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.

  • 

    9 42 THE LEADER. fNb. 49Q. AugV Id, 1859

  • 

    opportunities for its exercise. For inst...

  • 

    CAMPAIGNING HXPEBIIBNOIDS IN UAJTOQTANA ...

• 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.

    "The Assemblage Of Italians, In Rome, Fr...

    recorded . B " o satisfactory result can be come to in the Italian question that does not carry out these . It is not to be supposed that a conference or congress wUl arrive at this at oncei , Italy is still in travail , and the European mind ¦ will have to go through many phases before the solution can be entertained , many more , perhaps , before it can be realised . Having engaged in commerce with Rosetti , we find him navigating a bark and lying south of Jesus Maria , when he -was attacked by two Brazilian Vessels . This -was his first battle ;

    wherein , too , he was wounded ; but his crew were "victorious . In his next battle , he was more fortunate , lie , and thirteen companions , had to encounter 150 opponents . The adventure occurred in Brazil . The next chance that befel him was that of shipwreck , i ' or this , however , he was speedily consoled by bis marriage with Anna . AH his recollections of this brave "woman are touched with a tender melancholy . It is impossible for us to pursue G-aribaldi through all his adventures . We may note , in passing , that his first child was bora at San Simon , in 1840 ; and that in the course of his fortunes he _ turned cattle-drover , or trappiere . At Montevideo his thoughts were yet onJLtaly . They follow : —•

    "I conceived the idea of performing an important service for my own country , while devoting myself to that in which I was residing . I soon perceived that the spirit and character of the Italians needed great efforts , to raise them from the depressed state in which they existed in fact , as well as in the Opinion of the world ; . and I was determined to elevate them , by such a practical training as alone could secure the end . "By means of Napoleon ' s treachery to the cause ¦ of liberty , vrhieh he had pretended to espouse on

    entering Italy ; that unhappy country had been led to a ruin more deep and complete than any of the other of his victims ; for she had been , more than any other , reduced to spiritual slavery , as ¦ well as temporal . The allies ( with Protestant Prussia and England among them ) had restored the papacy « lohg with monarchy and aristocracy ; and yet the Italians were vilified as a degenerate race , and falsely accused of having brought their misfortunes upon themselves , by their ignorance , fanaticism and pusillanimity . "

    The protestantising df Italy ia a bold notion , yet probably her delivery will , after all , come by some such means . Perhaps England will not be able to act as she ought , until the advent of that possible regeneration . Let us respect , Garibaldi and bis Free Lancers , who are at liberty to pursue a course untrammeled by diplomatic formulae . He never despaired , he says , pt Italy . Whosoever would understand the man should read this biography ; wherefore we commend it earnestly to our readers .

    9 42 The Leader. Fnb. 49q. Augv Id, 1859

    9 42 THE LEADER . fNb . 49 Q . AugV Id , 1859

    Opportunities For Its Exercise. For Inst...

    opportunities for its exercise . For instance , it is so self-contradictory that any part of it can be set against any other part , and thus the advocacy of its pretended subject be demolished by matter extracted from its own pages . Thus we are told that the elder Kean was much annoyed by some newspaper criticism . ; and that Mrs . Garrick thereupon counselled him to adopt her David ' s plan" write the articles himself : David always did so . " We find that the younger Kean is quite as sensitive to criticism , and are induced to suspect that in the work before us he has , under cover , adopted the old lady ' s advice . But then a book is not a

    newspaper ! What a happiness , in that fact ; for those newspapers are horrid things ! They are so often , too , " committed through the carelessness of their subordinates / " But this would not _ be objected to , it seems , when " the mistake inclines to the side of panegyric . " Oh , n j certainly not ; —all ' right , then . " But when an opposite course is adopted , when certain individuals are selected for specific censure , and slashed right and lef t with a mortal tomahawk , the matter becomes too serious for pleasantry , and gives rise to painful reflections" !! ! Of course it does . Much better , therefore , for such individuals to write the articles

    Surely her place might have been supplied by Miss Glyn , whose good opinion was so desirable , and whose merits were not only acknowledged by the world , but by the management . Moreover , there is Miss Helen Faucit yet alive , high in fame and excellence . Either of these would have been glad to occupy Mrs . Kean ' s place during her compelled absence ! Why were not their services secured ? We are afraid that the answer is only too obvious , and . furnishes an objection to actormanagements which is only too strong . Of such jealous potentates—so fearful of a free press—^ -so despotically disposed to indite their own " articles , " no rival need expect to be admitted near the throne . It will not do to give another the ghost of a chance .

