The Sun.
London, England, 1819-03-08 00:00:00

THE THEATRES.

KING'S THEATRE.—On Saturday, after La Moo
deg,: Raggeratrice,,su well recommended by PAe-
siELLO'S excellent music, and so well stipported
by the Performers, the grand ballet of Telemaque
was again htought forward with great eclat; and
highly applauded by a very numerous audience.
DRUET-LANE.—The terrific tragedy of Bertram
Wag repreiented at this Theatre on Saturday. Mr.
KEAN pi winced his nsual effect upon the audience
in the liagitions hero of this extravagant drama,
and Mrs. WEST was not less effective in the he-
roine. The afterriece. of The Review afforded
JOHNSTONE and HARLEY all opportunity of cm-
ployiog the ris;ble muscles of the audience, to
which they gate an abundant exercise.

COV FtiT. GAIII)I3N.—The illfirrioge of Figaro,•.a
dram.i well known to the Public, w.a represented
on Saturday at this Theatre, tinder ft new transla-
tion. The picc:e itself is very amusing, and was
rendered stilt in..,ro by (he manner in which it
has been brought torward. The Markagers have
certainly done their part in giving the piece all
viie advantage of beautiful scenery, and the
Performers io general were -not less zealous
to discharge their duty with etYcct. LISTON'S
FigUTO„TONEs's Abnauiva, the Countess by
Miss STEPHF bind SUSatt by Mrs. Dtel:otc's,
were all admirable, and the musical exertions of
the last two were exquisitely skilful. In the leis
prominent parts, by FA DURUSET, ISAACS,
and Mrs. LISTON, there ‘‘, no want of ability or
effect. The whole was triutnphantly successful.

CURIOUS CASE or MARRIAGE.—A case lately
occurred at Melon respecting the second mar-
riage of a woman whose first husband was still
living,which is nor a little singular. This woman,
whose first lorsbirnd was, in the y,ar 11;16, sen-
tenced to deportation tor a political offence, appear-
ed not long since before the Mayor of Melon, to
contract a second marriage, hut the Mayor refus-
ed to marry, her while her first husband lived ;
she cited hint before the Tribunal of Melon,
and alleged the 227th article of the Civil Code,
which declared that civil death was a dissolution of
marriage. The Tribunal rejected her demand,
on the ground that sufficient evidence had twt
been produced to prove the ex cation of the
sentence of deportation; but in an appeal to the
Court Royal, the woman proved that her hus-
band had been conveyed to Mount Saint Mi•
chel for the purpose of undergoing punishment,
and the Court, in consequence, annolkd•the first
judgaient, and commanded the Mayor to proceed
to the celebration of the marriage.

HORACE WALPOLE.—The new edition of -the
Letters of this celebrated man, addressed to GEO.
MoNTAGy, Esq. will be read with increased plea-
sure, on account of the restoration ot the t6mes
ot all the celebrated personages al!uded to. It
has been justly observed by the Quarterly Re-
viewers,.that—

" The Letters of Horace Walpole are master-pieces in
their way: that in which they shine unrivalled, is their ac-
curate rretlection of the passing scenes of each day, pointed
by remarks equally witty and sarcastic. A new Democritus
seems to have assumed the pen to sneer at the grave follies
of the human species. The variety of these letters, as well
as their peculiar and lively diction, tenders them very enter-
taining, and as the curresponnence extends from 1736 to
about 1770, it embraces many changes of scene, both politi-
cal and fashionable. The narrati,es of remarkable bistori=
cal events told wirltont the form of 'history, and with Mose
circimistances which add an interest and authenticity which
history dignified, and fastidious as Walpole himself, tome-
times discards too readily, conic upon ns unexpectedly with
an air of novelty and veracity which reminds ns that we
hear the testimony-4 an eye-witness. We should 1004 in
vain for snch traits of character as those which our author
records."

Grand dinners were given on Saturday last by
the following Noblemen and Genilemen
Earl of Westmorland, in Grosvenor-square ; Mr
Greenwood, in Audley-square ; -14.;rd Henniker,
in Grosvenor-square ; and tie Speaker o 1 the
tionse of Commons. Also, yesterday, entertain-
incurs were given by the Earl of Westmorland and
Spealivr.

TriE .s[lSt.--

DOVER, MARCH 6, 1S1j:.

