The Sun.
London, England, 1827-12-22 00:00:00

COVENT GARDEN THEATRE.

Last night presented one of those exhibitions of
impressive excellenCe in which the drama, all its
usual trickery and artifice laid aside, rises at once to
the dignity of the most thrilling reality. The play
was Othello; the Moor, Mr. Kean (the best of ex-
tant or recorded Moors), lago, Mr. Young, Cassio,
Mr. C. Kemble, and Desdemona, Miss Jarman ;—a
bill of fare which will sufficiently account for the
thronged state of the house. The competition lay
of course between I.ean andYoung—Charles Kemble,
however, first-rate as Cassio, personating only an in-
ferior character,—and never was rivalry carried on with
more determined generous. enthusiasms With less of his
former passion, and less, infinitely less, of his usual
clap=trap, Mr. Kean appealed more stirringly than
ever to the hearts and the understanding of his nu-
dience. He sacrificed the Gods to the critics. His
Moor was passionate, revengeful, decisive, with a
few gleams of tenderness breaking in here and there,
with truly sunny effect, amid the clouded atmosphere
of his feelings—yet lacked (a welcome deficiency)
the boisterousness with which he used of old, to
invest the character. It was more touching than
astonishing, and of course more natural. We
know of nothing on the modern stage, nor have
we any thing OR record, so perfectly resistless as
the spirit of Mr. Kean's farewell. " Some natural
tears he shed, but wiped them soon," yet in those
few
_noiseless tears, what mute eloquence, what
heart-rending sensibility struggled forth ! The return
too of the man—the resumption at one proud glance
of his former stern spirit, was marked with the nicest
discrimination, even to the scornful turn of the lip
'and the eagle flash of the eye. Mr. Young pre-
sented an impressive and studied contrast to this'
natural burst of feeling. He worked up the Moor
artfully, yet with all apparent ingenousness ; and
somehow or other contrived to reconcile the cool
malignity of the demon, with the . blunt good-hu-
mour of the cavalier. This union, a paradox in
the closet, was none upon the stage ; so har-
moniously had the artist blended the two op-
posing qualities. His very humour wore the
aspect of benevolence, bubbling up in its freshness
from the unsullied fountains of his heart, and even
in his more severe moods—where wit bore the im-
press of sarcasm—he took care to smile away its ef-
fects by the most buoyant good-humoured expression.
Perhaps he carried this studious concealment of ma-
lignity too. far ; but whether right or wrong, the au-
dience were with him throughout. Miss Jarman's
Desdemona was characteristic and inoffensive.—
The part, technically speaking, plays itself; it
requires no aid frem feeling or reflection ; a de-
cent appearance, modest and unobtrusive, will
alone carry an actress successfully through it.—
Did Desdemona tax our feelings more acutely, this
might perhaps be different ; but we cannot cordially
sympathi4e with a silly (though unfortunate) young
woman,,.wha, has thrown herself away on an old
black man, merely because he was an embodied re-
presentative of the Thousand and One Arabian
Nights. Her sufferings are to be
expected—we
look for them, have made up our minds for the oc-
caSion, and are disappointed if it be othT.wise.' Mr.
C. Kemble's Cassio is beyond all praise. In its
own peculiar way it equalled Kean's Othello ; his
inebriety in particular had the rich raciness, not
the disgusting folly, of intoxication about it ; it was
the very poetry of tipsiness, and as such inspired
unalloyed gratification. We trust that the success
of last night will serve to convince the Managers,
that to become popular they have only to be de-
serving. Let them forswear the Planches, the
Beaseleys, the Moncrieffs, the Coopers, and all the
wretched animalculte of this grovelling school ; stick
to Shakspeare and the genuine drama, and throw
themselves, thus fortified, boldly and unreservedly
on the public.

The Paris letters, by the regular mail, in the
absence of political intelligence, are some of them occupied
with speculations on the financial state of France on the eve
of the assembling of the new Chamber of Deputies, and
anticipate a serious increase of M. de VILLELE'S difficul-
ties, should he remain in power, from tkat cause. Among
the items with which the new budget is expected to be in-
cumbered are—the augmentation of the debt incurred by
.the occupation of Spain from 34,000,000 to 50,000,000
(francs) ; a deficiency of 5,000,000 on the civil list ; and
advances made by the Paris capitalists and Receivers-qe-
neral for the support of public credit, 50,000,000. It is
further anticipated, that the expenditure of the war and
marine departments on account of Turkey and Algiers will
be considerably augmented. The conclusion is, that there
must be a new loan in the course of next year.