The National Register.
London, England, 1808-05-01 00:00:00

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11"1114 -THE NATIONAL RtGLSTEIi.

THE THEATRE.

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orrNr-o.tnnstst.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona has bcru repeated, And we ate
sorry for it. If the Play be really Shakspeare's, and we own
helieve it to be his, the revival can certainly confer no further
honour upon the name of the author. All that we gather from
The Tee,. Gentlemen of Verona is, that a great Port its pro-
duced some works which are beneath even a ntoderare degree
(sf excellence ; and however satisfactory such a circumstance
may prove to Authors, who find themselves alntsed by the Cri-
tics, we do not think that the inequality of groins is a matter
which needed to he illustrated by suit an exemplification.
There are no less than four things in this Play which appear
to us exceedingly improbable, not ta say. unnatural. The first
i-. that the outlaws, by whom Valentine is beset in the forest,
boob!, at first sight, elect him their Captain. The second is,
that Valentine, a ho is a gentleman, and a man of honour, should
he contented to remain ameng a gang of rohhers, when, as Cap.
t:tin, he might so casi!y have escaped to his home at Verona.
fhc third is, that Siteia should give to Prot hems, w hose presence
!he and whose treachery she lc noa s, a picture of herself,
tozether with her recommendations of constancy in his former
love and the last is. that Valentine, at the end of the Play, when
'tr. discovers the treachery and receives the repentance of Pro-
r',rn conclude his reconciliation by recommending Silvio
to :hi. faithless friend.
The election of Va!entine, and his continuance among the
Peibliers, are interwoven with the play itself, and cannot he
'rick oat : the donation of the picture too, it would he I ittrult
expcitg.. hat the surrender of Sylvia, which is the inoct rc-
-.-oltia7; of all improbabilities, which is coo;veyett in t I lines,
which no notice appears to he taken by any of the par.
•ir: present, was probably some mistaken insertion, some acei-
4-:,tal '.try, which Shal.speare never intended, and the two
lines tnetruclves have accordingly been by Mr. Kemble judi-
ciously omittel.
This play has not even the merit of luxuriant language. Some
of
,Shak.spearers works, however defective in interest and inci-
eent, keep their place upon the stage by the beautiful pas.srtges
which they contain ; but hi The Two Gentlemen of Verona. it
would be difficult to find any pagsage that excels mediocrit,
ex-
l'ept objection to Luretta's wish of checking love :
'' The current that with gentle murmur glides,
Thou know'st, bring stopt, impatiently. Cloth rage :
" But when his fair course is not hindered,
" lie makes sweet music with the enaineird stone,
" (;iving• a gentle kiss to every sedge
'' lie overtaketh in his pilgrimage :
" And so, by many winding nos.ks he strays,
" With willing spurt to the wild ocean."
These lines have a sweetness very Shakspearion but they are
soily r. single fresh grin:: antic' the desert of two thousand lines.
We %re among the most di-voted admirers of Sha'dispeare
real!,; great works: eternal laurels tlottrisit over his od, and
`incerely and ardently
" We bless the shade, and hid the verdure bloom ;"

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but we are not prepared to hail whatever may teprout from the
;h1 variance of the soil, and recognise to each esmumbering weed
,acred verdure of A polla►'e foliate.

l'OLl CF..
Punt.te-ocrice, BOW-STREET.
TUrNITSTERIOVII CAVE OF TilE SOL DIER.--Thrfollowirg
...wino-, circumstance was on Tuesday investigated at this Office :
I. , soldier in the 2Lt battalion of the Coldstream Cuards,
toiled on Mr. Beal, of the Feathers punlic-bouw. llart-street,
Covent Carden, and displayed a handful of guineas, told him he
had actually more money than he knew what to do with. Mr.
U. quettioned him how he came by it, when he sated, th;it in
Fleet-street, that moruinr„ an elderly gentleman, in a Yt;rl;staire
addreetted him familiarly, and asked him to hold his
purse till he returned, which would be in a short time ; that he
then Went into a liuu.:e (supposed to be a brothel) A ith a girl ;
that he walled on the spot four hours; but the gentleman did
not retarn. Mr. t 3. vs ith a neighbour, then accompanied the
soldier to the house descrihed, in Black tior;e-court, Fleet-
street. hut the people denied havinv; seen rush a pisrson, and
referred them to another liou-te in the court, but without suc-
cess. They then returned to Mr. 11.%, whet: he prevailed
on the soldier to usrertain what sum he bad. w hich proved
so be Imo guineas, 50t. in hank notes, and a promili•ory
l*vie, duo un Monday, for 4.10:.. They then repaired to Mr.

