The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-04-18 00:00:00

sArd.rms WELLS THEATRE.

We were indneed to visit Sadler 's Wells on Saturday
night, Car the first time this season. Many alterations mid
improvements have been made since last summer. The
decorations of the walls and ceiling are well imagined, and
have been executed with taste. Some valuable additions
have been made to the musical department, and the scenery,
taken altogether, does infinite credit to " a minor." The
three pieces rerformed on Saturday evening come, we un-
derstand, from the pen of Mr. Pitslin. They are agree-
able' trifles. The little Interlude entitle el " Under the
Rost; or, the Great Man in the Little Parlour, pleased
us rather better than the others. The son of an eminent
lawyer falls in love with the fair daughter of a rural tavern-
keeper, and fearing his father's anger, privately weds her.
The lover is domesticated at " the Rose" as a portrait..
pniater, and choose' for his confidant a good-natured gen-
tleman, who turns out to be a Prime Minister, and lives
(br what purpose we know not) in the little par-
lour of the felbre-mentioned Inn. " he great man" con-
descendingly interests himself in the affairs of the young
cot:plc. To procure the lawyer's forgiveness, he employs
him to draw up a defence for a son who has indiscreetly
entered into a marriage with a ycung woman of amiable
disrosition, but humble rank, without the consent of his
father; and at length informs him that the case he has so
ably argued is his own. To promote the happiness of the
lovers, and ensure the father's forgiveness, the benevolent
great man appoints the brill-gloom to a lucrative situation,
and " mine host" of the Rose, although enraged at his
daughter's marriage with an itinerant artist, feels no die-
pless.ure when he learns that she is united with the son of
a wealthy lawyer.
A new piece has been announced for the present week ;
and, ott the whole, Sadler 's Wells bids fair to retain this '
season the reputation it has already acquired as an agree-
tge place of summer amusement.

THE CATHOLIC DEPUTATION.

On Saturday evening the Catholic Deputation arrived at
the St. Prtershurgh Hotel, Dover-street, London. Mr.
O'Connell, and his eldest son, Mr. D. O'Connell. as Secre-
tary to ItLe Deputation, Sir Thomas Esmonde, the
Hottoursble Mr. Preston, and a few other Members,
have as yet only arrived. The Deputation consists of
Eve members from each of the provinces of Ire-
land, and five from Dublin. They wereappointed at the
A, gregate Meeting of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, con-
vened on Thursday last. Lord Gormanstown presided.
An individual rose to propcse that Mr. Lawless be added
to the Deputation. The motion fell to the ground for
want of an indivit:ual to second it. An Address, from the
pen of Mr. "%You're, was unanimously adopted by
the Meeting ; it will be presented on Wednesday,
by Roman the Catholic Deputation. An address front
Baldoyle to Mr. Lawless, approving of the part which
he acted in oppc sing Mr. 0 Conned, is, we are credibly
informed, a loa.r. Ba'doyle is a parish in the county of
Dub!in. which does not contain a single freeholder, and
which do a not even contain a single person corresponding
to the s'grcures of the address. Mr. O'Connell was re-
ceived at th • Aggregate Meeting with unbounded applause.
He spoke at considerable length, and with his accustomed
ability. Not the slightest opposition or objection was
ra'.scd at the Meeting to the conditions with which it is pro-
posed the Emancipation Bill should be accompanied. fhe
Meeting was most numerously and respectably attended,
and its proceedings were marked throughout by the utmost
harmony and most conciliating expression of sentiment.
[From Saturday's Liverpool Adrcrlistr.]
Yesterday, Mr. O'Connell, Sir T. Esmonde, and others
of the Irish delegttion, arrived here by the Emerald Isle
steam-packet, on their way to London. A deputation.
closisting of several members of the Liverpool Catholic
Association and others, waited upon them at their hotel,
and an address was read by Mr. John Prest, one oT the
artretaries of the Liverpool Association. To which Mr.
O'Connell, in the name of the delegation, returned the fol-
lowing answer :
" Gentlemen. scare deeply impressed with your kindness. Con.
scions of no merit, save purity of intention, we receive your courtesy
with a grateful sentiment of the value of English generosity. It is,
indeed, gratifying to us to receive this testiruoniai of your concur.
rer.:e with us In that grand principle of religious liberty, which would
be equally useful to all persuaMons, and would set conscience free
tfrom all human shackles, leaving it bound alone by divine law. AVe
are doubly pleased with this invitation, because it enables us in re.
. turn, is act e2ting of it, to express our ardent desire to cement and
consolidate that cordial union of exertions and affection now so bap.
pay established betw.sen the English and Irish Catholics."
Before Mr. O'Connell and the other gentlemen started
from London, which they did at four o'clock, a numerous
body cf friends bad assembled to witness their departure,
and on their leaving saluted them with three hearty
cheers.

