The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-01-17 00:00:00

COVE T-G AiDEN 27IEATRi:

. . .
Some time ago, our readers wiil recollect, the tragedy of
Othello was get up at this house, with considerable exertion ,
on the pert of the management, and with no small atten-
tion to the proprieties of tress, scehery, and decoration.
The tailors and colourists. were put in requisition—the
scene-shifters and upholsterers played their parts to admi-
ration—and the consequences were, great beauty and accu- •
racy in all the mechanical accessariis to the illusion of the
scene. This was Well. Mihaly cab be More desirous than
ourselves that Deedentondabeil should be properly laid out,
Rodtrigo's riff starched te. a4licety, and the Moor's coat
and complexion of the ortiwilowitue.• Frills and furbelows
are matters of the utmost ihlporrance, and it is entirely ne:.
cessary that the most potenr., grave, and reverend signiors'
eomprsing the Venetian. seiiate should have their beards
adequately adjusted. These affairs were all .fitly ordered
on the occasion alluded to. No master of the ceremonies
at Bath, or Brighton, or Vauxhall—not the inimitable
Beau Nash, or the exquisite Bean BruMingl, or the Mem-
parable Mr. Simpson himself, maid have done it better ; and ,•
as we have said, this was muck—but, unfortunately, it was
not all. Something more was necessary to the due perform-
ance of OthcM), and that was, an actor capable of represent-
ing the character of Othello. Now; at the moinene we al-
lude to no such person could 'refound. That was awkward,
No mutter, a gentleman was putforward—we cannot exactly
recollect his name at a short notice and thii present writing
—(perhaps it is well for him tee cannot)—however, suffice
it to say he went on, for the character was praised by some,
of our discerning contemporaries, censured by us, scouted
by the public, and now reposes in the modest retirement
suitable to his merits.

Lacking an Othello, as the management did not think it
quite prudent to continue the performance or the piece
with the omission of the principal character, Mr. U.
Kesnb'e himself has undertaken to supply the deficiency.
Certainly he has nobody in his company, as it is at present
constituted, so well qualifiedto do it as himself. We will go
farther and add, since Keasahas descried its for America, and
Young and Macready are among the missing, there is no aetor,
on the English stage able to perform the character as it
ought to be performed, if Mr. Kemble - He is, to 1
our thinking, a good, a Versatile, and, why should we not
say ? a great actor. His greatriess hail been, indeed, of slow
and gradual growth ; and mum are always less willing to
admit the' inaptitude of a thing whose growth they have
had opportunities of inspecting, than of one suddenly pre-
sented to their vieW in iteomplete state; at least as complete'
as it ever alter becoines,
If Mr. C. Kemble's Othillo is not co intense in its
nature as that of the other performers, it is noire various.
What it wants in violence it greats to have gained in grace.
The apology, as it is called, to the Senate was singularly
beautiful and successful—it united a fine soldierly blunt-
ness with true natural passion, breaking out towards the
conclusion where Othello comes to speak of the effects of
his narrative upon his mistress. In the third act, which
is the trial one fcr. the performer, Mr., Kemble marked tl.e
nice shades of incipient jealousy, and distinguished theta
from the more confirmed .trytuptonis of settled passion,
afterwards apparent, with great delicacy arntskill. That
splendid piece of military regret, ending with " Othello's
occupation's gene," was beautifully delivered by the actor
and warmly appreciated by the audience. But the triumph
of the scene (the second of the third act) consisted in the
mode of giving the; speech beginning " if thou • (lost
slander her, and torture me,"—it was enthusiastically ap-
plauded. In the last act Mr. Kemble was scarcely less
successful. Ills fine declamatory powers, aided by the
sudden and spirit, bursts of passion which characte-
tisa his of actin& alworredeo "Asa acLuantage. Itia-oc•
tion, always graceful, though sometimes redundant and of
the Oriental cast, is not unsuited to the part ; and at the
close lie Was greeted with applause, which must have been
satisfactory, as it was well deceived.

On Sunday Prince Leopqld dined with his sister the
Duebes3 of Kent, at her Royal Highness's residence in the
Kiug's Pal,ice, Kensington. His Royal Highness after-
wards proceeded to his mansion in Pall-mall.
Yesterday being the Duke of thoucester'a birth-day,
when his Royal Highness completed his forty-ninth year,
the tradespeople of his Royal 'Highness illuminated their
boosts in the evening.
Late on Sunday night, or early yesterday morning, des-
patobes were received at the Foreign Office from Portugal.
Ycste:day morning a Messenger arrived in London from
the lord Lieutenabt of Ireland, to the Earl of Liverpool.
Yesterday morning at eleven o'clock the Earl of Liver-
pool arrival in town, and transacted business at his house
in Whitehall, till half-past three o'clock, when the Noble
Earl left town on his return to Coombe Wood.

Mr. Secretary Canning returned to town
.yesterday
morning, and transacted business during the day at the
Foreign Office.
' Yesterday Mr. Wallace, the Master of the Mint, trans-
acted business at the Treasury.
Viscount Melville transacted business at the Colonial
Office yesterday..
Yeskrelay the despatches for 'St. Helena, Bombay, and
•by the ship Lord Lowther, • Captain Charles
Steward, were eloked at the East ludia Buise, and deli-
vered to the purfitr of that ship. •• •
fhaltam and Miss Paton are to be the here and heroine
of Weber's new opera at Covent-garden'Theitre. This
popular uanupoaer is shortly expected in London, and will
himself suptrintend dud prepare his opera for repre-
sentation.

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