THE LONDON DRAMA. Regent's Park, London, to reappear as Richard, at Drury-Lane, on Monday the 31st, at fifty guineas per night; and when his engagement is over, will, we doubt not, go through the profitable farce of again taking leave, in emulous imitation of old Charles Incledon, who used to take leave annually. The two major of the minors, the Adelphi and the Olympic, are both flourishing; at the former, Mathews is to reappear in a most outré novelty, by Buckstone, entitled, "The King of the Alps and the Misanthrope," and at the latter, Madame continues to "plead guilty to the minor offence of uttering notes for her own benefit," to applauding crowds every evening. Both theatres are, indeed, what an Emerald Islander would call “fuller than they can hold" nightly. On Saturday next, the Queen's, formerly the Tottenham Street, is to be added to the number; and if the manager's promissory notes are to be relied upon, it will not only "deserve success," but "command it also." Peregrine Somerset. 66 ORIGINAL POETRY. THIS HOUR IS THINE. THE history of Professor Milman's tragedy of "Fazio" forms perhaps the strongest evidence that can be adduced of the absolute injustice of the present laws of theatrical copyright, as well as of that indescribable legal anomaly, which permits the theatres to represent any printed play, not only without the slightest benefit to its author, but absolutely against his wishes and consent. When this drama was, many years ago, first presented to DruryLane and Covent-Garden, it was returned from both, with the customary civil circular of refusal, and subsequently published by Murray, when it was immediately read, praised, and popular, and at once went through several large editions. More than one review then recommended it to the managers, who, however, still consistent in their first error, still declined taking their advice; until Mr T. Dibdin, the then proprietor of the Surrey Theatre, brought it out there, reduced to three acts-which, by the way, was a real improvement-under the title of the "Italian Wife," with a Mr Huntley and a Miss Taylor as Fazio and Bianca. Being both well got up and well acted, the piece had a run of success there, sufficient to attract the notice of the Bath managers, who then produced it, with the late Mr Conway and Miss Somerville, now Mrs Buon, in the principal characters; and the following season saw it at Covent-Garden, supported by Charles Kemble and Miss O'Neill. Thus tardily rendered as popular on the stage as it had long been in the library, it was next played all over the provinces ; has been again successfully revived at CoventGarden, with Fanny Kemble as the heroine; and, to complete the climax, is announced by Elliston, at the Surrey, under its old nom de théâtre of "The Italian Wife!" Thus then has Mr Milman suffered the manifest injustice of all these managers benefiting by the | The gather'd winds within their tents recline, representation of a play which they originally refused; but which, by being printed, was legally (or illegally?) at their mercy; and the profits arising from which he has no legal claim to participate. Amongst the other new theatrical enactments, it is to be hoped, however, that this will receive the Lord Chancellor's serious consideration, and that what is so palpably equity, will be made law as speedily as possible. After this very tedious prologue to our notice of Miss Kemble's Bianca, we must be brief in our criticism; which is of the less importance, from its being by far the most effective part she has yet attempted, and one which has more tended to remove the lingering scepticism, that she is not rapidly advancing to the highest rank in her profession, than any which has preceded it. The character of Bianca is, indeed, the only one of "mark or likeany lihood" in the tragedy; in her, all its deep and fearful interest solely centres; and, as at present represented, Fazio and Aldabella become more contemptible than even their author has represented them, when played by Warde and Mrs Chatterley, and placed in contrast with Miss Kemble. No talents could entirely redeem them, but in the present instance there was no attempt; and the crowded audiences which the play has drawn, and the intense and breathless interest which its scenes have constantly excited, are attributable to the heroine only, in which opinion all her critics have coincided. The pantomimes still continuing to draw excellent houses, no other novelty has been produced at either theatre; though Covent-Garden promises a new opera, to be called "The Romance of a Day," on Thursday next, and had another new piece read in the Green-Room on Friday; and Drury-Lane is to revive Colman the elder's "Jealous Wife," with a very strong cast, to-morrow. Kean, after levying his contributions