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nity seemed doomed to destruction. Had the stones that fell been proportionally heavy to their size, not a living creature could have escaped without death: these having undergone a thorough fusion, were divested of their natural gravity, and fell almost as light as pumex, though in some places as large as a man's head. This dreadful rain of stones and fire lasted upwards of an hour, and was again succeeded by cinders from three till six o'clock in the morning. Earthquake followed earthquake almost momentarily, or rather the whole of this part of the Island was in a state of continued oscillation not agitated by shocks vertical or horizontal, but undulated like water shaken in a bowl.

"The break of day, if such it could be called, was truly terrific. Darkness was only visible at eight o'clock, and the birth of May dawned like the day of Judgment; a chaotic gloom enveloped the mountain, and an impenetrable haze hung over the sea, with black sluggish clouds of a sulphureous cast. The whole Island was covered with favilla, cinders, scoria, and broken masses of volcanic matter. It was not until the afternoon the muttering noise of the mountain sunk gradually into a solemn, yet suspicious, silence! Such were the parti

culars of this sublime and tremendous scene, from the commencement to the catastrophe! To describe the effects is, if possible, a more difficult and truly most distressing task."

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scraps of poetry, good, bad, and indifferent, upon this once popular amusement; and I send you two specimens from the same. In the first, which is the prettier of the two, the amusement affords a melancholy reflection, arising from the termination of it: in the second, the poet feels a loftiness of sentiment, which is perhaps expressed with some little infla tion. In both cases the Hawker moralises; and hence the Miscellany takes its name, as above expressed.

From "Hawking Moralised," printed at Reading, 1776, 12mo:

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My pretty Hawk a prettier Dove
Holds fast 'twixt beak and feet;
While calling on its absent Love,
To seek the moss-wove seat,

He saw, and seiz'd. Oh! had his eye
Been dimm'd by age, or wing depress'd,
Fate had not doom'd the Dove to die,
Nor fix'd a thorn within my breast.
My Hawk shall lose his gingling bells,
Nor perch again upon my fist:
While of the past remembrance dwells,
From chace of bird I do desist.
My pretty Hawk a prettier Dove
Hath snatch'd at once from life and love."

P. 73.

From the same : "Tantivy the horn tells the breaking of day,

And merrily Foresters rise; O'er heath and o'er meadow they prick their bold way, [flies. While the Deer nimbly scampers and Let these their favourite game pursue ;' A different sport I keep in view :

I elaborate My plum'd my thoughts en

criticism upon the Bibliomania of Mr. Dibdin. The cut of the Hawker (taken from the work itself), and the observations of the Author relating to the subject of Hawking, amused me a good deal. From thence I went to the Utopia (edited by the same Reverend gentleman), and to Mr. Haslewood's reprint of Juliana Berners; wherein the subject appears to be well nigh exhausted. But judge, Sir, of my surprise and delight, when, turning to a corner of my library, in which are arranged about 150 duodecimo volumes of old and modern poetry, I discovered-what I was pretty sure of having possessed-a small chap-book upon the subject of Hawking; printed at Reading in 1776 and intituled, Hawking Mo

Falised.

It is a collection of miscellaneous

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or Mr. H. by putting themselves into the Reading Coach, may have a sight of it, as well as a taste of stewed carp, caught and drest after the manner of Isaac Walton-in visiting their hearty well-wisher, RUSTICUS.

Drury-Lane THEATRE.
HIS Theatre opened on Saturday,

let, to an immense audience. The public expectation had been so much excited, that the doors were crowded at an early hour; and the difficulty of entrance was excessive. When at length the crowd had slowly laboured their way into the Hall, they found other difficulties; and the passages to the doors for receiving money were scenes of nearly as much struggle and danger as the street. This hall is a large unornamented, oblong entrance, lighted by a handsome circular lamp, with a range of narrow iron-railing enclosing the pay-doors. The next progress is into a circular apartment, surrounded by columns, and covered by a dome. In the centre is a cast from the beautiful statue of Shakspeare, by Roubiliac, in the garden of Mrs. Garrick, at Hampton, left after

her decease to the British Museum.

On the landing-place of each of the grand staircases, a line of railing, bronzed and gilt, is drawn across for the ticket-receivers; and those once passed, the audience are let loose among the galleries of this striking edifice. The general avenue to the upper part, in the interior, is a showy circular passage, running round the Shakspeare-hall, at about a third of its height, lighted with antique lamps of bronze, and branching off to the saloon and the boxes. The Saloon, on the construction of which the Architect probably occupied much of his means, is handsome, so far as size might assist its effect. Large ottomans are placed at intervals in two lines down the middle, and the recesses in the sides lined with sofas. The colour of the furniture is throughout scarlet. Two coffee-rooms close the extremities. Chandeliers and lamps, on antique models, are interspersed in great profusion. On the box-doors being open ed, the Theatre blazes upon the eye; and it is scarcely possible for any eye to look upon it without being for the moment dazzled and delighted by its prodigal and luxuriant beauty. The back of the Boxes sweeps, as it ap

