On this page

• Text (3)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    very novel or suggestive . So much may be safely asserted , even on a first bearing . But for tbe rest I prefer reserving any opinion—the more so as at present it is not very favourable . The execution of the opera is in good hands . Madame Ugalde , the pet of Paris , made her debut on this occasion . She has a pure soprano voice of marvellous flexibility , but little power , and with a French twang which amounts to the disagreeable ; her head voice is silvery , but , partly from imperfect production , and partly from her ineradicable Freneh accent , the chest

    voice is indifferent . I never heard worse Italian sung upon , the stage . It reminded me forcibly of Alfieri ' s scornful assertion , that the French seem in speaking as if eternally blowing their soup maigre ! As an ornamental singer she fully merits the praises she has received , and I have little doubt that in French opera she is charming . Sontag looked old , and sang occasionally flat . Gardoni , as Azael , acted indifferentl y ^ but sang with tasteful expression the long scena in the fourth act . Massol was admirable in his original part of Reuben , and Carolina Rosati was welcomed with the enthusiasm due to an old favourite . On the whole the opera was well received ; and after two or three more performances one will be able to speak of it more decidedly .

    USTGOMAR . I have always said it : Unbeaten Woman lords it o ' er the world ! ( By the way , that's a verse , but it is as true as prose itself . ) We males swagger , and talk of our superiority , but only the Savage has practical dominion over the " weaker sex , *' simply because he bangs his recalcitrant female in lordly style ! We don ' t beat our women , and are therefore , slaves j we are forced to knock under because we have fastidious scruples about knocking them down ! This may be quite correct : I only state the fact , without commentary . Unbeaten

    Woman is a Tyrant . The weaker they are the more tyrannical . A little blonde creature with fair eyes and fragile figure , whom you could crush in your manly grasp , somehow or other you find yourself trembling before , as before a crowned potentate . She bends you to her purposes , to her caprices : if you resist , her pretty eyes flash scornful fire ; if you quail not before her anger , she rushes into hysterics ! What is helpless—and , above all , clubless—man to do ? Be meek and acquiescent ! That I take to be one of the primordial laws of civilization . Directly man emerges from the savage state , he becomes woman ' s prey . I find it the

    eternal theme of literature . In one shape or another it is always Samson laying his shaggy head in the fair lap of Dalilah . From Homer to Paul de Kock the story of Cymon and lphvjeniawhich Mr . Dryden told in resounding coupletshas been varied in its incidents , but haa preserved its kernel of sentiment , which is none other than the dominion of Beauty . The old lion who allowed the fair maiden to draw his teeth and clip his terrible claws , what is that but the symbol of our daily folly ? Do we not all stoop from our pedestal and crouch beneath the merciless grace of woman ?

    " Did not great Hercules lay down his strength , Spinning with Omphale , and all for love ?" Think of Achilles the Terrible , he whose shout alone made the horses of Troy tremble in their shoes , ocrcrovro yap cc \ y *< x Ov / u $ , foreseeing the sorrows which that shout implied . Well , the Swift-footed himself , who slew the Horse-tamer , was conquered by the gentleness of the fair Briseis ! And when

    she was taken from him , he stalked ireful and moody by the shoreu of the many-sounding sea , and mingled his salt tears with the " ocean wave . " ( Unless you suppose that he had an eye to posterity , and wished to furnish young gentlemen of a classical turn with the polyphloisboio thalasses as an appropriate quotation always ready ) . If Achilles could be tamed by Beauty , who , after him , shall resist ?

    Returning to my muttons—from which I have only apparently been straying—let me say that the very German play , produced on Monday at Drury Lane , and bearing the title of lngomar the liarbarinn , is another version of the old story ; and becauHe the old story is eternally true , eternally interesting , Inyomur hus uoine touches which redeem the wouriueuN of the ensemble . It is of a very composite order—low comedy and traditional melodrama irradiated with fitful gleumn of poetic intention- written most likel y by some fourth-rato German , whose views of Jjfo Hiuuck of the reverioH which visit the « oul in a Wein Stube dense with smoke , through which you dimly recognise the flowing hair and imperfect teeth of " those wild

    German students . " It was a good idea to place the scene in Massilia , where Greek culture could be brought to bear upon Gothic barbarism ; it was a pretty idea also to make Parthenia offer herself as a hostage for her captive father ; and as a slave usurp the dominion of her lord and master . Indeed , as I said before , there are several poetic intentions in the piece ; but they are lost amidst the rubbish . We see intentions , we do not see a work . Jean Paul subtly remarked of Tieck's Sternbald that it was a wish of Art rather than a work of Art ; and the remark may be applied with tenfold force to Ingomar .

