mediocrity or unfounded pretension will never be brought forward in the place of real talent, for the sake of a trifling reduction in the expenditure.

No. 15.-The corps du ballet shall be formed into schools attached to the theatre, assisted by the first artistes of Europe.

No. 16.-A variety of new ballets shall be presented, and a novel species of comic ballet introduced.-The Director will diversify as much as possible the entertainments in this department.

Such is a faint outline of the alterations and improvements which, with the assistance of the public, it is intended to introduce into the management of the King's Theatre.

In addition, however, to the above, the present Director has yet one more novelty to offer, which he hopes will meet with the approbation of the Subscribers:-In the course of each season, three grand dress and fancy balls, upon the customary principle of Almack's, will be given, of which Subscribers alone will be the prescriptive patrons and patronesses. Besides their personal right of free admission, they will have the sole privilege of nominating a limited number of their immediate friends to the purchase of tickets, procurable by their means only, at the box-office. On these occasions the whole theatre will be thrown open for their reception, and the refreshments, on a scale of superior elegance, will be served in the concertroom. The Director pledges his word that no ticket will be disposed of through any interest foreign to the exclusive privilege hereby vested in the Subscribers.

By thus exhibiting to the public in so unprecedented a manner the disinterested views and faithful intentions of the present Director, it is hoped that the Italian Opera-house will resume its original dignity and splendour. That these views are disinterested, the liberal extent of the obligations to which the Director has pledged himself, sufficiently testifies; and when, in addition to the above, it is considered that he has subjected himself to a rent so much above that paid by the late lessee, and that at the same time he has foregone various means of saving expense and realizing profit which were practised by his predecessors, there can be no doubt that self-interest is not the motive of his undertaking. A love for the musical art--a watchful consideration for the comforts of those who patronize it and a determination, as far as lies in his power, to raise the Italian Opera to that height which its own resources and the patronage of so enlightened a nation entitle it to aspire-are the grounds upon which he rests his claim to the support of the Nobility, Gentry, Subscribers, and the Public in general."

On concluding this Prospectus, we are quite sure that the reader will coincide with us, and wish success to an Establishment which has hitherto been so neglected, but which even in the eleventh hour bids fair for redemption, under the liberal, gentlemanlike, and enlightened views of the new Manager. If he offered nothing more than the pledge which he holds forth to encourage talent wherever it may be found, he is entitled to the support of all those who respect it for its own sake, coming as it may do from cottage or castle!

DRAMATIC REVIEW.

HAYMARKET. We have scarcely drawn breath after our congratulations to Mr. Morris upon the production of an original comedy, and from the expression of our wishes that authors would follow Mrs. Gore's example, when we are literally inundated with literal translations. In the course of the last month Mr. Morris has indulged us with no less than three :-" Madame du Barry," adapted by Mr. Poole, from a piece of the same name so successfully played last season at our French theatre; "" The Fricandeau,' a translation of " Quoniam, ou le Cuisinier," by Mr. Howard Payne; and " My Wife or My Place," a translation from the French piece of" Ma Femme ou Ma Place," by a Mr. Shannon.

Of" Madame du Barry," which was of too grave a cast to give Mr. Poole those opportunities for jest which he is so capable of turning to account, we can say little in praise. The story, which merely details the jealousies of a king's mistress, and whose moral winds up with the reconciliation of a monarch and his paramour, as other tales finish with the marriage of faithful lovers, is not at all to an English taste, and God forbid it should become so. Such stories are fit enough for a French audience, and in a country where a king's mistress was for so long a period an almost accredited minister, and considered quite a legitimate medium through which merit might reach the ears and receive the patronage of the sovereign. But in England such scenes and circumstances find no sympathetic feelings; we are at a loss to understand the public allowance of such influence, and are shocked at seeing the meritorious and the virtuous of both sexes attending the levees of an avowed

equivocal display of his intentions in these and other particulars, will be issued and sent round to the Subscribers and the rest of the musical world, previous to the annual opening of the box-office.

