456 Exhibition of Painters in Oil and Water Colours. Left me undone me! Oh that I could hate him! Where shall I go? Oh whither, whither wander? Venice Preserved, act iii, scene 1. In the distance the celebrated Rialto, which, with the other accessories, clearly defines the scene, is well introduced and excellently painted. This is the picture, we believe, announced by us a short time since as having been painted for the house of Boydell and Co. for publication, and it is as creditable to their liberality, as to the artist's well known and long appreciated merits. Mr. WIL's View at the East End of Lincoln Cathedral, with the Monuments of Wymbish, Cantalupe, Burgeish, and Flemming, No. 30 is in oils; a style we do not remember to have seen this artist use before; yet it has every appearance of ease, and of a practised pencil. In its drawing it is as correct as mathematical precision could make it, and in colouring nothing can be more faithful; while the choice of the station causes the interesting monuments of Wmybish, Cantalupe, Burgeish, and Flemming, to groupe in a very picturesque manner. The picture, on the whole, entitles Mr. Wild to no small fame as an able architectural painter. ron, Nos. 55, 36, & 37, by li. Corbould, are tasteful compositions from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and the Giaour, by Lord Byand Rokeby, by Walter Scott.-40, is The Confessional in Norwich Cathedral, by MACKENZIE.-51, is a View in Teu kes bury Abbey-and 52, a View at Bath, in water colours, by WILD.-58, A View in Oxford Cathedral, by the same artist, possessing in a high degree those indispensable requisites in architectural and antiquarian subjects, fidelity and correctness, with an excellent effect of light and shade.--69, 70, and 71, are Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire; Snowdon, from Capel Cerrig, North Wales; and Valle Crucis Abbey, near Llangollen, North Wales; by J. VARLEY. No. 75 is a Model of a Monument to the Memory of Mary Ann Johnes, who died in the bloom of youth, after a few days illness. She was the only child of Thomas and Jane Johnes, who are represented attending her in her dying moments. The marble groupe from this model, which may be seen at Mr. Chantrcy's, 13, Ecclestone-street, Pimlico, will be placed in the Church of Hafod, Cardiganshire. F. L. CHANTREY.-This simple, unaffected, pathetic composition, [June 1, embraces all that is possible in the art, without attempting those flights of allegory that disgraced the sculptors of a century ago. A mother and father are ceiving the last sigh, of a beauteous, an represented holding the hands, and reaffectionate, an accomplished, an only child, stretched in the full-blown bleon of youth on the couch of death. Her pursuits are indicated by her pallet and pencils, and her roll of music, lying ne glected by her side, with "Angels, ever bright and fair, Take, oh take me to your care!" A less skilful artist than Mr. Chantrey appropriately inscribed on the latter.-would have had allegories and personfication without end: here would have stood a woman, called in a written description Painting; there would have stood another named Music; instead of the pathos of the father and mother, which are here truly heart-rending, we might have had a lady standing, holding a pot of plants, touching one, and called in the written paper Sensibility. Mr. Chantrey has avoided all this, and has succeeded in producing a work that will stamp celebrity on his name. 87, Ulleswater: Stormy Sun-set: J. GLOVER. Mr. Glover has in this charming picture given by his stormy effect an appropriate and poetical character to this romantic view.-112, Durham Cnthedral, G. F. ROBSON; a well chosen, novel, and picturesque disposition of this venerable cathedral, and beautiful site and vicinity; as is 124, another View of Durham, and 125, Bishop Auckland, by the same artist.--128, Walnut gathering at Petersham, near Richmond, Surrey,W. HAVELL, is a novel, striking, admirably brilliant sunny effect, cast with as much truth as skill, on one of the finest close views in England. The busy effect of the figures, the lively character of the cock and his groupe of hens scratching among the leaves, following their wellknown benefactors- the faithfulness with which the characters of the trees are preserved, the singular beauty of the aerial perspective, and the novel management of the whole-render this one of the most interesting and admirably painted landscapes of the British school. Sorry are we to find that, for some unexplained reason, this excellent work was returned on the artist's hands, as unfit for exhibition at