The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1818-02-23 00:00:00

COVkArT-CJRDE (I rat,irßE.
. . tr.V1,1..
A new Comic Opera. entitled Zona' ; or, The
. . . .
ce
Tree of Ifrulth, Vine produd me Sat urilay. night.
.2t is front the tools& 'pro or Mr. T. 013911 N, who
Imo, on thin occasion. borrowed the ground-work of
its Drama from Nindamy plc.,/ L Is. At. ctiug story of
'l
webs; ow, La pe.rmocrie de ibeingnials. a spirited
unil elegised translation of which appeared in The
Literary (;azelie for July last. Mr. DIADIN has,
.
however. takes, considerable liberties with stir ton•
stiilisi narrative. for the Potpie:4e or introducing Amine
Joceslierrlenrariera. who retied a few jests. nut mole
remarkable for !heir indignity than fur their dull-
neas—ator, on this %trifler footeditti eeee .• he has ven-
ture(' to denominate the piece is comic (own. al- •
though the interest is. (ruin belie ssss ing to end,
decidedly opposed to any shirlleful feeling. The
fable i. as (odors :--
The Peruvians, after their aohjagation by the Spanisrds.
thingle deprived by their oppressor' of the wealth which
their unites unhealed, preserved, Inviolate, a treason ' in-
anely more retimallele, Si. omelette knowledge of the mopes-
lies at pliwits...as wee those of a pitisunotos as of a siliitife.
roes nature. Though apparently all shires alike, they I.
private paid obedience to chieftains. who boasted their de.
seek . from toes arrays' 'siege; and who fiteomently as.
ambled them in remote and oaremmeiken pldeiti, *UM
they its 'stets performed rites, whith ilarYibusllMM milli.
size is public: • At thole istetiop, they dunotememlasseli of
their enemies as were nowt &memos is prierceeine Hens—
and they pledged themselves, by a solemn imprecation,
to deanery soy latliaii, mot to ester 000000 ate his TaistilY,
who should betray to the Spaniards the secret 'Fulham
of the laisquists, or tree of life, which was a specific
against many of the diseases incidental to she thinner.
The Opera opera with use of these wildoilibt meet.
item. la pennon of their chief Ximeit, of his son Slievaie.
and of Assn, a chief of great power and authority, who,
having wooed Zooms, sad .hentg rejected by her, in
favour of 'Arras, by whom site is espiiiiscd„ has coot-rived
the must deadly enmity against his anceessful rival, the pies. .
pie take the prescribed mil, set Ns divulge to their weals
the inaltli•restoring qualities of the ouiuquina. The wine
of this proceeding is, however, witnessed by Piettoipo. •
young Spaniel, buffoon, who had can to the *pot to most
his euistress Chilean Ila, and hail been eheipliwow Ow lappallaili
Of the !odious. which was 41111014111ted hylllpiapagodlag of olio
sacred abet I, to conceal hi is self amidst Her ilkdipagewus fuller
of •tbe tree of health, round which thil•Pois assiensbled....
Posmised of this invaluable secret, Picomillo, when thellheit,
shins hive dispersed,Anseem to communicate his 41121111Nft
at the palace of Carl. di Chincous, Viceroy of Liao, who
had vervain hem seat vet to All that high snootier% and
whose Vies-Queen. Oriana. Hint lay diesgeneuvl ill. Pie-
'silks however, is bewildered is she intricacies the mows-
tales—sad. for the present, his discovery is nut of any Ger.
vies. The Viceroy who preceded Chian** had ruled the
Peruvians with a red of iron, maid was uniernally thou nod
by them. His Secretary was still store arbitrary 111111 Me
death having bora missed by a lingering illness, it was rose ,
moored that some of his Peruvian domestics had administer- :
ell i plow pole°h to him—sod the iad4wpaltiou of °risme
was now aitributed by leer Spanish waddaamts to the same
cause. Bestriee, her Derma, am swims old woman, had
Maw sees, with displeasure, the affectionate kindness with
which Oriana treated Zama, whom she had taken under her
peacetime—mad she determines, if possible, to remove her.
With this view, she istimsatee Stoat Orisons ludisposition
proceeds from maims drop, infused into her medicinal
draughts by her hypocritical favourite. Zama is oppressed
with grief, as she perceives her beloved mistress sinking be-
wail& a tertian fever, the remedy for which she dare not dis-
cover, though she is well aware of it. She, therefore, has .
-, which -- • not

