Star.
London, England, 1829-12-17 00:00:00

THE THEATRES.

COVENT-GARDEN.—VENICE PRESERVED.
If the excessive seal of friendship be often injurious
and detrimental in its effects to the cause to which the
sincerity of its devotion cannot be questioned,—the indis-
Criminate exercise of the Critic's functions is a thousand-
fold more dangerous, especially to the object of admira-
tion and eulogy, in the onset of a career so arduous, yet
at the same time so beguiling, as the pursuit of histrionic
fame. Estimating Miss Kau st.E's talents highly—as we
really do—we cannot but think she has infinitely more
cause to complain of the unaualified and even hyperbo-
lical panegyrics which the " Oracles" of the press have
lavished upon her, than she could have just reason to de-
precate their more temperate, and more valuable, because
more candid, commentaries. We are as willing, even as
to admit her claim

the most strenuous
to excellence of an

of her

supporters,
mon order, and to the display

_ .
of genius calculated to adorn and to exalt the Drama ;
but when her inconsiderate eulogists venture to place her
early and extraordinary efforts in competition with the
most distinguished of her predecessors, they do her a
manifest injustice—if not an irreparable injury—by
.forcing us, even in spite of our better feelings, to insti-
tute comparisons,—and to call up recollections, which
cannot prove other than prejudicial to her pretensions
—gifted and talented as we acknowledge her to be.
When we are told, for instance, that in any pas-
sage of her Belvide-a, or in the whole pmformance,
she produced an effect more thrilling—or left an impres-
sion on the spectator's mind more vivid or more lasting,
than even one voiceless gesture of the unrivalled SID-
DONA stamped indelibly on the heart and brain—teach-
ing us,
- - •

" How soon a look can print a thought that neer may be forgot,,

may smile at the complaisance of the commentator,
but we feel for the object of his ill-timed flattery, That
Miss KEIIIBLE is destined, and at no very distant day,
to attain to the very highest station of professional emi-1
nence, we firmly believe ; and we look forward to the
maturity of her talents, and to the full developement
her tragic powers, in confident anticipation of the ass*
brilliant, and the most perfect, success : but we should be-
tray oar own judgment—we should trifle with public I
taste—and we should run the risk of heightening a delu-
sion, which, by inspiring any thing like a notion of assur-
ed supremacy, might diminish the young aspirant's zeal,
or render her regardless of the difficulties which she has
yet to encounter, were we not to add, that with the pos-
session of the finest attributes of genius, Miss KEMBLR
has much to acquire ; and, young a :4 she is, and untu-
tored as her friends would have us imagine, she has
somewhat even to unlearn. Untutored she certainly is
not ; nor are the points of excellence, which she displays,
either decidedly original, or peculiar to the one great
model upon which her style has been founded. But, though
it is evident that her efforts are the result of deep and
anxious study ; -and though occasionally the brilliant
efforts of more than one of her predecessors, are so
minutely reflected,—without one trace, however, of
servile imitation—as to put at rest any question of their
being the mere result of intuitive genius ;—yet there are
bright scintillations of " the mind that burns within her,"
irradiating even the deepest shadowings of her personation,
that convince us, when practice shall have given the
ease of custom to her exertions, she will exhibit all the
towering genius of the Ken aLz family with lees ap-
pearance of art—that is, with a closer approximation to
Nature—than criticism has ever yet recognised in the
most gifted of her race. We wish we could compliment
the performers by whom this young lady ought to hays
been supported—but whom she had in fact to support
by her own solitary merit;--for with the exception of her
Belvidera, there was no other character sustained in
such a manner as to embody even the faintest conception
of the author. WA nDE'S 'fifer, was certainly the least
interesting we ever saw ;—he mcuthed and ranted most
vehemently—and rendered a character which should be
full of pathos and sensibility, as vociferous, and as ex-
travagant, as though he were contending with a very
mouthing PIERRE for the superiority of lungs—
" Nay, as thou% atouth—Tll rant as well as thou !"

Of Mr. C. KauBLE'S Pierre, all we shall now say
is, that it was in admirable keeping with Mr. W• ROE'S
Jajfer ; indeed we know not to which we should award
the meed of having most successfully misrepresented
OTWAY'S heroes. We are told that the tawdry dress
worn by " the bold faced villain," was suggested by Sir
TIIOM AsLa w svcce : if the fact be so, we cannot com-
pliment the distinguished president upon either the taste,
or the combination of an attire, which was as nearly
akin to " motley," as ever the daring leader of a con-
spiracy could desire to figure in. It may, for aught we
know, be the perfect " vrai semblable" of the Ve-
netian costume of that day ; but to our eye there
was nothing about it characteristic of the warrior,
or fastidiously decorous in the fashion of the nether gar-
ment. The conspirators, from Renault down to Spinosa,
formed a vile crew—and the Senate looked like an as-
semblage of silent old women.

A second English Church is about to be erected at
Boulogne, the present one, though capable of accommo-
dating 1,000 persons, being found insufficient.
Sir JOHN CANE, Colonel of the Enniskillen Dragoons,
and the Hon. HENRY COLE, of that regiment, second
son of the Earl of ENNISKILLEN, are on a visit with his
Lordship at Florencecourt.
A letter from Rome of 30th Nov. says—" Tho Ca-
nonization of the late Clotilda of France, Queen of Sar-
dinia, sister of their Most Christian Majesties Louis
XVIII. and Charles X. will take place as soon as possible.
It is said that the Court of Turin will deposit one hun-
dred thousand Roman crowns required for the purchase
of the draperies adorned with gold, as well as the expense
of carpenters' work for scaffolding for the orchestra, illu-
minations, fire-works, salutes of artillery from the Castle
of St. Angelo, and other expenses required for the pious
and pompous ceremony of this beatification.
We have heard with pleasure that LorJ F. L Gowt a
is engaged in drawing up a Bill to amend the laws re-
lating to Grand Juries, and that he has wisely sought
the suggestions of practical and experienced men to aid
him in the work. One great object which his Lordship
has in view, is understood to be, the abolition or
modification of the packing system. Under this system
the same individuals hold nearly the same station on the
lists every year. The High Sheriffs have a discretion,
but it is seldom or never exercised to the extent of ad-
mitting more than one or two new names, especially when
presentments are to be propoeed. Etiquette, we believe,
influences the arrangement considerably—Dublin Morn-
ing Register.
Yesterday, at noon, Te Deum was performed in the
Greek Chapel of the Russian Legation, for the re-esta-
blishment of the health of the Emperor Nicholas. The
number of Russians at this moment at Paris, and who
were all present, was considerable. Count Posse di
Borgo will give, on Friday next, a grand dinner and
I ball, in honour of his Sovereign.