The National Register. — London, England, 1814-10-09 00:00:00

6'50 3ltss O'N r.T h s voting Lady, whose histrionic have excited the admiration of her native country, has been transplanted from the Dublin Stage to flourish oc the London Boards. The faille of her beauty and her ta lents had preceded her arriva!, and had not the reality answele , J the expeeta!if.;ns which had been raised, Miss O'Neill would have sorely rued the injudicious eftlirts of her friends to procure her a favoundr;e welcome. Happily, however, both for the rithlir and beiself, her performance of Jubri, on Thursday and Fiidav last, proved that the an ticipatory praise bestowed on her personal and trental ac complidunews had been flint when compared with her real Alcseits. The entlinqizy,in of admiration with which she was teceived, also showed that in taste, indgment and sensibi• lily, a London audience was not inferior to the self-styled +6 most judicious" critics of the Irish metropolis. The chief fault of most of the representatives of hitherto, liag lit ti the Ai ant of that engaeing :oftitt ss which tetras the priori -lu.l feature of the character. In the frenzy of love they have gette r:llr displayed too much forwardness, and in the other parts toe rinch levity. They forgot that passion in aft male requires that a oil Ottaid be thrown over its violence, or else it creates disgust of attr,tctien, and that the veil supp kit by Natore is that r , tlting• softness of look, of t:ine, and of manner, which more power foilv affects the heart, than the rudency of fiery glanres, or the v i . , ,, L •nwere (of dvelamat ion. The love of .Thrct, however• though it ettwasses all her soil, does not exclude the t:eca.ional a:hlittance of ether pas:ions. Nay, it iuvites them. Now she swells with in• dignatien at the reproaolles cast on her husband ; now his banish ment fill! cr with despair. Cahn I-outer:int at the tt:•achery of her 'tore is now hers ; and now all the fortitude of her mind is called firth to ettrount•tr ti:e terrors of momentaty death, foilowtd by a dreadful waking in the tomb eflscr ancestors. To personate such a ele4acter. Miss O'Neill pr , sesses both personal and mental qualifi cations. The regu!ar beauty of her features, heightened by a east of penAvimess, the transparent tail.oes: ()flier complexion, and the chirk blue lustie of her eves, animated by the most fascinating ex .rvevsion, gave a most lively imaee of the artless maiden yielding up all her soul to love. Btit when other passions intervened, her countenance assumed, with all the three of moon., the dignified su verit.• or inward scorn, the ealmmess of resigna'ion, or the wildue , s of despair. The iollexiens t.. 1 her voice were equally skillful and natural. Vaied and 1111%r:onions, 111ZW never grew shrill with rant ing', or flowed muninzled with feeling anti expro , sien. Her ae tiqi was easy, gracend, and al‘vays appropriate; neither too Ann &let' nor too sparing. Her conception, both or the character and o' . particohir I.asiagcs, most correct. Indeed, site frequently struck out new beauties, and nevtr passed over any line without itnpart. Intl, to it a de:Jec of expression evhii7it is not aim's- , given. The ac knowiedgmee I if her love in the first garden i iterview, was not only w;th fervent bot with that delicacy of manner and ton" which forms one of its greatest charms. The sportive and seeinie.gly half ashamed accent with which, after recalling Romeo, she said— " I have foNot why I did call thee hack. was nature itself. In the scene with the Nurse, who deceives her t:!llYltlelit e, ;old wI:DIU she has to fondle into good humour, sht wa s ioo,t bewitching. Her de‘pair when cite learns that her husband is bankhed ; the melting et - lit:if:n*l4ller )ove at parting with him in garden ; her indignati-:in again ,, t her nurse, and, beyond all, the ei view of the clangers which may attend her thinking the contents of the phial, and which are all conquered by her love, were histri onic beauties which tNe have never seen surpin;ied. The latter, a yeeially, is of a Still Oder than the rest of ttic pia;, and TIIF, NATIONAL REGISTF.II. plainly revealed that she possessed abilities equal to the most eye. vated parts of the Drama. Her sinking into temporary atitiihilittion was one of her happiest efforts; and the cold vacant gaze with which she rose from hrr grave, followed by the wildness of joy and that of (leTair, in the last scene, crowned her performance in the most ad mirable inanner. 111i , s O'Neill is no copyist. Her' excellencies are her own. She sometimes reminded us of Mrs. Siddons ; not because she imitated that great model, but, because, like her she drew at the peat spring Of nature. Mr. Conway performed Romeo, not only wies the most distinguish ed success. but with a very considerable share et first rate merit. We bad never ieen him to so much advantage, and if he does not reach the very first rank in the Drama, it must be through want of study on his p a rt. He has powers and mind sufficient, when improved by xperience, to jnitify ambition. Mr. Jones, in Mercutio, displayed all the lively humour and fiery spirit which the part requires, in 4 matnier that drew repeated marks of approbation. The applause which attendLd every part of Miss O'Neill's per. for'nance, was so rapturous and unbounded, amounting occasionally to six peals at a time, that on the fall of the curtain, Mr. Egerton announced the same piece would be repeated the next evening, in the midst of thunders of approbation. _ _ . Tlii3 second performance was still more brilliant than the former. The anxieties of a first appearance had disappeared. and Miss talents blazed in michm4led litntre. ThN applause kept parr with her merits, to which even the Prince Regent cane to pay his tribute of admiration. DRA . 1 / 4 1 TIC REGISTER. CON ENT GARDEN. OCT. 9, DRURY LANs. The Managers of this Theatre, with laudable liberality, brought out that chief pillar of their concern, Mr. Kean, for the first time this season, on Monday last, instead of keeping him in rule, and relying alone for sonm weeks longer on the attraction of their house, a ealettlaticn which would not have dectked them. His first ap pearance was in " Richard the Third." The instant the favorite came forth era tulatory thunders tolled front every part of the hense, while. in the pit, the men waved their hats, and the ladies their hand kerchiefs. He appeared /tensible to the partiality of his patrons. His performance of the crook-backed tyrant displayed many new bean ties ; his declamation was juster, and though we cannot congratu. late him upon any improvement in his ♦oice, we think he managed it better, reserving his forces for the more arduous scenes at ti:e latter cud of the play. As in this character, however, Mr. Kean ran he unknown to none of our Readers, we shall quit it to speak of his 014410. This part he performed on Thorsdtty, and it was here we observed his most rapid strides to perfection. We had always been ourselves of the opinion, even ►►itep we stood almost singular in it, that the fine bursts of passion, the glowing delineation of all the jealotis workings of a fiery and noble nature, displayed in his Othello, were beauties of a higher order than any to be met ►►ith in his bp, though a performance pedlars mote perfect as a ►whole. If this ►►as our op nion last season it is doubly so now, when in many instances he 11;0 so altered his conception of passages as to give them almost another character. The t.hnle of the scene in which his trepcherons !an cient begins to work upon his unsnspecting temper; that its his suspicions approach the fancied conviction lie dreads, and yet so easily embrace, were petfeet masterpieces, and his admirable per formanee found a termination worthy of it in the chaMber scene, whore the Moor's woes and logo's villainy receive their fiaal cons , sit flllll3 4)14 We hope soon to have the pleasing task of recording Mr. Kean's new successes in a new charm:Nl-. He has played Macbeth in Dublin, and will not long,, we hope, withhold from his first, his London friends, the treat he could not fail to afford them in this part. We would rather see him in 'the Scottish Usurper than in the Danish Prince, young Hamlet, which he is to play next Thursday, and of his representation of Nvhivh, when we saw him last season, our Readers may remember we were compelled to speak in terms little & buil of censure. .