Star.
London, England, 1829-12-05 00:00:00

THE THEATRES.

DRURY LANE.—KEAN'S OTHELLO.
If the ill-concealed, but not the less malignant, arts
to which the jealous, the selfish, and illiberal detractors
of KEA N'S transcendent talents have had recourse, ex-
cited, even in oar minds, and--there are few more en-
thusiastic admirers of his great genius—coruickrubh.
anxiety for the result of his first generous effort in :ad
of the Theatre, with which the proudest recollvvtioas
of his fame must. ever be asAociated ; we need

scarcely say how pleasurably that anxiety was dis-
pelled, and our most sangdine hopes re-assured, on
seeing the most original and gifted actor of his age
restored to that high station which his own mental powers
achieved, in the perfect and unmingled triumph with
which he " passed the Rubicon." His success in Richard,

pre-eminent as it unquestionably was, may prove, we
trust, but the auspicious renewal of a splendid career,
which, though clouded for a season by calumny, yet

Like bright metal on a sullen ground,
Stull show more goodly, and attract more eyel,
Than that which bath no foil to set it off."

At the brilliant close of RICHARD, the mere an-
nouncement of 0 rtter.t.o--in which KEAN'S matchless
portraiture of the self-toitaring wretchedness by which
jealousy can subdue the noblest nature, and fir ever
make desolate the happiest spirit, was to be wrontht
upon, and the display of its perfection heightened, by
the contrasted excellence of YoUNG'S lago —was re-
oe:ved with such universal, and we may add, such rap-
two vce'aim, from every part of the Theatre, that we
were q tit* prepared for the effect upon the public mind,
of an a tractien, which the dearth of tragic talent, and
the unworthy bickering. of the few clever performers now
left to the stage, have rendorered of such rare
occurrence. At four o'clock on Friday afternoon,
the doors of Drury Lane were thronged by those who,
foreseeing the difficulty of gaining admission at the re-
gular hour, had hastened thither to secure seats in the
pit and galleries; and even so early as half-past six, it
was impossible to obtain an advantageous place in any
part of the boxes. Yet, multitudinous as the vast con-
course was, we never witnessed less confusion in the
theatre; indeed no attempt was made to disturtsthe general
tranquillity. Of KEAN'S Othello, we have never yet
heard or read one opinion, entitled to any consideration,
that did not award to the merit of the actor, the most un-
qualified praise and admiration. By men of alt rank,
and of all parties, in society—by the most acccmplished
scholars, and the most distinguished poets of ow day--
by the most powerful orators, and the most acute ob-
servers of the workings of the human mind—by the most
discriminating and the most fastidious critics :—by each,
and all, has the Othello of EDMUND KEAN been pro-
nounced the chef-crceurre of dramatic genius. Thee
highly, thus justly appreciated, it would be a work of
supererogation to dwell minutely upon every beauty that
such a performance developer—upon every scintillation of
intense feeling that bashes through the gloom of the noble
Moor's deep mental agony, consuming the very soul within
—as lightning melts away the tom pored steel ,yet leaves the
sheath unscathed.—Who can, unmoved, behold that fear-
ful embodying of the Poet's most sublime conception of
mortal misery—that palpable semblance of every:haul-
ing and remorseless anguish,—

" The keen, burning, harrowing pain,
Now felt through all thy breast and brain,
That spasm of terror, mute, intense, •
That breathless, agonized suspense,
From whose hot throb, whose deadly aching,
The heart bath no relief but breaking !—"
Who can contemplate, unawed, the desolittion springing
from the blight of the heart's most fond affections—who
can behold the poor betrayed Othello, mighty in his
weakness, and terrible in the oppression of his woes, and
the destruction of his all of earthly happiness, even there—
,. Where he had garnered up his heart,
1 Where either be must Use, or have no Ilfe'—

without feeling the most latent sensibilities of our elm-
mon nature aroused, and the most secret springs of its
tenderest sympathies touched by a chord whose least vi-
brations thrill through the frame ? KEA N'S pathos
comes over us, like the resistless breathing of a charm in

the midst of a terrific peal of thunder—and the phrenzy
of that mind, too nobly generous and unsuspecting to
cope with the damning malignity of his sly and subtle
destroyer, was finely contrasted w.th the melting
and subduing tenderness in which his spirit, over-
powered by its workings, died away. From his first
entrance with /ago—and here it is impossible not
to notice the liberal and delicate respect to pro-
fessional courtesy which YOUNG evinced, by following
at such an interval as allowed the audience to
mark, without co-rivalship, their sense of KEAN'S merits,
by as enthusiastic a reception as ever he experienced :
from his first reply to his " ancient," to the moment of his
fall, there was nothing wanting, even in the minutest
touches, to constitute the most perfect personification of
Othello that has ever been witnessed.
The breathless suspense in which the House seemed
bushed throughout the third Act—broken only, by the
irrepressible bursts 'of applause elicited by the unsur-
passed and deeply affecting pathos of the " Farewell !"
—or the energetic bursts of " the gathering tempest of
the soul,"—wasthe highest tribute that an audience could
pay to the powers a the actor ; and a similar feeling was
manifested through every succeeding scene, till at the fall
of the curtain, the House called for " K cot," who, after`
some brief pause, appeared, and was greeted with de-
monstrations of the liveliest admiration. The logo of
Mr. YOUNG, is very unequal in its merits. The
knavish spirit is too palpable in the early scenes ;
indeed so palpable, as scarcely to impose upon the half-
witted " brach of Venice:"—Whilst the extemporaneous
versification, is evidently misconceived :—there should be
only one line given with broad sarcasm, and that is the
last :—but Mr. YouNG makes it glaringly so satirical
throughout that it must have offended such a mind
as Desdemona's. His scenes with the Moor, however,
were highly finished. He plays not only with care, but
with an excellence that we wish such emulation would
much more frequently call into action. WA ',Lac]:
should have played Cassio ;—he has all that comic
expression which should essentially mark the drunken
scenek but which it is no discredit to a tragedian of
Mr. Coozza's merit to lack. CHARLES KEMPLE
is the only perfect Cassie, on the stage—and we are
glad to evince our *corky by this assertion, though our
opinion of his conduct towards Mr. KEAN remains unal-
tered. Mr. JONES might have undertaken Roderigo on
suck an occasion, without any . diminution of his high
reputation, and with important advantage to the play.
The Desdemona of Miss PHILLIPS is an admirable
performance, creditable alike to her feeling, her talent,
and her judgment. Her voice, which possesses a cheer-
ful gladness in its tones of mirth, a mellow plaintive-
ness in the expression of every tender emotion, and an
harmonious utterance even in its most passionate despair,
" discoursed most eloquent music," throughout ; and we
know not when we have been more delighted than by the

