The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-08-10 00:00:00

TEE ARM r. I ENCOURAGF.MEN74± ARTS of PEACE.
_.......,
The 21 Division of the ht Battalion of the 3d Rzgi-
meat of Guards arrived, on the Sth inst. in Dublin, from , o,ituusu Lectures, are
Liverpool.
The new considerations on the drama, suggested by the
perhaps worthy the final deter-
; ruination of critics on the weight of the arguments used in
The Ist Battalien of the Coldstream Guards has cm- detailing them. A new plan of trying them by experi-
barked from Dublin for Liverpool. I
anent, for which an occasion could be afforded by an Eng-
The 2d (the Queen's Itoval) Regitnent of Foot has em- , fish company of comedians, if permitted by the French
barked at Gosport for Chatham.
I Government to set in the neighbouring kingdom, Las in-
CNA NOE OF QUARTERS OF TIIE GUAR DS. i marred to a society friendly to the fairness of free inquiry;
On the arrival of the Ist battalion of the "Itlatreant ' Guards in London, from Ireland, the following change of has born late French Minister of the Inte-
written to the and perhaps the following letter of the President, which
I
quarters of the Guards will take place:—
The tat Battalion of the Grenadier Guards will move riot on the stih.tect, would have some advantages in fur-
nishing the materials on which to found our judgments:—
front Portmin-street lilarrreks into quarters in Lower IVest-
TRANSLATION OF' A LETTER TO HIS EXCEL. minrer.
LENCY THE VICOMTE C—.
The 21 Battalion df the Grenadier Guards will march London, April, 1824.
from Knightsbridge Barracks to Portman-street Bar- Sta—As the President of the Outinian Society, which holds its
racks. meetings at niy house In spring-gardens, I run deeply sensible of i
The 3d Battalion of the Grenadier Guards will march
*the honour of the good minion of one of the compositions pre-
from the King's Mews to 'Windsor.
pared among its members as a lecture to be read to the auditors,
which is said to have been expreased by one, a conapicuotis es-
The Ist Battalion of the Coldstream Guards will simple of the ancient active and virtuous loyalty of the French
proceed, on its arrival In Loudon, to Knightsbridge Bar- nobility, and who now stands in the first rank among the literary
raeks. characters of the day.
The 2 Battalion of the Coldstream Guards will remove
The knowledge of this opinion, an flattering and interesting to
,1
our Society, has been recently communicated to us by Captain
from the Tower to the King' s Mews. G—. a gentleman who frequently attends our meetings, and
The 2dl Battalion of the !Id Regiment of Guards will who, by his departure for France, Abided me the opportunity of
march from Windsor to the Tower. presenting the book to you, as well as to some other French:nen of
___ . _. _ .
distinguished rank and character.
I row sake the liberty of testifying to your Excellency my grati-
tude for your favourable acceptance or that work, by a letter which
I hare entrusted to Mr. Smithson. the manager of a company of
comedians, to whom 1 wish all die success they desire in the cact-
i dee of their talents in your country. Mr. K., the most celebrated
i of our tragic actors, intends to accompany them on a first visit to
' France.
I venture to add here, Sir, a few remarks upon a subject of
rather a particular nature. Mr. Smithson has lately performed at
the Theatre Royal, Windsor. a Tragedy which I wrote in my
younger days. entitled The Matt.', of Eddingtow ; and it was re-
ceived with the same applause which always attended it on former
occasions when represented. I composed it after much reflection
upon the sources of dramatic interest, :he least meditated, as seem.
. ing to promise only a mechanical exetalence, but which at leant,
to a ratain point, appear to be more indicated by taste than they
are supposed to be; the result of my reflections was, that I con-
sidered it an undoubted fact, that by giving more action to •
tragedy, and divesting it of all superfluous declamation, such a
ease might easily be produced, as Could be equally satisfactory to
the Theatres of Paris and London. Mr. Smithson, who has al-
ready been in France. thinks that the construction of mine, which
it exactly conformable to that of the Esther and Athalie, or the
ancient tragedies, with a eluwits, would be more likely to please on
the French stage than on the English. Dramatic preudices, united
with private interest', and the discouragement which follows, pre-
cluded all idea of representing the Rattle of Eddie„ tops on the
stave of ('event-garden or Drury-lane till last year; when a naval
officer. my friend and neighbour in the country, and one of the
sew Proprietors of Covent-garden Theatre, agreed to bring it
forward; and though the affairs of this Theatre imposed the
necessity of shuttittg up the house six wet.'as earlier than usual
(by which the representation of my drama etas prevented), yet I
expert that in about two months it will be performed there for the
first time.
I hear arguments sometimes employed to persuade us that the
different nations in the world must hare each • peculiar taste; I
entertain, however, the same opinion as one of your best authors,
who speaks of " the beauties of all times, and of all plum," as
having the greatest merit. The daring wing of our sublinte Poet,
and the graceful and! well-directed flights of a great number
of yours, ought not, II conceive, :to be judged as really dif-
ferent : for
• All styles are good but those which delness mars."—Volt.
1 am greatly afraid, Sir, that in giving you the trouble of reading
this letter, written slmost solely on the subject of my Tragedy, I
may furnish you with too exact an example or this last species. I I
will not delay, therefore, to avow the object which I have in view
in occupying so much of your valuable time:—l wish to avail i
myself of he possibility that some French dramatic poet might i
