is, almost entirely tender, was very pleasant), did not convince us of the contrary. This young lady excels in gentle expression, and in the ut terance of those trembling, half-stifled tones of anguish and love, with which the character of Otway's heroine abounds. Thus she gave the cele brated words, "Remember twelve !" with great effect; and in the mad scene, where she supposes that she has caught her husband in her arms, and says, "I have him, father," her tones were really hearttouching. But she is not at present of age to wear the crown, and wield the sceptre of tragedy: she does not look the matron or the queen, or (as Mrs. Siddons, who was all and each by turns) 3 Like the towered Cybele, . Mother of a hundred gods. She wants, in short, that depth and magnificence of voice, that serious and proud dignity of person, and the knowledge to use or subdue both to her purposes, which we have once seen exemplified, and never but once, upon the English stage.-Miss Dance may, nevertheless, in a certain range, excel, as a graceful and touching actress; and, indeed, she may in time (for she is yet young on the stage) accomplish even than we will now venture to prophecy on her behalf.-Mr. C. Kemble's Jaffier is quite excellent, but it is well known, and we will not therefore dilate upon it. Mr. Macready's Pierre (we saw him on the second night of its performance) was a high and sternly striking portrait. It did him and Otway honour. more Glee and Chorus. The bottle's the sun of our table, His beams are rosy wine; 561 of wit in this play, of which we wish There is, moreover, a capital piece to apprize the uninformed reader. verted Jew, conjectures that he is in "Isaac Mendoza," a stupid half-conlove with, and asks in marriage, the daughter of Don Jerome. The father is willing, but the daughter and her brother rail against Isaac in his absence. One says that he has "left his religion for an estate;" to which the lady answers-" But he stands like a dead wall between church and synagogue, or like the blank leaves between the Old and New Testament.” sung We Miss Hallande played Carlos, and tones are almost matchless. the songs delightfully; her heard one of the first singers and best judges of the day say truly, that the stream of her voice was like balm. Why do not the managers cause her to be placed under some eminent teacher? answer their purpose to do so. It would surely Stephens performed Clara, gave the difficult air of "Adieu, thou dreary pile," very felicitously; though she, like Miss Hallande, excels in simpler strains. When they sing together they are like a pair of nightingales. Miss and lent Tragedy) has been revived for Virginius, (Mr. Knowles's excelthe benefit of the holiday-makers. George Barnwell reposes at last, safe from the jeers of the critics in are inattention of the galleries; and the the pit, and unaffected by the riotous forward, and the pale Virginia marRoman Virginius has been brought tyred, in dumb show, in order that the revellers of Easter may be satisfied. The Gods (as they are called) of the require that tragedies shall be pregallery; like the pagan deities of old, sented to them on their gay and gaudy days; they will not come to see comedy, or opera, or farce; and tragedy, which they do come to see, they will not hear. This was not The Duenna is one of the best operas in the world. The wit (which is Sheridan's) is pleasant, and the songs are pleasant also: they have much of character in them, and not thrust in upon all occasions, like the songs of our present operas, or the jokes of our modern farces. There are the celebrated songs of "Had I a heart for falsehood framed." "Adieu, thou dreary pile; "-and "Oh! the days when I was young ;” and also that renowned glee and chorus, where the reverend Father Paul and his co-adjutors are discovered mortifying themselves with wine.It is very edifying, as well as the dialogue that follows it. altogether the case, however, on Easter Monday, though it generally is the case. On the contrary, we heard the play indifferently well, and saw Miss Beaumont perform the part of Virginia, which she did very agreeably. She does not look so pretty as Miss Foote was wont to do, neither did she play it on the whole so well, but she was nevertheless very -agreeable; (that is the word which we arrive at, again;-excellent is too much, and respectable is not enough.) Mr. Macready's Virginius is well known, and it deserves to be known. Mr. C. Kemble was a spirited Icilius. Undine, or the Spirit of the Waters, is a melodrame, which followed the representation of Virginius. It is founded on a beautiful tale, written by the Baron de la Motte Fouqué, but