The Express.
London, England, 1848-01-04 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 4, 1848.

already schooled himself for n considerable time in the pro.
vinces. The stage is Rot at this moment so rich that the
laudable efforts of a nova, hose can be overlooked, or his
merits depreciated ; and it is always with a feeling of gratifi-
cation that the ardent lover of the Bernie drama hails the
successive aspirants to its honour', as they from time to time
appear upon the boards. In Mr. Brooke, as he deliver, ei
the various thrilliug, exciting, touching passages with which
his part abounds, there were discoverable, unmistakeable
signs of genuine histrionic genius. His gait, gestures, and
Pose, alike betray natural grace and dignity, matured by
stage experienc , and by a careful observation of the beet
models. His voice and delivery also are in meet respects
unimpeachable ; the only drawback being in a tendency
which is diecernible towards an undue vehemence. In all
other respects his pauses, modulations, chnnges of accen-
tuation, emphasis, and, above everything, tenderness of tone,
were highly eatinfactory, and gave the strongest proofs
of a long and anxious study of his pi-Mission. There were
one or two phases of Mr. Brooke's performance at which hr
fairly took his auditory by surprise, and hurried them into
shouts of well-deserved applause. Such were his delivery of
the exquisite lines in which the Moor., abandoning himself to
the sense of his deep and iticuraiile grief, utters a farewell to
all his pursuits, to the " glorious pomp and circumstance of
war," and all his greatness. Such, again, was his scene
with Ingo, when the latter, having roused the blackest cur-
rents of the jealous man's thoughts, seek' to pacify him by
pretending 'twat all a dream. Above all, and it is with
sincerity that the observation is recorded, Mr. Brooke de-
, serves the highest prniee for having discarded from his
theory of dramatic proprieties the absurd and unmeaning
mannerisms that have for 80030 years petit haunted the
hoards, and deterred all true appreciator' of the art of
acting from witnessing the mimicry that has been
Exhibited there. The public taste and judgment have been
so much damaged and warped by these exhibitions, and the
lovers and patrons of them have ao incessautl► urged that
they are the very pert mien of dramatic art, that at length
these dogmas or " canons of criticism" have prevailed, to
the utter loss of all appreciation of the natural and the true.
Fur this reason, as well as Inc the far better one,—namely,
that the natural tone is the true tone—we feel disposed to
give Mr. Brooke the greatest credit for having relied entirely
upon his natural powers of voice and delivery, dimanling sad
despising the art which would prompt him to resort to the
whispering syttens, or to breaking the beautiful pl.rases et
the poet into short sentence-it, of which, according to the
method of the day, several are strung rapidly together
and hurried off the tongue, whilst others are drawled out
or whispered forth with gestures meant to be emphatic, but
which are only absurd. It is with no slight feeling of the
importance of preserving the good that exists and of en-
couraging that which proffers itself that these observations
are penned. The stage, to preserve its independence, and
to exert that influence over the manners, morals, and artions
of men which its apo'ogiste assert to be its vocation, must be
renosa'ed from time to time ; and, it is to be hoped, that
the dismal cycle of the nonentities and scarecrow,. of dra-
mittie art is passing away, and that the efforts of the Phelps's,
to Warners, and, now we may 'add, the Brooke'.
are the harbinger. tif a new cycle, during which
We shall see the glorious visions of the past re-
vived end rendered the living mentors of the day.
In justice to the actors who constituted the dranontio pre.-
some. we feel it nicessary to state that the tra•feely was
exceedingly lei 11 emit. Mr. fill (f.om the Haymarket)
was a most efficio nt Cassie,. Ilia ',erne where Othello dis-
misses him was played more in the ',irk of the author than
anything we ever h. tire witnraed. So, likewise, of logo,
in which Mr. Stuart displayed mod& rable lid and , ntrtry,
rowing down conamen.urate applauer. Of the ladies we
roust be pardoned if the preference be given to
Brouvbera. who so far eclipsed nese-lemon,' ■e to make the
audience (one, at least) wish the ladies had changed pets
in ell save the dying scene. The house was well attended,
and bids fair to he prospectus.

