The National Register. — London, England, 1808-05-15 00:00:00

. . J 1 l i r 'IP IA 3r7the• hrtinagery, hot we htt[P; MAY the public. Indeed a s'stem set to rights he waruin_ : it risitsa in malversation, till at jiik top.heavy , and it sin:; EiG1315:111 RTS. ROYAL ACADEMY. —D. WILKIE. vsented playing at cards. The but to his partner the trick that partner is employed in er his chair, the triumphant The card player whose front presses his mortification witli .is• visible only in the hatk r symptom of disappointment lands a woman, probably the arta.4, stretching out its little The child's countenance t of the woman appears too at she can be the wife of any If the picture there is a dic e r, window, the chimney-piece, little utensils, whichgive,urh this voting artist. The es- imagined as to each, nod well individual and its neighbour. objects is for the most part tiere appears to he as highly will permit. There is, per- hid' is the uncouthness of the ery. 'The coats of the men, mantle on the left side of the ook like 'painted pasteboard. flatness, and all the glaze of The varnish has given too but the defect of the appcn- npraeknwnt 'of the work it- te even though it,: our tribute of praise to Mr. ur cotemporary critics, :zo he name of genius. 'Talents cast, Which entitle their pos- igeuuity, grace, science, and tut when we hear the wort f ragged jackets and tin can- e profanation, and deo% t!i:. . The figures of Mr. Wilkie is the lowest kind of e sorrowinz Magdalene, or of praise of sublimity, and the if his picture ; yet an artist groins with posterity for the bier's lip, or the coarse fat is checks. it is sublimity t is that creative, ria j e:ti ,- . frets upon the mind hy . the , and not that laborious, muses the eye by the sepii- Merits of Mr. Wilkie is cer• f the Dutch painters in gene- ta ken but little heed to the lestowed infinite pains upon trtments. I.3tit Mr. Wilkies ible advantages, is not to he now heat bestowed npou it: of that, which, a hen it has ►ye been north expret , sitig. minter, but while be paints call him a man of genius. it is profanely tried On every t'illirsnt Pitt.-4 posit:mous ttNcy, H. A. that which Ivas painted of Lawrence, however, as Y.e 'owed any aid f.. , ntyl the The likeness bete is very Ttrk Nilieff4At ItIGOVER. ilut white we throw wow ptiv4l*, tafiloane ate din litunneati who have hitherto condoeted the .esmeerne of Dewy Lane, we cannot but admit that their lortem has bean benitely nforej liberal Orrin that purssied At Covet* Mellen. Mr. aniline and. Mr. Wroughton, though sotto thars misled lots a wakes of their tanteterrial duties have Dot leant Ailey to dot linWwwtlll ce. ?dr. Graham and Mr. Wrinittittan Wye givets to new authors, and the stage has been beiselltied by their elmiliklar Afis Chambers, the sitithoreos of fits Sehost Or Friends, iftr..N.. Skidoos, the author of Tithe's • Tett.tote, and emend other tale-1 eessful dramatists, have WM& their *lt appearance w ith in dive! two or three years on the boiled* ed Drury Lane: to say nothisge or a greet number of other authors who, though they reflect no 'fame upon the judtisteot, yet ceratioly prove the combo* of the Itionagers. ithn n t speak,* favourably Ina critical point of view Of The Seldierte Dnwgktsr, unit The Travellers, The Hera of Ilto North, Tekeli, The Sleeping ffeastty,einderalfs,The Forty Thieves. 'Nag, &c. &e. Oc. may be fairly said that ail these pieces were acted with stteeeti s and were received by the Managers although their authors *ere nil completely new to the stage. Several other fresh anthers have within these few years Obtained a represent*. Von for their pieces : but as these pieces did not please the public, it would not be fair to recapitulate them. No* what %stoners of new authors, encouraged within the same period,. ran Covent Garden produce to balance the firregoblit Our memory at present furnishes us with °Avow example, which is that of Mr. Kenney, whose farce of Raising the 'Wiled appeared at Covent Garden—unless, indeed, Capt. Hewit son ran be called an author, is ho brought to the Proprietors the French piece from which The /Into! Boy was ingeniously Meshed' by the professed cooks of the Theatre. The system of Mr. Harris, (we say of Mr. Harris because we understood that Mr.. Kemble, by Ike articles of his agreement is totally unconnected • with the reading of new plays) the system of Mr. Harris appears to be a system of favouritisin. There are certain persons about him, who hitter all his prejudices and tickle all his piques, who vislicule good sense out of sight whenever it ventures to approach • him, who thus procure for themselves and their friends a mono holy of theatrical composition, and like the Junto that in n igher theatre work malignantly and darkly against the political good, are injuring his concern under a pretence of personal friendship to himself. Any nonsense that is manufactured by this set, is received by the easy Proprietor : pieces presented by, authors who can describe nature in good English bre - generally thrust away with contempt, or if received at first, are treated with so much coldness and besieged by so many obstacles, that their production becomes