The National Register. — London, England, 1808-01-03 00:00:00

l 4 THE NAT TONAL REGISTER. rules which cannot be understood and applied without original taste, extensive reading, theatrical intercourse, and long ex perience. If these positions be true, our readers will not be surprised, when we declare the very low opinion we entertain of the then, trical critics, who blot the periodical publications of the present age. As dramatic nature now appears, reduced to regular scien tific principles, yet casually " snatching [grace beyond the •' reach" of any settled principle at all,attired in a garb, which though it ought to fit her closely, yet is not the dress which she wears on ordinary occasions, sometimes restrained by the necessity of subordination, and sometimes stimulated for the dis play of magnificent effects, there can be but very few persons who have the natural qualifications for judging nicely of acting, and fewer yet to whom education and practice have imparted their final and necessary skill. In our theatres there must al ways be a scarcity of fine actors, because in the highest walk of the profession no man can he really great, without a union of all the (panties which can give executive brilliancy to accurate conception; among which are many of the powers of poetical combination, all the qualities of discriminative analysis, and all the qualities of a finished gentleman. There is as a lamentable scarcity of fine critics in our newspapers; and it would be dif ficult to find four of these authors who possess poetry enough to feel, and yet coolness enough to discriminate: gaiety enough to laugh, and yet elegance enough to understand high-breeding : who know the green-room sufficiently to distinguish how much effect is produced by the author, and how much by the actor: who, with all these natural and artificial requisites for forming their judgment, have adequate powers of composition for de livering that judgment gracefully, and so much moderation us to abstain from condemning unmercifully. After having said so much of the requisites for perfect criti ci►m, it would be the height of vanity and presumption to pro mise that our criticisms will be perfect ; but we may be allow ed to say, that if we are not capable of doing all that these principles require, we trust to avoid what these principles con demn. Before we animadvert upon a play or upon an actor, it is our custom to study the play itself, with a view either of discussing its merits, or of estimating its characters. Before we make positive assertions, we shall take care to ascertain our facts ; and having once made up our minds upon truth, we shall never sacrifice that truth to party pique, or to the vanity of pointed style. We shall criticise new plays with as much can dour as old ones, and endeavour to recommend our observations on the actors, by pointing out the beauties of their conceptions, and explaining the principles in which they may fail, rather than by the puffs of personal partiality, or the vulgarity of per sonal abuse. While other critics write to obtain fame for their own ingenuity, we shall labour to exhibit truth for our readers; and as truth, in theatrical affairs, has so long been a stranger to the public, we have no doubt that the public will receive her with all the hospitality which a stranger should claim! DRURY LAN R. On Monday the 28th of December a Pantnmiine was produced at Drury-lane called Furibond, or 11a,•fup.in Negco. This piece was so exceedingly defective in its machinery, that on the first night it very narrowly escaped a total condemnation. Nor can we discover that, independently of the awkwardness of work men and the rottenness of ropes, the plot of this pantomiiie is de serving of commendation. It is difficult to comprehend the mo tive or use of the tricks or scenic exhibitions : and the piece has accordingly been little successful. Mr. Hartiand is a graceful Harlequin, and Mrs. Sharp is assuredly the best dancer who has for some year represented the Columbine. Nor can we ;Mow the well-earned popularity of Mr. Grimalrii, the Cown of Co vent Garden, to obstruct our praises of Mr. Laurent, Iv ho acts the blunderer at Drury Lane. Mr. Grimaldi is famous for put ting all his limbs most ingeniously nut of joint. Mr. Laurent deserves to be at least as much admired for employ in his joints with the greatest possible agility. The one has had the glory of turning bodily nature from her common course, the other merits the praise of having cultivated her to her highest perfection. The Music is by Mr. C outlet). x ,_ ~.. COVENT G4RORN. At Covent Garden, on the same evening, was acted, forthe first time, a Pantomime, entitled, Harlequin in his Element, or Firs, Water, Earth, and .fir. The Fable is the composition of Mr. Dibdin, who in his Mother Goose displayed so grdat a know ledge of pantomimic effect. But in this piece Mr. Dibdin has by no means equalled his former effort; and although the ma chinery is much more adroitly managed here than at Drury Lane, yet both Pantomimes deserve equal censure for a want of appa rent connection in the fable and transformations. There is, how ever, a stroke of satire here, which merits some praise, and which is levelled against the parochial system of emplo) ing aged and drowsy watchmen. We cannot help wishing that pantomime, as formerly was the case, entered with greater freedom on the field of satire. Miss Adams made her first appearance in this Theatre as Columbine, and was favourably received.---Her sis tersperformed a pas de truis extremely well; but the dancing at Covent Garden is still on the whole inferior to the dancing . at Drury Lane. Mr. Bologna was the Harlequin, and Mr. t iri maldi the Clown. They obtained great applause. The Music is the work of Mr. Wear, the leader of the band, who com posed the Music of Mother Goose. On the following Wednesday, Mrs. 11. Johnston, who has for some time been absent front the London Boards, presented herself as Beatrice, in Shakspeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Her private history had naturally created her some enemies who, during the early part of the play, were exceedingly boisterous; their murmur gradually fell away, and Mrs. 11. Johnston is now, in all probability, engaged at Covent-garden Theatre. Mrs. 11. Johnston is certainly a very pretty woman, and so far she is qualified fur the representation of Beatrice; but Beatrice is a wit as well as a beauty, and the character requires intellectual powers far beyond any which Mrs. H. Johnston has within our recollection evinced. She spoke in a silver tone, and walked in a delicate march : she displayed all the requisites that we expect in the Lady Caroline of John Bull, but did not convey that light, yet poignant satire, that keen good nature, that sparkling but energetic mind, which should animate the Beatrice of Much Ado. Mr. Lewis played Benedick with infi nite spirit and whim; the character that he represented was highly diverting, but it was a Benediek rather of Mr. Lea is's conception, than of Shakspeare's. In the lightest parts of all these characters, Mr. Lewis is inimitable : some of Ilenedick's gaiety was, therefore, well pourtrayed by him; but Benediek is a man of more than surface, a wit w.., has as much of reason as of jest. These features of the character were neutralized by Mr. Lewis; and that colour of character, w hick ought to have been a mixture, was rendered one brilliant scarlet. Mr. Mundell was too shrewd in Dorherry, for Dugbsrry is not like the York shireman of the modern stage, a clever fool, but a mere su perannuated simpleton. Mr. C. limb!' is placed beneath his merit, in so wretched a character as Claudio; but he did as much as possible for the part ; and Miss Bolton, in Beni, dis-. played great sweetness and feeling. HINTS TO COMMERCIAL it,ITITLAToits. The enterprize of our countrymen is as surprising as their capital is inexhaustible. They only require to know where a market can be opened, and what articles can bo sold; and, with a celerity unknown and impracticable in other countries, vessels arc immediately chartered, goods embodied, and the market stocked with every vendible commodity. We account it a laudable undertaking to second this energetic spirit of our countrymen by the com munication of every information in our power; and to point out to them every outlet, for their enterprize, at a period when our active enemy has resolved, if he can, to raise insuperable barriers against it in CN ery direction. The eyes of our mercantile adventurers, are, of course, at present turned on the Brazils, as the most desirable field which has lately opened for their speculations. It is therefore of the utmost consequence to ascertain the extent of this new market, as well as the articles which will be chiefly in demand : Without this information, the embar. -rossments of the adventurers to Buenos tyres u4ht be re • ...`,~ , JAN. 3. MMII _,,., - N.. V