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brown, are generally worn; but black with straps, which are edged with amber satin stamped with a rich black velvet, satin; to each button,which we should obupon a new principle, lined with rose- serve, is of amber silk, a small light tassel colour sarsnet, has just been introduced by depends; there is rather more than half a Mrs. Bell, and made for a lady of the first || quarter distance between the straps; the rank and fashion. This pelisse is certainly a bottom of the dress is trimmed with amnovelty, and the most elegant pelisse made ber satin, which is put on in a manner the this season. Ermine, swansdown, sable, most tasteful, but which we cannot easily and seal-skin, are the usual trimmings; the describe; it is a kind of puckering, intertwo former are most in request, seal-skin || sected with a newly invented gymp, it is has, we think, declined since our last Num-laid on about half a quarter in breadth, ber, and sable is worn only partially.— and is edged at each side with a floss silk However, we think all the trimmings will || trimming, about an inch in breadth. The be superseded by the trimming which is body is made quite high in the throat, at invented by Mrs. Bell. Pelisses are seldom the back of the neck, and comes down at worn unaccompanied by a shawl or scarf, each side, so as to shew a richly worked and the value of these tasteful appendages shirt in front, a triple row of lace goes to the walking costume is frequently very round the neck. Long sleeve, made full great. India shawls are, of course, in the down the middle of the arms, and ornahighest estimation, but those of Spain are, mented with amber silk buttons The cloak in our opinion, equally beautiful ; the rich- is about a yard in length, and is very noness of their texture, the superb borders vel in its form, it is about half a yard long with which they are ornamented, and their || in front, and quite straight, but the ends being, in some degree, novel, render them are rounded very much, and it is formed to favourites. We must not forget to observe, draw in behind; it is formed behind to the that our own imitations of India shawls, shape of a full back, and a rich lacing of have attained a perfection which we could amber silk cord at each side, has a very hardly have expected; and, in some in- | striking effect, small round cape, and high stances, the imitation has been so good, collar, trimmed to correspond with the that it must be a connoissieur who could dress. Wellington hat, composed of interdetect the difference. They are much mingled amber satin and brown cloth, and ornamented according to the taste of the wearer, with a low plume of either brown or amber feathers. The tout ensemble of this dress is striking and elegant.

worn.

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The beautiful cloth, for the introduction of which we are indebted to Mrs. Bell, and of whom alone it may be had, will, it is probable, be adopted by belles of taste, in the Seal skin hats and bonnets continue to walking costume, as much as it is now worn be worn, but velvet or satin French hats for wrapping cloaks. Its novelty and ele- are, beyond doubt, higher in estimation; the gance, as well as the uncommon beauty ofits || D'Angouleme bonnet, however, which is texture, would render it a most superior ar- just introduced, promises to rival them; ticle for pelisses; and if worn for cloaks, the crown is shaped like a French hat, and lined with white sarsnet, and trimmed the front, which is cut out on one side, is with silk mole-skin, or Britannia trim- quite slouched on the other; a ribband to ming, it would be, we are certain, un- correspond, and a bunch of winter flowers, commonly attractive: speaking of cloaks, are the ornaments of this bonnet, which at we must not forget to observe, that they present is very much the ton. Mrs. Bell, are in high estimation for the promenade, whose correct and elegant taste enables her but they are generally worn with a cloth to new-model the Parisian fashions in the or velvet dress, to correspond; the dress and mantle, which we are about to describe, is stand, produced an improved D'Angoumost becoming manner, has, we undervery pretty. leme bonnet, in her beautiful newly-inventHigh dress of superfine pale browned Britannia trimming; we have no doubt cloth, made tight to the shape, and very that it will be found attractive; the mateshort in the waist; it buttons up the front ||rial itself is, in fact, the most beautiful and

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appropriate thing for bonnets, trimmings, || this trimming is then quilled full and set

