The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-02-18 00:00:00

.124NTI1SON THEATRE.

This spteadid Theatre was opened on Saturday
evening, for the first time under its present desig-
nation and management, with a grand rehearsal • and
as this was a species of entertainment to which the
better part of society were invited, without any sti-
pulation for payment, it will not amaze•our Readers
vary much, to understand, that long before the de-
clared hour of the commencement (which was to
have been eight o'clock), all the avenues were thronged
with visitants. At nine o'clock the musicians got
into the orchestra, and began to tune their instru-
ments into correspondent harmony ;. after which we
were favoured with a novel Overture, composed for
the occasion by Signor TRENTO ; he was accom-
panied by DELEINI, as stage manager. —When
the curtain was raised (which, by - the - bye, should
be green, and not red, as a visual relief), Mes-
dames BERTINOTTI and COLLINI ; Mr. FISCHER,
from St. Petersbugh ; Siguors CAUVINI, BERTINI,
and Monew,sang the national invocation of " God
save the King ;" after which we were favoured with
*colas and arias in succession, in which Mad. BEII
TINOTTI delighted us, by the chastity of her expres-
sion, and Mr. FISCHER, by his manly voice and
science. This dramatic repast was terminated by the
public repetition of a Ballet, composed by Mr.
Rossi, in which the principal occurrence was the
curvettings of Phoebus, and his Pierian relatives.—
Mademoiselle Mosrnot danced with a truth that is
unparalleled in this empire, and with an agility that
was surprising, considering her anatomy. The
troupes were prettily managed, and the whole went
off with eclat.

The interior of this building is an• irregular hex-
agonal, which is the most convenient and capacious
of aU the figures that can be connected, without an
interstice. The Pit is well constructed, and appears
to be capable of holding about seven or eight hun-
dred spectators. There are five tier of Boxes which
rise on each side of the Pit, and three or four at the
back, which terminate in a gallery. In the front of
the Pit there is, as is usual, an Orchestra, where
the Petformers did not appear to us, with so much
advantage, as the meritorious band do, who fill
the orchestra at the King's Theatre.------The
ceiling is fancifully decorated with a pietorial
display of Apollo and the Muses, where the God of
Sone is delineated as buoyant upon a blue cloud,
channting love.ditties to the celestial Ladies with as
much nonchalance as a turbaned Ottoman in his Ha-
rem on the Hellespont. The Proscenium was ter-
minated by one scene only on this night, and\ that
wai the interior of a temple, well pointed. The
house was well tilled * all its ports, aid that many
persons of distinction of both sexes were present.

A Latin Translation of the Optics of Ptolemy, a
work which was supposed to be entirely lost, as we
only possessed a 'few lines of it, which have been
transmitted by BACON, has lately been discovered by
Count LAP ACE, ill the Imperial Library at Paris.—
The translation is by Await RATIIS Etroaritus Strums.
The first book is wanting,' as it was wanting in the
original Arabic, from which Austiaamis made his
translation.

Mr. John Williams, boatswain of his Majesty's
ship Queen, upon a charge of desertion, was ac-
quitted.

A Court-Martial is directed to be "assembled at
Portsmouth, for the trial 'of Captain SAmuct, CAme-
BELL RowLry, and the Officers and crew of his Ma-
jesty's late ship Laurel, which was lost on the 30th
alt. in Quiberon Bay, owing to the ignorance of the
pilot, when following the Rota through the Taig-
muse passage.
A Court-Martial will likewise be held at Ports-
mouth on Captain TUCKER, and the officers and crew
of the Diver frigate, which was lost in Madras Roads,
in's' storm.
Friday, a Court-Martial was held at Portsmouth,
en Joseph Moore and Wm. Cochrane, seamen belong-
ing to his Majesty's ship Armada, for great inde-
cency. They were each setent:ed to receive SOO
lashes, and to Ova years solitary confinement in the
Marshalsea.


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