The National Register.
London, England, 1818-10-11 00:00:00

CO VENT.G,II: DEN.

Monday night, after the comedy of The Way to Keep
Him, in which Mr Farren perfhrmed Si, Bashful Coll-
stwit fitr the second time, with tie same success as on
the first occasion, tile pantomime M Harlequin Gulliver
was represented, in which, as the hills stated, Alessrs.
Mahier and Chalon, two French e.:,ritletuen, were to
astonish the public by their performances. Only one
of them, however, made his appearance; and his feats
were, on the whole, not so extraordinary as we hal been
led to expect : they consisted in leaping, longitudinally,
over a chariot and horses—jumping through hoops—
and some other exercises of that kind. An .inelined
plane was erected at the Lack of the stage, leading to a
platform which faced the orchestra. Tire performer ran
down the plane, and leaped from the plazform, which
was about six feet high.. So far us the mere act of
leaping is concerned, we think Ireland, Brown, and
toilers whom we have seen, superior to the French
Gentleman. But his seizing a bottle in one hand and
a g:ass in the other, when in the act of flying over a
table, and his jumping into a night-gown, when leap-
ing through a paver barrel, are novel tricks, and not
deficient in ingenuity. His reception was by no nie:ins
encouraging. Loud cries of " tiff, Off !" t•ywther with
hisses and applause attended him during the greater
part of his yerthrenanee.
Sher idan's comedy of The Rivals was acted on Thurs-
day night at this theatre with great success. The Sir
Anthony Absolute of the evening was assigned to Mr.
W. Farren, being his first performance of that character ;
and, though far from a part of so much refinement,
complexity, or difficulty as any of his firmer attempts,
has certainly added to his rapidly-growing reputation,
and his deserved estimation with the public. This gen-
tleman is an actor of that sterling merit as to improve
in his progress by strongly-marked gradation, and to
gain ground in our good opinien every time he appears
on the stage. He bids fair, .we think, to restore the
good old times of comedy, when character. and not
caricature, was the object of all of his profession who
sought to be populnr, and bethre the public taste was
vitiated by those monstrous combinations of farce .and
sentiment which have so long infested the stage. Mr.
W. Farrctt's advantages are equally supplied him by art
and nat are ; his conception is as perfcet as his execution,
while both are kept in and restrained by a true Omer-
trance and perfect comprehension of all that is striking
in sentiment and character. ;le never by any accident
so fur loses his self-possession as to deviate into extrava
fiance. All his touches are chaste and delicate, yet tell
with such complete effect to the most distant parts of
the theatre, that the audience scent to antieljeue by his
previous gestures all that he is going tees(?), or to du.--
His best passeges in The Rivals were those where his
indignation is roused at the supposed indliference of his
son to the description of the charms of his mistress, tied
Ahe scene where he niscovers and reminds Captain Abso-
lute of the hypocrisy he had practised. His performance,
•as all who know his figure and manlier will suppose,
was very different lama that of Mr. Dowtoo; he pre-

Tim NATIONAL REMSTr,IL

AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.

4.—There' has been no conference to day, on
account of the indisposition of the Russiau Minister,
Count Calve d' Istria. This being the /i•';:-day of the
Emperor of Austria, it was expected that he would go
to the. Cathedral Church in great state, and that he
would afterwards hold a Court, at which all the Fo-
reign 41inisters and the suites of the different Sove-
reigns would be presented ; but this expectation was
disappointed in both cases by the indisposition of his
Imperial Alajesty. 'l•he I)eke of Kent arrived here last
night, and was this morning visited by the Emperor
Alexander. His Royal Highness being lodged at the
Redoubt, in the most frequented part ot' the city, a great
crowd collected a!asut Alexander when he alighted, and
shouted Fine 11;:npereur., the words to which they were
trained in the time of 13aonaparte. A little before two
o'clock, Lord Castlereagh waited upon his hoyul High-
ness, and offered him the use of his carriage to the
hotel of the Kiug of Prussia, where a grand dinner was
given to the Emperor Alexander and all the Allied •
Ministers. The party began to arrive about half-past
one, and the dinner was over before four. The Empe-
ror of' Austria was absent, from the saute indisposition
which prevented bias from seeing company in the
morning. Besides the Etnwror of Russia we observed
the arrival of the Duke of 'Kent, the Duke of Welling-
ton, Lord Castlereagh, the Duke of Richelieu, Prince
Metteruich, Prince flardenberg, Prince Witgenstein,
and several other great political and military charac-
ters A great ball is given by the city to-night, in
honour of the Allied Sovereigns, and the felt of the
Emperor of Austria. The Sovereigns and the Minis-
ter:: arc expected to attend. About a thousand tickets
have been distributed, and many claims for admission,
backed by nsost respectful authority, have been rejected,
from the impossibility of accommodating all the claim-
ants. Prince Augustus, of Prussia, left this place some
time ago, and Madame Recamier three days afterwards.
The sister of the Emperor of Russia, the Princess of
Orange, is expected at the country-house of the Empe-
ror to spend there some days. Among the number of
strangers whom the Congress has attracted to Aix-la-.
Chapelle, we observe the celebrated Mr. Owen, of New
Lanark, who has just come from Frankfort on the
Maine. He is come here to present a memorial to the
Allied Sovereigns and Ministers. It is printed in three
different languages, in English for Lord Castlereagh,
and in French and German for the other great person-
ages of Congress. He left the Diet at Fraukfort dis-
cussing the military organization of Germany, without
receiving any answer to his Fueifie project, or being
called upon to explain its deta Is. Whether the Sove-
reigns will choose to adopt it, and place themselves at
the head of' viilag.es instead of empires, I shall not pre-
tend to divine ; theugh my opinion is that Mr. Owen
will not succeed better at Aix-la-C►ral+.lle in pross.!ytis-
ing their Majesties, than the Quaker did who Kent to
Rouse to convert the Pope.

