neral, are remarkably fine, and well executed. Figure 119, however, is quite absurd. III. GEOMETRY OF THE HIGHER CURVES. A Treatise formed on a regular plan, to embrace the chief properties of all the remarkable curves above the lines of the second order, has long been wanted, for completing the course of mathematical instruction. Some works, indeed, on Conic Sections, have bestowed a glance over this subject; but their notices are scanty, and confined to a very few curves. The properties of the higher curves lie scattered through volumes of difficult access, and are only brought occasionally into view as exemplifications of the rules of the method of Fluxions, or of the Differential and Integral Calculus. But the beautiful relations of these curves expand our prospects, and afford wide scope for the application of a refined geometry. To avoid circuitous de monstration it became expedient, on this occasion, to depart somewhat from the ancient manner of proceeding; but such deviations nowise impair the accuracy of the reasoning. The superior elegance and perspicuity with which the geometrical process unfolds the properties of those higher curves, may show that the Fluxionary Calculus should be more sparingly employed, if not reserved for the solution of problems of a more arduous nature. I have drawn the materials from various sources, but chiefly from the writings of Huygens and the two Bernouillis. But the value of the treatise will consist in the symmetry of the structure, and the beauty and im portance of the propositions which it has combined. The properties of curves of the higher orders have certainly been too much neglected by our mathematicians. Emerson, however, has done more than "glance" at them, at the end of his Conic Sections. His epitome is far from comprehending a regular treatise on curves, but it is not extremely inferior to this by Mr Leslie. Both treat the subject in nearly the same manner, which is certainly clumsy, and embarrassing. In treating of the properties of curves, the analytical method is superior to the geometrical; the reasoning in both is nearly the same, but the algorithm of the one is vastly superior to that of the other. The reader may find much on this sub ject in the second volume of Euler's Analysis Infinitorum; Cramer has also given us a quarto volume on curves. Newton, Maclaurin, Robertson, and many others, have likewise treated of this subject. There was consequently no lack of materials, although there was no regular introduction; and so far we may be allowed to praise Mr Leslie's work, as being the first elementary treatise on curves of the higher kind in our language. The Magnetic Curve, and the Tractory, are the greatest novelties in this part of the work; but the former of these had been recently treated analytically by Professor Wallace, and an excellent paper on the latter is given by M. Bomie, in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences for 1712. We have now only to notice the Professor's language, which, in our opinion, is extremely improper for geometrical reasoning: it is too flowery; and there is a sort of tinsel about it, which strongly reminds us of the tawdry dresses in which the saints in some Catholic churches are bedizened. He talks about " the different phases exhibited by the concourse of a straight line with a curve;" of "a tangent combined with a point merging the same contact." Again," the radi ating lines A E, and C F, will, with a certain angle, change from convergence to divergence; but at the limits on either hand, they will shoot into a parallel direction ;' suppose the three points to stand in a straight line;"" when the intersection G shoots into indefinite remoteness." Let us also take part of his description of the Quadratrix. "At this limit the curve must vanish into distance. In the description of the third right angle, the intersection will begin again beyond H, will travel through E, at an interval beyond F, equal to OE, and will shade away towards G, along a second asymptote placed at an equal distance beyond the first.” At page 337, "If a point starting to the right, or left, gradually bend its course," &c. " and conceive the point C, darting at first parallel to D B, or D A, should incessantly deviate from this direction." We have also "travelling points," and points of contact that range in right lines. He speaks also of "the great law, which not only guides the revolutions of the planets about the sun, but the revolutions of their satellites about them selves;" and of "the organic description of curves, on which the genius of Newton flashed a sudden blaze." But enough on this subject. We should, however, be glad to know whether these elegancies are likewise to be faithfully translated into the French and German languages. "It only remains," says Mr L., "for completing my plan, to produce a volume on Descriptive Geometry, and the theory of solids, comprehending Perspective, the Projection of the Sphere, and Spherical Trigonometry." Another volume, then, it seems, is to complete the Professor's Course of Mathematics. We are not conceited enough to suppose that he will endeavour, in his next, to avoid the faults we have pointed out in this and his preceding volume; we