adultress, and foreign ambassadors kissing the hand of the king's mistress, as though she were his legitimate queen. The company at this theatre is not adapted for stilts. The gentlemen look like ill-dressed footmen whenever they adopt a court costume. There was a great deal of cleverness about Miss Taylor's personation of Madame du Barry, so much so as to increase our regret that she will over-act every thing she will never be quiet; her feet - her hands her head, are perpetually moving. In a woman of so much-genius we were going to say, and we sometimes think that she possesses it, this is really a great pity. Why will she not give some repose to her performance? Does she suppose that concealed and suppressed passion is only to be pourtrayed by working the muscles-biting the lip-clenching the hand-heaving the bosom-or playing what is vulgarly called the devil's tattoo with the feet? To Miss Taylor nature has been bountiful in other means of expressing the passions than the mere outward, and visible, and muscular signs, and why does she not use them? Our fears are that she acts so much as always to be in a state of excitement, and were we intimate with this lady, and had any influence over her, we would not let her act for six weeks, but keep her still, tranquillize her mind, and make her study quietude instead of action. We were very much pleased with Mrs. Ashton's performance of the young lady who excites the jealousy of Madame du Barry. There were several genuine bursts of virtuous feeling which brought tears into the eyes of the audience; and we recommend the cultivation of this lady's talent in parts of this description.

My Wife or My Place."-The translator of this piece comes at any rate upon us with an honest translation of the French title. He does not conceal, like most adapters and translators, the source from whence he derives his materials.-He does not tell about the introduction of other characters,-the mere adoption of a hint from the French, with all the rest his own, but he says boldly, Here is a good French piece, and I will translate it from the beginning to the end-from the titlepage to the finale; and we are glad he has done so, for it is a most pleasant little drama, abounding in situation and character, and amazingly well acted. Sir Harry Harebrain is the nephew of a minister, and for this fortuitous circumstance of his birth, more than from any merit of his own, is placed at the head of a department of the administration, in which his deputy, Mr. Durable, performs the duties of the office, while his principal spends his time and his salary in gambling, intrigue, and dissipation, devoting merely an hour or two in the day to the laborious duties of his situation, which, through the industry of Durable and the attention of his private secretary, are reduced to the signature of a certain number of letters and papers, contents unknown. Alarmed, however, into some fear of losing his "Place at Home," and being exiled into some foreign embassy by Durable's threatened representation of the state of affairs to the minister, he is induced to promise some vacant secretaryship to that gentleman's nephew, who forthwith puts the papers in order, and saves Sir Harry from the trouble of making up his accounts. At this period a Mr. Dupely arrives from Cornwall, where he has been for some time a collector of customs, in the hope by personal application of obtaining some better post, and is announced to Sir Harry, who is the chief commissioner of his department. The private secretary represents Dupely as a determined, pertinacious place-hunter, and Sir Harry consequently refuses to see him. Not, however, at all abashed by this refusal, he forces his way into the office, claims relationship with the secretary from having married his cousin, to whom the secretary himself had formerly been attached, and states his claims and services. Sir Harry refuses his application; but Dupely will take no denial, and quits the office only to go home for his memorial, which he had unfortunately left at his lodgings. Sir Harry then commences his official business by telling his private secretary of his having fallen in love the night before at the opera with the most bewitching woman he had ever seen, and by laying plots to discover her name and residence. He then signs a number of official blanks, and gives himself up to his meditations upon the lady unknown, when a lady is introduced by the private stair-case and presents the memorial of Mr. Dupely, with which she had hurried after him, fearing it might be of consequence. In this lady Sir Harry discovers at once his lovely woman of the preceding evening, and the wife of the man he had just now so rudely discarded. A servant is instantly dispatched to bring back Mr. Dupely; he is received by Sir Harry with every appearance of kindness, the private secretary is called in to show every attention to his friend Mr. Dupely, when Mrs. Dupely discovers in him her former and her first lover, from whom she had been parted by some misunderstanding. The interview finishes by the vacant secretaryship being promised to Dupely, who accepts cards from Sir Harry for a ball to be given in the evening by his sister Lady Modely. On their taking leave, Durable enters and requests the signature to the report which is to confirm his nephew in the twice-promised secretaryship; this perplexes the patron, who puts him off by a long speech about prior claims, &c. Durable sees through this artifice, and determines to complain to his patroness Lady Modely, and to discover for whom he has been thus ill-treated. At the ball Mr. and Mrs. Dupely arg

