The National Register. — London, England, 1808-06-19 00:00:00

398 THE THEATRES. —....5w.... HAERAIINET. On Wednesday evening the Haymarket Theatre opened with the drama of the Castle Spect;e, the work of Mr. M. (. Lewis. It is fortunate for the fame of this poet, that the Castle Spectcr is not the only literary production by which he is known to tSe public ; for u more wild, incoherent, bombastic piece of con ♦ersation, Is not to be found among the most eccentric fancies of the allegorical dramatists who entertained the wits in the time of Henry the Eighth, or among the rhyming play-wrights who blustered in the reign of Charles the second. The plot is the plot of a ballet pantomime: the dialogue is the dialogue of Bedlam : the characters arc the characters of every bad novel : a broad series of black and white splashes. all very detestable, or very penitent, or very interesting. What can be said in praise of such a play ? The character of Osmond was performed by Mr. Young. That this gentleman's tragic powers are entitled to considerable respect, it would be unjust in us to deny ; but whatever we nut: think of his general ability. we cannot speak in very high praise of this individual performance. If, indeed, it he the business of an actor to seize so completely the spirit of hi , author as to make a play extravagantly written appear more extravagant by being extravagantly acted, then the style in which Mr. Yowls played the great scene in the Castle Spectre on Wednesday night, is certainly entitled to the loftiest commendati►m. But, if it he the business of an actor to soften his author's failings, and im pine the beauties of the text, we fear Mr. Young cannot be considered as deserving the highest approbation. The'scene in the character of Os►nond, which is usually called the great scene, is that in which he relates his dream to the two black slaves. He enters, having started in all the convulsions of terror from his couch, and at the moment when he rushes into the arms of the slaves, has scarcely convinced himself that his visions have been but fallacious. He his completely exhausted by the violent operation of his fears: with difficulty he sustains himself as he relates the story to the slaves ; and now and then so totally does he feel his force desert him, that he is compelled to lean upon one of these attendants for assistance. All this Mr. Young recited in a noisy declamatory style, more suitable to the rage of Bajazet, than the terror of Osmond. One or two bursts of horror may be fairly permitted in such a situation as this, in order to give the advantage of contrast to the effects of feeble terror, which constitute the general charac ter of the scene; but these bursts should be only momentary, and ought to be succeeded by a still increasing degree of debi lity, arising front exhausted stimulus. No part of this series of emot;sms did Mr. Young pourtray in such a manner as by ans chance to remind us of nature. Mr. Young is considered to be nn actor of infinite art : it may be so, and we are among the foremost to inculcate the necess►ty of art in acting, as well as in every other science : but the business of art is to assist, not to violate nature. Mr. Young does not stem to put himself in the situation of the person of whom he represents, and say : " How " should I. feel if this were my case ?" And yet there are two or three parts in which Mr. I oung displays excellences of a very superior description, so that he must needs possess this faculty of imagining nature : and we have only to regret that possessing such a faculty, he does not oftener exercise it. Mrs. Bellamy, late of the Belfast Theatre, played Angela. This lady was Miss Grist, several years an actress of considera tion in the Covent-garden company ; she has since married Mr. Bellamy of Covent garden, who was lately Manager of the Bel fast Theatre. It would be dangerous for us to speak with any certainty upon the merits of an actre , s whom we have seen only in this part ; for there is scarcely a character of importance in the whole circle of the drama, which is important with so little character as Angela. It is impossible to say what Angela pro perly is. She is sometimes a coward and sometimes a bully : she is sometimes all sweetness and gentle timidity ; then she scolds the nurse, blusters at Osmond, and elopes tteder care of ' the friar. All that we can venture to declare positively is, that Mrs. Bellamy seems to have the externals of a goad actress: the power of expressing different appearances of emotion, and the art of moving with grace. But as the emotions that are to be expressed in the part of Angela are so contradictory as to af ford little probability that an actress, Or any human being ever felt them, we do not expect an actress to do more than frown, and smile, and weep. and shout; all of which operations