The National Register.
London, England, 1812-03-08 00:00:00

MARCH 8.

felt compunction of the accused, contrasted with the unrelenting seve-
rity of the accusers, have, at all times, invited the hands of the best ar-
tists to try their sk ill. Titian, Tintoretto, Rubens, Rembrant, and some
snore modern masters, attempted it, and succeeded according to their
conception of the subject. The performance, under our consideration
has a great deal of intrinsic merit. The figure of Christ is dignified;
the woman is really sinking under the weight of her shame, and the
accusers, whose features might have been more of a Jewish cast, express
an uncommon eagerness for severity and punishment. The whole is
pleasingly coloured.
No. 54. St. John preaching in the Wilderness. By W. HODGSON.—
Placed rather too high for a minute observer; this painting, however,
evinces great efforts towards the perfection of historical painting. The
composition is noble, and the colouring meets the eye with clearness
and harmony.
No. 52. The last Deposition of Schidoni. Radcliffe's Italian. By H.
SAss.—The scene is well represented. The figures have their appro-
priate expressions; the gloom of the dungeon is correctly illumined;
and, though small, this picture says much in favour of its author.
(To be Continued.)

DRAAIATIC REGISTER.

COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.

The Dramatic Muse of our immortal Bard, Sun KSPEARE, does not
always fly on even wings, and all his Dramas are not to be weighed in
the same scale. Transcendent and free, his genius, like the bird of
Jove, often soars up to the highest verge of the ethereal sphere, and
imbibes above an incomparable sublimity of thought; and sometimes
flutters in the valley, rases the even plains, and mixes there with
beings much inferior to himself—indeed it is the same of every great
mind, and the author of the Iliad and Odyssey, HOMER himself, is
said to slumber at times;
" aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus."

The tragedy of Julius Casar, although in several passages it sparkles
with the brightest rays of genuine pathos, and is stamped throughout
with distinguishable marks of Shakspearian sublimity, eloquence, and wit,
had long been laid on the shelf, as if to be read only by commentators,
and profound literati,who seek vainly in printed texts that pleasure which
the living representations of the Theatrical scene alone can afford. We
onght, therefore, to thank most sincerely Mr. KErzBLE for his having
revived this drama; it is not the first time that he has deserved the gra-
titude of the Public for this peculiar sort of service he has rendered us,
and when we consider what exertions it must have required from him to
restore it to the stage in a garb fit to meet the critic's eye, and to please
the generality of the Public, our acknowledgments must increase in
proportion. We are happy, however, to find that his effor is have been
crowned with success, and that the testimony of public approbation
was loudly uttered by as thronged an audience as we have ever wit-
nessed at that house.

The three principal characters in the play were supported by most
able actors; Mr. KEMBLE performed the part of Brutus; Mr. C.
KEMBLE, that of Antony; and Mr. YOUNG assumed the character of
Cassius. The first appeared with his usual transcendency of talents,
but did not meet our full approbation in his delineation of t: "noblest
Roman," of whom Antony says that—

His life was gentle ; and the elements
So niix'd in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, This was a max
The dignified serenity of the Senator, the placid benevolence of the
man of letters, and the philosophic mind and stoic appearance of Cato's
son-in-law, were too often eclipsed by the austere look, the haughty
gait, and pedantic sententiousness of Mr. KEMB LE ; but his brother
never received more meritedly the theatrical applause. His Antony
was fairly pourtrayed, and were it not for his having partly mistaken the
well-known passage, i‘ Brutus was an honourable man, so are they all,
4(e." which he pronounced with the decided feeling of acquiescence,
when on the contrary, it is perhaps the bitterest stroke of irony
riich eve? escaped the lips of an ambitious man who courts popu-
lar favours, we would have passed an unrestricted encomium upon
the whole of his performance. Mr. YOUNG was not quite so successful,
although in several parts, and chiefly in the dispute between Brutus and
C.iss‘its, he 41isplayed his natural talents, and did fvll justice to the
character.