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    November 13, 1852.] THE LEADER. 1097

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    J U L L I H N' S CONC E 11 T S..ToLi/ncN...

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    Anne 1j L A K E. Lioinonhth In Bifl Lear...

    pO gt . The idea which , he sat down to work out seems to have been that of a poor dependant , stung into rebellion by the daily taunts and temper of Jier relations , made fierce , and proud , and stubborn , by injustice . This pass ionate and sensitive nature , which , leads her into insolence towards ker uncle and aunt , will cause her to misunderstand her lover , to break from him and accept another , to suffer and give suffering . There lies real d omestic tragedy in that conception ; but to evolve the tragedy the poet must attend to truth and forget the stage , —there lies the difficulty ! Harston fails , I think , simply because , instead of patiently and skilfully working out his original intention , he has suffered himself to be diverted from it into old conventions—forsaking the real and difficult path for the easy one of routine . Let me try to make this clear . In the first scene we have the insults to ' ¦ :

    which she is daily subjected as a " poor dependant" indicated with sufficient precision , though with no great art . We are prepared therefore to find her rebellious , and she is so ; " her very words are cuffs , " # fcren to those who are polite to her—a mistake , at the outset , I think , because it makes her unamiable , petty , shrewish , and almost justifies Mrs . Elean ' s extremel y unpleasant personation . Anne loves Thorold , a strolling artist , and is engaged to be married to him . Llaniston , a rich gentleman , heir to a peerage , is in love with her , and the first act closes with the offer of his hand , made to her uncle , who being in his debt , anxiously jumps at the proposal . The exposition promises well . It shows us the vulgar insolence of the uncle , the languid insolence of the aunt , the fierce rebellion of the dependant , the little love story , and a glimpse of coming perplexities . A

    good start : now for the race ! In the second act , Lady Toppington , desirous of weaning Anne from Thorold before mentioning the offer of Llaniston , undertakes to make her break away in a fit of jealousy . Here I note a false step , and one which is doubly fatal : fatal , because it hurries into routine ; fatal , because ifc is a deviation from the original conception . For observe : if Anne is to be made miserable through jealousy , all the previous superstructure is needless ; we do not require a nature made fierce by wrong to illustrate jealousy ; we do not want an insulted dependant for that . The tragedy of Marston ' s original conception lay in this character of Anne Blake , and through that character it should have been evolved ; that is to say , we ought to see how such temper and such sensitiveness would naturally lead her into sorrow by its misconstructions . And with this idea Mars ton began the temptation , hut as he proceeded ,

    the fatal tendency of that one false step made him falter into conventional stage business ; and you may judge how conventional , when I tell you that Thorold wears a portrait of her mother next his heart , is seen to kiss it by Lady Toppington , and by that token is proved ( to the satisfaction of Anne ) to love another ! When will dramatists consent to give up this very improbable portrait business ? Every man , woman , and child in the pit feels that Anne must ask her betrothed about that portrait , tax him with it , taunt him with it ( Anne , especially , not being restrained in matter of speech ) , and that the doubt would be cleared up at the first word . But so completely has Marston sacrificed truth to situation , that he actually allows so clumsy a contrivance as that of Thorold's leaving on the table the miniature he has kept concealed in his bosom ; he leaves it for the stage necessity of Lady Toppington s getting it into her possession , and showing it to Anne !

    This is not tragic passion , it is contrivance . The audience perceives the strings pulling the puppets . The third act prettily enough sets forth the lovers' quarrel . Thorold , ignorant of the portrait discovery , attributes her coquetting with Lilaniston to heartless ambition . This is a really good act ; the fourth is still better . I do not understand the gratuitous insolence of Anne to the man she is about to marry : — " You should have heard my wooing An hour back . ' Anne , behold me at your feet , ' I cried , — ' You'll give me hope ? ' what was her answer ? Straight to the point . She usked my yearly income—Net—after all deductions ; if indeed I were a peer ' s next heir ; Avould live in London , Take her to Court , mix with the world and see She matched its proudest—lor all which perhaps She'd give me a wife ' s duty . As for love , I must omit thut trifle . " " nt I pass on to the scono of romonstrance , wherein Thorold tries to warn her against the step she is about to take . He speaks of her parents : — " You know already , How toil brought sickness , sickness—poverty ; How—bowed in mind and frame—your lather Bat Uy his cold hearth , yet , from 0110 faithful breast Drew warmth and hope . Before him knelt 1 uh wife , Your mother ! ANNE . Well P TIlOHOTil ) . He loved hor , an they only (' an love who slitter , loved her—noul and form . Her forin wan as the crystal to the light , Her soul -the light thai ; filled it-- Yet they parted ' . Those twin liven broke , and blent on earth no more ! A NUB . What parted them ? THOltOIiO . Well asked ! -What- could ! Not want , --' 'hey had quailed it to the dregn , and in its cup ' 'ledged lovo anew ; not exile , —where ho . stood Was honu > to her ; not chains , —her faithful tears Had ruHlod thoin to frco him ; not the hoiih , — '"'bey had foundered on one plunk ; not Iceland hiiows , - y « u had tracked her footfall thtiro ! All thene , men bravo I ° I" Uold ; why , liovo had mocked them !