Mrs. Bellamy has evidently stage knowledge enough to perform with judgment. But the great criterions of fine acting are, nice dis criadeatious of character ) arses delicate but forcible touches of JUNE ID. • : there is no opportunity for these in Angela: and there fore we cannot decide whether Mrs. Bellamy's powers be really of a very superior order. As far as we are able to judge, we are dined to judge favourably. We shall probably be in a condition to form a better estimate of her.merits when we have seen her play Mrs. Haber in The Stranger, which is advertised fur to morrow night. DRURV-LONE. On Friday evening Drury-lane theatre closed for the season, with the comedy of The Belle's Stratagem, and the farce of Vo Song no Supper. Between the play and the entertainment Mr. Wroughton delivered an addre ss , which was in substarce ;wady as follows :-- " I am deputed, Ladies and Gentlemen, by the Pr o p r i etors " of this theatre, to express to you their humble and hcartfrlt " thanks for the liberal encouragement which you have afford_ " ed to them through the season that has now elapsed : and at " the same time to assure you, in the strongest manlier, that they " are determined, by the most nnintermitting attention, to prov! " themselves worthy of the patronage they have received. t• :; . " der these impres!-ions, they will employ the ensuing sumuie r " in the preparation of such dramatic pieces in every depart " ment, as they may consider most likely to afford you gr.itifi " cation. We, the Performers, one and all, beg leave to otter " to you our deepest acknowledgments for the indulgence which " you have constantly granted us : an indulgence, to merit the " continuance of w hid% is our highest ambition and our best re. " ward. We now take our leaves of you till next September." This address was received with great applause; for the pro_ ple know so little of theatres, that they actually believe the • Proprietors mean what they say, or cause to he said. The Pro pr ors hold a patent from the Crown for the good of the people ; and they tell the people that they mean to 4 , e it for the people's good : but they really mean, if we may judge of the future hy the past, to use it only for their own good. This reproach is not peculiar to Drury-lane : of the two theatres we believe Drury- Lane, to be directed in the more public-spirited and gemerous manner; but the power is too great to he trusted to chance, or to one chance-chosen individual. For it is well known that Mr. Wroughton and 1l r. Keimble, and all the committees, and part proprietorF., and hoards of management, and other per sons interested in the theatres, have in fact no full controul that full cmitroul, in both theatres, rest. on an equally damter ous basis. In Drury-lane, it rests in total uncerlaiotg, for of).- (iody knows who is efficient proprietor. In Covent-garden, the •full controul reAs upon a still more alarming cerlaintd, fur rve, F 4ody feels who is efficient proprietor. TINE ARTS. EXHIBITION AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY. 1. The offer of the Crown to Lady Jane Gray, by the Dukcs of orihumtP•rland and Safrolk, and other Lords, Di putii sof the Privy Council. J. S. CopLer, R. A. " Northumberland found that farther dissimulation was fruit " less : he went to Sion [louse, accompanied by the Duke of " Suffolk, the Earl of Pembroke, and others of the nobilit% "and he approached the Lady Jane, who resided there,with :dt " the respect usually paid to the Sovereign. :MP in a " great measure ignorant of all their transactions; and it M " with equal grief and surprise that she received intelligence I,f " them. Her heart, full of a passion for literature, and tlw elegant " arts, and of tenderness towards her husband, who was dowry " ing of her affection, had never opened itself to the 11:tt in-Mg al " lurements of ambition; and the information of her advancement "to the throne was by no means agreeable to her. Sh.• even " refused to accept of the present : pleaded the preferable right " of the two princesses : expressed her dread of the come " quences attending an enterprize so dangerous, not to say. " criminal : and desired to remain in that private statioa . in " which she was born. Overcome at last with th e nal - calm, " rather than reasons, of her father and father-in-law, and "above all, of her husband, she submitted to tlvir will, and " was prevailed on to reliquish her own judgment. Instory of England, Fol. Iv. chap. Se. From so long a text as that which Mr. Copley has here se lected, we expected a composition of no wdinary merits. put we cannot pretend to have received any very exal: I dell,l ; ht from the picture : and on seeing so much written about a matter which we could not help considering so little worth, we tom: the trouble of investigating the prolix motto with great atten- THE NATIONAL REGISTER.