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T I64 THE LEADER, [No. 308, Saturday,
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rft'U CtA k (PJ^JT^ JfLrtJSL A
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"STAY AT HOJIE." A little drama in two a...
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A capital farce, under the homely and nu...
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" The Stranger" is becoming quite the ma...
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Miss P. Houtok's entertainment at the Ga...
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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From An Unpublished Volume Of Alexander ...
to forget liis unhappy brother . Meanwhile , the young French girl , when she received the dreadful intelligence , hastened to tot . Petersburg , and demanded from Count Benkendorf permission to join Tvashenvin his captivity . Nicholas instructed Benkendorf to dissuade her ; she remained firm . He represented to her the miserable condition of women who followed their husbands to the galleys , and the terrible destinies of their children . He added that much consideration would . be extended to wives who knew not that their husbands had been compromised , but that she was free , and knowing what her betrothed was , could expect no mercy . 1 he young girl persisted . Nicholas , astonished , shrugged his shoulders , and gave her a passport . He kept his word . No favour was ever shown to this devoted her husbandison the authoritieshav
woman . When she reached ' s pr , mg received no orders , refused her an entrance . She remained , therefore , afc a hamlet some miles distant , waiting for an order from St . Petersburg , and surrounded by a population of common criminals and liberated convicts . Among these she met a man who was employed on the fortifications . Relating her story , she begged him to aequaintTvasheff with her arrival : he undertook to convey a-letter and the answer . The devotion of this woman , which had not touched the heart of Nicholas , made a deep impression on the rude nature of the convict . Several times a week , after finishing his task , he issued at nightfall from the fortress , walked several leagues across the snowy plains , amid the desolation of Eastern Siberia , to carry her a few words of affection , written by Tvasheff . At last the reply of the government arrived , and these unhappy ones were married in the fortress .
Ten years passed . Tyasheffs punishment was then commuted from forced laboiir to exile at a penal Settlement . The condition of his wife and himself was thus ameliorated ; but the struggle had worn her out—the struggle of seeking a husband at the galleys , and of ten years passed within a fortress in an inclement and bitter climate 3 had exhausted her strength , and she died , leaving two children . Tvasheff , still young , fell into a profound melancholy , and some mpnths after followed her to the grave . Imagine the situation of the orphans without civil rights , doomed at their birth to live as soldiers in a penal colony , abandoned , friendless , in the solitudes of Siberia !
^^ vasheff's father was dead . His son , a distinguished Colonel of Engineers , detnancled and obtained the Emperor ' s permission to adopt these children . Satne years passed , and he requested a second favour , —the restoration of their name and civil rights . This , which the Emperor , with such a scandalous outburst of ferocity , had denied to the Princess Troubetskoff , lie conceded to the cdlbnel , riot perceiving , however » that it amounted to a restitution of their estates , which the worthy man only held in trust for them . Among devoted women , land among men paralysed by fear , there sprang up multitude of enslaved fanatics . Some were dragged to baseness by selfish calculations , others , disinterested and unconscious , degraded themselves withut a motive .
/^ y thoughts were at once awakened . I know not how it was , but on the first ^ day , I felt in my heart that I was not on the side of those who iired the flmperial guns . The execution Of Festal and his friends did the rest . EVerj < me expected a commutation of their punishment ; Even my father , with his discreet and sceptical Teserve , said that the sentences and the gibbets were only meant to strike terror , and that no executions could possibly be o ^ a ^ red on the very eve of the coronation . But one day we read in the official gazette , — - " Onthe 5 th of July , at five o ' clock in the morning , five traitors were hanged , by the piiblic executioner . " We had known too little of Nicholas ! As for him , after signing the warrants , he left Sfc . Petersburg , and , without calling at Moscow , awaited the news at the Petrovsky palace .