Despatches, dated the 3th of February, have been re-
ceived from Major-General Turner, at Sierra Leone, where
he arrived that day. Ile describes the Colony to be in a
prosperous and very healthy state. The transports with
troops for Cape Coast Castle had arrived at Sierra Leone
on ihe 2410 f February, in twenty seven days, from Ports-
mouth. The transports were to proceed in a short time to
their destination. _ _ _

Letters have been received from Carthagena de Colom-
bia, dated the 3d of Febraary. They mention the arrival
there of reseral Commissioners from the Havatinah, to
trent with the Colombian Government on the means of
effecting their independence. From the manner in which
they are received, and the negociations going forward,
there is every appearance of the Colombians rendering
them the assistance reqt.ired.
In the course of some pertinent obsarvations on the mode
of recognising a now State by a neutral power, the editor
of the Colombian observes, that " When in 1594, the
Powers of Europe ha I de:ern fined on recognising the sepa-
ration of the Netherlands from Spain, the act of recognition
was limited to sending Ministers to the Hague, and receiv-
ing these of the United Provinces. When, in 1640, Portu-
gal resisted the sovereignty of Spain, and seated the Duke
of Breganza on the throne, Charles tl:a First of England,
in recognizing that country in the year following, adopted
no other formality than entering into a treaty of alliance
with John the Fourth. When this very Charles lost his
crown and life, and the Commonwealth of England was
established under Cromwell, no other recognition of the
new government of foreign States was made or demanded,
than the formation of sitni;ar treaties. To come nearer
cur own days—the diplomatic relations established by
France and America, as an independent nation, in 177 i,
were not preceded by any formal declaration of the hide-
pendence of those States: nay, when England herself re-
nounced all coon ol over th:m, and recognised them as an
independent people, no Manifesto of such renunciation was
given to the world: a treaty uf alliance and commerce alone
marked that conclusive event."
AT3OCIOL:11 AS9AII9I9IATION.—A horrible crime has
just deprived France of the most inuenious and original
writer that it has possessed for a lee g time. M. Paul
Louis Courier, well-known for his erudition and for works
in. which reason was clothed in such a piquant fortn, the
most formidable enemy that has appeat,tl in ou: days to
the doctrines of absolute power, of set vitude, Jesuitism,
and intolerance, perished four days ago in a tragical manner
un his estate in tbe depat :men' of the Indrs. On
Sunday, the 10th of this month, M. Courier went out
to take a walk in scone wosels belonging to him, and
which are not distant from his habitation. As he did
not re:urn in the evening, his family felt some uneasi-
ness, and went to look. fur him. Courier war found
stretched on the ground, wilhottt life, pierced with three
balls. It seems that the musket must have been discharged
point blank. His ly:v was conveyed to his dwelling, La
Citavuoniere, arid leered :he next env. The officers of
justice being informel of this event, It.,ve repaired to the
spot, and are taking the most active measures to discover
the author of the crime. M. (Varlet had gone to his de-
Five:merit to sell his estate, intending to nettle at Paris, and
apply his whole time to his vcientitic alt i literary labours.
—C,,urroer Freercair. _

_ ...........
we are requestc:i !) contradict a statement which has
in several
• Al! ts, Poplar, Ls" peri..•nned rstlia.,i,nt against the Col-
h,r DJA co•npapy ; ntin,;C. was :zee 'whitely convent,:;
est,sli .4 Oh the coht:ary iu raeuur of it. it (1910 appea-s that a
pa,,t:-n against the Ottliolic yor.arded
th,r, Politer to the fi .It.se (.(10 we ore request al to deny
tt•s: ~ck an instrument PIA publicly knosu in the parish ; the
Petting., i: stews, was propose: and signed by a f..w i;.,l7:Aaa:.:
✓ aspel in Bow.:ane.