be asked by a person whom he respects sufficiently to attend to
the question, " IVhether he would find it worth his while to i
tramline this Drama for representation at Paris by his country. ,
men I" and with reference to my views, you will be able to judge ;
by the following reasons, which have influenced me, if I ought to
be considered as thinking much more of my own advantage than
that of others.
1. It seems to beVertain that if the author looks to recut:day li
advantage from his piece, he would succeed in that object with ,
ouch less labour than would be required by any other mode- He
Deed only turn the English yeses into French, because the rides
for constructing the plot, which are so much favoured in Trance, ;
are observed with a perhaps unheard of exactness; and as Mr. 1
Smithson wishes to perform it in France, the translator may see it ;
and judge of the effect.
2. The Tragedy having been written during the war of the Re- 1
volution, it has many indirect relatiors to the Royal Family of
France t the wench bear *resemblance to the tyranny and atrocities
which occurred in the Temple; at least by the introduction of a very
young Prince, the son of Alfred, who may be . mpared with
Louis XVII.; and, as the battle of Wuterloo aided the good ,
French to vanquish the enemies of a legitimate throne, and to place
their King upon it, who, as
"'Lewis whilom spoke
His uptight laws beneath an aged oak v."
after victory gave a constitution to his subjects; so the battle of
Eddington, in which Alfred, aided or encouraged by the Prirces
of Wales and the King of Scotland (all of whom became after
the battle, in some sense his subjects), and the defection of the
Irish soldiers, then under the Danish yoke, secured by a complete
I victory a long peace ; and before the conclusion of the play the il.
luso-loos legislator announces in his speech to the assembled army,
Isis intention to begin immediately to draw up, and to present as
soon as possible to the nation, the English Constitution, founded
on such and such principles of wisdom and liberty. The memory
of the spectators, immediately suggesting to them that their wise
sad good King had undergone the same fate but a few years before
with the best of the great geniuses who have held the sceptre;
would inspire the most zealous friends and the most faithful see.
vants of the Bourbon now on die throne With still greater respect
and love; and would by the same sentiment make of the Liberals
a moderate opposition useful to the Government. and which it
would assist io advancing the cause of universal justice, and thus
consolidate the honour and prosperity, as well of France, as of all
the nations of the world.
3. It would be • desirable triumph (for every triumph is desirable
which conduces ouly to the good of humanity), not over the en-
lightened English, but over the Ultra-Shaksperians of our days
throtighoutEurope (I mean those who attribute to Shakspeare ideas
and absurd designs which lie would have himself rejected), if the
French Poets were to begin to thew, by means of action, in their
future tragedies, that the three unities would offer the example of
" beauties of all times and places," preserved, in spite of the sim-
plicity so little assistant to them; invoking the manes of those who
fell at Marathon to he witnesses of a drama of a form to which they
were accustomed ; but to see that same form under a government
more deserving of our praises than theirs hid been. Ido not say
that the French would find the three unities so essential as they
have been thought to be; but some English critics would not find
either that they may not constitute • literary variety, which both
would render more evident the idea of perfection, and by the loss
of which, if they destroy it by their prejudices, they would in some
degrec impoverish European literature, by arnibiLating one species
of composition.
I have always admired our Dr. Johnson for having delivered our
poets, who do not bear constraint, from the trammels of the uni-
ties, and for having thus legalised their masterly sketches ; but I
should admire your erities also, if they would teach your poets,
by the mode I hate pointed out, to execute finished pietures
through the aid of the unities, supporting them by the force of the
imagination.
We often learn from the Newspapers the sentiments of d,"tin-
Eished characters like yourself, Sir ; and we there see that your
xcellency has expressed your love of peace as affording facilities
to the cultivation of the Arts. It may be well conceived that the
p grandson and the representative of • man who has, perhaps, sur-
e passed all others by a reputation gained through exertions prompted
by a mete love of peace, congratulates himself that after • long
war, necessary in Europe, he may be permitted to wish that peace
may be of equal duration ; and, as one of those who are most occu-
pied, as well in the contemplation of the designs of Professors of
the Arts, as in their execution, a predilection in their favour may
be well attributed to him.
Such are the reasons for which I have riot hesitated to take the
liberty of thinking, that if the mode which I hate employed to
communicate to you these sentiments was unusual, and tnat what.
ever degree of encouragement can he useful to those who may ap-
proach you by its means, or the literary object which interests my
curiosity, were not to be hoped for; at least I may be judtkil to
have addressed myself, not only in my own name, but in the name
of the Arts, to one who protects and cultivates them, having
ahewn himself to be • true Poet in various parts of his admired
writings ; and that I shall thus avoid having appeared guilty of any
breach of the rules of decorum.
I have the honour to be, with respect, Sir,
'Four Excellency's very humble,
And very obedient servant,
J. P.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