the last exhibition of the British Institution. We shall resume our remarks on this exhibition in our next. 1815.] Exhibition of Pictures of the Flemish and Dutch Schools EXHIBITION OF PICTURES BY RUBENS, SCHOOLS, with which the Proprietors The exhibition here presented to the student, the connoisseur, and the public in general, is perhaps the richest and most valuable of its schools ever displayed in one collection. It consists of the choicest subjects of the Dutch and Flemish schools, selected with great taste and knowledge from the collections of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, the Dukes of Marlborough, Bedford, and Grafton, Dowager Duchess of Buccleugh, the Marquisses of Stafford and Camden,the Marchioness of Thomond,the Earls of Egremont, Darnley, Mulgrave, Aberdeen, Grosvenor, Ilchester, Ashburnham, Carlisle, Harrington, Jersey, Liverpool, Upper Ossory, Cowper, and Fitzwilliam; Visc. Palmerston; Lords Dundas, De Dunstanville, and George Cavendish: Ladies Lucas and Stuart; the Right Hon. Charles Long, Sir Abraham Hume, Sir W. W. Wynne, Sir Geo. Beaumont, Sir Sim. Clark, bart. Hon. A. Phipps, Dulwich College, Rev. W. H. Carr, A. Champenowne, J. Graves, J. J. Angerstein, C. Duncombe, M. P. Jeremiah Harman, John Knight, George Hayter, W. Smith, M.P. R. P. Knight, II. P. Hope, G. Hibbert, John Graves, John Deal, J. F. Tuffeu, W. Smith, M.P. R. H. Davies, M.P. P. Metcalfe and J. Thompson, Fsqrs. and Mrs. Arnold. The list of premiums for the current year, the admirable preface of the Directors, and a brief notice of the collection itself, are deferred till the next inonth. INTELLIGENCE. It is with the greatest satisfaction that we inform our readers that Mr. HAYDEN's celebrated picture of the Judg. Tent of Solomon is again arrived in London, where it is to be exhibited for a short time, by permission of its liberal and munificent owners, Sir WM. ELLFORD, Bart., and G: II. TINGCOMBE, Esq. previous to its final deposition in the Town Hall at Plymouth, the birth-place 457 of the painter, to the corporation of which they have with almost unexampled liberality presented it. This is the first example of the kind since the time of that Mecenas of the Fine Arts, the late Alderman BOYDELL, but we trust it will have many followers. It has just opened to the public at the Athenæum rooms, No. 3, Princes-street, Leicester-square.--For an account of this picture, see our Magazine for July last, vol. 1, p. 560. Mr. MACDONALD, of the Poet's Gallery, Flect-strect, has issued proposals for publishing by subscription, a View ia Hyde Park, representing His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, accompa nied by their Majesties the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia, Marshal Blucher, the Hetman Platoff, and several distinguished foreign and British Officers, after the Review on the 20th of June, 1814. To be engraved from an original picture painted by Mr. Alex. Sauerweid, now on view at the exhibition of water-colour drawings, at the Great Room, Spring Gardens. The size of the print will be 50 inches by 19. The portraits are to be engraved by Mr. Scriven, whose abilities we have often had occasion to extol; the figures and landscape are etched by Mr. Sauerweid himself, which we may safely pronounce, from close inspection, as a very artistlike effort of the needle-and it will be aquatinted by Mr. J. Hill. The dran ing may be seen at the Spring Garden Exhibition, and the etching at Mr. Macdonald's, where copies of the prospectus may be had. The Anniversary of the Artists' Fund for the general Relief of Distressed Artists, their Widows and Orphans, took place on the 17th inst. at the Albion Hotel, Aldersgate-street. His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent was in the chair, supported by his royal brother of Sussex, between whom was the venerable Presi dent of the Royal Academy.—" So should desert in" art" be crowned.' It reminds one of Lionardi da Vinci and his illustrious imperial patron and supporter. It may be necessary, to prevent confusion, to add, that there is another laudable Artists' Fund, whose anniversary has just passed, but whose charitable aid is confined, like a benefit society, to its own members only. [ 458 } DRAMATIC REGISTER. [WE have the satisfaction of informing the large portion of our readers whom we know to attach importance to this department of our work, that we have been fortunate enough to engage the assistance of a gentleman particularly qualified by his pursuits to do justice to the subject of the drama. We deem it our duty to give this pointed notice of the circumstance, lest any occasional deviation from opinions previously expressed should be considered as inconsistencies in the writer.] DRURY LANE THEATRE.