    The acting did . not contribute to lessen the tedium of the play . I except Miss Vandenhoff , who by her statuesque attitudes reminded one constantly of the figures on the Greek vases , and by her untheatrical manner threw a charm around Parthenia which made me forget the baldness of what she had to say . Mr . Anderson as the Barbarian developed a capacity for low comedy which was as unsuspected as it was inappropriate . To rob Paul Bedford of his laurels may be a laudable ambition , but I cannot think that a Romantic Play was precisely the field to make that venture in ; nor can I believe that Ingoraar was meant by the author as a low comedy part . Mr . Anderson wished to be natural . Very good ; I am the last to quarrel with

    such au intention . But let us understand terms . When it is said that an actor is natural , I always mentally ask : yes $ but according to whose nature ? Art , inasmuch as it is Representation , must present before us the nature of the thing or character represented ; and the laughter should at once have told Mr . Anderson that he was on the wrong track—the laughter should have checked his low comedy efforts and told him they did not represent the nature of Ingomar . Mr . Anderson is so good an actor in some parts—Ulric , for instance , or Huon —that a mistake like this of Ingomar should be unflinchingly pointed out to him—the more so , as the laughter and applause which accompany his performance will tend grossly to mislead him as to the permanent effect produced .

    Untitled Article

    VIVIAN NOT AT THE PLAY . Rachel has been playing to wondering audiences who are never tired of seeing her in the old parts . Adrienne Lecouvreur is the most attractive of her performances , at which I feel somewhat scornful , though I understand the causes . After all , how few in a theatre appreciate Art ! how few can discriminate between the bourgeois style of that epicier in Art named Eugene Scribe ( a wonderful e ' picier no doubt , and one whose adroitness I am the last to despise ) , and that rare consummate artist Jean Racine ! To them the pathos of the hospital , which Rachel so powerfully depicts , is more " moving , " consequently more run after , than the pathos of Phedre or Hermione ; they like their wine brandied and their drama to match ! Bordeaux ? pah ! it gives a man the cholic—such thin wishywashy stuff ! Let me have wine with a " body "—every glass a headache !

    Instead of spending my evening in a series of growls over Adrienne Lecouvreur , with its mechanical cleverness , its stage commonplaces and its colourless dialogue , I secluded myself from the footlights , and in the " still air of delightful studies" opened a squab quarto containing the Xpunor iratr ^ wv ; a work doubly memorable to me , first as being the earliest example of the Modern Drama , and secondly , as being the reputed product of a Christian father—my favorite Gregory of Nazianssen : 1 say reputed because modern scholars , confound their scepticism ! throw serious doubts on its authenticity .

    By the way , my confession of a partiality to the Fathers haw been received with some suspicion . Strange and incredulous is it that the frivolous Vivian should have studies so austere ! Learn , my friend , that your profound Bigwigs are mostly shallow dogs ; it is your gay and frivolous fellows who are deep ! Look at the Fiench-r-unequalled in filagree and mathematics * ! Kxtreinea meet , you know ; and as Linton delighted in Young's Niyht Thoughts- —Spinoza in weeing spider *) ilght—so

    Vivian may be pardoned if he vary his frivolity by a partiality , for recondite theology . We are a strange family , the Vivians I My ni 8 ter , who has a very agreeable talent in tbe representation of cackling heuH , was discovered one morning lying in bod reading u French vernion of one of the Futhorc —and cackling ! ^ fot having that mimetic accomplishment , I manifest the Viviun levity in other shapes . How the pen ruae on ! I wat down to tell you

    of all I did not see this week , and to supply a little theatrical gossip in lieu of criticism . Well , I did not see Rachel—and you " know the reason wiry . *' Neither did I see Madame Vestris , who has revived Prince Charming—in which she is so charming ! nor did I go once to the Olympic , where revivals have been manifold—to supply , if possible ( but it isn ' t ) , the loss of Leigh Murray , their pillar , and one of the greatest of public favourites .