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ward the audience more equally to the front. We understand that the centre boxes are 17 feet nearer the stage than in the Covent-Garden Theatre, and 16 feet nearer than in the former house. The front of the dressboxes is simple and delicate; that of the first circle, retiring by a slight bend, is covered with gilding and colours; the fronts of the upper rows are gorgeously decorated with green and gold. The back of the boxes is a strong red; the cushions a deep crimson. To the credit of the Architect and the Committee, the Basket is wholly omitted. The Pit contains only 17 rows of seats, but it seems capacious and well-arranged; the en trances are at the back. The orches tra occupies but a part of it, and the seats at either end reach down to the stage. The aspect of the Stage is admirable: the place of the Stage-doors is filled up by two immense groupes of gryphons or sphynxes in bronze, supporting each a brazen tripod of hydrostatic lights, the invention of Mr. Barton. The flame rises from a circle of thirty-six small tubes above the edge of the urn; and, from its brilliancy, wavering delicacy, and slight connection with its support, excited universal admiration. Over these, on a line with the first and second circles, are the Managers' boxes, small, and singularly tasteful: above these is a magnificent cornice; and the whole is surmounted by the statue of a Muse. This is all finely pic turesque. From the overpowering brightness of the stage and the tripods, the eye rises to the graceful ornament of those recesses, that look, with their gold and imaged work, like pavilions in an Eastern garden, and from them gradually fixes on the pale and marble form of a Muse, surrounded with the severer lines of the architecture, slightly shaded from the burning brightness of the stage, and standing in all the grace of chaste, lonely, Greek simplicity. Two large green columns, with gilded capitals, limit

the

the stage on either side; and the

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Architect seems to have availed himself of them in a very able manner. From the comparative narrowness of the stage, it might have been feared that the figures of the performers would appear disproportionately large, at least to all that majority of the audience not perfectly on their level but by bringing forward those pillars, and still more by, if we may so express ourselves, extending their pedestal on both sides of the proscenium, an immediate contrast is formed, which reduces the stature of the performer to the due proportion. From this, which struck us as a very happy expedient, the stage appeared to have all the advantage, without the inconvenience, of that size, which has given rise to so much complaint in the Covent-garden Theatre. On a comparison with this latter theatre, defects occur to us in both; but the mutual character differs so widely, that a perfect contrast is beyond our powers. The one produces its effect by rigid regularity; the other by various elegance. In the one, decoration obtrudes itself reluctantly, and is submissive to the sterner spirit of the Temple; in the other, the very wan tonness of a luxuriant taste sports in all its fancies, and impresses all its touches with the spirit of an oriental palace. Shakspeare would have chosen Covent-garden for the stern passions of his Othello, or the desperate and sublime cruelty of his Lady Macbeth; but for the light elegance, and fairy beauty, and fantastic splendour of the Tempest, or the Midsummer Night's Dream, he would have turned unwillingly from Drury-lane. They are both able works, aud do honour to the liberality and the skill by which they have been raised within so short a period; but a decision on their respective merits must depend on the peculiar habits of the decider.

Careful provision has been made to secure the audience against all danger. The circular wall, which forms the back of the boxes (which in all other theatres has been a framing of tim ber), is a solid brick wall, three feet thick; and at a distance of only eight feet from that wall is another, of concentric form, of 2 feet 3 inches thickness; the two being connected by strong brick arches, covered with stone above, forming the corridors or passages immediately at the back of the several tiers of boxes, and constituting a double barrier of uncom

bustible materials, to check the progress of fire. The staircases are entirely of stone; and the avenues and door-ways leading to them all so constructed, in pout of materials and capacity, as to afford effectual security, both against fire, and pressure of the audience arising from sudden alarm. The external doors of the theatre, also, are so constructed as to open outwards as well as inwards. A system has also been adopted, which promises to secure the building from fire. For this the Theatre is indebted to the science and ingenuity of Col. Congreve, who has gratuitously undertaken to superintend its execution. It consists in the application of compressed air, by means of which water can be forced through pipes already laid to every part of the building. In the centre of the ceiling there is a head of Apollo upon a circular board, upon which the rays of the sun are painted, and which hangs a little lower than the rest of the ceiling round it. To this part of the ceiling a great pipe is conveyed, from which, by the operation of machinery over the ceil ing, water may be discharged in great abundance, and by the horizontal whirling of the circular board beneath, be spread in a heavy shower over every part of the pit and boxes. The quantity of water in the reservoir at all times will be 200 hugsheads, which will be sufficient to keep all the pipes fully supplied about half an hour; and the Directors of the York-buildings Water-works are engaged to put their steam-engines in activity, and in 20 minutes to replenish the reservoir.

Of the Exterior appearance of this building, of which we have given a view of the principal front (see Plate I.), it can scarcely be necessary to say any thing. Simple in its form, and unobtrusive in its character, though solid and massive in all its parts, it prescuts little promise of the elaborate nature and finish of the internal edifice. The means of the Committee having been limited, it was their object to avoid all unnecessary expence.

This magnificent building will be completed for 112,0001. The expence, including lamps, lustres, stoves, grates, furniture, and Architect's commission, will not exceed 125,000l.: and the whole amount of expenditure, including scenery, wardrobe, and all the other properties, will not exceed 150,000

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