The National Register. — London, England, 1816-11-25 00:00:00

VEMBER 211." LORD BY RON, AND HIS CONTINUATION OF CHILDE HAROLD, There 4 a degree of interest attached to this extra. ordinary young Nobleman which makes his proceed ings matter of curiosity to the public. We apprehend few works were ever sought after with a more eager expectation than the additional Canto to Char Harold, which his Lordship has just sent forth. Lord Byron is an original in his genius, his character, and his tastes ; and the great charm of his Poems is that they detail these with accuracy. He lets us into the secret of his own feelings—and this is enough to make his works interesting, because his feelings are of no ordi narykin I. Our readers are well acquainted with the unhappy circumstances under which he quitted Eng land in the early part of the summer. The present Poem is not very descriptive or, very narrative, but still it furnishes some lights as to his proceedings since that time. He took his course by Brussels and Waterloo (the last of which gives birth to some noble stanzas in his Poem) to the Rhine, and following its course, and visiting the striking scenes on its banks, he arrived at Lausanne ; and has remained, we believe, to the pre / sent time occupied in exploring the beauties of the Lake and the grandeur of the adjacent scenery. He tells us he made a voyage round the Lake in July, visiting Vcvai, Metllerie, Chilton, and all the spots which to a mind like his are consecrated by the descriptions of Rousseau ; and ha mentions with pleasure the coinci dent.* of having made precisely the same promenade tur tear, which' Rousseau makes St. Preux and Madame de Wolmar take to gain the shore in a storm. He laments the havook which monkish avarice and Buona parte's ambition have made in several of the scenes of the Ilekise—the Prior of St. Bernard has cut down Julie's bosquet—and Buonaparte has run a most anti romantic turnpike road along the top of the Rocks of Meillerie. Lord Byron says he cannot agree with a remark he heard made, that " (a route void mice: que let souvenirs." The present Canto, we think, surpasses the former parts in nerve of thought and powerful delineation of feeling. There is not much description, and what there is, is of the best sort—not mere landscape paint ing and details of the well-known beauties of the scenes his Lordship has visited, but the description of the ope rations of these scenes on the sensibilities and senti ments of the Poet. We give a short extract from his Lordship's reflections on the field of Waterloo, in which he pays a tribute to the memory of his relative Major Howard, the son of Lord Carlisle, the guardian of Lord Byron, and one of the objects of his satyre in the English Bards and Scotch Revie:vers. The stanzas are replete wick twenty and feeling. There hay , : jeen tears and breaking hearts for thee; And mine itAre nothing, had I such to give : But when filitood beneath the fresh green tree, Which living waves, where that' iliAst cease to live, And saw around me the wide field revive, With fruits and fertile promise, and the dpring Come forth, her work of gladness to contrive, With all her reekless birds upon the wing, I tnrn'd from all she brought to those she could not bring. I We'd to.thee, to thousands; of whom each, And one as all, a ghastly gap did make, In his own kind and kindred; whom to teach Forgetfulness wete mercy for their sake. The Art hangers trump! not Glory's— mist awake Those whom they thirst for—though the sound of fame May for a moment soothe. it cannot s ski The fever of vain longing; and the name 8o honour'd bet assumes a stronger bitterer claim. They mourn, lint smile at length, and smiling mourn— The tree will wither long before it fall— The hull drives oil, thongs mist awl sail be tom— The rooftree sinks, but inoulders on the hall In massy hoariness—the ruin'd wall Stands, when it's wind-w urn wittiements are gone— The bars survive the captive they enthral-- The day drags on, though !norms keep mat the sun, And thus the heart will break, awl brokenly live on. Next week we may, probably, give a few morc stanzas. COURT MARTIAL.