NOV

TOV. 24. "Richard III." On Monday, owing to the indisposition of Mr. Kran, Mr. Maywood played the crook-back Tyrant for the first time, this evening, and, according to the bills, on a short notice. The audience was liberal and indulgent, which humane example we shall set before our eyes, and abstain from criticising his Richard.

Nov. 26. "Oroonoko." Mr. Kean continuing ill, Mr. Wallack became bis substitute in the Sable Prince. This play was performed on Wednesday, for the benefit of the family of the late Mr. Raymond, instead of Romeo and Juliet, as originally advertised. The House was crowded to excess, and the receipts satisfactory to every friend to departed worth and merit.

DEC. 2. H. Johnston has appeared in the Duke in the Honey Moon. The interest of the characrer lost nothing in his hands. He entered fully into the eccentric and singular spirit of the noble experimentalist on a wife's patience, and succeeded to the satisfaction of the audience.

DEC. 8. "The Man in the Moon " It takes its name from the Sign of a Public-house not much resorted to, which is likely to be the case with the theatre when the sign is hung out. There is no plot. The first scene, in which Mrs. Alsop caricatured a koydenish country wench, and Knight nearly played up to her in Joey, the serving man of the tavern, was the only tolerable one in the piece: the rest was dull, tiresome, and fatiguing. The best joke was setting these babes in the wood in the stocks; and as nobody could hiss for yawning, the opposition at the finale did not much exceed the applause.

DEC. 9. Murphy's comedy of "Know your own Mind" has been performed with much spirit. This is one of the plays in Murphy's peculiar style; that is to say, a play imitated from a hundred others; but the selection is so good and so amusing, that it is a matter of very little consequence to us, whether they are his own or another's. There was not a man of his day, perhaps, of less original and inventive talent than Murphy-not a man who so little

knew the measure of his own mind, for he had the foily to become the transla tor of Sallust and Tacitus, two of the most condensed and forcible writers of the Romans. Know your own Mind was well performed; and being selected, as we have said, by one who so well understood all the mechanical parts of the stage, no modern comedy is better adapted to actors and actresses. Rae, in the part of Millamour, who is in love with every woman he sees, acted with gaiety and spirit, and was merry without being boisterous and vulgar.Mrs. Alsop, in Lady Bell, shifted herself into all the varieties of her character, as the scene or dialogue required; and however widely different the natural appendages of each, she was in all alike

natural and alike attractive.

DEC. 10. On Wednesday, was performed a very pleasant dramatic ros mance, called Lilliput." It is unnecessary to say, that it is founded on the story of Gulliver, and that the humour is in the contrast between a great man and his little guests. This dramatic piece was written by Garrick about sixty years ago, and was produ ced as a farce upon the occasion of some benefit. The present Managers have re-introduced it, and it is justice to add, that they have found the means of rendering it entertaining. With the single exception of Gulliver, the hero, all the characters are performed by children not exceeding twelve years of age. The audience were amused, and the children were certainly well trained. A child of the name of Dunn sung with a good mock effect "The Soldier tired;" another child imitated Kean, in the tenth scene of Richard the Third.

Mr. Fisher appeared the same evening in the character of Hamlet. Our opinion is, that he is an actor in the first line, but not the first. And it must be added, that tragic actors partake of the nature of the poetry which they have to repeat,-that mediocrity in neither is tolerable, and that both, if not good, are tediously bad. We do not, however, apply this to Mr. Fisher in all its rigour, as his Hamlet was good, and may bear several repetitions. In Richard he wants force, majesty, and variety; he calls up Kean before

us, and then vanishes before him. But in Hamlet he is more within the peculiar sphere both of his natural powers and apparently of his studies. His subdued tones and manner accorded with the character of the scene. His soliloquies were contemplative and soothing. In viewing the mock play he appeared to be absorbed in the passions excited by the analogies of the story His speech to the players was likewise good, and followed the example so admirably given to all succeeding actors by Kemble, that of giving domestic dialogue in the colloquial tone of common life. It is, indeed, amazing, how any one can deviate from a rule of such manifest propriety. In the closet scene he was not less successful, and recalled, to his advantage, the memory of Kemble and Kean in their most splendid parts. Upon the whole, the performance was very satisfactory, and we must congratulate Mr. Fisher upon having made a better selection than that of Richard.

DEC. 11. A new Comic Opera called "Outwitted at Last," which deserves some mention. As far as Miss Cubit, Miss Byrne, Mr. Harley, and Mrs. Alsop were concerned, it was entertaining and well received. Harley is copying by a bad model. He has more grimace than pleasantry; and whilst he acts to the galleries, he loses the applause of

1817.

those who, having been accustomed to a better style of acting, have a better taste. He wants natural pleasantry; and he will always want it, if he so servilely imitates another. Mrs. Alsop always acts well where she does not overact. She has much of the genius and all of the spirit of her mother. Her restless activity keeps the spirits of the audience in the same cheerful motion. She has all the materials of an admirable actress, and we look to her as capable of fully replacing her mother. Oxberry is a good actor, but his compass is narrow, and is evidently too self-sufficient.

Mr. Dowton, as the Commodore, was full of merriment and pleasantry, but his sentiments are too much the common place of the stage. Even this excellent actor carries his action, perhaps, a little too far, and his sea-phrases in Outwitted at Last, were not much relished.

DEC. 15 This evening Mr. Kean made his first appearance, since his indisposition, in the character of Richard the Third. He was greeted with enthusiasin by the audience; and as far as the most spirited performance could vouch for the perfect restoration of his health, we are justified in announcing it to that portion of the public who were not present on the occasion.

1817. Dec. 11.

12.

19.

15.

King Richard the Third-Man in the Moon.

16. Outwitted at Last-Lilliput.

17. Ditto-Falls of Clyde.

18.

Riches-Man in the Moon.

19. Outwitted at Last-Lilliput.

20. John Bull-Lilliput.

22. Richard Duke of York, or the Contention of York and Lancaster-Irishman in London.

23. Ditto-No Song no Supper.
24. Christmas Eve-[No performance.]

GARDEN.

Her delicious voice charmed every ear. Her comic powers are not great, though she does prettily enough in this way, what seems to have been taught her in rehearsing. Simplicity, and not archness, is her forte. Fawcett's Whimsicalo, Emery's Peter, Duruset's Lorenzo, and Mrs. Gibbs's Curiosa, are all excellent of their kind; and as for Blanchard's Marquis de Grand Chateau, it is the most perfect personation of an old fop