    You way be glad to know , however , that the theatres are becoming more prosperous : at the Lyceum and Princess ' s , I am told , they have crowded houses every night . I hope there will be a cram at the Princess ' s on Monday , for on that night the accomplished Wigan takes his benefit , and he deserves that it should be a benefit . Of gossip not strictly theatrical , but allied thereto ,

    may be added Bosco ' s forced cessation of his astonishing performances , owing , as he frankly says , to the Exhibition carrying off all the money and all the visitors . But he promises to reappear . Meanwhile , out-of-door amusements are in high favour ; and the Surrey Zoological Gardens must be a fortune to the proprietors . It is really a most agreeable lounge .

    Viardot and Ronconi , two of the very greatest actors ever seen , are both arrived , and have come to strengthen the great company at Covent Garden . What an array : Grisi , Viardot , Ronconi , Mario , Tamberlik , and Formes ! It rivals the day when Grisi , Rubini , Tamburini , and Lablache , all in theii prime , formed so brilliant a . constellation , that one sighs to think such days ever pass into night ! Vivian .

    Untitled Article

    HOLIDAY AMUSEMENTS . There are yet periods when the people will make holiday , and Monday was one . Showers of Februarian severity , and more than April frequency , fell throughout the day ; but gay dresses and smiling faces were everywhere to be seen . The Great Exhibition drew numbers through the day ; but myriads were also to be found in almost every place of public amusement . Amongst public exhibitions the British Museum appeared to be the favourite , where the King ' s Library is now open to the public . The National Gallery and Mablborough House were rendered more attractive by the presence of a large number of foreigners , in the costume of their several countries . The Colosseum , with its varied attractions , was well patronised . The Panoramas of London by day and Paris by night , the 'conservatories and aviaries , the glyptotheca and stalactite caverns , form a combination of glory and marvel entirely unequalled . In the rear ofthe building is the Oyclorama , where , by mechanical appliances , the devastating effects of an earthquake are exhibited . Not far from this is the Diorama , where views of Mount / Etna and the Casile ofthe

    Stolzenfels illustrate most vividly the beauty and variety of the dioramic process . The Panorama in Leicester - square continues ever attractive . One picture succeeds another , and Mr . Burford seems with each more and more successful . The new Panorama , by M . Gompertz , " The Arctic Regions , " invested with a peculiar intere&t from the doubt which hangs over the fate of Franklin , is now attracting large numbers . The Great Glouk in at present the theme of conversation . Its bize and the various peculiarities of our world , which strike the

    beholder for the first time , render a visit there an affair of peculiar interest . Mr . Wyhl intends to stock the vestibules with maps , charts , small globes , &c , so that it may become a geographical institution or store-house for everything appertaining to a knowledge of the superficial structure of the earth . Nearly opposite the entrance to the Globe , strangers are . much interested by the Assaults of Aums which take place in the Linwood Gallery . Fencing , single stick , broadsword , boxing and wrestling , are here played by prolessors of the several arts , and the whole conducted with u decorum us desirable as it in novel . Under the same roof is the Maximilian collection of Anciknt Arms and Armour , containing about 150 suits of the J ft I hand I (> lh centuries , together with numerous halheitw , piken , battle-axes , and other weapons . Cantklo ' h Inouhator , adjoining the Gallery , has been visited by hosts of fanners and country people , who appear greatly mizzled a ( tho facility with which chickens are hatched by dozens . Thk Tourists' Gallkry , where continental travellers may journey again over well-remembered Knots , is M . ill subjected to a critical ordeal , through which it passes triumphantly . At the Polytechnic , one of the most

    Untitled Article

    Jtjnb 14 , 1851 . ] 8 Cf ) £ ILtaKtX . 665

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 14, 1851, page 565, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1887/page/17/