it is scarcely adapted to terrestrial machinery. Some liberties had been taken with the original, even by the translator, Mr. Soane; but the melodrame-wright (this word may be forgiven us, at least, by manufacturers of melodrame) has departed much from the tale of La Motte Fouqué. Even a goblin of Sir Walter Scott's has been pressed into the service, and has been drafted from Scotland to Germany, in full possession of his alarming qualities. This personage (the same who used to shriek -tint-tint-in the forests of Reedsdale) was well acted by Grimaldi. That dwarf was scarcely an earthly man, And it must be owned, that he lost none of his brightness in the hands of our peerless clown. There was no alloy-no approach to humanity or beauty; but, wild as the woods from which he sprung, when he first showed himself to Henry of Cranstoun, the goblin page stood confessed before the eyes of all the marvellers of Easter Monday. Miss Dennet was a graceful Undine, and Farley, in crystal sandals, the terrible Kuhlboru. The melo-drame is worth seeing, if it be only for its scenery, and Mr. Soane's translation of the story is an exceedingly interesting little book. The London Stars. This is merely an interlude, written for the purpose of displaying Yates's mimicry, in which he is really clever. 1 DRURY-LANE. Jane Shore. At the time our theatrical article went to press, nothing new (of any importance) had occurred at this theatre. The tragedy of Lord Byron, Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice, was announced only; but as we have given a review of that work in our present number, our readers will be glad, perhaps, that the criticism on the acted play is postponed. It must be materially curtailed.- Jane Shore' has introduced Mr. Wallack to the public, as the Duke of Gloster, and Mr. Cooper as Hastings, and Mrs. West as the penitent mistress of Edward. Mr. Wallack is always a respectable actor, and sometimes a very good one; but the vein does not run through an entire character. Mr. Cooper never offends us, and, it must be owned, seldom pleases us. If Mrs. West would spare herself and her auditors a little, she would be a very respectable actress; but her tones are too much in the Ercles' key, and are painfully prolonged. Her voice resembles an instrument where one note keeps ringing in the ear until the next is struck, and there is no cessation of sound till the song be ended. We do not know how this may be in music, but, in speaking, it is bad, and we recommend Mrs. West to reform the habit. With all her faults, however, Mrs. West is an effective actress: a certain part of the house admires her, and the rest forgive her, and so it is very well. Giovanni in London. Miss Cubitt has appeared, instead of Madame Vestris, in this after-piece; but she is not equal to her predecessor, who sings delightfully, and has a good deal of comic talent. Mystification, a brief entertain ment, seems to have ended its course. As this is the case, we shall forbear any criticism upon it; and we now mention it only for the sake of put ting it on our records. Town Conversation. No. V. MR. MATURIN'S FORTHCOMING POEM. CIRCUMSTANCES have, we understand, delayed for a time the publication of the "Universe," by Mr. Maturin, which we last month announced to be forthcoming. We have, how ever, been gratified by a perusal of the poem, and have much pleasure in presenting a passage or two as specimens to our readers. It is in three parts, and evinces poetic genius of a very high order. The following passage, describing the instability of human affairs, seems to us finely expressed: here the joyous train, Zephyrs, and sunbeams, and young flowers of Spring Of far posterity! As gentle night Once veiled the desert, with her silent wings A sound of awful burthen, rose from far To the starr'd brow of night-who still, o'er head, As a companion to the above, we select a description of the comparative permanency of the works of nature. Come ye! who, wrapt in some peculiar lore, Uplifts its airy concave-or sublime, Come, and behold this Temple:--when still night And the lone pulses beat, as if it were The general pulse of nature: then, with eye Of fix'd and awe-struck meditation, look From world to world! See yonder in the South, Are cities with gay spires and towers, above Your Sires, before the flood; still fix'd serene In distant grandeur.