The National Register.
London, England, 1812-09-27 00:00:00

"(1)-1,

• • -
The greit merit of this Opera this ; though it contains
'cottsitit to surprise. to interes', 01. to enter,ain, it is entitled
to the praise of being harmless. Bating the awaoyance its
Atrilpidit v gives us, it is as inoffenive a pi!.ce of nonsense as
'eve: was produced. We niost therefore c the aushor
it
-credit fur rectitude of intenti n, and set hint dow n as a \Veil-.
llisposed dunce, who bas written this play iu the hope that I
it would excise the Spanish patriots to new exc.' tions in the
cause of their country. That it has a good eflZ‘ct in the
Peninsula ve shad he rria.st happy -to !civil, but we cannot
.flatter Mr. Cope with a prospect of its ever having a good
,c11;•et here.
The only wav in w! kb we can account for his bringing for-
,svard 44 The Spaniard, a thotn,and years ago" —sev:ral
marline er;!ies have 1 L tlunni-e!a-es much offended the pi ae-
lice winch has obta;ned here of lire, of founali!;g operas on
; ‘‘,lich practice Mr. ARNOLD must -naturally fee!
.anxious to justify, and we I:Jeri-foie conceive he thought the
way of defending it was to bring forwaid aii oti.;;nal
ii
Terformante like that now before us. If this were his ob-
jcet WC wrist cotira:ubtte him On his success, fur nothing I!
could more •effectu,:llv silence "he snarlers before alluded to '1
than such a specimen of orifzimili/n.
In assuming this operas to have appeared through lie
cause above descriLed, we, however, wish it to heynder,tood
6that what we have v)flered is after a mere guess. Another
camsideration may have inlittenc:ed the ine.tizter. This ori-
,g.loal pie! c w.e e infoimed Inal previously been represented
on the Dublin stnge as a nrcia•tframe. Of i!scif this is cr-
•tainly a vet y great reconnnerkdation to hint, as his pcnc..-l.ant
for turning afterpieces into plays, is such, that we sllottl+not
he surprised to hear 1w had it in conzenkplation to turn The
White Cat into a
,five ar: trap-cthi for New Drury.
• Cthers, however, will be disposed to att,ihnte the pt•odue-
iion of "'hr .‘.;panish Pidria•4" to the musicahntsacinherited
.by the Manager front his father, the late distinguind com-
p, ser, Dr. A allo La. Aid we must confts,, that if
JOIIN i4Tevt:Nsos: played his overtime and airs in the G reen-
loom before Mr. CoDE read his piece, every voice must have
.been raised in its favour. The (menu' e, which has pa,sag;:s
.of an apprcp, late solemn cast, displays cousidelable skill and,
.richness cf havnurny ; end ate songs, although some of them
remind us occasionally of the well known airs. such as, " 0
-Nanny vitt thou gish,g nu.," and " Lady Sce. and
n,ay, therefore, lather be called imitations than original
-compositions, possess great sweetness and Merit, and sung with
great 'taste and execution by PHILLIPS, PINE, and Miss
.EELLY, obtained several encores. The same honour was
-,granted to a waltz danced by raises LuPiNo, Glints, and
1-lARRISON, with remarkable elegance and grace.
• The Spanish Ambassador attended to see how " The Spa-
Patriot's" looked on the British stage, but we could trace
on his Excellency's countenance no particular marks of ap-
probation.. The brilliant success of this opera, besides .its
- bold on the patriotic feelings of the audience, affords an ad-
ditional proof of the power of musk, which iu former times-
could move stones. ,and now can rescue dramatic trash from
damnation.