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Leader (1850-1860), 12th June 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 21, Jpwe 13, isg2.j fffigl/EAQiRr M\

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      Comte's Positive Philosophy. By G. H. Le...

      rally indispensable to ensure certatnty . As the stability of a compound decreases , and conversel y the facility of recomposition increases the higher its order , it follows that we can most easily apply the synthetical method where it is most needed . The position of Chemistry in the hierarchical scale , and its influence on our intellectual development , have now to be considered and these will occupy tis next week .

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      The Trial Of Love. Me. Iiovell Lias Writ...

      THE TRIAL OF LOVE . Me . IiOVELL lias written plays so far superior to the Trial of Love , that I must not hesitate to point out what I conceive to be its serious and vital defects . It is sia ^ mm every sense ; It shows considerable practice of the stage ; thorough knowledge of points and effects ; and never for an instant drags . But although , its stage construction shows great skill * and saved it from failure , its dramatic construction , he must permit me at faultThe work

      to say , is altogether y has no organization , consequently no life . It is put together , it does not evolve its scenes before you ; it is built up of stage materials , as if the sole aim were to " work up" to a tirade here , a tableau there , and a point elsewhere ; ranting passages , surprises , fallings upon knees , bursts of indignant virtue , and humiliation of baseness—^ all the stock in trade is there , but leaves the audience without emotion , because it leaves behind an uncomfortable sense of ' mechanism . It is a play written according to a recipe .

      Let me take the fable as it stands , and ask Mr . Xovell whether , on reconsideration , he believes that he has constructed it dramatically P Colonel Bosioell , the deputy-governor of besieged -PTewark , is in secret correspondence with the enemy . His servant , Martin , betrays that secret to Sir William , Gre ^ who , thebetter to defeat the plot , affects to carry it on . A letter having been intercepted , JBoswell very gratuitously and- improbably throws tlie suspicion on / SeV starts off into themost inexplicable madness ever witnessed even , in the region of five-act plays r for if the suspicion were ^ credible , were true , he could not be more beside himself . Fancy a , man . in his senses wondering that the walls do not crush him , because of the " taint" . ' - —fancy a man declaring that the stars withdraw their gaze from him in timid purity at his corruption , he knowing himself to be perfectly innocent all the . while ! But this singular psychology is the excuse for declamation , and Charles Kean must have his tirades somehow or other .

      To resume . Sir Herbert , restless and maniacal , as we have seen , under this suspicion , enters the private study 6 ? Sir William Grey , and there a falling table > accidentally throw . 8 into his hands one of the traitorous letters . His eyes open- —you may imagine how his mouth opens ( it is Charles Kean who plays Sir Herbert !) as he discovers that the culprit for whom he suffers is Sir William , the father of his Isabel . He is ignorant of the real part played by Sir William ; so is the audience . We all believed Sir- William guilty , for the author has constructed , his scene as if he were guilty —( tho innocence being only a clumsy afterthought , I imagine , when the denouement puzzled him ) . Believing him guilty , lie stiffershimself to be won over by Sir William ' s prayers , and by very exaggerated and false notions of duty to her he loves . He consents to be sacrificed as tho traitor rather than a slur should be cast on her father ' s name . The soldiers

      arrive with a warrant to search Sir Herbert . The damning proof is found upon him . He is made prisoner .. If I were entering into minutiaa I would ask Mr . Lovell , How is it known that Sir Herbert has the paper on him P It must be known ; it cannot be suspected , because Colonel Bomvell is perfectly aware of his innocence , and unless he know it as a fact , he would never pretend to suspect it . Now , although Martin knows Sir Herbert is in the room , he does not know that Sir Herbert has found t ho paper ; and if he did know it , he being- an accomplice with Sir Wiltam . would dread the discovery . But this is onljr one of many en * ors in tho dramatic nonfltruotion . I no to the central noint . I say tho "

