The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-03-11 00:00:00

DRURY-LANE ORATORIO.

The mutability of man's pursuits, whether in business
Of pleasure, is among the most striking characteristics of
his nature ; and in no instance, perhaps, has the love of
change more unhesitatingly, or, indeed, harmlessly exhi-
bited itself than in its operation on the ancient materiel of
Leaf Oratorios. The only wonder is, that any attempt
should be made, at this time, to corceal or varnish over so
rseusable a deviation. The change " from grave to gay"
bas been made already, and made with success ; still, how-
I ever, the discretion of the Director hesitates between a
sacred performance and what is termed a miscellaneous
concert. It would be difficult to persuade Mr. Bochsa that
the very interior of a theatre most effectually destroys the
stately character and solemn expression, the divine energy
and thrilling pathos, of sacred music. Its population is too
fluctuating and too clamorous. The meretricious magnifi-
cence of faded beauty, and the mechanical visages of the
sons of men displayed by gas-light, make up the chief con-
tribution to a Lent Oratorio ; and by the audience of last
night, Handel, from whose works the first part of the per-
formance was selected, teemed to be regarded with no pe-
culiar venendion. They rather tolerated the tediousness
than felt the sublime intelligence of his mighty spi-
rit. The only exception was in favour of Braham'a
beautiful and pathetic expression in Luther's cele-
brated hymn. The audience really seemed in this
instance to feel the truth and tenderness of the able
singer's performance, and " Luther's Hymn" was
justly encored. Mrs. Salmon sang with her unfailing sweet-
ness, " Holy, Holy, Lord." The translator of ileacrees
is severe upon some of the modern writers of Latin verses,
and one of his most formidable accusations against a son-
neteer of that class, originates in the application to some
embonpoint damsel, the epithet " rosy-bosomed." We are
quite sure that Mr. Moore would retract his severity, and
own that the verse-writer was an acute observer of personal
exposure, if he had the good fortune to see that sweet song-
stress Mrs. Salmon prepared to meet the applause of a
theatre. Mr. Sapio was justly applauded for the clear
and distinct and powerful tone with which he gave
" 0 Liberty !" lie was accompanied by Mr. lPlrooks on
the violoncello; and we doubt much if even FaislafirhiaM
self could " like such Brooks." Mr. Welsh seems det,,r-
mined to be revenged upon Handel ; it required no trifling
talent to make one of his most elevating airs ridiculous ;
and to this extent Mr. Welsh succeeded. It was exceed-
ingly cruel to detair. that very worthy man, Mr. Hawes,
during the whole of the first part of the performance, for
no other purpose than to take his portion of a quartetto,
which might advantageously be omitted. Ile looked like a
descendant of Madge Wildfire, recovering from an ague;
he was clothed in a black habit of conventicle simplicity.
Between the first and second parts Mrs. Anderson made
her first appearance at these performances. She played with
much brilliancy and skill several most difficult variations on
" Rule Britannia." The first part of " The Creation"
followed, and the musical portion of it was admirably sus-
tained. The miscellaneous act concluded the entertain-
ments of the night, at too late an hour to allow of much
time for criticism. The principal attraction of the even-
ing, for novelty is always attractive, was Miss Melville, a
pupil of Rossini's. Miss Melville, however, has higher
claims to merit than those which result from mere novelty.
Her voice is rich and powerful, finely cultivated, and
capable of still higher improvement. The last air Miss
Melville sang with universal applause; but it is for the
interest of Mr. Bochsa, whose arrangements for these
ora-
torios deserve the most unqualified praise, to place, on a
future night, this most promising young lady in that
station where her song may be heard by all the audience.
At the late hour of commencing the air to which we have
been alluding, most of the audience had retired. Mori
was leader of the orchestra, and the ability which he dis-
played " in his vocation" gave general satisfaction.

KING'S THEATRE, OPERA CONCERT ROOM.

Yesterday evening Mr. 1). F. Walker gratified and in-
structed a numerous audience by an astronomical lecture, on
a large orrery. The lecture was prefaced by a short dis-
course, in which the Professor explained the shape and
figure of the earth ; he alluded to the various opinions
held by the ancients upon the subject, and it was at length
by observations upon the lunar eclipses, and by reflecting
on the shadow thrown by the earth, which, being round,
led to the conclusion that the body casting such shadow
should itself be globular. lie then described the rotatory
and annual motions of the earth by all the phenomena at-
tending our system ; these motions, he said, were the least
intelligible to a beginner, as they were utterly impercept-
able to the senses. Students should, however, be not less
astonished at these motions escaping observation than they
are at the delusion which takes place upon other occasions ;
as, for instance, in the cabin of a ship, especially in calm
water, when the passenger is unconscious of his own
motion, and attributes it to the receding objects. The motion
of the earth was infinitely smoother and more equable than
any other motion whatever, and for this reason it was that
we were unconscious of it. Nothing could be more de-
scriptive of this motion than the beautiful line of Milton—
,' On its short sale sleeping spins the earth."
, He mentioned the opinion of our great countryman, Sir
Isaac Newton, upon the figure of the earth, and his conjec-
ture that it was spheroidical, its polar parts beingcompressed,
whilst those about the equator were spread out. His idea
was so warmly opposed by the continental philosophers,
and generated such a violent dispute, that the Kings of
France and Spain had the earth measured at their own ex-
pense; and the result was, the idea of Newton was verified.
Ile spoke of the attraction supposed to rest in the centre of
the earth, and stated the experiment made with a plummet
on one of the highest mountains in Wales, by the late
Royal Professor, Maskelyne, in which the deviation of the
pluir met from the perpendicular, and its inclination to the
mountain, gave reason to believe that the attraction was
not in the centre, but in the immense mass of earth of
which the mountain was composed. He proceeded to ex-
plain the various vicissitudes of the seasons, and demon-
strated they were produced by the obliquity of the earth's
axis, and by its maintaining its strict and unvaried paral-
!Awn throughout the annual revolution. Ile then explained,
in a clear and simple manner, the various appearances that
take place in the solar system ; and concluded his lecture
with a clearness and perspicuity which seemed to make a
due impression upon his audience.