&c. that we have ever seen; it is at once
light, rich, elegant, and novel; the latter
recommendation would, with most of our
fair fashionables, be of itself sufficient; but
the Britannia trimming has more solid claims
to general favour than novelty, its effect as
a trimming is far superior to that of any de-
scription of fur for which it is intended as a
substitute, and it is not only appropriate to
pelisses, &c. but it is also admirably calcu-
lated for every description of dinner dress; its
effect on velvet is particularly striking and
beautiful but, to return to the walking
costume. Since the introduction of scarfs,
&c. fur tippets have declined considerably ||
in favour, and are now but very little worn.
In the carriage costume Mrs. Bell's
wrapping cloak, of which we have already
spoken, is in the highest estimation;
velvet cloaks and pelisses, and large India
shawls, are also in very great request;
spensers are exploded; purple velvet cloaks,
lined with white sarsnet, and edged with
the newly introduced Britannia trimming,
have a most elegant effect.

The mourning for her Sicilian Majesty was confined entirely to the court, and it has offered us nothing of novelty to lay before our fair readers, we shall pass therefore to those dresses of the month which we think worthy of their attention.

on. The bottoms of dresses are trimmed to correspond, except that “ rows on rows" of trimming arise, as they have done for some time past.

For dinner dress poplins, sarsnets, and velvets are most general; cloth is also worn but partially. The ladies who have recently returned from Paris have brought with them French silks, which might vie with the brocades of our grand-mammas for substance and durability; nothing can indeed be more beautiful than those doublesided silks, as they are called; but as their importation is strictly prohibited, many of our fair fashionables are obliged to content themselves with our imitation of them, some of which are excellent. Irish poplins have lost nothing of their attraction, but they are generally worn in light colours; || bright faun, amber, drab, Clarence blue, and olive-green, are all in general request; and although various trimmings are fashionable, lace, particularly blond, is in the highest estimation; it is, however, more generally appropriated to full than to dinner dresses, except blond net, which is quilled very full on dinner dresses, the one which we are about to describe struck us as being very elegant and tasteful in no common degree.

Frock of amber Irish poplin, tight to the shape, and very short in the waist, cut very low all round the bosom, and made to lace behind. The bottom of the dress is cut in points, three rows of which are placed one above another, and trimmed with full plait

In the morning costume chintz still retains its estimation, although the French washing silks are also much in favour, and French cambric and jacconet muslin, richly trimmed with lace, are also worn by many elegantes. In the form of high dresses there|ing of blond net, in the middle of which is

is little novelty; the waists are, if possible, shorter than ever; the backs of dresses continue about the same breadth as last month, but collars, notwithstanding the coldness of the season, are quite on the decline; morning dresses are now almost universally made in the manner of the cloth dress which we have described, in speaking of the walking costume; where they are of silk or chintz, they display underneath a rich shirt, and are trimmed on each side of the front with silk trimming, full plaiting of ribband, or, as we have noticed in a few instances, a piece of chintz better than a nail in breadth, cut at each side in scollops, which are edged with a very narrow ribband, and

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tacked either a silk beading, or a dark penny ribband: a double row of smaller points trimmed in a similar manner, goes round the bosom and falls over. Plain short white satin sleeve, with an epaulet formed of points to correspond; simply elegant as this dress appears, the very great quantity of blond used renders it very expensive. We have to observe, that full bodies are, in every thing but muslin or white lace, entirely exploded, and cloth dresses are now trimmed only with silk trimming, ribband being quite on the decline.

In full-dress white satin, crape, and velvet for matronly belles, are very general,

but French gauze is more in request than any thing else; it is worn over white satin, and trimmed in general with blond. In the form of full-dress gowns we have no variety to notice; frocks are still universal, the elegant one which we have given in our Print is deservedly the highest in estimation, but the one which we are about to describe, though less striking and tasteful, is yet worthy of the attention of our fair readers.