on the public under the pretence of taking leave for ever, and uttering a great deal of commonplace nonsense on that interesting occasion, having thought better of it, is ARM, warrior, arm; the banner'd host advancing, Their chargers prancing, Sing, maiden, sing; the vine-clad hills are glowing, The bright rills flowing, Dream, mourner, dream; night-dews the flowers are The earth is sleeping, And heaven watch keeping, Dream, mourner, dream; this hour of peace is thine! LIFE AND DEATH. To live in cities,-and to join Borne like a leaf upon the stream,— Oh no, this is not life! To pass the calm and pleasant hours, That each to each can give, It is not death, when on the couch And the bloom of youth decay'd ; I AM TOO SAD TO SING TO-NIGHT. I AM too sad to sing to-night, But, oh sing thou to me; And let thy strain be soft and low, For music never fails to wake A thousand memories dear, That start to being 'neath its power, I cannot sing!-for I have sung And one, whose name I may not breathe, Whose soul was mingled with my own, And ever as my song arose My favourite mournful lays, The tears that dimm'd those lustrous eyes I cannot sing!-for time has brought I ne'er shall sing again! I can but weep!-sing thou to me I feel not as I felt before, GERTRUDE. LITERARY CHIT-CHAT AND VARIETIES. THERE will shortly appear, dedicated to Thomas Campbell, Esq. The Siege of Constantinople, a poem, in three cantos, by Nicholas Mitchell. We are glad to understand that Mr Kennedy's poem of The Arrow and the Rose, has already reached a second edition. Framlingham, a poem, in four cantos, by J. Bird, is announced. Colonel Bouchette is shortly to publish a Topographical and Statistical Description of the British Dominions in North America, including Observations on Land-granting and Emigration, with views, plans, &c. The Anti-Materialist, or a Manual for Youth, by the Rev. R. Warner, F.S.A., author of " Literary Recollections," is in the press. The forthcoming Number of the Quarterly Review will contain articles on the following subjects:-The Political Economists,➡➡ Southey's Lives of Uneducated Poets,-Dymond on the Principles of Morality,-Origin of the Homeric Poems,-Moore's Life of Byron, The Military and Mob of Paris,-Present State of the Country. There is preparing for publication, a volume of poems, by William Danby, Esq. of Guisborough. ROBERT LAUDER.We have much pleasure in observing that a prize of L.50 has been adjudged by the Common Council of Liverpool to our townsman, Mr Robert Lauder, for his painting of the "Bride of Lammermoor," being the best picture painted expressly for the Liverpool Exhibition. CHIT-CHAT FROM ABERDEEN.-The year 1830 has been, in many respects, an annus mirabilis to the good town of Aberdeen. During "the year that's awa," public works have been carried on with great spirit. Our harbour improvements and new water works have made rapid progress,-the engine-house at the Bridge of Dee, and the handsome granite cistern in Union Place, have been almost completed, the new Bridge of Don, and the Craiglug Suspension Bridge over the Dee, have been opened,-the elegant North Parish Church in King Street, and the Gothic South Parish Church in Belmont Street, have been erected,-a wing has been added to Gordon's Hospital, and an elegant façade and new entrance to the East and West Parish Churches have been commenced in Union Street. During the past year, too, the celebrated vocalist Braham, the Rainer Family of Tyrolese Minstrels, the "self-torturing sophist, wild Ducrow," and "the gentle Miss Jarman," have visited us in succession,-a new Member of Parliament has been elected for the Aberdeen and Montrose district of burghs,-day patrol have been established,-and Reformation, North American, and Temperance Societies instituted. Some fifty years ago, Aberdeen, like Edinburgh and Perth, possessed its Magazine, but of late periodical literature has not been in a flourishing condition among us; attempts, to be sure, have been made to revive it, in the Bec, the Censor, and the Northern Iris, but these soon vanished. An Aberdeen Magazine has, however, again appeared, under the publishing auspices of our spirited townsman, Mr Lewis Smith, which promises to do some. thing towards filling up the vacuum.-Miss Louisa Jarman, from the Edinburgh Professional Concerts, proposes giving instructions in singing during her residence in this city.-Deacon Alexander Wat son, tailor, died a few weeks ago; and it is perhaps not sufficiently known, that Mr Watson was the author of the celebrated Scotch songs entitled, "The kail brose of Auld Scotland," and "The wee wifiekie." The Deacon made the late Lord Byron's first pair of breeks, and, before his death, was heard to express his astonishment that no notice of this circumstance had been taken in the first vol. of Moore's Life of Byron.