The National Register. — London, England, 1813-08-08 00:00:00

- A TIGINT R. TH ing to the commandments of , Christ, whiCh is either nece sary or conducing to salvation," Such is the representation given of the t. otives and conduct of the original separatists, from the national church ;=and it will be found to apply, in more particulars. than one, to those who divide and detach the churches of our day. Let our evangelical dissentients mark this. _ (To be concluded next week.) DRAMATIC REGIS] ER. Lei % EWA We are almost disposed to think it would be a meritorious act, to burn or otherwise destroy every work of wit in exist ence, once in every two or three centut ies. If this were done, so many successful .efl'orts of fancy would be wholly lost and completely forgotten, that Genius, though born in a later day, would have something like a fair scope for a display of its pcwers, and its sallies might flow flee and unrestrained, without the terrible t isk of. being condemned as plagiarists and imitators, to which authors of the present day are ex posed. These wtiters who lived some ages ago, and who are still the objects of our admiration, were doubtless men of great talents, but they had not all the difficulties to contend with, which oppose the progress of their followers in the nineteenth century, whom— " Cruel parents teach to read and write." It was certainly quite proper that they should enjoy the emoluments and the fame of their talents ; but now they can enjoy wealth and applause no more, it is hard on the literary starvelings of our time to see them selves pressed down by the weight of the merits of their an cestors, and doomed to toil in the cultivation of a field once rich and fruitful, but now exhausted and barren-. If the measure which we have suggested were resorted to, the an cients would no longer be thought to possess a monopoly of talent. Productions, supposed to display original merit, would refresh and gratify the succeeding age, and critics theiiiselves partaking of the general mirth, called forth by a successful Dramatic exhibition, might no - longer look dis dainfully mound and wonder what their happier neighbours laugh at. As things are, 'the worth of the present is forgotten for the excellence of the past, and the poets of our days are treated with contempt, from undue partiality for those who went before - them. This, at least, seems the opinion preva lent among our managers, and this is probably the feeling of th:,t hopeful - ion of PA RN ASSUS, the author of Sharp and Nat, a farce produced on Wednesday last at the Lyceum. We must, however, intreat this gentlenian to believe we are sincere, when we assure him, that in the observations with which we have cominenced this article, we are very far from interding any compliment to him. We do not know even his name, and consequently can bear *him no and having no private feelings of enmity to indulge. there fore do not wish to make him more ridiculous than he has already made himself, by leading him to suppose, that under any circumstances, his farce could be tolerated or received as that, of which a man of sense could, without blushing, avow himself the author. If all the farces of COL MAN and FOOTE, nay, all that were ever written, were collected together and destroyed— _ _ " And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, Iwft not a ,wreck behind." If every trace of former merit were expunged from the hu man memory, still 6/tarp a► ° d Flat could not he regarded as a farce of talent, for such is the author's want of taste, that, though he has feat lessly pirated every thing that came in his way, he has taken nothing worth stealing. If some parts of . the burro used as it ~~ a fabric of his piece were good in another place, by him, and disfigured by his dialogue, it is hero. gupra mei y . wretched. The whole plot consists in the schemes of a military Wert) , to gain an astrologer's daughter. For this purpose hsas• sutnes a disguise. is found out, and the very natural coise— quence of llth is, he carries off the Lady in the tumult. lir such a piece the characters of an Old Growler, a Forward' Miss, a Spurk in a Red Coat, and a Roguish Valet, come as a matter of course. To make up • the compliment of Shatly , and Flat, we have added, a Pert Chambermaid, a charact.* Ar LISTON. who has nothing at all to do with the Piece;., but who tells us he is a " comical codger," (which otherwis-st vie* she'uld not have known), that he keeps a shop, and iv, called a " Deep File," and then (last though not least) wry have OXBERRY'S edition of RUSSELL'S Idiot in Darkness; From this mass of common place, nothing brilliant could be elicited even by Genius— " And dullbess here !midi undivided sway." The jokes are stale, and what is worse, pointless. The Songs, designed to be comic, deplorably wretthed. One or two Ballads, which are not intended to be witty, are entitled to praise With the exception of these, and the music by 1100 ti, there is nothing that we can commend, and we can not help associating in our minds Sharp and Flat with a Natural. This abortion was on the first night hooted from the stage. On the second it went , ot with great applause. Such is the mutability of human taste! VOLTAIRE and SHERIDAN proved it before. The Author of this Farce will compare himself to which he most admires of these ornaments of the Drama. On Tuesday a new ballet, called The Carpenter, was prom duced at this theatre. The action of this piece is of a very trifling nature. A young carpenter is seen planing timber and making love to a lady. The father brings in one of the usual pantomimic lovers, who is bumped and buffeted about the stage without mercy the little time he is before the au dience. The lady conceals the favoured swain in a closet, where he is discovered. The rage of the father subsides on his falling on his knees, and the lovers united, receive the blessing of the Scaramouch. A dance then takes place, and this dance, (The Landay is all the piece contains worth looking at What precedes. is evidently only designed to introduce it, and it is soon fol lowed by the fall of the curtain. The dance then is all we have to notice, and in these day* critics have work enough on their hands without attending minutely to such matters. It is pleasing enough, but it possesses nothing particularly fascinating, and is not suffi ciently va , ied to afford much entertainment. Mr. MoREAUs Miss Liu PP INO, and Miss BRISTOW danced admirably, and were severally applauded in their respective parts; and the piece, al , ogether, passes the time between the play and farce in a very pleasant manner. On Friday Mr. and Mrs. COOKE appeared for the first time in the parts of Carlos and Clara in the Duenna. They both suppotted their reputations Mr. CooKE's voice grows mellower with exercise His first song is always . that in which, perhaps from timidity, it falls with less softness on the car. But neither his taste nor his execution fail him. In his next, " Sure not a pair," he displayed excellence of the most superior .kind, and was rapturously encored. Ile in troduced two songs of his own composition, whicls e stablished his claim .to ..the title of an elegant. com poser, as well as a great singer. In both of these h e was encored. In the first unanimously but, in 11 MI