The National Register.
London, England, 1809-10-22 00:00:00

LYE

It has been said by some poet, that " where nought is
mob!) dared, no gat is e'er n bk. won;" an adsgc, how
hick jUstity the jrw ire .he fithie; nor sv:i
it stop the voo: of criticism, sve.•.a actors tvaleitake dif&
cult ra.,•!cirs, rot which no one, perhao, but th, insclvi S
supposed them We are led to this rem irk try
the pertociriance ate ..•:iranger at this theatre on Men.
dav, 'shell the stao manager of the L)ceern A!tenipted a
cliar-etec which th: stage ia4;ticrer of Covent-Garden has
6,, one!' toitme pre-einicte:t: ; aud ‘ve call it a difficult elta.
,
ratter, not trout any intrinsic in-rit in the.characler ttseH
Ai t..eillea, 431 et:Ca':Se ii is (we in w tiicti sir much is left Ito
the actor; we woold not, however, detract I•oin Mr.
it ty merit ni less a:duotis parts, but he should ie-
Cotieet .1340 there :s _rcat d [Terence bet een the (light of
the umlaut and die soaring of the eagle. Mr. Raymond
a toque de rte, to have nVstaken this character.
Misanthropy wraps up the sufferer within himself, anti
dues oot prompt Will to rant '' and tear his passions to
tatters; it makes a inau rather contemptuously peevish,
than r, fdll‘ ener;:ctic ; • ;sod iu the tiist Iry ery iew with his
;!teirtic•rt, he s as too loud in his expostulations,
where tie ...iglu to have been persuasise; too boisterous
w:iere he ought to gave appeared splenetic. Towards the
vest; ut the piece, lie beeline ritner inure intefruisPY ani-
gutted, It•r in the early part. all animation appeared to be
contined to his legs awl arms: yet still there was much
avaraciig, for his countenance seemed fixed for the gloomy
se,erity of time pe:l3gPirue, rather than expressive of the
it.iagto inelaucholy of the dishonoured husband and the
i!ajius trie,ll We would also point out to Mr. Raymond,
to m 1 the actions in real life must no! all be closely copied
ou tie! s,ag? ; a delicate d,serimMation will always draw
the hoe, and the joy of a fither at meeting his children,
wtnmld nave been better delineated by one look tut silent
ef,-.pr:ssioa Our: by the kissing of a doting nurse t—besides,
w hen the `tranger first finds vent for his I..ars, it mit7/ tics
pet-inured hon to look at them on his hiv..,ikerchief,
but 0 blaze wit nose afterwards is rather too much in th.
Dutch M. s. Powell, it being her first appearance
Cr the season, was riceivel with applause. We will not
e isef iiiio inv:dious comparisons respecting her conception
of the charw.ter; 1101 iv it necessary further to notice the
rest of tic Ir-rformers. In the farce of the nree and the
.Dcace, i)e Cau), for the se.-ond time, performed the
three .SYnkrlcs, with hi; usual versatility.
Oa fayslay, the new actress, Mrs. Edwin, male her
second appf ,ran-•c• 03 a London stage, and was greeted
with !hat avid ut ?oda use which arise,; not merely from a
lettrOSll If'r but k strongly indicative of appro-
bation. i'ro•ti the character selected for her debut We may
supo.e that Ole coasiders the lively parts of grated come
d. as leer/ ric, nor do we think that sire has mistaken her
p e, s. naacoura,:.ed as she was, it was scarcely possible
tna d tidence should mar her efforts ; indeed the only
11.. a w !Lek to her acting was, that the frequent applause
made her too often appear as the actress rather than the
Sod'er's Daugh;er. Though not eery young, yet she ih
ear ble of assuming the youngest characters, both fioin
face and figure ; the first is pleasing and expressive, the
later graceful, though rather below the middle size. Her
sro,ce is peculiar!y harmonious, and sufficiently changeable
to express the pliss;mis in her line of characters; and her
eye aleme, independent of the dialogue, would have car-
ried her throt.gh many of the scenes : she made all that
could he, am! perhaps o ore than the author conceived, of
the ('heerly, and the happy confidence inspired by
well-merited approbation, left her quite at liberty to display
her complete acquaintance with the " business of the
sta'ee." Her bye play was sprightly, and, what is not al •
ways the case,uite in character. Mrs. Edwin ought,
however, to recollect that Comedy is not Tragedy, and that
a redundauce of action is not usual in common life : fiue

• ~