-April 22, a new tragedy, called Ina, the production of a lady, was performed at this theatre. As it is understood to be withdrawn from the stage, it is needless to occupy our space with a detail of the plot. The scene was laid in England during the Ileptarchy. The construction of the plot was calculated to excite but a feeble interest; in consequence of which, and the unskilful management of Mrs. Glover's part (Edelfrida), considerable disapprobation was shewn during the latter scenes, and the close became quite inaudible. Tenderness to the sex of the writer, an absence of any thing offensive, and the uniform chasteness and occasional elegance of the language of this piece, would, we doubt not, have procured it at least a favourable hearing, and probably a short-lived success, but for the total want of any thing in the character allotted to Mr. Kean (Egbert) to call forth his singular aud various powers. A most anxious though indéfinite interest had been excited in the audience to see this actor in a character of which they could anticipate nothing; and when the expectation thus raised ended in blank disappointment, they were not likely to be in a very indulgent humour.-In the present state of the public habits (we will not say taste) with respect to the drama, we despair of ever secing a legitimate tragedy produced: and yet it would be difficult to point out an era in our literary history so rich in the talents necessary for a work of this kind as the present one, with the single exception of the era of Elizabeth. But the poets to whom we allude disdain, and it is fit they should disdain, those arts of which he must be a master who would at present court popular success in the serious drama. What poet, worthily so called, will quit the fancy-pcopled world of hills and streams, and green fields and blue skies, for the (to [June 1, him) solitude of towns and cities-will hazard debasing his mind, blunting his sensibilities, and unhumanizing his heart, behind the scenes of a theatre? Yet this he must do who would write a tragedy that shall have a chance of success on the stage. There is a female now living who possesses talents for dramatic poetry superior to any other of her sex that we could name, of any age or country. All her studies, too, have had a reference to the one object of producing acting dramas: it has been her chief ambition-a most mistaken one, we think; yet she has failed in every instance, simply because she has too much genius to catch the paltry details that are neces sary to be used and avoided in order to please, or rather not to displease, a modern audience. We speak of Miss JoANNA BAILLIE. We hope she has before this seen the mischief of persisting in so vain an attempt. Had she the genius of Shakspeare she would inevitably fail: while it is equally lamentable, that Pizarros, Foundlings of the Forest, and such like monstrous productions, without a single developement of human cha racter, without a single burst of passion, yet meet with unmingled success, by dint of what their authors call " fect;" which, being interpreted, signifies stage efthe " ait or mystery" of placing the senses in a state of unnatural, and therefore mischievous, excitement; and of inordinately administering to that idlest of all our mental propensities, mere curiosity. This " art or mystery" of playmaking is only to be learned, like bookmaking, shoe-making, and others of the same kind, by a seven years' apprenticeship; and while it requires just as little peculiar talent, is much less, respectable than most other trades, because its end is highly pernicious. Our limits oblige us to quit this subject abruptly: we shall take the first opportunity of returning to it. On Saturday, April 28, Mr. Kean appeared in the character of Penruddock. This character is very skilfully drawn. We see here a noble mind, driven from the world by the most complicated suf ferings, and living for twenty years in the retirement (some call it the solitude) of books, nature, and his own heartThese are dangerous companions for weakness or wickedness brooding over injuries and revenge: but to a noble na ture, they furnish at once the indemnity and the cure. Accordingly we find in Penruddock a heart overflowing with benevolence to every living being-a mind whose very exaltation has humbled it, till he does not disdain to think of "the poor cat, his peaceable companion." If revenge sometimes continues to intrude upon his thoughts, it never enters his heart; it is no longer