    ' ANNB . Tell me , then , "What severed them ? thoeoxd . They had a child—an infant . Famine was at their threshold . Tor their child Those true hearts quailed . They sought your uncle ' s aid . He offered shelter to the wife and babe , — Denied it to the husband I ANNE . And my father ? THOEOLD . Strained Your mother to his breast , till soon their eyes Lit on the form that clung for life to hers ; They saw its wan , pinched cheek , the blight of want Creep on their blossom . They could save it!—he With one long kiss , till their souls met again , Embraced his wife , unwound his beggared arms , And said— Wife , go !—And for her child she went ! anne ( aside ) . I must quit or yield . ( She rises . ) thorold ( detaining her ) . Yotr were that child—for you They wrenched the bent of life , —slid from the raft That buoyed their fainting limbs , that you might ride The sorrows where they sunk ! ANNE . Cease ! THOROLD . Will you pay That mighty debt by sin ?—a sin that mocks The love they worshipped . She , your mother speaks , She pleads , lopk in her face . ( Snatches the miniature from his breast , and places it in her hand . ) ANNE . Her face ! that portrait My mother's face ? THOEOI / D . Even so . ANNE . My mother , mother ! ( Sinks on her knee , reverently pressing her lips to portrait ?) ( Thorold gazes on Anne toith deep emotion—then quits the room . ) It was that scene saved the piece ; that , and several scattered touches of great beauty and nice feeling ; for if in this analysis of the play I am finding little but fault , you must not therefrom conclude that I do not see great merit in it . The tears of the audience during this act , and my own pleasure—though mingled—throughout , were recorded in my notice of the first performance . But with whatever ornaments a man of talent may enrich his work , they cannot remove the central defects they may help to conceal . Therefore , speaking critically of Anne Slake , I Bay it presents no dramatic character consistently evolved , no dramatic story artistically told , no elemental passion vividly portrayed . Where-Marston , in his jn'eface , says that in Mrs . Kean ' s acting his creation Itves , and that such an embodiment of an ideal ' cannot quickly die , he seems to me to explain the whole mystery of his failure . Before I close this long and severe notice , let me quote that noble eulogy of the obscure , yet influential race : — " The Men who think ! Whose weapon is the pen , whose realm the mind . I mean not laurelled bards ; but daily workers , Who , like the electric force , unseen pervade The sphere they quicken -. nameless till they die , And leaving no memorial but a world Made better by their lives !" I could quote other quotable passages , but I leave you to find them in the work yourself .

    November 13, 1852.] The Leader. 1097

    November 13 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 1097

    J U L L I H N' S Conc E 11 T S..Toli/Ncn...

    J U L L I H N' S CONC E 11 T S . . ToLi / ncN the Moils , the great Napoleon of the realms of Polk , thodarlinff of a promenading public , tho best concert giver , and most Hueeensiul cntrepvtmeur , — . Jullien , whoso whiskers and whoso waistcoats madden ambitious youths , whose poses and graceful gesticulations enchant ingenuous maidens from tho country , whoso brilliant qualities and real musical merit—a merit amply proved by appreciation and by composition— . Jullien , is to quit uh for the dollar * of tho Went ! he is about to enchant America ! and who known that ho may not curry his triumphant progress from the Lane of Drury to tin ; Spiee ' Islands of the Kastoni Sean V Who can Hay where he will utop H JIo departs from us ! . Lugctc Vencrcs Cwpidm !

    csquc But before he donaHs he oneo more opens bin hospitable doors . In flying , he leaves behind him a sting of delight—the Parthian ! For one month he is to be neon controlling the harmonious tumult of that orchestra , making it discourse divinely of Beethoven , piquanUy of polkas , rhetorically and theatrically of Meyerbeer . For one month . ' On Monday tho crush vvji 8 tremendous ; like herrings in . n barrel wero the multitudinoun and perspiring public crammed and jammed , up oven unto tho ceiling . BoHidecJ his own orchestra , there were the attractions of Anna Zerr , of two first-rato violinists , the brothers Mollinlmuer , and a beautiful clarionet , M . . Wuillo . Of the " , " tho entliuNJnmn , the heal ,, tho noise , tho glare , and the success of thai evening , I huve no time- to speak . This lust uunual series will probably be the most brilliant of all . VlviAfl .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 13, 1852, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13111852/page/21/