1829.] Course ajid probable Termination of the Niger. 189 



been strange, if so remarkable a feature had existed, that it should not 

 have left a single trace behind it." — p. 226, Edin. Review, No. xcv. 



In conclusion, we have only to add, that though we are by no means 

 satisfied with the General's deductions — inasmuch as no man living can 

 be positive that Sir R. is not reasoning altogether from false premises ; 

 we nevertheless think highly of his work as a literary production. His 

 treatise on the Digamma of the Greek, would alone entitle it to the 

 earnest attention of the literati of Europe. 



THEATRICAL MATTERS. 



The summer theatres have now the world to themselves : and though 

 Brighton, and Dover, Boulogne, and the Land's End, fascinate our thousands 

 and tens of thousands, with the delights of dear lodgings and cheap saU water, 

 the million are left in their strong hold, London ; broiling, but alive, destitute 

 of a cool hour, or a breath to draw, but still vivid enough to' sit for three 

 hours in a theatre, and yet come out undissolved. 



But we fear the Haymarket, once the favourite of pleasantry and the peo- 

 ple, has at present as little of the presence of the one as of the other. The elite 

 of the old company have disappeared, and, so far as we can tell, Liston 

 and Farren alone sustain the former honours of the drama. Farren is always 

 clever; but all the world is not made up of old men, and Liston, after a 

 third of the season having been struggled over without him, is engaged only 

 for a " certain number of nights," a declaj-ation ominous to the lovers 

 of farce in its best style. The heroine is Miss F. Kelly, a clever person, 

 but certainly not fit for the whole round of the captivating. Miss Kelly's 

 voice is as formidable a drawback on her tenderness, as Macready's, and we 

 have seen enough of that actor to be not too much delighted with any 

 thing that resembles his eternal mannerism. The usual rapidity of produc- 

 tion has not less failed the Haymarket this season, and we have heard of 

 no performance but " Manoevivring," an ingenious translation from the French, 

 which is played as the relief from such novelties as " Speed the Plough," 

 " Know your own Mint?," &c. : none of them we believe much more than 

 from fifty to a hundred years of age. To make the matter more disastrously 

 complete, new plans have been adopted with respect to the admission to 

 the theatre, which, without bringing an additional shilling to its funds, will 

 have the effect of alienating a considerable number of its most effective 

 friends. But this kind of prudence is not always the way to profit, 

 as the proprietors of the Haymarket have probably discovered to a pretty 

 large extent, even at this period of the season. Nothing can be more 

 childish than to suppose that free-lists and the usual privileges, which have 

 long become customary civilities to men of literary distinction, are any 

 actual deduction fi-om the emoluments of theatres — quite the contrary. 

 Those individuals, perhaps, do not enter a theatre half a dozen nights in a 

 season, but their opinion has a weight in their various circles well worth 

 ten times such privilege ; and though it would be perfectly idle and oflTensive 

 to presume that they can care about such attentions, yet their interest in 

 the prosperity of an establishment is not likely to be made much more ardent 

 by finding a system of pettiness and alienation the order of the day. 



The P^nglish Opera-House has offered a striking contrast, in every sense 

 of the word, to its former rival. A liberal and intelligent management, a 

 capital company, and a rapid succession of performances, have produced their 

 natural consequence, — a very remarkable popularity. The chief novelty of 

 the season has been an opera by Ries, a distinguished pianoforte i)layer, who 

 was in this country a few years since, and having gleaned his portion ot that 

 golden crop, which springs in England for all artistcn , hom IVter Paul 

 Bubens down to Punch, withdrew to enjoy life and cultivate! his abilities 



