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    him to a gaol , and finally Jed to bis committing suicide . Now that a similar fate , -with the exception of the termination , has befallen Robson , at may not be uninteresting to glance into the latest of his dramatic productions It is a somewhat novel position to review a play which has been written by a gentleman who is now picking oakum for the good of society ia one of her Majesty ' s gaols . Although in some measure thrown into the shade by the doings of a later and still more stupendous criminal , the career of Robson was so singular as to seem in itself a startling drama . His commencement of married existence in something like sheer poverty—liis living with a young wife in a single squalid room in Chancery-lane , and precariously supporting himself and her by copying legal deeds at a low rate of remuneration— -his rapid ascent in the-course of three or four years into the position of a man of fashion and pleasure , a dandy ' upon town , residing in a sumptuous house , eating and drinking of the best , riding his blood mares , sporting his broughams and 1

    dog-carts' in the eyes of an admiring world , maintaining separate establishments for his auxiliary wives , speculating in the funds , buying and selling shares in commercial companies , sitting on committees , lounging at theatres , patronizing the race-course , the jockeys , tlie omnibus drivers and the cabmen—thence passing on into the shadow of discovered crime ; his evasion of the accountant at his own house ; his rapid flight ; his brief and frantic revelry for five days at Copenhagen ( the last desperate debauch of the ruined man , determined to fling a fierce defiance in the face of unescapable doom ); his capture , conviction , and condemnation , followed by the cropped head , the prison dress , the blank walls , the bare yards , the coarse fare , and the dull monotony , that are to abide for twenty years ;—all these incidents crowded within a narrow space of time , and succeeding each other with the strongly-contrasted lights and shadows of the stage , present admirable matter for a future dramatist , and must , to Robson ' s mind , have ' made his own dramatic fictions somewhat tame .

    A strange vein of remorse—of anguish for lost honesty—of overwhelming sense of present shame—runs through this play of JBianca , and suggests the reflection that the author did indeed draw from his own experiences and his own position , and filtered through his characters , some of the hot outpourings of bis conscience . But , before we proceed to note a few of the passages which contain this all-pervading sense of crime and repentance , we will introduce the reader to the Dedication , which is in itself curious :- — To those who , believing in the realization of the highest aspirations of the human mind , claim for the Drama the proud position of being one of the chief means by which that realization is to l ) e attained , this Play is respectfully dedicated by their very humble andyobedient servant , "William James Robson . On the very first page of the drama , one of the characters asks a friend ( in good stage fashion ) ,, " -How . goes the day ? " To which the other replies : —

    "Tis jogging on ; ' tis jingling on ; Fighting on ; robbing on ; and lying on j And , thanks to woman , that sweet merchandize The devil dealeth in , ' tis loving on ; — For a common sort o' day , the day goes well . That is to say , a day which is " robbing on" ( or Robsoning on ) , and "lying on , " " goes well . " " Common day ! " exclaims the querist . "Ay , common day , " replies the interlocutor , — For , ' mid this whirl and blast ,

    We eat and drink , and tinkers mend their pots . At page 5 , Gonzaga , Duke of Tuscany , exclaims : — Age ! aget thou time-crown'd skeleton of youth , Thou shaking citadel , tooth-worn of years , Fall ! fall ! and in thy ruins bury thought . And ghastly shame . A little way further on , we come to a scene between Bianca ( the " Duke ' s daughter ) and one Ludovico , who is passionately in love with her , but whom she jilts : — tt

    Ludovico . How nobly rose my yesterday ; to-day Hath come , with storms and whirlwinds horrible , On which my soul runs madly to the waste . Oh ! had I died in battle's front . OL ! had I died In happy ignorance ; I should have gone My unknown journey with the happy thought That thou would st weep—would ' st pray—would'st mourn for mo IBut now I see , as through a dim obscure , My road surcharged with grief and strewn with crimes . My all that tells of God-made man—lost !—lost !—¦ ¦ « . .. It is my soul that sobs ! They are not words ! Oh ! had I words a 3 burning as my pain , The very air would quiver as I spoke . Yesterday ! Yesterday ! For reasons of state , the Dulce wishes his daughter to marry Lorenzo Vitelli , one of the most successful captains in tho wars of the Florentines against the Genoese ; and Bianca ia , in fact , already in love with the valiant young soldier , and therefore seconds her father ' s project with a degree of heat and fervour rather irreconcilable with our cold northern ideas of propriety , and in language of a nature which , induces the author to state , in a preliminary notice : « Several passages and sentences arc judiciously omitted in the representation . " But Lorenzo loves another lady , and rejects Bianca , after much importunity from that Italian-blooded maiden . Thereuponher

    , loyo turns to wrath ; slic reswnmons the discarded Ludovico , and literally soils herself to him at the price of his putting Lorenzo ' s mistress , Aura , within her power . Ludovico does so , and also captures Aura ' s father , an old patriot , who has been banished tho state , but who has returned because he thinks ho can help to drive back the Genoese . In the meanwliilc , in revenge for his disappointment , the Duke endeavours to arrest Lorenzo nn < l some of his companions ; but , by a prodigious display of stage tact and courage , they contrive to escape from the soldiers , and , flying to Genoa , J - tlle 'war a 6 am 9 tj ^ Florence . Tho Duke and Bianca determine to put Mario ( the old patriot ) and bis daughter Aura to the rack ; but , at the

