Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 11th June 1853, Edition 1 of 1, Page 573, Untitled Article

Page 573
Page 21
21 of 24

On this page

  • Departments (2)
    • <&k %xte.
    • ^nrtfniin.
  • Text (8)
  • 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.

      Untitled Article

      pictures , executed by Mr . Gauci , and executed with considerable felicity , although of course the aSrial lightness , the vanishing gleams , the varied effects of colour , which made the originals go remaScable , cannot be reproduced in lithography . Still , for the traveller who has pleasant recollections of the Lakes , or for those who would form a more definite idea of the Lakes , these lithographs will be very attractive . They make a splendid ornament for the drawing-room table .

      Untitled Article

      We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourage itself . —Goethb .

      Untitled Article

      THE BEGGAR AT CHURCH . An old man sits by a Gothic way , His hair as grey as the stones ; Who would stare if the lichen grey Had crept o ' er his ancient bones ? He poises his ear to the cracks in the door , He grips at his greasy crutch , A sound of church music floats to the moor Fronj a lady ' s gentle touch . The soul of great Handel enriches the air , The old man hums in his rags , He grips his , crutch and , still sitting there , Beats time to the tune on the flags . The tune dies under the lady ' s touch , Now a grave voice beats the air , Its words are of hope and faith for such As live on terms with despair . The old man ' s soul gives birth to a smile , Not of joy—but one like a sneer—The clergyman ' s syllables floating the while , Through the chinks to the beggar ' s ear . He presses * his ear-drum close to the jamb , And says— " He may tell his school Of the tempered wind that guards the lamb , With his hand deep down in its wool . " The clergyman talks of the mercy Divine , Of the common heart of us all ! He stands the serf and king in a line , And glibly whines o ' er the Fall . And the beggar laughs , and thinks it ' s a sham , And says— " He may tell his school Of the tempered wind that guards the lamb , With his hand deep down in its wool . " The clergyman says to his folded flock—* ' All are one in the sight of God—The beggared hermit who sulks on a rock , And the monarch with his rod V * And the old man laughs , and feels it a sham , And says— " He may tell his school Of the tempered wind that guards the lamb , With his hand deep down in its wool . " The clergyman bids all be humble in woe , And tells how sinful is pride , Then his jewelled fingers darken his brow , And his book is set aside . Still the beggar laughs , and declares it a sham , And says— " He may tell his school Of the tempered wind that guards the lamb , With his hand deep down in its wool . " The Gothic doorway creaks on its binge , The clergyman comes from the porch , Nor pauses to comfort the beggar ' s twinge , As he aches in the yard , of the church . But the beggar laughs , and thinks all a ahnui , And says— " He may tell his school Of the tempered wind that guards the lamb , With his hand deep down in its wool . " Slowly the old man creeps from his nook , And limps on his weary way , And smiles as he hears men preach from . the Book , But turn all tho ragged away . Then the old fellow laughs , and iwears it ' a n sli * in , And says— " Priests preach in their school Of the tempered wind that guards the lamb , While they warm themselves in the wool . " W . BlsANGHAKU JlSttRQLUr

      Untitled Article

      RACHEL AS DIANE . I went to see Rachel in her new character , Diane , with no great expec tations of being amused . Emile A-ugier ' s previous works , elegant but feeble , not suggesting much probabil ty of interest , and Eachel having , as was intimated last week , taken to a style of delivering verse which no critic can tolerate . The play proved delightful , Bachel enchanting Diane has two serious faults , such as will prevent its taking the position which its admirable writing , fine sentiment , and distinctly marked chainventions

      racter claim for it , —viz ., an acquiescence in the common-Place of the stage , and an extraordinary repetition of the incidents and situations of Marion de Lor me . In both , the play opens with the irruption of young men into the house of the heroine j in both , the incident of a duel , and the consequent sentence of death , places the hero in the dilemma of the plot ; in both , Kichelieu and Xouis XIII . ; in both , Laffemas ; in both , the heroine pleading for the pardon of the duellist , and her honour asked as the price of that pardon . Emile Augier has , however , the advantage of a healthier feeling , and a more unforced effect . in Diane lfondness for

