The National Register.
London, England, 1814-01-30 00:00:00

JAN. 30.

KEMBLE formed a part of the re(rular company, and certaitily was
coo,idered At the leader et the Company, and Mr. YouxG ranked
we his second : But, since Mr. K.'s secession, Mr. Y. has undonbt-
cdly been regarded a.; first in rank and in merit, and had the play of
creo beta performed iW that interval, he would eertainly have sus-
tained- the principal character. Mr. KEMBLE'S return is not to be
considered as that of a member of the Company, but only as an
ceauional engagement. It might, therefore, during such tirgagc-
went, perhaps, be thought a degradation to Mr. YouNG to oblige
him to perfinm second to Mr. K. in so very inferior a degree,
as Prins is to Cato. Ilie interest iof the Drama would un-
doubtedly he mock advanced, were the best performers cast in
every p'ay, and when there were characters equal to their
merit, were they to give Unwonted lustre to those which are
beneath them. inien the. family of the KLMBLIiii came over
to Covent Gaidm, they foimil Mr. CooKE the undisputed so;
vcreign of the Drama at that Theatre. A compromise was made :
where tl:ere or..nre equally promimant characters, they performed to
getter any scenic degradation to either, as Othello and
logo, B vcrLy and Stukley, King Henry and Cardinal ll'othey,
Ilntypur and fal,laff, ..fiftfirr xud Pierre, &c. ;--but where such
egos;ity did not rsi..t, ti,:sy alternately factiticed their claim to pre-
& 'clic,. Mr. KGetSt.E stooped to perform Antonio and Richmond, to
Mr. CeeexEs Shylock and Richard; while Mr. Cootiat personated
the Ghost and Marduff, to the llti;tltt and Macbeth c.f Ar. KEMBLE.
It it theiclute, that in the degradation (if it may he so
calle!1; of one out of two equal, or licarly equal performers, that de
gradation should be reciprocal.
A 'cw words relative to the btqineas, of, the scene, and I have
dom.. i , the mit:Mal, Cato (lit (As the Senate, einaccompanic el, :aid
Marcus a'tet wards enters to aononnee tie art ival of Deems. As it is
vow pee fotmed, Cato is accompanied by his two .sons, who
tike their stations during the debates on each side of their
father's chair. This arrangement has, undoubtedly a good effret,
but it militates against the text, as Porcius, when he quits Sanpro-
nius in the first act, informs him

' straieht a•xay,
And while the Pothers of the Senate meet,
In clese debate to weigh tie events of war
animate tlee soldiers' drooping courage, Sec. Scc."

The circumstance, however, of scenic arrangement which was
most derogatory to propriety, and could scarcely have been ex-
wiled in the most classical theatre in the kingdom, was this :—the
tt‘o c of tk insurrection under Seinproniso, Messrs. KING aLli
DUIZUSET, are accompanied by tour others. who, when they yield,
are ordered to be impaled alive, and they are removed for exe•
colon : in the next act, however, who should attend the dead body
of Marcls but these same men, in the same dresses, without any
cl auge! And again, after Cato has fallen on his sward, who should
be the weeping attendants of his chamber, but the same four find-
tared men ! Apt rson unacquainted with theatrical affairs, would
suppnse that Cabo was of so forgiving a disposition, that he had
rardested the conspirators Lgainst his lift'; and not only so, but had
taken them to he his domestic servants, and had placed sufficient
eutitidence in their supposed Fenitene,.., as even to admit them as
the near attendants of his perion.
Much arrangement destroy. the illusion of the scene : it may, and
must be. tolerated in a county theatre, but at Covent Garden
" La it be reformed altogether."
HISTRIONICUS.