The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-12-06 00:00:00

NEW PLAY BY MR. SHERIDAN KNOWLES.

On Tuesday evening, Mr. Sheridan Knowles's play of the
Wrecker's Daughter, was performed at Drury-lane theatre, to
a full though not a crowded houser The piece was received
throughout with the most enthusiastic applause, and the novel
character of the whole composition bids fair to insure it a po-
pularity of long duration. The following is a sketch of the
plot:—Robert (Knowles,) is a wrecker on the coast of Corn-
wall, but who, through the softening influence of an amiable
wife, has been, in some measure reclaimed troin his odious pur-
suit, though at times his old propensities break out afresh. His
daughter, Marian, (Miss Huddart,) seeks to exercise over her
father the same influence as her deceased mother, but with less
success.. The first act shows us an approaching storm, and the
pteparations of the wreckers to avail themselves of the spoils
of a vessel, the inevitable destruction of which their experience
in'theie matters enables them to foresee. Norris (Mr. Wade,)
or BlaCk Norris, as he is nicknamed by his colleagues, having
conceived a design on the daughter of Robert, lays a plan to
drive hiM away from the country, that the girl may fall a de-
fenceless prey to his machinations. He points out to the old
man a body just washed on shore, and persuades him to rifle it,
sending, meanwhile, one of his emissaries to assemble the other
.-sweerrkers -and. spread a report that Robert has committed vio-
lenee upon the ship
wrecked man. Robert, in the act of rifling
the body, is found by his daughter, who, with some difficulty,
persuades him to return home. He promises to do so, and bids
her go on before while he collects his tools. Marian lingers on
an overhanging rock in expectation of her father's following her,
when Norris enters, and finding Robert's knife, plunges it into
the body, to confirm the suspicion of Robert's crime. While
in the act, a flash of lightning illuminates the stage and Ma-
rian, believing she sees her father commit a murder, swoons
away upon the rock. Robert enters immediately afterwards,
arid being found near the body, with his knife still in the breast
Of the dead man, he is carried before a justice, where, upon the
direct evidence of his own child, he is committed for the mur-
der. A highly wrought scene takes place between Norris and
one of his confederates, Wolf, (Mr. Diddear,) in the course of
which, it appears that the body washed on shore, was that of
Norris's own father, who had lived for some time after the mor-
tal wound had been inflicted on him by the hand of his own
son. The fourth act shows us Marian at the gate of her father's
prison vainly striving to obtain admission. Norris enters and
confirms him of the death of her lover, Edward, (Mr. Cooper,)
and promises that if she will now marry him (Norris,) he will
save her father's life, and prove him innocent. She agrees,
with evident repugnance, to the sacrifice. The fifth act, which
is decidedly inferior to the preceding ones, presents us a forced
and highly improbable denouement. At the opening, we find
Norris and Marian preparing for their nuptials, about a month
having elapsed between the two acts. Just before the departure
of the bridal party for the church, Edward, supposed to have
been drowned, returns unexpectedly,. and an agonizing scene
ensues. T
The last scene isin the church-yard, where the'clerg
man, the father, and the lover, vainly join in entreating Norris
to release the maiden from her promise. On his refusal they
are about to enter the Church, when Wolf, whom Norris had
sent out of the country, suddenly appears. He had beenad
stubsgged
im-
pelled by the agonies of remorse to return, and now reveals
crime of Norris, who now rushes furiously on him adthe
him to the heart. The convicted murderer is then dragged
away, and the clergyman. unites the hands of the two
Such is a hasty sketch of the story. Like most of Knowles's
pieces, it is full of beautiful poetry. The interest throughoutess
the first four acts is. intense; but, in the fifth, the startling im.
probability
.of the incidents greatly tends to weaken the effect
The acting wasexcellent.
Miss the earlier parts of the play.
Marian justifies ‘th
Miss H wide' t's performance of
opi-
nion we had previously conceived of her talents, Knowlesehigh-Ward° also did full justice to the piece and
ere was also
some beautiful scenery ; and the success 'of the whole piece
must be gratifying to the author, at the same
time that it bids
fair to yield a plentiful harvest to Mr. uun' B s treasury.—En-
y/Miniatt.

TUESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 6, 1836

Whenever we have walked through a gallery of fine
pictures, where beauty after beauty has presented itself
to the eye, we have found the powers of language fail
to express the agreeable emotions and intense pleasure
created by them. Something of this feeling has possessed
us during the present recess of Parliament. We have
been called to observe demonstration after demonstration
of sound constitutional principles, delivered at Conser-
vative dinners, till we are perplexed how to vary the tone
of admiration, or, in terms sufficiently strong, to felici-
tate our fellow-countrymen on these most auspicious
events. Nature, that has given us hearts to feel the sa-
tisfaction, has denied us a vocabulary co-extensive to im-
part it. There are, however, some points so prominent,
and some consequences so important, in several of those
late festivities, that we feel irresistibly impelled to draw
the public attention once more to the subject.

The first of these which we intend to notice, is a con-
servative dinner given by the "nobility, gentry, and
yeomanry of West Norfolk, in the Town-hall of Lynn,
to Mr. William Bagge and Mr. W. L. Chute, who have
announced their determination to stand candidates, next
vacancy, for the representation, on the conservative in-
terest, of this division of the county." The assemblage
on that occasion was distinguished, in a pre-eminent de-
gree, by a union of title, talent, character, and wealth,
equal to any one of its predecessors in the kingdom.
But it is not upon this topic we purpose, at present, to
descant. Such displays have graced every county in the
kingdom. It is to mark the changed political character
of that division of the country, that we invite our read-
ers. West Norfolk was once, and lately, one of the
strongest holds of radicalism—the very hotbed of re-
form—the never-ceasing mill of discontent, in which
were ground down the raff and bran of faction, to glut,
the voracious appetites of all the unquiet in the land—

the political Etna and Strotnbole of England, which were
for ever belching forth the fiery mischief of sedition.
There the post groaned under the burden of, miscalled,
petitions to parliament, breathing the language of inti-
midation. But, happily, the refreshing breeze of Con-
servative truth has purged the infected air of Radicalism ;
and, as low as West Norfolk had sunk in degradation, so
high has she now exalted herself in honour. May her
example be everywhere imitated Mr. Bagge, one of
the intended candidates for the next Parliament, said, in
language to which every true British heart must respond,
"They were called upon to give justice to Ireland; he
would not withhold it from her, but at the same time he
would preserve it sacredly for every Protestant in Ire-
land, who desired, and deserved it. In standing up for
the rights of the clergy, he was adopting the best course
for securing his own ; for if he allowed the property of
the clergy, and the tithe was their property as much as
he could call any thing he possessed his own,—if he al-
lowed the property of the clergy to be invaded with im-
punity, with what consistency could he complain when
his own should be attacked He would commence jus-
tice to Ireland, by giving the starving millions the ad-.
vantage of poor laws. Why did O'Connell oppose them ?
Because he knew very well, if once established, he could
no longs r agitate with effect." Such were the sentiments
of the future candidate of " West Norfolk." We send
him our best wishes for that, of which there is no reason-
able doubt, his complete victory on the approaching
struggle.
We accidentally learn, that Lord John Russell had,
just before the above meeting at Lynn, visited Mr. Coke,
of Holkham, now in his dotage ; not burning out the last
days of the oil of life with a pure, tranquil flame, hut
fuming and flickering in the socket. We deeply regret
this, for, as a private gentleman, his life has been marked
by courteousness and benevolence—as an agriculturist,
by zeal and liberality—but as a statesman, by imbecility
of mind and petulancy of conduct—" requiescat in pace."
Whether alarmed at the threatening storm, or afraid lest
the thunder of ungracious truth should disturb his repose
if he remained in the county, Lord John quitted his re-
treat, very opportunely, justin time to escape the mur-
murs of reproach that might have intruded within the
pale, even of the retired domain of Holkham.
We really wonder, that a man sprung from the house
of Russell, which owes so much to the hand of spoliation,
should persecute himself with measures and alliances

