The National Register. — London, England, 1812-09-27 00:00:00

"(1)-1 , • • - The greit merit of this Opera this ; though it contains 'cottsitit to surprise. to interes', 01. to enter , ain, it is entitled to the praise of being harmless. Bating the awaoyance its Atrilpidit v gives us, it is as inoffenive a pi!.ce of nonsense as 'eve: was produced. We niost therefore c the aushor it -credit fur rectitude of intenti n, and set hint dow n as a \Veil-. llisposed dunce, who bas written this play iu the hope that I it would excise the Spanish patriots to new exc.' tions in the cause of their country. That it has a good eflZ‘ct in the Peninsula ve shad he rria.st happy -to !civil, but we cannot .flatter Mr. Cope with a prospect of its ever having a good ,c11;•et here. The only wav in w! kb we can account for his bringing for ,svard 44 The Spaniard, a thotn , and years ago" —sev:ral marline er;!ies have 1 L tlunni-e!a - es much offended the pi ae lice winch has obta;ned here of lire, of founali!;g operas on ; ‘‘ , lich practice Mr. ARNOLD must -naturally fee! .anxious to justify, and we I:Jeri-foie conceive he thought the way of defending it was to bring forwaid aii oti.;;nal ii T erformante like that now before us. If this were his ob jcet WC wrist cotira:ubtte him On his success, fur nothing I! could more •effectu,:llv silence "he snarlers before alluded to '1 than such a specimen of orifzimili/n. In assuming this opera s to have appeared through lie cause above descriLed, we, however, wish it to heynder , tood 6that what we have v)flered is after a mere guess. Another camsideration may have inlittenc:ed the ine.tizter. This ori ,g.loal pie! c w.e e infoimed Inal previously been represented on the Dublin stnge as a nrcia•tframe. Of i!scif this is cr •tainly a vet y great reconnnerkdation to hint, as his pcnc..-l.ant for turning afterpieces into plays, is such, that we sllottl+not he surprised to hear 1w had it in conzenkplation to turn The White Cat into a ,five ar: t r ap-cthi fo r N ew D rur y. • Cthers, however, will be disposed to att , ihnte the pt•odue iion of " 'hr .‘.;panish Pidria•4" to the musicahntsacinherited . by the Manager front his father, the late distinguind com p, ser, Dr. A allo La. Aid we must confts , , that if JOIIN i4Tevt:Nsos: played his overtime and airs in the G reen loom before Mr. CoDE read his piece, every voice must have .been raised in its favour. The (menu' e, which has pa , sag;:s .of an apprcp , late solemn cast, displays cousidelable skill and, .richness cf havnurny ; end ate songs, although some of them remind us occasionally of the well known airs. such as, " 0 -Nanny vitt thou gish,g nu.," and " Lady Sce. and n,ay, therefore, lather be called imitations than original -compositions, possess great sweetness and Merit, and sung with great 'taste and execution by PHILLIPS, PINE, and Miss .EELLY, obtained several encores. The same honour was -,granted to a waltz danced by raises LuPiNo, Glints, and 1-lARRISON, with remarkable elegance and grace. • The Spanish Ambassador attended to see how " The Spa- Patriot's" looked on the British stage, but we could trace on his Excellency's countenance no particular marks of ap probation.. The brilliant success of this opera, besides .its - bold on the patriotic feelings of the audience, affords an ad ditional proof of the power of musk, which iu former times could move stones. , and now can rescue dramatic trash from damnation. COVENT-6 ARDEN. On Monday the tragedy of 11;chard the Third, was pertorm ed, in which Mr. C. KEMBLE appeared, for the first time, as Richard. Thu; character has been so ably personified by -CooKE and KEMBLE, that he who comes after them has but little chance of success. To be merely respectable in it to fail ; and we can hardly bring ourselves to say, that Mr. C. KEMBLE is more than respectable. In our estima tion, be gave but a faint outline of the part, which could SEPT.O7. not he contemplated with much satisfaction 'by tho , e W h o had seta the highly finisheti pictute, furnished by his pre. decey.ors. Ile could neither impact to it the strong coh)cr. ing which it has often received from the energies of CooK E , nor the imposing' air of elaborate study which, triumphant over natural debility, gave value to thercui r cits t : in trli e ttre f f t . i i% r . n n i u s r he n ttl f bV his brother. It is Notable - thAt inst those 'who had ;;one before him, in some mea , ure, influenced our judgment to the d'sadvantage of Mr. C. iElkt IDLE ; ant feeling this, we shall abstain from any thing like severity o f animadversion on those parts of his performance which were most wanting in merit. We must, however, say, that all through the play be .fai:ed in ntal:iog the impression restui site to command proper attention, and to awaken i s c u e fli c c o i u el ! i d t intetest. appeal:lmre was aealnst him, and though ihe had taken gre ;t pains to dress. the character Welt not think it was nic!,ard we saw before tis. It has been oh servad, that ,of all the t. cants on the stage, Ric-liar! is perhaFs that which least recpaire.t that the depravity of iris heal.t s hou'i he marked in the ectime.,s of his countenance; as we are told in ltktory that, though somewhat deformed., he was u pon the whole a very lutaLsoine man. It may he that history is, in this hprtance, pen feely right, and that the swat crf Pichard's being - the handsomest imps ptesent, at a grand enteitainment (his brother Ed.vard excepted,) rests on the best audio! ity ; but still we are not sati , fietl that liirherd should look any thi but the vißain he is. When this. tragedy ris pet formed, it is not wilt the history but with the • poet th.tt we have to do. and - since Sh.ikei.peare has made Gqster talk of 4. dog,: Kirk ing at I.ttit when be halls;" of his deformity being such that he would have '' hell deform bi b mind to answer it.;" of .his " aspiring to ciree his ini..shapen bead with a glorious diadem ;" aud of iti. " not being form ed like other men," we mu-.t contend that he ought to appear :t wonster, and to make him otherwise in the play becatk.c.• he is diffetently described in the history, would he as culous as if the last scene of Jane Shan -weie omited alto gether in the representatiou of that;tragedy, be:ause it is said that the heroine of it, though iernted to be starved to death by ,Richard the Third, was Living in the reign of Beta?' .the Sevuuth. _ Mr. e. KEM BLE, we must therefore say, d:d not look the character, and :for this tault we found nothing to eonso!c %is in his perforntance taken as a whole. When lie vciOirtl forcibly to mark the ferocity of Richard, be frequently gave into a grin, which made an impression on our risible muscles rather man 4 propaY, while attending to the performance of a tragedy and his efforts to pourtray that crafiiness, which is one of the greatest characteristics of Gla'ster, generally failed of making a strong impression on the audience. Still, how ' ever, there %vele parts of his delineation of the tyrant, whidi merited and which obtained universal applawc. In 'the tent scene he was very suucessful, and in the list scene he wits occasionally great. In the fight, hi' had an adtnirablefoil—in Mr. ABBOTT, who acted Richmond, and who seems to have been taught the use of the sword by Mr. Egerion's fencing' master. His death was excellent. The other parts of the,cast presented nothing of noyelt. with the ,exception of Mr. ABBOTT, in Richmond. This character the sustained in a very creditable manner, tkiil he came to that scene which we have already mentioned, in which }he really cut a most ridiculous figure. Actors in his line ought to know bow to hold a sword a little like a man who has been accustomed to wear one. If Mr.. ABBOTT attends to this hint when be next has occasion to fight, he will not draw back his hand to make a thrust, like a drover in ,the act of goading a beast. On Thursday, in Venice Preserved, Miss mAitgzotr TIIE NATI a\ L REG ST Ell.