-'Tis the ancient dome, Crown'd with her populous kingdoms, Earth revolves! A world to little man-who looks around, Within his small circumference, struck with awe We do not feel ourselves at liberty, under circumstances, any further to anticipate the publication of this poem. When, however, it becomes public property, we shall make a little freer with it, and give both ourselves and our readers a more prolonged gratification. EXHIBITION OF ENGRAVINGS BY LIVING ARTISTS. THIS interesting establishment, of which we announced the intention in our last, presents some exceedingly fine specimens from the best artists in this country, in almost every branch of engraving. Those, who consider novelty as a sine-qua-non, may be disappointed at meeting with so great a proportion of prints with which they had been long acquaint ed; but the real admirers of the art will not regret a circumstance, perhaps unavoidable in the present year, when, for want of previous preparations, it might have been impossible to collect together so many treasures. of the art, had not novelty been postponed to more important considerations. There are some exceedingly fine landscape and architectural subjects by the Cookes, and the Le Keux, and a great number of very superior portraits; some of the minor ones are remarkably brilliant and delicate. With the exception of Holloway's wonderful performances, there is but a slight sprinkling of historical plates. Cheesman's engraving of the Lady's 3 Last Stake, from Hogarth, will attract the admirers of that unrivalled satirist; although the subject is one that afforded but little scope for the display of his forcible satire, and peculiar humour. A few of the lesser things, we are of opinion, might very well be spared, and among the rest, Storer's Views of Edinburgh, which have no merit as engravings, and but little as local portraits. The frames appear to have been numbered before they were put up-as there is great confusion in this respect-a carelessness which is very provoking to a visitor, who has frequently great difficulty in discovering any particular print. LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, &c. Antiquities in France. The Academy Des Inscriptions et des Belles Lettres' at Paris, has instituted three prizes of five hundred franks each, .which are to be adjudged annually to the authors of the three best dissertations on national antiquities. They hope thus to excite greater attention to this branch of archæology relating to their own country, and to encourage those who engage in studies calculated to throw so much light upon its history, both political and moral. siderable violence. Both Lalla and Pyrgos are seated on the western coast and in elevated situations; the latter is so near the sea as to have a port belonging to it, at about an hour and a half's distance from the town. Earthquake in the Morea. The ravages committed in the island of Zante, and throughout the south of Greece, by this dreadful visitation, have been nearly unprecedented for duration and extent. The flourishing Turkish town of Lalla, a place of considerable importance, though of no very great date, is said to have been entirely destroyed by the earthquake. In this town, which was situated upon the Alpheios, and already contained about 3,000 houses, 500 persons perished among the ruins by which they were overwhelmed. Several other towns and villages have likewise suffered more or less, and some been entirely destroyed. At Pyrgos, where the population is entirely Greek, the destruction was very great, no fewer than 300 houses having been thrown down, and the rest much shattered and injured. The shocks of the earthquake were felt at intervals of a few hours, for several days together, and with con Chrystallo-Ceramic Manufacture, or Glass Incrustations. This may be deemed a very important discovery for the arts of design and embellishment. The effect is novel and singularly elegant; for the ornament, whether painted in metallic colours, or left plain, instead of being placed externally, either en creux, or in relief, or being painted upon the surface of the glass, it is actually incrusted with that substance, and is thus more effectually secured from injury. Hitherto, the modes employed for forming patterns and devices on glass, are all more or less defective: the effect is either meagre or confused; not unfrequently both; vases, cups, &c. of this material have been more admirable for their pellucidity and brilliancy, than for purity of form or elegance of design; but this inven tion will create a new era in the manufacture of this useful article. Classical figures and devices will now be employed, and elegance of form as much studied as in vases modelled after the antique. The effect is considerably heightened by the jar or vase being filled with some brilliant liquid, similar to those displayed by chemists, for the figures and ornaments being opake, they have then |