The National Register. — London, England, 1819-02-01 00:00:00

COVENT GARDEN THEATRE. Mass SomaaviLrFridnay night made the long-expected and mach-talled of attempt, ny appearing in the charac ter of 21f.::g Merriles. We are sorry to record it as a coin pleat failure and disappointwent. A sacrifice has been made of theatrical dignity, without advantage either to the pet-final= or the public. The Scotch dialect, it was imagined, would he assumed throughout; but not more than one word in ten was altered, and those chiefly in the pr unciation; our former idea of the character thercl.ro was destroyed, without giving it a new one. We can only hope that the mistake will not be repeat ed, that Miss Sootervile will feel the loss u tlnity she as sustained, and nut suffer it to be compromised past recovery. We are hlppy to finti, from the publication of two letters in the Tinter, that M:3S O'Neil was incapable of the mean ft cling imputed to her of refloiii:?: to appear in the aline play with Miss Somerville. It seems that her objection of the part of iiartj S!uarl was a scy conccioiesisess, that it was out. of her power to inaki. a sinec flea in it, or to discharge what she though. her duty to the put lic. However praiseworthy this may be on one view of the subject, we cannot approve of it in another. lu the best ages of our Drama, actors and actresses wore inade for plays, and not plays for actors and actresses. Thus in the present instanco a good tragedy of Sehil:ers may be lost to the public, because the principal part does net exactly suit the task of a popular pertinaner. This system is certainly one of the prevailing causes of the present degraded state of the Drama, and. needs a speedy, as well as a radical reform. OLY Vi PIC PAVILLION. We visited this little Theatre on Wednesday even ing, and were much pleased with the simplicity and elegance of its decorations The chandelier suspended in the centre, and from the top of the house with its chastened globular lights is particularly attractive. Nor were we .less gratified with the entertainments of the evening Rochester pr " Ark's; Charles the Second's' merry days," is founded on. a copular story, the banish ment. of those two lovers of frolic awl dissipation, Rochester and Buckinham, from the Court of Ckarle. These two brothers o f-wit, fun, awl humour, conse quently retire into the country, and there play off cuany of those 'pranks which they had so successfully exhiLited in,town. The Earl of Rochester is admirably supported by Mr. Elliston, he establishes himself first as a country innkeeper, with the Duke of Bucking /ova for his servant, ind in pursuit of a girl, with whom he is enamoured. exhibits a great variety of amusing and quickly changed disguises. He appears in a very short time as a Ave, an old witch, and a quack doctor, all of these are admirably supported, and in the last character he continues to get reconciled to his offended sovereign, who happens to come into the neighbourhood on a bunt ing party. Two ladies of the Court, the Couniesa of Lovelough and Ludy Gay, follow Rochester and Buck• ingham, in their retirement, disguised, and unknown, and at last the rakes reform, and become steady husbands in good earliest. The squt lid appearance of an old miser Starvemouse Cllr. Knight) and Jeremiah Thin, his man, is excellent'y done, and the continued and hail rious verbal mistakes of Muddle, the Mayor of Newport (Mr. Lee) set the house in a roar. Don Wotan:xi in Loudon was afterwards respectably got up. An application is intended to be made to Parliament,. by certain Clergymen, Members of Sion College, for en increase of their present parochial incomes; this appli cetion is not from the College, as a body corporate, but front the incumbents of livings, within the ancient limits of the city of London. under what is termed the Fire Act.—The inhabitants are preparing to oppose the measure. DRUR Y LANs'.. The price of standard silver is now above the value The order of the day at this Theatre still eontiuues of aiNte eur:ency, being live shillings and seen-pence to be Brutus, ante the pantomime. As botte•t critics we an ounce, conseelnently it already pays a profit to melt, cannot account fn. the great run which this tragedy and we may soon expect to undergo great evils and has had, but from its Leing a fine sPcceacle, and from inconvenience for want of a silver currency. the expressive countenance of Mr. Kean. The tragedy A mail from Hatnburgh arrived yestenlay. The itself we think below mediocrity. We have heard that Emperor Alexander arrived at Petal sburg in excellent the plan and outlines of it were Cumberland's; but we health on the Stb. The Rnssian troops returned from should smiler tlank, that fie whole of it belonged to France, had already entered the Kingdom of Poland, the gentleman to when some attribute its entire pro- and were shortly expected at Warsaw. eduction. The diah_ue we think particularly defective, The returns, in four clays, of the shooting party, last and so far from possee:n: , Roman dignity, that it frc- week, at Randleshens Hall, of which His Rossi High sauently .inks into dandyish and ni:Cc ed expressions ness the Duke of York was Conentaader-ha-Chief; amoun of our modern times. The costume is, generally speak- i tad