The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-10-01 00:00:00

COVENT-GARDF:N 771E.4TRE.

Last night was produced at this house, Morton's flee set
peeceof Tows and Country, which, either by courtesy, or
s wet of drsmatie antiphrasis, has been dettomlnated a co-
medy, but is in reality neither more nor less than an over-
grown coat and waistcoat melo-dratne, of the high German
when', possessing all the false and forced pathos without
the parade—all the maudlin sentimentalism without the
show and spangles, which, in its more direct and legitimate
prototypes, are calculated to take the senses of the mul-
tittuie, and by that means insure their approbation.
it has been the fashion for celebrated actors to assume the
cbanc;er of the hero is this anomalous production, or by
what chance it originally succeeded before a British audience;
ie beside our present purpose to inquire. However, not-
withstanding most, if not all the characters in the piece,
are out of nature, awl miserably deficient in taste and keep-
ing ; yet are there (to adopt Comoro' Arum's phraseology)
certain " hunsoerrabout them, which afford salient points
from which actors of ability can assail our risible muscle's
with effect, while (as must Le confessed) our more retitled
propensities cannot fail to suffer considerable violence in
the attack. In .Rruben Wenroy, the principal personage
of the drama, the predominating sentiments and language
are all "ad captandurn," or, in other words, dr y
abound in what are commonly called clap-traps. This
circumstance alone is something fur an actor, and
via still more in his favour previous to the days
of
Sheridan and Jesipit Serftee. At the risk of be-
ing betraved into a still farther deviation from our iin-
mediate purpose, we cannot avoid expressing an ardent
wish that such abominations were at once and for ever
blotted from our dramatic literature. We trust they will
not much longer find sufficient favour in the eyes of a
manly English audience, to warrant or encourage the re-
production of pieces in which they constitute the principal
and predominating quality.
With regard to the new actor s personation of the hero,
one opinion is decidedly favourable. Generally speaking,
it was chaste and impressive
.throughout, and went a
great way to redeem the promise of excellence which we
inferred Item his performance of Brutus, on Monday I
night. It wu easy to perceive on that occasion that the
actor laboured under considerable embarrastnent ; but last
might the same cause did not operate to restraiu the proper
exercise of his energies, and accordingly they were more
fully and satisfactorily developed. IVe had previously I
expressed our opinion that this would be the case es
soon as Mr. IVartle escaped from the fog of first appear-'
aace. The scene in the 3d act, subsequent to the sup-
posed voluntary elopement of Rusalie Sorters, which. is
the great and trying one for the actor, was played with
great force and a true natural pathos called down three
s:veral rounds of applause at its termination. if we may
be permitted to point out a portion of the scene less ex-
cellent than the rest Land we do it in the kindest feeling,
with a view to the amendment of what to us appears a
fault in an otherwise good performance), we would refer to
the place where Ruhrn sinks into the chair at sight of the
letter from his mistress. In this passage Mr. NS'arde in-
dulged in a species of convulsive sobbing, which in sound
and mariner conveyed the idea of a person suffering under
inrengulation or violent retching, and was extremely di:-
agreeable. We would recommend him to discontinue the
use of an expedient which must have been equally un-
pleasant to himself and the audience. In the last act.
where Ruben finds his brother at the gaming table, and
encounters /lathe, Mr. %Verde evinced considerable
(occasionally, perhaps, a little too much) energy, and was
loudly applauded. He is one of those actors who adheres
closely to the text and the author, and in leis version of the
character, throws in few, if soy, glosses or interpolations
of his own. IVltere the dramatist has written sip the
character, the performer act, up to the originial conception
without attempting to raise or teercate it in less effective
pessages. Mr. %Verde does not tnake a point where the
writer is at a dead set, but goes hand in hand evenly along
with him.
" Soars as he rises, as Le grovels sinks."
Whether this quality of his acting will be acceptable to the'
lovers of new readings, we woo mot: it appears to us to be
conformable to the dictates of sound sense.

