The Sun.
London, England, 1836-10-25 00:00:00

DRURY-LANE THEATRE.

ard?u'iol •
t.
sForrest
tl
eats. to
fnight
eml
oa.d e
rhri
he appearancetheres
al
bt.
ey he
wid
one, but was completely successful. We entertain av!
recollection of Kean in this part ; we saw his Moor, when
the great actor was in the meridian vigour of his powers'
and also when he was in his decline, and could do Justice
e.
only to the more subdued and pathetic parts of the charae.
ter ; and even with these recollections on our mind, we feel
ourselves justified in saying that Mr. Forrest's Othello, it
here and there, inferior in execution to Kean's, was ul con-
ception far superior. There is an elevation of thought and
sentiment—a poetic grandeur—a picturesqueness, if we
may use such an expression, in Mr. Forrest': notion of the
character
electrical hi
effect letaon
all
could s
morenever
obvious reach. ,
pointsT he o ;le
turnedcould
give
to admirable account all that lay on its surface ; the
other sounds its depths—turns it inside out—appre•
bends it in a learned and imaginative spirit, and shows us,
not merely the fiery, generous warrior, the creature of im-
pulse, but the high-toned, chivalrous Moor ; lofty tied dig-
nified in his bearing, and intellectual in his nature—such a
Moor, in short, as we read of in the old Spanish chronicles
of Granada—and who perpetrates an act of murder not so
much from the headstrong, animal prompting: of revenge,
as from an idea that he is offering up a solemn and inevit-
able " sacrifice "to justice. Kean's Othello, though as a
whole first-rate, was in many places a slovenly, not to say a
superficial performance. Forrest's is careful throughout :
the result of long and attentive study, where judgment goes
hand and hand with genius, and even in the wildest ex-
cesses of passion is never lost sight of. In the celebrated
third act, if Kean made more brilliant, startling points,
and produced a more electrical effect for the moment ;
Forrest better sustained the impassioned interest of the
scene. Kean, we remember, was quick as lightning to catch
the subtle hints of lago ; Forrest was something slow ht
apprehending them ; and herein shewed his juster read;.ng
of the part ; for Othello, as he himself tells us, was 1, not
easily jealous, but being wrought, perplexed in the ex-
treme ;" and accordingly from the first moment. that his
suspicions are fairly roused, his whole physicr4 as well ce,,
intellectual, nature undergoes a change, and he walks, an
"
looks, and soliloquises, like a man half stunned. In the
earlier portion of the character, lir. 'Forrest was rather too
drawling and measured in hia delivery ; his address to the
Senators was judicious, but not quite familiar enough ; it
should have been more colloquial. It was evident, how-
ever, that throughout this scene, the actor was labouring
under constraint ; he had yet to establish himself with his
audience, and was afraid of committing himself premature'''.
Henceforth he may dismiss this apprehension ; for he has
proved that he is, beyond all question, the first tragedian
of the age. His third act (his best) was a display of Po'
:ion, truly awful, His
l le,d vapoursrather
delivery,inpa
b roe i
particular, aouran,dg,oefon,,the pa ssag e'
And feed upon
thrilled to the very heart's core of his audience ; and well
it might, for as an outbreak of passion, it was the most ter-
rific thing we ever saw. Of a different character, butt
equally effective, was his description of the handkerchie"
which he gave with a hurried earnestness of tone and manner,
that produced general applause. His celebrated "farewell,
if not quite equal to Kean's in mournful tenderness, lei
very little short of it, while his attitude with his left 'ban('
placed to his head, as if from a half consciousness that
his mind was going from him, was strikingly graceful and
appropriate. At the commencement of the fifth act, where
he is represented soliloquising in Desdemona's chamber'
he proved himself a more judicious interpreter of the text
of Shakespeare than Kean, who used to deliver the
passage—