introduced to Lady Modely, and Sir Harry pays the lady such exclusive attention that Durable soon suspects by whom his nephew has been superseded. Mrs. Dupely in the mean time is more affected by her meeting with her former lover than by the attentions and compliments of Sir Harry, who, nevertheless, thinks himself so much in her good graces as to feel assured of complete success in his attempt, and is so much delighted with the attractions of the lady, that he not only assures her husband of the secretaryship, but promises him the reversion of Durable's place into the bargain, whom he represents as in the last stage of an asthma and consumption. After singing duets with her former lover, which tend to revive old feelings and recollections, Mrs. Dupely is led to the ball-room by Sir Harry; and Durable, determined to discover if his suspicions are correct, draws Dupely into a conversation, in which he not only acknowledges Sir Harry's promise of the secretaryship, but tells him in confidence that he is likewise to have the place of old Durable himself, who has one foot in his office and the other in the grave. The old gentleman is so annoyed at this communication that, in order to turn the tables upon his rival and would-be successor, he tells him of a person who derives all his interest from the beauty of his wife, who is the intended victim of the patron's seduction. Dupely laughs heartily at this story, and is quite delighted when Durable says that the pretty wife is in the ball-room dancing with her husband's patron, and receiving and enjoying his attentions. His curiosity is roused; and as the party gallopade past the folding-doors, Durable hints at Mrs. Dupely and Sir Harry as the patron and the seduced wife. Seized with the pangs of jealousy, Dupely hurries his wife from the ball and the act closes. The second act opens with the incipient jealousy of Dupely, which betrays itself in occasional fits of sullenness for which Mrs. Dupely cannot account, but fears he is jealous of her former lover, whom she has commanded never to visit her more, and whom Dupely consults upon the character and attentions of Sir Harry. The secretary overpowered by his passion, ventures to place a letter for her upon the table of Mrs. Dupely's boudoir. This excites her anger, but she nevertheless conceals the letter on the approach of her husband. A partial explanation now takes place; she tells him he has nothing to apprehend, and promises the moment she feels any real danger she will at once say that they had better return to the country; and as an evidence of her truth and sincerity, she gives him the letter unopened that he may return it himself to the writer. This satisfies him as far as respects his wife; but he receives Sir Harry with anger, reproaches him with his guilty intentions, and, in the presence of the secretary and Mrs. Dupely, gives him the letter written by the secretary as though it were written by himself. Sir Harry astonished, opens the letter, which discloses the whole affair of Alfred's love for Mrs. Dupely, but he wisely determines to keep the secret and bear the blame which Mr. Dupely casts upon him. At this moment Mr. Durable and Lady Modely come in with Sir Harry's dismissal from his commissionership and appointment to a foreign embassy, and with the appointment of Alfred, the secretary, to Sir Harry's situation. Dupely, rejoiced at this, consents at once to accept the secretaryship, and to remain in town; when, to his surprise, his wife reminds him of their agreement, and says "It is now time for us to return to the country,"-and the piece finishes with rather a clap-trap speech of Mr. Dupely requesting a place in public favour. Farren's personation of Mr. Dupely, the place-hunter, was admirable. There is novelty about this actor in every thing he does. His eagerness after place checked by his jealous fears was admirably depicted; the cunning and perseverance with which he tries to cajole the commissioner-the exultation at his success-the confidence with which he pursues his career-the unblushing effronteries of his petition --were all pourtrayed with the power of an artist, and can only be accomplished by intense study, for Mr. Farren is an actor more by study than by nature. Miss Taylor gave great effect to the character of Mrs. Dupely, which she played more quietly, and therefore much better than we have seen her play any thing. The play went off with great applause. We must, however, call Mr. Percy Farren's attention to his stage arrangements. There was one jelly and one sponge-cake to a party--and a servant in livery brings a minister of state a parcel of letters in his hand instead of upon a salver. All these minor things should be attended to, or the effect of the whole is spoiled.