An universal horror prevailed . The Russian people , degraded by slavery , and by the rod , were , nevertheless , unaccustomed to . the infliction of death penalties . Since the monstrous punishment of the officer Mirovitch , for having , by order of Catherine the Second , assassinated the unhappy Prince Teem , and that of Pougatscheff and his two accomplices , there had not been a Birigle execution fov fifty years . During the reign ; of Paul , an insurrection of Cossack * occurred , in which two officers , were implicated . Paul invested his Hetnaan with an unlimited jurisdiction over the offenders . The two officers were condemned to decapitation ; but no one would assume the responsibility of the execution , and the Emperor was applied to . " The Hetman is a fool , " said Paul . " He had foil power , but he would throw the odium on me . " The criminals were sent to the mines , and the Hetman was dismissed .
Nicholas . —and history should never ignore this trait of his character—reintroduced the punishment of death , by a surprise , and legalised it twenty years afterwards , in a monstrous criminal code , drawn up by the Polish German Qrube and confirmed by the Czar . Some days after the famous 26 th , n grand Te Deum was chaunted in a rich pavilion , erected in the Court of the Kremlin . Philarete , the metropolitan of Moscow , officiated , surrounded by the high clergy , and gave thanks to God for the victory obtained over the five patriots by the public executioner . The Imperial ^ family , the ministers , and the senate , surrounded the altar , and , further off , were heard the acclamations of the Imperial Guard , While the Te Ifeurti was performed the soldiers knelt , and from the Courts to the domes of the Kremlin rose the cry , " God save the Emperor ! " Never was there uch
« a / fre of the gallows . Iweis there , with my mother , and I already learned to hate the unnatural power of that implacable man . Nevertheless , my political ideas were soroe" n ^* i ^ * * oelieved tnat tne insurgents had really designed to place bonatantrao on the throne , to govern by a constitution . Hence , I conceived a sirigular _ yencration for him , as Czarovitch . * ' At the commencement of the 5 J 8 ?^ Nicholas , indeed , ho was much more in favour than his brother with ffiSS ^ 2- ° * V <> K » he had conferred no benefits , and with the soldiery , who "K ! 5 w ® ttwsd wwebut evil treatment at his hands . It was a popular TSS * ; ««*« te < l > to have atoned for all by the act of abdication . acconiSS S ^ ^ ' the dRy ftfter tho coronation of Nicholas . He « eSe 7 iW » mSSS " * * ° P alace anA to the ^ h ^ ral . His brow , Sunh ^ rm ^ aS &\^ , ' $ **<* ** P **» m . He wore tho JUtW man uniform . and with hifchigb . Bhonldew , Ms drooping head , and retrows ' e
nose , it may be imagined that my hero did not captivate me by his beauty . My Russian teacher was the first who began to engage my mind . He was young , roble , full of that liberalism which vanishes with marriage , with the first grey hair , vith the attainment of a stable position , but which , while it lasts , still dignifies the man . " May God will , " he said to me , " that you shall never abandon these sentiments ; " and he began to teach me fragment s of Pousbkins's and Ryleief ' s songs , which I committed to writing , little dreaming iha % thirty years after , I—I first—should print them . I read no more romances ; I found in the library a history of the French revolution , written by a legitimist of the empire . H is exaggerations were so absurd that I suspected them . Resolved at any cost to decide for myself I thought of asking Monsieur Bouchot , my French master , who was at Paris during the ^ Revolution . Bouchot was a rough man , not much inclined to converse with me . He dictated verses , conjugated verbs , scolded , tattooed the ground with his foot , and did not invite my inquiries .
At last , I took courage , and seeing him in an unusually good humour , said in the middle of a lesson , " Ah , Monsieur Bouchot , I have long wanted to ask you why they guillotined Louis XVI . ?" The old man looked at me steadily , raised one eyebrow and depressed the other , pushed his heavy spectacles over his forehead ., took from his pocket his blue handkerchief , and , after having blown his nose violently , said in a dismal voice , * ¦ ' Because he was a traitor to his country !" " ? , ut if you lmd been one of the J"d ges > would you have signed the warrant ? " With both hands ! " said he , and he took a pinch of snuff . That lesson , was -worth many participles and conjunctions . I was now enlightened . Evidently they had done right to guillotine the King . ° Bouchot liimself had said so ! A . IIehzen .
