The National Register. — London, England, 1819-01-31 00:00:00

TILE MIAMI. KlyG's THE ATitE. The entertainments at this place of amusement, have. curamenced with a new opera, called 1'11(11:arta in Al • It is cot usual to indulge the author at this earcs of literary productions with e. critical notice; the materials ure generally so slight, and the cement that unites them el so fregile a nature, that their summum &mum, the chief ambition of this self-called class of poets, is to slumber unnoticed. We coulees, however, no little ill-will at the outset commis the writer of this opera, for having contrived in this instance to spoil and to mutilate the beautiful story of lioralann, from the tales of Nl.trtroseret—a subject that has frequently been dramatised, but never till now, perhaps, has ex perienced such ill treatment. For tt.e sake of iutru dueiiig a lover to the fair slave, he has wholly perverted the original d‘ sign ; but this might perhaps be forgiven, as a lover is on these uecasions deemed indispensable : we can find no excuse for his treatment of her royail iatemoroto, the Bey of Algiers, who is here the repre sentative of the haughty Sol man in MARRIONTEL, who in order te bring about a union between these two lovers, is made to undergo indignities which neither Turk, Christian, nor Fagan, could possibly submit to. The whole of the story is in wretched bad taste, is Leither understood, nor excites the least dramatic i r the music is by flossier, who has already turuished two .operas tbr our Italian theatre, and ac quired numerous a.tmirers and partisans among the musical portion of the public. "Il Barbiere di Siviglia is perhaps his best comic opera, and created a very high ides of the talents of this young composer, which has hardly maintained itself by the subsequent specimens with which we have beeome acquainted, The new piece of last night contains some beautiful airs, and many original and happy passages; but us a whole, it is extremely unequal ; and as the composer approaches the end of the second act, becon.es feeble and languid to a degree which only those who know the indolence as well us the talent of Itossieit can account for. Among the best pieces in the opera is the Cavatina, sung by Sig. GARCIA, in the first act ; there is a repose and tenderness in the first movement, athuirubly adapted to the situation; the quick movement added to it is, however, out of keeping, as the sentiment in fact re mains unchanged. The duet that succeeds It, is an equally fine specimen of comic style and of dramatic contrast. The airs allotted to Madame Bi eeteent, the new performer, who represented the heroine of the piece, also possess great beauty ; to these we may udd the whole of the finale of the first act, (selecting as I,he must striking passage in it, the trio bcgiuning " Pria di dividerci da vo?"; and we have pointed out all that is- worthy of notice. It inus: be ;admitted, however, that on opera containing so canny beauties as above enumerated, must have a show of hands in its favour, end such indeed was the reception it cspe. rieneed: a judicious curtailment is, however, much required : the piece, by lasting too long, and ending in imbecility, weakens, if it dues not destroy, the MI pression of its prominent beauties Ihe new singer, )dad. BELLOCRI, 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 agreeahle and flexible voice, and its cultivation has been curried to the highest perfectiun ; it is of the class called mezzo soprano, but combines in a remarkable degree many at the peculiar qualities and fieilities of the common soprano or treble. Signor PLAca, a bass singer, also appeared for the first time In this country : he has some execution, but possesses neither a just intonation nor a voice of much strength or clearness. Anemia; ETTI has a part in the opera, and supportrd the comic pas sages in the style which his made him a favorite among us; and Signor GARCIA, as the lover, sung in the manlier of his former efforts, which as music are quite perfect. The new dancers, who form part of the novelties of the evening, do not claim more than a slight notice, us they do not exhibit abilities above mediocrity ; anti that quality in dancers, as in poets, finds but little quarter. DRURY LANE. The order of the day at this Thew:re still continues to be Brutus, amt the pantomime. As hone,t critics we ca.:not account . fAr the great run which this vugcly has had, but from its Lcing a fine si,ectacle, and front the expressive countcnatt,:e of Mr. Keen. The tragc;!:; itself we think below truslioerity. W.., have heard that the plan and outlines of it were Cumberlana's ; b we should Norther thinl:, that the w:tle of it belonged to the gentleirmu to vhom s:rn..t attribute its entire pro duction. Tht dialogue we thiuk particularly- dun:. tire, and so far from pasvin ; .; di ; 4.nity, that it fre y.ently sinks into daadyisi, ant at;ecte.l exre sinks of our moch•rn times The cost .:,:e is, geneia.y ing, beautiful and correct. There it howev.:r one ,i,a terial error i.t this resi:ect. The beimcts are not Li man, but Gi...eian, or to sped: more tli.itieetir, Nlitec donilin. On the whole we think the pantoini.ue the best piece of the.two. The nerve and activity of Mr. Noelitby, the Clown, is wonderful, anti wc do not hee • L6d .ar THE NATIONAL REGISTER. itate to exclaim, " B :with*/ ry t: r some splendid ,ernes, ant one very cleverly managed . trick, tholigli 1 y no means a new one, we mean that of ramming the Clown into a ccnn en, old to against Do's Giovanni's statu c. 