The National Register.
London, England, 1812-12-27 00:00:00

TIT!, NATIONAL REGISTER.

G EORGI 11,1 RN i L.LL.

I

TO Tlll. EDITOR OF TUE NATIONAL REGISTER.
Slit--I have always regarded the outrageously strict
moralists, who look on all public entertainments indiscr
minately as sinful, as not entitled to any serious answer, their
tenets being of too ab,uid a nature to waste a thought upon
them :—But there a, e men of a thkrent and mole tempe-
rate disposition, who (10 not `object to the Theatres them-
s&ves, or aver that all diiimatie exhibitions must be of a
mischievous tendency, but only wish tt at such should
be culled as are, if net. instructi-yerat least innocent, and
who would only banish from the stage, every work likely
either to inflame the passiotl or to-lead the sentiments of
youth into a wrong bias. W ith these last I most cordially
agree, that every point likely to vitiate the hearts or degene-
rate the morals should be expelled from scenes, which aught
in fact to be the school of virtue. But in their zeal I some-
times think that they run beyond their bearings, and are apt to
stionatize as improper those pieces which, by their placing
vice in a strong and odious light, by pourttaying its ruinous
consequences, are likely to leave a lasting and salutary im-
pression on the mind of the juvenile spectator. What has
led me to the tore2,oing retna,k is, hearing a friend of mine,
a :.ensible !nail, declaim against the play of George Barnwell.
and saying that it was a Tragedy unfit 'fir the ears of young,
inexperi:;mced females; inasmuch. as it showed in glowing
colours the power which the fair sex can at their will exert
over the passions and the actions of their admirers. But at
the same time does not this play likewise pourtray, in still
more lively colours, the ruin which a woman not only brings
upon her lover, but herself, by making an.unwarrantAle use
of the powers which the fascination of her chat ms gives her?
And weak, and httlo to be depended upon must be the prin-
cip'es of a girl who, if properly educated, could listen one
to ment to such a tiend-like ambition. But were this alle-
gation true, were this Tragedy likely to be pernicious to the
young and inexperienced female, there are sufficient other
nights in the year for them to I.equent the Theatres, without
their attending on the few evenings that this play is perform-
"d.But let us nut give up a work so likely to conduce to
the honesty and morality of holiday-making merchant's or
trade•wen's clerks or apprentices; a play that by its example
has been kno,sn, as the following anecdote will skew, to recaL
the wanderer from the paths of vice, lust and fraud, to a
more just sense of virtue and of probity.
" In the year 1752,durmg thc Chnstm is t.& •ays,Dr.HAttROWBV,
Physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, was sent for by a young
leman, in (; r. at St. [tele. 's, w its, was an Apprentice to a very
capital merchant. He toui'd tnis patient very ill ot a slow tt,ter, that
no medicine had been able to allay, and he was told by the sick nurse
t:iat she was sure the young man was suffering from sonic hidden
c-ruse of gri which la) heavy on his mind, as at times he would
s .e.h in a moist piteous manner.—Having heard this, the doctor sent.,
every one out of the room, ifnd represente.l to the Invalid that if his.
disorder was brought on t•y any agitation of mind, no physic ian could
• ttect a cure w.iti,out first knowing the cause ot the malady, and be-
seeching him to disburthen it to him as toil friend The you li owned
that he had a serious weight on his spirits, which he never would
dik ulge, as, ware it kniwo, it w:suid occasion his ruin. The philan-
tnropic physician promised secrecy, And was so urgent with his
pati.nt, mai he at length said, that he was the second sea of a
gew leman i,f consi&rabl.: fortune in Hertfordsh:ie, that he had made.
an imptoper acquaintance with the kept mistress of the captain ofan
loth .man' !hum abroad ; that i.e was within a year ot being out of his
t•me, anti had been entrusted with cash, drafts, and notes, which he.
ii?,l ie tree with to tile amount Lifool. that during the then Cht
holIda):s 11ZIN hi); been at Drury lane Theatre,he had seen Mr. R oss
the part of Ge rge Barnwell, that the sioularny of his own
uation, with that ot the Hero of the Play, had 'so turcibly struck
,u.r. as to mos b. east with pangs ot the keenest remorse, and that
sit! wi 11-6 t. ti e avow the iintaiuy he saw han.;ing over hum. • Dr.
Ait It -g ask hitn where his Father then was, and learn.ng
..la iil II ' ...AVCCIed 111 tiWil to visit his son, bode the
Oast h.: would break the busnme.s to
our% man .4c or 6,..0d

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