-During last week, the Aberdeen press has produced the under-mentioned publications :-1st, An Examination of "A Protestant's" Defence of the Rev. Mr Fraser, and the Doc trines of the Church of Rome, with remarks upon the Reformation Society, and an Appendix, containing the creed of Pope Pius IV., by a Member of the Reformation Society. 2d, A Discourse; the substance of which was preached in the West Church, on Sabbath, the 22d August, 1830, at the lecture instituted for inculcating the Duty of Man to the inferior creation, by the Rev. Abercromby L. Gordon, one of the ministers of Aberdeen. 3d, An Examination of the "Considerations on the Expediency of the Congregation of St Paul's Chapel in Aberdeen uniting themselves with the Episcopal Church in Scotland, by a Clergyman of the Church of England," with a few Remarks upon the Circular from Montrose, by one of the Managers of St Paul's Chapel. And, 4th, The sixth Number of the Aberdeen Independent, or Literary, Political, and Commercial Repository.— Two medical brochures are in the press, under the following titles: 1st, An Account of a Case of Popliteal and Inguinal Aneurism, in which the operation of tying the External Iliac Artery was performed in the Aberdeen Infirmary, under the direction, and by the assist ance, of Mr Liston of Edinburgh, the facile princeps of Northern Surgeons; also, extracts from certain Surgical Lectures, published in London, and from unpublished Lectures, delivered in Aberdeen: in order to show the similarity of views entertained by distinguished individuals in the profession, both north and south of the Tweed; by a Radical Reformer, not of the constitution, but of the Aberdeen Medical School. And, 2d, An Account of a late Election of a Sur. geon to the Infirmary of Aberdeen, in which satisfactory reasons will be given why the candidate, who had the majority of votes at one period of the canvass, declined to attempt to operate, and therefore withdrew from the contest; also extracts from certain Lectures on Physiology, or Institutes of Medicine, published in London, to show the exact similarity which exists between them, and Lectures on the same subject delivered in Aberdeen; by a Tory, not of the Constitution, but of the Aberdeen Medical School. [No. 116, January 29, 1831.] ADVERTISEMENTS, Connected with Literature, Science, and the Arts. THEATRE-ROYAL. CHIT-CHAT FROM DUNDEE.-Poor Bass continues to play to mi- THE Public is respectfully informed. that Mr serable houses. This, after all, is not to be wondered at, when it is considered that he has to contend with three rival establishments, (admission from one penny upwards,) which are supported by the real patrons of the drama here-the lower orders.-The 25th day of January-the natal day of our immortal Burns-has again passed over us without any meeting here in commemoration of the event. -A young artist of great promise has arisen amongst us. He is a native of Dundee, and was bred to the medical profession. His name is Mr William Alexander. His paintings are allowed to be excellent, and his likenesses very striking.. CHIT-CHAT FROM GLASGOW.-We can at least boast of one brilliant evening in Glasgow this season-that of Nicholson's and the Stockhausens' Concert. Our fine Assembly Room was crammed with six hundred people, comprising every thing that was lovely and fashionable in Glasgow. It was a treat in more ways than one, for the performers were each admirable in their own departments. They were much pressed to return, but exercised the rare virtue of selfdenial, although a large sum was guaranteed to them by Mr Alexander, if they would give a concert in the 1 heatre.-Henderson, one of our best portrait painters, has a collection of Scotch Proverbs in the press. He has been engaged in forming it for many years, and it will be unique. Theatrical Gossip.-It is said that a new Theatre is about to be WEEKLY LIST OF PERFORMANCES. Wild Oats, & High Life Below Stairs. SAT. FRI. TO OUR CORRESPONDENTS. THE Drama, entitled "The Lombard Bride," lies at the Publishers'.