hope, however, shortly to see the completion of his plan, and sincerely wish that "repeated accidents" may not again intervene, so as to "repeatedly interrupt" his very laudable design. LONDON THEATRICAL CORRESPON- is now most probable that the Session will not conclude till August. The town is thus kept full, and the Winter Theatres have been obliged to encroach, by degrees, upon the period hitherto considered the property of their summer rivals. Of course, this is a serious injury to the latter, especially as they will be compelled to shut their doors immediately after the former re-open theirs in October. Neither Covent-Garden nor Drury-Lane produced any novelty worthy of notice between the date of my last letter and the end of their career. To the first, the season has been very profitable; and Mr Elliston, as lessee of the last, has at least been able to pay his rent, and to add about £.1,100 for extra-nights, not included in the engagement. Of course, the proprietors of both are in good spirits, and, if matters still proceed in this way, we shall have theatrical property at a premium. On the subject of novelties, I may mention, that one was promised on the night when Abbot took his benefit; but neither the promise nor the piece were performed. I allude to the announcement of the farce of "Mr H.," which was never played but once, having had the misfortune, some years ago, to be damned. It is the work of a man of very eccentric and original genius, Mr Charles London, July 2. Lamb, and it is printed in a late OUR Winter Theatres, as they are collection of his productions. It met called, and miscalled, both closed its fate, not from any fault of the aujust before the commencement of thor, actors, or audience, but from the last month of Summer-July. an accident of the weather, which The nobility and gentry of former put every body out of humour. The times used to enjoy the luxury of plot turns upon a point, and if the clear air, fine prospects, and healthy audience is not disposed to be well exercises, long before the termina- satisfied, but to be fastidious and hytion of May; but now, what with percritical, it could not succeed. The the late sitting of Parliament, and design of the piece is to shew the inthe consequent detention of the King conveniences, difficulties, and danand Court in the metropolis, nobody gers, to which a man may be exposof any rank thinks of quitting Lon-ed, from having a hideous name, don for the country, until it has, which induces him always to conceal in truth, lost all its early beauty; it under the initial letter. If it had that beauty which is the more de- been revived on the fine evening when lightful, because it is contrasted with Abbot had his benefit, I would have the coldness and barrenness of winter. answered for its success. Its expulMr Brougham (but what has his sion from the stage was attended name to do with theatrical criticism?) with one good consequence, at least, in a late speech, incidently showed, viz. that the author, in a periodical that King William could not compel work of the day, wrote a most ingehis Parliament to sit in June, in or- nious and amusing article, upon the der that he might have supplies for singular blessing of being damned! the prosecution of his campaigns. It Why Mr Abbot substituted another 112 London Theatrical Correspondence. farce for it, in the bills of the day, has not been explained, and I do not know that it is necessary it should be. I have heard it said in various quarters, that my criticism upon Mr Colman's "Law of Java," in the Edinburgh Magazine of last month, was somewhat too severe. I did not write it until I had seen the play twice; and by an accident, (for after discharging my duty, nothing but accident could have occasioned it,) I have seen it once since; and upon the re-perusal of the article, I feel satisfied that I have said in it no more than was deserved. People in London are very little used to read any thing freely written, regarding the stage. In general, they just skim over the theatrical articles in the daily newspapers, in order to see whether a piece or an actor has been well or ill received; but they have ceased, and properly, to have much reliance upon the opinions and impartiality of the writers. In this respect, the system is very different now, to what it was formerly, (I mean some eight or ten years ago,) and our journals are all more or less unwilling, or afraid, to speak out in the way of dispraise. They are by no means as independent in the affairs of the drama as they are in the affairs of the state; and it is certainly a great defect in the mode in which they are conducted. Boileau has a line, C'est un mechant métier que celui de médire; but the writers to whom I refer seem to make no distinction between fair truth and unfair detraction. It may also be admitted, that it is better to err on the more favourable side; but the paltry squeamishness almost invariably displayed, on theatrical subjects, by the daily press, is undoubtedly highly injurious to the true interests of the drama. What if the Managers of Drury-Lane and Covent-Garden withheld their free admission, in consequence of the publication of a little wholesome censure? It could be a matter of no importance