The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-09 00:00:00

COVENT GARDEN.

w cOanr e Saturdayo esvacyntiln,Rgt rah.olu Is ace
cr er.oadyyd
et
do oki n hise br n,r‘cfi ; and
lied the sense which the public twi-
.....,Lertain tlic°lngh Ciaitn
which this gentleman
for ./as upon ;their gratitude—,not merely
wolf as an actor, but his honourable and successful
efforts, as a manager, to revive the legitimath drama.
On this occasion, in accordance With his usual practice on
his berefit nights, Mr. Macready presented the public with a
play never before acted, Lord Byron's tragedy of the Two
rokari. This, as many of our readers may be aware, is an
historical play, and is founded on a portion of the history of
Venice, which may thus shortly be expressed :—ln 1445,
Jacques Foscari, son of Francis Foscari (who was then, and
had been, since 1423, Doge of Venice), was accused of
having received presents from certain foreign princes—and, in
particular, from the Duke of Milan—an offence of a
most serious nature against the laws of the Repub-
lic. The celebrated " Council of Ten" had the acusA
brought before them, and his father, the Doge, who would
not bo persuaded from filling his place as head of that
terrible tribunal ; Jacques was declared guilty, and sentenced
to perpetual banishment, He had been absent several years,
when the Chief of the Councilor Ten was assassinated. Sus-
picion falling on Jacques Foscari, a servant of his who had
been seen in Venice, was put to the torture, but persisted in
maintaining his innocence. At this time, however, a letter was
discovered from the banished Foscari to the Duke of Milan,
requesting his assistance to put an end to his exile. To claim
the protection of a foreign power was, in a subject of
Venice, an unpardonable offence. Jacques Foseari was
brought again before the Council of Ten, and there,
in the presence of his father, who unshrinkingly re-
tained his seat as President, was cruelly tortured : he
confessed the letter, and was again sentenced to perpetual
exile, with the addition of a year's confinement in a dungeon.
While taking leave of his son, the Doge was earnestly en-
treated by him to mitigate his sentence; but though the feel-
ings of tile father were strong within him, a stern sense of
public duty compelled him to reply, " No, my son ; submit to
your sentence—obey, without- murmuring, your countrys
decree."

This passage in Venetian history forcibly reminds us of the
story of the Roman Consul, who, with unshaken nerve, beheld
his son beheaded for treason to the Republic. This stern
stoicism indeed appears a fit inhabitant only of the city where
dwelt " the men of iron." But Venice, which has been styled
as correctly as beautifully, " Rome of the Ocean," resembled
" the Commonwealth of Kings," particularly in this respect
—as the poet himself describes it—that,

An individual be he richestin ofsuch a state
Such rank as is permitted, or the meanest
Without a name, is alike nothing, when
The policy irrevocably tending
To one great end must be maintained in vigour."
And when the Venetian Prince is told—
" You aro more doge than father,"