ENGLISH OPERA HOUSE.-Mr. Arnold has not been idle, but has been making the most of his very small temporary domain, by bringing out an Opera of Ferdinand Ries, which has met with complete success, and is deservedly increasing every night in attraction. We do not attempt to criticize the "Sorceress" as a dramawe know the fetters which written music always forges for an author, and we will not torture him with our abuse, when he is confined within the bars of such a cage, as an opera already composed must always prove to a dramatic writer.

This opera was succeeded by a small piece under the title of " Arrangement," by Don Trueba de Telesforo; and a musical drama by Mr. Peake, which promises to run to the end of the season, and to fill the treasury, so that Mr. Arnold may hope to be a gainer instead of a loser by his Adelphi speculation.

We always anticipate a piece from Mr. Peake with pleasure, and we are seldom, if ever, disappointed. We are always certain from the first, that there is no translation about it-that there is something which we have not seen before-and; above all, we are always sure of a hearty laugh or two to put us in good humour, and send us home merrily to bed. This author is famous for the choice of subjects, which; to an inexperienced mind do not appear dramatic; indeed, we doubt whether the most experienced of our playwrights would have ventured on such subjects as "Frankenstein," or the "Bottle Imp." Peake, however, saw their dramatic capabilities, and has rendered them highly interesting and most completely successful on the stage. He has, too, unerring tact in the introduction of those comic characters by which the horrors of his subject are relieved; and we confess, we think we perceive a deep moral in the attempt to lessen the effect of these superstitions, the influences of which are not yet quite exploded from real life.

The romantic drama of the "Evil Eye" derives its subject from one of those popular superstitions which have been common in so many parts of the world. The idea was suggested by a note to Mr. Southey's Tale of Paraguay; and Mr. Peake has worked up the late transactions of the Greeks and the Turks, so as to give a temporary and local interest to his story.

Helena, the person by whom the power of the Evil Eye is felt, had been an attendant in the service of a Greek chieftain, who had perished in one of the Turkish massacres. His two sons, however, escape; Andrea takes refuge with Basilius, Bey of Tripolitza, to whose daughter, Phrosina, he is betrothed; and Marco is concealed by Helena beneath a trap-door in her house. Her husband, Demetrius, is a drunken spendthrift, and his vices together with the guilty solicitations of Mavroyeni, a Greek magistrate in the Turkish interest, render her very unhappy. Basilius, disgraced in consequence of the refuge he had afforded to Andrea, is degraded, and accompanied by his daughter is sent in chains and thrown into a dungeon in Napoli di Romania. Helena does all she can to effect the escape of the chieftain, conceal Marco, and avoid the addresses of Mavroyeni; till the latter enraged at her denial, and incensed at her scorn, resorts to the diabolical measure of gaining his purpose, by inflicting upon her the terror of the "Evil Eye." For this purpose, he curses her with an invocation of this dreaded evil; and to secure the blow which he has given to her mind, sets free a Russian on the condition of his acting the demon. The Greeks believe that an evil eye looks upon them at the approach of death; and it is described as an aspect which is seen upon house-tops, and looking in at windows-a pale face with a terrible eye, and clothed in rags.

Helena is haunted accordingly. Unfortunately the spectre sees Marco, and orders are given, under pretence of the non-payment of rent, to turn her and her husband out of doors, and search the premises for the child. The search is made but defeated by an an unexpected hider under the trap-door, who starts up in the person of Zané Kiebabs, a good-humoured and drunken associate of Demetrius. Among the presents made to Helena, by the magistrate, is a piece of paper which he takes for a charm, but which is in fact a ticket in an European lottery. She learns that this ticket has been drawn a prize, and hoping to pay her husband's debts, and induce him to a more regular course of life, she hurries with joy to her husband to announce their good fortune, when he starts up like a maniac, and informs her he has gambled away the ticket in his last debauch.

