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    Cirt %xU.

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    |ftiujress at ' tlje }3niji!i\

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    r , i < : v t u it s t o o u a . it t i 8 t s . VII . Hints on tiii ; Convention of nkxt Whkk . Next week tin ; " Convention " niot'ta in London at the Purtheiiiuni-rooms , and let ( ill concerned , ; is fur an possible , t . ike care that it meets to some purposr . Some previous " Conventions " have been little hotter than Condemnations . Considering the disorganized Htal ; i ; of the Chartist sections , it would , perhaps , bo iiiore befitting to use the less pretending designation , and call the proponed " Convention " " An assembly oft Uiartist . Delegates . " 1 am afraid the title of Convent ion is too grand for our means , and mines too much expectation . To promise lens and do moretluui in expeeted from us would be a novelty in Chartirit politic * , and would give au agreeable surprise to tho

    newspapers . It would bo useful if each Delegate would deliver u written speech to the Assembly when making liin report , from the section he represent * Such report should comprise a />/ - / V ;/' st . at « ineiU . of the numberH , in-Mima , activity , and rccointnendalion . i of those who sint him , lulling cure that the facts reported are rather under than over stated . I s # y auch a speech shouM bo written , because it wouhl then be more likely to be brief ; I any written , hocaiiHO it would then ho more likely to be exnet ; written , beoaiiHe then it could be referred to ; written , because then thero could bo no dispute as to what was said ; written , because then all these ropoit speeches could bo handed

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    OPENING OP THE OPERA . If ever a critic had a busy week of it I am the man . First came the Opera , bursting forth with the sudden beauty of an arctio spring , -which throws aside by one sublime effort the dreary mantle of winter and starts into life at once . Oh , what a sight ! ( the Opera , not the spring . ) How the argent light shivered on the satiny shoulders of the fairest women of Europe ! how the brightest of eyes smiled their expectant joy ! how fresh the bouquets ! and how fresh the women looked ! yes : even the " old familiar faces "—those faces that one wearies of in

    the course of the season , seeing them everywhere ( and kissing them nowhere ) - —even they looked fresh , and young , and happy , and eager ; and the old bucks eyed them with assassinating glances , and we young bucks forgot our languor and superiority to fall into honest raptures over their merciless charms . It was a pleasant sight . The Opera opening promises a season of delight . Let the Pope " aggress "—let Lord John neither retire nor remain , but keep up the ideal of Whiggery by " avoiding extremes" — let Crystal Palaces be never so magnificent—the one consoling fact that the opera is once more open , is a fact of such significance that I feel I couid become dithyrambie—but won ' t .

    What was there on Saturday to gather that crowd ? Why , first there was the Opera itself . It reopened its doors : that was something . Then it offered us Caroline Duprez —the daughter of that impassioned singer whose grandiose style of phrasing made one forget all defects—and all of us were curious to see what heritage of his genius he had left to his child . The opera was the hacknied Lucia , and with Calzolari as Edgardo ! Calzolari ! Yet in spite of that the crowd went , went to hear Caroline Duprez ; and found a young girl—not more than eighteen—with the charm of youth and the defect of inexperience . But I will reserve criticism until she has played another character . She is young , has been well taught , has a great name to spur her on , and may bear it worthily .

    I have said nothing of the ballet—the ballet , the glory and pride of this house !—but Carlotta was not in it , and all the elegance in the world will not compensate for the absence of her enchanting witching graces . But she is to appear to night ! Not completely to" sacrifice V lie des Amours to Carlotta , let me briefly say that it is an ingenious and graceful representation of life a la Watteau . Another and a greater name drew me on Monday to

    MRS . KEMBLE'S SIIAKSPEARE READINGS at the St . James ' s Theatre . Such an intellectual delight ! To those who really love Shakspeare , and have any feeling for what is highest in dramatic art , there can be no performance half so fascinating as these readings . By means of changes of voice , unforced yet marked , and sufficient gesticulation to explain the text , aided bv the fine commentary of

    eye und brow , Mrs . Kemble brings before you the whole scene , enacts every part , and moves you as the play itself would move you . One great charm in thi « Readings , and one which gives them such superiority over performances , is that all the minor parts assume their true position , and produce the hurmony which the poet designed . Every one knows the exquisite beauty of some of these minor parts , and knows also the merciless massacre of them on the

    stage . But in these Readings the dreadful misapprehension of meaning and distortion of verse which understrappers inflict upon uh are banished , und even the slightest parts are carefully given . With regard to her reading of the greater diameters some difference of opinion will naturally c : xint , but no one will deny that her reading is thoughtful und striking . The versatility displayed in her rendering of the saucy child York and the smooth hypocrisy of Richard in their colloquy was greatly applauded . I

    never enjoyed Shakspeare so much , out of my own Huily . I have heard Tieck read Shakspeare , and Seydelmann , the great tragedian ; but although the former is celebrated as the first of readers , and the latter was to my thinking one of the first of actorsalthough both of them read better than Mrs . Kemble in the strict stMiso of the word—yet for dramatic reading , that is to « ay , for giving you the effects of acting without the aidu of the stage , V prefer Mrs . Kemble .

