The Sun.
London, England, 1825-11-11 00:00:00

THE THEATRES.

DittlitY-LANE.—VANounGu's humorous but
coarse Comedy of The Confederacy was repeated
last night. We have nothing to add to our pre-
vious account of the revival of this Comedy,
which, however well it may appear in represent-
ation, cannot be reconciled to the general im-
provement of dramatic taste. DowroN's Mo-
neytrap is very entertaining, and WILLTAms's
Gripe is natural. It has been too severely treated
by the public Critics. The same may be said of
PENLEy's Dick, which is very well calculated to
pass muster, and certainly does not lessen the
general interest of the Comedy. HAItLEY'S
Brass was very effective, and lost nothing by his
active loco-motion. Mrs. DAVISON displays true
comic spirit and judgment in Flippanta, and Mrs.
YATES and Miss I. PATON gave easy gaiety to
the two City coquettes, Arantinta and Clarissa.

COVENT•GARDEN.—this Theatre has gained a
very sprightly addition in the engagement of Ma-
dame VusTitts, who made her second appearance
on its boards last night, in the character of Cap-
tain Macheath. That she supported it with cha-
racteristic spirit must be admitted, but it is to be
regretted that a part was not selected more suit-
able to her talents and her sex. There can be
no delusion in such a performance, as it is im-
possible to suppose that such a Dandy looking
hero should be invested with the command of a
band of ruffians. Besides, it is revolting to pub-
lic taste and feeling to see women in the male
attire, except the nature of the drama should re-
vire a temporary transformation. She was re-
ceived with great applause. Miss PArrotsT, in
acting as well as singing, was all that could be
desired in Polly, and B tItTLEY and BLANCHARD
were sufficiently diverting in Locket and
Peachum. Mr. MAZURIER'S Jocko appears to be
very attractive. The House was full ; and
CON'4O it'S Irish Tutor, as usual, afforded much
pleasure by his ludicrous blunders and presuming
ignorance.

THEATRICAL t appears that
the good old custom, of not admitting Half-price
till the end of the third act was recently recurred
to, and the audience were gratified in being
exempted from the interruption of the play, aris-
ing from Half-price admission at nine o'clock.
The latter offensive regulation has been resumed,
and the reason assigned is that those who waited
for Half-price entrance grew noisy and clamorous
for admission. So that, to remove the impatience
of a small body without, compared with the great
majority of the audience within, the latter are
to be disturbed in the most interesting scenes of
the third act by a turbulent crowd, who excite
a restless confusion that generally prevails, in
some degree, 'till the performances close for the
night.

Mr. T. WErAir, and his fair pupil, Miss
WILSON, arrived in town last Friday, after a
long residence in Italy. The Lady excited high
admiration by her talents in that region of music,
and respect and esteem, by her good sense and
unaffected manners.

We understand that the Managers at Old
Drury consider reality preferable to imitation ;
and in place of iiiock -qUadruPeds intend to intro-
duce real ones at the ensuing festival of Christ.
mas. By this literary measere, the little Masters
and misses, together-With the overgrown babies,
will, it is expected, add to the ways and means
of the season, and receive a titillating gratifica-
tion not to he produced by the legitimate drama.
Still Mr. WALLACK labours incessantly, and
merits our esteem : he cannot do every thing, but
he does all he can. At Covent-garden they sent
to France for a man to imitate a Monkey ; at the
Olympic they have imported a monkey-maker
from Germany ; and Monsieur Gonree, who has
for the last half-year carried the Surrey upon his
back, is a Portuguese. What a charming impor-
' tation ! The folks at the Adelphi have imita-
tions of Bucephalus•in Twigs, to which they have
added, " by particular desire," a Long Ear'd
Philosopher, with lots of imitations too tedious
to insert in this paragraph. The Haymarkes
and the Coburg are the only boards that produce
novelty, pay liberally for it, and find a profitable
return for the support of native genius. Paul
PIT, and others at the former house, the Bear
Hunter's Mysterious Stranger, &c., at the latter
are proofs that talent is shut out of the first stalls
in the market, by a description of Plagiarists and
Compilers, who creep on all-fours into the Ma-
nager's Coteries. These creatures, directly or
indirectly, damn or mutilate those pieces submitted
to their critical ignorance, and seem determined
to shut out all nonsense but their own,
and thereby exclude classical talent and
native erudition from our Theatres, while
clap-trap, pun, and doggrel become the
substitutes for refined taste, and the school of
SHAKSPEAUE. Gentlemen of high spirit and lite-
rary acquirements will not dance attendance
on the monarchs of shreds and patches, who hug
themseivesin theirown self-opinionated importance,
and permit the rhodornoutade of their satellites to
cost more in limit, gingerliread, andfoil, than half
a dozen fine Comedies, and as many Farces.
They imitate the frivolities of the French, and
the barbarities of the German School, while they
neglect that of SHAKSPEARE,SHERIDAN, MURPHY,
&c. We some time sitice purchased sixty French
Plays and Farces ,at a, book-Stall, not one of
which that had, not, appeared on the English
boards under othdi names and local adaptations.
SO much for Managers' liberality. Have we not
as clever men and authors 'as- the French ? We
answer in the-aftirmaliKe.. Then why is not that
talent encouraged ? We repeat, from the causes
already stated. Native talent demands the repro-
bation of this system, for it has no chance when
opposed to the stimulating spectacles of ghosts
and hobgoblins, blue, 'black, and red devils, and
the exhibitions of the art of sinking, arrived at
such that we scarcely know whether
a mo
uSrfeyeco
rtiant7nan is before us.

We are happy to perceive that the subscrip-
tion for Mrs. BELZONI proceeds liberally. The
amount of the -contributions is already more
than 4001.