And when the offspring of some future age · [From among several poetical effusions, called forth by the death of COOKE, we selected the following for publication in our number for October. It was accidentally mislaid, and 'may perhaps now be thought by some out of season. Others however, who can dwell with delight on the recollection of departed joys, will never think that unscasonable, which recalls them to the memory.] LINES ON THE DEATH OF G. F. COOKE, THE CELEBRATED ACTOR. How lovely did the blooming morn Gem with bright dew the rose-girt thorn, And wave it on the gale: That hung around yon rocky dell, Oh mournfully we heard the tale, Oh, COOKE! thy wand'rings all are past; Nor Pleasure's charm, nor Misery's sigh, Can rouse thee from the gloom Lamented Shade !-May angels fair, And yet, it wakes the sorrowing sigh, When life's stream play'd no more : And while the world shall weigh each art And wish they too may be forgiven, And meet thee at the throne of Heaven. Philadelphia, 8th of October, 1812. ERIN, MONTHLY DRAMATIC REVIEW. Boston Theatre. Nov. 27. Rich and Poor(1)-Forty Thieves. (1) The opera of Rich and Poor is a transmutation of a comedy by M. G. Lewis, written and performed several years ago, under the title of the East Indian. The author, by compressing his play into three acts, and giving it the additional charm of some very pretty music, has been quite successful. - FABLE-Rivers, having impaired his fortune in his youth, seeks to repair it in India, where under the assumed uame of Mortimer, he amasses an immense property. His only daughter, Zorayda, had eloped from him with Colonel Beauebamp, who had gained admittance into his house, under the assumed name of Dorimont. Beauchamp, who, some time before he became acquainted with Zorayda, had separated from his wife, a woman of dreadful temper ; on his arrival in London, with the fair runaway, places her under the protection of Lady Clara Modish, an affected, dissipated lady of quality, who is married to a relation of Mr. Rivers.-Rivers, before he disposes of his property, is determined to discover the real character of his relatives : for this purpose he calls on Mr. Modish, and, having feigned extreme distress, requests pecuniary assistance, but is treated with contempt. He next applies to Mrs. Ormond, the sister of Modish; who, though in extreme want herself, stretches forth the hand of charity to him. He rewards her noble-minded conduct, by immediately rendering her independent. While he is intent on revenge, against Beauchamp, his daughter, veiled, is introduced to him, by Mrs. Ormond as a Miss Mandeville, whom he has commissioned to negotiate with in the morning. He proceeds to paint the dreadful feelings to which her father inust be a prey, and implores her to return to him before his hatred becomes rooted. Suddenly she discovers herself, and, overcome by her tears and entreaties he pardons her. Beauchamp, who has received certain intelligence of the death of his wife, makes the amende honorable, by giving his hand to Zorayda, and a general reconciliation takes place. There is no writer of the present day so well acquainted with stage effect, and the machinery of the playwright, as Mr. Lewis. The strong interest of the story, however improbable, the rapid succession of inci dent, the agreeable admixture of grave and gay, and the elegance of the language, must captivate the great majority of an audience, and delight all those who look no farther into the drama than to be agitated by a pa 30. Lost and Found-Paul and Virginia. thetic, and amused by a humorous, scene. But to those who look for instruction to be mingled with entertainment; who desire purity of moral to be combined with affecting situation; who think that dramatic justice requires guilt to be confounded, and vice punished, folly abashed and virtue rewarded to those the opera of Rich and Poor will appear to have few claims on praise; few merits to disarm the severity of criticism. Like the Society for the Suppression of Vice, Mr. Lewis lashes petty crimes without mercy, but either suffers the more atrociously elevated to pass unnoticed, or employs the powers of his pen to palliate and excuse them. He seems to have taken the motto," All's well that ends well,' and accordingly, instead of making a poetical example of an unfeeling fashionable couple, of a worthless child, and an abandoned married seducer, they are, unrepentant and unworthy, restored to fortune, and blessed with forgive ness. The principal character, Rivers, is most unnatural-The strong feelings of a father might indeed induce him, in the moment they are so forcibly appealed to, to pardon his lost and ungrateful child; but no human passion, no ordinary principle, can be assigned as the foundation for his sudden return of regard for the villain who had requited his friendship by destroying his peace, and heaping wealth upon his kindred who had repaid his affection with coolness, indifference, and insult; and whose new professions he has every reason to believe flow from no source more pure, than regard for his immense fortune.-The reconciliation scene between Rivers and his daughter Zorayda, as effective on the stage, or as a piece of acting cannot be too highly applauded, but as either just or natural there is no condemnation for it too severe. Is the public taste, indeed, so depraved, that it can endure to see the protraction of the prayer for mercy, in a daughter who comes to seek pardon from a heart-broken and incensed parent, whom she has deserted for the lawless love of a married man? If the situation is felt at all, it must be, with disgust, observed, that the deluded wretch does not instantly hurry forward, and throw herself in agony at the feet of her afflicted father. For who, that has a spark of nature in their hearts, can bear to see the mummery of this veiled hideand-seek assailant probing, as it were, every nerve, and agitating every passion, in an old man, that could touch him with sorrow, or tear him with conflicting emotions. It is equally impossible to reduce the conduct of Beauchamp and Zorayda to any scale of human action that is compatible with virtue. They have lamentations for their error in their mouths, but they go on sinning, in the proper hope that the speedy death of Mrs. Beauchamp will hereafter VOL. I. 21 enable them to sanction infidelity by law, and excuse adultery by the "amende bonorable." (Oh foul use of a fair phrase !) Their mode of soothing their consciences is pretty accurately described by the seducer, in his verse of the finale "Beauchamp (to Zorayda ) “Our faults, my love, we frankly owned ; And anger now is o'er ; Behind the curtain all's aton'd, Be you as kind, before ! ! ! ! ! !” The advocation of duelling by Rivers, an amiable and good man, is of a piece with the morality of the above, and with the whole tendency of the opera; upon which we shall no further bestow our censure, having in this respect, we trust, sufficiently exposed it. The inferior agents in the play are not intimately connected with the main plot, or in any way accessary to carrying out the denouement.-The comic scenes in which they are engaged, however, display considerable vivacity, and afford a good relief to those of a serious cast. The above remarks are copied from a respectable English critical journal. The principles of religion, justice, and morality being universally and eternally the same, the observations of the writer will serve as well for the meridian of Boston as of London: and there is a degree of importance attached to the opinions of a transatlantic critic, far superior to what any native writer has power to command. We shall therefore dismiss the author, for we have business with the players. Mr. and Mrs. Young played their parts with fidelity to the situations in which the author placed them. The scene of their reconciliation, was very affecting. The characters were all creditably supported; and some of the songs were sung with more than usual accuracy and feeling. Mr. Addison tells us in one of his Spectators, that the ladies of the court of France once thought it ill-breeding and a kind of female pedantry, to pronounce a hard word right; for which reason, they took frequent occasion to use hard words, that they might shew a politeness in murdering them. He further adds that a lady of some quality at court, having accidentally made use of a hard word in a proper place, and pronounced it right, the whole assembly was out of countenance for her. Such will never be the case with our corps dramatique. They will never put themselves out of countenance by correct pronunciation. It is not a little surprising that the name of Col. Beauchamp, should have been invariably pronounced Beechum !—not even an unlucky servant ever blundered into the true sound of either syllable. It is very common to hear the words goodness, fatal, happiness, charity, mutual, virtuous, nuptial, &c. &c. pronounced goodness, fatle, happunness, charutty, muchul,virchus, nupchal. The |