stage seven eighths of our actors, in and out of London, retain so violent an esteem for antiquity, that they follow up with the deepest enthusiasm that noble lesson of their great ancestor's.

However offensive the rant may be to some hearers, or indeed dangerous (for we really have trembled for the tympanum of many of our delicate actresses hen they have been standing near Mr.———————— or Mr. some other robustious fellow, tearing a passion to tatters), it may be justly styled a great, a magnanimous method of pronunciation; "it elevates, it surprises;" it alarms the ears, it rouses the sleeping senses, and it awakens the most stupid into attention. Don Lewis, in "Love Makes a Man," declares he loves to hear Carlos speak Greek, though the old gentleman does not understand a word of the language; but what then "Charles thunders it out so loftily!" In that he speaks the opinion of the moiety of every theatric audience in the United Kingdom of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

Let the most delicate actor meet Desdemona, and with the most tender address pronounce,

"Oh my fair warrior, &c."

would he equally please his auditors, interest his auditors, or be applauded by his auditors, as when he rantingly bellows out,

"Villain! be sure thou prove my love, &c."

These are the lofty speeches which reach to the deepest recesses of Olympus, splitting the ear of the most drowsy god. That there are numerous passages in the drama which require unusual force in delivering, is a fact we do noi attempt to deny, as in the one above quoted; but unfortunately our players will not reserve their lungs for these noisy speeches. We could bring innumerable instances of actors indulging in this fault; we heard a Jaffier not very long ago deliver the following sentence,

"What! be a devil and take a damning oath

For shedding native blood? Can their be sin
In merciful repentance ?"

in a tone loud enough to shake Heaven's conclave. If our readers wish for any more instances, they may find plenty in our Theatrical Journal.

The rant, however false in nature, is true in stage policy; for as there are some persons so deaf they can only hear amidst a great noise, others there are who are so dull they cannot fancy any thing but a great noise worth attending to. The organs of the body are like the component parts of an instrument, when you can make unison you may easily perceive the contact, and as, according to Aristotle, most persons only judge by their eyes and ears, we can very easily account for many people preferring Italian Operas, Pantomines, and Melodrames, to the works of Shakspeare, Jonson, or Congreve.

Eschylus is the father of Greek Tragedy, and exhibits both the beauties and the defects of an early original writer. He is bold, nervous, and animated, but very obscure, and difficult to be understood, partly by reason of the incorrect state in which we have his works (they having suffered more by time than any of the ancient tragedians), and partly on account of the nature of his style, which is crowded with metaphors of the harsh and timid. He abounds with martial ideas and descriptions; he has much fire and elevation, less of tenderness and force; he delights in the mavellous. The ghost of Darius, in the Persæ ; the inspiration of Cassandra, in Agamemnon; and the songs of the furies in the Euminides, are beautiful in their kind, and strongly expressive of his genius.

Luther's Opinion of Comedies.-Luther strongly recommended the acting of comedies even in schools, and he thought them capable of edifying young persons. "In comedies," observed Luther, "particularly in those of the Roman writers, the duties of the various situations of life are held out to view, and, as it were, reflected from a mirror. The office of parent and the proper conduct of children, are faithfully delineated; and, what to young men may be advantegeous, the vices and characters of profligate women are exhibited in their true colours. Excellent lessons are given to them how they should conduct themselves towards virtuous women in courtship. Strong exhortations to matrimony are brought forward, without which no government can subsist. Celibacy is the plague of any nation. Although," continues Luther, “in some comedies licentious passages are introduced, yet they ought not to deter a Christian from reading them. For the Bible itself is not without indelicate descriptions."

REVIEWS.

Home Sweet Home.

We beg to apologize to Mr. Pocock for having entertained so humble an opinion of his modesty. We have already wasted so much time, patience, and paper, on this production, that we are tired of the subject. We cannot however refrain from giving our readers the following morceau as a sort of bonne bouche:

Wilkes said to Mrs. Centlivre, after reading "A Bold Stroke for a Wife," the play would not only be damn'd, but she herself would be damn'd for writing it. What would he have said to Mr. Pocock after reading "Home, sweet Home?"

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BIOGRAPHY.

MEMOIR OF THE LATE COUNTESS OF DERBY.

(Formerly Miss Farren.)

In FARREN we behold, with grace combin'd,
The features and the form to shew the mind;
In every motion fashion stands confess'd,
Fashion by sensibility possess'd.

Clear and correct, veracious and at ease,
Skill'd e'en to make her very silence please;
Attentive to give business to the scene,
By thought that adds intelligence to mien.
Her eye, her action, dart, with lively force,

Sense from her mind, and passion from its source.

This lady's father was a surgeon in Cork, but an early fondness for the drama induced him to quit that city, and join a company of strolling players.

