The National Register.
London, England, 1808-04-11 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

23$

riment. Indeed, a play-bill is a composition of true sublimity,
according to the best definitions of the !3ablime : for it says a great
deal to the ear, and leaves a great deal for the imagination. To
the ear it speaks in the promissory passages, where we find the
words grand, comic, splendid, &c. &c. all of which have a great
efect upon the vulgar. And as to the imagination, that facult,
of the mind is called into ample exercise by the historical por-
tion of the play-bill, where the public are desired to believe
that a piece has been received with unanimous applause, when
it has in fact been totally condemned. Certainly the Proprie-
tors deserve great credit for the wonderful powers of inventioi,
w hich they display on these occasions; contriving glories which
they have never earned, creating a fict it bass reputation, and spin-
ning, like the spider, fram their own frame, a cov.a !ng of comfort
and security.
The play-bills announcing Bonlfario and Ilthkelina,have pos
sessed these merits in a peculiar degree. And there are other mi-
nutiae in the arrangement of these hilts, which also merit very
high approbation. For whereas ignorant people would have
placed the names of the actors and characters first, the Proprie-
tors have here given the first rank- to those of the machinists and
decorators, well knowing that the machinists and decorators are
the persons who really make the piece. or can we refuse our
'tribute of admiration to the title, which sets the Melodrama
in so many ditlerent lights, that every person's attention is sure
to be roused. lie whose enthusiasm is not excited by the
silver-sweet names of lionifacio and Hridgclina, n ill perhaps be
struck with reverence by the appearance of a knightl:, hermit :
The Windmill of the Turret attracts the notice of the volatile,
and the melancholy are moved by the hope of beholding a Spec-
tre in a Gallery
To be serious, for really this profanation of the stage is be-
come almost too lamentable for a joke, was there ever ass Ad-
vertisement issued at Bartholomew Fair more completely dero-
ganny from the dignity of an elegant art, than the play-bills
that we have just now cited Pantomimes are the legitimate
amusemeut of children: long custom has sanctioned their exhi-
bition, and they are constantly brought out at the holidays.
But such a thing as this is not warranted by custom; it is not
presented before a youthful audience; it is not reconcileable to
the plain principles of common sense : it is an absurd burlesque
on an entertainment w hick is not absurd. The story and situations
of the Piece are such as excite no risibility in the audience;
and the whole of the joke is made to comist in the utter Wly
and vulgarity of the dialogue. But the true burlesque is pro-
duced not by weakening„ but by exorbitantly overdoing reality ;
and the bombastic, ma the familiar FI N le, is the proper vehicle
of such humour. If there was to be a burlesque upon Melo-

dramas at all, it ought to have been mean in the ~ituationi,
and loft) in the langua:_le, rather than lofty in the situations,
Gnd in the laintuage mean. The exaltation of a trifle anav
.... •

amuse, but the degradation of tpletulour ran only 4i‘gtna. The
humour or Fielding's Covent-garden Tragedy, % hicil is by far
the be•it of all the burlesques, consists in ytil:4ar incident with

.
swelling dialogue ; and we are entertained by obser% ing how
toe cononotte,t occurrences may to magnified. In this Melo-
drama people in perilous circumstances and rich attire are' made
to talk like chimney-sweepers ; and we are displeased to ob-
serve how grandeur may he humbled. It has been observed
upon Guiliver's Travels, that the greatness of the little Lilli-
putians is admired, but that the littleness of the great Brob-
dignagians is totally foreign to all the priociples of taste.
. If the Proprietors arc to continue this system of nonsense, of
%That use is the Theatre as a national concern? Taste and judg-
ment are put totally aside : the imitation of Nature is aban-
doned for a bastard ballet : the stores of the treasury are wasted
in shows to bribe the town's endurance of inanity; and Dr. John-
son's pot try is but too near to truth w hen, in declaring the pos-
sible vicissitudes ail London theatre, his prologue exclaims :

" Perhaps, (for who can gucas the effects of chance ?)
" Here Hunt traay box, or Mahomet may. dance!"

. The Oratorios, which have been carried on under the guid-
ance of Mr.. Ashley, are now concluded. As usual, the per-
formances have been the pieces of liandcl, occasionally varied
with selections, &c.
The Oratorio seems to be a species of amusement but little
stilted for the English people. They do tint relish music by role,
as foreigners do: they have no not ion of ad ini rinKthe composition
of a master for the science which it displays, nor the executive
power of a singer for the• mere difficulties that it overcomes:
they require something that shall operate upon
.their feeling•,
sad pans; the ear to the region of the heart. Handel lo Indeed

APRIL H.

a mastes. whose power of exciting sensations of deep path°,
of still sublimity, of mighty enthusiasm, has placed him on the'
highest roll of fame : but the mere excitation of these sensations
ainconnected by story or interest, is not sufficient to occupy the
attention of a large body of people for four successive h 0,11.,
Besides, it will be observed, that the feelings even of the feo-•
who delight in these entertainments become more and more oh.
tune as the evening advances; and pieces of musk, which would
he hailed with rapture in the first act, pass of without au tn.
core in the third. It cannot therefore, be matter of surprise,
that the Oratorios in general are but thinly attended.
that which appears to have been most attractive is the Mo.
sinh: a work remarkable for a thousand beauties, and particularly
pleasing to the multitude, from the grandeur of its chorussv:,
which are generally the most popular parts of an Oratorio. The
singers have been Mrs. Dickons and Mrs. Bland, Miss Bolton
Madame Oussek : Mr. Brabant, Mr. Bellamy, Mr. Doyle N 4 r.
Goss, and Mr. Grey. Mts. Dickons and Mr. Braham are, uei.
Cher of them, in our opinion, sufficiently natural and simple:
they oftener astonish than charm us in the performance of Pan-
ders works. Mrs. Bland mid Mi,-s Bolton, who certainly hate
not so much science, seem to U 5 to possess much more of thepe-
nuine spirit in which such music should be sung. Nothing ca;;
be a more per'ect example than the manner in which
Bland sings '' Be shall feed his flock like a shepherd." ‘la,
dame Dussek has a lazy indolent style, which, thoualt
without science, is certainly without grace or elfect. llr. Lel-
- grand voice is beard in sacred musk with remarkable
vantage : he is a singer of excellent judgment. Of the rest is e
have nothing particular to observe.