Wright's banking house, who refused to take charge of the
money fiat recommended them to apply at Bow-street, where
' the soldier persisted in his story, and said, he had de more money
hat on beingsearehed. cash to the amount of 61. lOs. 6d. was
found, and he was ordered to he detained till the business can
he further investigated..—The soldier was put to the bar on
Thursday. A person, of the name of Bowden, claimed the
money, and stated, he had lost a sum similar to that which had
been found on the Prisoner.
Mt. Re Ao, the Kitting Magistrate, observed, it would be
necessary for Bowden to give an account of himself, and how
he became possessed of the money. Bowden said, he was
a journeyman carpenter, was a married men, and that he
had been six years saving a part of the sum by task work :
the remainder was lent him by his uncle and brother, for
the purpose of taking a public house; and, at the time he
lost the money. lie was in treaty for the King's Arms public
house, opposite Shorcditch church, for which he was to pay
Wt. and the fi \tures, &e. which would amount to 2001. more.
That Messrs. Goodwin and Co. porter-brewers, Mr. Cheyenne.
ale-brewer, and a distiller, was to assist hint with the money he
was deficient of on his dealing with them. in their respective
branches of trade. lie had received from Mr. Chem ing, a rior
note, which answered the dcseription of one found on the soldier.
Last Monday was the day nn which the treaty was to be carried
into effect ! he put 3201. tied up in a red handkerchief, into his
pocket; in the course of the day he had been with a great num-
ber of persons, whom it was necessary for him to consult, and he
drank freely, rather to excess, so much so, that he had no recut •
lection of any occurrence that day, after nine at night, when
he
was at his brother's, Brow ne's-lane, On Tuesday
morning he found himself at the Three Compasses public-buns',
in Drury-lane, in company of a girl and a soldier; he drank
purl and gin with them, which he paid for; at this time he had
his money ; but the purl and gin overcame him, and he lost his
,:enses again. The Worthy Magistrate observed, he was afraid
he had no recollection on the subject, and by his own aecntint,
would suppc,e he wag always intoxicated. ile alleged he %%la
cOlected on Tuesday morning to know he had the
money, and that he, the girl, and soldier, went out of the how s,
together, and he believed the prisoner to be the same soldier. ,
hut from that time l'e did not recollect any thing until he found
himself at twelve o'clock on the same day in Drury-lane, n here
tic missed 11::: money, which brought him to his senses. lie was
ashamed to go home. or war any of his friend, until Wednes- •
day ; and on making known his loss, he was informed, there
was a soldier taken to now-street. and a similar sum had been
found in his pwsession. :%.Ir. Read ordered the business to staud
over for further investieation.

PORT NEWS.
DovErt, Aram 29.--Last night being: excessively dark, a 7.)
outward-bound South Sea o haler got upon the Goodwin Sane,
and is gone to pieces; it is supposed the Pilot mistook the Sands;
the Captain, his wife, and several of the pa,sengers, escaped in
the boat. the Pilot sof-posed to have boo drowned ; only ma-
person vas found on the wreck (a S wedish 1)4)2. ), who could gir
no siccoun; of her name.
Du A t., tea it. V.-- Last night, about nine o'clock, the ship ,
Ads enture, Captain Parker. hound to the South Seas, ran on ill:-
North Sand head, and overset. The Captain had just time 14
run into the cabin and take out his wife, and with 19 men, put
of in a boat, and with only two oars reached a ship in the
Downs, when the Captain finding the Pilot (Mr. Hutton), t%v,„,
Tien pressing. returned towards the wreck, and succeeded in ,-av-
ing one of the crew, who was hanging by one of the boats filled
with water w hich had been separated from the ship, which al •
most immediately went to pi:Tes.
On the c.2Stlt inst. at Kensington Terrace, the )ady of brigade-
M4jor Broad, of the Home District, of awn.
MARRIED.
Last week the celebrated Scotch divorcee, the Countess of
Elgin, to Mr. Ferguson, for an attachment to whom, she hat.
Amongst other sacrifices, thus renounced ter rank in the peerage.
DIED,
On Tueslay the:Mai instant. in Portland. plnee, Mrs. Bastard.
S% if of John Pallexten BastarJ, M. P. for the County of Devon.
Lately. Thomas Lew is, Esq. of Newhouse, near Cardiff, Cap-
tain in the East Glamorgan Volunteer Infantry.
Lat-:1‘, at Douglas, Lie of Man, Mrs. Fannin, reiict of the
lat.! Mrs. Fannin, of l'he Royal \ovy, and ope of the Circuit-
tyr:l,,-.4lurs Witt ttv: lot/. Caysin Cook.