At Tewkesbury he married, and after having had the satisfaction of seeing his wife produce three daughters and a son, died, leaving his widow and children in a state of extreme indigence. After undergoing many privations, Mrs. Farren obtained a situation for.herself and children in Mr. Younger's company at Liverpool. The second daughter, the subject of our present memoir, was born in the year 1759. Miss Elizabeth Farren made her debût in the above city about the age of fifteen, as Rosetta, in "Love in a Village." She performed this and many other characters with great success. By the kindness of Mr. Younger, the manager, she obtained a letter of introduction to the elder Colman, at whose theatre in the Haymarket she appeared in the summer of 1777. The late celebrated Mr. Henderson also appeared that season. Her success was so considerable, that she was engaged at Covent Garden, where she performed tragedy with the late Mr. Digges. She afterwards became a member of Drury Lane, and sustained the tragic heroines, such as Juliet, the Fair Circassian, &c. with great and merited applause ; and in comedy was only considered inferior to Mrs. Abingdon; and on the departure of that lady to Covent Garden, she took the lead in comedy as well. It was about this period of her fame that the celebrated Charles Fox was observed to pay her most particular attention, frequently dangling whole evenings behind the scenes for the sake of her company; but finding these attentions not meeting the success he anticipated, he gave up the pursuit to Lord Derby, who took every means in his power to promote her interest. He induced Lady Thompson and

Lady Johnson to become her patronesses; by which means she was enabled to move in the first circles, and she became anxious to rival those of the highest rank and fortune in every female and polite accomplishment; and so indefatigable were the pains the lady took to improve, that Miss Farren was justly considered as a finished pattern of female elegance and fashion. The platonic affection that was said to exist between Miss Farren and Lord Derby was of course productive of a great many squibs, &c. among the would-be-wits and idlers about town; but their conduct was so guarded as to be free from the aspersions of the most censorious or malicious. When the Duke of Richmond had private plays performed at his house in Privy Gardens, Miss Farren was appointed to preside over the stage business; which employment introduced her to most of the nobility of the kingdom, and thereby gave her an importance unknown to any of her theatrical contemporaries.

Miss Farren took her farewell of the public at Drury Lane, on the 7th of April, 1797, in the character of Lady Teazle, in the School for Scandal, on which occasion the house actually overflowed. Towards the conclusion of the play she appeared to be much affected, and when Mr. Wroughton came forward to speak some lines which were written on the occasion, her emotions increased to such a degree, that she was under the necessity of receiving support from Mr. King. The fall of the curtain was attended with repeated bursts of applause, not unmingled with feelings of regret, for the loss of an actress, then in the zenith of her charms, and while her dramatic reputation was in the highest esteem of the public. On the 8th of May following, then in her 38th year, she was married to Lord Derby by special licence, at his lordship's house in Grosvenor-square; his lordship's wife, the only obstacle to their union, being no more.

We cannot better conclude this brief Memoir of Lady Derby, than by extracting the following account of her from a late celebrated dramatic publication:

"It might be sufficient praise to say of Miss Farren's performances, if she had never deviated from the walk for which art as well as nature designed her; it might, perhaps, be sufficient praise to say, that were we to collect every idea which has been suggested to us by books, or has been the result of our own observations on life, assisted by all that the imagination could conceive of a woman of fashion; we should find every idea realized, and every conception embodied in the person and acting of Miss Farren; her figure is considerably above the middle height, and is of that slight texture which allows and requires the use of full and flowing drapery, an advantage of which she well knows how to avail herself;-her face, though not regularly beautiful, is animated and prepossessing; her eye, which is blue and penetrating, is a powerful feature when she chooses to employ it on the public, and either flashes with spirit or melts with softness, as its mistress de

R

cides on the expression she wishes to convey-her voice we never thought to possess much sweetness, but it is refined and feminine; and her smiles, of which she is no niggard, fascinate the heart as much as her form delights the eye. In short, a more complete exhibition of graces and accomplishments never presented itself for admiration before the view of an audience.

"To this enumeration of personal charms, we have to add the list of her talents. It is not wise, indeed, to separate them, they are mutually benefited and improved by each other. Dant simul et accipiunt. A rarer combination of nature and art to qualify their favourite for the assumption of the principal characters in the higher comedy has not been known; she possesses ease, vivacity, spirit, and humour: and her performances are so little injured by effort, that we have often experienced a delusion of the senses, and imagined, what in a theatre it is so difficult to imagine, the scene of action to be identified, and Miss Farren really the character she was only attempting to sustain;-we cannot admit the supposition even, that St. James's ever displayed superior evidence of fine breeding than Miss Farren has often done in her own person."

Lady Derby died April the 22d and was buried in the family-vault at Ormskirk on the 30th.

MEMOIR OF MISS GOWARD.

We in our last unfortunately made a promise to give a memoir of this very lively and agreeable actress. We say unfortunately on account of the matter afforded us (her biographers) being so exceedingly scanty.

This Lady has inet with few vicissitudes in life, has encountered no romantic adventures, but has moved along the beaten track of her existence as we or any common place biographers may have done; her life, since she first appeared on the stage, has been one scene of gradual improvement, therefore to minutely detail it would be to paint a picture of one colour, or to write a play without plot or incidents.

Miss Goward was born at Ipswich in Suffolk. Her father was a highly respectable tradesman of that town. For what cause she was induced to turn to the stage for a livelihood we know not; she however made so successful a debut at Ipswich that she was shortly afterwards engaged at the Hull Theatre, where she sustained for two or three years a highly respectable situation both as an actress and vocalist. In the Summer of 1825 she was engaged by Mr. Arnold, the proprietor of the English Opera House, and accordingly made her appearance that season in the very opposite characters of Rosina (in the opera of that name), and Little Pickle in the Spoilt Child, where she equally de