On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (4)
-
XHI LEADEB, [No. 301, Satubday,
-
Poems of Ten Years. By Mrs. Ogilvy. Bosw...
-
^,, (Ohm* ^AV\Pi ^O/*J*- XUIZI *
-
CHRISTMAS WEEK AT THE THEATRES. Drury .L...
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.
-
-
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.
Early Greek Romance. The Greejt Romances...
these—a scene full of Ufe , motion , and splendour . The occasion is the mi « S ? reS thf tempi ! , rough-looking merf , in white and girt-up garments . Their 3 ffi handsand breasts' wer ! naked , and they bore * two-edged axe . The oxen SeSk ^ vi th moderately arched and brawny neck ^ -their horns equal , and ^ Httle bent : some were gilt , others adorned with flowers—thear legs bent S ^ -and theirdeep dewfe ^ flowing down to their * £ +- # * £ * " * £ > " ? ^ cordTnee with Re name , exactly an hundred A vanety of ° ^ er different victims came afterwards , each species separate and m order attended with pipes In ^ flntes aendins fo rth a strain prelusi ve of the sacrifice : the se wer e followed by r ^ p of ? : nSIlo ^ wa ! s ^& essalian maidens , with dishevelled locks-they ^ distributed into two companies ; the first division bore baskets full of fruits and flowers : the second , vases of conserves and spices , which filled the air wS ^ wice : they carriedthese on their heads ; thu ^ th-r hands being at
. liberty they joined them together , so that they could move along and lead the dance . The key-note to the melody was sounded by the next division who were Sling the whole of the hymn appointed for this festival , which contained the praises of Thetis , of Peleus , and their son , and of Neoptolemus . "At length a band of youths on horseback , with their splendidly dressed commander , opening upon them , afforded a spectacle far preferable to any sounds . Their number was exactly fifty ; they divided themselves into five-and-twenty on each side guarding their leader , chief of the sacred embassy , who rode in the midst : their buskins , laced -with a purple thong , were tied above their ancles ; thenwhite Karments , bordered with blue , were fastened by a golden clasp over thenbreasts . Their horses were Thessalian , and by their spirit gave token of the open plains they came from ; they seemed to champ with disdain the foaming bit , yet obeyed the regulating hand of their riders , who appeared to vie with each other in the Bplendour of their frontlets and other trappings , which glittered with gold and silver . But all these , Cnemon , splendid as they were , were utterly overlooked , AnA seemed to vanish , like other objects before a flash of lightning , at the appeardid he make ± too
ance' of their-leader-, niy dear Theagenes , so gallant a show . Je was on horseback , and in armour , with an ashen spear in his hand ; his head was uncovered ; he wore a purple robe , on which was worked in gold the story of the Centaurs and the Lapithse ; the clasp of it was of electrum , and represented Pallas with the Gorgon ' s head on her ' shield . A light breath of wind added to the grace of his appearance ; it played upon his hair , dispersed it . on his neck , and divided it from his forehead , throwing back the extremities of his cloak in easy folds on the back and sides of his horse . You would say , too , that the horse himself was conscious both of his own beauty and of the beauty of his rider ; so stately did he arch his neck and carry his head , with ears erect and fiery eyes , proudly bearing a master who was proud to be thus borne . He moved along under a loose rein , balancing himself equally on-each side , and , touching the wound with the extremity of his hoofs , tempered his pace into almost an ^ sensible motion . * * * * * \ * * * * btwo white she dressed
" Chariclea was borne in a chariot drawn y oxen— was in a purple robe embroidered with gold , which flowed down to her feet—she had a girdle round her waist , on which the artis . t had exerted all his skill : it represented two serpents , whose tails were interlaced behind her shoulders ; their necks knotted beneath her bosom ; and their" heads , disentangled from the knot , hung down on either side as an appendage : so well were they imitated , that you would say they really glided onward . Their aspect was not at all terrible ; their eyes Bwam in a kind of languid lustre , as if being lulled to sleep by the charms of the maiden ' s breast . They were wrought in darkened gold , tinged with blue , the better to represent , by this mixture of dark and yellow , the roughness and glancing colour of the scales . Such was the maiden ' s girdle . Her hair was not entirely tied up , nor quite dishevelled , but the greater part of it flowed down her neck , and wantoned on her shoulders—a crown of laurel confined the bright and ruddy lo . okB which adorned her forehead , and prevented the wind from disturbing them too roughly—she bore a gilded bow in her left hand ; her quiver hung at her right shoulder—in her other hand she had a lighted torch ; yet the lustre of her eyes paled the brightness of the torch . "
We have left ourselves no space to speak of Longus and Achilles Tatius . We must , therefore , be content simply to allude to the first as the most celebrated exemplar of pastoral fiction , and to the second as a literary disciple of Heliodorus . For a more intimate acquaintance , the reader will no doubt refer to the authors for himself .