Mr. Ebtiott,--The continued attacks upori
Captain M'CuLLocift ekcelleut conduct of the
coast blockade for the preventidti di Smuggling,
calls upon me, tiot*ithstanding all the misrepre-
sentation and dli tite obloquy attempted to be
cast upon it, by the various description of merchant
smugglers, and the ratnifirations Of their boa►men,
porters, and others, who Conduct it, to assure this

public, that it is gretill# diminished, and tbill ere
long be altogether put an end to in this neighbourhood,
as regards liquor, if the GovernMent persevere iit
the present system.Of the feeling of our neigh-
hoots, the Deal people., in respect to the checks
necessarily Ott upon the. fair trade, I cannot omit

the tnesetit oppottunity of voting the following:
tact :—The Play Bill for the Theatre of Deal, of
Saturday the 20th of Pel;rtiary past, announced
The Lisikeeper's Dazigidei'i to *llia was added
this notice,—

"In the course of• the i'ieee, the following interesting
Scenet acid Ilicidents acetic

" View of the Sea, Smuggler? Cottags, Sac.
6. The Fox Critter in Raines!!!
" The Fox blows up with a violent explosion."
4

liartop, Captain of Smuggling Vessel, shoots Trichsey, site

Excise Officer."

Now, Sir; one may well imagine what views

he people at Deal entertain of the laudable exer-

Lions of the Naval Officers, and those of the Re,
venue, employed to check smuggling ; but the
introducing the name of tine of the King's,cruizers,
the Fox cutter, and describing her being blown up,
is altogether untrue, and is both barbarous and
disgraceful to the audience who would endure its
representation ! At a moment when a Deal boat•
man, named Wells, is in confinement in Newgate,
on a charge of being concerned with others, in
murdering four of the crew of that very Fox cutter,
for which he is to be tried at the Admiral,y Ses-.
sions, in London, on the 19th of April next ; and
for which offence the bodies of two Deal boatmen
ate now banging near. Blackwall, executed two

years since,-,-can it be believed all this was exhi-
bited betnre a numerous, and tor atigilt I know a
respectable audience, without censure or corn.
ment ! !—lt was ! ! !—Yours,

AN OLD REVENUE OFFICER.

LITERARY REVIEW.

THE ANNUAL BIOGTIAPHY and OBITUARY fur 1819•

Volume the Third.

The design of the present undertaking appears
to be an improvement upon that of a work pub-
lished some years ago, and continued periodically,
with con,,iderable success, under, the tide of
" ()oldie Characters." As a compendium of con-
temporary biography, that work had many claims
to popularity, which, however, were at length
counterbalanced by the weighty objections to
which it became liable on the score of indis-
criminate encomium, and almost nnqualified ado-
latio'n. Its aiparent ruling principle was, tie viris
nil nisi gratzj;n. Mien of all parties were ti eared
if) the same complimentary strain, and in some
instances in so circumstantial though ingenious
a way, as to create a suspicion that the hero of
the tale Was the secret prompter of his own
eulogy. The dresd of incurs ii ,nett an imputa,
tion would naturally induce many public men to
shun such a vehicle to fame,' and to discounter
trance the work altogether ; and thus the term
of its existence may have been shortened by an
increasing dearth of materials. It laboured under"
another great disadvantage. The memoir of a lioing;
eharac.er must, by its nature,-be imperfect, as it
requires to be abruptly terminated at a certain
period; awl even front this fragment must he;
xvithneld many essential facts and circumstances:
which cannot, in continon delicacy or propriety,

. . _
hepromuli:ated until he individud is no more.
From such objections the "-Annual Biography" is
oh,iously free ; and indeed it seems to he esta-
blished on the only unexceptionable •plan that
can be devised for a miscellany of this kind. By
presenting at the close of each year an account of
the lives and characters of celebrated persons
Nvbo base stied within that period, it accomplishes
all the desirable. objects of its predecessor, as it
commemorates diem ere they have ceased to fix
the general tee:lrd, and thus yields a seasonable
gratification to curiosity. It affords a
medium for preserving many particulars which, on
the demise of any disiingtdAiod individual, imme-
diately transpire, and are circulated in conversa-
tion, but.which too frequently sink•into oblivion,
and are irrecoverably lost to posterity. If such a
recr!ri existed in past ages, with what delight
shonld we tiow peruse the Lives of ALFRED, di
CHAUCER, and of SHAKSPRARE I. The filelity of
posy burnous memoirs can be exposed to little danger
from the influence of interested or unworthy mo-
tives ; for the ear of Death cannot be soothed by
the voice of adulation. In the present instance,
thestriet line of,impartiality appears to have been
coryttilly observed ; or, it any deviation be dis-
Cert,ihle, it inclines.to the favourable side, and