to stet hundred head of game ing, beautiful.and correct. There is boo ever one ma- Freuth Bishops have thought fit to write to terial error in this respect. The Itelra,ts are not Ro- hi M jetty a letter, pressing hiss to put in execution man, but Grecian, or to sped: more distinctly, Mace- eh C tcordat ecateluded with the Pope; notwithstan doni tn. Oa the whole we think the pantomime the din i; it has never been ratified by the French Chem hest piece of tie. two. The nerve sad activity of Mr. hers—in other words, for the King to act in total de- Sosilsk9, the Clown, is wonderful, and Ise do not bee I fiance of the Charter. WEB. 1 On Tuesday c.,...ening, s::rn after six o'clock, James Harris, the postman employed to convey the tnail between Chertsey t:nd Staines, was stopped by n single footputl, when he had got -about half-way, and robbed of b!s watch, he., anti afterwards beat most by the robber, who was in this act joined by several others. _ _ _ _ . _ he Lord Advocate of Scotland, who Itad been di. rected by the High Court of Justiciary to make inquiry into the cause of the late outrage at the execution of Johnston, reported, on Monday last, that ►here was no ground for any proceedings against the Nlagistrates. The Lord Justice ( lerk expressed a hope, that the most active measures would be taken to prevent a recurrence of an event which, he said, was a disgrace to the me. tropolis of Scotland. It is stated in the last accounts from Gotteliburg, that there were never so many whales seen on the coast as at that moment. Their appearance attributad to a revolution of the Polar ices. The numerous cases of appeal in which Sir Samuel Romilly was retained as leading Counsel in the /louse of Lorili, have now been chiefly divided between the Solicitor General and Mr. Warren. Mr. Brougham and Mr. Adam have lost a larger share of the ems' causes from Scotland. Extrart of a letter from Commis, dated the 9th inst. : " We are here in such a dreadful state of d stress that I cannot describe it rxl as to give you an idea of it. We are so ignorant of every thing that happens beyond our own immediate circle of misery, that you in Lon. don, know more about Spain than we do who inhabit it. Indeed, unless it were fur an English newspape-, which sometimes is smuggled into this port like contr..- band ware, nothing that passes, either in this kingdom or in any other, would b. known to ns, such it the darkness and blindness in which our Governors hold us. With sreAuril to the commercial state of this place, I shall say nothing more than that in less than three weeks we have had three failures, and one of them is to the amount of three milions of reals. If there be no improvement in our condition soon, we shall be obliged to eat one another, like the inhabitants of ancient Nu mantia. We bear nothing of the forwardness of tl.e expedition which is to sail from Cudis for the Plate, but we feel a part f the evils which it causes, by an embargo laid in our port on all vessels of a certain ton nage, by order of the Government. When you write me next, have the goodness to make no political allusi ons, and to give me no political news; for however dc.. :irons I should be to hear from you on political topics, I cannot receive any letter into whir* they are intro duced. All our correspondence is opened, s o th a t too muck circumspection cannot be used to prevent the dangers which might arise from a frank COMlllanication of sentiments or views." 13-ink Stock has experienced an improvement of nearly 4 per cent. Our city correspondent says upon this fact, " We have heard no attempt to account for this circumstance, neither was the fact, indeed, gene rally known in the city : it appears, however, to imply a c onfidence on the part of the proprietors, that the expected disclosure of the affairs of the Bank will tend to increase the public estimation of the prosperity of the establishment." The endless writngs and reason ings upon the afi . airs of the Bank have at length thrown a blaze of light upon the subject. We perfectly join in the opinion of our correspondent as to the flonrishing affairs of that great establishment; but we must ob serve, that the determination ot Guvernment. to con tinue the restriction upon cash payments, definitively known the night Wino, stems a more proximate cause of the sudden rise of Bank stock on Friday, than any new light respecting the thriving state of its a ff airs. The seignorage on silver coin, therefore, no longer exists; on the contrary, there is a premium un its ex portation. CHARLES RENNET (the child-stealer).—A para ragraph in a Sunday paper insinuate', that Mr Horsley has abandoned all idea of prosecuting Reno , t, who stole the child; it goes farther, and intimates hat Mr. Horsley never had any intention of a legal Fri °ceding. The public have a right to some explanation on this matter; for we cannot forget that Mr. Horsey, in one of his letters, hail the appea:miiv It least tifit int) see•king proper redress; for he instrocted his friend to take ne cessitry perliininary steps at I. IA Bit burst's It is reported at the Bar, that Lord El& n has at length determined to resign the Scats. We hive heard that he is to be aucceeded by Lord Mani ens, the present Lord-Chancellor of Ireland. It• thi arrange ment shall take place, it is added that Sir Jr in Leach will be presented with the Irish Seals, accompanied with a Barinty.