The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-09-26 00:00:00

,CRURk-EANE.'.

On Saturday this theatre opened for the season. The
performances were Raising thelrind, which is a favourite
with managers in general; for resjons that may be guessed
at ; and Faustus, which is a favourite with milliners in
particular, because it is a sort of raising the Devil in a
quiet way. We had our old Peiend Harley as new as ever
in Jeremy Didier and Wagner ; indeed, there were no
raising the wind" without him ; and we ate Veatly' to
back him against Faustus, or any magician of them all, for
raising the spirits ! Who ever took honest James IVal-
lack tgr a conjuror !—yet is he as good a Faustus as any
one can desire ; and, in the drinking scene, proves him-
self a superlative /mile-conjuror, and quite capable of
looking /Pep into the glees of—futurity. We were happy
to observe, and join in, the cordiality manifested by the
audience at his first appearance on the scene ; and equally
rejoiced to see him looking well in spite of the Mite devils of
Goethe and Mr. Scene. We assure Misses Pow y and 1.
Paton, on the word of a critic, that they looked as gretty
in our eyes as their lovers or looking glasses could represent
them; and surely that is sufficient. Their singing, too,
was "prettily done i faith." Miss Graddon succeeded the
Stephens in .Aline ; and we arc well pleased to say, she
sweeeetkd. Her song in the second act called down an
encore, as it deserved to do. .Mr. Bedford was loud hi
.Gronosei, and Mr. Fitzwilliam lackadaisical in Beec,3).
We should have thought very well of the latter, had
it not been for our remembrance of Knight ; not that
we mean to charge Mr. Fitzwilliam with at all put-
ting us in mind of him—quite the contrary. However,
Mr. Knight is still one of the.company, if we may judge
from his being set down for Silky, in the Road to Ruin,
on Tuesday se'nnight, and we wish him to resume his own
characters—that's all. It Is only left to remark on the
performance of the Printer': Devil, by Mr. J. Russell.
(By the way, our readers will recollect, Faustus was a
printer, and in future we wieb every typographical demon
to be denominated a " Mephistophiles —it is n,..tch more
elegant and cleanly than the old appelleion.) Mr. ltussell is
wrilknown hi his performancer of Shylock at Covent-
garden, and Pitch at the Haymarket. We leave it to his ad-
'MITA to say whether lie is greatest as the Jew or the
pickpocket—tire characters may be more,closely connected
than is commonly imagined. We have at present only to
do with this gentleman's personation of Mephistaphiks,
which. while we allow that it is respectable (a respectable
Devil !) we are bound to say is much inferior to Terry's,
"whose dry, iron and sarcastic tone and manner, har-
monized excellently with our conceptions of the fiend," as
we remarked at the period of the first production of this
melodrame.

Some judicious alterations have been made in the
theatre. among which we do not include the semicircular
shape uiven to the orchestra ; because although it improves
the appearance of that part of the house, it is a sad en-
croachment on the rights and privileges of us critics of
" the front row." But let that pass. There has been no
stint of varnish and gilding, and the faces of the boxes and
the chorus singers have been new painted.
Dowton re-mimes his station as Sir John Fuhtaff on
Tuesday, and an Old Dornton, of whom report speaks
highly, is shortly forthcoming. We wish him and the
theatre every success. There was a very good house on
Saturday.

WINDSOR. SUNDAY, SEPT. 23.

The King attended divine service this morning at the
Royal Lodge, which was performed by the Rev. Dr.
Sumner.

The Princess Augusta and the Duchess of Gloucester,
accompanied by their Ladies in Waiting, attended divine
service at the parish church of New Windsor, where a
sermon was preached on behalf of the charity children, by
the Rev. W. L. Rham, Vicar of AVinkfield.
The First Life Guards marched from their barracks this
morning, to those of the Fcot Guards, where divine ser-
vice was perfermid to them in the Barrack-square.
The King took his daily drive in the Park yesterday,
and paid a visit to the Castle, where his Majesty inspected
the progress of the il'tftrcnt works, &c. and afterwards re-
turned to the Royal Lodge to dinner.

