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    614 8E1) * %t&1*tV. [S turday ,

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    NEW INSTRUMENTS. At St. Martin's-hall, o...

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    %X%XtW Ilf \Jj£ ^Wflt ——

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    «, POLITICAL DANGER OF DOING NOTHING. "W...

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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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    Art Or Amusement ? There Was Something O...

    Art ; they dwelt upon the Characters , the Passions , the Poetry , and the skill by which the poet had effected his object within the conditions of his Art . Nor is this less true of Shakspeare ' s audiences . We have a national idolatry for Shakspeare ; yet our fanaticism will not enable us to sit out the majority of his plays ; and of the few that are performed how much poetry is forced to be omitted !—how many scenes are wearisome ! We cannot sit in a theatre listening to poetry ; no , not even to the poetry of our greatest ! We have been accustomed to amusement so long , that quiet di alogue is unable to keep us awake !

    Goethe in his Theatre Prologue to Faust has imaged this struggle of Amusement and Art . The Poet thinking only of his lofty aims ; the Manager thinking only of his " crowded houses . " The Public , says the Manager , must have plenty to look at" Man kommt zu schaun , man will am liebsten sehen . " And if they are not accustomed to see much that is good , they are , nevertheless , plaguily well read .

    " Zwar sind sie an das Beste nicht gewohnt Allein sie haben schrecklich viel gelesen ! " which makes it difficult to satisfy them . Even Shakspeare , you see , is tedious to them at times ! When I consider the Drama as Art , Bacine appears to me a consummate artist , and his plays afford me exquisite delight ; but if I am forced to consider it as an Amusement , then the Fast Critics appear to me to have truth on their side in their unsparing condemnation . Scribe is more amusing than Moliere ; Dumas is more amusing than Racine ; the Green Bushes is more amusing than Antigone ; Madame Tussaud ' s more amusing than the Vatican .

    Not only have the tastes of audiences changed , but the actors themselves have lost their traditions . iEschylus and Sophocles drilled their own actors ; Moliere and Shakspeare were managers . When acting was an Art the public was a Critic . Every fault of pronunciation or of gesture was visited with open disapprobation . Who criticizes now ? Who cares ? Do not " eminent tragedians" make one doubt whether they understand the sense of the words they utter" And mouth the verses as curs mouth a bone " ?

    Who takes them to task ? Criticism is insult I In defence of Racine , and in explanation of the weariness which accompanies the performance of his plays , I would beg to remind you that ideal works demand ideal treatment . If Racine be played in a style of stilted vaudeville , he must be wearisome . But let an actor of genius appear , and what effects he will produce with those " frigid dramas" ! Think of Clairon , Talma , Duchesnois , Rachel ! It is a current fallacy that the effect Rachel produces is owing solely to her

    How I preserve my health is a mystery . Enceladus had an easy berth of it under JEtna . —easy , at least , when compared with mine . If his " halfburnt body , * semiustum corpus , somewhat troubled him , what will you say to my half-molten frame ? The end I foresee" I see , as from a tower , the end of all "a red-armed servant of all work will bring in the mop , and mop up the remains of Vivian ! Only reckon up on your fingers the number of places I am expected to visit . You are surprisedyou cannot understand how I manage it . Dear

    Madam , I manage it by not going . It ' s a way I have ! The Prophete , for example , was given on Saturday , to a jammed and jamming audience . No one was more eager to welcome Viardot than Ibut the necessity which has no legs compelled me to defer my visit till Tuesday ; and on Tuesday Mario was so ill that the opera was changed for II Don Giovani , and I waited heroically to hear Tamberlik sing II mio tesoro and its encore . It was worth waiting for . By the way , it is said that Tamberlik is studying the Prophite : if so , Mario may indeed look to his laurels .

    The Zauberflote which Covent Garden is to give us , will bring out the strength of the company , and delight London with some enchanting music wedded to detestable verse . This opera is a striking example of the disadvantage of a poor libretto . Albert Smith is again in London with his Overland Mail , as amusing and attractive as if it had not been incessantly exhibited for the last twelvemonths . Leigh Murray has gone to the Haymarket , where it is to be hoped he will find

    scope for his versatility . Hackett , the American , is also there playing Sir John Falstaff with success , though the fat joviality of that delightful reprobate has 60 larded the English mind that probably no actor could be entirely satisfactory in the part . At the Olympic , Tom Taylor has reproduced his Aristophanic satire , Diogenes , and written a new introduction to suit the present moment , full of sharp sparkling witticisms , and hits at the passing follies .

