The National Register. — London, England, 1811-02-03 00:00:00

7q • DRAMATIC REGISTER, Sut—Whilst the pens of our modern dramatic writers are so • st • buly employed in translating French pieces, will you allow a constant reader to save one of the Parisian novelties from the fate which no doubt awaits it on our stage, by inserting the following translation of the account given of it by the French celebrated critic, Abbe Geoffroy, in a late number of the Journal de 1' Empire. Yours, &c. AMICUS. ~ • PARISIAN THEATRE. • Tilt (WEE/4 OF PERSEPOLI4. Thera is a new wonder come to share the admiration of the 'public with the wonderful ruin, of Babylon and the wonderful the cat! curiosity has not yet been weakened so much as to make authors tired of attempting to afford it new gratification. The spectacle of the Queen of Persepolis is preceded by a pro logue in dialogue, in which the characters are Orornase the good, and Arintfine the evil genius. As the Queen of Persepolis is the subject of the action of the piece, the author has done well thus to introduce the theology of the ancient Persians and their ideas on good and evil. in the system of the celebrated Zoroaster, Orontase is the principal author of good, and Arinmene is the being from whom emanates all that is evil. The one was the God, the other the devil of the Persians. Their power was equal, but after some thousands of centuries, the Devil - was to be vanquished when the whole human race were to enjoy eter nal felicity. It was thus the sages of Persia explained those things which human reason cannot resolve, but for an intimate knowledge of which the ignorant constantly sigh. In this piece Oromase descends from Heaven in a cloud; "mane darts from a cavern which vomits forth fire. The *conversation which passes between them consists of reproaches on the part of the former, and bravadoes from the latter. From these we learn, that the evil Genius has singled out for his vic tim the beautiful Arcane, wife to Z vas, King of Persia. His cl,ject is to dethrone her husband, and throw her into the power of a miscreant named Orbus, who is desperately enamoured of her charms. Called up by the magic power of Arintane, Orhas eppears, and receives from the evil Genius encouragement the roost flattering, and instructions the most useful. He informs him, that to get the Queen completely into his power, he must Lave the address to gain from her a ring which had been given to , her by a wise man. This ring is a talisman, of sufficient power to preserve her in she greatest danger. The dialogue finished, t he scene changes to a very magnificent Palace, w here the principal characters appear partaking of a superb entertainment. In the tumult which prevails, Orbus takes an opportunity of pour ing poison into the cup of the King, and afterwards informs him of the danger his life is in. The poison is tried on a slave, who instantly falls a victim to it. The traitor Orbas finally accuses the Queen of being a party in the plot. A poignard is found concealed in the folds of the robe worn by ...Ir:une , which had been con cealed there by the traitor Ur/a. She is convicted of the crime raid to her charge, and chased from the presence of her lord, condemned to wander till she dies by famine, all persons being forbidden to afford her an asylem, or any sustenance whatever. Fast falling away thrthigh want and fatigue, she perceives a morsel of bread, which a labourer he.; purposely let fall in her path. She eagezly seizes it, but it is imninediately snatched from her hand by one of the guards. ,She faints, and a soldier endea vours to profit by that morn.!nt to obtain her ring. The good Gerdus.preserves it, causes the whole of the guards to be over taken by sleep, and makes a tree present itself to her view loaded with fruit. Time Queen presses the juice of the fruit into the mouth of her son, who WAS dying with thirst ; the :evil Genius causes the words " Poisoned fruit" to appear above the bush. The fruit is snatched from her, and she is accused of THE NATIONAL REGISTER. wishing to poison her child. It ought to have been stated before, that the villain Orbas has a magic poignard given to him, which is almost as powerful as the ring in the possession of the virtuous Queen. All objects touched by this poignard immediately take any form he wishes them to assume, or shuts up from view all but what he wishes to be seen. This instrumeat he makes use of to commit and to justify all sorts of crimes. Tire King, persuaded that the Queen has attempted to destroy her child, gives orders to bind her to a cedar. Arimane causes dreadful storms to shake the world. The,thander strikes an obelisk which is seen near the cedar to which the -Queen is attached. It falls on a great tree, which is about to crush the Queen, when the danger is averted by a good little Genius, who sustains its weight, and prevents its doing more than making a great noise. The evil Genius now thinks of a better plan : he gives Orbas the appearance of a venerable old man, who calls himself the Genius of the Cedars, and offers the Queen his pro• tection, which she accepts with gratitude and joy. In the third act of this spectacle, there is one of the meet maga nificent scenes of enchantment ever offered to the view of the curious, in the triumph of the power of Arimane. t dare not attempt to describe the wonders which here meet the eye Lilo language can do them justice. The coup d'a:il of it expresses more than any description can came up to. The Queen appears , in a most magnificent palace, seated in a superb car. She calls-on the Genius of the Cedars to restore to her, her son .and her hus band. Agreeable to the promise he had made, Orbas snakes her drink of the waters of a fountain which impair her reason; he then takes the form of her husband, and when she resainaeher senses, she sees the King, with a child which resembles bale. son. She springs foaward towards these fondly cherished objects, but is given to understand, that before her happiness can be com plete, she must give her ring in exchange. far that of the King. She consents to this, and immediately the gay illusions vanish, and all in an instant is confusion and horror. The King loses his throne and his life, Orbas usurps his power, and to intimidate Arzanc, threatens to put her son to death if she refuses him her hand. The monster is on the point of triumphing, when Orosnane appears. All at once the walls of the city fall down, each stone changes into a soldier, the King returns to life, and rushes on Orbas, the Queen, who wishes to return to her hus band, is dragged by the usurper into an abyss which opens I under his feet. The evil Genius can make but one more effort I ‘ to harm the Queen. He has yet sufficient power to throw her '1 into a great river, but his reign is near at an end. The good Genius Oromanc has no longer a rival to contend against, he restores the Queen to her husband, and. inflicts signal chastise ment on Ariinanc, and on his protege Orbas. Thar there are to be seen such wonders, may perhaps not be believed on my word, but each is free to go to " Le Porte Saint to convince himself, by the evidence of his own eyes that I leive rather said less than the truth, than given an exag gerated description. The author of this spectacle is M. Hapde,. the music Is by M. M. Pucini and Darondeau; anckM. Camps is the composer of the devertisiment. E. must apolrgise to his readers , for not having laid the sub limity of Mr. Kr.mint's Cato, and the interesting variety of Mr. Di \in ND'S new and successful Opera, " 77se Peasant Boy," open to their view. Illness has prevented him from being able to gratify their curiosity ur . fti: the next Register appears. • Saturday se'nnight, the remains of Mr. Lewis were interned in a family vault at Christ-church, Liverpool. The procession consisted of a hearse and foxy horses ' followed by two co . chel, with four horses each, in one of whict, Mr. Thdtitas . the youngest son of the di=seased, attended as chief moimer ; in the other there were a few friends of the family. The *hole was conducted privately and soleninly, and the funeral service was most pathetically read by the Rev. Mr. Vause. A Petition for leave to bring in a bill to erect a third Theatre. was preunted to the House of Corrunous QC Monday. j . 111)