The National Register.
London, England, 1813-08-08 00:00:00

-A TIGINT R.

TH

ing to the commandments of ,Christ, whiCh is either nece
sary or conducing to salvation," Such is the representation
given of the t. otives and conduct of the original separatists,
from the national church ;=and it will be found to apply, in
more particulars. than one, to those who divide and detach
the churches of our day. Let our evangelical dissentients
mark this. _

(To be concluded next week.)

DRAMATIC REGIS] ER.

Lei % EWA

We are almost disposed to think it would be a meritorious
act, to burn or otherwise destroy every work of wit in exist-
ence, once in every two or three centut ies. If this were done,
so many successful .efl'orts of fancy would be wholly lost and
completely forgotten, that Genius, though born in a later
day, would have something like a fair scope for a display of
its pcwers, and its sallies might flow flee and unrestrained,
without the terrible t isk of. being condemned as plagiarists
and imitators, to which authors of the present day are ex-
posed. These wtiters who lived some ages ago, and
who are still the objects of our admiration, were doubtless
men of great talents, but they had not all the difficulties to
contend with, which oppose the progress of their followers in
the nineteenth century, whom—
" Cruel parents teach to read and write."
It was certainly quite proper that they should enjoy
the emoluments and the fame of their talents ; but now
they can enjoy wealth and applause no more, it is
hard on the literary starvelings of our time to see them
selves pressed down by the weight of the merits of their an-
cestors, and doomed to toil in the cultivation of a field once
rich and fruitful, but now exhausted and barren-. If the
measure which we have suggested were resorted to, the an-
cients would no longer be thought to possess a monopoly of
talent. Productions, supposed to display original merit,
would refresh and gratify the succeeding age, and critics
theiiiselves partaking of the general mirth, called forth by a
successful Dramatic exhibition, might no -longer look dis-
dainfully mound and wonder what their happier neighbours
laugh at.

As things are, 'the worth of the present is forgotten for the
excellence of the past, and the poets of our days are
treated with contempt, from undue partiality for those who
went before-them. This, at least, seems the opinion preva-
lent among our managers, and this is probably the feeling of
th:,t hopeful- ion of PA RN ASSUS, the author of Sharp and Nat,
a farce produced on Wednesday last at the Lyceum.
We must, however, intreat this gentlenian to believe we
are sincere, when we assure him, that in the observations
with which we have cominenced this article, we are very far
from interding any compliment to him. We do not know
even his name, and consequently can bear *him no
and having no private feelings of enmity to indulge. there-
fore do not wish to make him more ridiculous than he has
already made himself, by leading him to suppose, that under
any circumstances, his farce could be tolerated or received as
that, of which a man of sense could, without blushing, avow
himself the author. If all the farces of COL MAN and FOOTE,
nay, all that were ever written, were collected together and
destroyed—
_ _

" And, like the baseless fabric of a vision,
Iwft not a
,wreck behind."

If every trace of former merit were expunged from the hu-
man memory, still 6/tarp a►°d Flat could not he regarded as
a farce of talent, for such is the author's want of taste, that,
though he has feat lessly pirated every thing that came in his
way, he has taken nothing worth stealing. If some parts of

.

the burro
used as it

~~

a fabric of his piece were good in another place,
by him, and disfigured by his dialogue, it is hero.

gupra mei y. wretched.

The whole plot consists in the schemes of a military Wert),
to gain an astrologer's daughter. For this purpose hsas•
sutnes a disguise. is found out, and the very natural coise—
quence of llth is, he carries off the Lady in the tumult. lir
such a piece the characters of an Old Growler, a Forward'
Miss, a Spurk in a Red Coat, and a Roguish Valet, come as
a matter of course. To make up • the compliment of Shatly,
and Flat, we have added, a Pert Chambermaid, a charact.*
Ar LISTON. who has nothing at all to do with the Piece;.,
but who tells us he is a " comical codger," (which otherwis-st-
vie* she'uld not have known), that he keeps a shop, and iv,
called a " Deep File," and then (last though not least) wry
have OXBERRY'S edition of RUSSELL'S Idiot in Darkness;

From this mass of common place, nothing brilliant could
be elicited even by Genius—
" And dullbess here !midi undivided sway."
The jokes are stale, and what is worse, pointless. The Songs,
designed to be comic, deplorably wretthed. One or two
Ballads, which are not intended to be witty, are entitled to
praise With the exception of these, and the music by
1100 ti, there is nothing that we can commend, and we can-
not help associating in our minds Sharp and Flat with a
Natural.

This abortion was on the first night hooted from the stage.
On the second it went, ot with great applause. Such is the
mutability of human taste! VOLTAIRE and SHERIDAN
proved it before. The Author of this Farce will compare
himself to which he most admires of these ornaments of the
Drama.

On Tuesday a new ballet, called The Carpenter, was prom
duced at this theatre. The action of this piece is of a very
trifling nature. A young carpenter is seen planing timber
and making love to a lady. The father brings in one of the
usual pantomimic lovers, who is bumped and buffeted about
the stage without mercy the little time he is before the au-
dience. The lady conceals the favoured swain in a closet,
where he is discovered. The rage of the father subsides on
his falling on his knees, and the lovers united, receive the
blessing of the Scaramouch.
A dance then takes place, and this dance, (The Landay is
all the piece contains worth looking at What precedes. is
evidently only designed to introduce it, and it is soon fol-
lowed by the fall of the curtain.
The dance then is all we have to notice, and in these day*
critics have work enough on their hands without attending
minutely to such matters. It is pleasing enough, but it
possesses nothing particularly fascinating, and is not suffi-
ciently va, ied to afford much entertainment. Mr. MoREAUs
Miss Liu PP INO, and Miss BRISTOW danced admirably, and
were severally applauded in their respective parts; and the
piece, al,ogether, passes the time between the play and farce
in a very pleasant manner.
On Friday Mr. and Mrs. COOKE appeared for the first
time in the parts of Carlos and Clara in the Duenna. They
both suppotted their reputations Mr. CooKE's voice grows
mellower with exercise His first song is always. that in
which, perhaps from timidity, it falls with less softness on the
car. But neither his taste nor his execution fail him. In
his next, " Sure not a pair," he displayed excellence of the
most superior .kind, and was rapturously encored. Ile in-
troduced two songs of his own composition, whicls
established his claim .to ..the title of an elegant. com-
poser, as well as a great singer. In both of these
he was encored. In the first unanimously but, in

11