    This jealousy of the press seenia to exist in Mr . Kean ' s mind , not only as to the present , but as to the past . Mr . Hazlitt , for instance , is sillily termed " a reporter , " and his ai'ticles condemned for unwholesome severity . One would have thought that Hazlitt ' s eloquent support of the elder Kean would have preserved his memory from such contempt . At any rate , lie deserved recognition as one of the best of our dramatic critics . Mr . Kean ' s notion is , that the gentlemen who hold office as such in the journals , are " subordinates " and " reporters "— -not his j udges , but properly the mere recorders of his triumphs ; or if they " hint a fault , or hesitate dislike , " necessarily his enemies .

    We had , indeed , heard that Mr . C ; Kean was unfortunate in this respect , and habitually suffered an hallucination of mind amounting to disease ; but we are not the less surprised to find Mr . Cole thus furnishing evidence of the melancholy fact in the volumes before us . If Mr . Kean has had reason for his dissatisfaction , so much the worse for him in his dispute with Mr . Douglas Jerrold . If the current of public opinion did so run against the former , it was so far in favour of the latter . It is not to be supposed that the journals had entered into a combination against a single actor and manager , or that if condemnation were general it could be without reason . In point of fact , there never was such a combination , nor such condemnation . From the beginning , the critics were , on the

    contrary , only tob disposed- to favour Mr . C . Ivean ' s experiment at the Princess ' s Theatre ; and out of a regard to the well-known susceptibilities of the manager , abstained from that severity of remark which , in some instances , might have warned him from courses which , as it is confessed , led to great losses . However , Mr . G . Kean has paid the penalty of his infirmity ; and Mr . Cole has placed on record the judgment of Mr , D . Jerrold , which will be that also of the world , in relation to Mr . Kean and his quarrel with that gentleman and the press . It is impossible , perhaps , altogether to separate an ambitious actor from the troublesome feeling of personal vanity ; but it is not , surely , every great performer who is consumed " with a festering anxiety to consider every man his mortal enemy , who is not prepared to acknowledge him the eighth wonder of the habitable world . " to the

    This ^ irritability extends eyen audience . Again and again we are told in these volumes , that modern audiences neglect to applaud , and that it is highly injurious to the actor , who needs the stimulant . This confirms ft story wo have often heard , that , in his provincial practice , Mr . Charles Kean " has frequently addressed his country audience , requesting that they would show that they wore pleased by their plaudits , aa without them he felt unable to do his best . The' great artist should rise above this abject condition ot dependence . The Kemblea did . Tho good actor should gain his perception of the right by previous study * and , learn to carry out his convictions regardless of their reception . Ho will , in fact , learn Jbo depend upon lmnsolf , and not , on the house . Such also should be our conduct in tue world ot large . Why should tho strong man loan for support on others ? In fact , ho will not . Such yearning for sympathy as Mr . Koan betrays is a confession of weakness .

    themselves . They canjui books , —but then there is the cost ; in newspapers , articles may — or might in Garriek ' s time — be inserted for nothing . Were it possible for those times to return , it is manifest that Mr . C . Kean would be supremely happy . Private testimonials may be substituted , however , both for newspapers and books , and right cheaply too , for they cost not even postage—sometimes not even an order for a private box . But mark what a double-edged tool may even such a testimonial be . On the occasion of the production of Louis XI ., Mr . Kean received several such private testimonials . One , and the most expressive

    of the number , is " from Miss Isabella Glynn . " Note in the spelling of the name of this eminent actress the superfluous k ; and this mistake is also committed in the signature . Is Miss Glyn , then , so imperfectly known that such an error is unimportant , and altogether natural ? If so , [ what is the value of her private testimonial ? Any letter from any possible person might serve the turn as well . And yet so it would appear to be ! For only a few pages on ^ we meet with this passage , in relation to Mrs . Kean ' s reappearance , af ter a long secession of nearly a year and a half , occasioned through severe illness : —

    THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES OF CHARLES KEAN , F . S . A ., including a Summary of the English Stage for the Last Fifty Years , and a detailed account of the Management of the Princess ' s Theatre , from 1860 to 1859 . By John William Cole , 2 vols . —Richard Benttey . The purpose of these volumes is evident . In them Mr . Kean has , in the name of another , put forth a register of the events of his management at tihe Princess ' s Theatre , with so much of a memoir of himself as shall serve to introduce the great transaction of his life , and form , the vehicle of his claim to be hereafter remembered . This might have been done by means of an autobiography $ Ihnt . f . liAra mm-fl . jia stated in the nreface . obiections f 9 ? im t win f *» - ^ - " - ¦ -r-- ~— tjr ¦ rj

    ---rfmmymr ^ y *^*^^ v ^* r ^ # » ^ ww * m ^~ - - - - ^ ^——— * - — - -jj — - — —_^ , — ... to that mode j and it would , besides , have been too direct in its application , and required another tone than that it was thought desirable to adopt . A judicious , or convenient friend , therefore , was considered preferable , who could marshal the materials according to order , and pronounce commendation with less , restraint than the hero of the . story , It would not have been modest for Mr . Kean himself to have praised his management at the rate that Mr . Cole has clone ; and a stranger would not ; but much ifl excusable to the warmth Of fi-iendship ; and . Mr . Cole has been careful that its mantle should , like charity , cover a multitude Of sins ; ov rather call them , enthusiastic indiscretions .

    TWs description of the book . Trill show that it is open to obvious objections , and probably exposes both its hero and . writer to abundance of ridicule . This baa , indeed , already « iet in ; and it unfortunately happens that the work , both in its conoeption ana execution , furnishes inexhaustible

    " It had been currently ^ reported and believed that she had retired altogether into private life . * * * The apprehension of her loss was also augmented by the conviction that no rising star had given evidence of power , either present or prospective , to fill the much regretted vacancy . The recent recruits were not of a standard to justify their being placed in the first rank . There might be some promising candidates ready for judgment , but as yet they were unen-Usted . * * * As Mrs . Cibber , Mrs . Pritchard , Mrs . Barry , and Mrs . Yates , successively waned , Mrs . Siddons rose in her meridian splendour , and eclipsed them all . When she , too , withdrew , there was Miss O'Neil ready to Btep into her place . We could not point to any living luminary likely to consolo us for the loss of Mrs . Charles Kean . "

    Where was Miss Isabella , Glyn ( she of the one final » , not the two , we mean ) all this timeP Had she not won a high reputation in Queen Katherine , Lady' Macbeth , and , indeed , all the ports in which Mrs . Kean was now anxious to appear ? And had she not also made some special parts her own , such as Cleopatra , and the Duchess of Main , in which in the world ' s judgment she need dread no rivalry P Did not Mr . Cole or Mr . Kean know this , any more than they knew how to spoil her name ? If they did , might they not justly have thought that this lady was in a fair way of being esteemed Mrs . Kean ' s successor P nay , had already anticipated that honour by her actual

    position on the stage of England P If they did not think so , why did they think it worth their while to quote her testimonial P To such mischievous and ridiculous results Mr . Cole ' s system of extravagant praise necessarily leads . It is merely complimentary , or it is utterly false . . We might pursue this portion of the subject further , and beneficially , too . If Miss Glyn ' s correspondence was really valuable , and no , insult was really intended by tho mis-spoiling of her name : how was it that the legitimate business of the Princess ' s theatre necessaril y stood still , during the lone period of Mrs . Kean ' a illness ?

    Campaigning Hxpebiibnoids In Uajtoqtana ...

    CAMPAIGNING HXPEBIIBNOIDS IN UAJTOQTANA ANDOBNTJRAfc INDIA , DUllINaTHB SVFlWEBSION OF TUB MUTINY , 1857- ^ 1858 . By Mrs . Henry Duborly . —Smith , KMor and Co . Mrs . DuiH 3 M , T wna utruok in India with the groat ; distanoo which still appeared to separate thai country from England , and the necessity for draw-

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 13, 1859, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13081859/page/18/