The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — 1819-08-20 (London, England)

ENGLISH OPERA MIVSE.  A new musical drania, esititicd, Thi Brown. Man, 1, . lot night performed. The principal charm. to, were thus filled : sseaor Bernardo, aims litorr:t.rala Mr. DOW_ W. signor Franevat Mr. Itowaoskii. Patti opeds Mr T. P. Coal. Shying/hi Sonora Mira Miss Otos*. • Ciiriir ...... From the title of this piece we had expecteat at mere transcript of The Green ibion—sa tangle tffis. which has, for two venous, amused the con, crowded audience, of the Haymarket Theatre. But we were almost completely mistaken. It is true that the Brown Man, the hero of the new tirama, is very authoritative, sod is also the steer relative of one of the most elevated ittilividusls amongst the drastasis personal. In these two points alone the sew drama resembles the old th . 1 The former is altogether comic, the latter, wi Lute exception, deeply serious. The Brown Man la brother to fraticosi, the possessor of r large estate in Italy. At an early period he has been obliged to leave his native country, and, in the course of tiorty years, he has amassed • Isrge fortune. During 1114 period. he married a endow, who, by her previous union, had a son, named thiturfredi-13 pruretnnots, a alio, in perforinstice. a very .diner. With him the Brown Man, who is so demoani..ated, front his attire. being formed altogether of brown cloth, arrives on the estates of his fathers. He fiords his brother. Froneeni, steeply in debt, and he negoristes with him, under the assumed ichsracter of Bernardi,. for the sale all his roperty. His offers are accepted—heof becomesp the purchaser of the estate. Clara, the daughter of frumeorti, is the object of Alarrfreties desire. She has, Jour; before, been betrothed to Lead. a young and gallant officer, the nephew of Frassioni. who time. tioned their mutual mission. Bat the debts of fruit. un:i. incurred by becoming bail for a builders friend, lire too large to be defrayed, even by the purchasemoney of his estate; and. as the only mean by si..cla ruin call be averted. he resolves to give the hand of Clara to Manfredi. The Brown Aka gets mess slop of a letter, addressed by Clara to Lanai, sti which she bids him an eternal 'Amu, and exp • her determilialisu to bow implicitly to the mandrte of her father. The Brown Was, who bads long beets convinced of the hypocrisy and villainy of Manfredi, commands him to think no more of Clara. The disappointed Manfredi tirtermilies, in consequence, to murder him whom Ise should have reverenced as a father. He enr..ntn, erg Leop,i, after the Brawn Mars has di. t evieil hits to give up all thoughts of Clara, mid receives a challenge from the young officer, who pr,sents him with a case of pistol., loaded only with powder. Leiria hands him s brace of balls. directing hint to idiom them its their proper siteslino, sod then to choose which pistol he pleases. Minifrede refuses the offer—returns the pistols, but rr tines the balls. A shooting match has been proiaohefi Isi honour of the retuets of Leoni—the Brown Maii is to be of the party—and Manfredi artierwines, in the course of the day, to eveassimite him— for which purpose he loath his piece with one of the bullets he hail received-float Leone iss the 'looming. 44iNtipitsits the brown Mon to Wont him with paper fat wadding. and, for that purpose, he receives a pros of the lore-letter which had discovered to thet smarting philanthrtipst the affect. of Leoni roof Chow. The shooting match proceeds—but inefortuoinely in the courier of the sptrt, Ffsuicolli falls into a pond—anti, on being rescued from his peri. lima aiteation, he putt on a suit of the Brown Nata's clothes. Manfiedi mistakes him for his step-tather, fires at. and wounds him. All is confusion. Manfredi and the Breaux Mars are arrested a. the ;simmers such perpetrators of the deed. Tory are, however, both suffered to go at large, en their parole. The Brows Mon, who rightly divines that the shot was intended for him, elicit, from his vile relation a tacit confession of hats guilt. lle presto's him wills a casket, and desires him to fly, in order to avoid the punishment which his crime nterite. Manfredi opens the casket. and mitred of a quantity of diamonds, finds a bolded polo!, and a written paper—the latter directing Imo to commit suicide, in order to escape the mania. He is about to destroy himself— when i.eurti appears—states that the wound of In. uveir hits been probed, that the hall extracted wis similar to those with which he had that morn. Ina presented hint, and calls on hint to produce them. One only can he found ! But the deci,ive proof of his guilt is the wadding' of the foating-niece. which, on being examined, proves to be a pert of the letter handed to him by the Brown Max! His guilt is evident—but LeJni generously determines not to punish! his writ.nny. aim and Leoni are of course united. Tfwie is a greet deal of incident in this drama— in the dialogue there are molly well-turned points —aqui, iii the mantigentent of the denouement, much ingenuity is displayed.. It it ouly necessary to re-model-one or two scener, towards the end of the J..,iece, to render it a great favourite. The advice of the Brown Mast to his near relative to commit suicide—although not at variance with the supposed feelings of the character—was decidedly at issue with the real feelings of the authence, and excited almost tin the disapprobution which was heard during the eve .. i.. g. There sv tio necessity to retain the few passages which touch on that subject. The examiusitost scene may also be amended. The person accused and the Judge ought not, at least according to our English notions, to sit together for the purpose of discussing, in an amicable manner, the ciretimstioces of an assassination. To the performers every praise is due. Mr. DoWToS, in the ac. eipatiutt scene, evinced great powers, as a se. nous actor. Mr. WRENCH wall a lively officer. Alr. flaasest, as usual, a very merry domestic. Alms Cram, or Chsruoang extremely well. Her hest ap, ill the rotufeas' style, which was itseeted, .he executed admirably. Miss KELLY was a very lively and sa very musical waiting-woman. The new music, by Mr. BEETS, is entitled' to  Hraur,  114 rho  --A good deal of opposition was manifested. when Mr. Down)* announced the piece for repetition— hut, with a very little alteration, we think it will have s considerable run.