-...At a General Court Martial held at Cambray, in France, on the 231 September 1816, and continued by adjournments to the 26th of the same month, I...ieutenant the Hon. Augustus Stanhope, of the 12th Regiment of Light Dragoons, was arraigned for having, with another person, engaged Lord Beau champ, a youth of sixteen years of age, to play at a • rime of chance, at which Lieutenant Stanhope won 80001. of Lord B. and the other person 70001. for which sums Lieut. Stanhope and his comrade male Lord Beauchamp give promissory notes payable in three years. Lietiten Int S. was filund guilty, and most tle erve3ly sentenced to be discharged from his Majesty's service, and the Prince Regent has comarmed the sen tence. Lord Beauchamp is the son of Lord Yarmouth, by his wits furnicrly Madam Faguiani. THE DRAMA. DRU I.ollt. MR. KEAN'S SIR EDWARD mowrimint. Mr. Kean's first appearance as Sir E4atird Mortimer,- in the play of the boa Coma, brought a crowded au dience to this theatre on Saturday evening. Wuatever we may think of the conduct of this tragedy in some respects, it is the undoubted vehicle of a most instructive and necessary lesson, by pros ittg to toe worshippris of false honour bow widely they mistake the proper objects of Mimeo solicitude and ambition; how fatal to tranquillity, to safety, and to happiness—how latterly subversive to the end for which they struggle, is the sacrifice of the first duties of justice and humanity in the criminal satisfaction of a vengeance however merited. by its victim, or to the preservation of an empty name. The character of Sir Edward Me-timer is powerfelly conceived, and executed by a vigorous pencil. His weak nesses are only visible through the tremendous passions b. which lie is ;agitated, and he excites all along the most vivid though painfnl emotions. Mr. Kean displayed, in his deli neation of this wretched man, more ability, because More va riety, th .n he did upon almost any other occasion on whiel , we have seen him perform. lie never exhibited more of spirit of his part, noel never, in oar opinion, reminded the spectator so little of his own peculiar manner. The entore between the oriental mildness and benevolence of Mg/lime. An a the i nc id en t a l fits of !layette phrenzy superinduced oy cir comstances, or provoked by some chance expressions of those about him, bearing ever so remotely upon the crime whose perpetration had turned the colour and shaken the very tee. tore of his soul —this contrast was perfectly and beautifully marked by the actor. His-description of the state of min f in which he committed the murder, with his detail of the ill- Juries which inflamed him, and of his sitoserinent trial and a r. pilau', were given with conett innate skill linden...4(y. Wit in he r onchnling scene, which is indeed wenn(' np by the minor to an extraordinary decree of anxious interest, we are dogbtf ul whether Kean's effort iu not even more successful, as it is in. comparably more difficult, than in the famous dying seem. it Sir Giles Overreach, iu which he 114 i always produced so terri• Ide an impression. Nothing was ever mote hardened rive, his hypocrisy on the trial—nothire more shocking than his agony of despair when the parchment was.dkrovereil, a.. the bloody dagger fell from within it; nor have we often been more deeply moved than by the humbled and repemaie tenderness which seemed to dissolve his WO, n. out spirit, whet, he threw I • self *tutu Wilfords arms and implored f e• ;teas for his wrongs. Nir Giks One reads is altogether an alien to our sympathies, and leaves the actor no noportnnity brit that of exciting tetror iningle•l with some towhee• a ki n to satisfaction when he expires. Rut the broken 'mete of the unhappy Mortimer it is impossible to view without sentiments of sorrow and comiaastrion. Mr. Kean's triu alpit over the in it• ence was Complete. When the curtain &olive I, the whole pit insisted that the from C 'test ehont.l take place of every other play; and accordingly Mr. Wallack, who ha I (mine tbrward to announce the entertainments for the en etitaz week, re tired to consult the Manager on the sitbject. and xairl that, "in compliance with the wishes of the H one, Mr. Kean would appear in the same character on aloilev." Wailack played WitArd better than any former par ; discovering in it considerable judgment, strength, end se ' , teddy. alms •den's .edam iVisterton pad all ce•• meta. It appears to have been written for him ; and no le Koerner equals Mainleit in the production of that species ofam. em .it which .prices from a caricature exhibition of the lit turn its garrulity of the old age. Some of the music intr sper lad through tin. irregular drama is not imply& ing. A on: the seeuery we may notice aro nantie and well exect,ted .min. 