-The Book of Autographs will be returned in a day or two. Several articles with which we have been favoured this week must lie over for the consideration of the new dynasty :-among these are the communication from Dr Poole, and various poetical effusions, all of which are in safe custody, for, until its improvement becomes perceptible, we feel convinced that no change will take place in the intrinsic spirit of the Literary Journal, and we trust our numerous and valued correspondents will continue to leud, as heretofore, a helping hand in support of the only weekly literary periodical of Scotland, to secure for it, if possible, a still farther increase of that extensive popularity, which, with their aid, it at present enjoys. JONES'S BENEFIT, and LAST APPEARANCE, is ap pointed to be on MONDAY, January 31, 1831, When will be performed O'Keefe's favourite Comedy of OR THE STROLLING GENTLEMAN. Lady Amaranth by Miss Jarman, To which will be added the Comedy of THE CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE. Lord Ogleby by Mr Jones. Tickets and Places to be had at the Box-Office, and of Mr JONES, No. 32, EAST SIDE ST ANDREW SQUARE. OF THE IMMORTAL BURNS, Behind his plough, upon the mountain side," Sculptured in stone by GREENSHIELDS, of the size of life, and Open from 10 till 4, and 6 till 9 evening. This day is published, in demy 8vo, cloth, price 5s. THOMAS CAMPBELL, Esq. THE SIEGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE. By NICHOLAS MICHELL. SMITH, ELDER, and Co., Cornhill, London. Just published, Beautifully printed, and neatly done up in canvass, A NECROMAUNT. In Three Chimeras. By THOMAS T. STODDART. To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave." "Never, webelleve, since the days of Percy Bysche Shelly, hath so truly original and powerful a poein as this been given to the public."-North Briton. "We look upon Mr Stoddart as possessing genius of great promise."-Edinburgh Literary Journal. "Contains a story of wild and original interest and "Shepherd. Stoddart has genius. power."-Scots "A very tender, imaginative, and beautiful poem it is,-better, we think, than any of the kind which has appeared since the advent of Coleridge, or the first wild strains of Barry Cornwall-stamped with the true impress of genius."-Inverness Courier. "Contains some very beautiful minor poems."-Saturday Evening Post. "The best of the whole last year's productions.-Mr Stoddart is full of imagination of the right sort, and can penetrate the mysteries of human feelings successfully."-Atlas. "The passages we quote say more for the genius and powers of originality which Mr Stoddart possesses, than could any elaborate critique or commonplace encomium."-Edinburgh University Magazine. "There is a wonderfull power of poetry in the Death-wake, and something like that decidedly original and characteristic force of expression, which we hold to be one of the indispensable tests of a firstrate mind."-Edinburgh Advertiser. "We augur favourably of Mr Stoddart's poetical talents from the little volume before us."-Elgin Courier. "We have pledged ourselves that it is a hook of decided, and taintless originality."-Aberdeen Observer. superior talent. There is in the work much genius-much trusant Edinburgh: HENRY CONSTABLE; London: HURST, CHANCE, and Co.; and THOMAS ATKINSON and Co. Glasgow, We have on two former occasions laid before our readers copious extracts from this interesting volume; being well aware that portions of the work itself must possess a far higher interest than any remarks we could offer. But we have now, in the discharge of our duty as journalists, to undertake a far more difficult task-to express our opinion of the great Poet who forms the subject of these memoirs. We assume our pen with reluctance, although proposing nothing higher than to sketch, in a conversational style, a slight outline of the conclusions we have arrived at respecting him, while perusing Mr Moore's book. In attempting rightly to appreciate Lord Byron's cha.. racter, it will be found materially to facilitate the formation of a correct judgment, if we take a review of his character as displayed at different periods of his life, thus making ourselves masters of the details, before we look at the whole. The periods to which we allude are,-that which elapsed from the day of his birth till the time that he first went abroad-that which intervened between the last mentioned date and his separation from Lady Byron -his residence in Switzerland-his residence at Venice —his life from the time of his connexion with the Guiccioli till his death. Price 6d. tween son and mother, as Mr Moore seems to believe; man, or merely as a gymnast-or one or all. We now turn to the character upon which these circumstances had to work, and to which they gave occasion of display. The most striking features of Lord Byron's character were excessive irritability and stubborn endurance. Equal in strength, although, of course, less perceptible to common observers, was his susceptibility of It is necessary, on reverting to the first period of his attachment. His passion for the sex early displayed life, that we pay particular attention to the circumstances itself, and by the desire it necessarily awakened of standunder which it was spent; both because they had mate-ing well in their eyes, tormented him between the conrial influence in forming his character, and because the sciousness of general beauty and of one blemish. His manner in which he bore them is the only indication