The National Register. — London, England, 1818-01-18 00:00:00

I I t JAN._ 18 z'iii D 11.1314. KING'S THEATRE. This elegant house opened for the season on Satur day week, with Piar's Opera of Griselda, to which sue . ceeled a new ballet called ./Etius el Fu!vie. Several changes have taken place in the corps de ballet, but not of a nature to demand particular notice. The new me thod of lighting the house by gas has greatly added to its beauty. Every part is illuminated with such bril liancy as to vie with the bright es t sunshine. A beauti ful cut-glass lustre, in the form of a bell, is suspended from the ceiling, which produces an effulgence exceeling every thing yet witnessed. By the removal of the chan delier from the boxes, the elegant form of the interior is more distinctly seen, whilst, unless we look upward, we are unconscious from whence the additional lustre proceeds. COVENT-GARDEN. A one act piece called Three miles from Paris was . . produced here on Thursday. The plot turns on the delivering of a letter, by the servant of an English Colonel, who is in love with a niece of a poor widow, who keeps an Inn three miles from the French capital. The servant to effect this purpose, assumes successively the dress of a French Courier, an English Grenadier, a Tourist, and a Sailor. This part was very respectfully played by Denning, a provincial actor of some celebrity, who is engaged in the room of Mathews. Money saved, in the case of such actors as Matthews, is not always money got. Denning would have been to him a valuable second, but to stand in his place, is a bold and even hazardous attempt —The reception. of the farce was not the most favourable. SURREY THEATRE. There are not many things in which we could wish to become imitators of our neighbours, the French; neither their laws their religion, nor their politics are much to our taste ; but in some things con nected with literature, the arts, and those public amuse ments which, if not abused, refine Society, they are our superiors. We will not say they have more brilliant scholars than we have, or that their artists in any de gree excel us, but we mean that there is a general feel ing in a French public, that the illustrious scholar, or the skilful artist is a sort of public man,—an object of national patronage and protection. Their public amuse merits, too, derive a consequence from the countenance of.the government, which has a material influence with the public. That which the Academy meets gravely to deliberate upon, cannot but obtain a consequence in the eyes of the people, and whether it be the Theatre Francais, or humble Vaudeville, the applauding voice of the public, awl the critical pen of the Journalist, pre serves them from obscurity. The perichatil of our neigh bours for the care-killing occupations of life, may be assigned as the cause of the high estimation in which every species of scenic representation is held; but there is another, and, if the minor theatres of this city would wish to prosper, they must take a lesson from the French, not partially, as they now do, but learn to the very let. ter. Every theatre in Paris has its peculiar feature— its peculiar description of performances ; regulated in deed, by law, but not contrary to the taste of the peo ple. The performances at the Opera are strictly ope ratic; the Theatre Francais presents what its name im ports—the ligitimate productions of the French Drama; the Cirque Olympiquc confines itself to feats of agility; and the Vaudeville gives its " little pieces interspersed with little songs." They never, as in this country, violate each others territory, and every man, therefore knows where to gratify his peculiar taste. Something like an attention to his plan is, at length, beginning to male its appearance among our minor theatres. Un happily, those which we call Royal, are slow to set the example. Tragedy, Comedy, Farce, and Opera, take their turn ; horsemanship, slack rope, and tight rope, real fire, and real water, all are impressed into their service; so that a man, unused to the stage, would sometimes be at a loss to know whether he had found his way to Covent Garden, or Astley's Amphitheatre. Among the first to break down the system, we are hap py to observe Mr. T. Dibdin, who, in his performances at the Surrey Theatre, is endeavouring to canine him self to that class of performances which, cramped as a minor theatre is by law, is best calculated to please. At this theatre, we find a strict attention paid to the pantomimic and btudesque species of performance ; we are not disgusted by Macbeth in dumb-shew, nor Jilamlet without the soliliquks ; we know, when we visit this house what entertainment we are to expect, and if the vends be net of the most costly sort, we are plewed to feed them so well cooked. Added to a correct taste, the manager appears to possess all those business-like habits which eminently fit a man for the regulation of I a dramatic estAlishmert : indeed a talent fur theatrical I manaement appear to be the characteristic of all the Dibdin r We can now state that Mr. Sergeant Best has been appointed Chief Justice of Cluster, and has resigned the appointment of Attorney-General of the Prince as Duke of Cornwall, in consequence of the Lord Chancellor baying declared that the two situations were incompati ble. Our readers cannot forget that Mr. Justice Gar row held the place along with that of Attorney-Gene s • 41, King. TIIE NATIO:1; 7 1, REGISTER, UNITILD STATLIi SHIP FRANKLIN.