The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-10-04 00:00:00

DRURY-LANE THEATRE.

Last evening Sbakspeare'a tragedy of Romeo and
was played at this theatre, for the purpose of' introducing
to the public a Mr. &indwell, from the Dublin theatre, in
the character of Ronieu, and Mr. Hoopoe in that of Mer.
eufia. It' this tragedy he not one of the finest acting plays
of' the immortal Bard, it at least abounds with the most
beautiful imagery and pocic feeling throughout. It has been
disputed from whence Shakspcare took his plot, whether
from the Giat!vita of Lenge da Porta, from the novel by
Massnico, or from Bandello's Tragical lliatorye Romeus
and Juliet, as translated from the Italian by Arthur
Brooke. It is, however, very possible that he con-
sulted them all; for it is quite clear that he was
perfectly acquainted with Italian literature, whether
in the original or' by translation is matter of little
consequence, seeing that the" Poet's eye, in a fine frenzy
rolling," always embodied in their fullest extent the habits,
manners, and character of those whom his mighty genius
raised to the pinnacle of never-dying fame. The story of
which we are speaking was, however, popular in England,
prior to the immortal stamp put upon it by the hand of
Shakapeare, and was the subject of dramatic representation
in the year 1362, several notices of it being to be found in
works of that period. It was, however, left to Shakapeare
to perpetuate the constancy of true love, as exemplified in
the play before us, and to render the memory of it im-
perishable. It is, however, quite time to come to the
Dramatis Persons of last evening, in doing which we beg
leave, in the first place, to notice Mr. Ilooper's Mercurio,
because from accidental circumstances we were unable to
notice his performances on Saturday evening, when he
first made his entree before a London audience. In person
Mr. Hooper is very prepossessing, tall, with just a suffi-
cient portion of solidity to make a handsome bust—fine
teeth, and a roguish sparkling eye. Ibis voice is somewhat
thick, and occasionally, certainly, as contemporaneous
criticism has said, is like that of Farley ; however, upon
the whole, his tout ensemble is greatly in iris favour. The
character of Mer.:etil is by no means of an easy cast, and,
from the notice we had seen of this gentleman a exertions
on Saturday, we confess we went with something like fear
and trembling; the result, however, has proved that our
apprehensions were unfounded, for Mr. Hooper certainly,
went throu* the cliaracsee with considerable ability. 041
certainly is not a Lewis—indeed, where is there one ? lie
may not be a Bannister, or an Ellistpn, or even come up to
Lewis's distant shadow, Jones, in die part ; but he un-
doubtedly stands next to him in merit, and his conception
of the part epproached the nearest to that of the very 1
clever performer just mentioned, but without being
liable to the charge of servility. The delivery of Queen
Malls nighdy travels was given with a very fair portion
of whimsical recite/len ; while his badinage with the Nurse
excited considerable applause, and his quarrel with Tubal,
and death, were certainly not inferior to those of any Mer-
calla of late date. We feel satisfied this gentleman will be a
very considerable acquisition to this theatre; he posseeses,
if not all, at least many of the requisites for lively comedy,
and we feel assured that, as he becomes more known, his
merit will be the more apparent. We understand he is
but now recovering from severe indisposition ; there was,
however, but little appearance of it this evening. Mr.
Southwell must excuse us (for the reason we have stated)
for not having taken him up pre-eminentlyon this occasion,
which is certainly due to the character of Romeo. Of the
person of this gentleman we cannot give a very favourable
report: he is tall, but thin to a fault, and his face admits'
of little expression, and is by no means of a manly cast.
His voice is somewhat coarse, and certainly not well
adapted for the harmonious measure of Romeo's love ; and
there is a disagreeable whine and sort of hysterical catch in
it, which occasionally had a very unpleasant tfllm ; at the
same time his delineation of the character was highly im-
passioned—somewhat too boisterous in some parts, but cer-
tainly far above mediocrity. In point of originality, Mr.
Southwetl's representation of the character perhaps does not
lay claim to any considerable attention. Ile has evidently
studied the manner of Kean, as well as Macready, and has
compounded them with some dexterity. Upon the whole,
however, for we cannot particularize, the performance was
highly creditable to the talents of this gentleman, who, if
not a great, is at least a good actor, when the physical dis-
advantages under which he labours are considered. Mrs.
W. West's Juliet was a highly impassioned piece of act-
ing, a: times, perhaps, not sufficiently subdued, but
still far above the grade of many Juliets we have seen with
more pretension. Mr. Archer's T.eku/t, and Mr. Pope's
Friar taierenee, were very respectable performances, par-
ticularly the latter, and the Benc.A. and Montague of
Younge and Thompson, told very well in the little they
had to do. We had almost forgot Mrs. Harlowe's Nurse;
it would certainly have lost nothing by being somewhat
more like Mrs. Davenport's. At the falling of the curtain
the applause was considerable, and the announcement of a
repetition of the tragedy on Tuesday next was very favour-
ably received. The house was respectably attended, but
did not present any thing like an overflow till half price.
The performances concluded with Arai Masan, which
has lost none of its charms since last season.

SAM Ele2 iirrtt.s.—Oti Monday niAht this Theatre
closed for the season, when the following Address was
delivered by Mr. !Midi,' :
" Ladies and Gentlenten,—l am desired by the proprietors to
present their most grateful thanks for the success of a season more
prosperous than any they have taperienced for many years.
Nearly forty seasons bock, in the merry days of the dancing
rupeds. it was said, that it' the dogs had not come to S;ulier's
Sadler's Wells must have gone to the dogs. In the present season
we cannot but own the ponies roll kindly to our assistance, and
enabled the proprietors to be foremost in that race, in which it will
be ever their pride to endeavour to outstrip their eonme, titors for the
prize of your tavottr. Our stage has also bad to boast of many
successful novelties and revivals: and, during the whittle period
which will Intervene between this and our re-opening, the proprietors
will make every exertion to procure new and improved amusements
in the rare-ground and on the stage. For your liberal patronage
during the benefits I hove to join tberespeetful acknowleds,mtents of
the performers with soy own, and, in the name of the whole tate-
bliahment. to wish you all pleasure and prosperity till a future
1.0311011 shall yield new opportunity of striving to deserve your conti-
nued kindness.

......
The following notification was posted at Lloyd's yes-
terday afternoon:—
TUESDAY. OCT. 3, 1826.
The Swedish vessel Catherine Hanson, from Guernsey to Ant.
warp, has been mixed at Flushing, in consequence of trading con-
trary to the Navigation lows of Gotland, which allow only goods
the produce of Sweden to be imported into Holland by Swedish
vessels.