The National Register. — London, England, 1809-10-08 00:00:00

648 ... ors .dal pater!. The next U. tide for considaration may he that of ca; high salaries to the pertortuani ; but ,even lent, Sir, depends upon John Bull. Wherever there -is superior excellence in Pie Histrionic art, each of the The atres w ill be auxious to avail themselves of it, in order 'o please 'heir friends; an emulation rises, and they outbid each other; hive me leave to observe Sir, that i 1 you increase the number of Theatres, you increase the compe tition, a2d (has unavoidabiy increase those Salaries which are e'en now complained of. If it is an evil therefore, ',ls one we is caanot he remedied without ad o ptisi e mezoures, which, in removing the cause of complain;, would infalEhly blight each opening bud of dramatic ta . lent. The scenery and interaal. decorations, together with external elegance, are the next points which present them • selves ; and here we must in candour acknowledge that these el•peuces are called for by the ptAlic taste, and have not been presented with a niggardly hand ; nor can I in this place avoid noticing an observation of your corres pondent, who says, that. the calculation is not how many spectators they will accommodate, but how many they will hold. Now, Sir, 'whilst we have only two Theatres, and to have more would increase some of the present 'evils without .removing others, it is of importance for the public grati fication, that these theatres should be capacious, and it cannot be denied that the New Covent Garden Theatre has many advantages in point of accommodation. In this new .Theatre, the capacity of the Boxes has not been increased, with respect to numbers, though it is so in point of com fort; the same observation will apply to the Pit, and as for • the Galleries, the most distant spectators are now brought nearer to the stage than in the old House, and up wards of fifteen feet nearer than they were in Drury-lane ! With such causes for a large expenditure, in a precarious concern, the Proprietors have swely a claim to a handsome profit on their roitie, as long as they do their duty to the ; that this profit has never 'been very great, is prov ed by the statement presented by a party of Gentlemen who must be considered as superior to all bias, and who declare that the annual average gain has never exceeded 6 per cent. during the last six years, and that any probe hie increase will not anrount to more than three and a half por cent. supposing the whole property insured ; should any part of the nsk, therefore, be taken by the Proprietors, the add . eioilal profit can only' be coasiliered as a fair pre mium of insurance. It is, perhaps, to be lamented that r more deLaikd state ment has not been laid before the public; and one 1 little dearer than that tacked to the report of the arbitrators; this tells us that the total of receipts far the last yeas VaS 365,95 V. and that the payments were 307,912/. which with SOOO/. of Gutstauding debts, leaves a balance of 50,0711. or 33-151. per annum : calculating' this at and three-eighths per cent. it appears that :the old capital was taken at about 130,000/. ; but then, Sir, this item of bad debts, if Net received, will increase their receipts instead of being deducted from them. and thus make a sum total of 9,6751. per annum. This seems, Sir, to be a fair statement of the case, and, if so, ought to , have been fairly and candidly stated, there is, indeed, a kind of ambiguity even in the report respecting the future 2ro bable per centage; let the Proprietors therefore give a dearer statement of their capital embarked of the capa biliiti of the house, and of their probable expences, and then should their profits zunlunt even to 15 per ceat. 1 am confident that Jobn Bull will never object to NEW Punta. To obtain Forty, Sixty,or Eighty Thoumild Pounds by one event, has an in fluence over thn opulent to a great extent. The demand for Two, Three, aael )ho::. Ti.:kets of the same :Cumber constimee a tarze proportion of the Lottery, and nut create a great scarjt, previous to the 10th instant. The Lottery is herd in iligh e-timai ion owing to [the jiidicious arrangement of the Scheme, and the new m4rle of drawing. Clubs and Societies will do wed not to d.lav pur chasix, Tickets and Shares. liorushy and Co. solicit the fivours of that Piddle the present occasion, and hope to *apply %I.eir Ft iends with a majoritY i.ftLe l'iuo,uoo Prize Money, at either of their old establisbed tttatu lioutcry binces,, ISo. iii,, Cor4&,111, and St. Marzarces-1. 11 . 