The National Register.
London, England, 1809-08-06 00:00:00

TH NATIONAL ItraGISTER;

If a nation were to be estimated as eve frequently estimate the
characters of children, by the nature of the tiniiseutents to tiltieis
t te, are most attached, we should comp;lled to acknowledge
e..irselves the most frivolous race upon earth. We are delighted
with glitter, and we can laugh at ins; pid griatace. It is less than
the tickling of a feather which excites our heartiest risibility—
the holding up of a finger, that oraeal by w!tich school boys try
the ideotisin of any one of their companium, a ill set the coma.
tcuauces of half the grown babies of this wise metropolis into an
unmeaning grin. And why is this ? It is Facause we will not
either understand or feel what ought to please us. Half the
world will harangue fo: an hour 10;4-ether uaon the rationality
of theatrical amusements. The old cub of a citizen who won hi'
tremble at the idea of taking his new moulded rib to Vauxhall,
will have no objection to place her in the nadd4e of tt:e pit at
the Hay-market, to enjoy the rational pleasure of Is play !
Rational! pleasure !—Good God; • w hat a perversion-of terms !
The rationality of Dimond's " Fnundtiag of the Es, est ," for in-
sta,:ce ! Take any of the sixpenny blue • cc:ve red romance
hooks, with which the windows of the vilest bcoi:-venders are
crowded, divide it into two, or three, or five parts, a hich 304
may term acts, set the characters a singing, a s' outing-, a rant.
ing, or (if you please), a acting; which may be easily done by
turning the narrative into tliologue, and iotert‘persing it Witik
clap-traps, German sentiments, French phrases, puns, and other
portical figures. When your piece is Otis far prepared,
have some conversation with the stage-carpenter, the scene--
dauber, who, (if he knows nothing more of perspective than Cm
man who painted the scene of a Russian cottage, in the Russian_
Impostor, at the Lyceum), so truck the better; the dress- tnaliere
&c. &c.—let them contrive all the .ea its a Ld eairances_rmi the
processions, and battles, and executions ; you, as author, are to
consider yourself as the mere under; lag, subservient to the great
designs of these gentlemen and ladies, and therafore are to take
notes of thei r directions, and to work up your matter to match their,
brilliant contrivances. Then get a woman that can eann
that can make faces like a baboon. ;ti;l a tall traL.e-look-
ing fellow that! can bray out any thing iii the sonorous toot's Of
a jack-ass. With these auxiliark's you are well prepared to
provide the highest rationa! en - eitainment wilich the good peo-
ple of London seem to be capable of receiving. You may' ven-
ture to vie for applause with Mr. 73itnatil at the Hav-marliM, or
you Mal' almost hope to excel tl:at wonderful praductioa, ak!,
after Int . ins been stolen fra.n the tieriaan into French by a Swiss
harmonisl, was twisted, with corsiderable torture, into English,
by Henry Sidaetv, and lay for some time dead in his d-sk, until •
Ma Arnold took it into hand, alio skineed it, s:retrhed it, trus-
sed it, and stuffed it, and served it up half ma and half roasted, -
before a liritisa at the Lyertlill. We critics litave for
centtaici past been accused of iaveat hig rules after the composi-
tion of those pieces fur which those talcs are pretended to be
made. True ; Aristotle wrote hi. 3 poetics long after !Mawr
had given his Iliad to the world; and long aftc.r /EschNla;,
phocles and Eta i pities had. written those dramas which charmed
the Greeks, almostas much as the plays of Diu-toad, or the operas •
Arnoll charm the melting Londoners. We shall therefore
• have justly merited a sialiiar reproach for having given the ahave
excellent dramatic directions, after having seen the Russian frn.
pnster, the Foundling of the Forest, and t bat acme of all moeeta
dramatic alosnrdities, the Fiutagers. .Phis last wonderful pro-
duction a as exhibited at 'the Hay-market on Tuesdly last, for.ibt
first time. We will endeavour to' give our conntry readers ae
idea of this specimen oflose'eyellencies bich the" leave be.
hind them when they seek the rural ileasureA.of wire. ;mt. •
scene Is supposed to be in France before the lievalution.
French Nobleman has privately married the daughter of in
H English seaman, during his residence ha England, and has aftevi

Tll F NATI

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warns albs( (sweet to 1- racer wither the ;;rltisti and he.
daughter seek him, but disappointed it. (heir object, the:
vettle on the elfast of Normandy, rent a small Wawa,
Lion of vines, and a snug cottage, and bring up the son.
-which Julia (the daughter of the seaman) has had by the
French Count, in hitinMe and contented obscurity. Tit
Count has become a Duke, and unknown to them is in ther
aei,ghboured atuler a different title, w here he is about to espouse
a wealthy heiress This lady's lover is supposed to be dead
The Duke had attempted to assassinate him, and he believes that
he had succeeded in his attempt. The Duke (as all such dukes
ought to be) is, however, mistaken. The lover is living, and
having found shelter ;led protection in the cottage of the sea-
man, be presents the 31) h, (14:e son offal/in) with his ring and
parse. Fatal gifts, the-e hey draw upon the youth the sus-
p'icion of being a murderer : the Duke favours the insti;:ation,
and condemns his own son to execution, together h the father
of his wife as an accomplice. The moment of death ap-
proaches—the stage is crowded with the dreadful cavaleade,—
•when the lover of the lady arrives—the tables are turned against
the villa;aaus Duke,—who is glad to come oft' by confessing his
crituesand by making the seamaa's daughter a Duchess. Liston
is intended to be humorous in a very silly character, which a -
fords hitu no play for that quaintness n hick ought to lie em-
ployed in the teal characters of real comedy. The youth is per-
formed by .lorsca, who stares with vela effect: if humnur com- •
Silted in wagging the upper jaw,--if surprize was expressed by a
ierk,ar.d sorrow As goggling, the eyes, Jones might be esteemed a
first-rate actor. Farley's seaman is an abominable rant,
Grove in a covetous old
.v Wager, was much less at home than in
many attic old men's parts which we have seen him perform.

There was indeed no part well played : hut we can readily
-believe that no part, written with the insipid sentimental bum-
hag, and silly buffoonery with which all these parts seem to
have been composed could be well played. Some passages in
theovcrture were excellent, and the song of " little None:lie"
by Mrs. Liston deserved all the applause it obtained. The
gew-gaw of the scenes and dresses are imposing, and pininiv
prove that folly on the stage, as well as in society, requires
all the decorations that expense can bestow or absurdity in-
vent, to make it acceptable. But, that thus splendidly attired
it can laugh common sense out of countenance,—affect sensibi-
lities to which it is a stranger,--and get credit for merits which
are diametrieally opposite to its very existence.