every one of which, we might think, would serve to
bring to his remembrance the origin of his paternal in-
heritance, and make him tremble at the very thought of
organic changes ; changes which, however they might
carry hack the riches of his family into channels from
which they were diverted, cannot, by possibility, add to
the breadth or depth of the present stream. But this per-
sonal recklessness of self has long ceased to create sur-
prise. We everywhere see men, that are their own ene-
mies, industriously devoted to effect their own destruc-
tion ; from the dram-drinker, who ruins his health, to
the politically intemperate lord who endangers his coro-
net. Happy would it have been for him, and well for the
country, when he set his foot upon the soil of Norfolk, if
he had recovered his right reason, and had found moral
courage enough, like some of the Radicals of the western
division, to renounce " the error of his ways," and to
have stood forward a champion of those institutions with
which must stand or fall his political inheritance, and all
the honours of his house.
It is somewhere about fifteen years ago since we heard
Mr. Coke, exultingly, make mention of Lord John Rus-
sell's entrance into the arena of reform. He has exhi-
bited himself, all that time, as a public gladiator, con-
tending for the empty acclamations of crowds of " the

DEC. 6. PS:36.

baser sort," without achieving one victory:l°r adding one
laurel to his chaplet, that will be recorded with honour in
the page of history, or grace his picture in the national
gallery of statesmen. Contrast this life of useless, mis-
chievous agitation, with the upright, straightforward
course of Lord Wodehouse and his family. In all of
them we behold unsullied dignity, like the polished mir-
ror, which the breath of calumny 'cannot tarnish—the
ever ready supporters of a government, that, essentially,
loves and cherishes liberty—of a church holy and apos-
tolic in its ordinances and doctrines—who are guided in
their legislative duties by an indiscriminate care for rich
and poor—such men were the props of the late conserva-
tive dinner in West Norfolk; and we are not surprised,
though much gratified, to find so many others of a kin-
dred spirit coming forwards from the ranks of radicalism
to stand as pillars of our glorious constitution. It is the
presage of better sentiments and happier days incur
land. But we forbear to iterate the opinions we have so
often repeated in favour of the generous and right-mind-
ed views of the Conservatives of England. We have
another theme that, like the last, claims the best attention
of the friends and enemies of good government. At the
great Conservative dinner for the "combined counties
of Ross and Cromarty" we are presented with two other
instances of change of political sentiment worthy to be
recorded; not in men of no influence, but in two public
characters, one of whom, Mr. Horatio Ross, late M. P.
for Aberdeen, made the manly avowal, " that although,
as a whig and a keen reformer, he bad, in his place in
Parliament, supported the reform bill in all its stages, he
has felt himself compelled to withdraw himself from a
ministry DEPENDING FOR EXISTENCE ON A COALITION
WITH A PAPIST AND ANTI-NATIONAL FACTION" ;—the
other, "Mr. Robertson, of Kindeace, a gentleman of
considerable talent and property in this county, and who,
at the last election, supported the present whig-radical
member." He too, quitting the constitution-destroying
ranks of radicalism, stands forward to protect the " House
of Lords" from the assault meditated against it. These
two noble-minded men, the late supporters of reform,
who had yoked themselves to the car in which my Lord
L Melbourne, and Lord John Russell, and Mr. O'Connell
rode triumphant, like triple-faced Hecate—have unhar-
nessed themselves from their work of drudgery. They

find, that the ponderous machine of state, directed by
the unprincipled hand of papacy, like that which bears
the idol of Juggernaut, is drawn, by a factious multi-
tude, over the neck of prostrate England, crushing li
berty, endangering property, and placing personal safe-
ty in jeopardy.
We exult not at the accession df two, or two thousand
votes to our cause. We count not numbers—it is the
indication, the evidence, afforded by these changes, in
distant and independent sections of our country—ia
Scotland as well as in England—of a crumbling, a tot-
tering, a decaying faction, that calls forth our ernulation--
.ee pede Herculem—these footsteps declare, with sufficient
demonstration, the direction of political power. We ga-
ther from such instances the just conclusion, that there are
multitudes ready to avow themselves of the same senti-
ments—many more vacillating "between two opinions,"
who will shortly acknowledge their political heresy, and
confess, with honest truth, " in ignorance" they em-
braced it; and, would the same apology could be exten-
ded further, and we could say, " as also di d their rulers."
If these decisive signs—for there is no ambiguity here
—serve to add encouragement to the hopes of the peace-
makers of England, what apprehensions must they create
in the. minds of those who only meditate war l—who are►
by virtue of powers vested in them by the reform bill,
and other bills of the same monogeneous character, con-
verting our towns into seats of discord—affixing to every
office, whether honourable or servile, the infamous badge
of political slavery—converting our protestant schools
into seminaries of infidelity—and stretching out the
hand to greet Papal power to our shores. Should these
facts in any degree regenerate our present Municipal
Corporation, or introduce into Liverpool a congenial spi-
rit, which, we think, they cannot fail to do, we shall feel
abundantly recompensed for calling public attention to
them ; but, whether local misrule be checked or not, of
this we feel quite certain, that whenever Parliament shall
assemble, the advocates of Conservatism will buckle on
their defensive armour with double vigour, and present
so firm a front to the ranks of Radicalism, that the latter
will make their advances with more caution and less bold-
ness than they displayed immediately after the first tri-
umphs of reform. The voice, the declared voice of the
country is with them.