1 , Borough. THE N iiTIOIAL • REGISTER. OCT. 8. . • The following instance of persevering bravery has hardly, if ever, been exceeded by any class of the British Marine : Extract of a Leiter from Capt. Frazer Smith, Mle of the ship Neptune, of Oreenock, elated' Lima, April 25, 1809. " We had a tedious, passage round Cape Horn; shrike ae American whaler. and gave two broadsides to a Portuguese man of war, - who we thought waist Frenchman. We put into seve ral places alOng the coast df Peru without molestation ; but one morning, as we lay at anikeiina creek, we saw • privateer standing right in uppn as. • • We immediately hove the anchor up and prepared . for action; and an engagement ensued, that was kept up with great spirit Air four hours. We were much hurt in ourails and rigging, hurfinding us too strong for him, he took advantage of his superior sailing, and left us. We got our da mares repaired, and from that time (December last) till the 4th of February, we remained undisturbed. On that rhy, however, the said privateer paid us another visit, accompanied by the Hero. of London, a prize to her. Though these made two to one against us, i trusted to the strength of my metal, and to the courage of' my crew; and I am happy to say, that in the result I was not disappointed. The tiring began when we were within pistol shot of each other, and was continued with destructive effect during the whole of the action ; they played upon us with grape shot from their 24-pounders unmercifully, and would have swept away many of my brave crew, had they aimed more at the hull of the vessel; hut their fire was directed chiefly to our sails and rigging, and I am sorry to say they were too successful in injuring those materially; indeed, they render.. ed the vessel almost unmanageable. We, however, paid them back in their own way, and succeeded in bringing down the privateer's top-masts and yards. They stood out for upwards of four hours, but finding us too many for them, they put tip their helms and set off, leaving us the field. though the victory was dearly bought, the vessel having suffered great ii jury, and four of my seamen were dangerous) v wounded. Since I came here I am told the privateer had 18 men killed, besides seve ral wounded, which I really believe, as our fire was directed lower than theirs, and their decks were crowded Vi ith men.— We got our damages repaired as well as we could, and pur sued the of of my voyage, pretty cenfident that we should meet no further interruption. Iu this, however, was unhappily mistaken. for on the 20th of the same month I had a new and more powerful enemy to encounter. large privateer mounting 22 guns and 170 mess appeared in the offing under an American flag. We stunt saw he was au enenl and found his neutral flag was intended to deceive us. We pre pared to tight him at the same time we endeavoured to avoid him ; we perceived that lie sailed well. and whenever I fouad that lie gained on us, I gave orders to slacken sail, that we might the sooner bring on an action there was an avoiding. About mid night we wer, - nearly alongside of each other, and immediately exchanged broadsides: the action then went on, supported on both sides by an :I:esihant aid destructive ire. After fighting for ne!4rly three hours, neither of us could gain any ascendancy, a;ld the pause that eese,:d between then and day light was em ployed by both in re pairing damages. At day-light, we renewed the action. :r•c: " ught desperately ; still, however, so equally we seemed Iltitt (cited, that neither could compel the other to yield, the daring attempts of the one being constantly defeated by the valour of the other. You will scarcely believe that we actually maintained this obstinate and lung contest from Monday at mid night till Thursday at noon. The pauses that ensued between our numerous actions were employed by both in constantly pre, wain. , for a renewal of the combat, and no sooner had the one cleared away his wreck, then he again manosuvred, and again renewed the work of destruction. At length my anininnitioo got low, and when we struck there was another shot in the locker. My crew were warn out by excessive fatigue, for none of us slept an hour during our extraordinary contest, and we had little time to spare for food. Besides, the loss of my vessel, have to lament the fall of Mr. Addison, my Chief Mate, who was killed on the second day of the action; as well as ibis ex cellent young man, my boatswain, carpenter, gunner, and four valuable seamen were also killed in the course of the action, and myself and nine of the crew wounded. When the flag that had day after day, and night after night bidden defiance to the enemy, was at length struck, the vessel was an entire wreck, and literally knocked . to pieces; our main-top-mast and twain yard shot aw a V I all our sails cut to rags, and not a single shroud left standing:. The privateer that took me was once the Vulture, Captain Christie, of London; and though exceeding well arm ed and maimed, was given up to a brig of three guns, without firing a shot; so that to this circumstance I may attribute Al capture, and all that has fellowed." ..