little value. And yet every market is overstocked with rooks. Wits were rather fcarce at Mrs. W's laft week, and the demand for them continues to increase. Beauties were plentiful, and very dear to admirers. Puppies and loungers are quite drugs upon the Bond Street market, and in general they are of very little, value, though they too often coft a great deal to their taylors.. -- CROSS READING OF A NEWSPAPER. THIS morning the Right Hon. the Speaker- A certain commoner will be created a peer. Laft night a moft terrible fire broke out, and the evening concluded with the utmoft feftivity. At a very full meeting of common-council the greatest show of horned cattle this feafon. An indictment for murder is preferred against the worshipful company of apothecaries. Removed to Marybone, for the benefit of the air,, The city and liberties of Westminster. fet out on his travels to foreign parts. Beware of counterfeits, for fuch are abroad. The I The Freemafons will hold their annual grand lodge. N. B. The utmost fecrecy may be depended on. Yesterday the new Lord Mayor was fworn in, and burnt with dreadful fury; but no lives were loft. On Tuesday last an address was presented— it happily miffed fire, and the villain made off. A fine turtle, weighing upwards of eighty pounds, was carried before the fitting Alderman. Sunday a poor woman was fuddenly taken in labour, the contents whereof have not yet tranfpired. ACCOUNT OF A NEW PANTOMIME. [From the Morning Herald.] THIS baftard fpecies of theatrical amufement has been criticifed by our dramatic cenfors, perhaps too feverely, as being incapable of gratifying taftes fuperior to thofe of tradesfolk, or children in the holidays. Exhibitions of this nature ought not, however, to be condemned in toto. There are a few that merit exemption from fo general a cenfure; fuch, for inftance, are thofe in which an, interefting (tory may be expreffed and understood by action only; and among this kind may be reckoned the pantomime of " RobinJon Crufce." But that fort deferves the highest praife, which, to a ftory deeply interefting, adds the most wonderful feats of action, the most ingenious machinery, and the fublimeft fcenery. Of this laft and moft' perfed fpecies of pantomime, we never had it in our power to notice an example before the prefent famous piece, entitled HARLEQUIN HARLEQUIN IN ITALY, OR FLIGHT OVER THE ALPS.. We proceed to give our readers a brief sketch of the plot, characters, and fcenery of this extraordinary reprefentation. To imprefs a juft idea of the merits and celebrity of the refpective performers, collected as they have been from every nation in Europe, it is only neceffary to present the following rôle of the Harlequin by DRAMATIS PERSONÆ: The Magician by PRESTISSIMO BONAPARTE; Sempervivo, Harlequin's Signor MESSINO; Friend Columbine's Father, Columbine's Suitor, Scaramouch, The Clown by the famous Columbine, by the cele Monf. LA REVOLUTIONAIRE Mifter M'DUNDERASS; Donna VICTORIA. This pantomime at the opening does not very materially differ from others. Columbine, wearied with the importunities of fuitors, of whofe addreffes, notwithstanding the imperious commands of her father, fhe cannot approve, chooses for herself, in the excurfions of fancy, an imaginary lover, with whom the becomes enamoured, even before he has existence. The Magician, knowing the ftate of her mind by his art magic, waves his wand, calls up his familiars, and. gives birth to a Harlequin exactly fuited to her inclinations. Here a variety of fcenes are exhibited, en ombres Chinoifes, before the actual developement of the drama. By thefe Harlequin is understood to have obtained a temporary poffeffion of Columbine. The fair fugitive fugitive becomes wanton and capricious, and longs for a Mamlouck; upon which Harlequin begins his feats, and adventures.-Harlequin performs his firft fpring. from the feet of the Alps to the island of Malta, and from the island of Malta to the land of Egypt. This amazing jump reminds the claffical reader of the hop, ftep, and leap that Neptune makes in the Iliad, from Samothracia to Troy : "From realm to realm three ample strides he took." Harlequin's adventures in Egypt form a brilliant difplay of fcenery and machinery. There, like his prédeceffor St. George, he encounters feveral terrible Saracens, and fundry fiery dragons. The Clown, however, who, as in other pantomimes, is the head and foul of Harlequin's enemies and purfuers, finds a way, fome how or other, haud paffibus æquis, to come up with him; upon which the Clown, who is himself a conjurer, and very clever withal, brings forward a trained crocodile, which he fets at Harlequin, exactly as a butcher fets his dog at a bull. The monfter is then feen to open his enormous jaws, to make a snap at Harlequin, and, in fine, to fwallow him up at a mouthful. The Clown then turns about to the audience, and laughs, and all the audience laugh with him.-Poor Harlequin being thus difpofed of, to all appearance for ever, the fcene changes to the Alps, and exhibits Columbine's adventures in the abfence of Harlequin. There she is several times entrapped by the lover the detefts; but, by the affiftance of Harlequin's fprightly friend, Sempervivo, fhe contrives to efcape. The Lover finding himfelf likely to be foiled, calls in Pantaloon, and his man Scaramouch, to his affistance. Pantaloon makes his debut, mounted on a tall pair of ftilts (concealed by his long pantaloons), in order to appear grand. Scaramouch, however, is a much more formidable perfonage; he is furnished with an immenfely menfely fierce pair of muftachoes, and flourishes in either hand a huge carving knife and fork, with which he threatens to cut up and eat all the little children he can meet with. Sempervivo, no ways intimidated, performs a thousand astonishing capers; he skips about from Alp to Alp like a Shamoy goat, and exceeds Harlequin himself in fome of his vaulting: in fine, he refcues Columbine from Pantaloon, fends him off with a flea in his ear, fhaves the whiskers of Scaramouch, and drives him blubbering after his mafter. At laft the Clown and the Lover lay their heads together; by the affiftance of a black knight, they once more recover Columbine, and fhut up Sempervivo in an enchanted caftle. Here then the audience are led to fuppofe that the piece must conclude, and that Columbine will be compelled to marry the lover of her father's choice. But now comes the denouement of the plot, which ftrikingly evinces the fuperior excellence of this pantomime above every other; inafmuch as fupernatural or miraculous methods are never employed, until nothing can be effected by ordinary means: the contriver thereby ftrictly adhering to the precept of Horace, Nec deus interfit nifi dignus vindice nodus. The stage represents a scene at once beautiful and fubFime of the Alpine coaft of the Mediterranean. Enter the Magician from between two rocks, folus, and in all his awful paraphernalia; his San Benito cap on his head; his white wand in his hand; his sable robe, and his venerable beard, "ftreaming like a meteor in the troubled air." He waves his wand over the fea, and begins his magical incantations; when, behold! an immenfe and terrific fea-monfter is feen fwimming towards him. In fhort, this monster proves to be the identical crocodile that had swallowed up Harlequin in Egypt, and he now vomits him up fafe and found on the fhore. After all, this furprifing incident does not fhock |