The enemies of our Established Church, who are the
enemies of truth and justice, have been industriously at
work, endeavouring to confound together two several
acts, of two members of our hierarchy, which are mani-
festly distinct in motive, principle, and consequences.
The Bishop of Exeter, who is not only conscientiously,
but imperatively charged to watch over the canons of the
church, in the fulfilment of that non-discretionary duty•
has been compelled to accept the resignation of the Rev-
M. Malkin, in consequence of an illegal and self-asanred
authority, to omit, on certain occasions, the reading of
the " Litany," as appointed by those canons. Is this an
exercise of tyrannical, oppressive, or fanatical power ?
Is it the arbitrary dictum of a lordly superior, capriciously
humbling, or needlessly fettering a subordinate minister
in the discharge of his legitimate duties ?—the farther
from it possible. It would have been a highly culpable
dereliction of episcopal duty had the Bishop of Exeter
neglected to interfere, and forbid an unauthorised altera-
tion in the prescribed ritual of the church, of which he is
an " overseer." In order that we may see the justice of
this conduct the more clearly, let us suppose the Rev. M.
Malkin had been permitted, without disturbance, to omit
the reading of the "Litany," where was this discretion-
ary power to end ? He might next have foregone the
reading of the "Lessons;" he might soon have dispensed
with the spirit-breathing prayers. In fact, he might
have cut down the service of the Church of England to
whatever dimensions he pleased ; or, as it is probable,
that when he took away one pillar of marble he would
add another pillar of wood; the beautiful structure might
be so altered in its form, and so debased in its materials,
as to leave little trace of its original remaining. And if
we look a little farther, and consider the right of exercis-
ing a similar discretion to be vested in every curate--
and if it may be apsumed by one it must belong to all—
to what a state of disorder might the holy and apostolic-
character of our church service be reduced—congrega-
tions would perpetually be surprised, as in some dissent-
ing chapels, with novelties—no two services in the same
church might be the same. In fine, this liberty of the
Rev. M. Malkin is not only unwarrantable, but subver-
sive of all ecclesiastical government, and would lead, by
an inevitable step, to its complete destruction. But we
have other, and equally strong, objections to the right of
individual clergymen altering, "ad libitum," the ap-
pointed services of the church. Whether Mr. Malkin
omitted to read the Litany or not, because he thought
any part of it exceptionable, we do not presume to say
but, prima facie, such would be our conclusion ; and if.
such a. conclusion be ours, who love and venerate the
church and its ordinances, what would, the airy tongue of
dissent, the flippant lips of the Deist, the "open sepul-
chres" of infidelity and unitarianism proclaim ?
they would triumphantly quote clerical authority.--offi -
elating ministers of our church—to denounce the purity
of her doctrines. We shall have it asserted, in the tone
of insolence, that the " Litany" was, by our clergy', de-
clared to be a farrago of unmeaning sentences, not only
unworthy a Christian congregation to hear, but unfit
for their holy lips to utter—that our prayers had
. ,
neither sense nor devotion—and thus on, to the teat
extinction of our scriptural ritual. And shall a bishop
hear of such designs, and not interfere ? Shall lie
know that they are in practice, and not interpose ?
And shall he be exposed to slander, and be maligned
for accepting a resignation from a clergyman guilty
of any one of these, and who disclaims a return to
duty ? We speak to Christian men—., judge ye." Have
your "hearts never burned within you," whilst that beau-
tiful compendium of man's wants, temporal and spiritual,
was reading, and waiting your responsive prayer—tll
le
Litany ?
We are sure that you, that any good man in the