Mr. Sinclair has b:en performing for four nights at the
Plymouth Theatre, with great success and enthusiastic ap-
plause. Ile never was in finer voice ; his best songs were
given with a degree of elegance and facility of execution so
peculiarly his owo, and which were greeted with the most
marked approbation. On this occasion Miss Upjohn made
her first appearance on the stage, which, our Plymouth
carespondent informs us, was pronounced the most suc-
odul debut net witnessed in that theatre. Ilcr voice is
powerful, sweet, and flexible, and contains a compass that,
with study anti experience, must very soon place her
among the first vocalists on the stage.
Th? Adeiphi Theatre opens next Monday week. Pre-
vins o the other performances, a new prelude from the
pen of Hanalei, introduces the new Managers " to their
friends, the public." In it, we hear, several well-known
characters are to he hit off to the life, and an opportunity
is given to the most prominent performers engaged to give
"a spice of their quality." This piece is to succeeded
by a new drama, interspersed with music by Mr. G. Her-
kit, y'ciept Killegrrw ; or, King Charles at Tunbridge ;
eta, it is rumoured, by the urne author ; the counterpart,
na doubt, of his ilodyster, embracing the whole strength
of the company. King Clusrles, Wrench : Killegrcw,
Yates; Sir Lake Athllehead (a magistrate), J. Reeve; and
a character, of which we have not heard the name, suited
to the peculiar talents of Mr. Terry. Mrs. Fitewilliarn
511, " as is in this case made and provided." be 'babied to
make. a grand display of het musical acquirements. In
album to the company previously announced, we may
add the following names:—Mesars. Gladstanes and Foster,
from Cheltenham and Drury-lane; and Miss 'lronton (the
sister of Mrs. Yates), from the Plymouth Theatre. No
material alteration has been made before the curtain ;
beht!nd it a n.tv green-roam has been erected, and new
entrances front Maiden-lane to the stage and private boxes
have been contrived.

I::eaoTFXU,rs in Tow N.—By the removal of the Turn-
pike at II)de Perk corner, Piccadilly, the Grosvenor estate
trill be improved in value to an incalculable extent. Let
any one reflect what a prodigious tract of land it is; reach-
ing to the River Thames across the wooden bridge at
Chvium, the whole of which will be covered with superb
etlif:cm. As to the rear of Grosvenor-place, wherein Bel-
gravt-square is to be Lilt, our readers may judge what is
calculated upon, when tbey arc, to:d that Mr. Coding, the
brewer at Knightsbridge, has been offered sizteen thour.nd
pAnds for one of his houses opposite the Park ; and this
merely fur the purpose of making an opening into the new
square. Belgrart-sqlare will, we are told, be, in a few
years, the Court end of London. Under this impression it
is the determination of Lord Grosvenor to make this spot
vehicle of his future fame. The elevation of every
hue will be one story higher than any modern building,
vd every front to be of stone ; the area to be considerable.
As.a roof how necessary it is to build houses upon a large
s'i'c, aim, are now no less than thirty-two applications
e'er: the books of Ilouse Agents for town residences of
air: of trianlionr.

The letters Irwin Liverpool give a deplorable account of
lute of die cotton market, with which the bonded
sirl•ouses are so crammed, that there being no accomino.
on fur a
thenro which arrived last week, the consignees
were under necessity of paying the duty, and the cot-
t were lodged in private warehouses.
l'!7.7satorrn, Seer. 29.—This day sailed his Ma-
slip Albion, 14 guns, Captain Ommaucy, for Cork,
"r:re she will remain a few days, and sail thmee to
tioally to Lisbon. This afternoon, as the gig of
Majesty's ship Phaeton was proceeding to the ship, at
''':'dead, the I.pact, when the coxswain was unfortunately
Li-titenant Puget and Lieutenant Church, with
h-at's crew of tour men, were fortunately picked up
th:: highly praiseworthy exertions of the crew of the
"".` Sp.e.ly, undur the orders of a lady, who had hired
as a yacht ; but for their efforts these gentlemen and
crow must have been drowned, as they had b:en in the
wv.er nearly half an hour.
e excellent new system now practised by Mr. 13rierly
• '• ru!rovi!ig inipediments of speech, at hit este-
•!;• rt. 119, ii^ tit-vtrc et. has bees proved, by several
of high repectability in London, to possess an
' 4; cive principle, powerfully adapted for ere-
••• • 1 './r that annoying defect.

