The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-10-10 00:00:00

DRURY-LANE THE 47' RE.

a new musical
Last evening was produced at thisanth,ei,amtree
romance, called The White Ludy, or the Spirit
with Boieklieu's music. A version of the same 'Were ha's'
astounded every theatre in France, and the composer has
gained as much renown there by his music in Le
Blanche sea French Marshal formerly would in gaiiiieg
victory. Every town and city h homage to his
genius, though it will, we think, require more
fire about it. There is little similarity bit np ;
w e judgment
tii
than Englishmen posscss to find anything like the
of the French piece and the one now produced, M. Sere
the author of the former, having blended the fiction of the
Ludy of :faced with the return of Henry Bertram G
Marin( riug.
The piece of last night opens with the re-urn of Roland Brame
from the wars to the Falconer's Cottage on the Avenel en„ in
consequence of a mysterious warning that he In., had in a r ti;
that he should seek his fortunes in his native ci entry, Hitt;;
pardeulars of his birth lie is wholty unurii„
nra
known to Adam IVondeock Chi: falconer), and I. his wife, °anai
l
youth that when an infant hail accidentally tumbled tram atoat
and was saved by the assistance of a Newhiundland dog. Rautiii
on his return home, after many years of absence, is the meats of
saving a lady from the grasp of ruffians, one of whom t amid
Christie, in the course of the resistance offered, obser; es a mark on
his throat, by which he knows him to be nn other than the child intrusted to biro by the false Baron of Avenel, when an infant to
drown in the lake. Roland, impelled by an invincible recant, a,•
sing out of his dream, is on his way to invoke the spirit oftEe lady
of the fountain in order to le irn his destiny, and solicits the
company of Adam Woodcock, the Falconer, to this place.
Ilayttig arrived there at the hour of twelve, and moonlight, the
necessary invocation is mule; the White Lady appears from the
Fountain, and replies to his invocation by urging her to elk his
fortunes in the Castle of Avenel. The scene is now transferred to
the Hall of Avenel, when Jußan, the brother of the late Lord,
and uncle of Roland, whom he supposes to have been drowned by
his creature Christie, under the circumstances stated, is about to be
installed—no other heir having appsared—into rightful posses.
shut on the following slay. A mordi ig to the legend, the ,taus
of the White Lady of Avenel neetr remains on its peeeest
but when the Castle is its possess on of the rightful owner,
and therefore it has necessarily b eat absent ever slate the
th of the late Lord. Christie niw informs the Baran of
the reappearance of Roland, and 'h y concert by what means
they shall effect his destruction, when, in order, as they think,
to aid their purpos', lie strives at the castle, seelVng favour
and protection as a t avcl'er frir one night, agreeable Cu the laws of
hospitality of the house of Avenel. This is granted, and for the
creaser security in dispatching him, he is lo 'iced in the Wiese
batty's chamber in the haunt d part nettle emelt. Lit a, she wife
of the Grand Falconer, having concerted a little ruse with her fr.
male neighbours against an amorous friar, entrap him into a boat,
*Weil takes down the mill stream, and lie is upset ; a his 'ending
he is a sailed by these ladies, habhed in white, w h to cies in
their b eels, and, not being above the vulgar p ejud as of
his mote unenlightened neighbours, imagines hit self under
the influence of Vie White Lady, or rather Ladies. and, w•th
his head muffled in his cowl, begins to mars hi hide
reccadillocs. At teas juncture the Falconer arrives, and, hearing
the confession that he had ki.sed his wife, falls upon sum without
mercy, and the result is, his denied .g op s letter lie had •ectived,
as the accomplice. ofChr We, planning the murderer Roland, thew.
silicate or marriage of the former Baran with lady Mar arc (which
event had been matte- edoubt),and other documents. The k'alcuaer
hastens to the Castle to prevent the impending murder of Roland,
while Lilies, his wife, flies to the convent to obtain the assistance of
the Abb 0. By this time Roland has arrived in the haunied cham-
ber, where the Baron's daugh er, who, as is usual in such cases, vu
no other than the lady lie had rescued from the robbers, hat ng
overheard his i sipendin rdo seer, haa hastened to warn hint of his
fam; a mutual recogni ion takes place, and vows of eternal con-
stancy are the consequence. Roland, overcome by the (fleets of a
sleep ng potian that had been ad niaistered to hint by Christie, is
