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    ORDERS FOR THE PLAY ! " The Vanity of Human Wishes" gains deeper str ength of conviction as years , " which bring the philosophic mind , " gather in the harvest of real ized hopes , and we find ourselves still none the richer for that store I The foregoing profound reflection occurred to me Apropos of the impatience with which I r eckoned up all my labours for this week , frittering away my life as they do , and by the remembrance of my early passion for that heated atmosphere of the playhou ' se . If any one had whispered to me

    nat the day would come when I should be aweary of the playhouse , I should have smiled at his profound ignorance of human nature . If any one had whispered to me that the day would come when I should have my entrees to all the houses—when I should be on bowing acquaintance with the great Mr . Jones , and be the terror of Mr . Smith ,- —life would have appeared to me the paradise which Mahomet promises the faithful . This dream has become a solid and very wearisome reality ; and what am I * the happier ? " Give me back my youthful days J " is tne cry of Faust

    despairingfor what to him is mastery of Knowledge , or noisy reputation in the mouths of men ? what to me are " orders' * and bowing acquainance with the celebrated Jones , when youthful illusions no longer make the playhouse paradise , nor hide the ignorance of Jones behind the imperial cotton velvet andeatskin ? Ah ! the vanity , the vanity of this life ! I remember once as a boy being taken into the awful presence of an editor , who affably asked me if I should like to go to the play ; whereat I blushed , trembled , grinned , but could not speak . He wrote an order , with a careless indifference , as if it were a mere nothing ? and I thought I never beheld so majestic a being . To

    write orders when one liked , — that certainly appeared to me an Oriental magnificence of power : and yet how indifferent he seemed to it ! 1 understand him now . I am the boy who vowed he would have plum-puddicg every day when he was a man , and haven ' t the digestion to attempt it more than once a year ! The appetite is gone ; the keen relish of youth , the willingness to be pleased , the belief that actors are beings of superhuman virtue , grace , and genius—gone , gone for ever ; and the " orders" abound I instead of flushing and trembling now at the notion of going to the play , it is ten to one that I grumble and wish the Puritans would return and shut up all the theatres .

    If you imagine , because I write sometimes in a strain of enthusiasm about plays and players , that I often go willingly to the theatre , you are mistaken . The old passion will break out sometimes , it ' s true ; and I believe that good plays and good acting are as great enjoyments to me as to a school-boy . But when do we see good plays and good acting ? How many nights am I forced to give up to Melpomene and bad breath , and only to be wearied ? Talk of Prometheus and his vulture

    It wan all very well for hitn to fling his clamorous a * a' i upon the Grecian air , but what were his sufferings to mine P— his benevolence must have been gratified with the reflection , that his evergrowing liver at least afforded sustenance to an interesting individual of the animal creation , whereas my sufferings benefit nobody—not even Jones , who thinks me an " enemy , " because I don't admire his " heavy father . " Alas ! alas ! and has it come to ihis ? orders for the play no longer a rupture-giving sound ! sic transit ghria ! 1 have so much to tell you this week that I don't know how to begin , and I prelude till I can get into the right key .

    LA FAVOKITA ought to draw from me an elaborate article ; but it is , musically speaking , no trivial that 1 shall say nothing , but pass at once to the singers who may quickly bo despatched . Mario is still in delicate health , and sang Fernando with such obvious avoidance of the high notes that I < lo not think he ought to have appeared . The cavatina ' , " Un ange , une fcmme inconnue , " was poorly given , the grand passage of ascending scale where he snaps his sword in the King ' s face , "Oar vous 6 ten roi , " which Duprez made ho tremendous , Mario took in fwlsetto , and endeuvouutfil by irony to produce the effect—and tailed . But in the lust act it wns

    evident he had rouerved himself for the "' Ange M pur , " which , bating a little huskiness , he sang with enchanting effect , and in the final duo with Grisi he was also himself again . Tamberlik , for

    whom the part- of Alphonso was transposed , san g as usual with intense expression , and in the "Viens Ldonore pour toi j ' abandonne , " gained an encore ; " Pour tant d ' amour" was more effective when Barroilhet sang it , and ought not to be given to a tenor . Grisi was magnificent . I am never tired of admiring her , though I find it difficult to get language for that admiration . She looked beautiful , queenly , young . She sang and acted as no one ei 6 e can sing and act such parts . A word of praise also for Tagliafico whose Baldassare was a careful performance . Orchestra and chorus had nothing to bring out their usual excellence . I must now turn to