LITERdltr dr*ANINGS.
c
No. XXXVIX.

AikeDOT ES or M r.NDIC LION Y.—Of the difficulties
aisseteme in the self-education of genius we have a re-
markable instance in the character of Moses Mendelsohn,
on whom literary Germany has bertowed the honourable
title of the Jewish Socrates. Such Were the apparent in:
vincible obstructions which barred out Mendelsohn from
the world of literature and philosophy, that, in the history
of men of genius, it is something like taking, in the history
lof mangy, the savage of Meyron from his woods, who,
destitute of human language, should at length create a
model of eloquence, without a faculty of conceiving a
figure ; should be capable to add to the demonstrations of
Euclid ; and without a complex idea, and with few sensa-
tions. should at length, in the sublimest strain of mete-
physics, open to the world a new view of the immortality
of the soul!
Mendelsohn, the son of a poor rabbin, in a village in
Germany, received an education completely rabbinical, and
its nature must be comprehended, or the term of education
would be misunderstood. The Israeli:es in Poland and
Germany live, with all the restrictions of their ceremonial
law, in an insulated state, and are not always instructed in
t!le language of the country of their birth. They employ
for their common intercourse a barbarous or patois Hebrew,
while the sole studies of the young rabbins are strictly
confined to the Talmud, of which the fundamental prin-
ciple, like the sonna of the Turks, is a pious rejection of
every species of uninspired learning. This ancient jealous
spirit, which walls in the understanding and the faith of
man, was shutting out what the imitative Catholics after-
wards called heresy. It is, then, theca numerous folic of
the Talmud which the true Hcbraic student contemplates
through all the seasons of life, as the Patuecos in their
low valley imagine their surrounding mountains to be the
confines of the universe.

Of such a nature was the plan of Mendelsohn's first stu-
dies ; but even in his boyhood this conflict of study occa-
sioned an agitation of his spirits. which erected his life
ever after ; rejecting the Tait/indica' dreamers, he caught
a noble spirit from the celebrated Alaimonides ; and his
native sagacity was already clearing up the darkness around.
An enemy not less hostfle to the enlargement of mind than
voluminous legends presented itself in the indigence of his
father, who was now compelled to send away the youth on
foot to 13..r1in to find labour and bread.

