The National Register.
London, England, 1808-04-25 00:00:00

APRIL 25.

The time of the piece is the epoch of the Roman invasion of
Britain. Modred, the high priest, and Mader, the chief of the
bards, enter with their attendants, and in an impressive anthem
announce a sacrifice. The stone altar is prepared, and Ida, the
destined victim, is introduced. She is about to be immolated
for the propitiation of the war deities, when Ultee, her
lover, enters to entreat her liberation : he is repulsed, and
Caractacus, the chief, then appears, and saves her life.—
Marcus, one of the Roman chiefs is taken prisoner, and brought
into the strong place of the priests, but escapes by clambering
along the boughs that overhang the spot of his confinement.
Claudius, Drusus, and other Romans come to his release: a
battle takes place between the Romans and Britons, in which
the latter are defeated.—The Second Act represents the Britons
dispersed, and Caractacus and his boy Llengo flying among the
fastnesses. A Roman soldier shoots the child, and Caractacus
kills the soldier with a fragment of the rock. The child dies,
the Romans seize CaractarAs, and carry him with Ethelinde and
others of the Britons, in triumph to Rome.-111 the Third Act,
after much of procession, the Roman generals bring Caractacus
before the throne of Claudius Ccrsar the Emperor : who, as far
as we could understand, appeared to extend his mercy to the
conquered chief, and to unite hint to Ethelinde.
From this plot our readers will perceive that little could he
expected—and accordingly little has resulted. The total ab-
sence of dramatic incident (except in the single instance of the
shooting of the child, which was not very effective, and which is
borrowed from Beautnoet and Fletcher's Play of lionduca), is a
fault against which no magnificence of scenery, no pomp of
procession, can successfully struggle. The affairs of a nation will
never interest upon the stage : it is the petrel:a adventure or
distress of some prominent individual or individuals that excites
the sympathy of an audience. So the misfortunes of Ugulino
and his sous who were starved to death in prison, fill our minds
st ith pity and with horror; but the history of a blockaded town
where famine carries off whole hundreds in a day, is read almost
without emotion : for our minds have not an infinitely extensive
faculty of pitying, and the interest is dissolved iu thegeneraliza-
lion. Now in this ballet Caractacus ought to be the interesting
personage; but Caractacus does nothing to excite our interest.
Ile fights with his countrymen for his country, but that has
nothing in it remarkable. He rescues a victim from death, but
he rescues her without incurring any difficulties. He kills the
murderer of his child ; but he accomplishes that revenge with-
oat danger to himself. The only interest then must be the interest •
far the Britons : but we have said that the misfortunes of t na-
tion are not the subjects of a dramatic interest, or indeed of any
isely interest at all. And if they were, we should regret to see
such a spring of interest touched at a moment like the present ;
for though we abhor the wretched patriotism that effervesces in
our scenic soldiers and sailors, yet we do not wish, by a represen-
tation of British discomfiture, to see the stage made the vehicle
of reproach to our ancestors, or of discouragement to our cotem-
poraries.
The expense of this piece must have been enormous : but it
seems to have been incurred with little judgment, except as far as
concerns the music. The music has a character of simplicity and..
grandeur, which produced a great effect upon the audience, and
which reflects high honour on the genius of Mr. BISHOP, the
composer. The overture was particularly striking, and seems
to have been conceived with a noble disdain of all the pantomime
trickery of triangles and jig tunes.
There was great opposition at the annunciation of the Piece
for a second performance.