The National Register.
London, England, 1813-04-25 00:00:00

WM

DRAMATIC REGISTER.

DRURY LANE. THEATRE.
•
This admirably manared concern, continues to go on in a
manner wortl►y of its commencement, and so as not.to
appoint the adn►iiers of that Committee who opened the
Season with such unusual .ceiat. Of five pieces produced
tinder the auspices of these arbiters of ,wit, four have expe-
rienced general disapprobation, and three have been drive►►
from the stage. Thy last of these was entitled Recrimination,
or a Curtain Lccture, which *as born and died on Thurs-
day last.

This piece has been represented to be the production of Mr.
STEPHEN CLARKE, who appCared as the author of a play
called The Kiss, which, in fact, was but an awkward altera-
tion of The Spanish Curate, the season before last at the
Lyceum. This, however, is not correct. It is easy to
see that those who have given such a statement to the
world have been misled by what is s&d in the Prologue,
of the Author having narrowly •escaped when last be-
fore the public, though armed with the brond•sword of
a lIASSINGER. They have reverted to Mr. CLARKE as
Laving altered an old play which, in its new form, was
Indeed in some danger of being overpowered by the indig-
nation of those who at!euded its first representation, and
have evidently confounded. in their minds MASSING ER. with
IiEA:CMONT and FLETCHER, for the Comedy of Mr.
CIA Rxr was founded not on a Play of X...lassit•G ER'S writing,
but on one which is regarded •as the joint production of the
two celebrated Authors we have named. The only person
we can tecollect as having I deently altered a Play fi om Al AS.
SINGER, iS Sir JAM ES AND BURGLSS, who, about three
year:: ago, entertained the town with a Comedy, taken from
The Brother.', of that wiiterl and performed at the Lyceum
under the title of /?iehts. ,

The present Comedy, the Author wishes it to he under-
stood, is his own, and this is an honour which he has a toler-
ubly good chance of enjoying without dispute. We must do
him the juilice to say, it is our decided opinion he does not
shiNe in borrowed plutnes, and we saw nothing; in his p'ay to
induce us to offend him by our scepticism, if he would have
believe it is not the production of BF.AUMONT and
VLETCITER., of MA,SINGEIt, or of SHAKrSPEARE.
The tWO first acts were intolerably dull. The characters
were epintnon place, the dialigue deficient in spirit, the plot,
thus I.;r, wholly destitute of interest. This made so unfa
Iv:no-able an impres,ion on the audience, that early in the
third act the.p4i fmnance was vehemently opposed. The op.
Jio;iitiiA continued with little intertwission till the close of the
act, when Mr. •RA Y 71-lOND came forward andoaddressed the
tut! icnc c in the f :Bowing words :

" Nil (i:iN'll.lo4 lvis!! most respee?filly to submit
to you, ‘‘llet:itr it eau be possible for justice to be d%,iie t:, you, or
to the Author of this piece, if' the opposition to the perfOrmanee
is eortihued? If you will have the generosity to hear it out, it will
then r..st with you to determine wbether or nut it shall be re-

watt el..'

This speech, as is common in such cases, received great
ikpnlause, and the iequest of the spe..dier seemed to lie con-
ceded. Ti:e Play went on onte time without interruption ;
but hostilitie.s were scon iesumed, mnd the cry of " rose
louder than eve". M;lnv v9ices were raised against this vio-
lation of the cl,:-!t just :;lade but in vaM.
'Things were ili tilis .tive when the fourth act closed, and
under such unfavouradle LlClS!alice6. the ne. forniance of
the fifth commenced. The scenes which it contained, must
ha% e nossesed no common merit to have ten lever! the an-
thoes at airs. Excellence itself could hardly have rescued
Itecrimination feom its .Ifttc, fur cvcuy CNel tiOLI the actors,

4.PRIL 25.

