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    « No Julie , " said Conway , " we must lire on , — -and suffer . ' ' " I decline that too , —and so do all of us . Mr . Edwardes himself would not wait for his egg at breakfast until he had analyzed it . He eata first , anctanalyzes afterwards . ' , « And then I eat more wisely after , " "I am not so sure of that . I notice that science and study make men 'dyspeptic / as you call it . Who ever heard of a dyspeptic yoyageur 1 ' " Because , if the Canadian voyageur becomes dyspeptic , Julie , " continned Edwardes , " he relinquishes his calling ; as Quakers keep virtuous by denying that erring mortals are Quakers . "

    « Nonsense ; depend upon it that life is better arranged for you than you could arrange it for yourselves . I would not accept either of you aS a lieutenant Providence ; certainly not you , Mr . Edwardes , for all you eat so wisely ; nor yet you , " casting her brilliant eyes at Markham , " forall you look as if you thought I should- Heaven defend me from a universe on commercial principles . " " Yet they are the very principles of the universe / ' said Markham , bravely . "Of the universe ! " cried Edwardes , with an unwonted show of amazement : " how can you make that out , Markham ?" " Markham's law of the universe ! cried Julie . " Listen ; it will be as instructive as Markham ' s history of England . " Conticuere omnes : but Markham did not speak .

    " Joking apart , " said Edwardes , "I should like to hear how you make that out /' " You may as well relieve hi 3 curiosity , " said ^ Julie / carelessly laying her hand on his shoulder , to atone for her ridicule , and enforce her mandate . "If you must discuss principles , " I said , " let us do it thoroughly , Markham ; and there is no doing that unless each man says out his thought . " " Tell us how we should live , " cried Yseult , " for I think we do not know-how yet ; and then Alfred shall tell us , and Edward—each one of von . " ~

    "By Jove , I never meant to be lawgiver , " exclaimed Markham , " but if I am only to be the preface to such a flood of wisdom , why I will give you the law , on one condition—that one whom I shall name shall finish . " ' Oh , Tristan will take his turn , " said Yseult . " Nay , I was not thinking of Tristan , much as I respect the distinguished ability with which he ties up every parcel that he passes over the counter . I will do it on condition that at the end Margaret will tell us how we ought to live . " We all looked at her for her reply ; but Markham said that she need not answer—he knew she would . "I must take my postulate to begin with ; I suppose you will all agree that nothing is made out of nothing ?"

    " I'll agree to anything , " cried Julie , " if you wont talk about postulates , as if you were going to lecture on small-pox ! Don ' t use words that zue cannot understand . " "Why , then , most lovely and cruel Princess , you stop the very uttorance of science ^ : but I suppose you must be obeyed , even in making bricks without straw . " " And the most essential truths of science , " observed Edwardes , " are always capable of being put in intelligible languago , in which they < liiFer from some other ' essential truths . ' " If nothing can bo made out of nothing , to produce more than you have already , you must add to that which is . "

    '" You are begging the question , " said Conway ; " for what you say would deny the obvious phaonomena of genesis and growth . Wo know nothing of the nature of dynamic forces , " " I have forbidden dynamics , and I forbid the pentatouch , or any 'ism' at all , " cried Julio . " You forget nutrition , Conway , " said Edwardos . " Bnt go on , Markham . " " What I mean is , that you cannot cronto anything out of nothing . If you obtain any return , it must bo in virtue of something done . If

    it la more or better , it must bo the equivalent of additional or more skilful exertion . Tho gross result will bo in proportion to tho original out lay , plug tho sagacity of tho investment . It follows that tho guiding principle should bo to invest where there is the largest return ; and to l « t < failures bo failures . Doath is but tho bankruptcy of nature Tho true- philosophy of life ia to encourage succosh , and to leave failure to its fate . That in tho principle of trade T hoy call it ' sclliflh / but what is BolfiahnosH , save tho division of employments by which oacli bomber of tho human raco is sot to watch over the welfare of that ; one

    " » whom ho is most nearly and , keenly interested , and through kin well-directed oxortions tho happiness of tho wholo ia increased . " Markham was silent , and hia countenance , aa well na that of tho able , thinkers" who eat before him , worfl tho expression of si man ^ l » o is ( liHouseing an old talc , with a eonso of its stalonoHS and inefficiency . " Your plan , " Raid Edwardos , paying to hia friend tho tribute of a 'pspectful opposition , " has tho twofold disadvantage of being impracticable-, : uul , if it were practicable , Holf-dofoatin ^ . Tho moat Holiish "I'm in tho world can scarcely ooucon . tra . to himwolf upon himself ;

    certainly no man of full faculties ^ decently cultivated . And if all could do it , society would be dissolved into its elements , or rather segregated into its atoms . The doctrine ^ has been preached , and we have tried to follow it ; and we rush back into opposite extremes , such as Socialism or Puseyism . " "We will begin it , " cried Julie , " when Mark sets us the example . " " I have begun it . " " Concentrating your first care upon yourself ?" "Yes . " Julie gave him her hand to kiss . Surprised at the unexpected and unwonted graciousness , he looked for an instant in her eyes , and then kissed the fair band with fervour ; Julie looked round at us , and smiling her triumph as we laughed at the ease with which the casuist fell into the trap .