—The arrival of this vessel has excited much attention and curiosity in our shipwrights and woolen, some of whom embraced the opportunity, while she lay at Spithead, of inspecting her construction and equipment. Nothing, we have been credibly assured, can exceed the manner in which the Franklin is fitted out, both below and aline the gun-whale. Her rigging is neat, an,d adroitly managed by one of the finest crews that ever navigated a ship. Her hull is a perfect model of ship-building, and the interior combines every possible accommodation and com fort, with the most excellent arrangements for the deposit of stores ; in which respect she is stated to be decidedly superior to any one of our ships of war. Her means of annoyance are on a similar scale of perfection. On all her decks she carries 32-pounders ; a wise pre caution, by which the possibility only of a single mis take in the quantum of powder and shot is avoided.— The guns, however, of the different decks, although of the same calibre, vary in length, and the uppermost tier, or those on the quarter deck and timectistle, are car rnnadcs, the whole bein: , evidently planned for power ful and decisive close combat. Arotuul the masts are hung sharpened axes, ready fi►r cutting away in cases of emergency. At sea, the Americans constantly habi tuate their crews to sailing round a barrel, and firing at it with heavy shot, or to practising with musketry at a bottle suspended from one of the yard arms. The men fire by turns, and to him who strikes either the barrel or the bottle, a double allowance of grog is awarded.—The crews are likewise employed, at every opportunity, in exercising the great guns ; and in con sequence of all these preparatory measures, they natu rally go into action, not only devoid of fear, but with that ardour which is the almost certain presage of victory. _ _ ELOPEMENT.—A letter from Boulogne states, tha on Tuesday se'nnight, between the hours of 10 and 11 in the forenoon, notwithstanding the vigilance of the French police, who, it was understood, were directed to be on the alert, to prevent the circumstance being carried into eflivt, a gallant young officer of Dragoon Guards, cantoned in the vicinity of Calais, eloped with a lovely and accomplished young lady, niece to a worthy Baronet well known in the west of England, both in the disguise of domestics, to some friends who aoompa nied them. On the following morning they were seen prosecuting their journey to the north of England, and probably ere this the indisoluble knot is tied. ITALIAN B.tNDlTTt.—Lieutenant Colonel Herries and Captain Gordon, R.N. were attacked on their way to Naples, between Terracina and Fondi, by a banditti, on the evening of the 12th pecetaber. The first act of the villains was to fire upon the postilion without previous warning. He fell mortally wounded. They then proceeded to rifle the travellers, and took from them their watches, money, &c. The banditti were divided into two parties, one of which was immediately active in the attack and robbery, while the other re mained in reserve at a short distance ; and their number was so considerable, that Lieutenant Colonel Herries and his companion must be considered as owing their lives to their being unprepared to offer any resistance. They suffered little personal violence, and were allowed when the plunder was finished, to proceed on their journey ; their servant taking the place of the postilion, who was conveyed to Fondi in the carriage. Lieute nant Colonel Herries was on his way to join the Bri tish head quarters in the Mediterranean as Deputy Quarter Master General. KFonuenir.—At the Old Bailey yesterday, %Vasil elly, only 15 years of age, was indicted capitally, for fergil ei e , and uttering a 51. note, knowing it to be forg ed with intend to defraud the Governor and Company of the Bank of England. The prisoner was brought up to plead on Friday, and he persisted in pleading Guilty, although told it could not in the remotest de gree avail him. He was accordingly put by and brought up this morning to amend his pica. Still, however, he persisted in his former plea, by observing, " how can I plead not guilty when I know myself to be guilty." Ile was then put to the bar, and charged, with another boy, aged 17, named Thomas Spencer, with having forged and uttered a 61. note, knowing it to have been forged. The short circumstances of the case were these : On the evening of the 26th November, the prisoner Kelly, dressed as a plasterer, went to the shop of Mr Braidley, a pork-butcher of St. Martin's-lane, and say ing he came from his master, Mr. Crece, a plaisterer in Long-acre, asked for change of a SL note ; he obtained the change in four one pound notes, and the remainder in silver. Both prisoners were shortly afterwards ap prehended, and upon the person of Spencer were found four one pound notes, two of which Mr. 13raidlev iden tified to be those he gave Kelly in change, and upon Kelly were found 18s. in silver. The .51. note was proved to have been thrged, and Mr. Crece proved that he never authorized the prisoner to get hint change of the 31 note. Mr. Justice Abhot summed up, and the Jury found both the prisouers IKath. The Earl of Dalhousie is appointed Governor and Commander in Chief of Canada, in the room of Sir John Sherbroke, who retires. Sir James Kelvin, it is said, is to succeed Lord Dalhousie at Hain:. I ........... EAST FLORIDA.