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Feb. 28, 1SS2.] T H E LEA DE R. 209
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DEJAZET. JSlle n'a pas d'agc ! is the un...
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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.
The Lost Angel It Waa The Dawn; The Earl...
One star alone grew yet more bright , And larger with the death of night , And cast on flowed and tree fresh light But chiefly fell its mystic beams On the pale maiden of my dreams , "Who weieps by E ^ eri ^ holy streams . She , self-reproached and self-betraysd , Half sorrowful and half dismayed ^ Grieves under an enchanted shade .
" O star , " she cries , " dost thou regain Thine ancient splendour ? fair domain Made fairer to increase my pain ! «* O star ! be sad as I am sad , Our dear lost angel is not glad , And can we have the joy we had ?" So grieves she stilj , so still resents Her angel ' s fate , and scarce laments The trespass she but half repents .
But through this lattice-work of trees A red and angry light she sees , That rolls along the rolling breeze : It comes that way , it grows more red , Self-moving , self-concentrated ; She sees it come , she droops her head . It comes more near : she sees , she hears , She moves not j if she fears , she fears As one who looks for falling spheres :
And may not feel , and cannot know , Whether such things as weal and woe , Or love ajad grief > abide below . It comes , it stands the dawn beneath , She feels the presence and the breath ¦ Q f-him whom we poor men call Death : In crimson heart of ( flaming cloud His shadowy head a ; shadow bowed , But opened wings like daylight ' s shroud ,
Embroidered by the sunset skies , When day lay dead on Paradise , And Eve taught Adam , it would rise . It touches her , her heart is cold , Her eyes may look , but not behold , _ And misty waves are round her rolled
Feb. 28, 1ss2.] T H E Lea De R. 209
Feb . , 1 SS 2 . ] T H E LEA DE R . 209
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Dejazet. Jslle N'A Pas D'Agc ! Is The Un...
DEJAZET . JSlle n ' a pas d ' agc ! is the universal exclamation : " Ago cnnuot wither her , nor custom stale Her infinite variety . " No young woman on the stage could be so young , and so captivating , as Ddjazet in the character of Richelieu at fifteen . It is not that one has to pake allowances and say how " wonderful at her age ! " the performance is intrinsically fine , wonderful at any age . A very thin house enjoyed her Colombine , but to Les Premieres Armes de Ttichelieu there ^ was an immense house , and immense enjoyment in . that house . The first is a
tiresome piece a tiroir , wherein the actress shows you her wardrobe , and exhibits her faire ; but a singer might almost as well sol f a and call it singing . You admire the wardrobe , you admire the talent , but you yawn « t the pioco . In . Les Premi & res Armes de Mchelien , on the contrary , we have a gay , sparkling , little comedy , without a superfluous passage , without a sentence that hangs fire , and with several phases of a character naturall y prosontcd . As the boyish , awkward bridegroom , just introduced at court , Ddjazet was natural and charming : through that awkwardness , winch waa not without its grace , there shone a glittering wit and resolution , which prepared us for the chancre from the naive boy into tlio cool ,
careless coxcombry of tho man au sucaes . Very noticeable was the quiet truth of manner with which she received the " lesson" given by tho Princess who sonds a box of bonbons as a cadeau de noces ; slio did not exaggerate , won by a look , and the . effect was very sonsiblo . As for tho delivery ol repartees , no language can convoy an idoa of that- '—( at least , no languageot mine . How quietly wo gontlomen of the press assume that tho standard of accomplishment must bo measured Vy our incompetence , and because we are beggars , in phrase , and know not tho doHcato secrets of a "inguage which refuses nothing to happy ardour of search , declare " words can paint thiB , " or " it is impossible to describe that ! " ) Dejazet ' s Wanner of uttering a slight phrase makes it flash upon you as a brilliant witticism . This ia a service which good actors render authors , for which % nofc oft ° a got tho credit . -Iho piece was nicely acted altogether , and beautifully dressed . Lafont Fayed tho small part of the Chevalier , and mado it an ag ^ reeablo figure . M . cUlo . Aven © rwas hearty , and not coarse , in . the bourgeois ^ at court—&
class of characters for which she is better suited then the class she played last season . The rest , though , not good , were inofFensive . An absurd prejudice exists , upon which I am tempted to make a remark . Because the best French actors are unquestionably , excellent , our public , by an easy fallacy ., assumes that all French actors are good ; and I hear on all hands the foolishest remarks depreciating our own actors , > n favour of men and women whom X must call . simply detestable , but who , because they are French , are applauded , arid pronounced '* so superior to anything on our stage . " No one will accuse me of underrating French acting . When it is worst , it is not so bad as our bad acting . But it is often very bad ; and I do not much believe in the talent
of the second-rates . What our actors want , and what they might learn from , the French , is the drawing-room quietness of well-bred acting—the subordination of " points" to character—the reliance upon nature . It is in these things that Charles Mathews surpasses all English actors , and has gradually earned for himself his peculiar reputation ; it is by the absence of these that Charles Keari , out of melodrame , has acquired his peculiar reputation . Charles ELean , after vainly battling with fate so many years , seems now , consciously or unconsciously , settling down into the conviction that his talent does not lie in any Shaksperian sphere whatever , but in inelodranies , such as Pauline , or his last venture ,
