The National Register.
London, England, 1813-01-31 00:00:00

,I%N. 31

a happy omen that good taste is.reviving, and that the melo
d!amatic nonseme we have hot I owed from the Ft each, and
sophisms of tl:e Germanic school, together with the hippo-
erarnAic- exhibiti,ns of our own innovators, will now give
way to the regular and legitimate offsprings of THALIA and
IkIELPomEst.:.

COVENT GARDEN THEATRE.
The new Comedy improves on acquaintance, and has been
performed to crowded houses with universal applause. To
detail the story, as it is told in representation, would be
almost an endless task. A brief outline of the leading
business will probably be mote acceptable to our readers.
The play is ag bu-tae and trick. It is made up of the
adventures and intrigues of the Students of the University of
Salamanca. (Inc of these, a,sentimental Gentleman, secret-
ly marries the daughter of a Spanish Grandee. His friend,
a man of gallantry, is found in an equivocal situation with
the married Lady,while in pursuit of a single one. This fills
the husband with jealousy and suspicion, which a variety of
incidents tend to confirm and enclease. Ile, as is usual,
and indeed necessary on such occasions, refuses all explana-
tion till the end of the fifth act, when es ery painful recollec-
tion is banished by three words. The Lady's father, from
being furiously hostile to the match, becomes vastly pleased
with his son-in-law, and the man of gallantry is happily
united to a coquette.
The sentimental spark, from being poor and melancholy,
becomes rich and merry, and all parties, with the exceptior
of an antiquated coxcomb, who is hunted through the play
like the clown in a pantomime, are made completely happy,
The mad frolics and extravagances of Don Christoval, a
Ranger the second, or rather a Ranged the hundredth, con-
stitutes the most important, and the most entertaining part
of this play. A true knight errant of the order of folly, be
seems to think it beneath him to consider to what his vaga-
ries may lead, and feels, like the chivalrous heroes of old, it
is incumbent upon him to engage in any adventure that
may oiler, without calculating what may be its result. This
disposition involves him in a variety of embarrassments,
some of which produce scenes irresistibly laughable. A same-
ness of incident retails, as we mentioned in our last, but this
from vai ied circumstances is not much felt at the time of
representation, though it strongly occurs to memory after-
wards. From incident and situation, all that can give this
play w!al is deriVed, and not from strength of character.—
The Dramatis Persona., if ever any distinguishing traits were
bestowed upon them, have been despoiled of all to facilitate
the progress of the play. Of this, however, we must not
loudly complain. It is too late in the day to look for much
originality. We must not expect to be enabled to say of a
poet of the nineteenth century, that he
Exhausted worlds, and then imagin'd new.
and if one were to rise who merited such an eulogium, he
would perhaps not be treated much better than the present
race of dramatic writers, as tried by a reference to established
ideas of nature, be would, in all probability, be condemned
for representing the thing which was not.
We were several times led to expect the business of the
play would terminate too early, and that mere dialogue
must fill up a whole act. In this, however, we were vely.
agreeably disappointed, It is carried on till the very last
scene with great spirit. If in that scene events occur to give
the necessary finish to the play, which probability cannot
sanction, it is in some degree to be excused, as it is better
that the events at the close of a play should be crowded and
improbable, tFan that a considerable portion of it. should be
made dull by explanation and preparation, to guard against
such a censure. Upon the whole, " The Sttdttnts of

sanction, ii. is lii 51J1liihi vai. 51 5.,.. .... ....... ........, ...,.., ._ ___ - -
that the events at the close of a p!ay should be crowded and foreigoeis must conclude that folly is very scarce• among u,-•
improbable, tFan that a considerable portion of it.should be when hundreds run, time after time, to see sod) an f.CtOr• .
made dull by explanation and preparalon, to guard agailist They must think an idiot a great rarity in this ha; by nation. •
such a censure. Upon the whole, " The Shdtnts of ;••••:ala- • as the natives desi:e to ste no gleam. curiowity than a fool,
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