and everyincraent throwti in by the author, which, had die
first part of the play been successful, v►ould have probably
drawn down thunders of applause, here had only the effect
of eliciting, keener ridicule, and producing stronger marks bf
indignation .and contempt: -.The storm of. disapprobation
continued through Out the act, so that the manner in which
the plot was wound up, could, hardly be more then conjec-
tured. The following, we believe, will be found to give
a correct idea of the fable :

An old Baronet, Sir Philip Dovercourl (iThwtoN), is desirous to
espouse Melissa (Mrs. I)as:m.lN), the beautiful yowl niece Of 14*
friend Freeland, she being at the saline time in love with a titiptubi 10.
vrenurt (Et.t.isoN), the said Sir e l nepticin a circumstakt:e
with which the old Baronet
was not acquainted. The Cupttila, who
had been abroad, finds his way, by certain conmion•place statre cOn-
trivances, to Melissa, who has 'attracted attentions of Si. Joint's
e 01A married to the daughter of tit,
(Mrs. Cinovnp
but somewhat cooled in his attachment to his with. Melissa enters lot,'
some flirtatious with Mil/more, with the view of ulti irately teeoncilir
him to his Lady. This is communicated to the Cdpt/ziak ho vows to
set off for lAdia, anJ then writes a submissive later to Ili.; uncle ; but
atter sending it by the post, he receives a note from Ihfs h it AI, liss
promising I lin a full explanation, which, act:- diu y, in proper riint ,
ensues. A kind of Buck, named Wi,iningtmt /lire Mr), is Mir,-
duced, who at last inns oil in a state of disap► ointment. Tii rest I,f
the business consists in bringing bout the rt conciliation of the Will-
mores, the union of the Captain anti "ILlissa, and the tesiguati,m of
old '.Sir Philip to the hopv!e•sness of his passion.
This piece is one-which, •under any circutmtances, could
hardly.hate kept the Stage. Its failure is therefore little
to be regretted, but certainly the author may with some
chew of reason complain- thA he hds been harshly dealt b..
The violent opposition it met with, early in the third act.
was certainly premature. Sentence ought not to have been
pissed before the entire case of the oaender was heard. Ma-
nagers, however, Arm: thank themselves for this. They have
long exerted themselves to the utmost, to drill the town
into it. If a play has been endured they have stated it to have
been applauded ; and if it has not been opposed till it reach( d
c.:inclusion, they have had the effrontery to -act it again,
however unequivocal its e,mdetnnation then. This was done
in thccase of The Absent Apothrealy. The audience, remem-
bering how they were insulted on that occasion, were resolved
-to make some work in' the present instance, and the Author
has to complain of the Conductors of the Theatre rather
than of the Public, if his play was not heard out.
After a sprightly Epilogue bad been well spoken by Mrs.
CLOVEIL with considerable effect, Mr. RAYMOND came for-
ward to address the audience, when he himself was unex-
pectedly addressed by a person in the boxes, who accosted
him in the following manner :
" Mr. RAYMOND-1 call on you, it have any regard foot your
aaraeter as a Gentleman, and any wish to support the ropecta-
bility of the profession to which you belong, tow to .explain why
you insulted ate town and disgraced this Theatre, by introdue;ng url
those boards that !host execrable wretch COATES, and why do yout
bring forward such trash as this? _
_ _ _

The unknown orator was hissed, and a loud cry of "Turn
him out," was heard far several minutes. All appeared to
feel, that this subject ought not to have been brought forward
at this time; and that, with all his absurdities, the words
" most execrable wretch" ought not to have been applied
to Air. COATES.

Mr.Rn Yl4 OND gave no answer to the question put to him;
but when the up9oar had subsided, " begged most respect-
fatly to ask if the audiepec were of opinion the pew Play had
had.a fair hearing ?" A variety of answers were given of an
opposite nature. Disapprobation seeured to preponderate,
?Tr. RAYMOND then said—

." Nay I Alen ni(*t respectfully ask if it'may have second hear.
ing to-liorrou
'!'lily cal!ed forth much opposition, and Mr. RAYMOND
bowed and wit crew. The play lis not i)ceu repeated.