'll,e Cr in menced at this Theatre ye•terday evening. COVENT GA't DEN THEATRE. Miss SOMEItVILF Friduay night made the 10N,, , -enpected and inuch-talked of attempt, !:y appearing in the charac ter of Meg Merriles. We are sorry to record iras a ruin. pleat failure sad disappoint.. .eat. A sacrifice has been made of then.rical dignity, without advantage either to the performer or the public. The Scotch dialect, it was imagined, would be assumed throtighout ; but not more than one word in ten was altered, and those chick in the pronunciation; our former idea of the character thcrefiire was destroyed, without giving it a new one. We can only hope that the mistake will n be repeat ed, that Miss Somervile will heel the loss of dignity she has sustained, and nut sutler it to be compromised past recovery. We are happy to find, from the publication of two lette►s in the Times, tat Miss O'Neil was incapable of the mean f cling imputed td her of refusing to appear in the same play with Miss ,SOmerrilie. It seems ti:at her objection of -the part of Mary Stuart was a seq.: roweionsuess, that it was out of her power to make a .cingfe died in it, or to discharge what she thought her duty to the pa, lie. lowever praiseworthy this may be on one view of the subject, we cannot approve of it in another. In the hest ages of our Drama, actors and actresses were made for plays, and not plays fur actors and actresses. Thus in the present instance a good tragedy of I,•hillers may be lost to the public, because the principal part does not exactly suit the taste of a popular performer. 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. OLYNIPIC PAVILLION. We visited this little Theatra on Wednesday even ing, and were much pleased with the simplicity and elegance of its decorations The chandelier suspended in the centre, and Irani the top of the house with its chastened globular lights is particularly attractite. Nor were we less gratified with the entertainments of the evening Rochester or " 'King Charles the Second's merry days," is founded on a popular story, the bluish ment of those two lovers of frolic and dissipation.-- Rochester and Buckingham, from the Court of Chat*. These two. brothers of wit, fun, and humour, conse quently retire into the contry, and there pl a y o ff many of those pranks wltici they had so successfully extiL,ited in town. The Ear; of Rochester is admir a bly supported by Mr. Elliston, /lc establishes himself first as a country innkeeper, witl the !hike of Buckingham fir his servant, and in pursuit of a girl, with whom he is enamoured. exhibits a g , eat variety of amusing and quickly changed disguises. He appears in u very short time as a Jew, 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 rne neighbouilmod on a hunt ing party. Two ladies of the Court, the Coen/ass of Luuelaugh and Lady Gay, follow Rochester and Buck ingham, in their retirement, disguised, and unknown, and at last the rakesrefimm, and become steady husbands in good earnest. The squt lid appearance of an old miser Slarcesuowse (Mr. Knight). and Jeremiah 7/ o n, his man, is excellenVy done, and the continued and ludi rious verbal mistakes of Muddle, the Mayor of Newport (Mr. Lee) act the house in a roar. Don Giovanni in London was afterwards respectably got up. An application is intended to be made to Parliament, by certain Clergymen, Members of Sion College, for an increase of their present parochial incomes ; this appli cation is not from the College, as a body corporate, but from the incumbents of livings, within t .e ancient limits of the city of London. under what is termed the Fire Act.—The inhabitants arc preparing to oppose the nica4ure. The price of standard silver is now above the value of sliver cut rency, being five shillings and seven-pence an ounce, consequently it already pays a profit to melt, and we may soon expect to undergo great evils and inconvenience tor want of a silver currency. A mail from Harnburgh arrived yesterday. The Emperor Alexander arrived at Petersburg in excellent health on the stb. The ltu s s.an troops returned front Friatce, had already entered tl:e Eingtlout of Poland, and were shortly expected at Waisaw The returns, in fintr days, of the bitooting party, last at It:oldiesLam ILI!, of v.i:ieh !.