The Sun.
London, England, 1829-02-10 00:00:00

DRURY-LANE THEATRE.

The beautiful play of Cymbeline was last night per-
formed at this. theatre, on which occasion Mr. YOUNG re-
sumed his favourite part of Leonatus Posthumus, and.
went through it in his usual gentlemanly style of excel-
lence. Ms. COOPER did lachimo and fully justified
Posthstmus's epithet of the "yellow lachimo," inasmuch
as his face was as red and florid as a Dutch cabbage. In
some parts, however (especially in the scene of the wager)
it is but fair to state that he evinced both spirit and dis-
crimination ; his chief defect was the utter absence of the
Roman about him, in look, dress, or manner. He was
dressed indeed in the toga cilia, but the costume sat
as awkwardly upon his shoulders as would the Bishop
of London's lawn sleeves upon an apprentice in a
breeches-maker's shop in Shoreditch. Miss PHILLIPS
was, of course, the graceful, sensitive, and romantic lino-
gen, one of SIIMCSPEARF.'S very loveliest creations. The
poetry of the part lost nothing of its high character in her
hands—while in grace, spirit, and enthusiasm, her perso-
nation was equally perfect. Her mode of replyin; to the
insidious advances of the "yellow" lachimo, and her de-
livery of "did my Lord say so ?" in answer to some sus-
picious accounts the tempter had put forward respecting
his conduct in Rome, were admirable, and produced an
electrical effect. It is also with considerable satisfaction
that we feel ourselves justified in praising her legs, which,
in her assumption of male attire (in the 4th act) she, had
ample opportunities of exhibiting in all their delicate and
symmetrical proportions. Such a display was, of course,
too inviting not to attract a full house, and pit, box, and
gallery were accordingly thronged.

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE.

LITERATURE.

EDINBURGH REVIEW.—No. XCVI.
Notwithstanding its advanced age—for five-and.
twenty years are almost an eternity for a modern
periodical—the present number of this Review still
puts forth a sterling spirit of freshness and juvenility.
Of late, indeed, it has wondrously improved in
quality; nor can the whole extended compass of
our modern literature afford finer specimens of style
or thought than are to be found in the historical dis-
sertations that have from time to time adorned its
pages. In the present number we do not recognize
the eloquence of this particular reviewer;. but
nevertheless, his absence is in part atoned for
by the presence of other excellence. " Lock-
hart's Life of Burns," which forms the sub-
ject of the first article, is ofa rambling and discursive
but highly interesting character. It says little or•
nothing on the subject of Mr. Lockhart's merits as a
biographer, but enlarges at length on the character
of Burns as a poet and as a man. On these two
points it puts forth many ingenious and some few
new opinions, which have the additional recom-
mendation of being highly favourable to Burns. A
comparison is also indirectly hinted between him and
Byron—an idea which Mr. Allan Cunningham ad-
mirably worked out some months since in the " Lon-
' don Magazine," as men, though fixed in different
spheres of life, ofa congenial turn of thought and feel-
ing. There are other minute points of excellence in the
article, which will escape a hasty perusal; it there-
fore deserves attention, which if only for its free and
natural eloquence it will abundantly repay. " Bishop
Heber's Journal" is a slight, hasty analysis of that
truly fascinating publication, the offspring of one of
the most exuberant, refined, and variously cultivated
intellects that England ever produced. The Review
is prefaced by a complimentary notice of that -great
and good man, which we have the less hesitation in
passing over, inasmuch as a eulogium on
Heber• is so far from being novel that it
has been repeated. by, we really believe, nine
out of ten, of the English periodicals. Enough
therefore to state that it is well written. Ap-
pended to this Review is some account of a pam-
phlet eatited " Freedom of Trade and Settlement
in India," in which the opinions of the writer, who
is altogetldr favourable to an unrestricted trade with
the East, are ably canvassed and illustrated by his
critic. We give the following practical proof of the
benefits of such commercial intercourse—they are
worth a thousand theories :
" The author, has made a very striking and triumphant
exposition of the prodigious increase of the trade since its
partial opening in 1815, and proved, at the same time,
that this cannot be ascribed either to any accidental change
of circumstances, or even to any increase of activity or im-
provement of policy in the Company ; as it happens, that
the increase is confined to those articles only which have
been taken up by the free traders, while such as have re-
mained in the hands of the Company have either continued
stationary, or, in spite of the new excitement, have actually
declined and gone back. In 1814, the last year of the
absolute monopoly, the whole exports to India and China
amounted to about two millions and a half. In 1826, they
had risen to very near five millions; the increase being
confined to India, as the monopoly is still maintained as to
China. The total imports in 1814 were little more than
six millions ; in 1826, they were better than eight ; the
smallness of the proportionate increase being clearly ex-
plained by the continuance of the monopoly as to tea, at
all theirs by far the most considerable article of import.
The author, indeed, has shown, by a detailed statement,
that while the actual quantity of tea imported had not in-
creased, in twenty years, by so much as 12 per cent., the
supply, with a view to the increased population of Great
Britain and Ireland, had in reality decreased. in a propor-
tion of not less than 30 per cent. ! while the consumption
of Eastern coffee had more than doubled since the intro-
duction of the free trade. In cotton goods the progress
has been still more remarkable. In 1814, the quantity
exported. was 818,206 yards ; in 1826, it was not less
than 26,225,103, and steadily progressive. The whole
Indigo trade and manufacture, producing an export of
nearly two millions per annum,- is a creation of the free
system. It is almost the only branch of industry which
Englishmen have been allowed to practise in India ; and
the consequence has been, that, by the signal improve•
ments in the manufacture introduced by their skill, capital,
and energy, the commodity has been so much improved,
as to have driven the American article nearly from the
market, and to have extended our trade and connexions,
upon the safest of all bases, to the amount that has now
been mentioned. In all the other manufactures of Indian