      collision" of the pieoo lies in that sceno where Sir Herbert chivalrously roaolves to sacrifice himself rather than the father of his mistress should be known aa a traitor . Now , to make this a real collision , Sir William should bo roally a traitor ; boing only a traitor in appearance and for tho sake of unmasking tho culprit , ho would naturally let Sir Herbert into tho secret , and spare him and his daughter all the agonios which ensue . In fact ; the whole piece , a 8 I said , is constructed upon tho princi p le of bringing out points and situations , not of representing the evolution of acts , and passions consequent upon those acts . It is an opera of cava-I ' l n A n flu . _ /» i * I 1 __ 1 * _ .. . nAi ! MA ni ? 1 . sv-vvsv 1- » -I e + n / -. Aitn f \ T / "l / lOVMlft * j uuvmhuii ui iuvuhm ot uu i

      "'; " « « jio iirst tenor must nave juh , «« u ^ ° i " " > Jus cavatina of chivalrous honour , and so on . The prima' donna has her eiymtinas too , but not so many . I have no doubt the- " artists" are charmed with tho play , because they aro charmed with thoir parts . I seem Bevere because I place the standard as high as tho author . Taking his play for what it ia , and not what it aims at , I should admit ; that it has some unmistakcnble stage merits . It is swift , progressive , full of Jmstlo , closing each act with an expectation raised for what ia to come , 'ho poetry seomed to mo manufactured as the play itsolf was , although

      sonie passages vindicated tho writer ' s olaim to Inghor thinga . . Tr . As to tho acting , it rests with tho Keans . Ever since Charlos . Konn Jinarrollod with me he has taken a base advantage of mo by acting 80 wo 1 t' » at I havo had to praise him . Now is that fairP But my tirno will « ome ! MoanwhiloT with my usual ferocity , I declaro tJiat , his Sir Herbert fyrrell was decidedly offeetive—one of tho boat things I have soon wim do . It was earnest , not too violent , and occasionally dignified . I "ii ^ ht qualify this praise by one or two remarks , but th » y would only point to amoral defects , not to defeots peculiar to this performance , so I *»] 1 be . silent . Mrs . Kean . who has grown stouter , played more like her « 14 self again . She wore a charming blond wig , dressed in tho fashion * f ly has immortalized , and looked several years younger . Miss Mar-B » all throw groat vulgarity and incompetence into tho part of ft comio

      waiting woman ; and Meadows did his utmost with a phantom of a part . Ryder looked truculent as a villain of Melodrame , and playedastee looked . The scenery and dresses were—as always— -new and good . Needless -to say that the success of the piece was uproarious on the first night —( when I was not able to be there )—and decided afterwards . I have only just left the theatre , and , an ever-gasping press is / waiting for more copy . " Here , O dirty-faced devil ( printer's !) take this rough impression" the new play . I have not time to mince phrases . If ' ,. calmer reflection , the criticism seem to me harsher than honest truth will have it , why , next week I will mollify . Take it away !

      German Plays. There Are Many People Who,...

      GERMAN PLAYS . There are many people who , in the innocence of their hearts , envy me and my brother critics our " privilege" of seeing and hearing all the novelties . ? 'Tt must be so delightful to be able to go to Operas , and German Plays , and French Plays , and Concerts , and Exhibitions , and Private "Views ! " Very delightful to be able ; but what do you think of . being forced to go P I make up my mind , perhaps , to a quiet evening with my Books , and the day-dream is shattered by Levassor in two new pieces ; instead of thinking the great thoughts of noble minds , I have to laugh for three hours , and listen to platitudes of criticism . To be sure , the stately Harriet is almost certain to bo in the stalls"And Beauty draws me with a singleiiiair . " That is compensation ! Another ni ght I have a seductive invitation which cannot be accepted , because of Emil Devrient and the German

      Plays' * And Duty draws me with a single Herr I " Die Grosse Idee der Pfticht , the great idea of Duty , Kant has reason to exalt ; it rules the world—and critics . Duty called me to Don Carlosas Glendower called spirits from the vasty , deep—and with similar success : I didn ' t go . I once sat out Don Carlos , m Berlin or Dresden , and I pledge you my word , that all the king ' s horses and all the king ' s men , couldn't drag me to it again . It is not much of a favourite with me as a poem to be read , but as a piece to be acted ! . ... . Alfieri , in Filippo , has treated the story with intense dramatic power ; Schiller has made it the utterance of some impassioned eloquence in favour of liberty , but has missed the tragic and dramatic style .

