The National Register. — London, England, 1812-07-12 00:00:00

"v• 7 " ," 430 made up of illiberality and slander, nor dependent on your smile. W'e judge for ourselves, biefote we pronounce for the town, and the fear of displeasing, or the will of gratifying the latter, never influences our decijons. Reluctantly severe, we commend with joy when we can, and many a pang, which justice alone had compelled us to inflict on an author, or a performer, sympathetic feelin r has obliged us to share. If there be any one gnu us,who, like a \V e:.t i trdian tyrant, en joys the punishment Le deals, or deals it urjustly to make others admire aid dread power, \Olen they behold the vvrithinns of his victims, let his name be to .<ed ti.em the list of legitimate et itics, he r.,% , seslcs nei;her the heart, nor the com mon honesty oI than.---flat to return to our play: is it not possible, even in the midst of coloplct_ failure, to display. the intention mid the ability of doing bettor ?--*;ay not a Ivriter neglect a plot in aceetiou to character ? and is not the power of define tin« itce and irtanr,ers con cctlY, more difficult of attainment linen that of wert‘ing a fable ? Does not vulgarity when aceolopanied by pal-sages of considerable purity and elei ance. show how easy of access i.: the path of in:rote:pent, since, with little to at:guile, the :author has only to use the pruning-knife with disci etion ? Those interrogateries, whit h can only he answered in the affirmative, may give the 1 übhe an exact idea of the talents of Mr.J.5 Mt sfNa-; On author. lie depicts characters faith fully, hut, with an exception or two, not forcibly. Ilis satire is aimed at proper objects, and his courage as a public censor proved : for, regardless of the flooKs and i)IBDINS of the day, whose witless conundrums will no doubt soon rain down upon his devoted head, he has dared to introduce a modern punster on the stage. His portrait of the knavish attorney is excellent. Ilis style, when purged of its imperfections. which seem to proceed rather from a mistaken wish of pleasing the galleries, than fiom a natural deficiency of taste, will acquire greater energy with its poli , h, and if he had: more attention to the fable when he next composes for the Starve, we should not wonder at his attaining considerable dramatic excellence. The Prologue and Epilogue were written in his worst taste, and certainly at a time when he had- not " snufied bis mental taper," or else, to assume for once his st le, we should certainly Le inclined to take it for little more than a farthing rushlight. All the performers exerted themselves most mei itoriously, but we trust that if Mrs. 11. JOIINST ow has any wish of eon , tinning to please, she will n*er again attempt to sing on the Stage. The Piece was ueneially well received. THE NATIONAL REGISTER. HAYM ARK E f EATR E. A new Farce was on Wednezday produced at this Theatre under the title of " The Child of Chance." This piece, it has been rumoured, is from the pen of Mr. C. K EMBL E. For the credit of that Gentleman we sincerely hope the report is unfounded in truth; for of all the trash that modern Authors have had the weakness to furnish,, and of all the rubbish that modern Managers have had the im pudence to thrust on the town, in the teeth of damnation, we could almost say (it would certainly be a bold Lion) this truly contemptible performance deserves to take precedence. The Author, whoever he is (we will not believe it can be Mr. C. KEMBLE), though he has taken care to satisfy us that he is not above purloining the wit of others, hag, like Sir Fretful, displayed so little taste, that what he has stolen is ra ther injurious to the piece than otherwise, and serves but to disfigure where he expected it would embellish. A man is in some measure to be pitied who, having a disposition to enrich himself at the expence of another, has so little sense L to Acid thst_which the party he rocs would be most happy JULY 'o to throw away. Most of the attempts at F.,tn,ct ;! ate so miset ably abortive, that they can only excite a sia o , t , of disdain ; and where, par hazard, the Author has stumbled on a real witticism, he has retailed it in such a way that it s point is lost, and the