    MLLE . DE BELLE ISLE , The production of which at the St . James ' s Theatre has given every one the opportunity of ascertaining the superior style in which it is put on the stage and performed at the Princess ' s [ Rachel , of course , excepted ) , and the increased interest which Mr . Slous , the adapter , has given to the piece by deepening its dramej the comedy has evaporated in translation , but the serious interest

    has been considerably heightened . Then as to the acting , no one would think of comparing M . Raphael with Charles Kean , nor M . Chollet with Wigan ; if Mile . Avenel is a trifle better than Mrs . Winstanley , she is still far from tolerable . On the French , aB on the English stage , I miss the elegance and parfum de bonne socitte , which the subject imperatively demands , in order that vice , in losing all its grossness , should lose half its deformity .

    Rachel I except . The high-bred elegance of her manner is as remarkable as the finesse and truth of her emotion ; and I will take advantage of the occasion to say a few words on the The Natural in acting , of which her performance was an example . To play a part naturally you must not drag it down to your nature , but project yourself into the nature of the character represented . You do not pourtray nature by laying aside the Mask , and allowing the audience to see your commonplace features ; but by selecting the Mask which represents the character . The nature of Macbeth is not

    to be represented by the nature of Mr . Smith . A woman may wring her hands and redden her nose with grief , which would be natural enough in the back kitchen ; but this nature cannot be accepted as the -expression of Cordelia ' s agony . In Art we must never forget the Beautiful , unless when striving after the Grotesque ; and grief—or any other emotion in acting—which copies too servilely the grimaces of vulgar nature , should be avoided by all serious artists . You speak in rhythm , you must temper even gestures with a certain artificial grace . The Roman Gladiator died in a picturesque and graceful attitude to the applause of the

    Amphitheatre : what he did in terrible earnest , you must imitate in earnest art . Indeed , the proposition is self-evident , that " to represent a character naturally" means to represent it according to its nature , not according to your own . Bouffe and Charles Mathews , amidst all their amazing varieties of character , are always natural ; Kean was natural in Sh y lock , Othello , Sir Giles ; Macready was natural in Werner ; Griei is natural in Norma ; Viardot in Fides ; Ronconi in the Podesta . That is to say , each selects a Mask more or less typical of the character to be represented ; and having selected it , does not once let it fall .

    Applying these general principles to Rachel , I say that anything more exquisitely natural than her Mile , de Belle Isle cannot be named . The young naive provincial it was not in her power to represent ; her physique forbade it , no less than the attitude of her mind . But she was the young , simple , high-bred lady , to whom sorrow had given a gravity tempering the buoyancy of youth—who , bred up in the country , was perfectly innocent of all the intrigues of court ; but was , nevertheless , a high-born woman with all the elegance and refinement of her caste . This gave an exquisite charm to her first scene , as , indeed , to the whole performance , and

    rendered peculiarly effective that scene with the Due de Richelieu , in which , overcome by his apparent effrontery in asserting that lie was the night before in her room , whe exclaims , Vous mentvz I Here Mr . Slous has committed an unpardonable translation ; for he haw coarticned vous mentez into " thou liest . " 1 beg to assure him \ X \ vXvous mentez has no such uhb in French ; and that when Mrs . Kean uttered the words , I felt my fleish creep , and waH literally " shocked" to hear a young , highbred lady make so outrageous a speech . The quiet , haughty indignation of Rachel ' s vous mentez was marvellous : it did not draw forth a storm of applause , bo that an English actor ( testing everything

