PRICE 34d.

genius of their countrymen; and, as it cannot be supposed, that a people, rude and uncultivated, shall be able to admire and appreciate the finer touches of poetical genius, will endeavour to produce that gaiety and mirth, which alone, they know, will be acceptable to their audiences. The subjects, likewise, upon which they exercise their talents, will be such as are familiar to their hearers; for, it is not to be expected, that the multitude, ignorant as they must be, can feel the force of their representations of scenes or objects, of which they know nothing.

ANCIENT THEATRE. The history of Grecian and Roman literature cannot but be interesting to every man of letters, when it is considered, that from them have we derived almost every thing of excellence in the politer studies. To me, however, the history of the dramatic art has always appeared to possess a Hence we find, that the first efforts double portion of the interest, which of the dramatic Muse, both in Greece is attached to all such inquiries; when and Rome, consisted in comic repre→ it is remembered, that to it, we are sentations of the prominent characters, indebted for the glory of our nation. and popular vices, which were pecuWhen a nation is, just as it were, liarly characteristic of their age and emerging from barbarism, and the nation. But to a rude audience, sapeople, after having provided for their tire can have no charms, unless pointwants, a task formerly of great diffi-ed and personal-mere general deculty, find themselves at leisure for clamation must be dull and unmeaninstruction or amusement, there ing. To promote, therefore, the will probably arise men, who will interest of the spectators, these ancient make it their profession to gratify dramatists resorted to the custom of their desires, and depend for their introducing, by name, any of the citiliving upon the pleasure of the mul-zens, whose characters were obnoxtitude. To secure the necessary fa-ious, or ludicrous, that the hearers vour, these primitive artists will adapt might be able to see and feel the their amusements to the character and force of their invective. Among the

elegant and polished states of Greece, may be supposed, in the manner of this practice was gradually abolished; those comic songs of our own country; and comedy rose to its true level, to every verse of which, are suband became a satire, without person- joined some ludicrous remark în prose. ality, upon the prominent vices, and From this rude and artless state, unnatural characters of the WORLD. the dramatic poetry was rescued and In Rome, however a more rude and adorned by the genius of Eschylus, vigorous people it was long before the first Grecian tragedian; and the the nation of warriors had either ge- feeble and faint charms of the rustic nius or taste, to renounce their errors amusements were lost in the greater -not till a poet, more polished than splendour which attended the introthe rest of his countrymen, introduc-duction of the finished and polished ed the improvements with which the invention of the regular drama. Its Greeks had elevated and adorned their author trusted not to satire or comic tragedy. The rude verses, however, representation for success in interestwhich had amused their ancestors, ing and pleasing his audience; but were not allowed by the Romans to struck into a new path, and terrified perish and be forgotten. But some or melted their hearts, with pictures of their earlier poets, following out of horror or of woe. He was sucthe example of their predecessors, im-ceeded by Sophocles and Euripides, proved and fashioned them into regular satirea species of poetry always amusing, and often useful.

dy. Architecture, likewise, was cal led in to the aid and advancement of her sister art, and added to its charms, by embellishing, with beautiful sculp ture, the theatres of Greece.

who brought this art into the highest state of perfection it ever attained while cultivated by the ancients. The Stage scenery was, in those early rules for regulating the conduct of the ages, as barbarous as the poetry. It pieces were introduced and establishis recorded, that one of the first Gre-ed, and these extended also to comecian 'dramatists used a waggon, or cart, in place of a theatre; and we are informed, by a Roman poet, that, in the primitive times of his own country, the men of the commonwealth, placed upon seats of turf, and We have neither any intention, nor shaded with branches, gazed with indeed are we capable, of tracing the delight upon the scenes before them. successive steps, by which the ancient Though this may be fiction, or the dramatic poetry arose to that height, mere heightenings of poetry, we are at which it stood in the days of its yet certain, that the theatres in early glory: we shall endeavour, however, ages were but temporary buildings, to point out a few of its peculiar charcomposed of wood, and easily destroy-acteristics.

ed. The manner of acting was of the It has been a question of dispute, same primitive character. One, or at whether the ancient tragedies were least a very few actors appeared on the divided into acts: at least, whether scene their faces besmeared with that was not a comparatively late inwine lees, and calculated, in the words vention. This we pretend not to of another poet, to frighten the rustic determine. It seems, however, to be child on the breast of its mother, and more certain, that these were not ad intermixed with the songs of a chorus, mitted into comedy till a late period. which stood by. The satirical effusions Be this as it may, it is evident that we have mentioned, something, it such divisions are entirely arbitrary.

