Star.
London, England, 1818-10-09 00:00:00

THEATRES.

Dneiti-Lates.—:A Gentleman, named Cowett,
from the Theatres Royal, York and Lincoln, last
night made his first appearance, before a London au-
dience, at this Theatre. The characters selected by
him for his debut were Samson. in The Iron Chest, and
Nicholas, in The Midnight Hour. In his'appearance
and manner he reminded us much of Mr. HARLEY,
whose style of actinghc seems to have studied with
some success. He was very favourably received, and
promises to prove a useful acquisition to the Theatre.
Mr. KEAN played Sir Eduard Mortimer, its the Play,
in his usual excellent manner ; he was rapturously
applauded, and his announcement for the part of Sir
Giks Overreach, on Saturdal night, was received with
an universal plaudit. Mr. Wit,Liasis, the Gentleman
who on Tuesday appeared, for the first time, in the
chara l'otterion,in Love Laughs at Locksmiths
appearei (VT d time last night as the General:
in The Midnight r, 'Pie selection was not for-
tunate .; he is subjected to ^ nrasted with Muu•
DEN in this character, and he suers much in the
comparison. His success was not eqnal to tha. which
he met with on his first appetrance at Tottcrton. It
is but justice, however, to say, he met with consi le-
derable applause. The House was well filled.
COVENT GA R0r314....1•411. " M. • It REX ap
peared in a now character, brat of .Sir Anthony A.i•.)-
lute, in the ad-..ired comedy of ate Rivals. This is a
cast of character the very reverse of Lord Ogleby, Sir
Bashful Constant, or Sir Peter Teazle; yet Mr. FAR
JUN proved himself fully equal to the task. He gave
a faithful picture of the choleric fatter; his manner
of commanding his son to marry and love a woman
he had never seen, and whose name even he refused
to communicate—and his subsequent description of
the young Lady's charms, when his son consents to
have her, were among his most successful efforts.—
His performance of last night has given him addi-
tional claim to public approbation. Miss BRUNTON
played Lydia Languish for the first time; and WAS
much applauded. Mr. CHARLES KEsiaLe. gave a spi-
rited and correct picture of Captain Abso?utc. The
other characters were cast as usual, and were well
sustained. The house was well filled at the rising of
the curtain in every part.—The two " wonderful per-
formance" men have made their second and their last
appearance here. The tumbler endured the same
miscellany of applause and hissing ai on his former
appearance. He was followed by his colleague, a
conjuror, net a tumbler, whose failure was quite un-
qualified. A small field-piece was brought on the
etage, and charged by the conjuror with a bullet or
cricket-ball ;he then placed himself in the range of
the gun—the lighting. match was raised—general
alarm and subdued shrieking among the ladies in the
boxes, and cries of " Off, off," from all parts of the
Iloose—but it was a false alarm—the match was
applied again and again—and only burned priming.
The gun would not go of—but the conjuror did,
overwhelmed with confusion. The audience cla-
moured for the Manager, and Mr. Etworrr lost no
time hi acquainting them, that the object of the Pro.
prietors was to entertain the public, and if ++ these
gentlemen" failed to do so, they should not trouble
At audience again.

ATIOOIOUS ATTEMPT TO POISON.A crime of

a very extensive and serious nature was attempted on
Sunday sennight, in the family of a respectable far-
' me, in the neghbouthood of Torres. A man ser-
vant on the farm having some dislike to a young'
Woman' who had charge of the dairy, and acted
'as cook in the family, in order to ruin her, as he ima-
gined, without calculating on the consequence to
others, adopted the diabolical measure of putting a
quantity of arsenic into milk, which was intended for
the food for a number of reapers ; they took a small
part of the milk to supper on the Sunday evening,
and several found themselves extremely unwell dur-
ing the night ; but on the Monday morning they
were enabled to resume their labour ; on that day,
however, they got the remaining part of the milk to
breakfast, and, un going again to their work, no
fewer than fifteen of them fell down in the course of
a law minutes, in a state of great agony, on the field.
Medical aid was soon procured, and the cause of
this alarming occurrence being discovered, immediate
means were taken, which, we are happy to under-
stand, have on the whole of the cases, counteracted
the deleterious effects of the poison ; of two persons
there were very serious apprehensions for some days.
The wretch who is supposed to have perpetrated this
enormous offence has absconded.
Anuse or PARINTS.—On the 9.5 th ult. a person of
the name of Oliver, a journeyman plasterer, was tried
at Kirkcudbright, before Sir ALEXANDIft GORDON,
Steward of the Stewartry, and a Special Jury, for
the crime of cursing and otherwise threatening, and
for using personal violence towards his aged and wi-
dowed mother. Several witnesses were examined,
whose evidence conclusively established the fact of
_ _

the prisoner having abused her in the grossest man-
ner, and of his having threatened to deprive her of
life • none of the witnesses saw the prisoner strike his
mother, but one of them affirmed, that from various
circumstances she had no doubt of his having done
so. The agent for the prisoner offered to examine
evidence relative to his conduct in jail since his ap-
prehension, which, it was contended, would prove
that the prisoner was imbecile, and not in the posses-
sion of his entire faculties. This evidence was rejec-
ted by the Steward, on the ground that it had no re-
ference to the period when the outrage was commit-
ted, and because the conduct of thepnsoner in Court,
and the pertinence and sagacity of his remarks,
sheaved that he was perfectly sound in his judgment.
The Jury were then very ably addressed by Mr. GRA-
DoN, Procurator Fiscal, on the part of the Crown,
and by Mr. Nisinne on the part of the prisoner, and
after a short charge from the Steward, retired to
consider their verdict. After a few minutes consul-•
ration, the Jury returned a verdict, finding the fact
of the prisoner's having cursed and otherwise grossly
abused his mother proven, but findag the charge of
his having struck her not proven. The prisoner was
then addressed by Sir ALLIANDZR GORDON in a
short but impressive speech, and sentenced to six
months imprisonment, and thereafter to be banished
the Siewartry for the space of seven years. This is
the only case of the kind which has been tried in
Scotland for many years. T)ss Court was through-
out very Much crowded.