    Drury Lane is closed . Mr . Anderson retires to America , where his genius is appreciated ; and leaves behind him the reputation of having been the worst manager in the memory of the oldest inhabitant . Instead of exciting any sympathyinstead of carrying with him the consolation that he may have gained in reputation what he lost in money—lie has only made the public wonder what he was about . Charles Kean announces his beneiit for the 14 th July , when it is reported the Queen will be present .

    Having emptied my budget of the news , let me advise you by all means to attend a performance of the Old English Glees and Madrigals , at Willis ' s Rooms . A more delightful hour you cannot pass . The singer ? , Hobbs , Lockey , Francis , and H . Phillips , accustomed to sing together these peculiar compositions , give a finished grace to the execution surpassing description ; while the music itself has the fine national flavour in it . England does not count in the music of Europe ; but her Glees and Madrigals ought to give her a place . Vivian .

    genius . But how is it that she cannot produce these effects in modern plays ? She has had parts written for her—she has performed Le Brun , Hugo , Dumas , Soumet , Latour de St . Ibars , and Scribe—and in each play has shown herself an incomparable actress ; but , after all , the effect is as nothing compared with her performance of Corneille and Racine ! Explain that . Not Rachel but Racine ! And yet who disputes my admiration of Rachel ? 1 think her the greatest

    actress I ever saw , and think tluit she is worthy to play Racine ; but knowing the tragedies , I still feel that in some respects she falls short of her parts , and I feel moreover that could these tragedies be played by three or four great actors , the public would cease to cant about their frigidity . Andromaque is nearly as fine a character as Hermione ; Oreste was one of Talma ' s triumphs ; but we who only see Hermione , how can we pretend to judge of the play ?

    Hermione is one of the parts in which Rachel i . transcendant ; but on Friday last , although some of the earlier scene * were given with a delicacy and ideality perfectly enchanting , the terrific burst of the last act—¦ " Ah ! fulloit il croire uno nnrmnte inaonsee "was wanting iu the truth and power with which she usually plays it . Several of the readings were new to me , and far from satisfactory . Her greatest scene was that with Andromaque ; and I . la ; re I would call attention to the grace and dignity with which she covered the bitter scorn that came withering from her Imtc : it was the Hcorn of a woman , but that woman was a princess . '

    MUSICAL AND THEATRICAL . The calls upon a man ' s time and criticism dur ing this busy season are something alarming

    614 8e1) * %T&1*Tv. [S Turday ,

    614 8 E 1 ) * % t & 1 * tV . [ S turday ,

    New Instruments. At St. Martin's-Hall, O...

    NEW INSTRUMENTS . At St . Martin ' s-hall , on Tuesday evening , Ilerr Kaufman and his son produced a perfect revolution of opinion respecting automaton musical instruments . Sweetness , power , accuracy , expression , we have them all combined in a degree conceived hitherto to be altogether unattainable . The orchestrion is a self-acting instrument of extraordinary power , and capable of executing the most intricate , complicated , and difficult compositions . It comprehends in its orchestra , flutes , flageolets , clarionets , horns , bugles , trumpets , opbicleidcs , kettle , bass , and side drums , cymbals , and triangles . Upon this was executed a Selection from Spohr ' s " Azor and Zemira , " the march from " Judas Maccabeus , " the finale to the firdt act of 11 Don Giovanni , and Mendelssohn ' s magnificent " Wedding March , " which were performed with marvellous and startling' effect .

    The "harmonichord" is the only instrument in th collection which is not self-acting . It resembl in form a small upright pianoforte , and its peculiar * sweet and unearthly tones are produced by the fric tion of a cylinder against wire strings ; and all shades of tone , whether in forte or piano * whether for sustaining or swelling the tonei ^ are produced merely by the pressure of the finger . On this were played several airs most exquisitely by Herr and Mdlle . Kaufman .

