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    Pecembeb 13,1856.] TEE LEADER, 1195

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    -¦ ¦T : \' : 7/\^

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    " THE CAGOTS."—MR. DILLON AS " OTHELLO."...

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    ; • NOTES OP THE WEEK. The last Christma...

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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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    Oracles From The Colonies. The Rise And ...

    for personal gain , " are , we are here taught , the root of political evil , and threatens the ¦ i * uin of our English dependencies . We ought to apologize to ourveaders for quoting such specimens of maudlin cant and ignorance . . Ifc is sometimes necessary , however , to expose a much-pulled volume assuming to ofier practical information . Except ' -where the book is dully didactic , it consists of extracts from newspapers and pre-existing volumes finished off with tables of official statistics . We are at a . loss "to discover tlie real object of its publication . As a history , it is miserably imperfect ; as a guide to the emigrant , ifc . is altogether useless . Many works have recently appeared with far smaller pretensions and of much greater utility— -written not "by persons who have tripped jauntily across two oceans twice , iK : prosecution . of t / ie ' design of " writing a , book , but by men who have lived on ' the spot ,-who have passed many , years amidst the scenes they describe , ¦ who have learnt by experience wliat is best to be taught ; -who have been , inspired to write solely from a desire to convey information , to new emigrants , and who / in their simple way of narrating facts and giving advice , at once convince us of 1 he truth of tlieir statements . Where " An . Englishman" describeswhat has already been described—and that lie does largely—we are content to accept liis descriptions ; but where lie draws upon his own observations , his own impressions , we must be allowed to say , oven in contradiction of his own declaration in the preface , the work partakes of the character of ' imaginai ' y sketches . ' He coasts along " Victoria , New South Wales , Tasmania , and the Islands of ! New Zealand , but we are , as we have already stated , at a loss to discover what advantage he has reaped 'from his voyages or the public arc to gain from the perusal of his volume . A dozen pages of practical matter , written with the object of conveying instruction rather than publishing a book , would have been of tenfold tlie value . Ma . ny a small pamphlet , " one of those countless books on Australia , the merits or demerits of . which , " . D .. P . humbly submits , " are not becoming subjects for discussion" in his preface , serves the same purpose far better than the four hundred and fifty pages to which " An Englishman" has extended his volume .

    Pecembeb 13,1856.] Tee Leader, 1195

    Pecembeb 13 , 1856 . ] TEE LEADER , 1195

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    " The Cagots."—Mr. Dillon As " Othello."...

