The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-02-18 00:00:00

.DRURT-LANE THEATRE.

1! A new historical play," entitled Maraltiell.), (he:a:1111er,
,man ~,f Namier, which had been for,some time in prepata-
don, was produced last evening at. ,Drury-lane theatte.
Fur some twenty ye past, en uninterrupted warfare has
gone on bet*een tii play-goers and the play-wrights.
The former are charged with encouraging a barbarous and
vitiated ft!ste in dramatic repmentOons ; and they, sin
: turn recriminate, and charge the play-writers,.with incom-
petence. . In this quarrel, at in altnait every other, a
portion of censure may Le fairly divided. 'Were
,the
public less fastidious when they cone to decide von
the efforts. of regular dramatic purveyors, and gore
measured in their applause of empiric*, men of acknJw-
!edged talent, tpight. be induced to enter thitarena, and
the public wouli reap benefit from its indulgetace, by the
prevalence oft more eltasterug taste. On the, biller hanli,
.When a writer voluntarily septa's tc the public, and is tip-
successful, there are reasouable groundcfor suspecting that
his dissatiafaetion arises from the.pangs cf disappointed .e.a-
nay, trathei- than the consciousness of torit. It is *Rape
:wee to say, that the public should not be wnfotinded with
those who freretent the theatre; fur bow many, writerSt
have appealetkfrom the nlay-going public, to the public, at
large, sod, by.sei doing, only advertised their ottn failures '•
How many have cried,. •
" 'Meath, I'll shame the fools, and print it."
And they have printed, thd when their work* are placed
beside those of the elder dramatists, how disadvantageously
du they contrast. . . . .
What.a falling atria there '
The prevailing sins of our modern dramatic wr:ters seem
to be. that plot and incident are sacrificed to petry and
passion ; or else the entire dependence is placed upOrt
situation and effect, whilst the diction and narrative are
deemed unworthy of attention. The writers of one /1000
appeal solely to the fancy;..those of the other schooLpnly
to;the senses • but both.seem to have lost ;he power of ex-
citing our feelings, through the agency of our sympathies.
the true secret bywhich the Poiets of the olden time, and
above all, " the Bard of Avon, L.
4.i '•Runt ilk a wizard the world of the heart."„
The Oil perform last night is: indelited for,the ...cry limit-
ed attraction whic , it possesses, to the scenery, the music,
and the drew'. - It would require no ordinary exertion of
ingenuity intelligibly to relate the plot, If plot there be.
To us, and no doubt to the majority of the andiefice,
ilusunialo appeared to be a jumble of eonftßed incidents,
arising from atettending to elle knows,not. what. The etyle
is decidedly meld-dramatic, ,and we cannot help thinking
that it must originally have .beett. intended for .the
Coburg or Astley's, for which- it.. is inuch better
adapted than to the meridian CC' Drury lane. '
,Clipperformers all everted themselves,, %lilt . spirit, bu:
unavailingly. Mr. Beau played with his .characteristic
.energy and discrimination,. but even he was ineffective.;
yet he was warmly applauded in some pabltges, :and
throughout the audience ieemed i eluetant to ttiatdfet their
condemnation of the piece, lest it,shonld, he conitrned into
die-Approbation of the actor. Ta the itreValence_ of this
feeling only eau we attribute the exemplary
„patience with
which the audience listened to the Eve tedibnt acts of
this most stupid plal.rt. Towards the cofielusin of the
last act, tEe general dislatittaction beearite kno appafent to
be longer mistaken. The, cortain fell ctrudit hisses and
partial applause; and when Mr. Wallack, appeftted to ane
nominee the play for a amend rctreeentation, the disappro-
bation of the audience tnanifestett itself by crk's of " Off.
off!" and Mr. Wallach very pittdenVi made his bow, and
retired, without re-announcing ,the play.—Mesuairilo jai
understood to be. from the pen of Mr. Scone, a gentleman
who is already advantegtously known to the public ; but
we hazard litee by predicting, thit he will add nothing to
his fame by this, the titest of his dramatic efforts. The
; house was inconveniently crowded in.every part.
. .
.I)E.i 771 OF MAURICE O'CONNELL, ESQ.