may he traced to those feelings of our common
nature whiLli dispose us, in speaking of the dead,
rather to extenuate than set down aught in malice.
Of the spirit in which these Memoirs are writ-
ten, and of the pleasing- interchange of narrative
end anecdote that occurs in them, the following
specinien may be adduced from the life of Dr.
13VRNEY. It ptesents the agreeable picture of an
acc-onp:7,!..ed scholar, enjoying the otium cuzn
dignitate
" As Dr. Burney had now obtained independ-
ence, though not oppulence, he resigned his
school, in tavont of his only son, the Rev. C. P.

Burney*, who had acted for some- few years as
his assistant. About this period, he retired to his
R-ctory at St. Paul's, Deptford, to which he had
been inducted about nine months before, whence
he occasionally visited his friends in the capital ;
and if was there, after a gradual decay, that he
resigved 411 worldly cares on the 28th of Decem-
ber, 1517. His death teas sudden, being occa-
sioned by apoplexy, with which be was first seized
e!: the mornui of Chrismas Day, and under-which
be :anguished but three days.
" Dr. Burney, during the last twenty-five or
thi; ty yearr of his life, maintained a high charac-
ter as a scholar. He, indeed, ranked absolutely in
the firSt line of eminence,•and although, in a ge-
neral.:troint of view, his recise station cannot be
exiattly ascertained, yet, in respect to an moil-
Mate-acquaintance with the Greek drama, he
might perhapS have justly claimed the first. His
critical acumen %vas commensurate with his exten-
sive learning, while the native energies of his
mind assisted not a little, both at table and in the
closet, to attain for him a pre-eminence, which
would only have existed in a smaller degree had he
been less.addicted to books.

" To addition to these claims, that munificent
disposition, in consequence of which he expended
a large portion of his hard-earned gains on the
acquisition of a library, seemed to shed a lustre
around his head, while it communicated a certain
portion of it to his family, relations, and friends.
Since the ,days of the Medic's, no private person had
before his time been seen to employ agents both
at home and abroad, to purchase whateveT was
rare, valuable, and !earned. Few men, with such
limifed means, have achieved so much in this way;
no obstacles prevented ; no sum, however large,
obstructed ; no difficulties, however formidable,
deterred him in -his parsuit. By devoting nearly
the whole of his fortune to this particular pro-
pensity, he was enabled to achieve great thin;zs ;
and some of the richest of our Nobility were
startled at a competition, in which a private Gen-
tleman, with but very scanty resources, fairly
outbid the proprietors of large hereditary estates.
" To the honour of Dr. Burney, neither envy
nor jt!alousy seem to have formed any portion of
his characrer. It is pleasant, in the republic of
letters, to behold a frieudbhin subsisting among
the. most conspicuous of its chiefs,
" On the hi2th of a son, the subject of this
Memoir did not look around him, either to the
more dignified among the Clergy or the Laity, in
order to single out a future patron, for the hope
of his family. On this occasion he reared an altar
to literature and friendship, and inscribed it with

the name of Parr, which is still borne by his suc-
cessor. This is a little- anecdote highly honour-
able to all parties. With Porson too, he lived
for many years in unreserved intimacy : and as he
Was accustomed to estimate a man by his learn-
ing, this singularly gifted genius, of course,
maintained a distinguished place in bis es-
teem.*