a pas sion, but a habit. If, in the bitterness of remembrance, he sometimes seeks shelter beneath the language of misanthropy, it is only the misanthropy of the lips. Little extent or variety of powers, either moral or physical, can be called forth in the performance of this character. It requires, however, much delicacy of feeling, and the rare faculty of expressing simple pathos. This faculty Mr. Kean possesses in a degree to which no other actor of the present day makes any approach. His performance was the perfection of truth and nature: there was nothing to be dazzled with-nothing to wonder at-shall we say, nothing to admire? It excited no inclination to clap one's hands, and to make exclamations-(we speak for ourselves): but when delight gave us leave to inquire into our feelings, we found them written on our face in the mixed language of tears and smiles. The novelties in the detail of the performance were, the sudden transition from the peaceful sleep of the passions, to the eager and hurried confusion into which they appeared to be for a moment thrown, on being unexpectedly awakened with the news that "Woodville was in his power." The silent gaze, too, of affectionate eagerness with which Penruddock traced the features of the mother in those of the son, was equally new and beautiful; and also the self-approving smile with which he dismissed "the last bad passion from his heast," on going out to Woodville. We must not, however, in justice forget to notice another novelty, which was, that Mr. Kean gave no particular expression whatever to the words-" Henry wanted a wife--a wife wanted a settlementand I stood in need of neither." This oversight (for we suppose it was such) was the more remarkable, because his predecessor in the part gives singular beauty and effect to these words, parti cularly the latter ones. In our delight at the rest of the performance, we did not observe this omission, till it was pointed out by a critic, who at the same time says, that the defect of Mr. Kean's performance was a want of keeping." 459 If we had studied to think of the last defect that could have been charged upon it, we should have fixed upon this: and yet the critic who makes this objection, appears to appreciate the performance justly in other respects. Mrs. Davison played Emily Tempest delightfully.-Mr. Dowton is the most natural of actors; but in the Governor, we could not help thinking him rather too much so. People, to be sure, do sometimes forget what they are going to say; but to do this on the stage, is something too natural.-Penruddock was followed by Ways and Means, in which Mr. Bartley played Sir David Dunder. This was the first opportunity we have had of seeing him; and from what we could judge of him in a part so little adapted to call forth powers of any value, we have formed a very favourable opinion of his comic talents. We shall endeavour, in our next, to give them the attention they deserve. Richard the Second has been several times repeated at this theatre. A certain kind of persons, who are willing enough to bestow their praise, but who do not chuse it should be snatched from them, allow that Mr. Kean is " a very clever young man," but deny him the genius which his real admirers claim for him. If you were to ask this sort of people their opinion of Shakspeare, they would fall into all kinds of raptures, and overwhelm you with epithets and exclamations. “Oh, the divine poet! Oh, the immortal bard!" and so on. This is all you would be able to get from them ; and yet, had they happened to have lived at the time he wrote, their admiration would have been of the most deliberate kind; or if it had ever reached as far as wonder, would have been qualified by a "considering his defective education, and his limited means of observation." These are the persons who turn to the spectator before they dare admire Milton. Mr. Kean furnishes a triumphant answer to his lukewarm panegyrists, and a full justification of his most enthusiastic ones, in his performance of Richard II: it is as much the creation of a poetical mind as the Puck or the Caliban are. When he was announced for the character, we were at a loss to conjecture what could have induced the selcotion of it. In the Richard II. of Shakspeare, we could discern nothing but the fretful strugglings of weakness against necessity-the querulous impatience of a spoilt child reluctantly yielding up its playthings to resistless force; a being whom fortune had made a king, but whom nature had intended" to carry burthens." Mental imbecility may be traced through, all his words and actions: in his suspicions, and banishment of BoJingbroke-in his superstitious pratings about the "divine right" of kings-in his momentary fluctuations between in temperate hope and abject despair. How were we surprised then to find, in the Richard II. of Mr. Kean, a vigorous and elevated mind, struggling indeed against necessity, but struggling like a king; yielding to resistless force, but yielding like a philosopher; greater beyond comparison in his dungeon than Bolingbroke on his throne! The modern stage has exhibited nothing of temperate dignity equal to the speech in which Richard compares his return to that of the sun; or the one in which he apostrophises his name- Arin, arm, my name! &c."