The National Register.
London, England, 1811-12-15 00:00:00

kTION L REGISTER.

T

• `

ROBE of SMAKISPEAR, I should hope the name of SYDN EY will

aot appear in the list of accomplices. G.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

%It—Cariosity led me on Monday evening to witness the
perf)rmance of that eccentric, Mr. COATZS, " the Amateur,"
se the Haymarket Theatre ; when among the many other cir-
cumstances that occasioned the very frequent bursts of laughter,
liras the fullowing--(though first I should tell you, I could get no
*at except amongst the Ce/estia/a—vulgarly yclept Gods, where

you rnivt know that every thing, or any thing, that touches their
tumour—is ‘‘ litnny" ).—So when it was announced from the
Stage " that Mr. had met with a hart—hut would ;ire-
truly be ready"—my neighbours were impatient and cIa-
n:LC:WO US.

Then came another announcement, which made them ready
to crack their sides, (poor dear souls! a Jel'otty feeling—and they
irta4c the case their own).—" Ladies and Gentlemen, what has
delayed Mr. being ready was, his Brother—having broken
kis neck by failing through a loop hole at the New lirop."
" Lapsus Linaue—exclaimed an old Gentleman that sat
beside me!—but the dear Gods supposed the Brother was hanged
ist the morning—being the modern hanging day—and that there-
Arc the Performer had been to see him well put under ground !

Now, Sir—the error of a single word caused this idea—for the
announcer sai 1 " Drop"—in lieu of " Docks,"--for the accident
'vas at the London Docks, in a warehouse..—Thus you see

ta how what is grave was turned to Farce."—
However, the more risible part of the Entertainment was
amply sufficient to divest them of those
.fine feeling; which
touched them on the casualty—and they vent avay u vise as
rooalencks--and bring so inured to these things-..-one exclaimed
with P2ACIItINI in the Bepfar's Opera—

44 It's what we must all come to."—
I a►n, Sir, Your

CONSTANT READER.

FINE AR TS.

BRITISH INS l'U TION.

it is customary in the present :age to represent every art but
hat of war, as in a state of neglect and decline. Liberal patro•
n,igo bas ceased to exist, we are continually told,- and the arts
and i.cienct.s,that flourished under its shelta-, are fait drooping
to the ground. It is true that events have turned the chief

energies of the nation into the channel of military exertion and
glory, aid that whilst unsupported by any earthly power, we de-
ride the hostility of the Contincot, and uphold the tottering
fate of kingdoms, we experience privations and encounter diffi-
culties which decrease the general means of patronizing talents
and productions less immediately necessary to the welfare of the
country. Bet patronage, though less general and curtailed of
some of its resources, has neither lost its existence nor its libera-

lily. It is extended to ev,-ry branch of art and scitnce ; but
to none more abundantly than to that of painting. A noble in-
stance of it may be seen in the establishment of the British In-
stitution, where the chefs d'afuvre of the first masters, contained
in the richest p ivate collections in this country, are exposed tor

imitation by their possessors, for the improvement of British
art;:it,;. Hire are found many of those works which formerly
could only be studied at Rome, by those who had sufficient
means to defray the expence of travelling so far, and sufficient
independent leisure to leave their native land fur months, and
Sometimes for years. Here, also, besides affording models to be
copied and rivalled by the British pencil, the annual exhibition
of these copies with the originals, introduces native talents to

the knowledge and patronage of the public, whilst prizes teed
emulation and rew_ird exertion, ana meta obtains the most va-
hs..d jewel—Eime.

The originals exposed for imitatien this year consist of eleven
paintings? the works of PAOLO VERON ESE, GUERCINO, SEBAS-
TIAN DEL PIOMBO, VANDYKE, and other masters. They arc
surrounded with copies, which prove, that a considerable
number of young artists are rising to excellence. On their
performances, as well as their models, we shall in our next
begin some observations, which it is our intention to con-
tinue occasionally; as nothing can be more gratifying to liberal
minds than to assist merit in its advance towards success and
fame. In the present instance our task will be the more pleas-
ing, as there is little to blame and much to praise.

-....111.--..
ROYAL AC ADE MY.

DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES.

The Prtzes granted by the Council of this Institution to the
Students who distinguish themselves most in Painting, Sculp-
ture, and Architecture, were delivered last Tuesday evening by
the venerable President. Mr. PERIUGAL received the gold
medal with 50 guineas for Painting; Mr. BAYLT that for Sculp-
ture, with an equal sum ; and that for Architecture, with 50
guineas, rewarded the superior excellence displayed in that art
by Mr. FDWAKDS. The silver medals for drawings, and for
models from the antique were bestowed on Messrs. MEDLAN
and Bo NE. •

Mr. Wes sr then read a discourse on the principles of the
polite arts, and the best methods of attaining excellence in each•
The chief object to which he directed the attention of the Stu•
dents was, the infusion of a visible mental agency into their
performances. As an illustration of his meaning Mr. WEST al-
luded to the basso rrlievo brought from Greece by Lord EL4SIN,
in which some young Athenians are represented as in.the act of
curbing their horses, and all the figures seem to have been in•
stantaneously transformed by some magkal stroke from a state
of action to inaction, still preserving all the animated expression
of lite.

When ArEttxs had excited the greatest admiration among
his countrymen by his paintings, the philosophers and critics of
his day congratulated all Greece, that now they were happy to
declare that painting had arisen among them to an. unusual
height of excellence, notwithstanding that Sculpture was on the
decline. As this opinion was published at the very period when
the demi-divine PIIIDIAs had been chiselling his incomparable
111,91/0, it liecame since in a degree unaccountable how it could
be m.tintaint d. Mr. V/Es r very ingeniously justified this idea,
by inferring that the sculptors who existed previous to.PHIDIA29
hatimingled more mind in their objects than he did, whose first
ambition was to give the proportions of manly beauty, rather
than the sentiment arising from feeling; and he alluded to the
figure of the man who restrains the charger on Monte C-tvallo,
at Rome, as a proof of the propriety of the assertion ; inasmuch
as it was the work of earlier times, and involved those required
significations of a mental agency in the object, which it was so
clearly the desire of the President to inculcate among his hearers
in genera!, and the disciples of the Royal Academy in pant-
cular.
He then descended to periods less remote, -in which the arts
flourished with brighter lustre. He paid due homage to the
superior talents of MICHAEL ANGELO, whose figure'' Moses
he particularly described, and contrasted with that of our Re-
deemer by the same Author, remarking that the superiority of
the former arose from the tendencies of the mind of this stern
prophet being more in unison with the bold imagination of Bo-
NFKATTI, than the calm but celestial character of the World's
Saviour, whose attributes were more perfectly conceived and
embodied in thought by RAPHAEL.
Some allusions Co. the frailty of Mortal existence, just com-
pliments to his MAJESTY for his protection of the arts, and an
assurance that they would meet with equal encouragement un-
der his Succ ssor' whenever it may be the will of Heaven to
call.him to the throne, concluded a discourse Which was heard
with admiration, and will be long remembered with interest,