Helena in spite of the Evil Eye succeeds in concealing Marco-a way is made into Basilius's dungeon by Andrea and others who undermine it. Helena is seen in the cavern adjoining to it-the Evil Eye appears-but she, finding its possessor mortal, desires Marco to take the pistol from her belt and defend them. The child obeys her the Russian falls-the magistrate enters to seize the conspirators-the walls of the dungeon give way-an explosion destroys the prison; and Basilius, Phrosina, and the others triumph over their enemies.

Such are the outlines of a story, that in any other hands might not have made a very interesting drama: but Peake has contrived to render it one of the most amusing spectacles that we have witnessed for a long time.

Miss Kelly gave us some of her best acting in the part of Helena, and proves her powers to be undiminished by want of practice. Little Miss Poole-and we shall be very sorry when she grows to be big Miss Poole-was delightful in the little would-be hero. Her song with the cymbals is one of the most effective things we have ever witnessed. The delight of this child is, that she is a child-there is nothing forced-nothing unnatural-nothing that appears taught-she seems to act from the excitement of her own genius; and we are told that her master, Mr. Harris, shows his judgment by wishing her to play only children. Reeve was delightful in the drunken good-fellow, and kept the audience in a roar. In his hands, or rather his mouth, every joke tells-and Peake's jokes seem made for Reeve. This is certainly one of the best characters we have seen Reeve in--and he seems to revel in it. Altogether we think this will prove one of this author's most popular pieces, and we again recommend our other playwrights to imitate Peake and be original.

METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL

Kept at Edmonton, Latitude 51° 37' 32" N. Longitude 3′ 51′′ West of Greenwich. The warmth of the day is observed by means of a Thermometer exposed to the North in the shade, standing about four feet above the surface of the ground. The extreme cold of the night is ascertained by a horizontal self-registering Thermometer in a similar situation. The daily range of the Barometer is known from observations made at intervals of four hours each, from eight in the morning till the same time in the evening. The weather and the direction of the wind are the result of the most frequent observations. The rain is measured every morning at eight o'clock.

A. Jacquesson, of Leicester Square, Middlesex, for improvements in machinery applicable to lithographic and other printing. Communicated by a foreigner. July 6, 1831.

R. Prosser, of Birmingham, for improvements in manufacturing nails or tacks for ornamenting boxes and articles of furniture. July 13, 1831.

J. Milne, of Shaw, Oldham, Lancaster, for improvements on instruments or machines, commonly called roving frames, and slubbing frames, used for preparing cotton wool for spinning. July 13, 1831.

M. Poole, of Lincoln's Inn, Middlesex, for improvements in steam-engines, and in propelling boats and other floating bodies, parts of which improvements are applicable to other purposes. Communicated by a foreigner. July 13, 1831.

A. Demondion, of Old Fish Street Hill, London, for improvements on guns, muskets, and other fire-arms, and in cartridges to be used therewith, and method of priming the same; and in the machinery for making the said guns, muskets, and fire-arms; also the cartridges and priming; which improvements are also applicable to other purposes. Communicated by a foreigner. July 13, 1831.

J. Pycroft, of Rolleston, near Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, for improvements connected with grates and other fire-places. July 13, 1831.

S. Mordan, of Castle Street East, Finsbury, for improvements in writing and drawing pens and penholders, and in the method of using them. July 13, 1831. W. Batten, of Rochester, Kent, for an apparatus for checking or stopping chain cables, which apparatus may be applied to other purposes. July 13, 1831. John de Burgh, Marquis of Clanricarde, for improvements in fire-arms, and in the projectiles to be used therewith. Communicated by a foreigner. July 15, 1831.