—One of the latest American pas perm contain a description of Fast Flo' ida. The whole number of Blacks inhabiting this portn n of the Spanish territory ist estimated at only 3,000, and the number of Whites at St. Augustine, the seat of Government, amounts only to 1,000, so that the extent of the r,opula. Lion is evidently small ; but it remains to show what the 'intrinsic worth of this territory is. Bordered on every side by the Atlantic, or intersected by navigable waters in connexion with those of the United States, its timber, in the first place, exceeding in quality env that grows northerly, con s i s ts i n f o r es t s o f li ve oak . , cedar, cypress, and pine, all of inexhaustible extent.— Next may be mentioned the fertile lands which derit from the climate such qualities as are no were else to be flaind. Amongst these are, a large tract near Augus tine and St. John's, called Twelve Mile Swamp, con taining 14,000 acres ; with another, extending to Mos quito, of (i() miles long ; and a third, between Bowleg and Pampa, more than 60 miles in length, and supposed to contain some hundred thousand of acres. All above Alateliawa, for several days' ride, is excellent live oak and hickory land ; and the interior of the country, full of pleasant orange groves, stocked with wild tattle, and fertile and healthy, is still unexplored by the Whites. THE STRATHFIELDSAY ESTATE.—We apprehend that the Duke of Wellington has still to look for an es tate. It is reported, upon respectable authority, that the negotiation for the purchase of this property of Lord Rivers is broken ofi: All the chief points of it had been settled some weeks since; but a question arose in the making of some valuations, whether certain cottages were or were not to be included. By this the completion of the bargain was prevented. There was an actual difference between the parties as to terms.— The purchase-money was to have been about 180,0001. but Lord Rivers bas only occasion fur two-thirds of it; and that sum has now been tendered to him on mort gage, so that he is not disposed to sell. Such was the rumour on Thursday. Ma. ELLISTON, the comedian, appeared at Bow street on Friday, to answer a charge of assault made against him by Mr. Moncreef, the author of Dori Giovanni in London, &c. The mal-treated. bard said, he had for the last three years supplied all the pieces performed at the Olympic Theatre at a stipulated sum for each piece, and it was on the refusal of Mr. Ellis. ton, as manager, to pay for a new piece forthcoming, and likewise his stopping same of the plaintiff's orders, that the dispute and assault originated. The poet ex pressed his indignation at the conduct of the manager in " high sounding phrase and lofty sentence," inveigh , ing with Shakspeare, against "man's ingratitude," and " benefits forgot !" The manager, not being able to parry the argumentum ad homiucm, of the poet, had resorted to the argumentum baeutinusn, in which, from the stature of his adversary, he was more successful, paying the astonished bard in notes of fist. The de fendant, not being able to gainsay the charge, was obliged to give bail for his appearance at the sessions. In the Court of King's Bench on Friday, Mr.. Mist, late proprietor of the Bazaar in Fleet -street, obtained 9,8001. damages of the Eagle Assurance Company as a compensation for his loss by the burning of that building. His demand of 30001. had been resisted an the ground that the plaintiff had no interest, and next that he wilfully caused the premises to be distroyed by fire. Mr. Justice Bayley, in charging the jury distinctly acquitted Mr. Mist of any improper conduct in the of fair. The new process of the winter parish employment, by two pair of Messrs. Bill and Bundy's patent ma chines, procuring work for from eighty to ninety peo ple, has begun at her Royal Highness the Princess Eli zabeth's cottage. In this useful and benevolent trial her Majesty joins their Royal Highnesses the Prin cesses Augusta and Elizabeth. The process of pre paring a ton of stem of flax is divided into twenty-one different parts. The plan is to confine, if possible, the machinery to parishes, and is so arranged• as not to in. terfere with any branch of trade, but to prepare mate• rials fur manufactures. Mr. Coutts has engaged a gentleman of profesaionak eminence, and of extensive practice, to resign his general patients, and confine his skill to him alone.— The consideration for this sacrifice is stated to be an annuity of 2.0001. fur life. The veteran banker scams already to have benefitted by this liberal arrangement, and actually looks as if he had taken a new lease of his existence. The gentleman lived in Greek-street, Soho, where he practised very extensively as a surgeon and accoucher. He is succeeded by Mr. Fisher, who was many years his assistant. Mr. Dillon, the author of the new tragedy of " Re tribution," has published a very modest preface to it, in which he mentions a fact relative to the Managers of Covent Garden, which is so hotrairuble to them and so useful to the interest of dramatic literature, that we think it right to circulate it : he says, that the manna. script was sent to them witholt iltrudttetion or personal interest, yet it received their immediate notice, and that the utmost exertions were instantly made to give the most striking effect t•, his unpatroni2ed poem. The German Gazette has revived the report, that a kingdom of Armenia will he created, with the con. sent of Itu.s.sia, aal Persia. ff V '1