Xhi Leadeb, [No. 301, Satubday,
XHI LEADEB , [ No . 301 , Satubday ,
Poems Of Ten Years. By Mrs. Ogilvy. Bosw...
Poems of Ten Years . By Mrs . Ogilvy . Bosworth , London , Metrical Pieces , Translated and Original . By N . L . Frothingham . Trubner , London . Echoes of the War and other Poems . By Henry Sewell Stokes . Longman , London . These are three volumes of verse , all rather above the average jingles of publishing amateurs , but neither very promising of choicer fruit . We place them in the order of merit , according to our judgment . Mrs . Ogilvy , to be sure , is the merest rhymer of the three ; but then she makes the best rhymes . She is good only at this kind of work , and at what the lawyers call a " statement . " Were it a custom to put " cases " in smooth , fair metre , she would ibe the Miss Brass of the Realms of Rhyme . The best jingle in her book ,
taken as a whole , and the one containing most originality of thought , is *• Walter von de Vogelweid . " Longfellow ' s pretty and fanciful song on this subject will be remembered , perhaps , by the majority of our readers . He carries out the legend , from the testamentary act of the Minnesinger , in favour of his friends and supposed admirers , the birds , to the shabby behaviour" of the monks , in withholding the daily gifts of bread thus bequeathed by the poet . Mrs . Ogilvy ' s version stops at the fact of the bequest , from which she draws the conclusion , that Walter was wise in his generation , and ensured for Ins name an immortality which his verses would not have gained it . In her poems of imagination , Mrs . Ogilvy ' s tendency to prosaic descriptions of natural phenomena , interferes a little with the Eoetical effect . More than one verse , on this account , reminds us of Dr . arvvin . For instance : — Down among tho wivtora clqiiHO , Fatal to our breathing sense , Tiny minnows , whales immense Live in genial homos , nor oaro to journey thence . The " Metrical Pieces" of Mr . Frothingham include a considerable number of translations from the German , made at a time , the author tells us , ¦*¦ * when' It was far less common to present the poets of Germany in an
English dress" than it has since become . " To say that Mr . Frothingham has done any public service b y these translations would certainly not be true . But they are creditable to his industry and taste , and show that he has a good acquaintance with the poetical literature of Germany . Mr . Stokes ' s " Echoes" will not roll from soul to soul , - And grow for ever and for ever . It may be questioned whether all echoes of this war , raised by our poets , h ave not already stopped growing . All we can say of Mr . Stokes has been s aid . He is above the average class of jinglers who try to wake the " Echoes" with , their jingles .
^,, (Ohm* ^Av\Pi ^O/*J*- Xuizi *
€ ht Srfeu
Christmas Week At The Theatres. Drury .L...
CHRISTMAS WEEK AT THE THEATRES . Drury . Lane on Wednesday evening entertained its holiday visitors with a pantomime bearing the rather uninviting title of Hey Diddle Diddle ; or Harlequin King Nonsense and the Seven Ages of Man . Nonsense is an excellent thing ; hut " Hey Diddle Diddle " conveys a very shadowry suggestion of the humorous , and " the Seven Ages of Man " is , upon the whole , rather a solemn than a jocose topic . Pantomime writers , however , have a glorious knack of melting all individuality of scheme into one brilliant , floating atmosphere of stage enchantment ; and , if the young ones have pretty
scenery , pretty fairies , surprising changes , and noise without stint , they are satisfied . The scenery of the Druky Lane pantomime , as of the Co vent Gabjoen , is by Beverly , and is extremely beautiful , like all the productions ; of that first of stage-painters . One scene , indeed—that representing the village of Prettywell , with a distant view of the church —elicited enthusiastic demands for the artist . There was plenty of rough fun to please the juveniles ; and the elders were delighted by some hits at the spirits " Hedtape " and " Routine , " who were banished to the regions of Noodledom . Tom Matthews , the eternal , performs . one of the clowns ; and a georgeous scene in fairyland concludes the entertainment .