      There is something perfectly charming ' s sistery Paul , a fondness passing into maternity , as is natural in an elder sister ; and , unsatisfactory though the denouement may be , which leaves Diane a victim to her sacrifice , yet the mind follows her through after years , when , as a fond aunt , she continues for Paul ' s children , the vigilant affection she has shown for him . Rachel was herself again ! She looked lovely ; she spoke every line with that delicate perception of emphasis and music which no one else has possessed , since Mdlle . Mars ; she played with the distinction , grace , conhen Rachel is herselflhe

      centration , and quiet intensity of Rachel , w , rapid changes of expression with which her expressive countenance followed the hurrying emotions of the scene , the unaffected dignity of her gestures , and the thorough identification of herself with the character , were studies for the critic and the artist . Rachel—who has never yet succeeded in representing the tenderness of love ( no one surpasses her in the representation of its passion)—succeeds , to perfection , in expressing the tender solicitude of sisterly affection , and all those who have only seen her play the fierce Camille , the imperial Hermione , or the passionwasted Pltedre , should make a point of seeing her Diane .

      Untitled Article

      THE CRUEL KINDNESS . "To move a horror skilfully , " as Charles Lamb said of Webster ( not Benjamin ) , I don't know a better than Mrs . Crowe . She has a speciality in fiction which made many anticipate that her skill is . telling a story and in piling up the agony" of incident would make her eminently successful in tke drama . If anticipations have not been realized by The Cruel Kindness , we must explain it by the extreme and unsuspected difficulty of dramatic art . It remains to be seen whether Mrs . Crowe will care to learn tke secrets of that art , and , having learned them , will have the power to work with them to success ; at present she has not mastered the ABC of the art . Construction , Character , Dialogue—those are the three capital qualities demanded , and their relative importance is indicated in this succession . Mrs . Crowe in listening to her play must assuredly have telt its deficiencies in these qualities—deficiencies which the bad acting did not conceal , but neither did it create them . The audience was as friendly and as applausive as first-night audiences are wont to be , and the play was announced for repetition every evening , amid all the vain and noisy appearances of success ; but acquaintance with such enthusiasm tells mo plainly it will bo as ef anescent in this case aa it has been in so many others . As a matter of news I record the opening of Dkuey Lane , for tlui performance of Ballet Spectacle , with St . Leon and Mdlle . Plunkett . JNot being fond of Ballet at any time , I have not manifested a passionate impatience to see the Spirit of the Valley , still loss to see the new drama which precedes it , embracing tho entire weakness of the company .

      Untitled Article

      THE COLOGNE CHORAL UNION . No such sensation has for a long while been made as that made by tho eighty members of the Choral Union of Cologne at the Hanover-square Rooms ; seldom has success been so deserved . These singers , from long and careful training , have acquired precision , delicacy , variety , and magnificence of ensemble which make all choral singing to be heard m England contemptible . I did not greatly admiro tho music ; of many pieces as music , for I < lo not greatly admire German composers ot the second class ; but tho execution was exquisite . Tho swelling grandeur of those tumultuoua harmonies , tho whispered breathings of thorn ;

      modulated phrases , the power and the glory of sound pouring forth m organpeals , and hushed to tho tmbdued beauty of organ whisperings , mad « one ashamed of the wretched bawlinga passed off as choruses m Lngliind . While praiHing with all the epithets of praiao tho marvelkmw obedience of these voices to the conductor's wand , and their unsurpassed alternation of forto and piano , lot me , in all justice , add that this alternation w sometimes singularly misplaced ; the musical effect is Bacnheod t o an oltoet ot execution ; the meaning of tho writer K ivtw place to the exhibition ot tho performer—a not uncommon caao ! It in well to hIiow how eighty voices « hii « lmi » from the irtonifcudo of wound to » n angel ' * whisper , and tho

      effect of that alternation is unquestionable , except when—as hi Weber s famouH Schwertlied , to cite but n Mingle instance—it violates the musical intention . Tho mind rebels against the soiihoLohb introduction of a p ianissimo passage following aforti ^ ivw , when no alteration oi meaning 18 poaaible . The wordH ? Schwert mi wuioor Linktm Wuh hoII tloin hoit ' res Hlinkcn ? ( Thou aword uguinst my uido , What means that glance of nridu V )

      Untitled Article

      JWNE 11 , 1853 . ] f HE LHADE R . 573

      &Lt;&K %Xte.

      < &k % xte .

      ^Nrtfniin.

      ^ nrtfniin .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 11, 1853, page 573, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1990/page/21/