[ 450° ] 
[Dec. 1 
THEATRICAL REVIEW AND MUSIC. : 
—e——— 
N the dramatic sphere, though much 
could be selected from the occurrences 
of the. preceding month that might be food 
for instructive criticism, if room could have 
been. afforded amid the mass of materials, 
whieh, for particular reasons, the present 
Editor would be desirous of cleaving away— 
there ignothing which, in retrospect, appears 
to be of such general interest, as to super- 
sede the duty which this necessity imposes. 
Space .only remains to us, therefore, for a 
few words upon this subject. 
At Covent Garden, the new attempt, an- 
nounced in our last, on the arduous charac- 
ter of Othello, proved so complete a failure; 
as to have blighted, apparently, even the 
prospects of the debutant with respect to 
that secondary line of character to which 
it is understood that it was always in his 
calculation probably to descend. Warde’s 
Iago was much better; though it cannot 
be said to have been what is called a com- 
plete Ait. The first half of the character 
he played admirably: the remainder only 
respectably. He possesses not, apparently, 
the energy of conception and imaginative 
power to enter into the darker and more 
desperate feelings of that malignant but 
powerful character ; and though, in deport- 
ment, he was such an Jago as might have 
imposed on the noble, mind of Othello 
(which most of the Jagos we have seen 
were not), he seemed to lack the tempera- 
ment and the soul that could have found mo- 
tive for so horrible an imposition. He had the 
mask, but not the necessary features work- 
ing beneath. Mrs. Sloman’s Desdemona 
deserves all the praise that nature has per- 
mitted her to aspire to, in such a character. 
She conceived it correctly, played it with 
great propriety and apparent feeling—and 
yet not beautifully, or effectively ; for though 
her person and her features are good, they 
want the sleek charm and freshness of 
maiden youth; and though nothing can be 
more natural than the tones of her pathos, 
the expressions of her weeping countenance 
are so unfortunate, that the picture nulli- 
fies the impression onthe ear. 
Beaumont and Fletcher’s Rule a Wife 
and have a Wife has been very isuecessfully 
revived, with the necessary retrenchments: 
and C. Kemble, Jones, and Miss Chester, 
in Leon, the Copper Captain, and-Estifania, 
merited the applause with which they were 
throughout received. A new comedy, The 
School for Pride (from the Spanish), has 
also been completely successful. Madame 
Vestris has made her appearance here as 
Artaxerces, and as Susanna (in the Mar- 
riage.of Figaro), &c. and been hailed with 
her accustomed éclat. But the grand de- 
pendence for attraction seems to have been 
—(Shade of immortal Shakspeare! hear !) 
Mons. Mazurrer’s demonstration how 
near a man can come.to a wooden puppet 
in Policinello (Punch!) and to an irrational 
ape, in a mummery called the Brazilian 
Monhey—borrowed from the iminor theatres 
of Paris, and even of our own metropolis. 
At Drury Lane, the eternal) Der Freis- 
chiitz, and the co-eternal Faustus, have al- 
most precluded all variety.. A’ Mr. Wil- 
liams indeed has been presented to us' as a 
substitute at once for Munden and Terry ; 
and if stamping and blustering about, with 
a Gog-Magog stare and distortion of fea- 
tures, were all that were requisite for a 
double of the one—and scratching the head 
occasionally, and stroking up the nose be- 
tween the thumb and the ball of the hand 
were the only excellencies of the other—the 
likenesses might be said to be monstrously 
successful. 
Vanbrugh’s Confederacy has heen re- 
vived; and, with the exception of Penley’s 
Dick, and Mr. Williams’s Gripe, well and 
even highly acted throughout. Mrs. Da- 
vison’s Jlippante is by far the very best 
piece of acting we ever witnessed even from 
her. But, to the credit of the public, the 
morality of the piece does not seem to have 
rendered it very attractive. A light opera- 
tical drama, called the Wedding Present, has 
been presented, which, upon the whole, was 
deservedly successful. 
The Haymarket closed its summer season 
on the 15th of November—as a parallel phe- 
nomenon to the closing of the winter seasons 
of the larger theatres in July. Mr. Liston 
has transferred his comic phiz to Drury 
Lane. 
——— 
NEW MUSIC. 
A Selection of Original Spanish Melodies, 
arranged, with Accompaniments and Sym- 
phonies, by W. West. The Poetry by the 
Right Hon. Lord Nugent. No.1; 12s. 6d. 
Evans.—“ Ne sutor,” &c. We would 
really, as friends, recommend Mr. West to 
adhere to the histrionie profession, and 
leave that of music to the hundreds in the 
metropolis who know something of the 
art. But if he will be a composer, let 
him, in the name of mercy, confine himself 
to a simple melody, and avoid all arranging 
and harmonizing, as a task to which, above 
all others, he is most incompetent. We 
do pity the unfortunate airs to be so mas- 
sacred, and the still more unfortunate 
poetry, which really was worthy of a better 
fate. So long as Mr. W. confined himself 
to a little ballad, we overlooked his’ de- 
ficiencies in the seience, and gave’‘him 
credit for a pretty taste as far as mere’ me- 
lody is concerned; but when ‘he: cOmes 
upon us by wholesale, six at a time, and 
that professing to be only the first part of 
the first volume, mortal patience cannot 
endure it. rTl,??' | Bibs 
_The Melodies are.all tolerably’pleasing, 
two of them highly so; and, with thé as- 
>sistance 