sweetly and affectionately replow!hful manner in which
she uttered

" I wonder in my soul
What you could ask me that Lahould deny?"
Mrs. GLOVER'S Emil a was good; and her defiance
of the Moor,- -" 1 care nut for thy sword"—entitled to
the highest praise. We had forgotten to mention that
after KEAN had made his acknowledgments, You NO was
called for, and on coming forward received with loud
plaudits.
We rejoice to find that Mr. Pain c,with a grateful sense
of the great service rendered to his Theatre, has offered
the most liber-d terms to KEAN, who has engaged to per-
form in twelve of his most popular characters at Drury
Line. We felt assured that the cause of injustice and illi-
berality would not long want an advocate in the Times,
who, somewhat late in the day, attempts to asperse the
(F.iilterozzeilness of KEAN'S offer to the Covent Garden
a7i.l the subsequent measures which their un-
worth.. tre.t!iont compelled him to adopt.
Has the 1 imes, in the plenitude of his own prosperity,
forgotten that there was a day on which, if a liberal
71 had offered to throw a considerable sum of money into
then impoverished treasury, he would not have accused
the man intending such a gift of " throwing it at the
bead of the iiereon wkom he undertook to serve," merely
because e•o generols an intlividi:al thou:du himself enti-
tled, at the hands of the p2.soli ab.,..t to be obliged, to
the common respect due from gsiiil.l:nitit to gentleman ?
Would the Times, so circumstanced, have (bowed tin
Itime and mantEr iu whivh the favour was to b.! conferred ?'

THE CHURCH.

OXFORD, Du. 5.

Monday last. in full convocation. the Degree of Doctor in Di-
vinity, by Diploma, was conferred upon the lion. and Right Rev.
Richard Begot, Lord Bishop of Oxford, f..rmerly of CMlsc Church,
and late Fellow of Ali Sunk College.
Thursday the following Degrees were conferred
IACHRLAWL IPt CIVIL LAW, IT COSILIUTATION.
William Morgan, Esq. Fellow of Magdalen College.

M AAAAA OF •STS.
v. •mss lirasennose College.
k's'ray, Brasennose College.
samortioas 01, •RTS.
•
Nathaniel Bond, (Mel College, Grand Compounder.
Richard Robert J .mes M' Pherson. Queen's College.
John 1/Istiel Lloyd, Queen's College.
Willlsm Marthey, Que n's College.
James Homy, Italliol College.
Henry Illtstet, Belliol College.
William ?aunt, Wadhant college.
Albert Mangles, Postmaster of 3letton College.
• Hoary Hughes, Trinity College.
Henry Deane, Exeter College.
Wednesday last the Earl of Lincoln. eldest son of the Duke of
Newcastle, was admitted Nobleman of Christ Church.
Thursday se'nnight, i%lr. James Roydon Hughes was admitted
actual Fellow of New College.
Sunday, the 29th ult. Herman Merivale, B.A. was admitted ac-
tual Fellow of BaUitsl College. On the same day Charles Mar-
riott, Commoner of Exeter College; Stephen Charles Denison,
Commoner of Balliol College; and Edward Elder. %ere elected
Scholars of &Igo' College ; Charles Alarriott was also elected Fi-
hibitioner OD the foundation of Mrs. HeadlAm ; and John Cooke,
Ezbilaitioner on the foundation of Mr. Harris, in the same College.
Thursday. Nlr. James Edward Sewell was admitted Actual
Fellow of New College.
The Hon. John Chetwynd Talbot. Student awl B.A. and Wm.
Smythe, E.q. Student and M.A. of Christ Church, were on Friday
the 97th ult. call. d to the Degree of Barrister at Law, by the Hon.
Society of Lincolta's Inn.
KCCLESIASTWAL IMILOMOTIONO.
Rev. Peter Davy Foulkes, B.A. to the Vicarage of Sbebbear,
in the Chapel of Sheepwash, Devon.
Rev. W. Heard Shelford, M.A. Fellow of Emmanuel College,
Cambridge, has been presented, by the Mater and Fellows of that
Society, to the Rectory of Preston, in the county of Suffolk.
Rev. Charles John Myers, M.A. Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge, has been presented, by the Master and Fellows of that
Society, to the Vicange of Fllathans, Nottinghamshire.