The National Register.
London, England, 1808-11-13 00:00:00

NOV. 13.

•
1.0*1) MAYOR'S DAT. • •
At II o'clock on Wednesday morning the Lord Mayorartived
at Guildhall in the slide-coach, newly adorned for theocensivn,
and drawn by a fine set•of tiny horses, richly Caparisoned, pre-
ceded by his servants in liveries of uncommon elegance arid rich-
ness of ornament. The man in armour was restored to this an-
tient ceremony, after a lapse of souse yeurs, to the great satis-
faction of tine spectators.
At twelve, the whole procession moved from Guildhall to
Blackfriais-bridge, when the Lortt Mayor, Alderinev, Recorder,
and Sheriffs, and City Officers, embarked on board the City-
barge: tiles, were joiued by the several Companies in their re
spective fie.re"es,and proceeded to Westminster in the most cor-
rect order. Oil the arrival of the procession in the Court of
Exchequer, they were received by the Lord Chief Baron with
•
the usual formalities. The late Lord Mayor delivered in the
account of estreats, &c. which had taken place during his
Mayoralty.
The Recorder then addressed his Lordship on the Bench, and
stated, that the City of London bad fixed upon Charles Flower,
Esq. Citizen awl Frame-work-knitter, to sustain the duties of
Chief hist,Y,ktrate for the ensuing year, and that the integrity of
his conduct during the period he bad tilled the situations of
Sheriff and Alderman warranted the Corporation in entertaining!
the most pleasing presage of his administration. The ample
fortune which be had acquired by the pursuits of commerce,
would enable hint to fulfil the character he was about to support,
with a usupificence becoming the Metropolis of the Kingdom;
and the Recorder trusted that the Lord Mayor, on the part of
the City, would give further proofs of their attachment and
loyalty,
The Lord Chief Baron, in reply to the Recorder, observed.
that he entertained no doubt hut that the Corporation had
elected.. person w home fortune and acquirements would enable
him to till the office of Mayor with dignity and advantage. llis
Lordship entertained the highest respect for italistiduals who
had muasse.d fortunes by commercial speculation, as it was to the
spirit of adventure that Great Britain owed her security and
wealth, and by which she had excited the admiration and envy'
of the world, His Lordship was confident that the Mayas
Elect would in every particular MO the most sanguine expee-
Nam of the City ; he was the more confirmed in his opinion,
because during the sizteen years his Lordship had presided in
that C)utt, be had never: known an instance where the trust re-
posed in the Chief Magistrate had been violated. lf, therefore,
the Lord Alai or fur the ensuing year pursued the honorable path
so often trolden by his predecessors, his administration would
redound highly to his owe honour, and to the advantage of the
City of London.
The Lord Mayor "Elect.then took the usual oaths, and with-
drew, after inviting the Chief Baron to partake of the festivi-
ties prepared at Guildhall. Ms Lordship afterwards visited
the other Courts, and invited the respective Judges to dine. The
Procession returned in the same form to Guildhall.

About four o'clock Miss Flower, the daughter of the Lord'
Mayor, arrived to Lady :Mayoress, in the private carriage,
uccompatticd by Conine and her daughter, who, we un-
derstand, kindly offered to introduce her to her new and difficult
situation.

At six o'clock, most of those to whom itivitations had been
ant were a•,senibled, among whom we observed the following:
The Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Norfolk, the Duke of
Portland, Lord Camden; Lord ilawkesbury, Lord Mulgrave,
the Chaucellor of the Exchequer, the flight lion. George Can-
ning, Lord Sandwich, Lord Erskiae, Lord Grantley, Lord
hinnaird, Sir T. B. Thonipsoli, Bart. Sir Andrew Hammond,
Bart. Admiral Apodaca and the Spanish. Depaties t the Swe-
dish, Neapolitan, and American Ministers, ttc. &c. dm.
The dinner wa3 extremely well served, iaeluding every -deli-
cacy in season, and the ornaments were profuse and magnificent. •
The band of the Royal 'West London during
ginner and evening sotne very-grand and appropriate airs. •
The 1141 was Opened-by the Lady Mayotte; and the late .Lord
Mayor. • • -•
,ThesdaY a Court of Aldermen wits held at Guildhall,
"ben Charlecklower,. . Lord Mayor Elect, was Worn
for the due Performance:A*4th" office qi Lord Mayor fur the
leer ensuing.
• 4* •
The price of bread wet Ordered to be continued the
same as last we'll., viz.-Is. 3id. the vartcru loaf of
wheAten, sod 11.1 d. household. '

~~.

