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Article REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ← Page 8 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
The Iron Chest . a play ; tn three Acts . Written By George Col-man , the younger . With a Preface , ' s-vo . Pages izj . Price zs Cadell and Davies . 1796 . THE point at issue between Mr . Oilman ( the younger ) and the Manager of Drury-Lane Theatre , is , whether the ill success of the play of the Iron Chest was owing to the want of me . it in the niece itself , or to the acting cf the latter gentleman . Mr . C . is very violent in support of his accusation that Mr . Kemble did not do his bestor the play must have been well
re-, ceived . Many f . iCls relative to the getting of it up are stated , with much force , but without either temper or discretion . Upon this controversy , which has occupied so much of the attention of dramatic amateurs , we shall not . rnake any observations , as the Public have had a fair opportunity of judging of the truth of Mr . C ' s accusation by the renewed representation of the p lay at the Haymai ket Theatre . We cannot , however , forbear giving a few extracts from the Preface , though we do not pretend to defend their virulence
91 'to espouse either side of the question . ' I am too callous , now , to be annoyed by those innumerable gnats and itiseCts , who daily dart their impotent stings on the literary traveller ; and too knowing to dismount , and waste my time in whipping grasshoppers : —¦ but here is a scowlitisr , sulle / i , black Bull , right athwart my road .- —a monster of magnitude , of the Bxotian breed , perplexing me in my wanderings through the entangled labyrinth of Drury 1 he stands sulkily before me , with sides ,
seemingly , impenetrable to any lash , and tougher than the Dun Cow of Warwick !—Ilis front ou . fronting the brazen bull of Perijlus 1—he has bellowed , gentlemen 1 Yea , he hath bellowed a dismal sound ! ' A hollow , unvaried tone , heaved from his very midriff , and stiiking the listener with torpor 1—Would I could pass the animal quietly , for my own sake!—and , for his , by Jupiter ! I repeat it , I would not willingly harm the Bull . —I delight not . hi baiting liini . —I would jog as gently by him as by the ass that grazes on the common ; but he has obstinately blocked up my way;—he has already tossed and gored rue severely—I must make an effort , or he batters me down , and leaves me to bite the dust . '
* And , here , let me describe the requisites for the character which I have attempted to draw , that the world may judge whether I have , taken a wrong measure of the personage whom I proposed to fit : premising that I have . worked for him before , with snecess , and , therefore , it may be presumed that lam somewhat acquainted with the dimensions of his qualifications . ——I required , then , a man " ¦ Of a tail stature , and of sable hue , "
* ' Muclt like tiie son of Kisli , that lofty Jew . " A'man of whom it might be said , " There's something in his soul " " O ' er which his melancholy sits , and broods . " ' Look at the actor ;—and will any boddo him the injustice to declare that
y ne is deficient in these qualifications . It would puzzle any author , in any t : me or country , from y £ sch yhis down , even , to the Translator of Ludojdca , -rand really , gentlemen , I can go no lower—to find a figure and fee- better suited to tne purpose . I have endeavoured , moreover / to pourtray Si- Ed-Tvard Mortimer as a man stately in his deportment , reserved in his temper ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
The Iron Chest . a play ; tn three Acts . Written By George Col-man , the younger . With a Preface , ' s-vo . Pages izj . Price zs Cadell and Davies . 1796 . THE point at issue between Mr . Oilman ( the younger ) and the Manager of Drury-Lane Theatre , is , whether the ill success of the play of the Iron Chest was owing to the want of me . it in the niece itself , or to the acting cf the latter gentleman . Mr . C . is very violent in support of his accusation that Mr . Kemble did not do his bestor the play must have been well
re-, ceived . Many f . iCls relative to the getting of it up are stated , with much force , but without either temper or discretion . Upon this controversy , which has occupied so much of the attention of dramatic amateurs , we shall not . rnake any observations , as the Public have had a fair opportunity of judging of the truth of Mr . C ' s accusation by the renewed representation of the p lay at the Haymai ket Theatre . We cannot , however , forbear giving a few extracts from the Preface , though we do not pretend to defend their virulence
91 'to espouse either side of the question . ' I am too callous , now , to be annoyed by those innumerable gnats and itiseCts , who daily dart their impotent stings on the literary traveller ; and too knowing to dismount , and waste my time in whipping grasshoppers : —¦ but here is a scowlitisr , sulle / i , black Bull , right athwart my road .- —a monster of magnitude , of the Bxotian breed , perplexing me in my wanderings through the entangled labyrinth of Drury 1 he stands sulkily before me , with sides ,
seemingly , impenetrable to any lash , and tougher than the Dun Cow of Warwick !—Ilis front ou . fronting the brazen bull of Perijlus 1—he has bellowed , gentlemen 1 Yea , he hath bellowed a dismal sound ! ' A hollow , unvaried tone , heaved from his very midriff , and stiiking the listener with torpor 1—Would I could pass the animal quietly , for my own sake!—and , for his , by Jupiter ! I repeat it , I would not willingly harm the Bull . —I delight not . hi baiting liini . —I would jog as gently by him as by the ass that grazes on the common ; but he has obstinately blocked up my way;—he has already tossed and gored rue severely—I must make an effort , or he batters me down , and leaves me to bite the dust . '
* And , here , let me describe the requisites for the character which I have attempted to draw , that the world may judge whether I have , taken a wrong measure of the personage whom I proposed to fit : premising that I have . worked for him before , with snecess , and , therefore , it may be presumed that lam somewhat acquainted with the dimensions of his qualifications . ——I required , then , a man " ¦ Of a tail stature , and of sable hue , "
* ' Muclt like tiie son of Kisli , that lofty Jew . " A'man of whom it might be said , " There's something in his soul " " O ' er which his melancholy sits , and broods . " ' Look at the actor ;—and will any boddo him the injustice to declare that
y ne is deficient in these qualifications . It would puzzle any author , in any t : me or country , from y £ sch yhis down , even , to the Translator of Ludojdca , -rand really , gentlemen , I can go no lower—to find a figure and fee- better suited to tne purpose . I have endeavoured , moreover / to pourtray Si- Ed-Tvard Mortimer as a man stately in his deportment , reserved in his temper ,