'flue piers has been got up with great splendour, and its revival bids fair to be a fortunate speculation. ARTAXERXES. The Opera of Artaxerxes, compressed into two acts as at the other house, was, on W, , ,lnoslay night last, performed at this Theatre ; when Mi,s Merry appeared for the first time on these hoards, in the arduous cha raeter of Mandane ; and Mr. Horn, for the first time these four years, in that of Arbaees. Of Miss Merry we have formerly had occasion to spe Lk, and in terms highly favourable, while performing at the English Opera. The opinion which we then termed of her WWI not erroneous; her performance on Wednesday night last was a treat to the admirers of vo al harmony. The sweetness of Miss Merry's voice at.d her science far ex ceed the powers of execution; but allowing far the fears inseparable from a first appearance, which were evidently felt to an extraordinary degree by the debu hint of that night, and her having only recently reco vered from a severe fit of illness, we may hope, that as she guini confidence and health, her powers will become stronger: throughout the whole of her perthrmance she was loudly applauded. Several of her songs were encored; amongst them was the beautiful air of " Let not rage," and the more difficult and trying one of " The soldier tied." Her recitative was also very sweet. Mr. Horn, in Arbaces, astonished those who have not heard him sing since Isis former appearance at this theatre. His voice is of the finest description, and it requires now nothing but application to enable him, in a short tine. to rank with the first in his profession. He was much applauded throughout the whole per formance, and encored in several of his songs, especially the favourite one " Water parted from the sea," which he executed with great sweetness. M. Horn's recita tive displayed considerable scielee; and there was much more energy in his action than we have usually seen displayed by him. Mr. Pyne, as Artaxerxes, and Mr. Bellamy, as ,4rlahaties, executed their songs with their usual science and sweetness; but Mr. Pyne, with his large black mustachios, resembled a Cossack much more than he did the youthful effeminate Sovereign of Per sia. Mr. Bellamy, a singer at once chaste and eciontifas whose merits are rverlooked only by those who are fond of flauntin ,, and unnatural ornament, supporter) the part of Ar r iabanes .n the most excellent style. The house was extremely well filled; the piece was well received; and its al mouncemmt for repetition on Fri. day evening met with unanimous applatue. COVENT-GARDEN. The Play of the Provoked Husband, which always • reads much better th'aa it acts, requires extraordinary talents in the performers to make it even tolerable ott the stage. This, we are sorry to confess, was a regal. site not very abundant in Friday night's representatioa , at the above Theatre, though Mr. Kemble and Miss O'Neill thought proper to undertake the parts of Lord and Lady 7'orenley. It really gives us no pleasure to dwell upon the recollection of scenes which it was ab solutely wearisome to behold. The first tragic actor and actress of their time were so obviously misplaced is these two characters, that a badly supported masquerade wo.dd have been quite as gratifying to a spectator of unliaary taste, and far less painful to any person jealous tin tote honuur of high drantatic reputation. Kemble • may be cite 143 0.10 of inlay proofs, how• much MOM ,liifiellit it is to be a gentleman than a hero. His starched gravity threw an air of lrislesse over the whole dialogue, where ease and cheerfulness were required. sueeee.del rather better in the remonstrances ad. • dressed in the third act to his wife, and in the final de. termination to punish her fillies by a separation. But even there the impulse was hardly strong enough to set the ponderous machine of Mr. Kmible's mini in mo tion; or to conceal ht least the difficulty with which it moved. Miss O'Neill had some of the levity of Lads Townley, but she was nut mach disting