At Berlin he becomes an amanuensis to another poor tab-
bin, who could only still initiate him into the theology,
the jurisprudence, and scholastic philosepity of hie reople.
Thus he was no farther advance:l in that philosophy of the
mind in which he was one day to be the rival of Plato and
Locke, nor in that knowledge of literatore of which-he was
to be among the first polished critics of Germany.
Some unexpected event occurs which gives the first great
impulse to the mind of genius. Mendelsohn received this
from the first companion of his misery and his studies, a
man of congenial, but maturer powers. He was a Polish
Jaw, expelled from the communion of the Orthodox, and
the calumniated student was now a vagrant, with more sen-
sibility than fortitude. But this vagrant was a philosopher,
a poet, a naturalist, and a mathematician. Mendelsohn,
at a distant day, never alluded to him without tears.
Thrown together into the swine situation, they approached
each other by the same sympathies and cominunicating in
the only language which Mendelsohn knew, the Polander
voluntarily undertook his literary education.
Then was seen one of the most extraordinary spectacles
in the history of modern literature. Two houseless He-
brew youths might be discovered, in the moon-light streets
of Berlin, sitting in retired corners, or on the steps of some
porch, the one instructing the other, with an Euclid in his
hand ; but what is more extraordinary, ;t was a Hebrew
version, composed by himself, for one who knew no other
language. Who could then have imagined that the future
Plato of Germany was sitting on those steps?
The Polander, whose deep melancholy had settled on his
heart, died—yet lie had lived in vain, since the elec-
tric spark that lighted up acul of Mendelsohn bad fal-
len from his cam
Mendelsohn was now left alone ; his mind teeming with
its chests, and still master of no other language than that
barren idiom which was incapable of expressing the ideas
he was meditating on. He had scarcely made a step into
the philosophy of his age, and the genius of Mendelsohn
had probably been lost to Gennany,hadtnot the singularity
of his studies and the cast of his mind been detected by the
sagacity of Dr. Kisch. The aid of this physician was mo-
mentous, for he devoted several hours every day to the
instruction of a poor youth, whose strong capacity he had
the discernment to perceive, and the generous temper to
aid. Mendelsohn was soon enabled to read Locke in a La-
tin version, but with such extreme pain, that, compelled
to search for every wnd, and to arrange their latin order,
and at the same time to combine metaphpsical ideas, it
was observed that he did not so much translate, as guess
by the force of meditation.
This prodigious eflbrt of his intellect retarded his pro-
gress, but invigorated his habit, as the racer, by running
against the hill, at length courses with facility.
A succeeding effort was to master the living languages,
and chiefly the English, that lie might read his favourite
Locke in his own idiom. Thus a great genius for meta-
physics and lauguagra were forming itself by itself.
It is curious to tharet, in the character of genius, the
erects of local and mural influences. There resulted from
Mendelsohn's early situation certain defects in his intel-
lectual character, derived front his poverty, his Jewish
education, and his numerous impediments in literature.
Inheriting but one language, too obsolete and naked to
serve the purposes of modern philosophy, he perhaps
over-valued his new acquisitions, and in his delight of
knowing many langoages, lie with difficulty escaped from
remaining a mere philologist; while, in his philosophy,
having :dopiest the prevailing principles of Wolf and
Baumgarten, his genius was long without the courage or
the skill to emancipate Itself from their mate chains. It
was snore than a step which hall brought him into
their circle, but a step was vet wanted to escape from it.
At length the mind of Mendelsohn enlarged in literary
intercourse : he became a great and original thinker in
many beautiful speculations in moral and critical philo-
sophy ; while he had gradually been creating a style which
the critics of Germany have declared was their first lu-
minous model of precision and elegance. Thus a Ilebrew
vagrant, first perplexed in the voluminous labyrinth of Ju-
daical learuing, in his niithlle age oppressed by indigence
and malady, anti in his mature life wrestling with that
commercial station whence he derived his humble inde-
pendence, became one of the master writers in the litera-
ture of his country. The history of the mind of Mendel•
sohn is one of the noblest pictures of the self-education of
genius.—The Literary Character illustrated by the History
rl Men of genius.

SONG.
• I wish I were by that dim lake,
Where sinful souls their farewell take
Of this vain world, and half-way lia
In death's cold tlintlow, ere the) die,
hero. than, I it from thee,
Deceitful world, my Immo shouhl be—
Whom, come what might of itioom awl pain,
Palst hors ehould ne'er drcetre again !

The lifeless sky, the mournful sourd
of unseen ■aten falling round—
The dry leaves, quiv'ring o'er any head,
Like man, unquiet ev'n when dead—
These—sye—these should wean
My soul trom lire's deluding scene,
And turn each thought, each will , I hive,
Like willows, downward low'ials ine grave.

' As they, who to their couch at night
Would welcome sleep, lint quench the light,
kko must the hopes, that keep this brtast
Awake, be quench'd, ere item rest.
Cold, cold, my bran must grow,
Uncheng'd by either joy or woe,
Like rrecsing Counts, •here all that's thrown
Within their current tunas to stone.'
Malt Md. No. IX.

Tug Comm—Accounts from Amsterdam state, that
the comet which is now seen in the horizon was discovered
there in the nights of the 17th and 18th of this month, in
thc right foot of Ttninds, at an ascension of 54 degrees to
the right, and 7i degrees to the north. Its tail is about
three degrees in length ; and it is seen in the Netherlands
from ten in the evening id! sun rise.

THE BRITISH littESS.

ST. BRIDE'S CHURCII, FLEET-STREET.