-nothing of majestical anger equal to his rebuke of Northumberland on "the deposing of a king."thing of deep and exquisite pathos, approaching to the look and action accoinpanying the words, “ My eyes are full of tears," when he tries to read the charges against him. It has been the fashion of late to discover some mysterious connection between dignity and five feet ten inches in height. We hope to hear no more of this, after Mr. Keanu's per formance of this character "Mind! mind alone -10 The living fountains in itself contains We have said that Mr. Kean's Richard II. is totally different from Shakspeare's. It will be asked,do we admit that au actor can, in any case, deserve praise for thus departing from his author? We answer, as a general principle, certainly not, especially when that author is Shakspeare. We regard the present as one of those beautiful faults which nothing but transcendant genius can sanction, and fortunately, nothing but transcendant gemias can commit. COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.---The Masque of Comus has been revived at this theatre with a splendor of decoration thought of when its characters were performed by lords and ladies. The Comus is precisely such a work as might have been expected from the genius of Milton, at an age when the external forms of nature were bursting upon him in all the beauty of newness, and when abstract virtue was glowing before his almost super-human mind, in the unearthly brightices with which an imagi [June 1, nation like his would invest her. Accordingly staid and sober critics find that the language of this poem is much too luxuriant in its beauties for common ears; that its morality is much too enthusiastically pure for common use. Perhaps they are afraid the one should give young gentlemen a distaste to the talk of daily life, and the other induce young ladies to wander about in woods of a might, depending on their chastity for protection. If a wish of ours could have confined to the closet this beautiful dawn. ing of Milton's glorious day, it should never have revisited the theatre: the fancy is unable to realize the delicious freshness of its scenery amidst the glare of stage lamps, and the glitter of cat. glass chandeliers; the rich and deep, and endless harmony of its language, is worse than lost in the mouths of singing actors, and simpering actresses: and, above all, we could have wished to preserve the almost sacred name of its author from the censures, or, what is still worse, the applauses of galleries and dress-boxes. Setting aside these feelings, in which perhaps few will participate, the piece is got up with considerable taste and splendor. The scene in which the lady is confined in the chair by the spells of Comus, is beautiful. Mr. Conway, however he might look, talked like anybody rather than the son of Bacchus and Circe; he gave the pleasurepersuading words of the gay enchanter with as grave a face, and as deliberate an air, as if he had been dealing out 66 wise saws." We are sadly afraid this actor will belye the good opinion we were once inclined to form of him. We thought his faults, and he has a great many, were those of habit, and that we could discover some natural good qual ties hid underneath them; but his faults grow upon him, and his good qualities become more hid in proportion. Without meaning to find fault with any, we cannot help confessing, that of all the scores of performers employed in this piece, the only one we could consent to trust with the words of Milton and the music of Arne, is Miss Stephens: she sung the beautiful melody of “ On every bill, &c." with the greatest possible etfect; that is to say, with the greatest possible simplicity. The notes appearto drop from her lips, with a reluctant and inclancholy sweetness truly delightful: the refined barbarisms of modera science can produce nothing like it.Braham, with the perfection of his skill, astonishes us; Catalani, with the wou |