    THE CAGOTS . "—MR . DILLON AS " OTHELLO . " Theatrical managers are becoming the chief historians of the time . We shall expect some day to see advertized an editioii of " tlie historical and archaeological ¦ ¦ ¦¦ works of Ghabi-es Kean , now first collected from his numerous playbills , with illustrations taken from tlie stage ; " and certainly we question whether one person ina thousand , who looked at Mr . Dillon ' s fly-leaf about the mysterious people forming the subject of the new drama produced last Saturday evening , had ever before heard of the existence of such a race . The historical knowledge of Londoners is therefore really added to ; and Jones is made aware , for the ¦ ¦¦ ' first time , that a persecuted set of wretched human beings , called Cagots , formerly lived among the Pyrenees , abhorred and shunned on account of the popular opinion that there was a leprous taint in their blood . Jokes also ( instructed by the playbill ) may discourse as to the probabilities of their originwhether they were descended from a part of that invading army of Saracens which entered the South of France in the time of Charles Martel , and were defeated by liim , or whether they vere the posterity of the Autochthones ( fancy Jones discussing that part of the question !) , or of the Ostrogoths or the Visigoths . In these abstruse speculations , Jokes will find no help from the drama , wliich merely seeks to put the forlorn condition of the Cagots in a picturesque form before the eyes of the audience . This is done by means of a story in which there is an heroic Cagot ( very choice in his language , very generous in his sentiments , very powerful in his lungs , very advanced in tlie extremely democratic colour of 3 i is political opinions , considering that he is living in the fifteenth century ) , who falls in love with a young lady whom he has saved from a wild boar , and by whom he is lo \ cd in turn , the damsel being all tmweeting that the gentleman is one of the proscribed class . Thislady ( 7 i «^ cVi / e , performed by Miss Woolgak ) is also loved by two other persons—the younger Count do Foix and Sir Aymer Je JBeriot—tha last of whom seeks to slay the former . But he is rescued by the Cagot , and conveyed to his ( the Cagot ' s ) own hut . When there , Astarfe , the Cagot ' s mother ( Mrs . "VYeston ) , wishes her son to despatch him , as she has a grudge against the De Foix family , having once been the old Count ' s wife , until discarded by him . JRanuI , the son , refuses , and even wakes the young Count from his sleep in an adjoining room , in order to put Mm on his guard ; but the nobleman staggers forward , badly wounded , and drops insensible , immediately after which , Astarte perceives in him the features ' of a lost son of hers by the old Count . In the next act , tlio latter , believing Ruoul to be guilty of killing his son , orders him to be put to death ; and liaoul , when lie finds that the lady of his heart shuns him on learning tliat he is a Cagot ( though she afterwards lias a revulsion of feeling in his favour ) , falsely accuses himself of the murder , and is led forth to die . Apparently he does die , and Astarte tlien informs the old Count , with vindictive delight , tliat liaoul was his own son by a second marriage . However , the young Count is not murdered , and liaoul is not executed ; and the story ends happily , Ibioul receiving Eugenie in marriage , and Sir Atjmer , the arch-villain , being taken olF in custody . Such is an outline of the plot . It will bo seen that it is very ' effective ; ' and the author ( Mr . Edmund Palconek , a young provincial actor and poot ) lias shown a great deal of stage tact , and has wrought up several very startling situations . But tlio play is dull , notwithstanding . It is too long , and too involved in its plot ; t he dialogue is turgid and abounding with clap-traps ; there is no relief to tho perpetual strain upon the spectator ' s sense of horror and misery ; nnd tho agonies aro piled up with a remorseless hand . The play , in truth , is a melodrama , in five nets and in blanlc verse , without a melodrama ' s condensation , or its genial comedy . These faults nre rather aggravated than softened by tho acting . Mr . Dillon as JRnoul , and Mr . Stuart as Sir Agmer , raved and ranted till they were Ixoaiso ; and the former actor exhibited even

    c j ] ! fewer excellences and more defects in this part than in his previous impersonations . He lost Ms breath with excess of vehemence , and was obliged to make pauses in the middle of sentences , to fetch it again . There were one or two striking bits where the situation really demanded loudness and energy ; tout those nice touches and various elaborations , by which a character is built up , were wanting . Mrs . Wkston performed the fierce , gloomy mother very creditably ; but Miss Woolgar was out of her line in the part of Eugenie , and did not impress us ' with any idea of her admirable talents as an actress . . The scenery and dresses are beautiful ; and , in the present dearth of true dramatic poetry , The , Cagots is a success . Of the Lyceum Othello we are disposed to say as little as possible . In the presence of a conspiracy to extol the worthless , and to abolish the right of honest criticism , vve find it an invidious and ungracious task to tell the truth . It seems to be agreed on all hands that the duty of so-called dramatic ' critics ' in these latter days is to register the good opinion which managers , and more especially actor-managers , are apt to entertain of—themselves . Declining , as we always have declined , to lend ourselves to tlm service , we are content to be silent . In some cases silence is the sineerest criticism . An influential contemporary has said that Mr . Dillon ' s Othello " opens a new era of Shakspearean performances . " The credibility of this announcement time will show , We may be allowed , however , to indulge a hope that this new era may be a brief one , if it is to be marked by such phenomena as the OtMlo we have lately witnessed . For the first time in our experience we found this tragedy comparatively ineffective . We ' say comparatively , for so powerful are the situations in the third and the last act , that they may be said to act themselves . The wretchedest strollers cannot quite disfigure ot efface the terror and the pity of those scenes . The performance at the Lyceum would have been a tolerably creditable one at a provincial theatre . The play is very fairly put upon the stage so far as dresses , decorations , and appointments are concerned . Of tlie Othello we will say no more than that it proved to all disinterested judges the total inadequacy and " unfitness of the actor . Not a gleam of intelligence in the reading , not . a tone of -passion or of tenderness in the voice , from tlie first scene to the last . Mr . Dillon appears to have formed no sort of conception of the character . All that was not conventional was , meaningless ; all that was conventional was pointless , and often incorrect ; A superfluity of grimacing , but not a flash of emotion ; as much rant as a weajc and arid voice , incapable of modulation , would permit ; and for , the rest , whining 1 and preaching intermittently . Many traditional points were slurred over , some omitted altogether ; but there was no refined or subtle by-play to explain the omission or the neglect . Passages which we have never known to fail to ' ¦ bring the house down' fell as dall as lead ; and in the last scene the utter abandonment of all dignity converted the ' grea-t of heart'OMcZfo into a vulgar convict , and too truly made a murder what he thought a sacrifice . There is one apology , however , to be made for this lamentable failure ; we do not believe that Edmtxnd Kean himself could have made head against Mr . Stitakt ' s Zo ^ o . A more preposterous version of the character is not to be conceived , In one word , Mr . Stoart ' s Iago is a ticket-of-leave man .