" 1)r. Burney was of a sociable dispolition,
and all who knew him must confess, that he was
both hospitable and -generous, and that, on all oc-
e.sions, his wit and pleasantry were conspicuous.
As he possessed an inexhaustible fund of anec-
dote, his company was of course greatly courted.
Such indeed, and so various ere his'powers, and
his means of conveying pleasure at the festive
'board, that of late years lie has been generally in•
cited to take the chair, at all those beneficent
meetings, the avowed objects of which were to
raise sufficient funds for the maintenance of the
wives and children of those who had entitled
themselves to the gratitude of the public, either
by their literary or scholastic labours.
" Among his peculiarities at home, were two
' of a very innocent kind ; the first was the posses-
sion of the best wine, of the best vintage; the
next a dread of a fresh current of air. Shut the
door ! was the first salutation tittered by him to
any one who entered his apartment, and but few
of his associat es ever neglected this rule. This
custom, it seems, did not abandon hitn even on the
most critical r and trying occasions ; for it is
said, that having been robbed while return-
ing home one evening in his own carriage,
along the Greenwich road, by a couple of
footperds,_who were more eager in obtaining
his money than contributing to his accommoda-
tion, he called them hack in a peremptory tone,
end while they were wondering at what lie want-
ed with them, he exclaimed in his usual manner,
and with his own peculiar emphasis : " Shut the
door !" A voice, accustomed to command, pro-
ducial the desired effect, and he was instatitly
!A beyud.
" A great number of able men, educated under
his inspection, and partaking in sonic measure of
his celebrity, have lately met under the auspices
of his distinguished pupil, Doctor Kaye, Regius
Professor of Divinity, in the University of-Cam-
bridge; and subscribed for a -monument -to his
memory in Westminster Abbey. This is the
noblest tribute that can be paid by the surviving
scholsr to his deceased master. A 13ust of Dr.
Burney, by NolleketiS, was exhibited in the Model
Room of the Royal Academy, in 1802."
To instance the variety of, subjects in this vo-
lume, we may adduce an extract from the Me-
moir of Mr. REPTON, which contains an atnus-
ing record of his achievements as a Decorator of
Rural Nature

" Mr. Repton was nearly forty years of age
before he attained any considerable notice ; but
after that period he soon began to distinguish
himself both as an artist and a literary character.
About the year 1791, his assistance was invoked
by the present Lord Darnley, at Cobham Hall.
There, in the double capacity of architect and
landscape gardener, he certainly contrived to ren-
der a palace, of tile age of Elizabeth, at once
comfortable and magnificent ; for while the noble
gallery, and the capacious hall, still retained an
air of ancient grandeur, the interior arrangements
were convenient and commodious in no small de-
gree. 'The approaches too were altered,
new
and the
grand entrance was changed ; While
ex-
tensive plantations attracted the eye, and embel-
lished lished the landscape.
°' 13v this time his fame had reached '
bowels of Woburn,' which had recently escaped
from the improvements of a gentleman, eminent
indeed as an architect, but who hart• never been
distinguished as a fancy-gardener. 'Like his mas-
ter Brown, Repton was an admirer of water, anti
he accordingly suggested an artificial river, fed
from those very springs formerly so useful to the
ancient monks. Here, too, he altered the ap-
proach ; called in all the beauties of the country,
and proposed the construction of a winter-garden.
The beautiful corridor formed under his imme-
diate inspection, and after his own plan, was
fully completed, and he ever after spoke of this
as one of his darling achievements.
" In 1805, when the King invited Lord Sid-
mouth to reside in his neighbourhood, the subject
of this memoir advised many alterations at White
Lodge, in Richmond Gardens. Some of his-plans
were adopted, but the treillages, and garlatsds of
flowers suggested by him, and of which he was a
great admirer, were never completed.
" At Ashbridge too, his band is still visible ;
and the gardens there were always considered ' as
his youngest favourite—the of his age and
declining years.'
He had by this time, as already hinted, cool-
ed somewhat in his admiration of his first precep-
tor; and it is not a little to his credit, that in-
stead of increasing, he diminished Marry of the
useless expellees lavished- by him and his pupils.
The offensive smell arising from
.cabbages. and
recent compost, immediately after rain, had in-
daced them to remove the kitchen-garden to such
a distance--sometimes one, and sometimes two
miles—from the body of the mansion, that it
proved almost wholly inaccessible, either in sum-
mer or winter. 'lbis Waring defect was happily
remedied by Mr. llepton on every occasion
where he was allowed to superintend and direct.
Yet he constantly retained the Ha! Hit ! by
which are united, in appearance, (us o surfaces,
necessary to belsept separate ; or, in other words,
the dressed landscape adjoining the house, and
necessary for the comforts, end even the security
of its inhabitants, from the grazing ground of
deer, sheep, and 'oxen.' He was also very par-
tieularas to aspect ; a subject not only connected
with cheerfulness, but with health, and indeed
with all the comforts required in a permanent re-
sidence. Mr. Repton was accustomed to exhibit
a compass on such occasions, in which all the
points were desiguated by their 'characteristic
qualities of good, bad, and indifferent. Ac-
cordingly that of S. E., which was his own fa-