THE EXHIBITION OF THE SOCIETY OF

BRITISH ARTISTS.

Cootinued from the Nritish Prtss of April 8.1

184. An Overshot Mill on the Rareliae, near Sh
Yoaahire.—F. C. iiOFLA ND.
This is a genuine sample of English scenery, and is re-
presented with all that sweetness of touch end tone, which
characterises Mr. flofland's pencil: Its neighbour,
I. Scene in Epping Forest, by Mr. G Loy ER, is a scene
happily chosen ; it is an animated transcript of nature, and
abounds in all those, beauties which have acquirCd him such
extensive popularity.
The Landscape, 159, by 1. STARE, has many beauties,
but the pea-green hue is rather too prominent, and is so
cem»pounded with white, as to give the appearanca of
hoar frost; but it is, nevertheless, a very attractive and
pleasing picture.
194. /...riaegro.—J. Woon.
This performance discovers unequivocal marks of genius.
and that too of a very high miler. The flesh glows with
the tint of Titian ; we could have wished that more arch-
ness and vivacity had been thrown into the countenance; as
it is, it is excellent as a portrait, but it wants that spright-
linesa of expression which should designate the Allegro as
persot,ified in the imagination of the poetical spectator.
Mr. Wood is a young artist of great promise, and it is
from this conviction only that we feel induced to notice any
defect that his impra%:ing judgment may enable Lim to
Correct.
Wt. Cristmas Cheer.—G. LANCE.

Never was the good fare of sacred festival ever
spread upon canvass with so much of reality as in this pic-
ture. It puts ail our convivial sympathies on the alert ;
f.,r truth aml richress of colouring it is a study for a painter.
The beef—the red cabbage—the turnips--the onions—not
forgetting th:y stone bottle—are inimitable. As to the stub-
ble goose, it won'tl regale the eve of Dr. Kite Liner himself;
the tint of the th.sli from which the feattu rs have been
skilfully plucked, is admirable ; no cook could look upon
it without preparing to skewer a slip of paper on the
breast-lone ; nor an epicure, without serving it up in
imagination, with the gravy and gooseberry sauce. The
hare is not so tempting; it is too old even for broiling in
joints ; it is fit only for jugging; for sole?, it would he
hardly worth the seasoning. We do not approve the
introtlnction of the Belches handkerchief; it is an accom-
paniment that does not awn well with eatables ; it is out
of keeping too. inasmuch as it can make no part of Christ-
mas cheer. However, in subjects connected with the.fancy,
seine latitude must be allowed. The various objects are
grouped with peculiar judgment, and it is, perhaps, upon
time whole, a picture that—in its kind—has hardly ever
been surpassed.

210. Sc( ne me the Mum ; the Brill Church in the dis-
tance.-1. B. CROMX.

There is an inspiring freshness in the landscapes of this
artist, that maker us breathe more freely as soon as they
meet the eye. The rural images which break in upon the
mind, while we contemplate them, are the result of that
animated representation of real nature which his pencil
always places before us.
226. ylze Creation.—J. MARTIN.

" And the earth was without form and void ; and darkness was
upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of pod moved upon the
face of the waters."