It is composed of striped French gauze of the palest green, and is worn over a white satin slip, is trimmed at bottom with a single row of the most beautiful broad blond lace, put on very full, and edged at top with a very pretty trimming of silk net, the edge of this trimming, which is composed of floss silk is extremely beautiful; there is nothing particular in the form of the body, except that it is sloped on each side of the bosom, so as to display an under front of similar materials to the trimming at bottom. Tucker of broad blond net, quilled in very full to the front only. Short white satin sleeve, over which are three rows of blond lace set on very full. This dress is at present a very great favourite, but we apprehend that the one which we have presented our fair readers with, will shortly completely supersede it.

There is little alteration in the manner of wearing the hair since our last Number. Some elegantes wear it full on the right side, while a part of the hind hair is brought across the forehead on the left, and over this braid the remainder of the front hair falls in the lightest ringlets, and partly shades the cheek. The hind hair is worn as described in our last Number. This is one of those fashions which become the Grecian style of beauty, but we would not recommend it to general adoption.

In half-dress, lace caps still continue to be very general, and small lace handkerchiefs pinned at the back of the head, with the ends falling in the neck, are also in high estimation. For dinner parties we have

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observed half handkerchiefs of silk net, with a border of flowers superbly embroidered in coloured silks, pinned carelessly round the head, one end hanging in the neck, and the other falling over the forehead.

These handkerchiefs, which remind us strongly of those mentioned by Lady Mary Worthley Montague, in her letters from Turkey, are extremely beautiful, and when in dark net, have over fair hair a striking effect; they are much in request, particularly with matronly belles.

In full dress, turbans continue to be much worn by matronly belles, they are in general of crape or spangled gauze.

In undress jewellery, plain gold ornaments are at present most prevalent.

In full-dress, coloured stones are very general. The most fashionable lockets are of amethyst, ruby, &c. set in pearl, and fastened round the neck by a row of pearls. We have also observed some necklaces of ruby, &c. set in pearl, which had a very elegant effect.

Many of our juvenile belles have no other ornament in full-dress than a beautiful chevelure, but in general pearls are in the highest estimation, artificial flowers being worn but very partially.

For the promenade, and indeed in some instances for the carriage costume, many of our dashing fashionables have adopted cordovan boots, which are, strictly speaking, more then half-boots; we hope that a fashion, which, in our opinion, is unfeminine and inelegant, will be short lived.

The dress slipper begins once more to assume its proper form, and the simple rosette or clasp, has given place to a rich embroidery in front, which has a very tasteful effect.

Fans continue the same as last month.

Fashionable colours for the month are dark green, bright purple, ruby, and brown, faun, amber, pale green, and French rose colour.

MONTHLY MISCELLANY,

INCLUDING VARIETIES, CRITICAL, LITERARY, AND HISTORICAL.

COVENT GARDEN.

The Maid of the Mill has been revived at this Theatre, with new music, furnished by a confederacy of the best composers of the day. This alteration was, doubtless, necessary. The original music of The Maid of the Mill, unlike to that of Love in a Village, is not adapted to the present taste. It has nothing of that exquisite plaintiveness and simplicity which delight us, both in the new compositions, and the selected airs, of the Beggar's Opera, and Love in a Village. It is sombre and spiritless; as there is a perpetual recurrence of the same cadences, and a want of that taste which, in the present day, supersedes, with a popular audience, the labours of science itself. Whilst we condemn the old music of The Maid of the Mill, justice requires us to add, that we cannot much approve the new. It wants sweetness and variety; its melodies neither reach the heart nor dwell upon the ear, air after air is heard and forgotten. Miss Stephens, in Patty, was extremely interesting; there is such an absence of affectation in her manner, so much simplicity, and such a modest meekness, that she invariably delights. If she had a little more force and variety, which good tuition would supply, her merit as an actress would fall little short of her eminence as a singer. Sinclair's Lord Aimworth, was an indifferent performance; he has little conception of acting. The character itself is good, independent of the songs; and much of the dialogue is better than what occurs in any other piece of Bickerstaff's.