. . (From the Dublin diforning ilegiater.l •
Died, on the 10th of February inst., at Lis seat at Darrinano.
the county of Keny, in the 98th year of his age, Maurice O'con-
nelf, Esq.
He was .the elder brother of General Daniel Count O'Connell,
Grand doss of the Order of the Holy (host; -that cousin of Mau.
rice Baron O'Connell, (hand Chamberlain to the Emperor of Aus-
tria,; and uncle to Counsellor OConnell.
lie retained his. mental faculties, bright and nneksedes/4 to the
last: ,they were of the highest order. llts judgment watctear and
firm, his perceptions rapid and distinct, Lis memory tenacious and
richly stored. Ilisrnasaners were of the stately cast which belonged
; to the "olden Court." and might have been accused of formality,
but that there mixed well with them a constant hilarity of spirits,
amt a natural pleasantry of mind, which, without being undigni.
Red, rendered him, as a cornpaulot, at once instructive and de.
•
The powers of his Mind continued unabated to toe last; and. in
his 98th year, there was a vigour of intellect about him, which our
readers have even recently admired In.his excejlent letter to the
Catholic Associstioo. put old age, which so frequently blunts the
intellect, does, in general, extinguish the feelings of the heart. 1:
was not so with Mr. O'Connell. llis affections were as lively, his
heart was as kind, and his friendship for bii relatives was as tender,
at his advanced age, as if he had been still in the flower ut youth
This seemed so peculiar to hint, that his cordial affections gloat,:
to the last with the most tender and kindly warmth.
Mr. O'Connell ms sincerely attached. to his ill-fated country,
and was anxious persevering in the struggle for her long•les:
rights. He rat also devoted to the " faith of his fathers,'' wai,
sincerity of belief which disphiyed !ts purity by the entire tenor t;..7
his life. His conduct was guided by an attention to the
of the Catholic ('hutch ; and all his actions wens regulated, no:
only by the high honppr or a gentleman, but by the sublime anal
awful precepts vf Cithclie morality. Ile died with the equanimaty
and firmness with which he had lived ; and, amidst all the consi..-
lations of the catholic rites, he deliberately viewed and met :hr.
; approach of death with sentiments of humble but Christian hope
and confidence.
Mr. O'Connell let a fine fortune. Ile was seised in le! of .n
estate, which was most singularly circumstanced, it having 111:Vtf
been forfeited, or subject to quit or crown rent. It rentaanrii to
his hands from the times of' the Irish law, without a single line of
title-deed of any muniment, save immemorial possession. Ile
we hear, distributed his personal fortune, amounting to alit it.
40,0001., bet Ween hii, three nephews. On tap of them, :Wm.,.
John and Jame\ O'Connell, he made large settlements in his 1:1:.•
time ; and on the third, (;ounsellor O'Connell, the greater par: of
his unsettled m 4.0 descend. _

The Speaker's Parliamentary dinners, for Saturday at:a
Sunda] next, are postponed, in consequence, it is stated, ot"
the death of one of the Right Honourable Cattleman's
Sisters.

It is said that Lord Ilowick oppose Mr. B.mumo::',
for Northumberland, at the next election.
Mr. Wilberforce is, in consequence of the cleclimeg
state of his health, abeut to retire from Parliament, the
sittings of which he has uninterruptedly adorned fbr e 7..
wards of 43 yeari:
The Freeman's Journal of Thursday last announces tl.e
departure of Mr. O'Connell and Mr. Shell from Duirlin.
These gentleinen arrived in London late on Wediterday
night.
Miss Foote has been engage,' to play three niglas at
Brighton. Mr. Russell is Said to have tempted her tif:y
guineal a night, the highest terms ever offered.
The Josephine, Manlove, arrived at Liverpool en Situ--
day night, from Lagua)ra. She is the first vessel undo.
the Colombian Rag that has entered that port since the
establishment of indepen4ence.
Trig GREEK Cif I E r °Fuss:vs.—This commander,
has become so famous in the history of the i;reek insurre,-
Lion, now resides in a cavern in the eastern declivity of
Parnassus. The place is absolutely inaccessible to aa
enemy : it can only he approached by six long nionst:a-
ridgea, rising almost perpendicularly one above the mire,.
The cavern is of very great extent, so that it could et,ntali
some thousand men. It has excellent water, which ii
preserved in eitterns which the new hermit had nmao
in 1523. Ile has also built a house detached flout V,e
walls of the cavern, seteral magazines, containing previ-
sions. ammunition, and even a kiosk, and he possesses
two field-pieces. Since the summer of 1524 he has had
with hint his wife, his mother, and the eltilstren of the
latter by a second marriage. One of the.,e,chilidren had
the misfortune, while playing on a terrace, tarsi! down the
precipice, where it was dashed to pieces. Me has, betides
these, no companion, except the well-knows Englishman
(Irishman) Trelawny, one of the most intimate friends of
. .. -
the ' e its 6:eacte for
Mavreaordato.

I

for'' coast of South America; afterwards 'ilie iLsired for Buenos the late Lord Byron, who was very active Ur Gmeee
The Paris Papers of Tuesday bring no news of much pelted to admit that " honesty is the brat policy,"— suffer any degree of persecution, on the ground of his Ayres, and strived at this port on Saturday night. The some months, aherwanls quarreled with Marreaordato. II
I rsPsirtaner. It w owed from Portugal, that M. Pis- and that, in these days, credit and good faith are as religious opinions. We hold this to he an axiom of the Chief is finely tattooed, after the fashion of his country, and is now au idle and discontententceispectator,—Artriau
'fiitO, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, will accom- necessary to a Monarch as to a merchant. There Constitution : we consiler it as an article in the charter of and is described as a vary good-looking savage.ii IVeluonr- Obsrver.
forenoon,
toto
be
ind.
in laesetoppriKinei ile
l'El Sir CHAIMES STUART to Brazil, in order to nego- is now another condition, to which FIRDIN•ND, or his British freedom, from the benefits of which no British illearisitl aunt da t p thatan about 11 o'clock a fire broke ant
este for the mother country the best terms that can be successor, must be tied down—that no part of the subject should be excluded; but, if the subjects of Ireland tiotainclinttgeli:shaarsristenanitlrarielisinulesattinghouse on Lud9 ate-hiff, f .y
formed of the pleas-tire of Government respecting the occlpieli be the Hope Insuranee Company.g
It was inettlii:
future disposal of his New 'Zealand Majesty.—L:ie-poiii upper part o£ the premises, but was git tinier wiihout is
device Catained, as the price of the r nition of the indepen- proceeds of a new loan shall be applied towards the have unhappily been excepted for ages from the equal par-
drice of the nay empire. The public confidence seems t 9 re-conquest of any portion of the Arnericag continent. ticipation of those belief o. rid if numbers in this king- Courier of iredges4l4j. h.ivirg done ary material dszt age.
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