Ocz.s.—The Duke of Kent left Aix-la-Chapelle this
morning at 8 o'clock. The question of the evacuation
of France is now talked of in all societies as decided
As yet the formal act has not been signed, but the sen-
timents of the Ministers and Sovereigns all concur iu
the measure, which only now waits their official sanc-
tion. The greatest difficulty in the ulterior arrange-
ments, and in the settlement of the securities, will arise,
it is said, on the part of Prussia. This power, it
eciii
be remembered, showed the greatest dissatisilaetion ut
the delays that occurred in the uffiiir ef the private re-
clamations, and probably dreads similar iaeonvenienc es
in the payment of the contributions, unless the gua-
rantees shall be altogether unexceptionable. The gene-
nil details which I sent you as prospectively those to be
adopted, are in the main correct, and will meet the
views of all the Powers.
The ball given by the City last night was very bril-
liant, and will be long remembered in the morals of the
Redoubt of Aix-la-Chapelle. The houses opposite the
ball room in this pile of buildings were illuminated.
Prussian gendarmes on foot and horseback attended, to
keen order and clear the streets for the carriages. The
company began to arrive at seven o'clock. Every car-
riage in the town and neighbourhood was put in requi-
sition, and many of them, likc our coaches employed
in bringing electors to the pull, returned and brought
successive quotas. The Emperor of Russia and King
of Prussia arrived about eight o'clock, %rich their suites.
The Empem'or was dressed in a Prussian unificin. They
were, of round, the principal objects of attraction dur-
ing their stay, which was nearly an hour and a half.—
Nor were they idle spectators of the gaiety of the
soene, or inactive spectacles thr the public gale Their
Imperial and Royal Ma4esties danced a l'o/uaui4e with
great spirit with the Doke of Kent, the Doke of Riche-
lieu, Lord Castlereagh, stud other distinguished per-
sons. the Princess of .four aid Taxie, her daughter, the
Duchess of Kent, the Countess<ef Metternich, (sister
iu law of the Violet-r), Lady Castlereagh, and u'hcr
ladies. Her Royal Iligbness the Duchess of Kent
attracted paiticidar attention by the rit.hoess of her
dress and the splendour of her jewels. The dances
were principally qiadrilles and waltzes. The ball
did not cenelude till midnight.

sented, perhaps, the simple: expression of a:7g:,r, feebly'
compared with his ce!:::wated predecesser, but we think
him on the whole much his superior, siva tiwt the pat t
in his hands possess,,l more nature as well as no,: e
refinement. S r Lucius arrigo.r was given to Mr..
Jones, who might have introduced a stronger cast of
the brogue, and a tone of greater decision and import-
ance, without injurin, our idea of the portrait. Faulk-
land f;x►nd an obie representative in Mr. Young ; but,
unt:irtunately, the more able the actor thr mare sensible
we heroine of the native odiousness of this character,
which never excites any dr►unatic interest, and is the
great blot in the piece. Mr. C. Kemble played the part
of Captain Absolute in general with peculiar felicity,
but he failed in delineating a beautiful expression of
tenderness when he is about to return to his mistress
the portrait of herself which she had given him. Mt.
Liston was not happy in Acres, compared with his usual
style, but in the peculiar expression of cowardice he
displayed in perfection his own iuhuitatle talent. Miss
Brunton, in Lydia Languisk, sustained her former
reputation throughout, but appeared to most advan.
tage in the scene where she discovers that Captain Ab.
solute and her lover Beverley are the same person.--
Mrs. Faucit made an interesting Julia; and Mrs. Da-
venport, as Mrs. Malaprop, did not murex any of the
scenes in which she was engaged to languish.