Benedick, Macbeth, Ranger, Othello, Doricourt, Romeo, and Penruddock, are striking illustrations.

The train of thoughts necessary for the formation of an actor, begets, perhaps, the ardor scribendi; for he who can best describe the thoughts of others, may, by transition, attempt to delineate his own.

Mr. Elliston accordingly presented himself in a two-fold capacity, as author and actor, in the "Venetian Outlaw," which was played with success for several nights after his benefit at Drury-lane Theatre.

We are now arrived at the last season of his management at the Haymarket Theatre, a task he was about to enter upon with much reluctance, from his previous knowledge of the instability and capriciousness of the arrangements of that house; but a circumstance took place immediately antecedent to the opening, that relieved him from the performance of an unpleasant duty. Mr. Colinan sold a share of his property to Messrs. Morris and Winston, which placed the latter gentleman in Mr. Elliston's situation. Notwithstanding the want both of cordiality and of system, the season was very lucrative; and the ex-manager, after the most laborious exertions, took his final leave of the summer theatre at the conclusion of this campaign.

If the person of Mr. Garrick is to be considered as the standard of an actor's stature, Mr. Elliston may, if any thing, be taller than the unrivalled hero of the British stage, while the other parts of his person appear anatomically correct and duly proportioned.

To

To the countenance and eyes of this gentleman nature has certainly been favourable, as they contain those marks of expression, which want only study to render fully efficient in all the various duties of his profession. In respect to the expression and gracefulness of his attitudes, no objection can fairly be made. We have often attended to the deportment of his person, and never found cause to consider any part of his action as either redundant or inelegant.

Othello is a performance in which he is not regularly great, although he sometimes bursts upon the audience in such a manner as to excite admiration. The fire of his youth leads him in this character, as in Hamlet, into too much occasional hurry, which time and reflection will no doubt soften down.

The requisites for the performance of Macbeth are of such a peculiar kind, that the man who possesses them in an eminent degree, is in some measure but ill calculated for parts of an opposite description; yet this ardent candidate for fame never assumes the character without exhibiting many features of originality in his delineation of it. His performance, however, is by no means so methodised as that of Kemble, or rendered so complete, when considered as a whole. Elliston dazzles us with repeated flashes of original genius and conception, leaving intervals to discover the imperfections of his youthful efforts. But his performance clearly shows that he may be in that character, what at present he is not.

In respect to Comedy, Mr. Elliston sustains a

wide range with a happy effect; but his genteel characters have always been most esteemed. That mellowness, however, which time alone can bestow, is still wanting; and when he has been allowed more leisure for the study of his respective parts, he will, perhaps, become as celebrated for the greatness and perfection of his scenic efforts as he is now for his usefulness and versatility.

MR. ALDERMAN CÔMBE.

MUCH has been said respecting the disadvantages arising out of the increased population of Great cities; and no small portion of declamation has been used in order to prove how prejudicial this circumstance is to the best interests of a nation. It is customary to consider the metropolis of the British Isles, in particular, as a head, which of late years has swelled to such an unnatural size, as to have become eminently disproportionate to the body, while it is nourished entirely at its expense. In respect to England, indeed, the ratio both in point of numbers and extent, is excessive; but when it is recollected that this immense collection of streets and quares is not only the capital of the European portion of the empire, but also of our Asiatic, West Indian, and American dominions, some of these objections will vanish.

A multitude of advantages also must be allowed,

on.

on the other hand, to be derived from an extensive metropolis; constituting the germe, as it were, of civility in the early stages of society, it becomes in time not only the centre of commerce, but the asylum of the arts. It is there too that the people who, as an aggregate body, first learn and exercise their rights, have always a clear notion of their interests. It is there that they first begin to confer concerning their common injuries, and are taught to unite for a redress of their immediate wrongs." *

The English capital, in particular, has at all times constituted an important portion of the body politic. Its citizens, on account of their wealth and spirit, were at an early period of our history complimented with the aristocratical distinction of " Barons," while the conspicuous favour of nominating no less than four representatives, denotes no small degree of pre-eminence in respect to the important article of legislation.

The city of London too has always been distinguished for its patriotism and its love of liberty. While one of our learned universities endeavoured at

* "Conferre injurias et interpretando accendere."

TACIT.

+ A bishop of Winchester (legate to the Pope, and brother to King Stephen), about the middle of the twelfth century, observed in a council of the clergy of England, to certain deputies sent from the capital, "that it very ill became the citizens of London, who were regarded as a kind of nobles in England, to favour that party of the nobility who had abandoned their prince in battle, and who seemed to court the Londoners with no other view than to squeeze money from them.” W. of MALMS.

once to foster and perpetuate the slavish doctrines attempted to be inculcated by the House of Stuart, the inhabitants of the metropolis manfully supported their rights and liberties, and afterwards contributed not a little to seat the present illustrious family of Brunswick on the throne of these realms. In addition to this, the monied and mercantile interest, although often decried on account of their recent importance, have been eager to embrace every improvement and reform consistent with freedom, while on the other hand, with a few exceptions only, they have strenuously resisted every innovation that savoured of despotism.

From the happy nature of our constitution, many uneducated individuals indeed have suddenly risen into wealth from obscurity, passed rapidly through all the municipal offices, and at length attained the highest dignity in the corporation,without conferring dignity on the pretorian chair. But on the other hand, no city, since the heroic days of ancient Greece and Rome, could ever boast of so many illustrious magistrates and legislators to sustain its franchises, administer justice to its inhabitants, or represent its freemen in parliament.

The talents and integrity of Sir John Bernard were alike acknowledged by Walpole, whom he opposed, and by Pitt, whom he supported: the former paid a generous tribute of admiration to an enemy, while the latter conferred upon a friend the appellation of the "great commoner," a title, which, by the general consent of the nation, was afterwards trans

ferred