In pursuance of the following requisition, a meeting of the most
respectable householders and inhabitants of this parish was holden
in the vestry of the Church last evening :
" Parish of St. Bride, London.
" Notice is hereby given, that a public vestry will be held in the
vestry.roono of the above parish church, on Frid I next, at seven
o'clock in the evening precisely, to take into consideration the ca-
tering into a treaty for the purchasing a piece of ground now vacant
between Fleet-street and Bride's-passage fur t'te purpose of an
additional burying vault.
(Signed) stoners SMITH, Vestry Clerk."
Mr. SMOXALL, the church warden, was called to the Chair, end
briefly explained the nature of the business for which the %letting
had been creneneil.
Previously to the question being regularly brought under dis-
cussion, much desultory conversation took place, as to the right or
title of forming any vaults or excavations under the public way.
which might hereafter be disputed by the City or by the Commis.
sinners of Sewers. This objection was replied to by Mr. Smith,
the vestry clerk, who said, that as It was not Intended to extend
the proposed vaults beyond the footway pavements, he was certain
that the Comniissinnere of Sewers would not interfere. Had it, in.deed, been carried under the cartiage.way, such an objection might
naturally be anticipated ; because, the undermining of the ground
might be supposed to be productive of inconvenience, if not risk,
from the heavy weights continually passing through Fleet-street.
Mr. Jo L LY, of Fleet-market, took a general view of the clues.
don, in which he gave it as his decided opinion, that this offer on
the part of the Committee should not be received by the parish,
there being no rational necessity for any enlargement of burial
grounds the present being quite sufficient to the wants of the in-
habitants ; besides, the vestry had no assurance as to the precise
suns which might be required to accomplish this object ; and then,
if the speculation was made, there was no guarantee that the
Bishop of London would consecrate the ground. Taking these
objections, which he thought fairly arose, into consideration, he
should give s decided negative to Use proposition.
Another Mr. JOLLY expressed his concurrence In the opinion
delivered by his worthy namesake.
Mr. ATTWOOD SMITH begged leave to correct an erroneous
impression into which many gentlemen appeared to have fallen ;
namely. that this matter had been Offered to the parish, on the part
of the Committee for the Church Improvements, with interested
motives. The fact was, that the matter was suggested to the Com•
mittee br a highly respectable Commissioner, and on the Commit.
tee making any proposition to the parish, they did it with a needy*
that they might not hereafter be upbraided with not having offered
the parishioners a fair opportunity of purchasing this ground,
when it wan found that it was actually required.
Mr. DIVE Y, of Shoe-lane, followed eto the seine side, and said
he thought it extremely invidious to attribute any sinister motives
to this Committee. as the whole matter originated in a comniunics.
tiara made by another body—the Committee for Church repairs; '
therefore the insinuation that it was intended u a complete job, was '
a very ungenerous aspersion upon them.
Mr. JOLLY denied having ever used the word " job."
Mr. Levee. in reply, said that he had never charged Mr. Jolly
with using the expression—he really did not think that It was
fair for that gentleman to claim all the bad hiatitiage to himself.
A statement was here read, tending to show that no necessity
existed for a further extension of burial ground, in which the
Sexton's opinion was considered as very grove authority, that de-
composition cool I not be perfectly completed under twelve years'
interment ; or, in other words...tint a body could not, with proper
regard to decency, be disturbed before the thrpiration of that
period. lie had been seven years in eke. and storing that
time only one grave had been opened i and there were therefore five
years more unexpired before it would be necessary to calculate on
the probability of requiring fresh ground, or disturbing those in-
terred within that period.
Mier hearing this rtatemmst, several gentlemen spoke to the
question, and &food deal of diversity of opinion was held, when
Joust
Mr. Jotr ewe to make a motion to this etlect—•• That the
parishioners of St. Bride's do not deem it advisable to enter into
an treaty at present for the purchasing of this ground."
Mr. ATTWOOD SM ITH moved, as an amendinent, that a Select
Committee be appointed to inquire into the necessity and the prat.
ticabilitv of effecting this treaty.
Mr. Noun, in a very able speech. advocated the original pro•
position, and contended that nothing was mere desirable than that
a man should be certain that the remains of those dear to him
should be suffered to lie in undisturbed security in their last abode.
The amendment was then put and negatived, and the original
motion against entertaining the proposithoi was carried.
The meeting was then dissolved.