" And God made too great lights ; the greater light to rule the
day, and the lesser light to rule the night : he made the stars also.
Any one would do Mr. J. MARTIN great injustice who
should refuse him the praise of excelling in all that relates
to Witness of foncerion, to richness and beauty of tint,
and depth of colouring; he has a fruitful and fine imagi-
nation, and his manner is original: these qualities, it must
be admitted, go a great way towards constituting what is
called genius ; but there are other and higher requisites in
which Mr. MARTIN is defective, the want of which can
neither be concealed nor compensated by these which he
possesses. His pictures, from their force and brilliancy,
will always attract attention; but, while they allure the
eye, they do not satisfy the judgment, and will therefore
never rank among the higher displays of art. They are
poetical, and discover an exquisite tact, but they bear no
marks of a powerful mind '--they awaken no sentiment—
they excite no emotion—they have nothing about them
.of that potent spell which attends the contemplation
of all that is truly inspired in the productions of the great
masters of the art. Mr. Martin has a most vigorous and
excursive fancy, but it is by no means so well regulated by
good taste as so flighty an attribute ought to he. Fancy,
when it disdains all alliance with reason, will always ap-
I preach nearer to the absurd than the sublime. If he Lad
not himself stocd sponsor to the picture before us, we
should have been utterly at a loss what name to give it.
The Creation of the World !! What, in the name of cora-
mon scnse, could induce any mortal to attempt such a sub-
ject ? The elemental mass of earth and water, summoned
pinto the realms of space at the mandate of the Deity !
What intoxication of vanity could urge any painter
to imagine he could bring this before our eyes upon
canvass? To _give the ALMIGHTY MIND a living form
is a presumption only to be excused in an igno-
rant . age. We have passed it long since. In the pre-
sent instance the personification of the Great CREATOR
of Heaven and Earth, is so full of absurdities, that we
forbear to dwell upon them, lest the ridicule which be-
longs to the painter should mingle itself with the sacred-
ness of the subject which he has so preposterously bur-
lesqued. GEORGE. V•IIARI said of TINTORETTO that
"he turned the art into a boy's toy." The sarcasm was ill
applied to that great master; but Mr. MARTIN would do
well to reflect upon it, for with reference to his own per-
formances it is not very wide of the truth. There is no
doubt great beauty of effect to be produced by rich colours
finely harmonized; but description which appeals wholly
to the imagination, however sublime it may be in itself,
would assume a very ludicrous effect, if shown as the
subject of a picture. Vtaoit's description of the ma-
terials employed by the Cyclops, in forming the thunder-
bolts of Jupiter, we all, as ileaxe well remarks, feel to be
extremely sublime—
" Tres irc,bris torn ratios, tics nuLiv squowe
Addiderait : Haiti tees lois, et anti% Austri :
Fillgores none terrifi:os, sotaturntre ntetumque
blincebant !Teri. flair nnsq ue sequacibus leas.
At the same time no chi,ncra of a madman ever presented
a more incoherent subject for a picture than—three rays of
twisted showers, three of watery clouds, three of red fire,
and three of uinged winds with terrific lightnings,
round, Jeer, anger, and pursuing flames mixed up in the
work. If Mr. Martin were to choose these iEtneau labours
as the subject of his pencil, Vulcan's savants, we suspect,
would be seen employed upon very laughable ingredients.
The truth is, that even the imagery of the poet, on such
occasions, conveys no distinct itlui to the mind ; a kind of
vision passes for an instant before our fancy, and nothing
mare; how then can a painter attempt to embody and
bring before the eye in actual representation, that of
which the mind itself can form no clear conception, and
which, therefore, cannot possibly be communicated?
The into at von attempt to reduce the obscure and
indistinct ir•re to visible dimensions, and to bring it
within the range of actual comprehension, that instant
its sulilim::y disappears, the illusion is dispelled, and
instead er delighted with the grandeur of the image,
you are rc•volted by its absurdity. 'fake as an illustration,
the conception conveyed to us by MILTON, of the stature
and strength of SATAN, in the following description :
II is ponerrous shield
Etheriai •rmptr, mossy. large, and round,
Behind him east ; the broad circumference
Hung on his %boulders like the moon, whose orb,
Through optic glasi the Tuvcin artist views
At evening from the top of Fevolo;,
Or in Valduno, to dcury new lands.
glens, or mountains. on her spotty globe.
His spear—to mud 1010! toe tallest pine
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast
Of some g-tart Admiral, am. but a wand--
Ile walk'd with to suppotit uneasy steps
Over the burning wade. '
Now here the size and figure of Satan are left to the ima- ,
ginatie a of the reader, and it will be more or less stupen-
dous breord'..g as he possesses that faculty in a greater
or Ices degree ; but in that celebrateal poem of Ferdnresee,
whi h is the delight of the last, the SHAH NANG, and
which, though written c:ght hundred years ago, abounds
with -esselg,,s often not inferior to Shakapeare or Milton,
yet by towelur I. is debt ?awns in some instances specific,
the has made fi.ern ludicrous. We quote, as an instance,
has desenption of the ton c: Vkwan-Deo, where, instead of

v ri,

TTIE BRITISH PRESS.

