The National Register.
London, England, 1815-12-31 00:00:00

833

66 or straight he'll scize on all their privileges,"—" the
very bag thel bear, and the browu dish," shall be
escheated—he has a nice taste of what even in these days
a monarch newly seated on his throne may think most
worthy of his desires. Who does not smile at the apt by.
p crisy of Orator Higg,en, who, after having himself pushed
forwards for the election, tells the new King i❑ the name of
the Commons—iVho is here that did not wish thee chosen,
now thou art chosen ? Ask'em ; all will say so, nay
swear't—The banter upon the hacknied phrase, " the fa-
ther of his people," is exquisite. Clause is to be the
grandfather, nay the great grandfather of a people,
who shall let each man eat his own stol'n eggs and
butler in his own shade or sunshine.
The unmannerly. conduct of Hempskirke, when he
boasts most of his gentlemanship, is so natural, that we
never knew an instance in which this boast was used but it
preceded some act which bespoke a blackguard or a bully.
The reply of Flores, so well delivered by Kean, when he
describes the lords of the land as selling beeves and mutton
through their bailiffs or their tenants, and thus all men
condescending to merchandize, even captains purchasing
companies, and, we may add, monarchs trafficking for sub-
jects—by the million, we must admit that throughout.the
world every thing is bought and sold, omnia venalia Rome
t übique ; and that commerce, in an extensive sense, im-
ies the whole intercourse of society.
The anxiety of the merchant, when he thinks himself on
e eve of bankruptcy, must in these times of commercial
distress have struck deep into the hearts of too many of
the
.audience; and in the scene where Clause claims of
Flores his promise to go with him, even though he quit his
bride on the eve of marriage, is as fwe a triumph of good
faith over desire as can be conceived. The muse of Fletcher
does not burst out into that splendour of imagery which
perhaps Shakespeare might have blazed with in depicting
the beauty of his wife; but his thoughts are all just, his
language all appropriate and chaste, and afford ample scope
for the finest touches of the finest actor, be he whom he
may, that ever trod the stage. We do not doubt Mr.
Kean's conception of these passages ; we think he has
internal feelings which correspond fully with those of the
poet ; but from want of voice in him, or perhaps merely
from the vast extent of our prodigiously large theatre,
much of his skill was lost in this scene, though he acted it,
in the general opinion, admirably well.
In no character have we seen Mr. Kean more graceful,
except when he bullies the poor sailor that brings him good
news; and except where his voice, in the height of passion,
breaks and becomes discordant and coarse.

We have thus endeavoured to keep our promise with the
public ; but we feel so much delight in pointing out the
bf•auties of this good old play, that it is only the want of
00111 which forbids us to proceed still further.

DRURY LANE.—According to annual custom, the holiday
folks were, on Tuesday night, entcrtAined with the Play of George
Burnzetil ut both Theatrse At Drury-lane, the part of the.un-
fortunate victim of the artful female seducer, a faithful and
able representative in Mr. Rae, whose acting spoke to' the heart
of the audience, and gained, what is almost a novelty, attention
ft um the Galleries to the Play, and suspended, for a while, that
which genetally prevails to see the curtain rise, and
witrKs, the fit st scene of a new Pantomime. Mrs. Glover play-
ed Ali `hcgod with cousiaerable ability. The play was, as usual,
succeeded by a tiew Pantomime, called liar/clam and. Fancy ;
or, Poet's !col Shilling. It is as unusual as unnecessary to
enter into a detail of the plot beloning to this species of enter-

DTC. Si.