Mr. Kemble has re-appeared at this Theatre in the character of Coriolanus. Upon the general character and merits of Mr. Kemble, who has -long been the ornament of the British stage, all observation is unnecessary. He has at once combined and extended his art, and given us an example of all the perfection which can be reached in dramatic exhibitions, by great talents, improved by considerable learning, and adorned and assisted by superior natural endowments. Mr. Kemble, as an actor, may be considered as the Aristotle of his art. His judgment never fails him; his taste is invariably just. If occasionally he wants that vivacity of natural feeling, and genuine tone of passion, which are so highly and justly applauded, in the performances of some of his competitors, the only remark which this deficiency can warrant, is, that Mr. Kemble is something less than perfect.

His performance of Coriolanus is a matchless exhibition of taste and talent. He seems, as it were, to have received the manner and demeanour of a Roman hero. He not only strengthens, but outruns the illusion of the poet; he brings us into thevery gates of Rome, and introduces us

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almost as spectators at the Comitia. The fierce military pride, the patrician haughtiness, the unbounded courage, the spirited contempt of the mean arts of popularity, as displayed in the character of Coriolanus, are transfused, with the spirit of original feeling, into Mr. Kemble. reading and study have impressed upon it, of the repeats to the imagination the picture, which Roman patrician, in the character and circumstances of Coriolanus. This is at once the perwriting. This is, in fact, all that is meant by fection both of the art of acting, and the art of nature; which is nothing but the correspondence of what is represented by the actor or writer, with what is conceived by the spectator or reader.

Mr. Kemble through particular scenes; he is It does not belong to this criticism to follow rather great and just in the whole, than through the detail of individual parts; and every spectator leaves the theatre, or thinks he leaves it, with the full conception of a Roman Consul.

Mr. Kemble was received with an enthusiasm His welcome seemed to impress him with sentiof applause by a brilliant and crowded audience.

ments honourable to him.

On Friday, Nov. 4, Miss O'Neill appeared, for the first time, in the character of Isabella. We understand that she has performed this character once, and once only, in Ireland, and that she never had the advantage of seeing Mrs. Siddons in this, or any other character.

The play and the characters are so well known, that it would be a waste of words to expatiate upon them. It is the only tragedy by which Southern keeps possession of the stage; and the character of Isabella has so peculiar and moral a dress, her sorrows are so unlike those of any other heroine of tragedy, that she is easily assimilated to the mind as a just picture of natural misery, and spreads the most anxious and lively feeling through the heart.

It is well known, that the superiority of Mrs. Siddons as a tragic actress, was chiefly marked and asserted in this bold and beautiful character. To delineate the sorrows of Isabella, to pourtray the feelings of a distracted wife, and a divided spring from the compunction of what we must duty, to depicture those keen emotions which call an innocent crime, and blameless error; in a word, to give the force of truth to a character like this, in circumstances of specious guilt, and to represent the miseries of a delicate mind under embarrassments, brought on by herself, but without voluntary guilt, or self-imputation; this, we say, was the matchless art of Mrs. Siddons, and which, having once been exhibited by her in its highest perfection, seemed destined, like the Don Quixote of Cervantes, to retire from the stage with its author.

Miss O'Neill having never seen Mrs. Siddons, approached this character without the materials of imitation, or the possibility of a borrowed excellence; she undertook it as a novice, trusting to the vigour and truth of her own conceptions, and in the confidence of original, unaided powers. She is not, therefore, to be compared with Mrs. Siddons, as if acting in her school. She had no model before her eyes, but such as she saw reflected in the large mirror of nature and truth, which the Poet placed before her.

To judge her, therefore, in this character, we must not have recourse to any predecessor, but to the ancestor the Poet. We must not, in the judgment which we pass upon her, retire back to the model of Mrs. Siddons, but must make at once our appeal to nature. And before this tribunal Miss O'Neill will come off as victoriously as Mrs. Siddons herself, though her triumph be of another sort. For notwithstanding in many parts she differs from Mrs. Siddons, yet in none can she be said to differ, either from the general standard of truth, as set up in all minds, or from the artificial nature which the imagination of the Poet presents. In the first act, when she implores Count Baldwin to receive herself and son, her distress was that of a noble mind, pierced with the sense of undeserved suffering, but willing to abandon all its native pride and dignity at the summons of maternal duty. Her affection for her child was seen to be the predominant feeling, and the whole scene was a display of anxious, vivid, parental love, in its most natural and sensible tones.