T I64 The Leader, [No. 308, Saturday,
T I 64 THE LEADER , [ No . 308 , Saturday ,
Rft'u Cta K (Pj^Jt^ Jflrtjsl A
tte Ms .
"Stay At Hojie." A Little Drama In Two A...
" STAY AT HOJIE . " A little drama in two acts , under this title , was produced on Monday evening at the Olympic . It is from a French onigiual , and a version in . English has already appeared at the Haymarktst . The present translation is very free , with large interpolations of original humour , and the scene is transferred from Paris to London , and to the sylvan retirement of Cremorae . Mr . Frank Lauriston ( Mr . George Vining ) is a young author with a young wife 3 whom he leaves at home in solitude while he amuses himself a la Pepys , and flirts with a gay widow because it flatters his vanity . He is followed by his wife , disguised in a domino , to a masqued hall at Cremorue , where , after sundry cross-purposes , all is brought to an appropriate
conclusion . These are the chief figures and incidents ; but there is a fussv old physician , Dr . Metcalfe ( excellently played by Mr . Emery ) , who , by " communicating to Lauriston the various fanciful ailments under which the gay widow labours— -now a headache , now " her nerves ' —acts unconsciously as a go-between for the lady and her lover , each ailment having a special and secret meaning . Another character is the doctor ' s wife ( played by Mrs . Stirling )—a lady bored by her too uxorious husband , and longing for " a little jealous }' , \ yhich she finally obtains ; for , dropping in at Crernorne to see what the place is like , slie encounters the doctor , who has escorted Mrs . Lauriston to that retreat . She thus finds a temporary motive for fearing that the homeloving physician is becoming " fast . "
The whole piece sparkles With wit and satire ; and is not only epigrammatic , but full of movement . The final moral is in favour of the advice embodied in the title ; but the author has reserved to himself great liberty of comment on social " make-believes . " Of the acting , we may say it was good throughout . Miss Fanny Tbrnan played the half-broken-hearted wife , with touching sweetness : her efforts to keep her husband awake by playing and singing , and the way in which she continues the song after she finds he is asleep , until , the voice getting more and more tremulous , she falls forward in a fit of sobbing , —all this was truly and beautifully felt , Mr . George Vining was easy and audacious as the husband ; and Mrs . Stirling , as Mrs . Metcalfe , shone wickedly delightful . The vivacity with which she flashes forth her comments on the stupidity of too-loving husbands , and the inner chuckle with which , when asking Mrs . Lauriston to go to the masqued ball , she adds , "It ' s rather improper , are matters to be remembered .
A Capital Farce, Under The Homely And Nu...
A capital farce , under the homely and nutritious title of That Blessed Baby , was produced at the Adklphi on Monday evening , for the return of the Keeleys , with complete success . The author , new to fame , has hit upon a novel and interesting " situation , " and has worked it out with roaring fun and comicality . The piece—which , by the way , is of home nnd not foreign extraction—is written to the very measure of the admirable talent of the Kebleys , \ vh 03 e acting is simply unsurpassable for mirth and humour , whether in its broad effects , or in those finer touches , which sometimes elude the public , but are full of meaning to the critical sense .
" The Stranger" Is Becoming Quite The Ma...
" The Stranger" is becoming quite the man in possession at tho Haymarkbt . He is constantly putting in a distress upon the premises . But if h « would always appear tinder the fat and florid aspect of the Mr . Simpson who appeared the other night in that character , ho would be ii little less of a bore . Alphonse Karr imagined ( and shuddered ftt the thought ) une femme okauve , en lunettes , comb hint les vonuoo do son amant . Who could tho amant be but Mr . W . II . Simpson , in the diameter of the * ' Stranger V
Miss P. Houtok's Entertainment At The Ga...
Miss P . Houtok's entertainment at the Gallkuy ov Illustha-tion w becoming increasingly popular . It is cleverly -written , and furniahoa an infinite variety of opportunities for the display olf tho accomplished lady ' s wit , vivacity , aad grace . When she singa , we cannot help reflecting witU pain that there arc few auch voic « a to be heard at the Opera .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 16, 1856, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16021856/page/20/
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