    While I was listening to these readings , William Jen-old , the son of Douglas the Witty , was keeping tlie Lyceum in a rour with COOL AS A CUCUM 13 KR , ol which the Titno . 1 ways : — " The uool gentleman , uihntnibly represented l » y Mr . ( -hurloH MuthowH , has picked up a cigar-ease belonging to mi oht geiitleriiRii ' H hum , and on the strength of thin introduction enters the old jrentlt'inun ' s lumsi 1 , and liiakcu himself perfectly ut home . Tho son , who Iiuh been bunched trout bin father ' s house to putvent u . ineualltHuce , iu treated by tUc iaUudcr » a n burglar when

    he comes home again , but at last the impertinent wight atones for his misdeeds by attempting a reconciliation between father and son . Nothing can be slighter than the structure of this farce , but Mr . Charles Mathews is well fitted , and the dialogue is exceedingly neat . The success is unequivocal . " I promised myself- that I would go and laugh at this piece on . Tuesday ; but on that night

    TARTUFE was produced at the Hay market , as an experiment in lieu of the coarse version which has so long held the stage under the title of The Hypocrite . Unhappily for the world , Tartufe is as true now as he was in the days when Moliere dissected him , and drew the loud enmity of the clergy upon his own head for the audacity . What , ridicule religion ! scoff at things sacred ! Not at all . I , Jean Baptiste Poquelin Moliere , tell you unequivocally that my comedy does not touch upon Religion but upon Hypocrisy—surely you will not say the two ar e

    one ? I flagellate Pretence , I tear the mask from Cant , I ridicule Vice , and you tell me I offend Religion Why may I not ridicule the 2 > retence of Piety ? I have ridiculed Upstarts , Pedants , Pools , Marquises , Quacks—may I not ridicule Hypocrites ? It was in . vain Moliere had every sound reason on his side , he would have been a lost man had not the King stood by him . The King had not then listened to Le Tellier ; Madame de Main tenon had not made hypocrisy the court fashion ; so that in spite of virulent pamphlets and an enraged clergy Tartufe was sustained , and France shook her sides at the inimitable

    picture . What a noble work it is ! how full of curious and profound observation , relieved by gay and genial wit , set in an intrigue as admirable as it is clear and progressive in its development ! There is no heartier comedy than Moliere ' d : his indignation is never crabbed , always manly ; his satire has no rankling poison in it . Quacks and pretenders of all kinds are his game , but his very scorn of them springs rather from love of what is noble than from malicious detection of what is ignoble . The result is that his writings have a perfectly agreeable effect . The laughter does one good . I noticed that on Tuesday . In spite of

    acting so deplorable that I ground my teeth-in rage to see a work of art thus mangled , the substantial merit , truth , wisdom , heartiness of the comedy kept the audience in a pleased if not enthusiastic state of mind . They would leave the theatre merrier and wiser men after such a performance . They might " wonder , " indeed , at the fuss made about Moliere ; they might ask if two centuries of admiration had been bestowed on a work not more " striking" than that . And truly , if Moliere is to be judged by the interpretation given in the Hay market , his renown must be a huge sham . Such acting ! such manners ! such dignity . ' such finesse ! such a perception of the

    airy elegance of wit ! such delivery of verse ! Take Webster away , and not a good word is to be said for one of them—unless for Selby , in the trifling part of Loyal . The misrepresentations of Orgon and Madame Peruelle , perpetrated by Mr . Lambert and Mrs . Stanley , were disgraceful to a London theatre : no acting manager should have permitted such mistakes to pass in rehearsal . If he could not insist upon a nearer approach to the stupid piety und severe narrowmindedness of the characters , he could at least have insisted that the unseemly turbulence of farce were forgotten for this occasion ; and he rould have assured Mr . Lambert that verse was not prose , and