ARRIVAL OF THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF

CLARRNCE.
Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of
Clarence embarked on Monday afternoon last, at Antwerp,
on board the Royal Sovereign yacht, which had been sent
there to convey their Royal Highnesses to England.
Their Royal Highnesses' carriages and horses, together
with part of their suite, went on board a Government
steam-packet. The Duke and Duchess dined on board the
yacht, and on Tuesday morning set sail, in company with
the steam-packer, with the intention of proceeding to Dept-
ford ; but the weather became so very rough and stormy
on Wedneaday evening, that the two vessels lost sight of
each ot4ter,
and the yacht was driven off' the coas• of Nor-
folk. The Duke and Duchess, in consequence, landed at
Yarmouth, on Thursday evening, where their Royal
Highnesses slept that night, and proceeded on Frida)
morning to Newmarket, and there dined and remained till
Saturday morning, when their Royal Highnesses left, and.
arrived at their temporary residence in Charles-street,
Berkeley-square, about four o'clock in the afternoon, at-
tended by Sir enry Blackwood and Baroness Ilanstane.
The steam-packet, aftim a very boisterous passage, reached
Deptford on Saturday, when their Royal Highnesses' suite
landed, and proceeded to town.
About five o'clock the Duke. and Duchess left town in
their carriages and four, for their residence at Bushy.

A Cabinet Council was• held on Saturday afternoon, at
one o'clock, at the Foreign Office, which was attended by
the l)uke of Wellington, the Earls of Liverpool and \Vest-
moreland, Mr. Secretary Canning, Mr. Secretary Peel, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Wynn, &c. The
Cabinet continued in deliberation three hours.

John Bull of yesterday states that the Bishop of Barba-
does has returned to England to be married to Miss 114.il
nell, the amiable and accomplished daughter of the learned
Dean of Winchester.

It is said that William Merry, Esq. the Deputy Secre-
tary at War, is about to retire, and that he will be suc-
ceeded in office by Laurence Sulivan, Esq.—The office of
Superintendent of Army Accounts is to be abolished.
Dowton and Miss Kelly, since our former announce..
ment, have been engaged. at• Drury-lane Tin-atm.—The
former, after a two years' absence, appears as Falstaff on
Tuesday night.
The alterations and improvements made in Drury-lane
Theatre, during the vacation, are of the following nature:
The gold in front of the boxes hat been cleansed and re-
burnished, and the front of the boxes painted of a straw
colour. The red devices in front of the lower tier of pri-
vate boxes have been effaced, and the panels are now or-
natnented with alternate medallions and antique scrolls in
yellow, the centre of each scroll containing a bronze
(painted) bust of some dr tmatic author, Shaspeare, of
course, occupying the Lont of the house. The roof has
been painted to correspond with the facade of the boxes,
and the old gold ornaments have been rebutnished. The
red draperies have been changed to green, and the crimson
velvet panels so beautifully folded between the gold Co-
rinthian columns at the side of the proscenium, have given
place to plain fronts of deep green velvet, ornamented with
the old gold devices and borders. The most material im-
provement consists in an enlargement of the orchestra,
which is brought out, in a bold sweep, to the sixth or se-
venth row in the centre of the Pit, the trespass upon the
space of which, is compensated for by an increased num-
ber of benches in the back ground, in what was formerly
the vacant space for passing to the seats, this passage being
now supplied by openings into the Pit, through what last
season were the two extreme private boxes.
The alterations and additional rooms recommended
by a Committee of last ti,:ssion to be made in the House
of Lards, near the Royal entrance, have been commenced.
Great improvement will be made in the Bishop's staircase.
Workthen hive lately raised a scaffold to repair the south-
west end of Westminster Hall.

A very convenient Bail Court adjoins the new Court of
King's Botch at Westininater.
Seven gold coins, in the most perfect state, have been
found upon Holyhead Mountain, by a woman digging
peat, for firing. They were coined in the reign of Con-
stantine the Great, and ceusequeutly are nearly fifteen
hundred roars old.