    by that fallacious standard !) might regret she did not make a " point" of it . But whoever has seen Rachel must know how easy it is for her to make a " point " if she choose ; and must see that her not doing so was in obedience to her high artistic taste . Of the whole part I may say that it affords little scope for great effects , and some of the Rachel admirers were disappointed in it ; but , for myself , I think it as rare a piece of art as can be seen , and I prefer it to Adrienne Lecouvreur with its great " effects . " Such dignity , such grace , such tenderness , one does not often see anywhere . The whole of that interview with her lover , where he taxes her

    with infamy and gives her the Dues letter , was as fine , in its way , as the fourth act of CamiUe . Her reading the letter , — the bewildered expressions flitting across her face , like cloud-shadows over a meadow land , —the struggling of her mind to apprehend the meaning , —and the dignified touching pain with which she met that meaning when it rose into her mind , —were such as only a great actress could have Tendered . And then now subtle , and how true her manner of saying , Ah J que je suis heureuse ! when all is explained , and her lover once more is circled in her loving arms . Instead of being joyful at the words , " Ah ! how happy I feel ! " she drew the back of her hand across her

    forehead , and , with drooping eyes and faltering voice , expressed that joy itself was a sort of pain in its intensity—which we all know to be the effect of sudden joy . It is impossible for me to describe the delight with which , this performance filled me . The little nothings were made exquisite by manner . Her very curtsey was an effect . The simplest speeches acquired a significance which was surprising ; and if any interest could have been excited by the play itself , or by the other actors , I should have set Saturday evening last among my Calendar of Enjoyments .

    One pleasant thing about the St . James s Theatre i 6 the absence of claqueurs ; and I mention it , because at the Opera and at our own theatres , I am sorry to see a growing tendency in the direction of claque , which promises to make it as great a nuisance as in France . In Berlin , the Government has interdicted air sounds of approbation or disapprobation in the theatre ; but that has been done from political rather than artistic motives , and must materially diminish the enjoyment of the audience , to say nothing of the actors . I would rather have a bawling claque with its beery

    enthusiasm , than not be allowed to shout my own approval at a touch of art . Yet , why is this expression of emotion so necessary to us ? We do not applaud in churches , be the preacher never so eloquent . That is , we do not now applaud ; in Jeremy Taylor ' s time applause and hisses were as common in the church as in the theatre—mais nous avons change tout cela . Now we sit quiet in pews and noisy in our boxes . Applause stimulates the actor , and relieves the oppressed bosoms of the audience ; but you can always distinguish genuine

    applause from the claque , so that this latter is but a paltry invention after all ! Paltry as it is , it has its history . The Greeks had their ero < pcK > . eti or paid eulogists , as Pliny the Younger informs us , when speaking of the haudicoini \ n Rome ; and , indeed , it was but just that if the Poet or Orator remorselessly insisted on reading you his productions , he should at least recompense your halfstifled yawn and energetic bravo with a supper , or a present of eome kind . A terrible and remorseless race the Poets ! As Piron says , you cannot escape the Poet : —

    " I ) u torrent de see vers sane cesse ll voua inonde . Tout le premier lui mume il en raille , il en rit . Grimace ! l ' uutcur pcrce " ... Such being his malady , the least set-off he could make was a decent supper . But , now-a-days , the claque is hired in a more systematic manner ; opera boxeH have replaced suppers ; " orders " purchase the " sweet voices " !

    NOT SO BAD AS WE SEEM . You never read Petroniu . s Arbiter , of course : he is too improper ! 1 have . J 3 ut to the pure all things are pure ! This , however , I will say , that although scholars may prize the Satyricon for its picturen of Roman life and it . s occasional glimpse ' s of elegance and poetry , the careful parent will not place it in the hands of his daughters . Among the few things I noted in that chaos of pruriency wns one passage about the poverty of authors , where our ill-clad poet proudly drapes himself in his rags , and answering the question of wherefore he is « o ill-clad , replies with a dignified sadness—Because the love of letters never yet made men

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    Joins 21 , 1851 . ] Wt ) t QLe&Jfev . 589

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 21, 1851, page 589, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1888/page/17/