fished bythe• air or tone of fashion. In this attempt she succeeds worse than as the representative of Lady Teasfe--rnuch • worse, beyond all expression, than when she plays Mre. • Oakley. John Moody was most humorously, though perhaps so,newhat too broadly given by Eatery; and Fawcett iu Sir Fr suds wis at home. Tae Comedy, altogether was indifferently cast. The dispute wliich has for some time existed between Messrs. Alley and Adolphus has at length been brought to issa:, an I without aoy fatal resu;t. On Wednesday last Mr. Adolphus sent notice to Mr. Alley, that. he would be ready to meet him at Calais as soon as ever he chose. The reader will recollect that these parties • wers bound over by the Magistrates to preserve the patee. within this kingdom. Mr. Alley accepted the chat. lenge ; and on faurs.lny morning set out fir Dover, accompanied by Captain Alley, his cousin and second; two of his intimate friends belonging to the Bar, Mr. Agar and Mr. Bevil, also volnntnrily accompanied him. They arrived at Calais on Friday evening, some howl; before Mr. Adolphus ; and at two o'clock on Saturday, after the preliminary business was arranged by this secon Is, the combatants met a short distance from the town, took their ground, and, on a signal being given, they both tired together. Mr. Alley was wounded in.. the right arm ; and the ball from his pistol passed so close to his adversary, as almost to graze his. bead: Here the business terminated. An eminent surgeon, being immediately sent for, extracted the ball from Mr. Alley's arm ; and on &inlay morning, when the last account of this affair was sent off, he was considered out of danger. MA lust E CAT w CM—Extract of a letter from Munich:— " It Alyea' , that we shall not have the pleasure of bearing Madame Citaidni, anhongli she has now .teen here for eight el She had penetrated, on the day of the Benediction, into the paiace of the Empress, at tae ftiyal Chapel (which very small and took her place without ceremony with f. Bridal. who give her his arm, on the bench appointed for this ,oung Proces-es of Bavaria. When the Processes arrived , she was re ))))) red ny a Master of he Ccreiname.. and ouliged to retire into 411 1.1:1!ler gallery. The folowing day being at the Queen's apartrierrts, where she seas to sing in a private concert. site complained bitterly of the proceedings of this former day, swing that she was accustomed to be seated by the side of Princesses that the Prince Regent of England, hid the King of Prussia had often placed her in tint first rank. Toe Que.m, whose good nature is aogelie, endeavoured to tranquilly(' her, and said lanchingly, that if tit .re bad ever better at St. James's or Her in a grand ceremony in so very small * room, she won d sot perhaps have tomtits* commodious a .dace. But the sinker Ores ne mare synd more eacited and at I ist bursting into tears, declared that she coot(' not sing. The King, who had come in, di., Hissed her, and fore ale her sing log at .stunich. Since that tint, Madame Cm alam macs severnlattemins to outain permission t• slog at Coon, bat it was retilsed her." The siren witanee of a hare, Wien a leveret. having taken retnge in the garden of a cottager. at Sutton Cheney, in Lei cestershire, in winch it hasever since Ifern doliesticated, and • is now grown gray iii its security, recalls to recollection a still mereextraordinary net. •Tise present M argrar.tie of Anspach. when Countess of Craven, had a young crib fox at Cooissbe-ahhes. which was reared in the kennel with Lord Craven's then crack pack of hounds. This secaciou• animal 'was frequently taken but for hue Ladyship's aiwouv,ittent, who. was at that period partial to the *parts of the held ; arynard alwaxs left the, kennel mounted behind the hunisistati, and, when turned out, atforded'his canine friends in active eliAmt, when they came pretty near to 1114 lieusla, lie inimediataly turned round, and, parson' thrni.di the pack, le4ord nit gain bels:nd the htlinsinan, and thus returned home Ortij dal, however, whilst enjoying thetr customary inurement Miring the season, the poor fasourve was tanforann ak a e l y nos upon by a strange pack, who instantly killed the pet animal. - The regret of her Ladyship, and the whole of the Bair , may bi t men easily imagined than describa —;:eisopty piper.