to such newspapers as the "Times" and the "Chronicle;" and they would gain infinitely more, by delivering themselves from the trammels under which they are at present placed. The free admissions operate in ano July ther way disadvantageously; for they point out the individual who is employed to write, and it is an awkward thing for him to make personal enemies of all the authors and actors upon whom he may publish remarks which they consider ill-natured and severe. I allow, nevertheless, that a critic, in a widely-extended journal, has a delicate and a responsible task to perform, and that some forbearance, and even tenderness, is required in its execution. As I have yet some room left in to another ground of complaint, apmy sheet, I may advert very briefly plicable to both the last theatrical articles in the Edinburgh Magazine, person singular, and not in the criviz. that they are written in the first tical, corporate, editorial first person plural. If this mode had not been thought an advantage, it would not have been adopted; and it would have been quite as easy to have followed that the separate opinions of an inthe ordinary course, of pretending dividual come from a body of men clubbing their knowledge, and comparing their judgments. What I write, I write on my own authority; and if, on any occasion, it displease, be responsible for me. as no doubt it will, I ask nobody to I shall always endeavour to be as little egotistic as possible, and never to make "Little I the hero of each tale." If this plan were pursued more ge- London, July 4 gel" could not fail to draw me to the The title of "The Fortunes of NiSurrey Theatre, and there I saw drama evidently got up with great gree of skill, and knowledge of effect. haste, but with no inconsiderable deOne fault of the piece is the fault of the novel, viz. that we have no great respect or admiration, and, therefore, roine there is really none, though it no great interest for the hero: he seems pretty clear that the author originally meant to make much more of Lady Hermione than he has done. The writer of the adaptation has at tempted rather too much, by bringing in all the characters. The three volumes of the novel did not give the "Great Unknown" rooin for displaying, with full effect, all the personages whom he has made prominent in the outset of his work; and it was not therefore to be expected, that they could all be brought within the limits of a play, occupying no more than two hours in the representation. In this respect, the dramatist has displayed some deficiency of judgment: he has, besides, dwelt upon incidents, that tell most excellently in the reading, but have not the same effect upon the stage. On the whole, they have collected a very good company of actors at this theatre, and the play of "The Fortunes of Nigel" has been very well got up. Such as have not read "Halidon Hill," have been looking for its announcement in some of the bills of our theatres; but those who have read it, pretend to a great degree of sagacity, in finding out that Sir Walter Scott meant it to be considered a failure, in order the better to conceal his being the real author of the Scotch Novels. It has been over and over again said, that the author of the Scotch Novels must have great talents for the stage. This point is referred to in the introduction to Nigel, where the scraps of old plays, or pretended old plays, are mentioned; and it is asserted by those who affect "to penetrate into the depths of things," that Sir W. Scott is anxious to shew, on this account, that he has no talents for dramatic poetry. While upon the subject of what are called our Minor Theatres, I wish to notice a piece now acting at the Coburg, and which merits great praise. It belongs to the class of melo-dramas; and it has plot, character, and situation, to recommend it. The title of it is "The Blind Mine," and the scene is somewhat injudiciously laid in Derbyshire. It is partly original, and partly translated; and the reason why the scene is injudiciously laid, is, because we know that in this county no such state of society exists, as to account for the boldness of some of the incidents. I am not about to analyze the production, because it is not absolutely new; but there is one dreadful scene, of a TOL. XI. conflict between two men, both badly wounded at the bottom of the Blind Mine, and which was acted with astonishing effect, by two men of the names of Bradley and Blanchard. The former of these is perhaps unequalled in the part of a murderous ruffian. I may also mention, in terms of almost unqualified praise, a performer of the name of Beverley, who possesses great comic talent, although in a narrow compass. The actresses at this house are not remarkable either for beauty or ability. Davis, who has taken Astley's Amphitheatre, relies almost exclusively for success upon the excellence of his quadrupeds, not merely horses, but dogs and bears. His bipeds are, without exception, the worst in London. Man, with all his boasted reason and genius, appears here to infinite disadvantage: "We cannot call a brute a man, That language would not suit; But here most certainly we can Call every man a brute," though not without considerable injustice to the latter. London, July 