—Ministerial Paper. It is said that the Marquis of Buth is to succeed Earl Poulett as Lord-Lieutenant of the ( (linty of Somerset ; t! e Earl of Aylestury is to be he new Knight of the Thistle ; and the Earl of Fife is to be the Lord of His Majesty's Bed-chamber, in tlic room of Lord Pouley.—Morning Paper. The Emperor Alexander was expected turetiwn to his capital by the 4th of this month. The Schah of Persia has sent to his Imperial Majesty a present of 30 tine Persian horses. ;17 • TEIE DRAMA. KING's THEATRE. The entertui 'intents at this place of ainitsement, lave colones:T(1 with a new opera, called l' Bulimia in Al 'area. It is not usual to indulge the author at this class of literary productions with a critical notice ; the materials are generally so slight, and the cement that 'Satins, them of so fragile a nature, that their shmmunt 10iiiiin, the chief ambition 4 , 1 this self-called class of poets, is to slumber unnoticed. We confess, however, ate .ittle at the outset towards the writer of this er . aeta, for lieving contrived in this instancy to spill and to mutilate the beautiful story of Roxalana, fr m the tales of Meemoserat —a subject that has frec uently been dramatised, but never till now. perhaps, 1 as ex perienced such ill treatment. For the slake of intro ducing a lover to the fair slave, he has wholly pirvertcd the original design ; but this might perhaps be f rgiven, as a lover is en these useasions deemed indispeesable : we can find no excuse Jim his treatment of her royal inamorato, the Bey of Algiers, who is here the repre seutative of the haughty .Nolynan in MANSIoNII t., who in order h bring about a union between tl tse two lovers, is made to undergo indienitici which neither Tuck, ( liristian, nor Fagan, could possibly st knit to. The whole of the story is in wretched bad taste, is neither underetood, n'r excites the least dramatic inter The music is by Rosman, who has already furnished two operas to 0.. r Italian theatre, and ace quired numerous almirers and partisans ascoog the musical portion c f the public. " Il Barbiere di " • is perhaps his best comic opera, and created a very high ilea o: the talents of this young composer, which has hardly :mint:tined itself by the subsequent specimens with which we have beeime acquainted, The new piece of last night miming some beautiful airs, and many original and happy 'reneges; but as a whole, it is extremely unequal; and us the composer approaches the end of the second act, becomes feeble and languid to a thegree which only those who know the indolence as well es the talent of 1101i6INI can account fur. Atnahg the best pieces is the opera is the Cavatina, sung by Sig. GARCIA, in the first act ; there is a repose and tcrulermas in the first muveinent, udrairably adapted to the situ alion ; the quick movement eilded to leis, however, out of keeping, us the sentiment in fact re mains unchanged. The duet -that succeeds it, is an usually tine specimen of comic style and of dramatic contrast. The airs allotted to Madame 131 I.Loi;itt, the new performer, who represented the heroine of the piece, also possess great beauty ; to these we may add the whole of the finale of the first act, (selecting as the must soil:leg passage in • it, the trio beginning " Psia di dividerci di sad ; and we have pointed out all that is werthy of notice. It must be admitted, however, that an opera containing so many beauties as above enumerated, meet haves a show of hands in its favour, and such indeed was the reception it expe. rienced: a judicious certailmert is, however, much required: the piece, by lasting too long, and ending in imbecility, weakens, if it does not destroy, the im pression of its prominent beauties. The new singer, Mad. BELLoctii, is an acquisition to our Italian stage, and to the musical world in general : her talents are of an order that place her in the first rank of her pro fession ; nature has gifted her with an agreeable and flexible voice, and its cultivation has been carried to the highest perfection ; it is of the clams called mezzo soprano, but combines in a remarkable degree many of the peculiar qualities and facilities of the common sopreno or treble. Signor PLAt CI, a bass singer, also appeared for the first time In this country : he has some execution, bet possesses neither a just intonation nor a voice of much strength or clearness. AMBRoGETTI las a part in the opera, and supportrd the comic pas seges in the style which has made him a favorite among us ; and Signer GAICIA, as the lover, sung in the manner of his former efforts, which as music are quite perfect. The new daggers, who form part of the novelties of the evening, do not claim more than a st:ght notice, as they do not exhibit abilities above neeilocrity ; and that quality in dancers, as in poets, nude but little quarter. THE N TT ON AT, IVEGISTIM. •itate to exclaim, !" Bradbury ()failure." There at soThe•Tlendid scones, avid one very cleverly managed trick, thpugh by no means a new one, we mean that of ramming the Clown into a cannon, and firing him DonGlornani's statue. The Oratorios com menced at this Theatre ye terday evening.