The Sun.
London, England, 1818-03-16 00:00:00

TILE STAGE.

SHAKSPEARE'S RICHARD THE THIRD.

The attention of our critical writers having
lately been given to the " Richard the. Third" of
SHAKSPEARE, ill contradistinction to that strange
and heterogeneons piece with which CIBB ER has.
displaced the great dramatist,- and pOssesced him-
self of the Stage, we think :its consideration a
fair object for our own diurnal criticism. And
we do this the more readily, having heard the
rumour, that the restoration of. SH AK ?PEAR E'S
Richard is now contemplated at one of the winter
Theatres.

SUARSPEARE'S Play cannot be acted, we ad-
mit, as. SktAxseamte left it..—lts length, beyond
three.thonsand lines nearly double the quantity
of an actable play, would he a snfficient objec-
tion : hot art objection which -throws on CIBBER.
the greater blame, since with so ample a store of
incident, and character, and poetry, at his hand,
requiring only a judicious selection, he has pre-
served in his alteration little more than six hun-
dred lines of his great original ; and of these, a
very large portion is - excerp►ed from. SHAKS-
PEARE'S others Dramas. It is not perhaps gene-
rally adverted to, - that while listening, as we-
think, to the poetry Of SHAKSPEARE,' Mr. KEAN'S
impressive acting presents to us twelve hundred
lines of ClBBlitt'S interpolation, instead of the
noble original.
With the exception of a very few points, which
are deServedly popular, CIBBBR presents: to us
from. his own stores•nnthing either elevated or
attractive. To..make Gloster prominent in the
piece, he has placed him alone ; instead of exalt-
ing his character, he has annihilated all the others,
This injudicious arrangement has injured Gloster
himself ; as it has deprived him of all shadowing,-
relief, and assistance. He jumps upon us with a
sndden burchery, for which we are wholly unpre-
pared :—through the whole piece his -crueltio,are
exhibited, rather than his character; of which
little is developed beyond its fierceness.
If ever there was a period wherein the restor,a-
.

ion of SHAKSPEARE'S Richard vas desirable,

, -
is now ; when the Stage possesses an Actor so
eminently capable or delineating Gloster. CIBBER,
we suspect, has superseded StrAxseemta, not only
on the boards, but in the closet ; and our au-
diences, therefore, would go to see the Richard of
SHAKSPEARE almost as a •new play. Certainly it.
would present to them, after every requisite akiap-
, tation, more than a thousand lines of our great
Bard, to which the walls of the Theatre are and
have been utter strangers.
Every body is familiar with CIBBER'S Drama ;
we will therefore limit ourselves to a brief ana-
lysis of SHAKSPEARE'S, as it might be performed.
SMAKSPEARE has described 'Gloster, not only
as vindictive, ambitious„and heroic, but as cold,
subtle,• and joculur.—Let us not be misunderstood.
The jocularity of Gloster is infinitely more gloomy
and., more terrific ; it throws upon his cruelty a
darker .and more dreadful shade, than any fierce.
ness could give. We are prepared too for the
wide'icene of bloodshed by a gradual disclosore„....
Instead of sticking poor Henry like a sheep upon
the stage, he begins with plots and pretences, and
a smooth count enance :—he deludes Clarence and
Anne, .and Edward, and the Queen, and Hast-
ings, and Buckingham ; he plays off each against
the other; he affects reconciliation, he picks quar-
rels, he hints, he insinuates, he foments
,jealou-.
sies, until, having completely alienated all,. he
makes each his defenceless victim.—Of all these,
we see at present only Anne, and Buckingham, and
very. little of the Queen.

They assist him alSo in the scene; they play tip
to him. Margaret too, the vindicAtive and miser-
able widow of Henry, follows him and crosses
hiin with her reproaches; she prophecies destruc-
tion on his accomplices and tools ; she is disre-
garded ; her denunciations, most fearfully poetic,
are set at nought; and we see them, in the gra-
dual procedure of the Tragedy, all
We may indeed call it a new Richard,- when we
shall see (as Mr. KEAN is so popular, and ca-
pable of sliewing to us),- his interview with
Clarence and artful irritation of that unsuspecting
Pt ince, his affected reconciliation with the Queen
and her 'kindred, and his equally affected bursts
of pride ; his purposed quarrels with them, his
insinuations aboutT/arence's death, his iampering
with Hastings, his accusations in the Council
Chamber—that fine scene, in itself worth an holo-
caust of model n Dramas !

These are not all the incidents, and touches of
character which may be - restored, even without
displacing any thing more than CIaBER'S ovit in-
tet polatioos. But it may be necessary to remove
also his dislocations of SHAKsPEARE ; since nothing
can be more absurd than his putting into the lips
of the patient Henry the ravings of the turbulent
Nerthumberiand ; or his dressing out the cool and
cautious Richnzond in the chivalric ardour of the
Conqueror of Agincourt.;
Our wish is to see as 11111C11 Of SHAKSPRARE'S
Richard as can be represented. Woe to the am-
bitions writer who would give its his own lines
when SHAKSPEARRS can be restored !—We shall
hail it as a signal benefit to the Drama, and not.
less advantageous to the Theatre that brings it
forth, when SHAKSPEAUE'S Richard the Third is
restored to his usurped honours. 'the restorer
and the manager who shr.ll thereby connect their
names with SHAKSPEARE'S, will not only more
thoroughly gratify the public, but more eminently
distinguish themselves than if they had written
and produced an hundred modern plays.

A very extraordinary attempt to commit suicide
is mentioned in the French Papers. A merchant at
Marseilles went to the mountains of Montredon,
about a league from the city, where he discharged
a pistol in his mouth ; the ball went through one
side of his head, but did not kill him. He reload-
ed his pistol, and fired again, by which the other
side of his head was wounded, but life still re-
mained. He descended the mountain, and falling
at the bottom, he remained - two days on the
ground exposed to all the inclemency of the •wen-
thee. He was at length discovered, still living;
by a peasant; who obtained assistance, and the
unfortunate man was conveyed back, to the city,
but actually walking part of the way on foot.
It is stated that there were hopes of his lite.