thews as - -
the DUClUMgipitMt~MyyY;iiiiry of Zama,
hastily eaters, and states that the sus v avian had
just stolen privately into her mistress's ebniiher. Thither
Chimes* repairs, and surprises Zama is the act of Weller.
sling the medicine intended for Orisues use. The eahappy
girl, whim interrogated, relives to state the wawa of the
powder that she hail infused! into the goblet, which, when
surprised, hail fallen from her hand, and was briskest to
pieces. She is condemned Cu be burned, and Mire., deter-
seises to share her fare—a promise briar gives by Adis,
that, if they keep the keret inviolate, their infasfehild abidl
,be preserved. The pile is lighted, a body of friars,' is • twe-
lasscholy air call on Rama to repent—when suddenly the
servile prisioedisp are arrested by the appearance of Uri-
ant, who, having heard of the inapendierg fhte sof her fa-
vourite, has caused herself to be borne in a Ikter hf 111*
animation, sot to gloat, as sea have sees ladies do, NSW
last pulp of salferissg brassily, but to rescues from *same- ,
tin=t those whom she had reason to believe had meditated '
hers. Orissa, who believes herself to he on the poise of
appal ariag before that tribunal, where rank mad dignity weigh
as nuthieg, where virtue alone can triumph, thinks nothing
esa reader bergs acceptable is the eyes of her God--sotking
can prove she parity of her virtue a yell..lha 8,4444. i
of that great Chripiian maxim, which leaches et " to bless
those that curse us." She proceed, with the seamed to her
palace, Where Picejoillo, who, by a very Climay &vice, has
Heaped from certain Indians, who were shout to satrilor
him, has already arrived. He discloses the smart which by
chases was revealed so him—the virtue of Zama is masa-
fested—tbs Viceroy declares that his study shall.be (as al-
ways the case with the Linda Lieutenant ut bellied) to ren-
der the people happy—and all parties,except the Nevus,
are filled with joy at the probable eicovery a the Vice-
ewes, and with delight at the unshakeu victims dud ow
mosey of Tanta.
This is pretty nearly the story as it is told by Mr.
Dssotw—but, with all deference to his talents, we
think the artless, and interesting, and moral tab
of Madame Gyms, infinitely superior--awl we
have no doubt that those who have seen the opera
and read the tale (of course we except Mr. Ma-
im), will agree with us in the propriety of Iloilo
sentiment. In detailing the plot, we have not
touched on the character of ChisteAill4, a very
acute Peruvian Indy, who has &Hen in love wills
Pieveille. the 'Oliva of the Spaniards—nor have
We mentioned Career, a negro, who brings up
Zweite: child from the bottom of en ab,ndoned
gold mine. in order to Lighten poor Alestriee. when
she is calling on his Satanic Majesty to stile her, if ,
she be not an unspotted virgin—neither have we
noticed .Saacbo, nor his fell,?w-strto"t•
who appear to have been introduced fur the portico!y
of lashing the system of doing business by deputy
—because we really wished to forget that such cha-
racters were to be fonotal on the piece. Had Mr.
-DISDIS confined himself so the original story. cud,
formed a purely serious opera—for. nloiclo There are
abundant materials--he would bare acted wisely.
The mind becomes irritated when it is sought to be
diverted from the progress of an afrectnag history,
by 'doe introduction' of jests which even the. gal-
leriea will not laugh at. We felt r little weird,
when the thread 'of the Intrnitive 'nag •Irtiekeis
the itupertiooeure of etc.
quills—the mimes g jargon of Ciesseo-usfe NO.
humorous pomposity cf lieuiriee—assal the uou-
Genie or 'Doctor DURO!O. It is 0513' to these comic
caricatures_-uot thoracic:l—lliad we object. in

recourse to stratagem, to effect a cure, uhieh she __ dare lot
speedy attempt, without discovering 2 sett-et ate bad errors
to peeeseve—sod the dissimilar* of which meet lisewitabiy
twin distraint's ill WIN her beloved fellisems, sod their
infest see. . Navin assess to Otiose's hpamswest, she enters
secretly, and lasses tale bee snedicise a poetise of bark.
'The is 'hie been iterative to her soatiows—antl,
baring observed her and Minas in conversation, suspects
that they ate phoning the cossontutatinee of their herrihte
work. She expresses her suspicions to Cleineoska, who treats
theta as the offspriag of malice—hot one of the spies, whom
' ' .