The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-10-18 00:00:00

E LIVERPOOL STAIbAR D.

7'IlE DRAMA.

Novelty is the most potent charm that the manager of a
theatre can resort to, perhaps the only one that will continue
for any length of time to keep alive in the public, mind any in,
terest in " things theatrical," or supply the exchequer w►th the
necessary "ways and means" to keep its machinery in motion:
For the mere purpose of giving us something new, the sterling
ore is frequently rejected for baser metal, tinsel supplies the
place of pure gold, and plays and actors of acknowledged merit
are consigned to oblivion to make room for spirits of au inferior
order. _ _

Two of these "novelties" have been produced at our theatre
during the last week—the first, Mrs. Brooks, an actress from the
Norwich Theatre and the second, " the popular drama, as now
performing nightly in London, with unprecedented Euccess," of
" Jonathan Bradford, or the Mulder at the Road-side Inn."—
The materials out of whichlhig " drama" is concocted, are the
singular trial of Jonathan Bradford, who was executed at
Oxford for the inurder of Christopher Hayes, Esq. Th e evidence
against Bradford was that of two gentlemen who bad supped
with Hayes, and who retired at the same time to their respec-
tive sleeping-rooms; being alarmed in the night by hearing the
groans of a wounded man in Hayes's room, they got up and
proceeded thither to discover the cause; there they found their
landlord Bradford, with a dark lantern and a knife iu his hand,
in a state of astonishment and horror, standing cloge to his
dying guest, who almost instantly expired. The facts of this
tragedy were not brought to light until Hayes's confidential
servant, .on his death-bed, confessed that, knowing his master
had a large sum of money about him, he had committed the
horrid deed, and secured the treasure but -a few moments be-
fore the landlord entered the apartment of the dying maiL
Thin horrible and disgusting incident has been dramatised
with considerable tact, and particularly in one scene, where
the audience see the action in four distinct apartments at one
time, and that their sympathies maybe enlisted in favour of the
hero of the piece, the real murderer is introduced in the charac-
ter of a highwayman, who is seen to do the deed for which the
landlord and his wife are sentenced to be executed, on a chain
of circumstantial evidence that carries conviction with it, almost
beyond the possibility of a doubt.
Godwyn, in his purely fictitious tale of "Caleb Williams,"
a work reprinted by the Society for the Propagation of Useful
Knowledge, for the purpose of holding up our criminal juris-
prudence to the contempt of his readers, makes his hero the
victim of a series of oppressions, under the colour of law, for
the purpose 9f sneering at our boasted institutions ; for he
takes especial care so to arrange his possible events, as to ex-
onerate the executors of the law from any undue influence, that
he may strike with greater force against the law itself as tole-
rating oppressions of the grosSest character. We do not mean
to accuse the author of " Jonathan Bradford" of having any
sinister object in view; we take for granted that something
new was wanted by th play-goers of Gotham, and that he
has selected this story for the want of a better, without consider-
ing its tendency, either in a moral or political point of view.
Our first objection to the piece is the trashy, sentimental, bom-
bastic kind of language that he has put into the mouths of his
three principal characters, Bradford, Ann Brad.ford, his wife,
and barnter Nelson, her father, language totally out of charac-
ter with their situation in life. We think the effect would have been
heightened had he made Bradford and his wife the honest, unsus-
pecting country ale-house keepers that they really were, instead of
making them the tragedy hero and heroine that tiley were not. To
give effect to the representation of the tragedy of low life, the lan-
guage of that state must be used. as in Robert Tyke, in the
School of Reform." Cooke performed the part of Broil 'ord
as well as it could be performed. Mrs. Brooks we should think
a clever actress, who understands the business of the stage,
but is incapable of any very lofty flights, either in action or ex-
pression. As. Ann Bradford she did nut create any very lively
interest in the andienCe. Por the reasons we hark already as-
signed, Mr. Andrews could not make much' of Farmer Nelson,
The character of Caleb Scrummidye, by Baker, being a sort of
non-descript, was deservedly laughed at; but the part of Slaiter,
Jack Rackbottle, was the one that pleased us most,, and, indeed,
is the only one in the drama that bears the slightest resemblance
to nature.

We are happy to find that Mr. Clarke's benefit on Monday
ight was a good one.

THE LEEDS FACTORY BOY TOMLINSON.

We extract the following letter which appeared in the
London Standard of Tuesday evening:—

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STANDARD.

