atre, by which means the property and interest of it had decreased, for want of an active person at its head. It was alleged, that the defendant had entered into a treaty with Mr Harris, proprietor of the late Covent Garden Theatre, to dispose of to him his play of the Africans, for 1000l., although he might have had 11001. from the proprietors of the Haymarket Theatre; and also, that he had stopped the performance of a popular piece, called the Critic, which they had played for three nights last season to overflowing houses. Sir Samuel Romilly contended, that these were sufficient grounds for the dismissal of the defendant from the management.

Mr Hart, counsel for the defendant, stated, that, by a deed of agreement, all differences were to be settled by arbitration-none had taken place, and until there had, the court had no cognizance. He admitted the Africans had been offered to Mr Harris for 10001.; but that sum was more advantageous to Mr Colman than 11001. from his own theatre, of which 5501. would have come out of his own pocket. As to the Critic, he prevented its performance to oblige Mr Sheridan, who had signified his displeasure on the occasion. It was further contended, that the value of the property had increased, the shares, which, in 1805, brought 25001., being estimated in 1807 at 5000l. The circumstance of the defendant's confinement could be no ground for his dismissal; being in the Bench, he was sure to be found at home. In the case of Mr Taylor, the manager of the Opera House, who had attachments and outlawries against him, the interest of the concern was proved not to have suffered by neglect, and so the learned counsel

ар

The Lord Chancellor took a few days to consider the difficulties of the case, before he gave judgement; and on the 22d of April, his lordship or dered the case to stand over till the 4th of May, to afford the parties as opportunity to settle the business amicably. On that day, Sir Samuel Romilly informed the court, that the parties could not agree in the pointment of arbitrators. Mr Craw ford, the barrister, was chosen by the plaintiffs, and Mr Harris, the manager, by the defendant, and mutually objected to. The Lord Chancellor concurred in the opinion, that Mr Harris was a very unfit person for a arbitration in such a case, and said he should take till the 8th of May to come to his decision, which he felt confident would be disagreeable to all the parties. Mr Hart" My Lord, it will not be necessary, as we will appoint another arbitrator without giving your lordship the trouble of interfering." Lord Guildford was accordingly appointed, and his lord. ship and Mr Crawford not agreeing, a further application was made to the Chancellor on the 6th of June, on be half of Mr Morris. The application complained that Mr Colman had interfered in the treasurership, contrarily to his contract, and had engaged per formers, not only without the co sent, but in defiance of Mr Morris In answer, it was stated, that Mr Col man received the money, merely to enable him to perform his engage ment with the public, and that, if ha partner was ready to receive it, he had no objection. It was replied, that Mr Morris would, by such act, acquiesce in the engagements of which he disapproved. On the 15th of June, the Lord Chancellor ordered

art out of all question: Her Jealous Wife is her chef d'œuvre.

On the 14th of June, the Critic was restored to its place on the stock list at this theatre. The great attraction of this dramatic olio is the Sir Fretful Plagiary of Mr Mathews, a piece of acting which is, beyond doubt, one of the chef d'œuvres of the stage. The "fretful temper" of the character, which "winces at every touch," is inimitably depicted by Mr Mathews's continual restlessness and eager examination of every look in the room, to see whether it makes for or against him; and nothing can be finer than the quickness with which he catches at every favourable spark, and turns round to fan it into a flame.

On the first of July was produced, from the pen of Mr Theodore Hook, a new farce, called Killing no Murder, the first representation of which excited an unusual interest, on account of its being known in the theatre, that Mr Larpent, the deputy-licenser, had refused to pass it, till it had received certain alterations. The title of the piece, Killing no Murder, at first led the public to believe, that the license was refused for political reasons; but it afterwards turned out that Mr Larpent's only objection to the piece was, that its second act was a "most indecent and shameful attack (we quote his words) on a very religious and harmless set of people, and was altogether an infamous persecution of the methodists, whom government did not wish to be ridiculed." The farce was easily altered; for nothing from Mr Theodore Hook's pen possesses so laborious a compactness and finish as to be injured by subsequent change; and it was found necessary to suppress only one scene,

which was afterwards published by the author with the rest of the farce. Thus purged, the farce made its ap pearance on the stage; and is cer tainly the liveliest offspring of Mr Hook's giddy muse.

On the 10th of July was produ ced one of Mr Dimond's " three-act plays," under the title of the Foundling of the Forest. Mr Dimond ha a pretty talent for working up dis mal stories into spectacles, and provi ding them with flowing words: he has now acquired a habit of producing one of these things regularly at the Hay-market, which, being a summer theatre, is ambitious of nvalling Astley's and the Circus. The Foundling of the Forest should have usurped no higher situation than that of a melo-drama. It is not without interest; but it proceeds upon the wrong principle of mistaking horror for terror, and pain for pity. The character of Bertrand is like the exhibition of a man on the rack; this agonized wretch has taken an oat to commit murder, and suffers the most dreadful conflicts of conscience, whether he can more safely break a vow, or cut a throat. The piect, however, met with great success, and ran a long career with " Killing Murder."

