The National Register.
London, England, 1818-10-12 00:00:00

COVENYGABDEN.

Monday night, after the comedy of The Way to Keep
Him, in which Mr Farm perfnened Sir Rash ul Con-
stant tin- the second time, with the same success us on
the first occasion, the pantomime of Harlequin Gulliver
was represented, in which, as the bills stated, Nlessrs.
Mahier -and Chalon, two French gentlemen, were to
astonish the public by their performances. Only one
of them, however, made his appearance; and his feats
were, on the whole, not so extraordinary as we had been
led to expect : they consisted in leaping, longitudinally,
over a chariot and horses—jumping through hoops—
and some other exercises of that kind. An inclined
plane was erected at the back of the stag; leading to a
platform which faced the orchestra. The perfin-mer ran
down the plane, and leaped fivm the platform, which
was about six feet high. So far as the mere act of
leaping is concerned, we think Ireland, Brown, and
alters whom we have seen, superior to the French
Gentleman. But his seizing a bottle in one hand and
a giass in the other, when in the act of flying over a
table, and his jumping into a night-gown, when leap-
ing through a paper barrel, are novel tricks, and not
deficient in ingenuity. His reception* was by no means
encouraging. Loud cries of " Off, off !" together with
hisses and applause attended him during the greater
pert of his performance.
Sheridan's comedy of The Rivals was acted on Thurs.
day night at this theatre with great success. The Sir
Anthony Absolute of the evening was assigned to Mr.
W. Farren, being his first perfinenence of that character ;
and, though far from a part of so much refinement,
complexity, or difficulty as any of his former attempts,
has certainly added to his rapidly-growing reputation,
and his deserved estimation with the public. This gen-
tleman
is an actor of that sterling merit as to improve
in his progress by strongly-marked gradation, and to
gain ground in our good opinion every time he appears
on the stage. He bids fair, we think, to restore the
good old ti:nes of comedy, when character, and nut
caricature, was the object of all of his profession who
fought to be popular, and befitre the public taste was
vitiated by those monstrous zombinations of farce and
sentiment which have so beteg infested the stage. Mr.
W. Furren's advantages are equally supplied him by art
and nature ; his conception is as perfect as his execution-
while both are kept in and restrained by a true obser,
V:IIICe and pttrfeet comprehension dell that is striking
in sentiment and character. He never by any accident
so flu. loses his self-possession as to deviate into extrava
gance. All his touches arc chaste and delicate, yet tell
with such complete .effect to the most distant parts of
the theatre, that the audience seem to anticipate by his
previous gestures all that be is going to say or to do.—
His best passages in The Kivals were those where his
intlignatioe is roused at the supposed indifference of his
sun to the description of the charms of his mistress, and
the scene where he discovers amid ventiucbt Captain Abso-
lute of the livFocrisy he had practised. His perflirloarite,
as all who know his figure and manner will suppose,
was very Janette from that of Mc. Dowton; he pre-

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rented, perhaps, the simple expression of anger, Caddy
compared with his celebrated predecessor, hot we think
him on the whole much his superior, and aat the part
in his hands possessed more nature as well as do
refinement. S.r Lucius °Trigger was given to Mr.
Jones, who might have introduced a stronger east of
the brogue, and a tone of greater decision and import-
ance, without injuring our id:at of the portrait. Faulk-
land found an able representative in Mr.. Young; but,
unfortunately, the more able the actor the more sensible
we become of the native odiousness of this character,
which never excites any dramatic interest, and is the
great blot in the piece. Mr. C. Kemble played the part
of Captain Absolute in general with peculiar felicity,
but he failed in delineating a beautiful expression of
tenderness when be is about to return to his mistress
the portrait of herself which she had given him. Mr.
Liston was not happy in Acres, compared with his usual
style, but in the peculiar ex,iression of cowardice hp
displayed in perfection his own inimitable talent. Miss
Brunton, in Lydia, Languish, sustained her firmer
reputation throughout, but appeared to most advan-
tage in the scene where she discovers that Captain Ali-
solute and her lover Beverisy are the same person.-..
Mrs. Faueit made an interesting Julia; and Mrs. Ds.
venport, as Mrs. Malaprop, did not suffer any of the-
scenes in which she was engaged to languish.