    ; • Notes Op The Week. The Last Christma...

    ; NOTES OP THE WEEK . The last Christmas performance of tlie Messiah by the Sacred Harmonic Sosiety takes place at Exeter Hall next "Friday . Madame Clara Noveli-o ( it being her first appearance this season ) , Miss \ Dolbv , Sims Reeves , and Eokiees , are the principal vocalists . Among the musical events of the week may be mentioned I \ Oss Dolby ' s second soiree , which took place last Tuesday at her residence in Hinde-street . Criticism loses its ofBce with such an artist as this lady . Where perfection has been so nearly attained , we can but listen and admire . . Mr . William Heniix Smith , on Monday evening , delivered at the Beethoven Rooms , Ilarley-street , a lecture on some fantastical notions , which he has previonsly expounded in a pamphlet , with respect to the authorship of Shah .-speaue ' s plays , which he persists in attributing to Bacox . An account of this lecture in the Daily Weres says that—- " Mr . Smith cliiefly referred to the play of J ~ u 7 ius Casar ,-which . he considers to be especially confirmatory of his views ; in proof whereof the lecturer quoted passages from Bacon ' s paper on ' the civil characters of Julias Caesar , and Augustus Coesar , ' which he contends was a mere sketch , afterwards enlarged and elaborated in the play . Mr . Smith also quoted a passage from a letter of Bacon ' s to Mr . Mattbew , referring to an interview at which the former accuses the latter of having been ' more willing to bear Julius Casar than Queen Elizabeth commended' In refutation of the assumption that Bacon was deficient-in the poetic element , Mr . Smith quoted some very forcible passages from tlio poem , on ' The World , ' and also turned some of Bacon ' s prose into blank verse , to prove that in both , he possessed the true Shakspcarean genius . " Really , Mr . Smith ' s cause must be weak indeed , if these are tlie best arguments he can bring forward . Some good news for picture-lovers is contained in tho Times of Monday , wlncli says : — " We understand that Mr . Sheepshanks has munificently presented to the nation the whole of his collection of paintings and drawings for the purposes of public instruction in art . Mr . Sheepshanks , disapproving irresponsible management by boards liliethe trustees of the British Museum nnd National Gallery , lias mado it a condition , that tho responsibility for his collection must rest with an individual Minister—the Minister for Education . Mr . Sheepshanks considers tliat a crowded thoroughfare is not a suitablo site for quietly studying works of art , and has stipulated that liia collection must be kept in the neighbourhood of its present locality , at Kensington . He is willing that the pictures & c , should bo lent to those provincial towns which provide suitable places to exhibit them , Upon these conditions , which w « believe Lord Piilmerston has cordially accepted on belinlf of the Government , Mr . Sheepshanks \\ m signified his readiness to hand over immediately the wliole of his very line collection ., which is especially rich in the best works of Mulrcjuly , Lnndscer , and Leslie , and contains fine examples of the principal modern British painters in oil . Tho value of tha collection may bo estimated at about ( 50 , 000 ? . Tho operatic performances at Drury Lam is came to a close last Saturday , and tlio regular performances have been resumed this week . Last night was Mr . K . T . Smith ' s benciit , and after the first piece , the manager waa called befoie tlie curtain , when he said thathia management had been very successful , that tlio rent of the house hud been settled , nnd that he hadengnged his present company to continue after Christmas . Tho chief attraction will bo Mr . Charles Matiiews ; and by tho nssistanco of Mr . Bisvekve y , Mr . Smith hopes to produce a gorgeous pantomime . The house was crowded in evory part .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 13, 1856, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13121856/page/19/