The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-03-15 00:00:00

THEATRES.

OPERA-HOUSE.
lie norm of Le None di Figaro it.
perrst mformed
nhnSatitritay flight at this theory, for the fi tie
this privorn. The novelties of character slow intro-
:ire Nlsdaine BELLOCI4I, in the part of No-
; AstatisANt, a• Fitroro; and Signor
Kaui xll as Bartok. Several songs and duets were
0„„mi, and the whole opera was given in a style
brilliaoce and perfection worthy of its high rook
ibl a 111 IVO VA COOl 1/0.1 I 1011.
The thcatre was very numerously attended.
ortuite-t. ARE.
A nest tragi-comedy, in five acts, was repre-
sented here, nu Saturday evening. It to the f pro-
duction of Mr. Solari:, the successful auth or o
',writ minor drama-, and appears to have barn
written, in order to display, in the strotigest pos)l4.
crawl awl otrikill pecultorities of 51r.
laglit, the
Ktsn's stile of acting. With this view, Mareoi,
the D,„,„t of limiter, is painted HP 14 1/1•1 Ilg Dui..
r rd in mind. than per-on. Ills
intely more derou n
heart is the seat of ell those mini: and vindictive
ion% of those baleful qualitie4, which Mr.
EAY
,fr„rribra with 14)411 fearful excellence.
'K
Ile trusts mankind in getserol, but the chief
object of his abhorrence is his brother Giglio, whose
very kindness to him fights up in his breast the
mist &radio! ani otiosity --Ad animosity that pis
k his life. Gin& I% 4111 the point of
km tr. see
the rich and beautiful
itnarried to ifaraisda,
leht.:riros or a Neapolitan Nobleman', mid the Dwarf,
waitlestod at the idea of his brother', approachiog
,I„nusvc. br means of a forged letter, *lnch lie
srtfuliv eill,ell to he conveyed into ttriveshe etsktoet,lix coon
-
vuol. g the MarTillge prelttnti, coo
Giviio Ole guilt of bring a traitor to the Slide. His
Nniihm,,,t is the consequence, lost molting less
Own his death can satisfy the liters'''. This object
br 5,..f10s to attain by the esnplo meta of It bine°,
who is dispatched in pursuit of home, at
lovely gigl, who. disguised as a page, has lung at
ou the picot/ (being, mirabile dicta. ClOl.
loomed of this deformed fiend), now diseiivera her-
self, sod, with all the eloquence of virtue, mat 01l
tie tenderness of female sensibility. ettalrovours to
alls.aniatr him how his pernicious desigti. [ler I
tear,. sod entreaties are vaio.—the Dwoef us oli•lsilken
I.v any " compunctions visiting, of iiatute"—but
lama. determined, if possible, to save him, though
notioat his desire. from the perpetration of so
accursed anact, •as " a brother's enurritr." pursues
end overtakes the bravo. Her reproof of this mi-
nister of vengeance has as little effect on him, as
her entreaties previously lied on the Dwarf. The
bravo hastens to do the bidding of his employer.
but is detained for a moment by Immo, from whose
grasp lw extricates himself by plunging his stiletto
in her breast. When dying, she delivers to Ormond,
who happens to arrive at the moment, a let
taiga ter ada
-
dressed to the Leg of Naples,whirl*
(Ilocloltlifie alba menstrual' villainy of the Dwarf.
The consequences are, the restoration of it•iitho
the honours of which he haul been unjustly
deprived. his union with Amanda, and the death
of the /hoar/ who falls setrieless on the ground,
sweessheltned with dirpsir, when lie perceives that
Providence Inn destroyed, in a moment, all his
deep-laid schemes. sod horrible mischinations. The
ramie part of this drams, which is very inconsidera-
ble, consists in the gaiety of Orstood, a lively de-
tiauclwe, end the stupidity of Gan, an igooritsit
booby. who, having given the slip to his tutor, a
pruning pedagogue, wishes to enjoy the pleasures of
Nitric*, but falls into one or two very unpleasant
*nu:Onto*. The fable of this dram, is meagre, al.
twist beyond precedent. We are nut ourselves
friendly to that laborious complexity of plot. to
that endless variety of incident, which distract the
attention sod offend the judgment in Wan, modern
pltys—but we are as little pleased with that bar.
seu simplicity. which conceives that two or three
circumstances are sufficient in a play of five acts.
if the redundancy of materials, in the one ease.
puzzi.* the mind, their paucity dis„otists it ii the
other. The middle course, by which the atten-
tion is awakened, but never fatigued. is avidoubt.
verily the wisest. The principal male and female
character, those of Nalresi and barna. are out of
tisture. The passions and feelings of every charac-
ter 0100.1 be elicited by commensurate causes.
But no sufficient reason appears for the brutal (ego-
tity, for the inalignatat fury of Malresi, and still
less eau the conduct of imam, in forming an at-
tachment to se depraved and misshapen a wretch,
he reconciled with the shrinking sensibility of the
If. mole character, which would shudder at the idea
of a connexion with deformity of. body. and l•ideuus
losthsomeuess of wind. The style in which the
tragedy is wrtteri is rigatoni as well as elegant.
Many passages occur strongly marked by the force
end felicity of express which distinguish the hest
productions of our eat ly druniatists, who trulycen
are •• the gush of Mr. SOANeS iaiitatrv." llu
:figures are. in general, energetic and appropriate—
some of them are indictive of a highly poetical
fancy, which can grasp and subdue to its purpose
all that is graud or mmute, all that is &attune or
:terrific. in nature. Some parts of the plat, appear.
ed to as to bear a too-striking similitude to SIIAK•
-11PEARC—a similitude bordering on imitation. Thus
fthileesi's opening " descant on his own defier-
tnity," unmediatoty celled to mind the soliloquy
or gichArd—sod,wlien lie appeared perattibu.
laming the parker, in his sleep, it was evident
that Lady Moaned, furnished the hint. oo the
character of Alairesi. Mr. SUAVE has lavished
all his powers. it is the prop owl stay of the
.drama, and suits, in every !mint of vie*, the
:peculisr t;dects of Mr. Ecairr. It iv Ins esitiri-tv
.and exclusively. No actor of the present alay.cimlrl
tritiblyitist a picture of the bad passions
.which prey 011 Mali:saes *out. His rrformatire
of this poet niust be rooked along with she velar -tit
and most sarcces-ful of his preceding efforts. The
appslling ferocity of his manner, when he chal-
!raged his brother to single coinhat, tlus? horrible
delight with which be ghotted out the blood that
stained Ins sword. while ire 4escribeil those who had
fallen vietim• to his savage vengeance, the keen mid
bitter irony, with which, when he limit efeeted the
ruin of las brother, he excliticir d, " Brother, 1
.pity you 1" mid hie cuitteludiog <l,e,our, were all an
Iltv finest so, le of this great actor. Thr aeon of
bows, a tisrfr Altallrhw, was perlormed lit Mrs. W.
WEST with 'witch ferliiit:. The dr'lsh or limn, by
aline haud.of the essaissin, au vollit, as utmcc,s.m, y as