he replies—

" I am more citizen than either;
If we had not for many centuries
had thousands of such citizens, and shall,
I trust, have still such, Venice were no city."
The story above narrated, though not affording any great
variety of incident, finely illustrates that most sacred of hu-
man emotions, paternal affection, as contending with the stern
obligations of public duty; and in the tragedy before us it is in-
vested with a deep and touching interest.
The tragedy opens at that stage of the story when Jacques
Foscari (Mr. Anderson) is about to be subjected to the tor-
ture. Here Marina ( Miss H. Faucit), his wife, is introduced;
her character, that of an affectionate, devoted, warm-hearted
woman, is beautifully drawn, and found an excellent repre-
sentative in .Miss Faucit. Here also we find that Loredano
(Mr. Warde), a principal member of the Council of Ten, is the
sworn foe of the Foscari, from a belief that his father and uncle
were poisoned by the Doge, and from his agency proceeds
all the persecution which the Foscari family meet. In the
second act the Doge ( Mr. Macready) is represented, after
having witnessed in his official capacity, the cruel tor-
tures of his son—endeavouring to subdue by the re-
collection of what is due to his country, those natural
emotions which, though rending his heart, are only manifested
in the trembling of his hands, and the deep, yet calm, anguish
depicted on his countenance. From the first moment to the
last the aged Prince excites our strongest sympathy by the in-
tensity, the sacredness of his grief. And it would be im-
,
possible for the character to be more admirably personated than
it is by Mr. Macready, whose powers of acting are especially
adapted for the expression of any deeply seated, overpowering
emotion—veiling itself, as " a grief too great for words,"
under outward calmness, or stoical firmness. In the language
of the poet, he well pourtrayed-
-" the repressed convulsion of the high
And princely brow of the old father, which
Broke forth in a slight shuddering, tho' rarely,
Or in some clammy drops soon wiped away
In stern sereuity."
There is a fine scene in which Marina reproaches
the Doge for his aprarcnt insensibility—her clamor-
ous grief contrasting well with the silent anguish of the
old man. Loredano comes to announce the decree of the
" Ten," that Jacques Foscari be perpetually banished. The
Doge hears the sentence unmoved; but when his enemy re-
tires nature almost breaks forth. The poet and the actor
combined to render the conclusion of the scene most affecting.
When asked what message he will send to his son, the Doge
answers " That he obey the laws ;" but the father triumphs
over the sovereign, and reflecting that it is "the last time be
shall see his last of children," he adds, " Tell him I will
come." The third act shows us young Foscari within those
gloomy walls, "which never echoed but to sorrow's sounds."
A most pathetic scene follows, where he describes to his wife,
Marina, who is allowed to visit him (and share his exile) the
agony of parting from his beloved country, he exclaims, when
she exhorts him to bear his punishment with fortitude,
You never
Saw day go down upon yon native spires,
So calmly with its gold and crimson glory,
And after dreaming a disturbed vision
Of them and their's, awoke and found them not."
Mr. Anderson, we must observe, played his part well, and
gave great effect to the beautiful poetry of the play. When
Loredano makes his appearance to gloat on the misery of his
victim, Miss Faucit uttered with splendid energy the eloquent
denunciations which the poet has put into the mouth of Mari-
na:—her manner of delivering the line
" I have pierced him to the core of his cold heart,"
was electrical in its effects. The pathos of the scene is raised
to its greatest height when the Doge comes to take a farewell
embrace of his banished son ; and was rendered, if possible,
doubly impressive by the Arm acting of Mr. Macready. In
the next act Jacques Foscari takes a final leave of his father,
before embarking for the place of exile,—but broken-hearted,
expires, ere he can reach the vessel. Nothing could be more
affecting than the tenacity of affection with which Mr. Mac-
ready clung to his son, as though it were death to part ; and the
burst of parental grief as he threw himself upon the body of his
" broken-hearted boy." In the sth act, we have the Doge by
means of Loredano's machinations, requested by the "Ten"to re-
sign his ducal functions; and well did Mr. Macready express the
dignity of the aged prince, when he refuses to surrender the
functions which his country called him to exercise, and which
he has sworn to exert to the latest hour of his life :
" Ye have no right to reproach my length
Of days, since every hour has been my country's.
I am ready to lay down my life for her,
As I have laid down dearer things than life;
But for my dignity—l hold it of
The whole republic : when the general will
Is manifest, then you shall be answered."
Induced by Loredano, the " Ten" depose the Duke ; and it
would be difficult to select from the drama a more touching
and impressive scene than this last, when the grief-stricken
prince bids farewell to the sovereignty he has so long held
with such benefit to his country. The bell of St. Mark's tolls
fur the inauguration of Isis successor ; and the way in which
Macready uttered the following lines:—
" Well, I recognise
The sound I heard it once, but once, before,
And that is five-and-thirty years ago—
Even then I was not young—
"Eis the knell of my poor boy
My heart aches bitterly !"
--was as inexpressibly pathetic as the paroxysm of grief in
which he drops down and expires.
We have only time to add that the tragedy was produced as
it could only have been, under the management of Mr.
Macready—that throughout the applause of the audience was
unbounded—that Mr. Macready and Miss Faucit were called
for at the close, and greeted with a prolonged burst of enthu-
siasm which we have seldom heard equalled ; and that similar
approbation hailed the announcement that the tragedy would
be repeated on Wednesday week.
The magnificent diorama of Stanfield was then represented
to the great delight of the audience.
In conclusion an opera called Windsor Castle was brought
forward, but met with a damnation as unequivocal as the
success of the tragedy. We wish Mr. Macready would leave
opera to Drury-lane.

Miss
Placci, the young lady who made so successful
a debut at the first Philharmonic Concert, is suffering- from
severe indisposition, which has prevented her from fulfilling
several professional engagements.
The Duke of Devonshire will leave town on Wed-
nesday next, for Chatsworth, to pass the Easter recess. His
Grace has issued cards for a grand entertainment on the 4th
of May to their Royal Ilip,imesses the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge and Duchess of Gloucester.
The General Steam Navigation Company's packet,
the Attwood, from Rotterdam, arrived off the Custom-house
yesterday ; and also the Menai, from Hamburg, and the City
of Hamburg, from ditto.

KYAN;'S PATENT.---The 44 Anti-Dry-rot Com-
pany" have given notice of their intention to apply fcr a re-
newal of the patent, after the fourteen years for svhich it was
granted have expired. As the new Act contemplated the en-
couragement of inventors in the extension clause, it would
seem that the application should rather be from Mr. Kyan
than the Company. True, as they duly rehearse, they have
purchased the whole of his interest therein,—but they pur-
chased the patent for fourteen years only,—the extension is a
bonus, due, if due at all, not to a commercial Company which
has bought the monopoly of the invention for a certain term,
but to the individual whose discovery, sooner or later, will bt.
of advantage to the public for all time. The Company has
not the shadow of a right to the renewal, unless they appl
for it on behalf of the inventor.—hlechanics' Magazine.
Mr. Wray, one of the Brighton fishermen, had 40
nets sunk last week on the Devonshire coast, in consequence
of the immense weight of the fish they contained; of those
nets which they could bring up a few contained 4,000 fish,
which were brought round to Portsmouth, and sent up to
London by land carriage.—Sussex Herald,