ཝཏྟཱ

We can conceive no reason, unless to duced into the theatre for the purpose fr afford a little ease to the audience, of expressing the contemptibleness for introducing pauses of any length of the character represented; and, into a regularly continued action, such perhaps, for the lightness and grace as Grecian and Roman plays peculiarly which it added to the dancers. The were. The only effect which such a Cothurnus was a high heeled boot, I proceeding can have, is, by diverting by which the actors were often raised the attention, and interrupting the ac- to the height of half a foot or more la tion, to make the audience lose sight above their natural level; some say,hu of the connexion, and consequently of for the purpose of representing the the interest of the plot. Notwith-gigantic size, to which tradition had r standing this, this division was con- elevated the first inhabitants of the sidered necessary by the ancients; world-but more probably, to pre-?) as Horace informs us, that a play serve some porportion between the t should neither have less nor more than height of the theatres and the actors, w five acts. Their critics have farther and prevent them from seeming to thew noticed, that there ought to be four eye of the spectator, who was at ang distinct stages in a play; and these, great distance from where they stood,, indeed, seem to be founded in na- to be dwindled away into insignifi- 1 ture-1st, where the characters are cance. The Persona, or mask, which introduced; 2d, where the plot be- had been substituted in the place of comes more busy, and begins to develope; 3d, where it comes to its height; and last, where the catastrophe is disclosed.

the painting of the ancient actors, was a covering for the face, with an opening at the mouth-where, if I mistake not, was sometimes fixed a The particular manner in which piece of brass, to raise the voice of the actors were dressed, differed ac- the speaker, to a fuller and more › cording to the country in which commanding tone, and enable him to the scene was laid. There were, extend it to the uttermost bounds of however, particular equipments, which their immense theatres.

To be continued. L. 97

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. Music, Slave Dances, &c.—Conchided.

The numerous slaves, of various nations,

always formed part of the furniture of the ancient theatres. These were the Tebiae, the Cothurnus, and Soccus the Persona and the Chorus. The Tebine, or pipes, are now little capable of explanation. In general, at the Cape, are not behindhand in their it may be said, that they were used fondness for, and no less enthusiastic adfor the amusement of the audience, mirers of, music. It rouses all their ener during the discontinuance, or perhaps but they do not betray any of the genius gies, and awakens the most lively passions, during the continuance, of the acting of the Hottentot. Their songs are conOf the rest, however, we possess fined to the compass of three or four notes, mote means of forming a correct idea. which are eternally reiterated in a low The Cothurnus and Soccus were co- plaintive voice, that would scarcely pass verings, for the feet; the latter, used for a musical effusion, and certainly not at first, only by women, and the more countenance and gesture put it beyond a for an expression of gaiety, did not the effeminate of the other sex, was intro- doubt.

Their instruments are of the rudest con- is not known among them; probably a struction. A hollow piece of wood, with week of toil may have exhausted that two strings of catgut, or two thin bits of springiness. If these dances be, as is usual steel, not unlike a tuning-fork, which, with most savage nations, meant to display being struck with the finger, and put into or excite that sensibility which mutually a vibratory motion, emit a low twang, com-attaches the sexes, the choice of attitude pared with which the music of a hurdy and gesture to convey this expression, is gurdy, or a Jew's harp, would be a per- certainly most singular. The amusement, fect Apollonicon. Yet, simple as these however, is continued with unremitting efforts are, and remote from the science ardour and profuse perspiration, without of an itinerant bagpiper, upon these rude the aid of tea or small beer until sun-set, sons of nature they produce as powerful when a civil officer in attendance gives the emotions as the strains of a Linley or a signal for retiring, and the parties quietly Cramer, upon the more refined inhabitants disperse to their respective homes. of Europe. A week of unremitting toil, and the tyranny of an unfeeling master, are all forgot in the tumultuous delight of the Sunday-dance to these simple instru

ments.

Without entering into the long-debated question, how far the colony at large would be benefited by the total abolition of slavery, I cannot say that the condition of the slaves at the Cape struck me as being pe culiarly miserable. It is as much the interest of the master to keep his slave in good condition, as his horse. As the property is valuable, they invariably have the best medical attendance in sickness, and such comforts as are necessary in that situation. Though their toil is incessant, and their indulgences much fewer than those of a European labourer, they have not in general the appearance of being overworked; for they are early inured to hardship and spare-living. If they are sunk below the level of their fellow-creatures, we may perhaps argue, that they cannot be supposed sensible to the pain of degrada tion, when they have never enjoyed a more elevated state; or to feel the want of liberty, when they have not known, or ever aspired

This is the only indulgence and relaxation which is permitted to the slave. It is, therefore, eagerly anticipated, and prosecuted with proportional ardour, when the moment of enjoyment arrives. After divine service, they assemble in a plain in the suburbs of the town; the dance is begun to the instruments I have before described, accompanied with a few notes of the voice, at times rising into the wildest shrieks, and then subsiding into a low querulous sound, while the irregular beating of a log of wood, hollowed and covered at one end, with an undressed sheep's skin, in imitation of a drum, adds to the noise, and increases at once the wildness and animation of the scene. Men and women, young and old, join promiscuously in it; but there is no prescribed order, no arrange-to the character of free-men. ment of partners, or visible attention to the In fact, only suppose the sensibilities of females;-all seem engrossed by some his nature deadened, and the difference in powerful emotion, which at times breaks the condition of the slave and white labourer out into wild exclamation, but at other is hardly perceptible. The portion of both times imparts an air of profound abstrac-is a life of unremitting toil, servitude, and tion.

