Star.
London, England, 1829-10-15 00:00:00

on such a subject, or in •cone taste. Ti:' fivat scene com-
mences with

How slow these dropping waters mark Time's flight

To my impatient state! Still Flavius comes cot—
He was not wont to linger. Yet I wrong him
To think him changed in heart. Some secret care
Absorbs him—would I shared it ! Flaying !
I am not yet thy bride ; I dare not a..k
Thy confidence ; but when thou givest it,
I will not prove unworthy of the trust.
Would he were come ! Methinks I hear his step—

The same poverty of poetic embellishment is again
conspicuous here—mere matter of fact divided into the ten
syllables, and is dragged on to a fatiguing length. The
speeches are in general too long, and destitute of imagery;
they
.earwig the audience even to a feeling of impatience.
Asper's " murrain on this idle time," might succeed amid
the beauties of SHAKSPEARE—made excusable by his
times; but we cannot swallow them for Roman now. And
then again,---" A murrain seize them ! sheep in va-
lour." This might be very well in the mouth
of a Roman shepherd ; but Casca Asper's model,
has the art of being rude in another fashion, the conse-
crated sword is au unnecessary and ill-distributed pas-
sage, the tone of agony is every where too much pro-
longed. If Piso was made to suspend his speech
with—" There raise a tablet, and on it write" sink-
ing suddenly to death—the vanity of his frustrated
ambition would be powerfully and poetically felt, while
the audience would be spared the disagreeable sobs
and convulsions of the departing patient. There is- too
much of the dungeon scene, and the unnecessaay pro-
cession of victims, to the extraordinary music of Roman
funeral bells approaches the burlesque, it i 3 at least
overcramming spectacle. The denouement, • fatal
to the virtuous hero and heroine, while the curtain fails
' on the overdrawn Nero---seated in triumph on
his throne, in all the panoply of state, is a
monstrous infringement on dramatic justice. The Au-
thor might have been justified in taking a poet's licence,
and have hurried the Don Miguel of ancient Rome to the
insurrection which cost that monster his life. If, how-
ever, the Author has failed in the sublimer tone of ex-
alted tragedy, he, on the other hand has avoided
bombast and fustian. His style, though broken,
is manly, and affords ample scope for acting ;
the characters were all strongly cast, and sustained
with a power which agreeably surprised us—the
piece, we are convinced, will hold its ground if well
pruned, and something done to repair the vice of its con-
clusion. YOUNG was not young enough, and Miss
PHILLIPS two young; she is not sufficiently masculine
for die character. We shall return to the subject some
other day.

••• • 0

TABLE TALK,
HLTTORICAL, POLITICAL, LEARNED. e HUMOROUS.

TOR THE STAR.
pleasant without scurrility, witty without a:vim, auda-
cious without impudeney, learned without opiuion, and strange
without heresy."--SuasuwAss.

FATE OF TILE TIIIItD DOGE OF VENICE.—The first
and second Doge governed with moderation and ability ;
but the third gave the Venetians reason to repent that
they had not confined the powers of their chief magistrate
within narrower limits. After having served the State
by his military talents, he endeavoured to enslave it—his
projects were discovered ; but as the improvident people,
in the last arrangement of their constitution, had pre-
served no legal remedy for such an evil, they were obliged
to use the only means now in .their power : they assaulted
the Doge in his palace, and put him to death without far-
ther ceremony.—Moore's Italy.
FINANCIERS.—A person who had some small interest
in the farming of the taxes, was one day pronouncing an
eulogium upon the financers, maintaining that they were
the support of the State, " Yes," replied his antagonist,
"as the rope supports the criminal—by hanging him." - -

Charpentier.
ROYAL REszsyrstEarr.—The Princess of Wales had
been delivered of a second son. The Prince had intended
his uncle the Duke of York, Bishop of Osnaburg, should,
with his Majesty, be godfathers. Nothing could equal
the indignation of his Royal Highness when the King
named the Duke of Newcastle second sponsor, and would
hear of no other. The christening took place, as usual,
in the Princess's bed-chamber. Lady Suffolk, then in
waiting, as woman of the bed-chamber, and of most ac-
curate memory, painted the scene to me exactly. On one
side of the bed stood the godfathers and godmother ; on
the other the Prince, and the Princess's Ladies. No
sooner had the Bishop closed the ceremony, than the
Prince, crossing the feet of the bed in a rage, stepped up
to the Duke of Newcastle, and holding up his hand and
forefinger in a menacing attitude, said, " You are a rascal,
but I shall find you;" meaning, in broken English, " I
shall find a time.; to be revenged."— Walpole's Remin-

iscences.
GAINING BY A Loss.—A political presence of mind
fixad the celebrated Ruy Gomez, in the favor of Philip H..
of Spain. They were playing at primero, and at a time
when a vast stake was on the board, the King cried out in
ecstacy that he had the game in his hand; Ruy Gomez had
superior cards, but flung them up and acquiesced. The
next day, the other players told Philip how the affair had
really been ; and the King not only made Gomez a
liberal amends for what he had given up, but took him
into his counsels, and intrusted him with his most secret
plans.—Brantome. Vie de D. Juan d'Autriche.
ORIGIN OF ROUND ROBIN.—It was customary
among the ancients to write names, whether of the Gods,
or of their friends, in a circle, that none might take
offence at seeing another's name preferred to his own.
The Cordeliers have formerly been known to pay the
same attention to delicacy, and when a Pope has de-
manded the names of some priests of their order, that
one might be raised to the purple, they have sent those
names written circularly, that they might not seem to
recommend one more than another. The race of sailors
are the only people who preserve this very ancient cus-
tom in its purity ; for when any remonstrance is on foot
among them, they sign it in a circle, and call it a Round
Robin.—Andreivs.
There is only one instance, we believe, on record, of
a " Round Robin" without signatures.
" THE HEAD OF GoLD."—Turgot Cattle one day to
visit Voltaire in the house of the Marquis de Villette,
when he was so much tormented by the gout that he had
not the free use of his limbs. " Ah, M. Turgot," said
Voltaire, " how do you do ?"—" I can scarcely walk for
pain."—" Gentlemen!" cried Voltaire with enthusiasm,
" I never see M. Target but I think I see Nebuchad-
nezzar's image." " Yes," Answered the Minister, " feet
of clay."—" And the head of gold, the head of gold !"
replied Voltaire.
SAC/I0 PANZA.—III a comedy, by Dupeni, bearing
the title of " Sancho Panes," the Duke says, at the be-
ginning of the third act, " I begin to get tired of San-
cho ;"--" So do I," said a wag in the pit, taking his hat.
and walking out. This sealed the fate of the piece.—
Cousin d'Avellette. •