The Sun.
London, England, 1817-12-23 00:00:00

TH F. THEATRE.

DRurIY•LA'Ne.77-A tr idil.oe attempt bris be:6

ntilde at Theatre to agile in .one piece. the
ticattered bse:tokir.4 of !bree pacts

)1 King Henry the, Sixth. lie piece was brought
'orweira arid bough :The .compilcr

displayed juda Merit in the selection, trat4spositiorl,.
and arrangement of the stiveril i!; order to
forth an•.insulAted iirittikt; yet the effect is not.
quite proportioned - to Isis lahotir -and ingenuity.
,It dOes not thoroug y warm the aq'dictice witlt
'the fire of StiAtcsPEARE.. Several of the Cont 7
Mentatnts Oil oilr imiliortal Bard ,hire puzzled

rm'elyes and their Readers With doubts and

coojectores, whether these plays were really the
works of Sitsrt,-,Atut, or .%)hether Ire onlY
grattol hi; beauties Ott O Stocks. The lestterr
is probably the ease. SIiAItSPO.RE, to whom
tummy was the'cltief Object, toil Who little
garticd lame,

" The last iiifinnity of noble mind,"

. .
took hold of any tortnerObscnre or forgotten piece,'
and moulde"d it as lie thought proper. This prac—
tke, doubt, HEMMINGS and CONDELL, his first
joint Editors, knew very well ; but after SilAtts-.
rEARCi de:ith, it was not their business to tell the

t)lic at large.,l-.)at revereacg to gi've all tire
. _

•
printed folio-as the genuine worlcof StIAKSPEARE ;
so it has come down, and so it will continue to
descend. SisliVF,ENs, threw some light up-
on the sribieet, by publishing alae-simile, in ortho-
graphy at least, of 20 quarto plays, totribtved to
Ski AkSPEARE, amid duriug his life-time.
Lttit the 13a'rd, satisfied' With sharing the emolu-
ments of the publication., never took the trouble
of saving what part of them were his ; and so the
question still remains in unanswerable obscurity.
Rut to the reviVed drama. It is cold,. notwith-
standing that the strength of the 'Company is em-
ployed 'Upon it. Still it is %veil deserviug of en-
couragement, and we hope the ingenious com-
piler be rewarded by its improving success.
It was well supported in the acting. The plays
of'STIAPEAIiE are so Well known, that we shall
not enter into the alteratiiitis, but simply ob-
serve, that it is much too long in the perform-
s • It ougtft 'to he_ reduced a full hour, if
of more, in the representation. The reforming -
dOctrides of Jaiik Cade and his followers were caught
by some seditiOus spirits; for where is the place
'4 into which foul things creep not ?" and some.
uproar arose bet ween them and the loyal part of
the audience. Perhaps it will be better in these
times to omit such incentives to /action. WEAN
was the Duke of York, MAY wo.on King Henry,
VOPE Cardinal Beilufort, Rae SufOik, WALLACE:
Young arickAlrs. GLovsa Queen Mar-
garet. The' wars iFrance are wholly omitted
in this Drama, and the Piece is relieved by the
humours of the rustic Performers, or, as old
CLEVELAND styles them, the'' Rustics rampant
hut, as
.we have said, some of their suggested irii-
prorenzents of\ oar political syStrin may weh be
expunged, that. Faction may not have a tempta7
lion to excite turhule.nce and colausion. A
crowded audience received the Piece altogether
with liberal applause.

ante.

PRIYATR THEATRICALS.--- Yesterdal evenin4
the young Gentlemen of Nlr. IlowELL's Academy,
Hyde-streN, Nuennshury, pet foram! RowL's ce-
lehrated Tragedy of Tami..,rtune the Great, with the
Mier-piece of -The Ghost. Tlte Nrts were sus-
tained by the juvenile charact'ers with much taste
and judgment, highly credital;le to their vener.ble
Tutor; _The audience were numerous and re-
spectable. , ,•