    that " impudent viper" way not the pronunciation for a theatre which plays comedy . These two were the worst ; but the others were all unsatisfactory . Mrs . 1 'itzwilliam—clever an she is — cannot touch the charming pertness and good Bense of Dorino , and her mouth is ao totally unused to verse , that many of the epigrams were unmanageable by her . Miss Reynolds has not the faintest idea of lex yrundc . s manu'res of Klmire . Miss Addison and M . r . Howe , a . s the lovers , spoiled that most charming scene of lovers' quarrel , by their want of nature ; : they were not pettishly wilful ,

    provokingly misunderstanding t : ach other , letting tlwir irritation grow out of their own injustice — as lovers universally do , and as Moliere has so wonderfully painted them here—but their quatrcl wan m > ill represented that it seemed absurdly untrue . The whole performance was discreditable . It wanted truth , it Wimted art , it wanted elegance . One little detail will give precision to my strictures . Senreely ono of the performers called Tartufe anything but 'I ' artoof , and as they pronounced it no they played it—they Turtoofed !

    I make an exception for Webster . lie alone played like tt comedian . He had carefully studied his part , he crept into it , and spoke through it . Quiet and catlike in his velvet motions and dcinuieneH . s , there was an intensity of sensual glare in his eye mid a swelling appetite in his lip , which uninistakeahly betrayed the groHHiiesM over which sanctity wus thrown an a veil . Nothing could be finer than his delineation of Tartufe under this aspect ; but 1 missed the demoniac element at the elose . However , had it not been lor bin acting 1 would not have Hat the piece out , for to see Moliere on his first introduction und treated iu that reckless style wan by no means ngretmblo . Tuesday thutj disposed of , Wednesday drow mo to

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    MR . J . W . WALLACE , who by his Hamlet has , in my eyes , settled his claims , for the present at least . In Othello and Macbeth he had an indulgent press to aid him . I was unwilling to disturb any chance of success he might have by the severity of conscientious criticism , and was therefore silent . It ia now time to speak plainly . As yet he does not rise above mediocrity . With many advantages—with a handsome person , good voice , and knowledge of stage traditions , he has a laudable

    ambition to be original , which displays itself in a variety of new readings more remarkable as novelties than as ingenious interpretations . But although a respectable actor , and one who in the present state of the drama may assume a tolerable position , he has not hitherto given any of those indications of genius which Shakspeare demands . As I am in a minority on this point , at least as regards my critical confreres—I hope it will not be attributed to harshness if I dwell upon the defects of th e young actor : there is no more injurious kindness than flatterv .

    In the first place I wish Mr . Wallack would bestow less thought upon new readings , and give more attention to the simple delivery of his text , which he constantly utters in a style as mechanical as it is incorrect . What I mean is that he does not read sensibly . He does not distribute his emphasis like a man who feels the whole meaning of the words ; and his intonation is often quite at variance with the meaning . To give but one example , —he whines , almost ludicrously , passages that * are not in the slightest degree pathetic , e . g ., when Hamlet sets at nought the

    remonstrances of his friends against following the Ghost , exclaiming , " Why , what should be the fear ?" will it be believed that Mr . Wallack uttered this in the whining tone in which he weeps for his murdered father ? Again , when Horatio says that he has a truant disposition , and Hamlet replies , " I would not have your enemy say so , " Mr . Wallack uttered it with a savage sternness—down in the growling tragedy of his voice—which would have befitted his reply to the king . I might fill a column with examples ; any one who attends to his declamation will see that the fault is constant .

    So much for mere delivery of verse , the principium etfons of acting . With regard to the expression of emotion he has yet almost everything to learn . lie can storm , but he cannot suffer . There is no play of emotion — no flux and reflux of passion—pictured in his tones , gestures , or looks . lie has three or four set looks , set tones , and set gestures , which do duty for all . I do not reproach him for his imitations of Macready ' s ungainly attitudes , nor for the general want of grace in his deportment ; but I do reproach him for mistaking loud breathing and snorting for the representation of passion , and for the agony of a storm-tost soul .

    With these fundamental objections against Ins style , I may be excused if I decline discussing the higher questions of his conception of the parts he has played . The one good thing to be said of him is that he has a conception . lie does think for himself , and that gives some hope for his ultimate success . But belore he can play Shakspeare as we desire it lie must undergo great transformation *) . Why does he not rather throw himself into a new part ? Wluit insanity of ambition is it forces all tho actors to cope with Shakspeare ' s most dillicult parts , when the public will see them willingly in ne-w plays ? Macready was the only actor people cared to see in Shakspeare ' s tragedies , and him they preferred in pieces not by Shakspeare ! Vivian .

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    Mahch 29 , 1851 . ] a $ e yL $ a * et . 301

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 29, 1851, page 301, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1876/page/17/