The National Register.
London, England, 1809-08-27 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

Mr. Young always performs those parts.which are less com-
plicated with great truth and much good acting. If he
cannot rouse his feelings, he generally know. how he ought
to feel, and therefore affords us a few visible signs of the
emotion he means to express s this is enough for a gentle-
man of his respectable walk in acting. But in undertaking
the character of Sky lock, lock, he has certainly walked out of his
track, and if he does not speedily walk hack again. we fear
that he will go step by step out of the respectable estimation
in which he at present stands with the public.

AUG Q 7.

feet is ti:uup•nn Agonistes cha►ned. The remaining figures re-
pre.ent the Maquie of Como; ; the two brothers drive on three
Bacchanals, wit It their stagt.ering leader Cumus. The enchant-
ed Lady is seated in the chair, and the ►eries is ended by two
Tygers, representing the transformations of Gowns's. devotees.

The desgins of both Ilosso-relievos, and the model of the
Ancient Drama, are by Mr. Flaxman The model of the Mo•
dern Drama, and the execution in itone, is by Mr. Rossi.

The statues representing Tragedy and Comedy, intended for
the niche• in thew ings of the Theatre, are completed, and, we
understand, will be put up on Monday next. Each of these
figures is seven feet high.

Tragedy, to occupy which the nich in the southern extre•
inky o the building, or that nearest to Russel-street, is a fine
figure, holding the tragic mask and dagger. The sculptor is
Mr. Ito%ii.

Comedy hold; the shepherd's crook or pedum, on her right
shoulder, and the comic mask in her left hand. This statue,
which is the workmanship of Mr. Flaxman, is to he placed in
the rich in the northern extremity of the building next to Long-
acre.

Without this explanation we should have been inclined
to have given these ideal personages other names, par.
titularly as there is no inscription by which the spectator is
led to distinguish them fir Menander, Aristophanes, and
Nesehylus. Thalia is perhaps sufficiently pointed out by her
mask and crook, while the muses who follow her we ap•
prehend to have been selected from the representation. of
some Greek chorus t and the names assigned them by Mr.
Flaxman to have been the result of those instruments, accid.
dentally furnished them by the ancient Artist, We are at
a loss to conceive what is meant by the ornament of pine
leaves appropriated to three nymphs, who are attending
the poetical steed Pegasus. We are still more at a loss to
understand why these three nymphs are called the Hours of
the Seasons. If they were the former, we should have had
twelve of them, if the latter, at least one personage more
was necessary to comPlete the group but perhaps the Artist
has sacrificed propriety to effect c we shall observe by the
way, the Greek or Homan Artists were never guilty of this
fault. We suspect that Mr. Flaxman has borrowed this
idea of the hours attending upon► Pegasus from the well-
know* picture of the horse leading-forth the Horses pf the
Sun. The figures of Bacchus and the Fawn would certainly
not strike a spectator uninformed of the intentions of the
Artist. Bacchus is a gigantie figure, and Faunus, we think,
is very unpoetically thrust into the group. Of the other
figures Melpomene is sufficiently designated: we cannot
help condemning that want of unity in th►s design which
might have led us to distinguish between the allegorical
allusions and those which represent the poets, and the real
personages of their dramas. The composition is at once
too general and too particular.

This objection will ►►ot apply to the other compartment;
that has defects of a different nature, but we think aot less
fatal to its ranking among the higher orders of composi-
tion. So far as Shakespeare ►s concerned, all is very well ;
but why are Otway,' Rowe, Dryden, Ben Johnson, and
others we could name, to be cashiered of their dramatic
fame, to make room for Milton ? Who, how high soever
may be his clai►ns as a poet, hat certainly but few preten•
sinus as a dramatic author; and we think that it would not
have been less incongruous to have placed our first moral
writer, or our greatest philosopher, than it is to have
placed Milton in this situat►on. With respect to the me-
rits Of the execution, we consider Mr. Flaxman's compart-
ment, upon the whole, superior to the other. If we have
objected to sonic parts, there are others which are entitled
to our highest approbation ; the figures of the Furies in-
stigating Orestes, are animated with a boldness exceeding
the usual efforts of Mr. Flaxman's powers, and are upon the
whole highly honourable to his talents.

The figure of Lady Macbeth is executed with great
spirit, and it is no faint praise to say that Mr. Rossi has not
lessened that confidence in his abilities which his formes% la-
bours have excited.