so n y depeted of the power of resistance, and Christie ease's
h °ugh a s ice it passage m .de in a picture, and is ab ut to deep itch
R land, wh n Adam Woodcock, the Falconer enter, through a
w dow. interp set. At this i.ir mire the Abbot arrives, and
ties p r e• a e swims ned so tie ft in of Statues, the vacant petits.
tat being in he centre of the stage. 'flu: Baron defies the written
prea s brought in !avour of his nephew, ut co:teems to place the
rsite on the fulfilment of the legend ut the statue. On the entrance
o Itolan ', the sa ue takes iis staiion, and the spirit of the White
Lady is appeme i• see 1 winging its way to realms above.
Such is the outline of the piece, and the characters were
aliotted as lo low:
Juean o Ave .el - Mr. A *CHER.
RuMncl Gr me 31r. Hoax.
Fath r Sites ce - - Mr. YOVNGE.
Fah r Ph I p Mr. J. RUSSELL.
Adam Woaceo:k - Me. Heiseee.
Christie Ale 0. SMITH.
The Wt ite La ty - Nis! I. PATON.
Mary of Avenel s Miss Gaannog.
Lilian -. Miss KELLY.
Margaret 31iia A. Tam
lb rn, in Roland Grime, played and sting very effectively;
and Harley, as the Falconer, somewhat jcslous of his
wife, was amusing enough, and certainly made the most,
as he generally does, of what lie had to do. 0. Smith, in
Christie, was the most perfect epitome of assassins; his
entrance and exit through the picture of a warrior in-
to and out of the haunted chamber was oast enough.
Mr. Archer, in the Baron, did much justice to the part
elicited him ; and, Russell in the Friar, drunk with the water
of the mill stream instead of wine, and fancying he still beard
the air sung by his tormentors, and which uas !clown as
I that which accompanied Tee White Lady, was pleas:a .t
es ough. It is impossible to conceive anything finer thou
Miss I. Paton's appearance from the fountain as the spirit
to a beautiful peal on the organ ; and the unearthly manner
in which she gave the recitative and air directing Boland to
proceed to Avenel, will not easily be forgotten by those
who heard it. Fur Li/ins Miss Kelly dill every thing she
could ;—in any other hands it would have been a failure.
Miss Grachlon sang remarkably well ; we wish we could
say as much for her actin!, ; and Miss A. 'free played her
confidante ; but the hero:l.4nm] of a sone, with dancing at
the end of' each verse, was any thing but well received.
In point of fact, with thei exception of the invocation scene,
there is not an original thought or idea in the piece, nor is
there a character worthy of notice.
Of M. Bereltlieu we may make free to speak hereafter ;
suffice it now that the overture is about the most efficient
part cf his contribution. 'floe airs interspersed are by no
means of a striking character ; there is, however, a tno to
the air of " Grand Dieux," " Oh, yes, at the midnight
hour," sung by Harley, Horn, and Miss Kelly, that was
highly and deservedly applauded. The music of the invo-
cation scene, by Mr. 'F. Cooke, was of a very superior cha-
racter, and the composition of the spirit's song entitles him
to high praise. Of the scenery, by Stanfield, it is impos-
sible to speak hi adequate terms of approbation. The Fal-
coner's farm, the valley of Glentlearg, with the enchanted
well, and that of the mill-etream, are equal, if not supe-
rior, to any thing that has hitherto proceeded from the
pencil of this talented man. We must net omit to
notice the beautiful cff.ct of the rising of the fountain
and the appearance of the spirit ; these specimens of
ingenuity, the unearthly drapery of the White Lade,
the figure of the transparent marble statue taking its
place on the pedestal its the last scene, and the as-
cent of the spirit, were Futticient to redeem even this piece
from the fate that we Gar would otherwise have attended it.
The applause was tolerably general on Harley's announcing
it for repetition to-morrow. We had almost forgot to men-
tion that the Romance was preceded by the play of Pizarm,
in which Mrs. NPGibbon made her appearance in Eteira,
after an absence of five years. This lady appears to have
benefitted much during her absence, and we have no
doubt will be a considerable acquisition to the thew..
%Veiled( was very successful in ileffa ; and Cooper, who leis
transplanted himself from Covent-garden, since last week,
was the Alonzo. Not the least effective part was that ut'
l'izarro, and we are very difficult to please in this respect.
from our recollection of Barrymore ; for Mr. Bennett did
all of which the character is susceptible, and much
more than most actors of his standing could effect. It
is but common justice to Mrs. West to say she is a de-
lightful Cora, and, taking the play altogether, it was ex-
ceedingly well performed.

