Star.
London, England, 1829-10-13 00:00:00

THE NEW ARK OF LIBERTY.

FOR THE %TAIL
When over Freedom's Island home
We see Corruption's deluge rise ;
And whelmed beneath the treacherous foam,
Our Country's boasted glory lies ;
Who but the base, the willing slave
Casts not to earth his patriot fears'
When, proudly stemming the wild wave.
The Naw-Aar of our Hope appears!

Oct. 10, 1820.

DRAMA.

As winter approaches, we naturally recur with interest
to the subject of our evening amusements &rim; that

period of the year, when the long nights and inclement
skies compel us to seek recreation under shelter. We

must not always depend upon the conversation of friends,
and plea.iiires of the table, for the means of cheating ennui ;
for even these require change to give zest to their charms.
In summer we enjoy our rides and promenades, when the
mind, relaxing from intense study or business, revels in
the sunshine, and finds ample entertainment in the enjoy-
ment of nature. But in winter we have no such re-

source--short days, obscured by storms, drive us
within doors, where every means of supplying our lost
pleasures in open air, become matter of real importance.
It is for this reason, with otl.ers less generally felt, per-

haps, that we contemplate with something like anxiety
the precarious state of our theatres, languishing in con-
tempt, and menaced with final ruin, reduced already, is
one instance, to depend on public bounty even for the
funds requisite to defray tha expence of representation.
Such a necessity in so vast a capital, where two great
tholtres alone are regularly licensed to exhibit
the national druma, provokes serious reflection—those,
considering it in a mere literary point of viay.,
conceiving the subject, compared with other daily
interesting matter of political magnitude, scarcely words
a thought, will retract their error when they sufficiently
reflect on the public utility of the stage, universally pro-
moted with zeal by every enlightened and polite peep!e,
as a great engina of police, a source of public improve-
ment, an encourager of intellectual talent, and promoter
of social happiness.
It is incumbent on us, therefore, to give this matter•
due attention, to trace the cause of the present
decay of our Theatres, and admonish the Directors
of these establishments, who have too long for-
gotten that they hold their patents merely in trust for
the public. First, abusing a privilege granted to them in
the infancy of the drama, when the art, yet unknown in
all its variety, remained undivided into its distinct depart-
ments—they, like the dog in the manger, deny advan-
tages to others from which they cannot themselves reap
benefit. The very monopoly which they so tenaciously
grasp is justly carrying its own punishment, to defraud
their benefactors, the public, front enjoying the art culti-
vated, as with other people, in its distinct branches, and
proper theatres, they rebarbarize our stage in represent-
ing thereon every species of scenic bastardy, which ca-
price and corrupt taste have imagined for audiences of all
descriptions. To prevent others front successfully exhi-
biting Opera, Melo-drama, Farce, serious-Ballet, and
Harlequinade-pantomime, these universal showmen, in
addition to the legitimate actors of pure Tragedy and
Comedy (paid in rival opposition with p incely revenue) re-
thin besides, an army of dramatic variety, enoughto amuse
us in their different lines in a dozen theatres—they have
each an operatic company, a corps of ballet dancers, a
suite of pantomime buffoons, with their numerous train
of musicians, figurantes, mechanists, and painters,
translating' valets, adapters, and song-mongers, who arc•
all to exhibit to the detriment of each other, and exclu-
sion of Shakespeare and purity. The worst of all is
the obstacle which this obnoxious and most de-
structive system offers to the genius of dramatic lite-
rature. Carry another Hamlet or a Cato, au
" As you like it," or a " School for Scandal," to
the theatre of our country, and a presumptuous
stage-lumber-critic will arbitrarily reject your labours, to
obtrude upon the public a" Devil's Elirir,—a"
nu Ogr," some sing-song farago translation, rendered
more paltry by the botched music of some orchestral
apprentice, some dancing buffoonery, or " tours de force."
Thus, debarred from the intellectual drama, the people of
taste, trifle for trifle, prefer the more elegant pastime
enjoyed with the Italians, and leave Covent Garden and
Drury Lane, their devils and their d incais, their stave-
chauntcrs, and fire-eaters, to the lobby swaggerers,
prostitutes, and rabble, who may have a taste for
them ; and thus, after ruining themselves by extra-
vagantly upholding an injurious monopoly, thLy appeal
to the public, whom they would continue to cheat
of their pure drama, for assistance, to per, evere in
their mistaken course. Would they be rescued, let them
wisely relinquish their rapacious pretensions : per-
mit a national opera to be licensed apart, by which they
will get rid of their expensive crowd of singers, melo-
dramatic gaggers, and others that pollute their stage.—
Let them confine themselves to the sterling British tra-
gedy and the sterling British comedy : insure assiduity and
docility in the actors, by reducing their exorbitant tala-
ries, supersede the sticks of the inferior walks by re-
spectable comedians, raise the dignity of the stage bv
severe discipline, and abolish their infamous saloons— and
the genius of literature and fashion of the country will
once more resort to the national theatre.

••• * r

The Mauritius Papers contain observations from a
correspondence with the Secretary of the Royal Astrono-
mical Society of London, addressed to his Excellency the
Governor by the Vice-President cf the Royal Asiatic So-
ciety, stating that the Isle of France seems to be anti-
rably fitted for a.tronomical ob,,ervations. The climate
is healthy, and the sky at all times uncommonly clear
and serene, excepting for a short time, when there a:e
violent gales
Accounts from Alexandria (Egypt) of the 30th of
August, state, that there is a great misunderstanding be-
tween the Pasha of Egypt and the Porte, in consequence
of the late demand of the Salon to send an army forthe
succour of Constantinople. This disagreement seen.s to
have alarmed the Pa-ha of Egypt, and he is pit:paling
for the worst. His army is being completed, by new
levies, to the number of 30 or 35,009 men, and 3,P00
cavalry, on the European principle. They are also going
to send a corp of 8,000 men to Gan ison, a fortress situ-
ated at the end of the Desert, near Syria. The news re-
ceived there of the successes of the Illssilms had pro •
duced little effect.

We hear from Lisbon that official information had
been received there, that the Pope refuses to aekticA
ledge Don Miguel ; this has thrown Dun Miguel in the
greatest rage as well as his mother.
_ _ _

Calcutta Papers to the 22d of April, Quebec Papers
to the 10th of Sept. and Mauritius Papers to the `2sth
of June, have been received at the North and South
American Coffee-house.

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