The National Register.
London, England, 1808-10-02 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

as thus: " What-can-de—lay his re—turn," which rendered
her most serious speeches ludicrous. Mr. H. Siddons's pauses
were of a different nature: they generally occurred when his
conlocutor had finished what he had to say, and lasted till the
loud voice of Old prompter recalled his wandering memory. Mr.
Putnam's, though not quite so frequent, proved more fatal, for
his last continued so long, that it outlived the patietice of the
audience, who by a tremendous discharge of hisses and °ln,
drowned the assistiugaccents of the prompter, and compelled the
curtain to fall.
In a few minutes Mr. Russell made his appearance to speak
the epilogue. But neither his usual grin of unmeaning satisfac-
tion, nor the display of his white teeth could pacify the au-
dience. His countenance, at last, and we really believe for
the first time on the stage, assumed a serious appearance, and an
expression very different from coxcombical vanity. After some
fruitless endeavours to he heard, he wisely retired in compliance
to the reiterated committals of au irritated public.
A Magician, ycleped lAliston, armed with more power, and
commanding more spirits than Prospero in his enchanted Island,
no sooner tame forward to speak the prologue to The There aml
the Deuce, than the mighty storm of discootent instantly sub-
sided. Daring the course of this excellent afterpiece, in which
Ae continued to prove himself far superior to all the comedians
on all our country and London stages, the must perfect good
humour reigned throughout the assembly, and loud bursts of ap-
plause and laughter alone disturbed the peace of the evening.
We rejoice to see that the spark of taste and judicious severity
which flashed forth on Tuesday last among the audience that
crowded Drury Lane, was not a fleeting glean: of light extin-
guished as soma as perceived. It blazed anew with increased
splendour on Thursday night, in the same house, when The
Fortune Teller, a musical After-piece, was acted for the first
time. Should it continue to display itself so appropriately, we
may hope that in a short time managers will prefer real sense,
genuine wit, morality, and interest, to the nonsense in the plays
which: they bring; forward, and that the reproach of degeneracy
'A ill then be hurled against our stage, only by ill-founded dissa-
tisfaction, and disappointed imbecillity.
The plot of the Parlieue Taler is uninteresting and improba-
ble. A young lady of fortune falls in love with a soldier, wins
his affections under the garb of a person little above him in the
scale of rank, and thus disguised, hires a lodging in his father's
cottage, where his sister also lives, and which is situated on her
nun estate, 'till then left to the care of an ambitious and unjust
steward. There, learning,; that her soldier is coming with his
regiment in the neighbourhood, she disguises herself as a for-
tune teller, meets him on his way, and tells him that he is born
19 he rich ; mentions the name of Emma, under which he had
known her, as that of his future wife, and leaves him in asto-
uishment. She then writes to her steward that she intends to
'Altair to her country seat that same evening. lie gives direc-
tions to his son (a country booby whom he had sent in vain to
London to quicken his wit), to pot on his new suit of clothes, and
exert all his faculties to please her, and try to obtain her hand.
Instead of obeying his father's injunctions, the young man gets
drunk, seeks the soldier's sister in her own cottage, and, whilst
running after her to kiss her, is locked up in a room by her
clouting,. The lady reaches her mansion; the steward looks in
1.-ain for his son, and sets out to seek him at night, with a ser-
vant. They hear him breaking a door, and meeting him, lead
him home still intoxicated. The soldier returns, awl, with his
sister, repairs to the lady of the manor, to complain of the
steward's son's behaviour. There they find the latter in a net'
snit of clothes, cursing the tightness or his hoots, and trying to
recover from the embarra,•sment in which his introduction to his
lady had plunged him. The soldier knows his Emma, who, we
suppose, declares her intention of marrying him, for the hissing,
s hitch we had long expected, at last horst forth with ten-fold
loudness. The repeated cries of off! off! thundered incessantly
till the curtain dropped, and the unabated tumult prevented us
from heating whether it had been announced a second time for
representation.
The only claim which this after piece laid to public approba-
tion, was its music. Some of the songs were very pretty, but
+could boast little novelty. Three of them brought French tunes
to our remembrance too powerfully not to convince us we had
beard them in their native land, and that they had beeu slily im-
ported here by Mr. Reeve. Mrs. Mountain sang delightfully,
as well as Mrs. Bland. Mr. Bannister, Mr. Mathews, %Veal,-
:ter, and Peoley, exerted all their abilities in support of this
after-piece ; but to the honour of the public be it said, that the
display of so much talent, however brilliant, did not dazzle
their e).c;,, and blind them to the imperfections of the piece.

OCT. _A

The author, whoever he be, cannot lay his condemnation to the
charge of the performers. Had his plot been novel, the inci.
dents interesting, the language, if not elegant, at least good, he,
might have experienced a different fate. In the present case, it
is the rider who could not keep his seat through his total igno-
rance of horsemanship, and not his beast that fell through stub-
bornness or restiveness.

KINGS THEATRH.

Last Monday evening. the Covent-garden Company mule
their appearance at this Theatre. The house was filled rather
than crowded ; and although the boxes had been dismantled of
their drapery, so as in a great measure to connect the compa-
ny in each circle, the house did not, and perhaps from the very
nakedness consequent upon this disrobing what was never in-
tended to be disrobed, assume that brilliancy which it might halve
been expected to display. The performances were ushered in
by the tune of Gud save the King', which was played while
the whole audience stood ; and immediately after this, the
curtain rose, when in came Mr. tiemble in a Court-dress, awl
made an introductory speech, of which the following is the
substance :

I.llougs AND GrNTLEMCN,
" I know not how to express the very sincere feelings with
which I stand before you upon the present occasion; and I alit
equally ignorant how to thank you for the very flattering marks
of your favour. with which I am now, and have long been,
honoured. I feel I shall not be able to state, in the collected
manner I could ►wish. the object for which I at present stand
before you; and I beg you to impute that failure to any other
cause, than a want of respect to those whom I have the honour
of addressing.
" Ladies and Gentlemen—Immediately after the It:te destruc-
tion of the Theatre !loyal in Covent-garden, I trust the Pro-
prietors paid that humane attention to its workmen and de-
pendents to which they were justly entitled : and I also trust
they have lust no time in preparing to resume their share of
contribution to the amusements of this Metropolis, by engaging
and fitting up for your reception the house in which we arc now
assembled. We have, however, to ask great indulgences at
your hands ; and we must be forgiven if we do not represent
the productions of our Poets with all those illusions of scenery,
hat►its, and decorations, ix hich the Proprietors formerly spared
no expellee to provide, and no occasion to brim:forward. In the
Theatre of the Italian Opera, to which we have been co►npelled
to have recourse, we are naturally not so well provided to giro
life to the works of our native Poets ; and we must make large
drafts upon your indulgence. Permit me, however, to state,
that we shall make daily progress in bettering our present pro-
vision, and shall immediately set about to erect a new Theatre,
such as we think will be worthy of the Metropolis where it is
situated, and in which we hope to be able to receive you by
next September."
The performance followed, and only proved how unfit sa
large a Theatre is for the representation of any thin; w urth
hearing.

these Gentlemen to a stoppage at this time, is apprehended to
be their having ►ost the new Lottery, and their having the re•
mauling City Lottery, the bargaining for which they bad at this
time to complete. They endeavoured to give it up, but the
City tied thew to their contract.