    The concert concluded with the truly remarkable performance of a fantasia by all the automatons and the harmonicord . It commenced with a bold , dashing introduction by the orchestrion , followed by a solo on the harmonichord by Herr Kaufman . Suddenly the chordaulodion commenced playing a duet with its master , and , this concluded , the symphonion did the like . Then the symphonion played a variation on the melody , which was followed bv ir the harmonichord dd

    another aon , suenl y interrupted by the shrill call of the trumpeter , at t he conclusion of which the orchestrion came in with all its power with " Rule Britannia , " pla ) 'ed in right royal style . This concluded , the dulcet tones of the harmonichord were heard , distilling as i t were the notes of the national anthem , which again was taken up by the orchestrion , the automatons all exerting themselves to the utmost , and vieing with each other in giving expression to their loyalty .

    Herr Kaufmann and his son have cast anew light on this department of music , and the concert was altogether a miracle of inventive genius and skill . The second concert , to have taken place on Friday , has been fixed for Monday , in consequence of a royal command for the artists to exhibit their works a second time at the Palace .

    On the choidaulodion . an instrument combining the qualities of flute and piano , several melodies were exquisitely performed ; and also on the symphonion , which has flutes , piccolo ' s , clarionets , cymbals , and drum . The trumpet-automaton also gained considerable applause . It consists of a soldier in ( iennun costume ; . A trumpet is placed to Inn month , and the result is a call as ringing in tone and more accurate than wo over remember to have heard from the lips of flcah and blood

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    «, Political Danger Of Doing Nothing. "W...

    « , POLITICAL DANGER OF DOING NOTHING . " Who's afraid ? " is a particular question sometimes asked in derision . It admits , in these days , of a universal answer : everybody is afraid of everybody . Cowardice and indolence are come to be political virtues among us . Propose any clear , straightforward , mean-something policy , and everybody is alarmed lest somebody else should be alarmed . Nobody , " as Mr . Thornton Hunt has somewhere expressed it , " is afraid of a ghost , but he is afraid that his neighbour will be afraid of a ghost , " and so nothing is done that no alarm may be felt ; whereas there is great cause for alarm that so much need of reform should exist , and so much good time be wasted and nothing done .

    Make out a hst of committee-men to inaugurate any modern movement , and the great desideratum appears to be to select men who are , in the technical language of political inaction , termed " safe men , " that is , men who are committed to nothing radical . In fact , a man ' s chances of being selected is infinitely greater if he is committed to nothing at all . To do nothing—to have done nothing—to propose to do nothing—to be likely to do nothing , is , in tho eyes of modern politicians , the grandest of qualifications . Such men are not only sought after , but they are taken care of when found , and all possible solicitude is displayed lest they should be associated with any one who has the fatal mark of working at something . If a man has broken through

    a fetter in religion , a conventionalism in society " , denounced a bad law , or exposed a political trick , if there be any sign of advancement about him , insuperable objections are made to his admission into public life , llecounting the other day this species of experience , Mr . Collet , the secretary of the Society for Promoting the llepeal of the Taxes on Knowledge , said , that " in many influential circles no one would accept the coadjutorship of anyone likely to help them , lest he should alarm the people who never do anything , and never help anybody . ( Society seems to have entered into a conspiracy to do nothing ; for the siune rule of keeping things as they arc , is in operation , from the obscuro political club , composed of men whose influence was never felt half a dozen

    yards from their own doors , to the House of Commons , where those of any useful ambition are put down or avoided as dangerous " men of action , " and systematically kept out of power . Verily , those " . Friends of Order " deserve well of their country ! Of all this inane circumspection , I suppose ^ \ vo may expect at least this good , namely , that the Government will no longer accuse the poor of seeking , in Socialist schemes , exemption from honest labour . . Surely it will soon bo allowed as a virtue in tho common peoplo if they shall come to the resolution " to enjoy themselves a little . " Since Political Idleness has been erected into a science by olir Rulers , idleness in general may become faahionuhlo throughout the Htatc . Whew our ( ill-timed ) Great Exhibition of what wo can do is over , we nhall hnvo another exhibition much more worthy of royal I" * -

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 28, 1851, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28061851/page/18/