Covent Garden . —Amid the general nourish of trumpets which , the approach of Christmas calls forth from managers , the note of Mr . Anderson , Wizard of the North and lessee of Covent Garden Theatre , proves , this year , to be the longest , loudest , and most intensely brazen in tone , of all the theatrical orchestra . He amazes the general mob of sightseers by puffing in the Times , at greater length even than Mr . Smith , of Drury Lane ( who does not stick at a trifle when he issues his manifestos , as the public well know by this time ) . He appeals to the " learned few" by calling his theatre an auditorium . " He flashes into the very souls of the street-passengers by a burst of electric light from the top of his Enchanted Palace . He exhibits himself ( in an advertising point of view ) before the multiform mercantile interests of this commercial country , in the remarkable and unparalleled character of a gentleman who has made so much money by his vocation in the dire
life that he does not know what to do with it , and is reduced to necessity of taking a theatre and producing a pantomine , as a last desperate means of casting superfluous cash to the winds . A man with too much money ! A man with an electric light at the top of his theatre ! A man whose advertisements are as long as leading-articles ( and five times as interesting ) ! A man who can call pit , boxes , and gallery an " auditorium , " and actually not appear to be proud of it ! Is it necessary to report that this man is successful —that on the first night when he opens his theatre an acute and discriminating public pour into it , cast their superfluous gold and silver at the feet of the Monte Christo of conjuring , and drive him to despair by madly adding to the wealth which his weary soul is yearning to get rid of and can't on any terms whatever ? No , no ; the condition of the " auditorium" on Wednesday evening last our readers enn realise for
themselves . It will be more to the purpose if we tell them that the pantomime of the Field of the Cloth of Gold has been magnificently and prodigally got up in all its parts . The costumes and the scenery are superb . The size of the stage , and the inexhaustible resources of the Wizard ' s purse , have enabled Mr . Beverley to do himself the fullest justice on the most " gorgeous" scale . There is a scene in this pantomime , called the " Golden Groves of Good Humour , " which is the very perfection of painting , lighting , and decoration—one of those happy unions of magnificence and good taste which it is a genuine enjoyment to look at . Equall y good , in another way , is a scene on the deck of the " Great Harry , " in which the stage-business is very noticeable for its good management . The introduction to the pnntomime is written by Mr . Sala ; the tricks andLtransfortnations are by the Brothers Brocjgh ; the Pantaloon is a new stage-humourist from Ainerica ;
and the Clown is the never-resting , never-flagging Mr . FtiBXMonis . These are some of the prominent attractions of the pantomime—the rest we may safely leave our play-going readers to find out for themselves . For tho poetry of pantomime , we must go to the Haymauket . Grassy dells , oak-shadowed solitudes , woods of mountain-ash , glens of dark growths of nightshade and bella-donna , country lanes and moonlight meadows , fairy-haunted valleys and nooks like those in old romance ; sudden transformations of summer verdure into snowy , lifeless landscapes ; radiant beings glittering in costumes representative of moth and butterfly niul trumpeter , hornet and bee , and wasp and beetle , with fairies of more human sort ; — such Buckstonl
are the pastoral , delicate , and super-dainty cates which Mr . yields us this Christmas senson . The last scene is peculiarly magnificent ; andthe harlequinade was received with tho utmost satisfaction . The Butterfly $ Sail and the Grass hopper' ' s Feast is sure of a long run . _ , The Olympic presents us with another burlesque from the sparkling an well-tried pen of Mr . Punohk , beyond all comparison the moat wx ™ y > ori g inal , refined , and classicnl writer of this species of entertainment . A » j ° subject of his extravaganza this Christmas—The Discreet Prinotss ; or the Three Glass Distaffs—docs not present ho many opportunities cither tor eifectivo acting , or for brilliant and" romantic scenery , us the story selects last year , the xellow Dwarf , ' ^ ftnd we therefore do wot expect to sec u repe-
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 29, 1855, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29121855/page/18/
-