The National Register.
London, England, 1812-10-18 00:00:00

ADDRKSSES.

ADDRESS, BY LORD R 1 RUN.

In one &sad our city saw, mid
Bowed to the dust, the Dram i'. tower of pride,
In one stout hum, beheld uie Hazing hint..
Aro t.to sink. and Sll.ll;ksPit..t at: ceac to reign.,
Ye wit.) beheld, oh sight ad.iiiictt and inouined,
.Whose radtauce mucked ruin adori.ett.
T-itrou: h clouds of f.re, the in 6!Ny rlrt4l,
Like isrue:', pillar, chase the might fro:a lie veil,
raw dr lung coititun of i'evoleing fl
SililLe its red shadow o'er the stattled Thames,
3Vhile tholisailis, thronged aro•ind the burning ()orate,
Nirunk hat lc appa led, awl trembled for tl.eir home;
A. filar.-d the volui.ie,i hli se, acid gi.aoly Atone
'ie ski• s, with tiglittkioto awtui a: then own;
blvekei.ino -aid he lotitly %sail
liburt,•ti the Muse's mark. d hi r tall;
5,1 y this it: eV. nen less aspiring pile,
34eated, where owe ri,se the mightiest in our isle.
!Attic lArqur %%hitch the roritter knew,
# lite for sPI AR —Mot 05 'him ahti ytnt

Yes—it shill be—The iirigic of Tat mine
Deli's the Tune, the tore'i of tl
On the same spot still toliwcra!es 'lie 14;cile,
• And bids ;he Drama be wibtie she h Lieu ;
liith totems the potent spell,
our honest pride'. Say. Now
As maais tics I.ssic totla! last,
Oh l migiii *c draw our omens from the past.
Some b or pr' pitiou:.to our p &yen., may boast
Annie* such rrs hallow stilt the mune we lust,
On Ururt first our sttnoNs' ihrillitig art
O'erwitieliocd the gentlest. Watt% .d the sternest heart;
'On Drury, hick's Latest laurels grew,
Here your last tears rettillig Rosettes drew,
Sighed his lest thank., a• d wept his I t..t adieu ;
Vet and for living with the wreaths to ,y blown
hat eniy waste their odours o'er the tomb.
Such D.Lit.), claimed and claims,--11.tr you refuse
One tribute to revive his slumbering. muse,
With garlands d. ck your own 3IP V ANUF lee head !
Nor hoard sour hintoars idly for the dead !
Dear are time days wli;elionide our annals hi
Ere tiARRICK fled, or Bei N•LFY ceased to
. Heirs to their labours, like all high-born heirs,
Vain of our ancestry, as they of their's.
White thus Remembrance burrows lL r QUO'S glass
To claim the sceptred shad- •ws as they pass,
Ano we the mirror hold, where budged shine
Immortal news, emblazoned on our line ;
Pause—ere their feebler uMpring you condcmnA
Reflect how hard the task to rival them !
Friends of the Stage—to whom both Players and Plays
Must sue alike for pirds.n, or for praise.
Whose judging voice and eye Acme direct
The boundless power to cherish or reject,
If e'er frivolity has led to fame,
And made us blush that you torebore to blame ;
If e'er tb • sinking stage could condescend
To so the the si:kly taste, it dare not mend,
All past reproach may present scenes refute,
And censure, wisely loud, be justly 'mute !
Ott 1 moue y-ur ft stamps the Drama's laws.
'forbear to mock us with tuisplac'd apt louse--
So pride shall doubly nerve the actor'i p ,w'rs,
• And reason's voice be echoed back by ours! -
This greeting o'er—the antittit rule obey'd,
The Drama's homage by her herald paid.
Receive our welcome too—whose every tone
Springs from our hearts, and fain would win your owes.
The curtain rises—may our stage unfold
Scenes not ursseoretry Drary's days of old! --
Britons our judges, nature for our guide,
Still gray see please, loss—bag way yea preside.

THE NATIONAL REG ISTER.

OCT. Is.

TO I'llE EMFOR OF 111 E NATIONAL REGISTER.

Si it—l am not a disappointed author applying to you, as
Dr. licsny to the public, for rediess, although 1 am one of
those who con! I United their mite to the Drury-lane Furd of
Addiesse,. Both my Ist-Auction and myself should have re.
m.ained in the pi ofound °ken, by in which, what I conceived
to have been, the c/wire of the Committee, had left us, had
not a letter, signed CAN nuns, appeared in Hu: Morniii,
Chodniele. By the info! illation which it ernstans, and,
from the manner in whit h it is given, may be considered as
t!ifieitd, it appears that the Daury-late Committee, after an
impartial examinat nm of the Ad& esses sent them, found
that none cou'd entirely ati-wer their purpose. as they all
failcil in some par t ; some in poetical excellence, others in
theatrical fatness, whilst the few which might unite both, of-
fended the modesty Of Mr. WHITBREAD, who ought not to
have shrUnk ft um praise, which, in this instance. lie so truly
merited. D:sappointed in their exi.eetations, instead of se-
lecting !he most appropriate Arldress amongst those they had
teceivtd, and calling upon its author to omit or alit r any
passage objected to, on the ground cf unfitness or flattery,
they pr& feritd deing, that it would have been better they
should have originally done, ins•ead of proposing an unrca/
!ompetition. 1 hey aeplied to Lord livaus, supplied him
with a sketch of what they thought should be said, :red lot
it tit his Lordship's muse t., till it up as she has dune. This,
it is said, took place after the loth of ts.'eptember, so that
his Lordship bad neatly a whole month to complete the
Address which le.s been spoken, and yet its alledged infe-
riority to his former pruduc ions is accounted for on the
ground of haste ! After bud' a plea on his part, I should
certitinly not venture before the public (as the Address which
I wrote, and now enclose, was only thought of on the Bth of
'September, penned on the 9th, and sent oil' on the loin and
consequvntly may rtally be called a hastu production)
WA l not been struck by the Pattie' resemblance which
exists in the plan of both our Addresstr„ both opening
with a description of the sublime conflagration!, which laid
the theatre low. This meeting of thom;ht with the author
of Childe-Ilarad, 1 considered an honour to an unknown
bard like mys4elf, until the MurningsChremick statement in-
duced me to think it might not have been accidental, but
have been occasioned by the insertion of part of nay plan
into the sketch submitted by the Committee to his Lordship.
I therefore resolved to establish my claim to the only tamed
I attempted to gain, the praise of originality, by the publica-
tion of an Address which l had doomed to eternal obscurity,
when I fancied it had been rejected on a con.parison with
that of his Lordship. It was an unpremeditated sally of
imagination, unchastered by any revisal, and sent f,rtla in
all its native wildness before the dread tribunal, it is theic-
fore perhaps entitled to indulgence. and will no doubt meet
with it, as it claims no othe.F favour.
I remain, Sir, The AUTHOR of the ADPRESSI
with tip following Epigraph :--
Jupiter omn;patems,audaribus 4111110 CO: 11(4. ••• • V Litt
Has not the Sun withdrawn his wintry beans.
And darkness quencli'd Are twilight's dying gleauq...
And yet what sudden &Aids of bursting light,
Dispel with lurid day the gloom of night I
Is it Invasion hurls her brands on high,
And fires with Gallic flame the British sky ? •
No; for tat' invading Will has sunk afar, • •
Beneath the thunders of Britannia's war.
,
• Friends to the idusei spells! afford your aid
It is their lane, the raging flames invade l •
Urge—urge along the rattling engine's speed.
;hawk the prhioahl stream, sad Geeeeless feed