produce, to which Englishmen have been allowed to apply
themselves, the consequences have been equally remark-
able; and the author specifies in detail those of tin ore,
antimony, gum lac, and safilower. But the most re-
markable case, as he gives it, is undoubtedly that of the
far more important article of opium. The trade in this
article was opened in 1815 ; but the Company, as sove-
reigns of the only accessible countries where it then grew,
maintained their monopoly, by taking the culture entirely
into their own hands, and strictly prohibiting it every-
where but at their own establishments; and the conse-
quence was, that they continued to sell an inferior article
at a high price, and to a limited extent—the chief con-

sumers being in China and the Indian islands. They are
actually said to have paid the cultivators no more than 141.
for what they sold in the market for from 2001. to 4001.
The first invasion of their privilege was by the Americans,
who speedily undersold them in Turkey opium in those
very markets; and the remedy or revenge was, to impose
a prohibitory duty on the free article, within all the range
of their own territory—thus establishing a virtual mono-
poly, in favour of the Americans, against their own
subjects !"

" The American Tariff" is a masterly and tri-
umphant exposition of that injudicious system of
prohibition by which the United States have lately
thought to extend their commercial resources. It is
altogether an article of a practical character, plain
apd unornamented in style, but full of facts and
sound reasoning. The following passing allusion
to that great master-mind which first broached, or
at least brought into activity the generous and com-
prehensive system of Free .Trade—a system by
Which England is now so honourably distinguished
above all other nations, and which is already pro-
ducing its advantages, does credit no less to Mr.
Iluskisson than his eulogist. The writeri we should
premise, has been descanting on the present enlight-
ened character of eur commercial connexions with
the world, and contrasting it with the antiquated
prohibitory system.
" That changes so extensive, and immediatelyaffecting the
i f en:
te
de r e s tws
iot fh a large
slittleo b
inconvenience,ody of pop
clamour, have
snd
oepe n e f-
p os

sition, as have been experienced, must be ascribed partly
to the more general diffusion of sounder opinions, and
partly to the discretion that has been displayed in the in-
troduction of the new system. Mr. Huskisson has not
been more distinguished as a bold and extensive, than as a

prudent and cautious reformer of our commercial code. It
w
to be expected that be could be the prin-
cipal ulaogte indeed,nti
n su ch various and important changes without
exasperating many individuals, and rendering himself the
• object of much calumny and abuse. But we arrogate very
little of the prophetical character when we venture to pre-
dict, that when the factious brawls and wrangles of the day
have been forgotten, it will be universally allowed that the
glory is due to Mr. Buskisson, of being the- first British
Minister, whose whole system of commercial policy was
founded on sound, liberal, and enlarged principles; and
who laboured earnestly and successfully to promote the
power, happiness, and glory of his own country, not by
seeking to exalt her at the expence of others, but by open.
ing her ports to the ships and goods of all countries, and
making her the centre and animating principle of a vast
commerce, founded on the gratification of the reciprocal
wants and desires that subsist among nations."

After discussing the nature of the last Americe
!ariff, in a spirit hostile indeed, but far from intern-

perate or sarcastic, the author follows up his asser-
tions by the following practical illustration, which,
within the compass of a few tines, hart the merit of