We understand Mr. Pennie's design, in this volume, to be the chronological
arrangement of certain incidents of each king's reign in a series of
National Tragedies. There are four such tragedies in the present portion,
commencing with Arixina in which figure Julius Caesar, Cassfelyn, and
Cymbaline, and extending to Edwin and Elgiva: the titles of the
intervening pieces are the Imperial Pirate and the Dragon King. There is
much wild and beautiful romance in the diction, but we take the most
attractive portion to be the lyrical portion, as the Chants, Dirges, and
Choruses. We recommend them as models for the play-wrights who do such
things for the acting drama, and if the poetship to a patent theatre be
worth acceptance, we beg to commend Mr. Pennie to the notice of managers.
The poet of the King's Theatre figures in the bills of the day, and yet he
is but a translator.
It is difficult to select an entire scene for quotation, so that we take a
specimen from Arixina: