K. This lively young author, who vtas very sick in the measles a few weeks ago, is nvw c.:mpletely recovered ft urn that alarming diAeraper, and has again appeared in society, to the infinite gratification of a select acquaintance. But we are sorry to say, that we have learnt another eircueeltance, which, its true, must deeply mortify his numerous admirers, iit;ure the theatres in which he has al ‘ta) S stood su firmard, and give a fatal stab to the glory of dramatic literature in Great Pritain. In short we understand (Apollo grant the rumear he un founded!) that Mr. Theodore Hook has presented at Drury-Imie Theatre a piece which has—not been acceptod ! V. hat hall we say of the Managers who could reject a work composed by the poet who wrote The In::isible Girl, and Catch him who Can: and who, every body knows, can speak extempore as well as he can write !—the gentleman Usher who brought Tekcti lira The For tress from France, anti introduced them to the English nation— the fostering genius oh - o took 11 Tanirico per la MuBi , •a from the Opera House, and set it afloat at the Haymarket, under the title of Mn,ir Mad, as a hen hatches duck's-cggi till the %ming things arc able to take water We know that Nlanagers have nu regard 1 . 1)r the Public., and indict this pang upon the general mind without the slightest feeling of remorse : bu: they ean have co n ik ieg a uw ; tvr their aura interests %hen they reject the _.~ NAUTICAL I\ I ki.Llcii—NCE. The important: information was received on Tresday, front G ibraltar, t hat the Carthage:la sect amounting . to si x sail of the line, had been forced to I.:kr:I-teller at NI inorra—anit come quent- Ly no junction can have tal:en place between that and the Uooche fort and Toulon swim :rims. The Ihdra left the rarthagena squadron at :ilinorca, abnat the 15-tll Feist -nary. We have rea son to hope tact Mir Niels: oil Strachan will join Lord Culling wood, bcfore any attciapt ran be made on Sicily : sir sialleY Smith was left at Gibraltar on the `2Yth Febreary, with the Foudro!.ant and Ag:inir ninon, taking in water. Di-patches have received at the Admiralty from the Me elite Tamil'', breigh t tolly men' h by the Diligence siort-ship, but e di, not underqa:lll tuat th•Ur cowents are Of importam•e. The report Of tlt action in the Mediterranean, between Sir Rich-lid Stra:lizin's squadron mid one of the elicit) in that sea, has re ceiveil no confirmation.—lt rests upon pri% ate acconnts from Dolland, in ov:r of whiet Sir Sidney Smith is represented :u1 the Comma:tiler, and is said to hive fallen in the action, in:t th;s , is cvide.itl a mistake, as sir Sidnev Smith remained, no the Ist instadt, at and had no eimunand ilk the Me ditrtraneau, __—.lis.oliMili••• i•-aIm.dIMIIN . '1