On the 1st of August, a musica romance, called The Vintagers, produced from the pen of Mr Ey of the theatre. This piece ranks M Eyre as an author about as high ( rather as low) as he stands in the scale of actors. The great blot t the drama is the clap-trapping Eng lish sailor, which, we are informed, wa heightened to suit the taste of its ac tor, Mr Farley, and against the bet ter judgment of Mr Eyre. The m sic was composed by Mr Bishop, *

rising harmonist of great merit; but, notwithstanding this advantage, the Vintagers was performed but four nights.

On the 7th of September, a little interlude in one act, called the Day after the Wedding, was acted for the first time at this theatre. It is taken from a French comedy, entitled La Femme Coleré, and was first produced by Mrs Charles Kemble for her benefit. The git of it is to shew how lovers in their courtship deceive each other, and discover their mistake only when the knot is tied, and it is too late. Lady Freelove, (Mrs Gibbs) who was all honey before the wedding, is converted by the ceremony into pure gall. Freelove, (Mr Jones) her husband, seeing this temper, which he had not before suspected, pretends to be ten times more irritable, by which feint, like Petruchio, he works the cure of his Katherine. The scene was well acted on both parts.

On the 15th of September, the theatre closed as usual, Mr Young performing the office of returning to the public the thanks of the proprietors, for a season, the profits of which were about 30001.

ENGLISH OPERA.

On the 26th of June, under a licence granted by the Lord Chamberlain, Mr Arnold opened for the summer the large theatre at the Lyceum in the Strand, for the representation of English operas, by which are understood every sort of opera performed at the regular theatres, without being reduced to the necessity, as is otherwise the case, of throwing the dialogue into recitative. Since the Drury-Lane company had quitted their house, on the 10th of June, Mr Arnold had greatly improved the interior of the theatre, by re-painting the box-fronts, by widening the avenues, and by turning the panorama of Saint Petersburgh, which used to be exhibited at the Lyceum, picture and all, into a saloon, illuminated by a brilliant chandelier, and covered by a balloon awning. The theatre opened with a new comic opera, written by the manager, called Up all Night, or the Smugglers' Cave, and Mr D'Egville's old ballet of Love in a Tub. The following dramatis persone will give an idea of the strength of the company, since the opera was so contrived as to bring them all into play:

Mr Dowton.
Mr Doyle.
Mr Marshall.

Mr Philipps.

Mr Horn.

Mr G. Smith.

SMessrs Fisher, Miller, and

Chatterley. Master Wallack.

Mrs Mountain.

Mrs Bishop (late Miss Lyon.) Mrs Orger.

We consider this opera, squared, as it necessarily was, to the capacities of the company, cut according to Mr Arnold's cloth, decidedly the best production of this author's pen. The action goes on smoothly, and the interest is supported throughout. The serious songs are tolerably written; and Mr Dowton's comic one is the production of Mr James Smith. The dialogue is not altogether destitute of humour; and if it does not possess any very great beauties, is at least free from glaring faults. The music of the piece is the production of Mr M. P. King; and, though seldom original, is always correct, and sometimes very pleasing. The vocal strength of the company was not mean; and considerable interest was given to the English Opera by the introduction to London of Mr Philipps, from Dublin, a singer of very mellifluous voice and scientific taste, who made himself popular, by the grace with which he sung a beautiful rondo in the piece, called "Sigh not for love." His cadences, however, are too servilely copied from Mr Braham. Mr Philipps is an actor of more spirit than most singers; and seems to plume himself not a little upon the accomplishment. Mr Horn is a singer of less pretensions; but he is a good musician, and is never heard with displeasure. The opera met with a success, which induced the manager not to interrupt its nightly run till the 22d of July, when a new opera, entitled the Russian Impostor, or the Siege of Smolensko, was produced. But the ballet of Love in a Tub had been first, on the 5th of July, exchanged for Mr Dibdin senior's burletta of Poor Vulcan, and, on the 20th, for a ballet, called the Nabob, or the Indian Lovers. The corps de ballet of this company con

sisted of Mr D'Egville, master, and his six female pupils, Monsieur Bourdin, Mademoiselle Lupino, and Mas ter Noble.

The opera of the Russian Impo tor is ascribed to the pen of Mr Henry Siddons. The plot of the piece is founded upon an historical fact which took place in the reign of Catherine II.; and we believe the drama to be immediately taken from a little French piece, called Le Faux Alexis. The opera was not without interest; and was got up in excellent Russian cos tume; but the music, which was by Mr Addison, was decidedly inferior to all former compositions of the English opera. The Russian Impos tor met with a good deal of success, but by no means an equal run with Up all Night.

On the 7th of August, the Den na was got up for the sake of nstoring, to a London audience, Mr Quick, the original Isaac Mendoza Upwards of sixty years of age, powers must necessarily be impaired and, though he occasionally elicited sparks of former genius, we do not consider his return to the stage a prudent step for his reputation Judging of Mr Quick's Isaac Men doza, as if it had been the perform ance of a novice, we should have call ed it a dry unamusing piece of acting, Mr Philipps' Carlos and Mrs Mour tain's Clara were excellent perform ances. Mr Philipps gave our fa vourite old airs with a chasteness and sweetness peculiar to himself, and we were glad to see him of the opinion, that good music is, when una. dorned, adorned the most."

On the 28th of August, Mr Theodore Hook produced a hasty opera called Safe and Sound, of which the story is founded on the severe edict of Frederick the Second against duel.