7. The Haymarket Theatre having opened for its season, at the end of last month, a new comedy, in three acts, was brought forward on Wednesday last: it has met with considerable success, and is announced in the bills for every evening until further notice." It bears for title, "John Buzzby, or a Day's Pleasure;" and is from the pen of Mr Kenny, author of "Raising the Wind." This farce is always connected with his name, because, as it was his earliest, so it was his most successful production. A young author, making a first attempt for the stage, should always be careful to write for a summer audience. Certain it is, that the spectators at a summer theatre are never so ceremonious, punctilious, and scrupulous, (all which epithets come under the term genteel,) as those at a winter theatre, who, in general, seem to think it a sort of imputation upon their understandings to be too easily pleased. It is not to be denied that the higher nobility and leading gentry are rarely present in summer; but it is perhaps P equally certain that the fineness of the weather has its effect in keeping the audience in good humour, and prepared (like a man with a good appetite) to relish whatever is set before them. Many authors have held, and among them Milton and Cowper, that they could write better in clear sunny weather, than on dull foggy days; and there seems no reason to confine the difference to writers only. It is often a great source of pleasure to watch the countenances of a summer audience: they are all so determined upon being merry, so resolutely good-natured, so predisposed to be satisfied with the entertainment afforded them, and so free from that fault-finding spirit which prevails in colder weather, and makes the undertaking of a play-writer infinitely more hazardous. A summer audience always seems to feel exactly what Rabelais expresses in the two last lines of the sonnet (excuse the old French) prefixed to his Garagantua : "Mieulx est de rire que de larmes escrire, Pource que rire est le propre de l'homme. Nature seems to have intended man for enjoyment, by giving to him only, of all creation, (the Hyena excepted,) the faculty of laughing. John Buzzby was written to produce laughter, and it accomplished its purpose completely on the night when I went to see it. It contains the adventures of a citizen who takes a journey to Richmond, on a fine July day-an excursion probably made at some time or other by every one of the spectators. The characters are all of a familiar, every-day kind, with only such exaggerations as serve to make them effective; and the incidents, if not always quite probable, are at least entertaining, and follow each other with such rapidity, that the attention never flags. On his arrival at Richmond, John is accosted by a lady, with whom he had travelled in the stage-coach: she throws herself, somewhat præter spem, upon his protection; and out of this circumstance, and the secret cause of her journey, (which, by the bye, is never sufficiently explained,) arises nearly the whole structure of the piece. There is, however, an under-plot made out of Mrs Buzzby, Oxberry played the (a scold, who followed her husband John, the latter having made his escape,) her son by a former husband, (a vulgar cockney dandy,) and a lady named Cecilia, the ward of John Buzzby, who had fallen in love with a dragoon officer, quartered at Richmond. There is great variety of character in the play, indeed too much to be clearly developed; for Mr Kenny seems to have been desirous of including the whole dramatic strength of the House. part of an inn-keeper, who bawls out to his talkative daughter, (who says very little on the stage,) "Hold your tongue, hussy!" Mrs Chatterley, could of course make but little of as the daughter, with all her talent, her part. Terry was rather too much of a gentlemen for John Buzzby, the haberdasher and hosier, and Jones Greville of the 18th Dragoons. He not enough of a gentleman for Capt. mistakes flippancy for ease, and whisking about the stage for spirit and alacrity. Mrs H. Johnston perincognita-and sufficiently well; but formed the heroine, the mysterious she begins to want the two great requisites she formerly possessed as an actress-youth and beauty. Mrs Pearse performed the scolding wife of the citizen as noisily and vulgarly as could be wished-indeed more so than the author wished, for she drew down the only hisses heard, from the rising to the falling of the curtain. I must not omit to notice Mr W. West's representation of the vulgar, conceited cockney: Liston (for whom the part was originally intended) could not have done it much better. The cock of his hat was worth his whole salary. The dialogue has but little to recommend it, excepting its general appropriateness; wit would have been out of place, not less in the mouth of the hosier than of the dragoon. However, Mr Kenny's talent does not lie this way, and it would be difficult to name a single author of the present day who does possess it. It may not be amiss here to notice, that this play contains two or three double entendres, not of the most delicate kind; and "The Bill of Fare," a sort of introduction brought out on the first opening of this theatre, without being puritani |