The National Register. — London, England, 1815-12-31 00:00:00

833 66 or straight he'll scize on all their privileges,"—" the very bag thel bear, and the browu dish," shall be escheated—he has a nice taste of what even in these days a monarch newly seated on his throne may think most worthy of his desires. Who does not smile at the apt by. p crisy of Orator Higg,en, who, after having himself pushed forwards for the election, tells the new King i❑ the name of the Commons—iVho is here that did not wish thee chosen, now thou art chosen ? Ask'em ; all will say so, nay swear't—The banter upon the hacknied phrase, " the fa ther of his people," is exquisite. Clause is to be the grandfather, nay the great grandfather of a people, who shall let each man eat his own stol'n eggs and butler in his own shade or sunshine. The unmannerly . conduct of Hempskirke, when he boasts most of his gentlemanship, is so natural, that we never knew an instance in which this boast was used but it preceded some act which bespoke a blackguard or a bully. The reply of Flores, so well delivered by Kean, when he describes the lords of the land as selling beeves and mutton through their bailiffs or their tenants, and thus all men condescending to merchandize, even captains purchasing companies, and, we may add, monarchs trafficking for sub jects—by the million, we must admit that throughout.the world every thing is bought and sold, omnia venalia Rome t übique ; and that commerce, in an extensive sense, im ies the whole intercourse of society. The anxiety of the merchant, when he thinks himself on e eve of bankruptcy, must in these times of commercial distress have struck deep into the hearts of too many of the .audience; and in the scene where Clause claims of Flores his promise to go with him, even though he quit his bride on the eve of marriage, is as fwe a triumph of good faith over desire as can be conceived. The muse of Fletcher does not burst out into that splendour of imagery which perhaps Shakespeare might have blazed with in depicting the beauty of his wife; but his thoughts are all just, his language all appropriate and chaste, and afford ample scope for the finest touches of the finest actor, be he whom he may, that ever trod the stage. We do not doubt Mr. Kean's conception of these passages ; we think he has internal feelings which correspond fully with those of the poet ; but from want of voice in him, or perhaps merely from the vast extent of our prodigiously large theatre, much of his skill was lost in this scene, though he acted it, in the general opinion, admirably well. In no character have we seen Mr. Kean more graceful, except when he bullies the poor sailor that brings him good news; and except where his voice, in the height of passion, breaks and becomes discordant and coarse. We have thus endeavoured to keep our promise with the public ; but we feel so much delight in pointing out the bf•auties of this good old play, that it is only the want of 00111 which forbids us to proceed still further. DRURY LANE.—According to annual custom, the holiday folks were, on Tuesday night, entcrtAined with the Play of George Burnzetil ut both Theatrse At Drury-lane, the part of the.un fortunate victim of the artful female seducer , a faithful and able representative in Mr. Rae, whose acting spoke to' the heart of the audience, and gained, what is almost a novelty, attention ft um the Galleries to the Play, and suspended, for a while, that which genetally prevails to see the curtain rise, and witrKs, the fit st scene of a new Pantomime. Mrs. Glover play ed Ali `hcgod with cousiaerable ability. The play was, as usual, succeeded by a tiew Pantomime, called liar/clam and. Fancy ; or, Poet's !col Shilling. It is as unusual as unnecessary to enter into a detail of the plot beloning to this species of enter- DTC. Si. tainment, where every thing depends on the humour or the agility of the performer ; the execution of the scene-painter ; the taste of the dress-maker ; the talent of the composer ; and above all, the accuracy of the mechanist. In many of these respects, Harlequin and Fancy excels. The dresses and deco ration do credit to the Managers and those employed 1n this department of the Theatre. Some of the scenes are beautiful, and the concluding one is extremely splendid. The changes, considering it was a first night, were executed with more than usual rapidity, and are some of them worthy of considerable praise, particularly a change from the poet's apartment to Fancy's Museum ; and changes from a sea storm to an external view of Drury-lane Theatre; from that to Covent-garden ; from Covent garden to the Opera•house ; and from the exter nal view of that building to an internal one, namely to the Masquerade-room splendidly illuminated. Here sonic pretty dancing was introduced by masquers. The changes. which took place here by the power of Faneq's wand in the NI useum were ludicrous. A splendid peacock became by a touch the fashionable lover of Columbine. A penguin assumed the form of Pantaloon, and an overgrown baboon was in an instant transformed to the Clown ; a statue of Annette, the heroine of the favourite drama of the Magpie, which occupied the centre of the stage was by a few flourishes of Harlequin's sword, made to assume the beautiful and elastic form of Columbine; which character was supported by a young lady, whose name we understand is Tree. It was her first appearance in that cha racter ; she is a pretty light figure, and dances and steps with considerable ease and grace. The representative of Fancy was stated to be a young Lady, who, on this occasion, made her first appearance on any stage. She bad some airs assigned to her which she executed with great sweetness. Pantaloon, Mr. May, and Clown, Signior Paido, were both first appearances ; the characters were well supported; and the Pantomime was given out for repetition amidst loud approbation. Friday night Mrs. BA RN Es, from the Exeter Theatre, made her first appearance at this Theatre in the character of Juliet. Mrs. Barnes is by no means new to the London boards. she was formerly at the Lyceum, at which time she was Miss Simpson, and afterwards played one or two seasons at the Hay-market as Mrs. Barnes. She has for some time been playing with consi derable success at Exeter and Plymouth. Since her last ap pearance before a London audience she is much improved ; her figure is small, but graceful ; her voice is powerful, yet sweet ; and in several of the scenes, particularly in the Garden scene, in the interview with her father, in which he insists on her mar rying Paris, in the scene in which she takes the sleeping potions and itythe ast scene, she displayed very considerable merit ; on the whole, if not a first-rate actress, this Lady is respectable ; and appears to possess talents which, if properly cultivated, will raise her to eminence in her profession. Mr..Hae played Romeo and made love far beyond what we conceived him capable of. Juliet certainly was under considerable obligation to him_ for the support his acting afforded her. In the garden scene, the banishment, and the last scene, Mr. Rae was loudly and deser vedly applauded. The Play was given out for repetition on Friday next. COVENT-GARDEN.—Harlequin and Fortunio ; or, shin? Moo and nun 7on, as the Pantomime at this Theatre is called, is the produciion of Mr. Fa' ley, and founded, as its name im ports, upon a story told in the land of tea-pot beauties, Man darins with long tails and umbrellas. A Tartar Prince is invaded and robbed of his treasures and his throne by the Emperor Tongluck, and the Prince flies and encamps in a distant forest, whence be issues a proclamation,, commanding all Mandarins, on pain of forfeiting their rank and fortunes, to, send him two men-at-arms, to assist Min in the recovery of his king dom. Foghi Fum, a decayed Mandarin of high rank; happens p have only two daughters, who, however, assume the dress of Knights, and proceed to offer themselves to the Prince. On their way, the younger very kindly assists an old shepherdess (as slin, seems) to extricate a lamb from drowning ; after which the shep herdess appears to be no less a person than Shin, Moo, the peace ful Fairy, who, for the service performed by the younger si k ter,, presents her with 4 white horse and a box of treasures, from which issues'ilhotchikow, the Gifted Squire, who possesses the faculties of eating, drinking, and miningeating, beyond any mortal being. The Em- THE NATIONAL REGISTER.