The Board of Admiralty, in their lax visit to Plymouth. &sited
their principal attention tai the forn:ation of a Victualling Depot too
1/evil's l'oint, through it i• intended to cut a canal, with
floodgates at each end, that ships' boats and lighters may get into
Stonebote,e Pool, front the Sound, without the risk or trouble of
goiNg in at the usual entrance into llatnoaze. They also inspected
the slips in ordinary.
Captain John Jams (loisinw is appointed to the Bourse (11% to
he fitted for foreign service at l'inttlisin.
The Royal Sovereign sailed front Portsmouth on Thurse ay morn-
ing for 11eptnirtf.
The Cann:lron, ('apt. Lambert, sailed from Portsmouth on Fri_
day for Plymouth, to refit.
The Starling utrived at Portsmouth, on Tuesday, from the
westward.

Friday, the Partridge. I.kut. flosselin. from Plymouth, arrived
at Portsmouth with volunteer seatuen for the Cambrian. anti re-
tUrlrti to that port again.
The Forte and Carnation were cruising nfr the ports of Vera
Cruz and Alvarado, at the time the tamelcon left the former
place, which was nn the Bth of June. A French brig of war.
:W.) American vessels of war. a corvette, and schooner were also
there.

.....
Arrival at Portsmouth en Tuesday, the Asia (84). • besutiftil
line-of-battle ship, which hi. bccn built in the East Indies, and is
intended to he laid up in ordinary. The Asia was navigated to
England by the Captain and crew of his Majesty, late sloop Satel-
lite, whith sloop has been sold out of the service. She left Madras
28th March last, touched at St. Helena 13th June, and Ascension
the 18th ; the garrison of the latter place was at that time remark.
ably healthy and in good spirits.
DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZE-MONEY.
The Thistle, for the slaving vessels Estrella and San Jose
can, on the Ilth inst. at No. 3, Brick-court, Temple; and recalled
there Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The Hyperion, foe be Charles Eugene and La Rose Madelaine,
on the 2d of September, at No. 9, New Broad-street ; and recalled
there Tuesdays and Thursdays.

sittp PING LVI'ELLIGENCE.

mom LLoYIrs LIST.

FALMOUTH. Aso. 7.—Sailed the Lady Wellington packet, for
the Mediterranean.

