Transcribed by Susan Bergeron. Geo. The Whitehaven Herald, Tuesday, April 23, 1833 Covent Garden Theatre The African Roscius. Mr. ALDRIDGE, a native of Senegal, appeared as Othello, at Covent Garden, on Wednesday. His person is tall and well formed, and his action free, flowing, and graceful. His face is not disagreeable, though we have seen better-looking Africans; but it is not susceptible of much variety of expression. His voice is rich and melodious, and sonorous withal; and in passages of tenderness its tones had great sweetness. It resembles MACREADY'S, but has more volume. Indeed, his acting altogether though with due interval reminded us of that tragedian. His deportment is manly, and occasionally dignified; he moves and speaks with deliberation and self-possession. He evinced a great deal of feeling and nature in his performance; these, indeed, were its redeeming qualities; but hey could not reconcile us to its numerous and glaring defects. Its beauties, however, surprised us more than its faults. An African is no more qualified, by virtue alone of his complexion and the conformation of his face, to personate any Moorish character-much less such a one as OTHELLO-than a huge fat man would be competent to represent FALSTAFF on the score of his bulk alone. The property-man can furnish as good a suit of "the shadowed livery of the burnished sun" for stage purposes, as DAME NATURE herself, perhaps, in his own opinion, a better; and English audiences have a prejudice in favour of European features, which more than counterbalances the recommendations of a flat nose and this lips. In one particular only we might expect a native African to be better qualified by nature to personate a character of his own clime and complexion, that is, in having the fiery temperament of these children of the Sun. But herein Mr. ALDRIDGE possesses no advantage; he is a remarkable exception to the general rule, being, on the contrary, tame and larmoyant. So that, in fact, he is without even the ordinary natural qualifications which are essential to the verisimilitude of the character. The swarthy actor is not new to the stage; he has played at several provincial theatres, and at some of the minor houses in London. His declamation is not only ineffective, but very faulty; it is marked by numerous instances of false emphasis, incorrect readings, and interpolations of the text even, and by a few vulgarisms of pronunciation. It was, however, free from rant. OTHELLO describes himself as being "unused to the melting mood." Mr. ALDRIDGE'S grief is querulous and lachrymose, and his pathos mere whining. In the most violent bursts of passion, he was deficient in energy and power; though in depicting the struggles of mental agony and suppressed emotion, he was vigorous and natural. But as he did not in the more calm scenes portray the lofty-minded nobleness of OTHELLO'S nature nor that air of commanding dignity which would be habitual to his station, neither in the impassioned parts did he evince any of that moral grandeur which gives sublimity to the scene as it lives in SHAKESPEARE'S page. It is superfluous to enter into any detailed criticism of such a performance as this. It was upon the whole a failure. The range of characters in which MR. ALDRIDGE could appear must necessarily be very limited; we therefore expect his acting to be the more perfect. He has no genius, but is not without talent; and he has two great requisites a good voice and a good figure. He is said to make a capital MUNGO. He was to have appeared in that character and in ZANGA on the same night; but the applause bestowed on his performance of OTHELLO induced the Manager to announce its repetition instead, and he is to play them on Tuesday. We think he might perform GAMBIA. Mr. ALDRIDGE was very warmly received, and was called for after the curtain fell; when he expressed gratitude to the audience, in a set speech, couched in the most florid terms. Spectator. ......