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    BROOKE AS TIRGINIUS , On Saturday night I went to see Gustavus Brooke play Virginius , whicli was not a very lively entertainment , though a more successful performance —if boisterous applause can constitute success—has not made the walls of old Drury resound for many a long year . There was something half comical , half painful , in the stupid genuine delight of that eminently British public at the Boanerges of the Drama , as he " split the ears of the groundlings . "

    There is a story of Power entering the green-room of the Hay market Theatre , dressed for Teddy the Tiler , who , as he stood against the mantelpiece , cool and pleasant , remarked to that spluttering tragedian , Charles Kean , who sat panting and perspiring , with all the dust and failure of Bosworfeli field upon him , " you seem hot , Mr . Kean . " * Yes , " replied Charles , with withering sarcasm , " there is some difference between playing Richard the Third &nA Teddy the Tiler" "Yes / ' replied Power , adjusting his neckcloth , " physically . "

    To make this story more perfect , the reader should be told , that not only is the story itself literally true , but that Charles Kean tells it against-Power , —which is a pleasing illustration of his general quickness of perception . "Physically , " then , Gustavus Brooke is the greatest tragic actor on the stage , and as , except Phelps , all the other tragic actors known to me are not what I should call eminently intellectual , what I have just said amounts ' very much to saying that Brooke is , with that single exception , the greatest tragic actor on our stage . Nevertheless , he is " a man who , take him for all in all , " I have no wish "to look upon his like again . " The paradox -, of his success is intelligible as soon as one watches his audience . When , he

    is violent , —and he is magnificently violent , with a certain leonine , sometimes bovine , power , —the audiences are in ecstacies . When lie runs up his voice in alt , and drops to a double 6 r , with the stretch of compass , if not with the dplomb , of an Alboni , the audiences are naively startled by tho vocal feat , and , not troubled with critical misgivings as to sense , thoroughly give themselves up to the sensation . And tlms a physical actor is applauded by a physical audience . The question of intelligence never comes into consideration . So undeniably was this the case on Saturday night , that the audience , uproarious when Brooke was roarious—uproarious when

    Davenpoi't was spasmodic and noisy—manifested so high a relish for the sensation of sonority , that thev loudly cheered even the mob , when the mob was tumultuous in its snilling-a-night republicanism . Why not ! if Brooke and Davenport , stunning their lethargic ears , could earn their applause , why not ungainly " supers , " with a body of sound surpassing that of any single pair of lungs ? One or two passages which Brooke delivered finely , with a f £ iiiet , manly pathos , passed unheeded ; a British audience criticizes acting fis the dustman did the unadulterated beer : " There ' s no headacho in it !"

    From this you may gather that I am neither surprised nor swayed by Brooke ' s success . I see in him the magnificent half of an actor , porhap even ( considering acting as representation ^ and that ia representation thes means are oven more important than the intellect ) one may say two-thiid , of an actor ; a noble person , a powerful voice , immense physical energy and a certain breadth of style , " if style it can be called which style is none , * an elocution careful ( somewhat too careful ) , and a thorough familiarity with stacro business and stage tradition : these are his qualities . Now , if you

    think of these qualities , and bear in mind that an audience always "taken for granted , " believing when a man says " I love you , " that ho feels and looks what he says , you will understand how , with . such an audience , tho success of such an actor must bo assured . At any rate , there is no disguising the fact that the audiences gathered within the walls of Drury Lane do greatly admire and enjoy Gustavus Brooke , and that every cultivated person you moot is lost in wide astonishment at such success being possible . Vivian .

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    TIIU DISCIPLINE OF ART . "An artist , " it has been said in these pages , 'Should bo a strong num . " There is a feeling , too universal to bo wholly groundless , that artists aro egotistical , headstrong , lawless persona—very unreasonable in expecting to bo countenanced and indulged more than " their oven Christians , " and very inconsistent in niFocting to dospiso worldly precept- True is it that among tho thousand young " men of genius" who , in tho most spirited way , havo kicked against office-stool and counter ; \ vlio havo shown wondrous " firmness" in resisting the eominon-sunso counsel and onrnosfc ontreat . ios of parents or IViondH ; many havo become- rnoro ronmrlcublo in fchoir self-prescribed , career for want , of . spirit and firmness than f < M' any positive quality whatever . Tho story of such as those is old and fcrlto . A different story is that of CharAks Summjsks , iv young sculptov of proved genius , who is n . ow quit-

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    d& ! 6 J&& h 1853 . ] Til tllDEE 957 .. ' . ¦' / . . " . ; ' ¦¦'¦ "' ¦ . ' ¦ '" ¦ . . ' ' ' ' . ' ' ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ .-.. ¦ ¦ w . , .. ¦ -.. " ' - f i i r ' - ir _ . ¦ ¦¦ - ' -

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 1, 1853, page 957, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2006/page/21/