we intellect was vigorous-his desire of information strong; can have of his natural tendencies. He was elevated at but then it must be such knowledge as his own inclinatoo early an age into the peerage, to admit any feelings of tions prompted him to seek he made an indifferent figure the commoner to gain strength within him, but late in the matter of set tasks. His mind, too, was rather enough to let him feel more decidedly than those who powerful than acute. Joined to a vigorous mind, was have been born into it, the difference between the two its never-failing concomitant in youth, an indeterminate ranks. His own and his mother's straitened circum-longing after distinction-it might be as a poet, a statesstances, joined to the cold neglect of their connexions, left him to spend the whole of this portion of life, during which he was not at school or the university, among the middle classes. This had a twofold influence upon his character. In the first place, it showed how much deference his title obtained for him, while at the same time it made him feel that he was scarcely recognised by his own class: at once exaggerating his notions of the distinction, and rendering him more jealous of any encroachment upon his privileges. In the next place, the stricter observance of morality among the middle classes, and their less unintermitted festivities, preserved the tone of his mind more firm and pure, than if he had been early initiated into the gay world. Nor must the wayward temper of his lady mother be omitted among the circumstances which contributed ultimately to make him what he was. Childhood is too elastic, too forgetful, to retain such deep impressions, from the strange scenes which passed be The character which such circumstances formed out of such predispositions, at the close of the first period, may easily be traced. It was that of a young man possessed of much but ill-digested information. The sentiment of poetry had awakened within him, and his ear for versification was pretty well formed; but imagination could as yet only be descried by the friendly observer, like summer lightning on the verge of the far horizon. His disposition, headlong and unbending, and, although not insensible to generosity, difficult to convict of error, had involved him in disputes, to which the energy of his character had lent an appearance of ferocity, which the cause scarcely warranted. His heart was warm; but the neglect of those connexions who stood aloof, the sycophancy and coming readiness of most of those who sought his acquaintance, had made him feel alone in the world, and thrown an unnatural degree of coldness int his language and manners. His moral conduct-using the phrase in its English sense-was not worse than that of most young men of his rank and time of life.| There was a purity in the inmost recesses of his mind more, however, the prompting of his natural disposition, confirmed by habitual deference to the feelings of that society in which he had most moved, than the child of principle and conviction. Seeking to lay a firm foundation, we have been obliged to expand this portion of our sketch to what the reader may think an undue length. The succeeding periods shall be treated with more brevity. On going abroad, Lord Byron found himself exposed to temptations from a certain class of the other sex, more dangerous to a mind like his than those which he had to encounter in this country,-with more appearance of sentiment, and more skilfully-concealed selfishness. Wandering in the regions of the East gave a peculiar stamp to the power of imagination, which was now fairly awakened; but which in him, as in all young poets, was long of ripening to that maturity which finds pleasure in the contemplation of the poetical for itself. In its first stage, it rather awakens the desire to enact what it admires in person, than to comprehend and reproduce it as a work of art. In Lord Byron, at this period, we find a restless desire to encounter danger merely as an excitement, an affectation of something outré in his dress and modes of life, a morbid brooding over his own feelings, and a perverse delight in picturing himself and his circumstances, as worse, and more desolate, than they really were. On returning to this country, his mind was depressed on one hand by his failure as a public speaker, and elevated on the other by the rapid growth of his poetical fame. The latter event, together with the round of adulation and dissipation into which it led him, fairly carried him (to use a homely phrase) " off his feet." This was no difficult task with one upon whom had been bestowed "So much of earth, so much of heaven, whose goodness, too, was the child of impulse, not of re- Our remarks on this portion of his lordship's life need not be