time, it appeared the prosecutors had some suspicion of the
character of the parties they were dealing with, and they
detained Rice in conversation while an officer in plain clothes
was employed to watch him. Some fenders were packed up
and given .o Rice, who left the warehouse and got upon en
omnibus, and when he arrived at the corner of larringdon-
strut, he alighted, and after looking about for some time ho
got into a cab end proceeded to a house in Chin Iton-street,
Fitzroy-quare, where he went in with the property. The
house we
ea watched Pi the officer, and the next monling Rice
earn. out and walked to o:!rsetreross, where he met John
Brown, and they went to several public-houses, and were at
length taken into custody. Upon fnrs.her inquiry being made,
the story told by Nicholls with regard to .bi• 'wing a miller
at Stratford turned out to have no foundation, sod it sp-
peered that some portion of the property obtained from the
prosecutors was found in the house in Charlton-street, and
the weighing machine was traced to the house of a person in
Brewer-street, Somers-town, who, it appeared, had put chw.ed
it of Nicholls.—The pri onera were found guilty, and sen-
tenced to be imprisoned for six months.

-
NEW COURT.—Bisfore Mr. Comm. Bullock and Alderman H. Mahe..
ROMIERY IN CLEMENT.I3•INN.—ChathI Simpson, a Te-
spectablu young man, 24, was indicted for stealing; a carpet
and a iguantity of books from chambers in Clemenes.inn ;
and Charles Palmer, a bookseller in Union-street, Spite'.
fields, surrendered to gnawer a charge of receiving a portion
of the books, well knowing them to have been stolen.—The
chambers in question were in the occupation of a Mr. H. W.
Hemsworth, a barrister, who had for a considerable period
been a pri-oner in the Queen's Bench. The prisoner
Simpson was occasionally employed about the chambers by
Mr. Hemsworth. Mr. Hemsworth had left the chambers is
the poss. scion of • person awned Huntingdon. There were
arrears of rent, and there was some talk of • distreint be ing
put in by the society. A witness named Mathews stated
that he was employed by Mr. liernsworth to remove the
property (chit fly books) from the chambers in as secret a
manner as possible. lie was to be sure not to move any-
thing
lgifi.re seven o'clock in the evening, and was to leave
I all the useless books behind, while the WM) viduabhr
once were to be taken for safety to his Mathews's) home
and thence to the Quern's Prison, as Mr. lientsworth re-
quired them. A considerable number of hooks and a carpet
went all•14d from the chambers, and suspicion was excited
avaittst Mathews end his wife. To exonerate them, how-
ever, the prisoner cord, seed that he had r. moved the pro-
perty, end he banded over a pawnbroker's duplicate for the
carpet. Simpson was then taken into custody, and a portion
of the books missies( were found at the prisoner Palmer's
house.—Mr. lierreworth, who was brought up in the
custody of an officer of the Queen's Prison, ids ntifled
the books and the carpet produced m his property. lio did
not owe this primmer any money. lie hod never given him
any authority to remove the books or carpet. Simpson told
him that lie hail sold the books for 41. 10a. and
pawned the carpet fur 11. Employed the aisoner
to bring him spirits in prison, and lie intended to get
spirits introduced as often as be possibly could, although
Maheknew the Iverson who conveyed the liquor would be
I.—Mr. Robinson, on behalf of Simp-on, tidedinte
that his client keit worked for Mr. Ilemsw• rth, who was
his dilitia in rates-10.'lled, and that he had been authorised
by him, in return fur his services in supplying him with
spirits, &c., to take the property, sell it, and pay times' out
of the proccede.—As there was nothing against Palmer beyond
the tact of the books being found in his possession (and it
was shown he had rendered every facility for their redoes-
tion ), he was acquitted.—Mr.Commiasioner Bullock summed
up, end the jury, atter twenty minutes' consultation, found
Simpson Guilty —Formal evidence was then given of the
prianaer having teen convicted in 1842 of telony.—lii reply
to this, 'ritualises were called, who stated that since 1842 the
nr:ioner had borne a very good Character.—The learned
Judge sentenced the prisoner to be kept to hard labour for
twelve calendar months.