tainment, where every thing depends on the humour or the
agility of the performer ; the execution of the scene-painter ;
the taste of the dress-maker ; the talent of the composer ; and
above all, the accuracy of the mechanist. In many of these
respects, Harlequin and Fancy excels. The dresses and deco-
ration do credit to the Managers and those employed 1n this
department of the Theatre. Some of the scenes are beautiful,
and the concluding one is extremely splendid. The changes,
considering it was a first night, were executed with more than
usual rapidity, and are some of them worthy of considerable
praise, particularly a change from the poet's apartment to
Fancy's Museum ; and changes from a sea storm to an external
view of Drury-lane Theatre; from that to Covent-garden ;
from Covent garden to the Opera•house ; and from the exter-
nal view of that building to an internal one, namely to the
Masquerade-room splendidly illuminated. Here sonic pretty
dancing was introduced by masquers. The changes. which
took place here by the power of Faneq's wand in the NI useum
were ludicrous. A splendid peacock became by a touch the
fashionable lover of Columbine. A penguin assumed the
form of Pantaloon, and an overgrown baboon was in an instant
transformed to the Clown ; a statue of Annette, the heroine
of the favourite drama of the Magpie, which occupied the
centre of the stage was by a few flourishes of Harlequin's sword,
made to assume the beautiful and elastic form of Columbine;
which character was supported by a young lady, whose name we
understand is Tree. It was her first appearance in that cha-
racter ; she is a pretty light figure, and dances and steps with
considerable ease and grace. The representative of Fancy was
stated to be a young Lady, who, on this occasion, made her first
appearance on any stage. She bad some airs assigned to her
which she executed with great sweetness. Pantaloon, Mr. May,
and Clown, Signior Paido, were both first appearances ; the
characters were well supported; and the Pantomime was
given out for repetition amidst loud approbation.
Friday night Mrs. BA RN Es, from the Exeter Theatre, made her
first appearance at this Theatre in the character of Juliet. Mrs.
Barnes is by no means new to the London boards. she was
formerly at the Lyceum, at which time she was Miss Simpson,
and afterwards played one or two seasons at the Hay-market as
Mrs. Barnes. She has for some time been playing with consi-
derable success at Exeter and Plymouth. Since her last ap-
pearance before a London audience she is much improved ; her
figure is small, but graceful ; her voice is powerful, yet sweet ;
and in several of the scenes, particularly in the Garden scene, in
the interview with her father, in which he insists on her mar-
rying Paris, in the scene in which she takes the sleeping potions
and itythe ast scene, she displayed very considerable merit ;
on
the whole, if not a first-rate actress, this Lady is respectable ;
and appears to possess talents which, if properly cultivated, will
raise her to eminence in her profession. Mr..Hae played Romeo
and made love far beyond what we conceived him capable of.
Juliet certainly was under considerable obligation to him_ for
the support his acting afforded her. In the garden scene, the
banishment, and the last scene, Mr. Rae was loudly and deser-
vedly applauded. The Play was given out for repetition on
Friday next.

COVENT-GARDEN.—Harlequin and Fortunio ; or, shin?
Moo and nun 7on, as the Pantomime at this Theatre is called,
is the produciion of Mr. Fa' ley, and founded, as its name im-
ports, upon a story told in the land of tea-pot beauties, Man-
darins with long tails and umbrellas.
A Tartar Prince is invaded and robbed of his treasures and his
throne by the Emperor Tongluck, and the Prince flies and encamps
in a distant forest, whence be issues a proclamation,, commanding
all Mandarins, on pain of forfeiting their rank and fortunes, to,
send him two men-at-arms, to assist Min in the recovery of his king-
dom. Foghi Fum, a decayed Mandarin of high rank; happens phave only two daughters, who, however, assume the dress of
Knights, and proceed to offer themselves to the Prince. On their
way, the younger very kindly assists an old shepherdess (as slin,
seems) to extricate a lamb from drowning ; after which the shep-
herdess appears to be no less a person than Shin, Moo, the peace-
ful Fairy, who, for the service performed by the younger sikter,,
presents her with 4 white horse and a box of treasures, from which
issues'ilhotchikow, the Gifted Squire, who possesses the faculties of
eating, drinking, and miningeating, beyond any mortal being. The Em-

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DEC. 31