THE COKSICAN BEOTHEES , where , as high intellect is not de rigueur , he is not restricted by its fastidious exigencies . It is certainly worth a passing remark , to note how bad an actor he is in any part requiring th & expression of intellect or emotion , —in any part demanding some sympathy with things poetical , — in any part calling for representative power ; and how impressive , and , I may say , unrivalled , he is in gentlemanly melodrama . The successful portions of his tragic characters are all melodramatic ; and in Pauline
and the Corsican Brothers he satisfies all the exigencies of criticism . I shall not be suspected of partiality , and I beg the reader not to suppose any latent irony in my praise , ( for I am not afraid to praise Kean when that praise is due , ) and , with this preface , let me say that the Corsican Brothers is the most daring , ingenious , and exciting melodrama I remember to have seen ; and is mounted with an elegance , an accuracy , an ingenuity in the mingling of the supernatural with the real , and an artistic disposition of effects , such as perhaps no theatre could equal , certainly not
surpasSi . TKe first act sets forth Corsican life in its wildness , its superstitions , and its vendetta . An excellent scene is that of the reconciliation of the Orlandos and the Colonnas , and their relinqtrishment of tile vendetta , —& scene both freph and effective , and capitally played by Kyder ; but it has nothing to do with the p iece , and surprises by its presence in a French drama , where construction is always so careful . Its only office is _ to bring vi s ibly before _ us the Corsican feeling about la vendetta . Besides this feeling , there is another indicated in this act , —viz ., the mysterious affinity of the twin brothers , Louis and Fabian , through which they communicate at whatever distance . Fabian is now restless and uneasy , convinced that something has happened to his brother Louis ; and , wliile he writes to him , to learn the truth , the spectre of his brother , with blood on exceed the art withwhich
his breast , appears to him . ^ Nothing can , this is managed ; with , ghostly terror , heightened by the low tremolos o £ the violins , and the dim light upon the stage , the audience , breath-suspended , watches the slow apparition , and the vision of the duel which succeeds : a scenic effect more real and terrible than anything I remember . By a daring novelty of construction , the second act is supposed to go on simultaneously with the first , so that , at the end of the second , the two are blended in one vision . The second act opens with a gay and brilliant scene of a bal de VopSra , wonderfully well done , —the groups animated and lifelike , the dresses splendid and various , and the drama naturally issuing out of the groups in the moat unforced manner . The action of this act is simply the entanglement of Louis in the circumstances which lead to the duel wherein lie is killed , as the vision of Act I . exhibited to
us . The third act is brief , and is littlo more than tlie duel -with Mabian , come from Corsica to avenge his brother ; but it ia surrounded with a number of superstitious circumstances that give a shuddering anxiety to every passage . Fabian and Chateau lienaud % ht ; during the pause , the latter leans upon hia sword , and breaks it . Fabian , to equalize tho combat , snaps his sword also ; and both then take tho broken halves , and fastening thorn in their grasp by cambric handkerchiefs , they fight as with knives . This does not read as horrible , perhaps ; but to see it on the stago , represented with minute ferocity of detail , and with a truth on the Dart of the actors , wliicli enhances tho terror , tho effect is so intense , so
horrible , so startling , that one gentleman indignantly exclaimed un ~ English ! It was , indeed , gratuitously shocking , and Charles Koan will damage himself in public estimation by such moral mistakes , showing : a vulgar lust for tho lowest sources of excitement—the tragedy ot tho shambles ! But it is tho fatality of melodrama to know no limit ; ' Iho tendency of tho sonses is downwards . To gratify them stimulants- must bo added and added , chili upon cayenne , butchery upon murdor , '' horrors on horrors' head accumulated ! " Ami herein lies tho secret ^ weakness the societ ot the failure of
and inevitable ) failure of Melodmmo ; - Le ThUtre IBstorique , in spite of Dumas , m spite of Mtelingue , in spite of tho concentration of " offocts , " in spito of vogue , 'jteonory , drosses , acting , terrors , tears , laughter , the clash of swords , tho ( flatter of spurs , the spasms of agony , tho poniards , the poisons , tho trap-doors , and moonlight effects—bankruptcy was the goal to which all . tended ! Tho secret , ' as I said , lies in tho fact that Molodramo appeals to tlie lowost faculties , tho avenues to which aro very limited , consequently thfl'i influence is soon exhausted ; whereas Drama appeals to tho highest faculties , if
and their avenues are infinite . , ¦ , But I will not philosophise ; enough for tho prosont that the Lo ^ iccm Brothers is a Motodmme , full of invention , rivetting in interest , put on tho stago with immense variety and splendour , and very finely , 9 j"j a . Leave tW costhotio quostion aside , and consider tho Melodrama aaaMfllodramo , ami short of tho horriblo termination , I say wo havo had nothing so offeotivo for a long while .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1852, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28021852/page/21/
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