Liverpool. Loose o'er her arm her mantle flies, To cut the branch of Flame † she hies, The Saxon King or Cathlien Nolan! WHAT IS LIFE? Love, thou sportive wanton boy, For ever sought but rarely found. A rose that blossoms for an hour, Laughing, weeping, doting, changing, That bids the scene of sorrow end. S****** ↑ In the language of prose 'firewood.' ib. ‡ The King of Eng[and is still called by the common Irish Riagh Sasseanach.' ib. THE LONDON THEATRES. DRURY LANE Opened on Thursday, the 17th of September. The following are the principal members of the company. Mr. Wroughton continues the acting manager, and Mr. Shaw leader of the band. The names distinguished by Italics are new engagements.-We believe the only performers of last season who do not resume their situations are Mr. Cherry and Mr. Bartley; the former is discharged, we presume, on account of his sterling merit as a comedian, and the latter because he has been the most useful and attentive performer the theatre has possessed for many years. Mrs. Whitlock, who appeared in Elwina, is not, as we understand, at present engaged. SEPT. 17. Country Girl. Belville, Mr. Holland; Peggy, Mrs. Jordan; (their first appearance these two seasons.) Weathercock. Old Fickle, Mr. Wewitzer. 19. West Indian. Stockwell, Mr. Eyre; Louisa Dudley, Miss Boyce. No Song no Supper. Poor Soldier. Patrick, (first appearance on any stage) a young Lady; Father Luke, Mr. Palmer. 24. 26. 29. ост. Adelgitha-Poor Soldier. Love for Love-Doctor and Apothecary. Pizarro. Alonzo, (first appearance here,) a Gentleman. 1. School for Scandal-A House to be sold. 3. 5. Honeymoon. Count Moutalban, Mr. Holland. Deserter. 6. [Not acted for twenty years,] Percy. Percy, Mr. Elliston Douglas, Mr. H. Siddons; Raby, Mr. Eyre; Edric, Mr. Holland; Harcourt, Mr. Miller; Elwina, (first appearance,) Mrs. Whitlock; Bertha, Miss Boyce. Poor Soldier. 8. So dier's Daughter. Ferret, Mr. Eyre. Forty Thieves. Ab dallah, Mr. Ray. 10. Love in a Village. Justice Wood cock, Mr. Dowton; Hodge, (first appearance here,) Mr. Smith; Rosetta, a young Lady, (her first appearance on any stage.) Wedding Day. Sir Adam Contest, Mr. Mathews; Mr. Contest, Mr. Ray. 12. George Barnwell-Forty Thieves. 13. Love in a Village-The Liar. 15. Provoked Husband-Forty Thieves. 17. Love in a Village-Mock Doctor. 19. Romeo and Juliet. Mercutio, Mr. Elliston. Forty Thieves. 20. All in the wrong. Soldier. 21. Love in a Village. Putnam. 22. School for Friends. Lady Restless, Miss Duncan. Poor Irishman in London. Colloony, Mr. Forty Thieves. 4. Honeymoon. Three weeks after Marriage. 26. West Indian. Stockwell, Mr. Powell. Forty Thieves. Mrs. Jordan delighted every admirer of comic excellence by her re-appearance in the Country Girl, after an absence of an entire sea son. Her engagement, it is said, is for three years. Mr. Holland also was warmly greeted on his return to the boards. This gentleman was engaged last season by Kemble for Covent Garden, with a promise of high notice and preferment-but did he keep his word? -Yes; he immediately put his name in the bills for a character trifling in itself, and for which the actor was unfit! Mr. Holland, not feeling that his ambition was likely to be gratified by this retrograde, though, no doubt, very friendly promotion, instantly withdrew his name; and we are now very glad to see him returned to his old quarters. He is a very respectable actor, and a gentleman. The lady who appeared in Patrick on the 22d, is Mrs Da Ponte, a pupil of Mr. Corri, whose voice resembles the late Mrs. Kennedy's. She has played the character four times. The Alonzo (Sept. 29th,) is a Mr. Putnam, from the Dublin stage, a gentleman of respectable talents, whose exertions were greatly and deservedly applauded. Being absent from London, we could not witness the performance of Mrs. Whitlock, but we learn that she possesses, in common with the rest of her family, a good understanding, great knowledge of the stage, an expressive countenance, and more than a family portion of sensibility; but that her voice wants the requisite power for this large theatre, that her figure is not striking, and that the character selected on this occasion was neither favourable to her person, nor her capabilities. Mrs. Whitlock, soon after the brilliant second debut of Mrs. Siddons at Drury Lane, made her appearance in Portia, in the Merchant of Venice; this was in February, 1783; she afterwards performed Alicia, but her success was not adequate to her expectation. After her marriage with Mr. Whitlock, who managed some respectable provincial theatres, she played for several years in the country. When Mrs. Stephen Kemble quitted the Haymarket, her sister-in-law was engaged in her room, and performed there one season, viz. in 1792. We remember to have seen her in Queen Margaret in the Battle of Hexham, and Julia in the Surrender of Calais, and we received considerable delight from the judgment and animation which she then displayed. Since that period she has been in America, where she was a distinguished favourite; and has only been a few months returned from that country. Miss LYON appeared on the 10th of October in Rosetta, the airs of which she gave most delightfully. She promises to be one of the most accomplished vocal performers on the English stage; and, indeed, as she is, after Mrs. Billington, Mrs. Dickons, and Mrs. Mountain, there is no female at present on our boards, in this department of singing, to be named with her. Her voice is soft, clear, and melodious, correct in its modulations, and, though not remarkable for its power, sufficiently full, and capable of sustaining great exertion. The upper range of her voice is very extensive, and her execution surprizing-with more of science, a little theatrical practice, and better taste in her cadences, she will be a vast acquisition to the English opera. Her figure deportment, and general manner, are highly pleasing; and she is also far from an indifferent actress. Upon the whole the debut was uncommonly brilliant. She is a pupil of Corri, and the daughter of Mr. Lyon, an instrumental performer of some celebrity. Mr. Smith appeared on the same evening in Hodge. This gentleman has been long a favourite, very deservedly, at Sadler's Wells, where in the rustic characters he displayed considerable humour. He has a good bass voice, which he manages with taste, and seems perfectly conversant with the business of the stage. He was much applauded. Dowton's Justice Woodcock is a very rich and exquisite piece of acting. Before the publication of this Number, Mr. Henry Siddons's Comedy will have appeared under the title of Time's a Tell-tale. The Fortune-teller, with the music of Mr. Reeve, waits only for Mr. Bannister's recovery. Braham is announced for the Travellers. COVENT GARDEN. Commenced its Season on Monday the 14th of September. Mr. Kemble is the Acting Manager. Mr. W. Ware, Leader of the Band. The new performers in the above list appear in the place of Mrs. Glover, the best comic actress of her time in the fine ladies; Mr. Melvin; Mr. and Mrs. Beverley; Mrs. Smith, Miss Logan, and Miss Taylor. Mrs. H. Johnston has been engaged, but her appear. ance, for sundry weighty reasons, is deferred. If in the lists of the two companies there should be any material omissions, we will willingly, on proper intimation, supply them. COVENT GARDEN. SEPT. 14. Romeo and Juliet-Poor Soldier Kathlane, Miss Meadows. 16. Beggar's Opera-Raising the Wind. Peggy (1st app. here) Miss De Camp. |