"It is the cause—it is the cause, my soul,
Let me not name it to you, ye chaste stars,"
walking up and down the room with a lamp in his hand;
whereas Mr. Forrest seated himself at the open window,
and the sight of the serene heavens naturally suggested the
idea of " the chaste stars," which, as Kean gave it, vas
a nearly unintelligible allusion. Mr. Forrest's death-scene
was another improvement on his predecessor. After he
had stabbed himself, Kean used to drop dead at once „.;
Mr.• Forrest, on the contrary, turns towards his Wile:
bed ; endeavours to stagger towards it ; and falls back,
corpse, in the attempt. We have spoken of this gentle'
man's Othello in high terms of praise, but have not CO
mended it beyond its deserts. In manly and unaffecte,e
vigour ; in terrific force of passion, where such a display is
requisite ; but, above all, in heart-felt tenderness, it is fut„
.' Y
equal to Kean's Othello ; in sustained dignity, and in t""
absence of all stage-trick and undue gesticulation, it 13
superior. Perhaps, here and there, it was a little too ela;
borate, but this is a trivial blemish, which practice
soon remedy. One of our Morning Contemporaries, we sec:
hints that Mr. Forrest is an imitator of Kean, This r
not the case. He is throughout original, as all must L'.°
who draw from nature, and take their own heart for thed
monitor. That in his stormy burst:she reminds us 110Vgaa
then of Kean, is true ; but this does not prove his 4111°i
tion, but his predecessor's r.-lerit as a faithful delineator e
the passions, On the whole, Mr. Forrest is the I.lot
promising tragedian that has appeared in our days.
has, evidently, rare intellectual endowments, a 71018
and commanding presence ; a countenance full of vary
l
expression ; a voice mellow, flexible, and in its under-tone
exquisitely tender, and a discretion that never fails bin/.
If any one can revive the half-extinct taste for the dralin
he is the man. As Zanga—though we have no Ve%
opinion of this painting in water-co lours from Othello-II
would be magnificent ; nor would be be less auccPssfel.z.
Brutus—Coriolanus—or even Hamlet, great as are the ot
tellectual requisites for this last character, We have Y.
to learn that he he has shrewd, biting, worldly sarcasM,.uta
we would recommend to his attention Richard the Thi
and Sir Giles Overeach.
Miss
The remaininc, characters were well sustained. e-s,
Taylor made a better D'esdemona than we should have eh,
petted ; Warde an admirable lago, giving the ".„,13111g,
ing devilry" of the character far better than "%pt
who was too formal, or than Macready, who is s°l;-1...-
to be unintelligible ; Miss Huddart a spirited Eullh-0
by the bye, what a study is this character for those Wig
know the world—and Cooper, a sensible Cassio, so long es
be was sober. His drunkenness was dreadful ; it Jo'
that of an Irishman overpowered with whiskey at
Dyott-street. The house was crowded.

SHIPPING.-(THIS DAY.)

(FROM LLOYD'S.)
DIAL, OCT. 24.—Wind S. W. to N. W.—Arrived from de
theßiver and proceeded the Emerald Isle, More, for Cork ;
an
Williams, Saunders, from Smyrna. A brig, particulars s;
knowni was seen on shore on the Goodwin Sands, and :clie'cl•
are gone off to her assistance ; a dense fog has since preva;3o
The brig is now reported to be an American, with emig°,
from St. Petersburgh.
PORTSMOUTH, OCT. 24. Wind N.N.W., dense fog'-'
Sailed the Prince Regent, Chauk, for Bombay. Ans'
PLYMOUTH, OCT. 23.—Wind N. W. Arrived the
ad,
Wise, leaky, from London, bound to Van Dicmon's
Sailed the Flack, Bland, for the coast of Africa.
__Ar-
FALNIOUTII. OCT. 23.—Wind N. W. fresh breezes. loth,
rived tho Manchester steamer from Malaga—left the the
Gibraltar 11th, Cadiz 14th, 'Lisbon 19th, and Oporto
21st instant,
BRISTOL, OCT. 24.—Arrived the Joe, Wright, Charen‘ifte;
CORK, OCT. 22.—Arrived the Margaret, Welch, from
deira.

The Mauritania, Cork, from London, was on shore Dear
MruTgoh e d ore, on tha 30th .
Frithioff, Pettersoultn, bound to Hull, has put back to
Gothenburg, leaky.

THE Fd/WS.—(THIS DAY.)
, _____.....________ r Ck ,
CI7'Y, 7'II'ELVE. O'CL -) bro
Our arrivals this morning are the French and 14311•2 r.
mails, and ship-letters from Lisbon, Cadiz, Gibraltar, J-1
badoes, and Paraiba. ber
The Montreal papers received to the 23d of September
are void of news.
THE FUNDS. 1 Sea
Consols opened this morning at the prices theYte a°,,er
yesterday, 88:i 1 for Account and for Money ; Ex"eiioi ;
Bills, 2 4 ; India Bonds, 4 6 ; Bank Stock, 2053- '2"
India Stock, 256 257, ues°
In the Foreign Market both Spanish and Pertugf,y
Stocks have improved, the former Active are 21111 e
per
sive, .5i i ; Deferred, 81:5-1 Portuguese, 55 ; Thre
Cont 3., 35 36, Gib'
The Manchester packet has arrived—sailed fo'rn
„ onto,
raltar on the 11th ; Cadiz, 14th ; Lisbon, 19th ; uothe
i ;
21st of October. At 12 o'clock nothing transpired
information she brings.
I O
p"' S : _ °
.. tho

Consols at
HALF-- for
Money, and 881
Accouu, 'present are better for Money than,,4s. for
'rig to a scarcity of money stock --0' g ~,d,
4 1 prem.
t4shi'lls rise is hisreepfor the Account. Exchequer liills„',4;
; India Bonds, 6 4 prem. ; Bank Stock, `2""
India Stock, 25G.
In the Foreign Market Portuguese stock has bee"dtbtoe
favourite speculation this morning, and has
sive, .si; owinger Ctnenatns,exdpoennetaattio3n7 improt e .
56-r"
be paid ; Spanish Active has beentlaitlarlte-i,tahtnoPvclirreiidlnir:l9lll
Deferred, 84 9.
THREE O'CL°CIC.
Consols for the Account, 88,-14 ,