DEATH OF MR. CONNOR.—We lament to state that
Mr. ConnOr, of evvent-garden Theatre, after dims s' with
some theatrical friends on Saturday evening, on his way
home through St. James's Park, was attacked with a fit of-
apoplexy, tell down, and expired. lie was respected as a
sumac friend and well-bred gentleman by all who had the
pleasure of his acquaintance. S'nee Jack Johnson he has
been the only efficient representative of Irish characters.
A p'an is said to have been concerted for the total aboli-
tion of the Star system, as it is called, at the regular thea-
tres, which only awaits the arrival of Mr. Price to he con-
firmed. Should the Managers and Proprietors agro, teed
theatre will gradually acquire a good company of actors,
after the manner of the old school, which these Managers.
by their profligate competition, and high salaries given to
individuals, have during late years, sadly unt!ermived.
merely to gratify ;be inordinate vanity and extra%,inn th.-
mautl4 of actors who call theme:lris Stars.

GERMAN P.4PERS.

IifyNICH, KEPT. ^_7.

We have positive information that the King his not only
of the plan fur building a Protestant Church in 31alLallilion.
apart. in this city, but sent order* front Aschaffenburg to pr Bred
immediately to take the necessary steps fur laying the foundation.
so that we may hope rind a want which has long been aor.sitily felt
by the Prote.tant inhabitants of this capital, will anon he remedied,
sesl the wi►h expressed by the states of the kingdom be fulfilled.
At a time when the attention of the public is engaged by the im-
portant *tear ri of removing the University trtall !sandshoe to the
capital, we bate to acknowledge a new proof of his dlajesty's mag.
niticence in having assigned a mum of tilkfttOU florins tram 1 is privy
pie e, foe an establishment to be founded by his Majesty at Frey-
nog. tat cbilurr n born blind. The interest of this sum i t appro.
priatcd to the eststillrittment en perpetuity ; but the capital is to be
employed in arais:lng poor landownsra who ate not able to mike
the payments required 14 the law on mortgages, and yet Find it dif-
ficult to procure money to such loans will lie mwle. not below KM
r •r above 300 :huins. This truly royal ins:mince nee recalls to mind
tile generous ne.i•:rtnce which Ida Majesty lies granted out of his
privy purse in the course of the year, and which amounts, we have
flame. to shove Nit,ento Vein., exclusive of the sums which he has
granted to the indigent from the treasury of the household, and of
the ►:u'e sums which be has magnificently contributed fur the relief
of the Or.eks.

SWITZEALAND, SEPT. 34.

We learn from Naples that, on the 4th instant, two Swiss Kegi-
Menai had their Moors presented to them in a very solemn and ho-
nourable ',wirer. The King a..d Queen and ;loyal Family, with
tile Court, were on a rai.tal stage, riikuilidly decorated, in the mid.
tile .quart,. formed by the troops. Hasa having been preformed
by the Ent Chaplain of the Court, the King, with the most Litter-
ing rspre.aion,delivereil the colours to the Colonels. The oath was
then tarn, and Tr Oran performed. The ceremony, which lasted
two hours and a half, was secompailiel with continued salutes from
the guns of the fortress and the ships of war. —Frwirkfirt Papers,
Oct. 30.