dependance; and if we reflect, that the slave has no apprehension of want;-that he has no harrassing solicitude on the score of providing for his offspring ;-but is always sure of a subsistence, which the other equally toils for in the sweat of his brow, and oftentimes in torturing uncertainty, the ballance will be still more equal.— This, however, is not admitting a right in any human being to fit his victim, by early and continued degradation, for wearing his chains; a slight extension of such

The general dance at times gives way, whilst some individual steps forth, and performs a pas seul with abundance of grimace, and action, interspersed with soliloquy, the meaning of which it is impossible for a stranger to discover, but it is listened to with rapturous exclamation by the rest of the party. This dancing is certainly not an exhibition of grace and elegance; it is not even a display of that vigour which the elasticity and buoyancy of youth may produce. The spirit which ac-a privilege migh justify the Eastern despot tuated Goldsmith's pair,

That simply sought renown,
By holding out to tire cach other down,'

in furnishing his seraglio with its mutilated attendants. In a moral point of view, the the consequences of slavery are more strik

ing. It is necessary that the slave should and continued intercourse with a class of be depressed in the scale of human beings beings so degraded and demoralized?→→→ by ignorance; for knowledge would awaken | Much of the laxity in morals, and that the energies of the soul, and tell them general tone of levity observable among the they are men; but that a large portion of upper orders of society, may be traced to our fellow-creatures, whose menial offices this source; and while slavery exists in its and occupations are precisely similar to present form and extent, it seems in vain those of our own countrymen, should be to hope for any thing like virtuous princidevoted to superstition, and debarred from ple and morality amongst the lower orders all moral improvement, is a singular fea- of society. ture in the state of servitude. Why a Instances of cruel treatment, are, I bepopulation of blacks are to be shut out lieve, rare, especially since the great infrom the light and advantage of Christi-crease of English in the colony. However, anity, detached from the common chain of it must be confessed, that a notion univerhuman beings,-why they are not to know sally prevails, that slaves are not to be the social ties of kindred, to solace them-treated with kindness; and perhaps, a sayselves, like the other wretched ones of the ing, that is said to pass current in the French world, by the anticipation of future happi- West India islands, will serve with toleraness, is a mystery I cannot explain. If ble accuracy to express the general opinion slavery be incompatible with such things here, viz. in its present ameliorated state, it is indeed

a bad cause.

'Battre un negre, c'est le nourrir.'

When the Spaniards first became ac- The politics of Europe are not a subject quainted with the natives of America, we of much interest, or a topic of frequent are told that they looked upon them as ani- discussion, amongst the inhabitants of the mals of an inferior order, and it was with Cape. The newspapers are irregular in difficulty that they could be persuaded that their arrivals; indeed, they depend almost they belonged to the human species. It entirely upon the captains of ships, for such required the authority of a Papal bull to as they may casually have provided themcounteract this opinion, and to convince selves with, and appear to be well reconciled them that the Americans were capable of to the privation. The general listlessness the functions, and entitled to the privileges and inactivity of mind that prevails upon of humanity. Though that age of dark- all subjects unconnected with the shop, ness has passed away, one would imagine betrays itself in nothing more visibly than that this preposterousopinion still prevailed in this.

in Southern Africa.

There is a miserable weekly gazette pubThis practice is contrary to the invaria-lished under the immediate superintendance ble rule observed in the Spanish, Portu- of the government, containing little else gese, and French colonies, by which every but mercantile advertisements, with, now master is compelled to procure religious and then, a few garbled extracts from the instruction for his slaves; and this seems London papers. to be according to the true spirit of Christianity. Indeed, the diffusion of Christianity has unhappily been made a plea for this odious traffic.

The slaves are by far the most numerous class of domestic servants at the Cape, and the women are invariably used as the nurses and companions of the young children of the family. The influence of these persons upon the young mind is well understood, and occasions the strictest scrutiny into character in our own country. What then must be the pernicious effect of early

The only printing press in the colony is that which furnishes forth this choice publication, and is the property of government. It is of course a subject of complaint, that another press should be prohibited. That such prohibition does exist, or has ever been called for, I think extremely doubtful. Beyond the few individuals connected with the government, it would be difficult to find any one capable of editing a journal, and still less easy to find public spirit to support one. There cannot surely be a doubt that the dissemination of useful in

A slave, as such, is not permitted to become a Christian at the Cape. Of this sacred calling, his debased situation is supposed to render him unworthy. IIence he

can never marry.