wondering scribe sutveys the grave faces of the audience with perfect amazement, confident a s he is that it a good thing when he heard it. The business of Darcy is allowed to be extravagant. The Author of this piece, therefore, thought, that to m:Lke a better Farce than had ever been produced, it was only neceisary t o nmke one more extragavant. In this he has suc c e e d e d (doubtless to his own admiration), for, with the exceptio n of Mr. Tit OTTER . S 1171tise history, a Ming more ridiculously ex travagant we never saw. In every part it was ex t ravagant— but, unhappily, its extravagance was not that which enter. tains and excites laughter. The piece was comFletety damned the firA ; and the Managers, with their usual respect for truth arid for the public, stated it to have been reeiv t d with grcA applause, and have piiloried the unfortunate actors in it for a or two, but, Nee are happy to say, the . , base at length hecn obliged to withdraw it, having lost the opFor titnity of giving it up in a manner that might have g4ined them something of approbation. KING'S i BEATIIE. IVe were never more arrititird thnn on l'!.ursday e v eni ng at r t,,; s Theatre, in witnessing Ci,» a„l:•,'s delightful Opera of (ii.r Orr A f. 41 Cr Z.Z TAIA NI SeCil ed inspired with tl.e divine spirit of and exerted her wonderful powers of execution with more h r usual ht illiancy ; althiuigh the anato:rly of thei Lody's figure is perliiiLs blameless, we confe-s we like her hest w lien not wearing Vic brc,Tl,is. DI A N ::lldTitAll l7.4%i I Wethirok tinkled to Ie appl.rusc they re eeivoct ; and the Opera thretiglulit seas loudly applauded by a very ntribtery ; it was l'or CA 1 A r A'S 1%, 11VIICI;t, whn, oi.lvd by rt:4_ N.l rzz A , 1 and the Choristers, st 11V e;1(1 Of the Opera, sung " fare the King." in a %cry nmster i v ; then- I . :,n , lhsh however, will still admit of coosider:thle MR. KNIGHT. We have received 1.1. Tr. K re; na's letter, bind are glad to find tint he is the author of the Buck-nue performed at the IA cen:n. We are plein•cd, n t became we shoul , l think it any di , credit to lair iugc• witty as a writer, to have produced that clever tittle piece, but fera!,se lii' explanation completely exoneralC•4 lon from the elii;ri , e of lasei wantonly attmel , ed those, w hore prJise 1.a•.1 net er bi'en &Med to ' talents. Besides oar private knowledge - of his abilities in olive "thing , we had re , _ - eived information which led us into an C llO7 unit . respect to his atn.Lorship on the present occasion. Our re pro li-iv evcr was conditional, as it did not apply tuill`s he was the itutlior,ltad did not extend to his acting. of which % , e Inive never Pettud it neces:try to change the favourable opinion we lard orioinally formed, a..(1 !roe constantly expressed. Had we known Air. KNIGHT vias only apo•xy uid n.it the eluilletiger himself; we should have tione i dit it less tiL bent on u to take up the gauntlet and eng.‘ge in the eontu:4. EDUCATION". TO TIM EDITOR OF THE NATIONAL 11EG HM:7. SIR—I must first hog leave to he clearly understool with respect to Mr_l Os con : So far not I front Ling desirous to nowt trim his merits, that, on the contrary, I ant solicitous to ot for hire their lull weight, being well cunvit.ccd that this country owes b" nowli, for his unremitting exeitions to e*try into effect that ad air aule system of education, called the Ma nr.A 6 SVETT3I. The public hale been :o long, I nut) . almost say , sntiated w i t h argil metns, pro and con, respecting the Eel". Dr. DIAL and Mr. LA sos r.rt, eoch of them so highly meritorious in their respective lal , " 18 : that their names never ought to be brought in contact, but in ca•cs unaveidible necessity; but no such delicacy is necessary with regard to their schools : these ought, and ever must be, open to colop:re,ra and animadversion. But observe, although I say schools, there is one system, and that indisputably owes its origin to P r. BELL. thil which Mr. LANCASTER is pleased to cull his, benig but a secomt . edi- Cum of the Madras System, tricked out with a string of .putrilui.:, vulgar as barbarous, and now no less ostentatiously than takely 1 " . ere(' into the world under the glittering title of ;‘ THE ROWAL LAS'