-Fs Ito al 11:::.4 the Duke of York iv us C'o..irdawier-in C atuoun to nix I,tilic:r,;(l head cf;;;:aic ! The Freneh Ilisho;)a have thought fit to write to his Nlik; , ..st) a letter, pressi.lg hi:n to put in execution the Co!lcartlat runelti.:ed with the Pope;' notwithstan ding it has never been ratified by the French hers—in other words, for ilia King to act in total de fiance of the Charter. JAN. M Oa Tuesday evening, soon after six o'clock, Jars Harris, the postman employed to convey the nix between t h-rtsey and Staines, was stooped oy a single thotpAtl, when he hx.l got about half-way, and robbed of his watch, Sr., and afterwards boat most inhnmanly by the robber, who was in this act joined by several others. Lord Advocate of Scotland, who had been di.. reeled by the High Court of justiciary to make inquiry int() the cause of the late outrag.: at the execution of Johnston, reported, on Mon.lay last, that there was tub ground for any proceedings Axainat the Nlagistrutes. The Lord Justice. - Jerk exure,,•ed a hope, that the most active measures would be taken to prevent a recurrence of an ev:!nt which, h.: sail, was a disgrace to the me. tro po: is of Scotland. It is stated m the J:vt accounts from Gotte',burg, th there were never whales seen on the coast as at that m0n:(.7,.. ..ir appearance is attributed to a revolution 0.• i'..;:ir ices. Thu nu r uf appal in which Sir Samuel li::n illyoa4 re:au,rci ar lcucii Cou n sel in the liause nt - 1.14-2. , have now been elndly divided between the Solicitor GeLeral and Mr. Warren. Mr. Brougham avid Mr. Adam have leat a lar;,;t.r share of the appeal causes from Seat Extract of a letter from Corunna, dated the 9th inst. : " We are here in soch a dreadfril state ofd stress that I cannot describe it so as to give you au idea of it. We are su ignorant of every thing that happens beyond our own immediate circle of misery, that you in Lon. don, know more about S:lain than we do who inhabit it. Indeed, unless it were for an Englith newspaper, which sometiim, is stntqgled into this !ift like contra band ware, noJting that passes, either in this kingdom or in any other, would be known to its, such it the darkaess and blindness in which our Governors hold us. With regard 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 red s. titre be no improvement in our condition soon, we shall b obliged to eat one another, like the ialia:nttints of ancient Nu. install. We hear nothing orate forwardness of the expedition which is to sail from •.7atliz for the Plate, but we feel a part of 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; ter however de sirous I should he to hear from you on poli•ical topics, I cannot receive any letter into which they one intro duced. All our corresiamdence is opened, so that too much circumspection cannot be used to prevent the dangers which might arise from a frank commanieation of sentiments or views." BAIL Stock has experienced an improvement of nearly 4 per cent. Our city correspon.lent says upon this fact, " We have heard no attempt to account fir this circumstance, neither was the fact. indeed, gene rally known in the city: it appears, however, to imply a confidence on the part of the proprietors, that tl:e expected disclosure of the affairs of the Bank will tend to increase the public estimation of the pros;)erity of the e•tahiishment." The endless writings and reason ings upon the affairs of the Bank have ut length thrown a blaze of light upon the subject. We perf2t:tly join in the opinion of our correspondent as to the fl.mrishina. affair's of that great establishmmt ; but we must serve, that the determination of Government to con tinue the restriction upon cash payments, definitively known the night before, seems a more proximate cause of the sudden rise of Bank sto,.k on Friday, than any new light respecting the thriving state of its affairs. The seignorage on silver coin, tlieretbre, no longer exists ; on the contrary, there is a premium on its ex. portation. A Report having been ind9strionsly disseminated, that the Two Universities and the King's l'rinter are endeavouring to suppress the Sale of ALL Bibles and Books of Comnum Prayer with Notes or Cornownraries ; we are authorized to state, that neither of the Univer sities, nor the Kings Printer, even entertained such an Idea. It always has been, and it Rtill is, their Irate; - 'that to interfere only ia those Cases, a. here the Nelcs are added for the purpose of violating their Privileges, and evading the Law. It is reported at the Bar, that Lord Eldon has at length determined to resign the seals. We have heaid that he is to be suce,:.eiled by Lord Manners, the present Lord-Chancellor of Ireland. I: this arrange ment shall take place, it is added that ' , it. Joim Leach will Le presented with the Irish Seals, accompanied with a Ilarony.—.llisisterial ?)aper. It is said that the Marquis of Bath is to succeed Earl l'oulett as Lord-Lieutenant of the County of Somerset ; t e Earl of Aylesbury is to Le the new Kni i4 lit of the Thistle ; and the 1:arl of Fiti: is to be the Lord of Ilia Maj , !sty's Bed-chamber, in the room of Lot )61 Puu let t.—.lloeeing Paper. The Emperor Alexander was expected to return to his cnpiaal Ly the 4th of this month. The Schali of Persia has sent 'to his Imperial Majesty a present of JO fine Persian horses.