The National Register. — London, England, 1815-06-04 00:00:00

.117 NE CHAN IREY's STATJ KING. Yesterday Chantrcy's admirable Statue of the King, for tie of London, was opened in Guildhall for public in- F . ! -.ection. Among thosc who testified their approbation of the SCIIII I tOCS ert appeared the Dukes of York and Kent, Tart of Buckinghamshire, End of Aberdeen, Lord Melville, Lold Sidmoutli, Lord E. Somerset, the Chancellor of the Excile.,;tiev, Eat! of Liverpool, Lot d Falmouth, Lord Yar n-mull, Lord Bishop of London, 'Earl of Ilarrowby, Lord Chichester., Sir W. Scott, Right lion. Mr. Rose, Lord Ellen- Mr. At buthnot Mr. Fitzgera!d, the Solicitor and Attorney Cenerals, Mr. Lushington, Mr. Croker, Mr. Cal vert, and Mr. Cooke. The following inscription is cut on the pedestal that sustains the statue:— George the Third, Born and bred a Briton ; Endeared toe brave, free, and loyal people, Ily hi% public •irtwes, By his pre.eminent example o f p r ivate worth i►► all the relations of domestic lik, By his uniform course of unaffected piety and entire submission to the will of HVIIVC11; The wisdom and firmness of his Character and Councils. • Enabled him so to apply the reduces of his empire, so , o direct the native energies of his riubjects, that he maintained the dignity of his Crown, Reserved inviolate the Constitution iii Church and State, • And secured the commerce and prosperity of his dominions During a 101 l period of unexampled difficulty. In which the deadly contagion of French plinciptes, And the domineering aggressions of French power, Had nearly dissolved the flame and destroyed the independence of every other Government and Nation in Eorope. the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London Have e-ected this statue, In testimony of their undeviating loyalty and grateful attachment to the best of Nines, In the Filly Lifth Year of his Reign. PROLOGUE TO THE FAMILY LEGEND. WriHen by Waller Scott, Esq. SPOKEN BY MR. 13ARTLIZY. 'Tis sweet to hear expiring sulutners sigh Thro' forests, tiTzed russet, wail and die; 5v.,.: atoti sad I.:*.cst notes to hear Ot'di.tnnt ninsic dying on the tor; Jut tar more sadly sweet on foreign strand, To hear the Legends of our native land, Liiiked as they come with every tender tie blemorials dear of ycuth and infancy. Chief thy wild tales, romantic Caledon ! Wake keen remembrance in each hardy son ; Whether on. India's binning coasts he toil, Or ph , tigh Acadia's*, winter-tittered soil, lie hears throlibing heart and moisten'd eyes, And as lie hears, wind dear illusions rise! It opens on his soul his native dell, The woods, wilthwaviog and the water's swell, • Traditions theme, the tower that threats the plain, Tile mossy cairn that bides the hero slain, Die cot beneath whose simple porch were told, ? l Y 1- . . 1- cyhair'il patriarch, the tales of old, '1 he infant group Oat Misled their sports the while, And th e dear maid ho listened with a smile ; ne wanderer, while the vision warms his brain, denizen of Scotland once again. On western seas who e'er has rais'd thr sail By Mall's dark coast has heard this evening's tale. The plaided boatmen restiho on his oar, Points to the fatal rock amid the roar, Of whit( ning tvavem and tells whate'er to nisi* Our modern stage shall oiler to your sight. And Britons, born beneath these milder skies Will not, I trust, our simple lore despise. Do )e not love, when summer calls ye tort*. To climb the healthy mountains of the north, To llama her glens. her torrents and her calrel; And trunk on cocky coast the war of waves, Priting her lonely bitch the rude blast braving, As Willow me the Thames' f;iir margin waving. ()Nil not your hearts each gaol on toteign abore, %Vim draws in freedom's cause hi, broad claymore, While nianliei thoughts all ancient discords smother * S.l) ing with ingenious wainith " be is my brother.° Then be the favour of a generous race to kindred kindness rhheuil our Highland tale to graces On Thursday night Mr. Bannister had his farewell benelit at Drury-Lane Theatre, and took his leave of the Stage,,,ua which occasion he delivered the following address:— Ladies and Gentiemeti,—Seven and thirty years have elapsed since I Gist appeared before you, my kind benefactors ; and I feet that this instant of separation is much wore awful to sue than the youthful moment when I first threw myself upon your indulgence. Dining my strenuous exordium; to obtain your favour, bow muck have those exertions been stimulated and rewarded by the piddle? And one vanity of toy heart, which it will ever be impossible for me to suppress, mu►t be the CORI/4AM recollection of days in which you fostered me in my boyhood, encouraged site progrescivrly oo the stage, and after a long and continued seat• of ter vice, thus cheer me at the conclusion of my professional labours. Considerations of health warn me to retire : your patronage lint given nee the means of retiring with comfort—what thanks can I sufficiently return fur that comfort whirl you have enabled me le. obtain ? This moment of quitting you nearly overeoases me ; at a time when respect or gratitude call upon me to impress my leafing. widt more eloquence than I could ever boast, those very - fee/Ma* de prive me of half the hatable powers I may possess upon estuary oceasions.--Farewell my kind, my dear beurfactors, lie was exceedingly affected, and could with difficulty express his gratitude to the audience. The Theatre wag crowded with fashionable and genteel company, anxious to pay the last tribute of sincere respect to a veteran favourite. who never trifled with the public, but on all occasions dis played his professional talents with cheerfulness and •with the best effect, and in a manner not less creditable to him self than entertaining to those who have so often witnessed the versatility of his comic and pathetic powers. In short Mr. Bannister was one of the brightest ornaments of The stage. When a boy he was intended for the Arts, and at that period had made a considerable progress in drawing. It was customary for his father, the facetious Charlesßatwria ter, to give him half-a-crown for every specimen of his im proving abilities. Being one night in want of pocket money. he produced a well-executed head to his father, who wag just then going upon the stage, but not. getting his usual. gratuity, he berged leave to borrow that sum; to this appli cation the wit replied, " Why, zound: you are just like an ordinary, come when you will, its lut?1-n-crown a head !" —Mr. Bannister's first appearance was at Drury Lane Theav tre, in the character of Dick, in the farce of the Apprentice, for his father's benefit, in 1778. The following season he. made his debut under the friendly tuition of Mr. Garrick, in in the part of Zr.phte, in the tragedy of llakomet. In thy summer of 1780 he ::,,feared for the first time on the Hay market boards, as C 3; adac, in Who's the Dupe. His great F.ueeesF, the fllowing se:lson, at Old Drury, as Dabb!e, io the Fur:,:rit, induced hint to quit for ever the buskin fur I I 91 " Nova Scotia.