The National Register.
London, England, 1812-09-27 00:00:00

COVENT-6 ARDEN.

On Monday the tragedy of 11;chard the Third, was pertorm-
ed, in which Mr. C. KEMBLE appeared, for the first time,
as Richard. Thu; character has been so ably personified by
-CooKE and KEMBLE, that he who comes after them has but
little chance of success. To be merely respectable in it
to fail ; and we can hardly bring ourselves to say, that
Mr. C. KEMBLE is more than respectable. In our estima-
tion, be gave but a faint outline of the part, which could

SEPT.O7.

not he contemplated with much satisfaction 'by tho,e Who
had seta the highly finisheti pictute, furnished by his pre.
decey.ors. Ile could neither impact to it the strong coh)cr.

ing which it has often received from the energies of CooKE,
nor the imposing' air of elaborate study which, triumphant
over natural debility, gave value to thercuircitst: in
trliettre fft.ii%r.nniusrhenttlf
bV his brother. It is Notable -thAt inst
those 'who had ;;one before him, in some mea,ure, influenced
our judgment to the d'sadvantage of Mr. C. iElkt IDLE ; ant
feeling this, we shall abstain from any thing like severity of
animadversion on those parts of his performance which were
most wanting in merit. We must, however, say, that all
through the play be .fai:ed in ntal:iog the impression restui-
site to command proper attention, and to awaken
iscuefliccoiuel!idt
intetest. appeal:lmre was aealnst him, and though ihe
had taken gre ;t pains to dress. the character Welt
not think it was nic!,ard we saw before tis. It has been oh-
servad, that ,of all the t. cants on the stage, Ric-liar! is perhaFs
that which least recpaire.t that the depravity of iris heal.t
shou'i he marked in the ectime.,s of his countenance; as
we are told in ltktory that, though somewhat deformed., he
was upon the whole a very lutaLsoine man. It may he that
history is, in this hprtance, pen feely right, and that the swat
crf Pichard's being- the handsomest imps ptesent, at a grand
enteitainment (his brother Ed.vard excepted,) rests on the
best audio! ity ; but still we are not sati,fietl that liirherd
should look any thi but the vißain he is. When this.
tragedy ris pet formed, it is not wilt the history but with the
• poet th.tt we have to do. and- since Sh.ikei.peare has made
Gqster talk of 4. dog,: Kirk ing at I.ttit when be halls;" of his
deformity being such that he would have '' hell deform bib
mind to answer it.;" of .his " aspiring to ciree his ini..shapen
bead with a glorious diadem ;" aud of iti. " not being form-
ed like other men," we mu-.t contend that he ought to appear
:t wonster, and to make him otherwise in the play becatk.c.•
he is diffetently described in the history, would he as
culous as if the last scene of Jane Shan -weie omited alto-
gether in the representatiou of that;tragedy, be:ause it is
said that the heroine of it, though iernted to be starved to
death by ,Richard the Third, was Living in the reign of Beta?'
.the Sevuuth. _

Mr. e. KEM BLE, we must therefore say, d:d not look the
character, and :for this tault we found nothing to eonso!c %is
in his perforntance taken as a whole. When lie vciOirtl
forcibly to mark the ferocity of Richard, be frequently gave
into a grin, which made an impression on our risible muscles
rather man 4 propaY, while attending to the performance of a
tragedy and his efforts to pourtray that crafiiness, which is
one of the greatest characteristics of Gla'ster, generally failed
of making a strong impression on the audience. Still, how-
' ever, there %vele parts of his delineation of the tyrant, whidi
merited and which obtained universal applawc. In 'the
tent scene he was very suucessful, and in the list scene he wits
occasionally great. In the fight, hi' had an adtnirablefoil—in
Mr. ABBOTT, who acted Richmond, and who seems to have
been taught the use of the sword by Mr. Egerion's fencing'
master. His death was excellent.
The other parts of the,cast presented nothing of noyelt.
with the ,exception of Mr. ABBOTT, in Richmond. This
character the sustained in a very creditable manner, tkiil he
came to that scene which we have already mentioned, in
which }he really cut a most ridiculous figure. Actors in his
line ought to know bow to hold a sword a little like a man
who has been accustomed to wear one. If Mr.. ABBOTT
attends to this hint when be next has occasion to fight, he
will not draw back his hand to make a thrust, like a drover in
,the act of goading a beast.
On Thursday, in Venice Preserved, Miss mAitgzotr