The National Register. — London, England, 1809-09-10 00:00:00

OPT. 10. ie c i t tity, a requis►tion, s►gned byj nineteen Members of the Court of Common Counc►l, with Sir W. Curtis at their head, was presented to the Lord Mayor, reques'ing his Lord ship to convene a Court, at an early day, for the purpoie of taking into the consideration the propriety of celebrat ing. in a signal and appropriate manner, the approaching Anniversary of his Majesty's Accession to the Throne, when his Majesty will enter into the sui.h year of h►s reign. Advice is received of the safe arrival of the China fleet in the Downs. General Monnet and General Osten have arrived at Deal, in the Monarch, Captain Lee. They went to breakfast with Admiral CamF►bell. General Monnet was not in uni form : he is a coarse vulgar looking man. Gen. Osten was dressed in a splendid uniform. The latter was as much beloved at Walcheren, as the former was detested ; and he has, on every occasion, shewn himself the humane enemy of any English sailors who have been cast away on the island, or who have been carried in ►risoners, always using his best endeavours to procure the liberty of aged seameu. General Osten headed the several sorties made by the gar rison of Flushing, and was fortunate enough to escape un wounded. The Duke Dc Treviso (Mortier) was a clerk in the house of a merchant at Middleburgh, and was then considered as a man of great talent. Gen. Monnet had the command at Flushing about ten years. He has amassed a fortune of 100,0001. He nised a contribution of seven and a half per cent. per annum on the inhabitants, in the nature of the property tax, and he received a shilling a gallon for all the gin smuggled. This last article produced him enormous sum%. The refusal of Gen. Monnet to permit the women and children to go out of Flushing, previous to the bombard of.that place, is not the only instance of the sort which the Great Nation has to boast of. At the slcge of Savannah la Mar, which was so gallantly defended by General Prevost, Count D'Estaign, who commanded the French besieging army, was requested by Gen. Prevost to permit the women and children to leave the town ; this he peremptorily re fused. After he received the check in the assault, which led to the raising of the siege, he sent word to General Prevost, that he would permit the women and children to quit the place, which offer was then rejected with the con tempt it deserved. This was the D'Estaign who fell under the guillotine during the storm of the revolution. Perhaps the unsparing laws of war justified D'Estaign's refusal, as the consumption of food, by useless 'Mouths in a garrison, must evidently tend to a speedy surrender of the place if pressed by famine. On what ground of military policy General Monnet can justify himself, it seems impossible to determine. At Walcheren, it was attributed to his wish that the distresses of the inhabitants might produce such a degree of clamour as to furnish him with a tolerable ex cuse for an early capitulation. The annals of gaming have not produced so many vicis situdes of fortune as have occurred lately in the vicinity of Pall-Mall and St. James's-street. Among the many anec dotes now in circulation, is one of a very recent date ; and it relates to two personages of great rank and distinction. One of the parties has lost, at the hazard table, tv the other, no less a sum than two hundred thousand pounds! Next Month.—Sw tFr and CO. Joint Contractors with Go vernment for the present State - LOttery, respectfully inform the Public, that Tickets and Shares are on Sale, in great verietv, • at their Offices, No. 11, Poultry; No. 12, Charing-Cross, and No. 31, Aldgate High-street. The Scheme of this Lottery is entirely new, and has hitherto received the most unqualified approbation; there are only 5.000 Numbers in the Lottery, and the whole will be Drawn .14 Oise Ofty (tile 20th of Nest qpinih) P 6 rn The following Capital Prizes must he distributed .aniong the fortunate Purchasers, viz. 4 of 20,0001. 4 . 4 5,0001. 4 of ,0001. Bof 1,6001. 12 of 5001. besides the interior Prizes of 1001. 501. iire. as usual. This Lottery also present; the .o.llllfir tunity never before offered to the Public, of gaining the iitt." ramie Sums of 80,0001. 60,01)111 : : or 40,0001 by the purchase of Poe Number only. THE NATIONAL REGISTER. THE4iIzII.,ILS. LYCE (far . The nonsense of comic-operas hat long Leen tolerated under the pretext that any thing may serve for a vehicle if music. The Muse of Melody it seems cannot he treated too disrespectfully ; the meanest machine which tolly and insipidity can put together, is thought good enough for her : and though we run to meet her, like crouals to au execution, yet we feel no indignation if we find our fa vourite carted by some of the veriest Jack-ketches of Poetry. It is true that the music of most modern Operas merits every degradation. It is a debauched aud decrepit being of no species aud of no sex : it is neither expressive, nor mellifluous; it touches no passion, it excites no ewe. tion, it possesses no ideas : it is a mere jumble of concords which just serves to kill our time easily for us—without pleasure and without absolute pain. riny vehicle might indeed serve for the conveyance of such a being—but why convey such a being into ear public theatres at. all I The adaptation of music to the drama must always have been desirable; yet if the theatre is to be considered as the mirror of real life, music unfit certainly , be excluded front conversations and the representations of common transac tions. Men and women do not either quarrel or make love in musical airs :—true—but still the language of the drama is frequently elevlted above the language of real life s blank verse and turgid prose are both admitted upon the stage with considerable apphtuse, and therefore th e p owe r s of musical diction have certainly many claims to be re ceivecL To speak in recitative, and to utter impassioned passages in rapturous melody, would not be absurd as ex.! • pressions of warm and animated sentimeuts, if such ex pression were confined to subjects elevated above common transactions and common agents. Instead of joining the general cry of critics against Operas we are willing to admit them with all the extravagancies of machicery and spectacle: we wish even to go further, we NV 14h to hear the highest and most embellished poetry blended with their powers of harmonious utteranc e ,--- we wish to see the' genius of the ancient drama received into our Opera. The English Opera is tbunded neither in nature or com mon sense : it bath, however, inundated our theatres of late years with inure pieces than any other species of dramatic entertainment. It is said to have received ins origin from the Beg., ar's Opera of Cray, bat we think that its source arose in the inordinate love ot sing song, with which an English audience seems always ,to be possessed. Gay began his Beggar's Opera with the intentiotc of satyrizing the Italian Opera, but as he proceeded with his subject hi forgot his purpose, and grew sir fond of his pericrmrsece that he laid entirely aside the idea of a harh'squc recietaat% and extravagant airs. and blended a humorous and ch 3., racteristic dialogue with the most simple and most at tractive melodies. Few other English Operas seem 0) !rave aspirei to the slightest literary merit : Lore in a Village and the Ducnna, are the only compositions of this species that cam be read without disgust. The taste. of the British public is however chiefly di rev! , 4 to this sort of Musical Drama, which forms so distiligeishi. g; - a feature in our National Theatres, that it becomes a mount duty in criticism to enquire what, are its leaglie; cha racteristics, and how far it may he improved. Many spec.ir3 of composition that are net natural in themselves, may yet be rendered probable anti interesting by observing a certain proportioe of their parts to each other, and by establish ing such boundaries as might be known ;)), the enquiry that 66 If such things were, in what manner would they be ? IT it were natural for meg an 4 women to sing their sentiments occasionally to one another, it is probably that the most lofty - or the most interesting feelings only wouht flow into musical diction,. and that such music would be the most j perfect combinations of impassioned melodies. .As it is itt this only that the English Opera pretends to depart .frinn modern Comedy, it must in every other respect conforal