PLYMOUTH, At; o. 7.—Off the pert, the Betsey, ‘Vagg, from
Qtaehec ; Britannia, Davison, irons Tobago t Ann, Macey, from
Prince Edward's Island; and Kitty, Haswell, front Fayal.
PonTS KOUT u, A un. S.—Sailed the 31arq u is of Huntley, Cato,
and Baltic Merchant, transports. to the eastward.
Dovta, Aro. 7.—Sailed his Majesty's packet Spitfire, for
Calais, with his Royal Highness Prince Leopold and suite. Ar-
rived off this port, the St. Andrew, 74 guns. Rear-Admiral
Crown, with another Russian 74, and three Russian frigates, bound
to Cronstadt.

DEAL, A 1.7. o. &—Arrived and sailed for the River, the Welling.
ton, Allen, from Jamaica; Pilot, Gardner' from Antigua; and
Neptune. —, from India. Came down from the River, the
Fame, Gibbs, fur Barcelona; Tula, White, for Gibraltar;
Cumberland, Cams, for New South Wales ; Nunn, Arnot, for
Gibraltar ; and Priscilla, Ellis, for Trieste.
GIATESTED, AvorsT 8.--Arrived the Lustre, Woodward;
Betsey, Wray; Endeavour, Colburn; Nelly, Dale; Benjamin and
Mary, Trotter; Union, Fleck; Harlequin, Hall; Ocean, Black-
burn ; George, Weslyn ; and Sarah Ann, Simpson—all from Que-
bec; Pilot, Gardner, and Bayne. Lawson, from Calcutta; Lady
Campbell, Beethain. from Bengal; Waterloo, Steed, from Bom-
bay ; John Buncombe, Steer; Thisbe, Creed ; Henry Davidson,
Barclay; Vittoria, Forbes; and Sir Joseph Banks, Blake—all from
Jamaica; Emery, Bros n, from Oporto; Lively, High. and Lark,
Orfeur, front Cadiz ; Wm. Mating, Smith, from St. Kitt's; and j
about thirty others, names unknown. Sailed, the Magnet, Grant,
for Sierra Leone; Regalia, Harming, for Madeira; Squid, War-
ren, for Malaga; ‘Vyndinan, Sergeant, for Demerara; George,
Moore. for Sierra Leone; Apollo, Curtis, for Bethke ; and For.
tuna, Callow, for Antands.

Id ct it root., A t: a. s.—Arrived the Hopes ell, Dobson ; Arno,
Jowsey ; Helena, Furry ; Horatio, Sparks ; Lady Gordon,
Osprey, Sims; Hubert and Ann; and Henry 'Thomson, from
Quebec ; Dominica, Johnson, froni l'ictou ; Lord Cathcart, —;
Concord, Neslield ; Nestor, Lewis ; Urania, Fairborn ;
Cook ; and Calypso, Chater, from 3lirarnichi ; X.Y.Z., }other.
gill, from Riehebucto ; Maria, Cameron ; Hercules, Lennox ; and
Jane, Hoboes. from New Orleans ; Ormembo, from New York ;
Pallas, —, from Savannah ; Alancliester, Winslow, from Phila.
delphia ; William Wise, —, from Antigua ; and Velocity,
Evans, from Alexandria. Oil the port, the Bounty, Ball, from
Jamaica, with seven ships, seventeen brigs, and four snows, names
unknown.

SHIELDS, A co. 7.—Arrived of here, and landed part of her
crew, theGeeenlander, Welsh, from iireenlantl, with eighty
taala—
■poke the laaurvil. of )lull, with fourteen filth; the other vessels
she spoke were all clean.

U
it, Juts 111.--A Colombian privateer on the 13th
inst. put on board the Ilebe, arrived here from Bahia, the crew of
the Union, of St. Andes), ("ferny, from Malaga to the Bay of
Biscay, which she had captured on the Bth, in lat. 36. long. 4. and
set fire to her two days after of Cape St. Vincent. The privateer
was red on the 13th by two ships, supposed to be Spanish, but
ties An armed schooner, of about fourteen guns, manned by
blacks, with the exception Of the officers, was cruising two days
since between Capo Trafalgar and Spartel. Lord Cochrane was
preparing at Rio Janeiro die beginning of last month to sail with
his squadron for Angola.
The Neptune. from Calcutta. passed by the Isle of Wight on
' Friday evening for the River. Some or her passengers were landed
at Portsinuoth.