long. During its lapse, the determination of his character certainly received a false bias. His aberrations, however, were little more than the unavoidable mistakes made by every man, when let loose to grope his way into the busy world. He had forgotten himself, but his bad habitudes were not confirmed. The disagreeables with which he had to contend were those which we must all make up our mind to at the first outset of our struggle for fortune. They might easily have been conquered; and their shadows would have passed away from his brow. The burst of popular indignation, elicited by his quarrel with Lady Byron, would have died away. His misconduct would have been forgotten, if not forgiven, and his future life might have amply atoned. But one step had been taken, which, although it could not yet show its workings upon his character, had stamped his future fate. With dispositions which rendered a female companion indispensable to his happiness, he was thrown loose upon the world, debarred from approaching that individual with whom alone, of all the sex, he could live without dishonour to her, and moral destruction to himself, "The clankless chain had bound him." The brief period of his residence in Switzerland is only remarkable as it favoured the developement of his poetical powers. His intimacy with Shelley awoke a faculty within him which had hitherto been all but dormant-pure intellectual imagination. His earlier works evince all the poetry of sentiment and passion, but the glimpses of real imagination are comparatively rare. It is in the third and fourth canto of Childe Harold that we first recognise his imaginative powers in their full force and mastery. Not one atom of reliance is there upon foreign costume, or sentimental free-booters, or whining lovers. He grapples with the first elements of nature, with the achievements of human genius in empire, art, and learning; and he moulds his incongruous materials, with a giant's strength, into one glowing whole. The mood of mind in which he was at the time was favourable to the developement of a new power. Every passion of his nature was in a state of excitement. The colossal character of the scenery around him, its constant interchange of fairy beauty and tempest, were well calculated to work upon such a temperament. But it was the interchange of thought with the most ethereal of imaginative poets,—the most subtle of self-torturing sophists, that finally struck the rock, worn almost to yielding, and bade the waters gush out. Manfred is the fairest specimen of his powers at this period. It indicates an immense stride into the realm of poesy. He has raised himself above romance, and attained to the higher order of mysticism. He has soared above mere sense; and although yet surrounded by mists and fogs, he is rising to the clear region of mind. The period of his life which Byron spent at Venice, is, we know, one upon which his best friends are averse to dwell. We do not entirely coincide with them. We feel as much disgust as they do at the gross libertinism into which he there plunged. We feel perhaps more distaste than they do at the vulgar slang in which he frequently chose at this time to express himself. Most of all are we pained at the perversity with which he thought proper to run a tilt against all the finer affections which link society together. But we are less distressed at all these evils, because the too brief after-period of his life shows that they were transient stains; and in the case of Byron, who had scarcely one friendly and at the same time judicious enough to understand him-from whom the world chose to stand aloof in childish terrorand who was thus left without "a guide, philosopher, or friend"-we regard them but as the outbreak of a disease which lurks in all such minds, and if not gradually extracted by skilful hands, will work itself out under some loathsome form. Our meaning in this may be briefly explained. Youth has an undefined anticipation of, and sympathy with, whatever is great and good in human nature. It feels a yearning to assimilate itself to what it admires. But our vague instincts, our passions, are awake long before the clear dawn of reason; and not only do they impel us to action under delusive appearances, but they bear us up, floating in an atmosphere of delightful but confused anticipations-a world of gay dreams. This is the state of mind to which the term romantic is generally applied. The person susceptible of it is worthy of love, but he cannot be relied upon. No man is virtuous that is, no man is trustworthy- who is gentle, and kind, and good, merely from impulse. Such dispositions deservedly conciliate affection, but admiration and confidence are only for those who control and direct them by reason and principle. We have seen |