. .
_EATRES.,
.. • •
•
varzr L4l H. • • •
Last Thursday night was a night of 'contention. Both Douses
appeared armed with new melodramas, not as usual, and as
their nature seems to require it, placedln the rear, but in the
vet y front of the performance. Thousands of spectators having
assembled teetijoy the spurt, and view the termination of the
match, the combatants set to a little before seven o'clock, and
as we were nearer the Drury-lane than the King's Theatre
side, we a ill first describe a hat took place in that quarter.
An overture boasting the name, but not possessing the reality •
of originality, first assailed our ears. It was chiedy composed
of fragments of old tunes. Suppose that a modern author, as
those gentlemen think nothing so vulgar as the toil of composi-
tion, should tear a page from every play that has either been • •
acted or printed, and should join them together, in the hope of.-
reducing the best piece that ever was written, and you will
have a fair idea of this lila:fume.
The melodrama opened with a tremendous disrharge of clap.
traps, which brought down hoists of applause. The Spanish
soldiers, reinforced by some Euglish auxiliaries, under the cow.:
mind of two English Officers, Colonel Sir Leinster Kildare, an
Irishman, and Captain Mae. Intire, a Sroidtmort, gave us• a
singing account of all the grievances they had suffered, and their
resolution to conquer or peri,h. Inspired, probably by antici-
pation, with the feelings which now justly warm the hearts of
their brave descendants, they forgot that in the year 1557, when
the siege of St. (biotin took place, then defended by one of the
greatest and most unfortunate men of his• age, Admiral de
Culigny, the intention of their Sovereign Philip 11. was to re-
duce France into a province of Spain ; and therefore all their
sentiments if vengeance, however 'consonant with the present,
did not suit those times. in order to display his patriotism, or
perhaps for want of having looked at the map of Europe, the
'author transplanted St. Quitain, a town of Picardy, and in the
heart of France, which the Spaniards haltrthen invaded, into
*Spain. These are tricks unworthy of a. tuaatof sense. To 'give
the)ie to history and geography in such an,oceasion, when so
many really glorious iras ages in the aunats of Spanish heroism
might have been selected for the foundation of a piny, would
Idad us to believe the author isn wolf in sliteli's clothing, who
wishes slily to wound, whilst he seems loudly to extol • that
44;111y-spirited nation, sere we not perfectly acquainted with
.the source from whence till these l'neonsisteecies proceed. "The
:mighty quirk hand at a translation" his been stretched forth
again, and Mr. Theodore Hook, whilst loudly inveighing against
the treachery of the French, who stab as foes those, Whose
houses they entered as friends, found that their works, if no-
their deeds, were at least worthy of imitatien.. As we are snit
mical to every sort of imposition, we rejoice tit having it in on?
power to discover it whenever it dares to challenge public ob-
servation. Will the British public tidier?, that at a time when
every British heart burns with for the Spanish anise; when
British blood is shed to support it against the threatening tn..
riads of ambition, the author of the. aicge of St. gointin IlaS 120
little participated- in'the general feelings of his countrymen, as •
not only to remain uninspired by his subject, hut even_ mot to•
eon:pore the melodrama which he gives us as his onn,- hot trans:
late it from the Prench ! About six yeal... ago we had the plea-
sure of seeing the second representation- or this very melodrama,
on the theatre called I.' Amhigu Comique, at Paris. It is true
that it went there tinder a diferent name, we believe that of
Jaqueline d'Oldenbnurg, but the alterations made in the story
are very trilling. The Spaniards only are substituted for ano-
ther natioy, and the fort of St. Quintin for that of Oldenbourg,
how will many of the vectatots he pleated, when they learn,
that most of the compliments passed ou the gallantry of the
Spaniards, time generosity of the British Nation and Govern.
merit, and which they have's° loudly applauded, were the same,
through the medium of translation, which a few years ago
greeted the ears of oar implacable foe? IS it not straage that
the authors of oer modern acting plays have so little inventive
genius, that they cannot even reproarh the French with their
•tyrainty and deceit, without first stealing the seutenee of re.,.
preach frosn,a French work ? . . .
. We have already remarked, that hod the author intended
• write against the Spaniar&,• he could mit have chosen a trans.
Refloat) their history which would have answered his purpose-
better. We will now thew that he has not had jailgmeut enougil
to avoid-the eriors and- improbithilitiet %Bit which his original.
'abounds.. •

a••• • • I
THE I'TATIQNA I, REGISTER.
—Nommosinian-
• - • •-- 11 - THE TH