The brigs Jesse and Sampson. which sailed nhout the 45th De-
cember. from Prince Edward's Island to Liverpool, have not since
been heard of.

The Junky, from Belfast to Quebec, was wrecked on Sable
Island on the 10th of June. Crew and materials saved.

TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE RRITISII PRESS.
Sin,-1 avail myself of the medium of your Newspaper, to sug-
gest to the Proprietors of the English Opera-house the necessity
of improving the approach to the paying-place of the pit at that
Theatre. There is now no avenue whatever to it; the consequence
of which is that the inconvenience and distress arising from the
whole of the crowd on the outside, pressing forwards at the same
instant, to reach the single paying place, is excessive. This an-
noyance might be greatly lessened, by the construction of an
avenue, gradually diminishing in breadth, resembling the approach
to the pit at the Drury-lane Theatre, which is better constructed
than any other in London, although that even is capable of iin-
movement. It is hoped that the Proprietors of the English Opera-
' house will attend to this suggestion, and at all events make some
improvement of the approach before 31iss Ititephens makes her
first appearance, as otherwise it will be a source of great danger to
be in the crowd, when the numbers will probably be so much aug.
'united as to cause considerable distress at a theatre of so small a
size.—l am, So, ite.
A PITTITE.
August 6, 1824.

CAPTAIN I/AUXY.II Exryorrtox-I-The following is an
extract from a letter which has been received from an Officer of
Capt. Parry's Expedition, by a friend at Gosport :—" His Ma-
lesty's ship II vela, Whale Fish Island, Dade, Straits, tat. 614, N.
ong. :41.4 W. July T, 11D31. We have had a very favouable passage
across the Atlantic, made the pack edge of the ice on the 21st nit.
in lat. 664 dig. N. long. 57 ll'. and. continxing our course to the
N.E. along its edge, we arrived at these islands on the morning of
the 27th, all well. lEe have nothing of interest to communicate
from these islands, since our whalers visit them yearly. It is, how.
ever, a miserable settlement, and I mistake much if the Danes don't
wish themselves well clear of it. On our passage we threw over-
board (agreeable to old custom) a copper cylinder, containing a
paper with our situation on it, and a notice in different languages
to those who might pick them up to forward them to the Mini-
ralty. Therefore. I ilaresay, you will hear of us at home occasion-
' ally in that way but the ice will soon cut off that sort of communi-
cation. Ife sail with the fullest hors of success (to-morrow), of
which, if it take place, you shall be duly informed.'
1)now N s c.—A melancholy accident took place on Sun-
day. As three respectable young men were returning front Rich-
mond, near Itattersea bridge, by a sudden gust of wind the boat
was upset, when all three were precipitated into the water; and we
regret to state that one of them met a watery grave. His name was
said to be Henry Holmes, of Prince's-street, lArcester.square. The
others were rescued by the prompt aysistance of sonic gentlemen,
who jumped from their own boat and saved them.

• Smollet's and Franklin's trans'.

It is a question often asked—whether is gin, rum, or
brandy the most wholesome? We have heard it defined
by hypothetical reasoning from the following experi-
ment: A piece of raw liver was put into a glass of
gin, another into a glass of rum, and a third into a glass
of brandy. That in the gin was, in a given time,
partially decomposed ; that in the rum, is the same
time, not diminished ; and that in the brandy was
quite dissolved. The argument deduced was, that the
spirit in which the liver remained unchanged—namely,
rum—was the most wholisome. Now we differ complet-iy
in our opinion ; for we know that spirit cannot thus affect
Jiving animal matter; therefore the stoina,ll eatutot, like
the piece of liver, be dissolved: and we think that the
spirit which decomposed the animal subatance—namely.
the brandy, is the most wholesome, because it is the most
likely to dissolve the animal food in the stentach
cal Idriser.

- ......
PROFFACF OF A LON() SERMON.—A Lay Preacher, in
a dissenting chapel somewhat insolvent, which was with-
out a regular minister, offered his grataihms service in the
following mann. r :—" I will begin next Sabbath day, and
preach till tic chapel is out of debt."