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appeared not only to be a mistress of the tender passions, but to possess the power of exciting the boldest and most sublime affections; to roll, as it were, the torrent of impetuous passion, and bear down every opposing obstacle. The distress of Isabella, as here painted, had nothing of a mawkish sorrow; it was sublimed and dignified by the capacity of the actress, and elevated to the ful 1 pitch of the poet's fancy.

In a word, Miss O'Neill's Isabella is one of the noblest performances of the tragic drama; and whilst it abundantly compensates the late chasm left in the stage, it recalls, and establishes upon its boards, a genuine truth and unborrowed nature, unvitiated by the imitation of any former model, and founding itself upon the only just basis of all excellence-the propriety of Nature, and the grace of Art.

DRURY-LANE.

A new piece, called Jean de Paris, was produced at this theatre on Tuesday night, Nov. 18 The plot is founded on one of those pleasing fictions, which are light and agreeable enough to please the imagination, without offending the reason; in which the ingredients are such as the fancy readily adopts, without waiting for judgment to examine. This species of composition has been common upon all stages. It had much of reality in France, in the brilliant reign of Henry IV. when chivalry refined the manners of the courtier, and dignified the pleasures of the monarch. We have a pleasing example of a fiction of this kind in the Florizel and Perdita of our own stage. The story is as follows:

Philip de Valois, enamoured by report of the Princess of Navarre, sets out on an excursion to discover whether her beauties correspond to their fame. Disguised as a merchant, with a large train of attendants, he anticipates the Princess's arrival at one of her stations on the road, bribes the landlord into a surrender of the apartments, and even the banquet intended for her, and asto

In the scene in which she reluctantly accepts the hand of Villeroy, the melancholy yielding, the foreboding misery, were most admirably marked; and here, above all, shone forth the characteristic quality of Miss O'Neill; we mean that propriety, that justness of conception, that soberness, perspicacity, and taste, which discriminate the least things, and give to each particular its suitable and proper importance. Her deport-nishes the old Seneschal who comes to announce ment in this scene had a most bewitching modesty, and was highly refined in the exterior manners. In the fourth act, where she receives the ring, and has her first interview with Biron, she rose to a tone of feeling and stretch of passion || which electrified the audience, and which not only roused a higher admiration, but drew forth its natural tribute of tears and sympathizing sentiments. In the fifth act, in the dying scene, she was equally successful. The interest in her sufferings gradually ascended to the climax of her fate, and when she died, the house rose, as it were, with one impulse of feeling, to testify their approbation of her performance.

We do not hesitate therefore to say, that Miss O'Neill's performance of Isabella, has not only eclipsed her Juliet and Belvidera, but has given us an example of excellence peculiar, singular, and contradistinguished from any performance of the same character which we ever beheld. She, No. 64.-Vol. X.

her approach, by declaring that if her Highness is to come at all, she must be indebted to his hospitality. The Princess arrives, discovers the trick, agitates the merchant by declaring that her heart is already disposed of, delights him by involuntary admissions of his taste in providing for her reception, beguiles him into panegyric on her beauty, and only, after having exhausted all the ingenious tortures of a woman's spirit of teasing, acknowledges that he is her "lord and lover.” The play has the usual slight accompaniments of an underplot, in which Miss Kelly displays her usual talents.

This piece, which is a translation from the French, has been brought out with great taste, and the scenery and decorations are well bestowed. It is not, however, happy in the dialogue, which wants that smartness and simplicity which are peculiar to French comedy. It was extremely well performed. Elliston acted with Gg

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