almost impracticable. There are indeed some authors of established greatness who new and then send pieces to Covent Garden, and whose rank in the literary world com pels the proprietors to attend to their claims; but he, who cannot demand his admission by his fame, will never obtain it by• 4tis talent ; and though the works of Mr Colman, and one or two other authors of the first rate reputation, have still a chance of appearing on the hoards of Covent Garden, yet, if the School for Scandal itself could he sent to-morrow, a virgin manuscript, to the stage door in Hart-street, unrecommended by the junto, it is our firm belief that it would be returned to the author. The honey-Moon, it is well known, was rejected at Covent Carden : -ye t , at the same theatre where Two fares under a Hood was ir.l6:e4 by the Music of Mr. Shield ; and the Ogre and Liltle T 'tuna supported with all the splendour of the mineral and ele mental worlds ! lt might he supposed that actors had some sort of influence in bringing f6rward pieces : that an author could not do better than to take a new play to the performer for whim he intended the priucipal part, and requetti him to procure a representation. On the contrary s the proposition of an actor would tend to in ure the piece; for the proprietors of theatres are particular!:: jealous oftlreir actors, whom they wi-h to keep doss n by a most absolute despotism : and to allow to any actor the canetlitence Wbich he must gain from the performance of a play recoin- Fettled or written by himself, would be very, very, dangerous to the ututoatified supremacy of the executive power. Under all these circumstances, let it no loner he pleaded in theatrical riffles, that the scarcity of genius is the reason why IV many wretched things are exhibited: the fart is, that the ex hibition of these wretched things is the reason why genius scents scarce. Can plants be expected to shoot throa4h the eorth when a weight of rubbish is strown along the surface of the soli ? Can ottlthors of real genius be expected to arise, when they know that they must instantly be crushed by t he potent. though secret, influence of bad taste, of prejudice, and of party ? So much for the condact of managers toward authors. We have advanced nothing as fact for o•oich e have not good ttu-' ti hority. We Aram ispise to amend nt least, gives same infortuntion to that requires alteragloin is seldom , goes onithensaitieting errors, and rising last some violent allsese,asahet the Ode hesloath Own leldlois. FINE AR f~ZHII~ITIO:~T AT THE R( .. 0 04/116a. 1 2 01. Card Pldyers.—D. In this picture four men are **prevented figure on the left exultingly points c which they are just gaining: and , showing to a gazer, who leans over gime that he has in his hand. The faie is eiposed to the spectator expresses coolness, while the gaMbier who is • front, scratches his head with every nod displeasure. Near the table stands landlord's wife, with a child in tier • hands to grasp the pairited cards. expressive of great eagerness: that placid to leave room for an idea that one of the gamblers. In the left of asleep. The walls, the table, the w are covered with those numberless lr an air of reality to the pictures of pression of all these figures is well II contrasted as to she reference of the The delineation of the inanimate objr minutely accurate, and the whole piece finished as the size of, the picture • Imps, hut ope fault in the work, wh habits, we can hardly say the drapery. 3 bag On the chimney-piece, a blue. mantle all, a grey hood on the right, took t' They have all the edge and all the - that useful ankle of stationary. mach glare to the whole picture: but date shall not be vi'grd by us as imireackmen) self; &One figure does not become cloathes sit awkwardly upon it. Rut while we are happy to pay Wilkie's talent, we will not, like our far as to dignify that talent with the of a thousand various kinds may exist sessor to the credit of cleverness, Inge other qualities highly valuable; bui 'genies applied to the delineation of dlesticks, we cannot but reject the existence of the vast merit imputed• certainly have expression, but it is sien and thouzh the painter of a sorro suffering Christ, might deserve the pr title of genius, for the expression of will hardly gain the reputation of g , expression that he throws into a cob) of which he constitutes a landlady' that deserves the title of genius: it awful power, which produces enl combined greatness of the whole, detailed, accurate copvism which amuses rate exactness of the parts. The tar taiiily of a higher order than that of ral ; for they seen, usually to have expression of face, although they hes) the dirty paraphernalia of the spar style, when it is taken with all po-4 extolled with such panegyric as we it is little better then the expression been expressed. appears not to ha We shall always call him a clever p: in this way alone, we shall never ri The word is become too common ; it occasion. 95. Portrait of the Right Iron. Piet ure.—J. L wit r The picture is exceedingly like Mr. Pitt by Mr. Iroppner. Mr. La understand, denies that he lins horro. vious ourk of that great artist.