The National Register.
London, England, 1809-07-30 00:00:00

fiii i.ziii•ricsifilti. REM

wygrnio

It is deficient is plot, character, Sentinient; and expression.
It is a string of conceits and clap-traps, miserably strung
together, and we fe,el as much for an audience *hes cou'd
endure with patience such a tissue of silly iitiproliable n 0,..
sense, as we feel for a writer who cottid seriously sit down
to cater for a taste so wtetthed dnd alicimindhle. With re-
gard to the music; which is by Mr. Addison; it is ahhorit as
bad as the other parts cif the Opera; We think it would be
difficult to point out one original Bar: With the excep-
tion of a single passage In the first trio of the second act,
and the song "On the Baitks of the ;Volga," 'there is nothing
of which a composer df any pretensions Would with to be
consideredlthe author. The. Songs- Minna to Mrs. 'Mountain
are sombre and uniuttresting and any thing gat pathetic.
The chorusscs! I as the' are 'Ms-en/led; were such as we
couldlscarcely pardon et Astley's ur Sadler'a Wells. We
kuow that Mr. Addison is capatile of writing better Music,
and we regret exceediugly to find that it is
.ltecominf.,,
fashionable amoug Compoiers of merit, to degrade theM-
selves to a level with those pretenders, who write trumpery
things because they cannot write better, and whO arc se ,
iuced into this practice by the ignriranee and depraved
taste of the public, Who applaud arid censure with the
risme indiscriminating want of judgment.
Of the performers, we think, Mrs. Mountain has ihti
ference with respect to style; and Mrs. Bishop as to voice,
which is-perhaps one of the finest .ou.the stage, but she has
no opportunity afforded her of. displaying it: Mr. Born
appears to be au excellent musician, and exhibits eons'_
derable judgment in making the most of a voice which is na-
turally far from good. Mr. Phillips is more indebied to
nature than to art; at present there as something unclassical
and unfinished in his performances, but we have VIO doubt.
he will improve. We caution him. however, against imita-
tion. " Whoerer follows another must necessarily be
behind." Of the other Performer, the less is said the
better.—The Band is certainly a,tood one, as for as it
goes. If they did not exert themselies so much as we
could have wished; we very readily account for it, by sup-
posing them to have experienced feelings similar to our
own at the wretched music they were obliged to uasego.

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Ser. bruises no being Conveyed to liohnslow. Minot two miles
from flte.4it&hOlprit; a poor Sian VIM Ville,' in ajane; h 3 a cart
urnipg ovr, thp unite:dais° haiing tlimged oat of the road.
Severn' oth r accideut4 happened on Wednesday evening in and
Arent the metropOis. . A poor iabatirer, of the uathc of Furniss„
was struck blind 1 ten o'
clock, In the 'King's read; thel3ea,
whilst going!fame with his two children.. A house lagiorting to
Mr. Tame in Poland-striset; wits set lire to by.the
origirrieed in thi second gnrir is here trio
were asleep; !Alt fokunniely ft ‘segctiicovered in time to save tho
chi;lren, and to subdue the flames af,ter destroying the rot n.
We lOCSd2v tig,lll, eigltt o'tlnek, • lie neighilonrhood at
St. Alban's Was visited by a thunder storm,- which Cantitpfed
eon,irletahle tinte, attended by rain, Which fell in such torrents
that the (auids were quite iiiutnitiated, cud w 4.64 palingS. Were
thrown down; and other wood works floated in the stream,
hich renderer) the highways almost impassabie. The atmos-
phere appeared like a sheet of hit, the air waslrapregnatcd
sulphur, and the lightning trinde such a hissing noise, and the
whole presedd a scene so frightful; that the horses on the road
would not proceed.

Thè neighbor thodd of Christ Church, Blackfriars, was,
neatly the whole of Thursday, kept in a state of tumult, owing
to the fallowing eireunstanee i—An old woman, wha had at.
• tended the funeral of a man who died of a cortagions fever, and
who wac 1;6.0 on Sunday last; in passing the graie ota Thuri-
jay; iralwiocdsho heard a groaning and calling non for assist: vice;
.from . it; and the iMpression. teas so tnrong,
.that At ac-
tually fainted a:say On the spot. I 1 hen she recovered, bile de-
clared What she imagined She heaid; Which cettoing to the Know.
ledge of the parish otlicei-i,. sUe Was sent ti) th'e ‘inteti-housej its
heing the nrcasitig Of orating a miih. The clerefman; iexton,
aril atheri; attended, and asmrfri the people that it was
sihle the watt could have lieea hurled alive; chid that It ass no-
thing. snore than an idle tate: but, notwithstanding all such ex-
hortation, the crowd continued 114 whole of the day. The
people mnat wished to T.itt4e the gta*e Openedi but this isvii
presented ns extremely chingeroUs, oujOg to the waif having died
of a contagions fe4et.—Soroeittroiliit fur t 4 noise by sAllpitsint
it proceeded ft4nh a Mail tot:fined in die rtintigimus wares-••
While dthen suppose it Id have been the unlucky exploit of
some ventriloquist passive that Way.

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'STEM ;AMY 80'
41, Up-
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