expresaing his immense size by some bold figure, he gives
us his exact measure--

" He was one hundred yards hh7h, end twenty hrind."
The moment we can thus mature she Giant with a three
foot Me, we have done with him for all purposes of itnagi-
nation, and when Roos,- at cuts of his head—as lie does—
with n stroke of his scimitar, we never care to ask how
he contrived. to reach his shoulders. Even MI cv•N has
injured his dnser;ytion of SATAN, by an injudieiov3 mi-
nuteness. This is percnired the moment we bring it before
the mind in-detail ; had the poet contented himself with
baying us to magnify the •. ponderous shield" and its
" broad cireuniference,'' the fancy of every reader would
have suited it to the bulk it was to protect ; but what it is
compared in size to the moon ea seed through an optic A-refs.',
we instantly perceive that the size of this object, so seen, is
unequal even to an ordinary shield, carried—when defen-
sive armour was in use—by a man of live feet eight, and
the whole becomes confused, and ceases to be either terrific
or sublime.

Mr. M ANT ix, in this picture of "Ctteati.on," is guilty of
*gross anachrionism. He professes to represent the period
brhre thefirst day, when
The earth was without form, and void ; and darkness was
upon the thee of the deep ; and the Spirit of God inured upon the
recent' the intent."

And lie accordingly introduces the Almighty in the si-
militude of a man floating in central space upon the sur-
face of the deep, in the act of creating the sun and moon.
" And Gorl made two great lights; the greater light to rule the
day, and the hirer light to rule the night : he made the BIM also."
We hare accordingly a sheet of light, proceeding, appa-
rently, from a cave of indi:cro, to pourtray the effect pro-
duced by this planetary influence. B'tt Mr. MARTIN,
while he couples the above two verses together as the srb-
ject of his picture, forgets that in the interval between
the first period and the last, the waters had been divided
from the land, the earth had brought forth grass, the fluit
treys yielded fruit, the whole scenery of the vegetable
world was, in fact, brought into existence, and would be
visible in all its freshness and beauty; but nothing, nj
which is seen in the chaotic void which reigns in the midst
of Mr. MARTIN'S illumination. fie has chosen—we know
not why—silently to connect the Frond and sixteeeth verses
of the Mosaic account together, as if there were neither any
intervening space nor intermediate creation, and to frame
his contradictory delineation from them without comment
or apology. The Mosaic account stands thus:—
" And the Earth was without form and road • and darkness was
apes the face of the deep ; and the Spirit of dad moved spun the
seaters.

" And God said, Let there be light,' and there was light.
" And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided
the light from the darkness.

" And God called the light day, and the darkness he called
night ; and the evening and theMornlng were the tint day.
" And God said. ' Let there be a firmament in the midst of the
waters- and let it divide the waters from thowaters.'

" And God made the firma;;;;;:anciTiiridedthe waters which
were under the firmament from the waters which ware above the
firmament ; and it was so.

" And God called the firmament Heaven ; and the evening and
the morning were the second day.
" And God said, • Let the waters under the Heaven be gathered
together unto one place, and let thedry land appear eand it war so.
" And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together
of the water called he Seas ; and God saw that it was good.
" And God said, • bet the Earth bring forth gran, the herb
yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit lifter its kind, whose
seed is in itself upon the earth and it was so.
" And the Earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed
'Pei its kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself,
after his kind ; and God saw that It was good.
" And the evening and the morning were the third day. And
God said, • Let there be lights in the firmament of the Heaven, to
divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for
seasons, and for days and years.
•• • And let them be ter lights in the firmament of the Heaven,
to give light upon the Earth ;* and it was so.
Aud God made two great lights; the greater light to risk the
day. and the lesser light to rule the Met: he made the stars also."
The above omission will sufficiently account for the
glaring inconsistency in Mr. MArrix's picture. If we had
not already extended our observations to a length which
encroached too much upon our apace, we should bedisposed
to go much further into detail on this performance; as it
is, we shall only entreat him to attend more to his own
fame, and not fritter away his powers on subjects to which
he must always be unequal, because they are beyond the
reach of art.