      On Tuesday , Sphiller ' s Kabale und Ziebe—his second work- —was produced for the gratification of a public which believes that because Schiller is a great name , it can only sign greatness . I hope the public was sufficiently bored on Tuesday , to have distinctly made up its mind about this piece , one of the worst , and the worst acted , I have endured for some time . For crudity of expression and absurdity of dramatic conception — : for outrages against taste , truth , interest , Kabale und Hebe is more than enough to justify Goethe ' s profound repugnance to the " Sturm tind Drang" period of Schiller ' s career . Then the acting ! Herr Devrient , as the young lover , contrived to destroy the mitigated admiration he excited in me by his JEqmont . I must say it , without disguise—his

      acting was as bad as an intelligent man , accustomed to the stage , could make it . In repose , he looked and stood like one of the pretty officers in the pretty pictures of Fashions ; in agitation , he was lackadaisical , loud , ungraceful , and , at times , immensely ludicrous . Herr Devrient ' s qualities are , a handsome person , a good voice , an unusually good German accent , and a cultivated elocution : qualities available in the higher kind of drama , where ideal treatment is required ; but when the drama descends into the " sphere of actual experience , then is the actor ' s capability

      tried , for then he must simulate emotion , represent character . I do not believe in Herr Devrient ' s power to do either . His face is inflexible , his . voice wants tho modulations of passion , his gestures are " pretty" when not absolutely conventional . But the audienco applauded him , and recalled him , as if he had been a genius . It was " another blaze of triumph . " Gallantry forbids my mentioning tho ladies ; but one genuine bit of comic acting , perfect m its way , I must mention , and that was Herr Schrader ' s representation of tho foppish Baron von Kalb—a German fop , such as I have jostled in ,, countless salons and embassies . The recollection made me shout with hilarious gusto : aa a bit of character , it was quite a study . Voice * gesture , expression—all were perfect .

      Ella's Matinefi Musicale. On" Tuesday, ....

      ELLA'S MATINEfi MUSICALE . On" Tuesday , . Ella gave tho subscribers to tlie Musical Union an extra , and gratuitous Matinde . Had ho meant to convince us of the superior charm of tho Musical Union , with its well-aolccted programme of three or four pioo . es > performed by iirst-rato players , ho could' not havo cho-sen a better plan than by this Matinee , to prove the dulness of a " miscellaneous" concert . Inhere waa but ono thing worth the trouble of going * to hear , and that , indeed , repaid an immense expenditure of patience . It was Beethoven's popular sonata in " F ( known as a solo by all pianoforte playera ) , performed by Vicuxternps and Madame Pleyol with a grace , an entrain , n grandeur quite ravishing . The moist warmth of tli 6 atmosphere somewhat nfFocfcod Viouxteinpa' playing—no violinist could altogether withstand such a day as it was—but tho solid qualities of a conscientious artist wore unmistukcable .

      Mapemoisklln Van I)Kit Meersch. An Ologa...

      MAPEMOISKLLN VAN I ) Kit MEERSCH . An ologant and interesting entertainment is th ^ t which Madllo . Van dor Moorscn offers ¦ with' her well trained birds . Learned pigs aro abominations , and not orudito . Loarnod dogs aro delightful , but who wonders at any amount of sagacity in dotfaP Learned birds aro novelties , and this young enchantress has ho instructed her little birds that they accomplish some conjuring tricks as noatly as Houdiri . She- asked one of tho company to make an addition ; the numbers fivo and throe were chosen ; instantl y ^ from some hundred cards tho bird piclcod out one bearing tho figure ^ eight . Slio then asked for a subtraction ; a wit and critic presont ehoad throe from eight , and the bird picked out a card bearing the figure five ! Madlle . Van dor Meersch takes her little conjurors into society , an ( J fashionable eoirdos aro varied by this now and pretty exhibition . Vivian . '

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 12, 1852, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12061852/page/21/