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    opportune moment , Lorenzo and the other rebels return , release the captives , and seize Gonzaga , the Duke . The people then give the ducal crown to Lorenzo , but he declines it , and reinstates Gonzaga in power . Something like friendship is now restored betwe en the belligerents ; and it is deter ^ mined that , on a given day , Bianca shall be wedded to Ludovico , and Lorenzo to Aura . But the Duke has become crazed with age , disappointment , and tumultuous passions ; and a fierce , wastingunhappiness desolates the mind of his daughter . Nevertheless , the wedding proceeds . Bianca has brought herself to look -upon Aura with a sort of pitying kindness but her evil nature is again suddenly awakened , and she resolves to present her former rival with a poisoned rose at the marriage feast , the mere odour of which shall carry death with it . This brings us to to the climax of the drama . Bianca comes forward , with the rose j several tunes presents and withdraws it ; and at length , in a passion of remorse , smells it herself , and dies , with expressions of penitence .

    Havinsj thus sketched the plot , we resume our quotations from those parts which seem to bear upon the author ' s present position . Here is one of Bianca ' s soliloquies : — Bianca . The talk of Florence , by-word , mock ! The mark For scornful ones to leer and whisper at . Eyes which before embraced my garments' hem , Now boldly stare into these upper lights ; Lights fever-bright , once cairn -with innocence , That sent forth holy messeng-ers of joy ' To bring into my bosom pleasant thoughts . But now they gather from each human face The poison'd honey of conceal'd contempt . The world , with alL its beauty , loveliness , To me is one vast scene of punishment , Fiercer than shame—than death more terrible ! In one short madder moment so to sink ; And so to grovel ' neath the haughty heels Of those proud , weak , untempted ones . Oh ! I do clutch at good , as some poor wretch "Who , falling from a height , doth wildly grasp At weeds which mock him from the sun-lit rock !

    Fall ! fall ! fall ! fall ! Crush'd ! mangled ! vulture-food ! In another speech , Bianca says she is " hurl'd back" upon The rough , hot beach of mine own self-contempt . The same character thus laments her lost goodness . The reader will see that the passage is one of great beauty and pathos , with something of the rich , exuberant imagery of Marlowe , and of the fainting sweetness " long drawn out" of his versification : — Bianca . Oh , Summer ! Summer ! come thou back again ; Uncrown this dismal ice-king in my heart : Not flower-crowned Summer , who doth bear Within her ample lap , from , dying Spring , The sweet inheritance of folded buds—No , not that Summer , who , with wanton eye , The young fruit woos for lusty Autumn's arras—No , not that Summer , who doth burn and glow , Until she breed corruption -with a kiss—But that young Summer of my life , when I , With careless steps trod on my happy way , And dared to look good people in the face ; When my to-days were ripen'd joys which hung Upon the golden boughs of yesterdays ! Why did he come , to mar this holiday ? Why did he come , and with his presence make To-days , to-morrows , yesterdays—pal « mutes Who wait upon my perish'd goodnesses , And strew with bitter herbs the dead , dead past ?

    Several expressions to the same effect are scattered through the volume ; but we have quoted sufficient for the purpose we had in view . It will also have been seen that the play contains evidences of poetical beauty and dramatic power . Had it "been produced , we have little doubt that it would have succeeded ; and in some degree it even meets the severer test of reading . It * has many faults , however , both of omission and commission . From the author being , to use an expressive piece of modern slang , a * fast man , ' and a frequenter of green-rooms , he had acquired a large amount of vulgar common-place and stage conventionality . He would seem , also , to have written hastily and carelessly . We note inconsistencies and contradictions in the course of the story ; pattern phrases and lax versificationsometimes overrunning its limits , sometimes catalectic ; a too great heapingup of imagery and of poetry for poetry ' s sake , to the injury of the dramatic action and of the truth of characterization ; artificial tricks of dialogue for the purpose of creating stage * points ; ' , generally , an excess of vehemence , as in this conclusion of the second act : —" The Duke is so overcome with

    rage that he can do nothing but grasp Bianca s arm , and stamp , and point to the entrance where Lorenzo and his friends have retired . " Fancy some energetic actor , with a strong pair of legs , bringing down the drop-scene after this fashion ! Again : this same very fiery Duke thus upbraids the patriot Mario : — I tell thee , sir , thou bad , unwholesome heart , That , by this letter , sir—this letter , sir , Thou art discovered as a traitor , sir , A monstrous traitor , sir , a heap of lies , A bold and rampant -villain , air—But I , I , I—grey-bearded , shaken , worn , Will hunt thee . sir , catch thee , sir , hang thee , sir .

    This is uttered before tho Duke has gone absolutely mad , though the reader might suppose the contrary . But , with many of tho faults of the old dramatists , Robson has some of their genius . We have compared a passage quoted above to Marlowe ; but the general chai-acter of " Bianca" rather reminds us of the fantastical irregularity , tho fierce , volcanic bursts of passion , alternating with passages of lulling beauty , the gorgeous extravagance and heaped-up horrors , of

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    February 7 , 1857 . ] THE LEADER , X 37

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 7, 1857, page 137, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2179/page/17/