Tadcaster, Oct. 11, 1833;
•
Sin,—The report of the coroner's inquest on the boy Tomlin-
son, at Leeds, is now going the round of the papers; wherein
the jury found the man Radcliff, the overlooker of Messrs. Set-
ley, Tatham, and Walker, in whose factory this boy was killed,*
guilty of manslaughter.
I am happy to see that you, sir, have very properly made
some editorial remarks thereon commensurate with its enor-
mity. This Mr. Mark Walker, one of the partners of the '
above firm, was one of the greatest sticklers about negro eman-
cipation, and some little time ago, when Mr. Thompson, the
paid lecturer of the Emancipation Society, was in Leeds, was
one of his "dearest" friends. Go when you might to his lec-
tures,'you might have heard Mr. Mark Walker's voice sweetly
modulated, crying—" Shame! shame !" at the lecturer's recital
of the cruelties committed against the poor negroes! He it was,
too, who distributed the tickets of admission, and on one ocen:..
shin, whilst Mr. Thompson was lecturing in the Brunswick
Chapel, the room he had previously not being large enough,
and whilst exhibiting a short whip, which had actually been laid
on the unhappy negroes, as a more effectual means of exciting.
.commiseration through the perception of his hearers, and amidst
a torrent of declamation about cartwhips, this said Mr. Mark
Walker was the first to break the thrilling silence by a sonorous
ejaculation of "Shame, shame!" forgetting (the pious hyPo-
crite!) in his evidences of philanthropy for the distant blacks,
the ten times greater enormities which were going on at that
very time in his own mill, not half a mile from where he then
was; not with a whip, but with a rope! as thick as a boy's
wrist, as was given in evidence on the inquest; not with a
whip-handle, but with a thick brush shaft! and with a ladder;
and, to crown all, this tender means of obtaining light and
short labour from young children, by literally HANGING ONE
UP BY THE NECK FOR THREE OR FOUR MINUTES. Away
with such disgusting hypocrisy. I need not say that Mr. Walker
'• was one of the bitterest enemies of the Ten Hour Bill, and one
of the warmest supporters of Mr. Macaulay.
ONE WHO HAS RESIDED IN LEEDS, AND BEEN
DISGUSTED WITH SUCH EXHIBITIONS.
• We have here changed a word.

LIBEL ON LADY DE BURGH.—Robert Milliken, convicted of
a gross libel on Lady de Burgh, was, on Thursday week, sen.
tenced by the recorder of Cork to be imprisoned for six calm
dar months.

THE TALLOW SPECULATION.—Wednesday was an impor.: :
tint day among the speculators in tallow, as the account of the
immense speciaatious which have been entered into during the
last month was appointed to be settled on the 15th inst. On
few former occasions has speculation been carried to such 'an
extent as recently, and the fluctuation in the price of tallow
has been between £5O and £43 per ton, the lowest price having
been obtained a few days since. The differences on the specu-
lations were paid yeste;day, and were very large, without any
defaulters being announced. -A discovery has been made, by
which the merchants in Russia have carried on, it is thought,
for some time, a deception in packing tallow, and by which
the melter is defrauded. Two heads of tallow-casks have been
exhibited at ,the Baltic. Coffeehouse during the last three days,
taken from some of the recent importations, to show the trick
played off by the Russian merchants on the trade here. The
heads of the casks are full three times as thick as customary,
and, consequently, by taking up greater room than required,
the casks contain less of the tallow, the tare allowed by custom
in the trade being 121bs for every cwt. By this new system of
deception the actual tare is increased considerably, and unless
the inciters and others in the trade take care to inspect the
casks they may purchase, they will sustain much loss, the com-
paratively valueless wood occupying the place of tallow. The
recent heavy
.arrivals of vessels from the Russian capital have
considerably increased the stock of tallow, which is now nearly
37,000 casks, against 12,800 casks at this period of last year.
The deliveries last week were large, having amounted to 4,129
casks.—London paper.
A RARE UN.—A week or two ago, a cat, belonging to a Mr.
Aiken, who resides in Newton Green, increased the -Grimalkin
population by ushering into the world a progeny of nine kittens ;
but, as there were no whimsical old maidens in the house, and as
the prolific Grimalkin was herself considered more than an equal
foe to all the mice, her offspring were committed to the deep ere
their eyes were open to their fate.. The mother, as is natural to
her species, displayed the deep grief that almost burst her furry
bosom, by ransacking every corner of the dwelling, but "alas !
she found no tidings of the strayed." Tired of viiin searching,
she folded herself to rest on the hearth stone, and was awakened
from her nap, shortly after, by Mr. Aiken! s children rushing in
to shew a young leveret which they had captured among the
Prestwick Knowes. Puss started. up, and cunningly retreated
a few paces to take observations. The door was bolted—the
handkerchief unfolded, the treasure displayed, the eyes of the
little ones glistened with joy as they surveyed their long-eared
dwarfish play-fellow, heedless of puss who Was couching behind:
a spring, a guzzle from her ladyship; followed by a yell from the
children, and all was over !—Whence she came no one observed,
and whither she went, none could discover. On the morrow she
appeared, and to the amazement of the family, she was followed
by her long-eared protege, which she had suckled through the
night, and now guarded with maternal solicitude, no doubt
under the delusion that it was one of her own offspring. Fos-
tered with so much care, the leveret began to scud about, and
shew feats of its agility, but no change was observable in the
conduct of its god-mother. In an unlucky hour, however, it
crossed the threshold, and preferring its native hills to man's
dwelling, made a race for liberty, hardly pursued by the cat;
but "long cars" won the day and left Grimalkin to rctrace toer
steps disroneolatc and forsaken.--Ayr Advertiser,