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<&nn#taft fttftnrranj, AND ITS OFFICIAL ACTS.
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be the leading principles in the philosophy of acting , I proceed to apply then ! to Macready ; and first say that , inasmuch as he possesses in an unusual degree the three requisites laid down , he miist be classed among the great aetors . His conceptual intelligence " every one Will acknowledge 1 . Even thdse to whtrm his peculiarities are offensive admit that he id a Aflrt of intellect , of culture . But I do not go along with those who exalt his intellect into greatness . 1 ani not aware of any manifestation of greatness he has given . His conception : always betrays care and
thought , and fcever betrays ftiolisBn&s . On . the other hand , I neYetf received an f light fr 6 th him to $ eaf up an obscurity ; my knowledge of Shakspeare ia little increased by his performances * I earinot point to any one single trace of illumination—Sffch " as Edmtmd Kean used to flash but , This may be my fault ; but I am here recording individtial lmjjteSsioHS , arid I say that Macready ' s knowledge of $ ha ' pe 6 fe and his art , unquestionable though it be , dbes hot prove to me the greatness of intellect whieh his ardent admirers assume for him . The intelligence
most shown by Macready is that which I have named representative intelligence ,- and which he possesses iri a > remarkable degree . Certairt peculiarities and defeats pieteOtt his representing the h ? gh , heroic , pa ssi 6 nate characters ; but nothing can surpass his representation of some others ; and connecting this representative intelligence with his physical advantages , we see how he can execute what he conceives , His
and thus become an actot ^ voice—one primary requisite of tfri aetbr—is a fine one , powerful , extensive in ebmpass , and containing tones that thrill , and tones that weep . His person is good , and his face very expressive . So that give him a character within his proper range and he will be great in it ; and even the greatest actors can only perform certain characters for which their representative intelligence and physical organization fit them .
^ ' 1 wish I had not seen Macready in Macbeth . I saw him in Werner and came away with such an impression of hi * ptoWer that I regret having seen his Macbeth which ! completely destroys my notion of him . " That W&s the phrase I heard the other day at dinner , and it seemed to me a good text for a criticism on Macready ; for if the real test of an actor be that he raises emotions in you respondent to the situation , then assuredly does Macready stand this test Whenever the situation be not of a grand , abstract , ideal nature . The anguish of a weak ,
timid , prostrate mind , he can represent with a sorrowing pathos , as great as Kean in the heroic agony of Othello ; and in all the touching domesticities of tragedy he is unrivalled . But he fails in the characters which demand impassioned grandeur , and a certain largo of execution . His Macbeth and Othello have fine touches { but they are essentially unheroictheir passion is fretful and irritable , instead of being bToady vehement , overwhelming . His Hamlet is too morbid , irritable , and lachrymose . Lear is his finest Shaksperian character—because the
fretfulness and impatience of the old mancome within the range of Macready ' s representative powers , of which the terrible curate may be regarded as the climax . King John , Richard II ., Iago , and Cassius are also splendid performances ; in each of them we traee the name characteristic appeal to the actor's peculiar powers . AlthbUgh you can see him in no part without feeling that un artist is before you , yet if you think of him as ft great rtctor , it te as Werfier , lyerif , Vifginius , Richelieu , tCirig John , Richard II ., Iago—not as Othello , Macbeth , Hamlet ,
Coriolunus . Nor is this any ground of objection . Every actor is by nature fitted for certain character ** , and unfitted for other ' s . I b 6 lieve Macready ( o be radically unfitted for ideal cliaracturB— for the display of broad elemental passions—for the representation of granddur , moral or physical ; and I believe him peculiarly fitted for the irritublt ; , the tender , mid the domestic ; ho can depict rage better than passioii , anguish better than mental agony , misery better thuh despair , tenderness better than the abandonment of love . But the things he can do he does tmrpaHHingly well ; and for thin , alao , I must rail him a gn . 'at notor .
Thb tfickrt and mannerisms which others copy , and which objectors suffer to outweigh all other qualities , I need waste no words on hwrfl . lie was greilt in Hpite of themj as J ^ ean was in spitu of hio . humming up these remarks into a compact sentence , I rniBwcr the question put by my imaginary questioners thus : " Y « h > Maereadytm * ft great actor .
Though not a man of genius , he was a man of intellect , of dtfltttfei df representative telettt , with decided physical advantages , capable of depicting a wide range of unheroic characters with truth and power , ah bfhatiienttd his profession , trie pride of his friends , and the f * vourite of the public . He gained his positibn when Kesfri and Ytmng were btl the stage ; when thejf left it he stbod alone ; His departure left a blatvk . There Was no dueeessdr ; none capable of betiding the bdw df Ulysses . "
Before I conclude this incomplete timide" let me , iri extenuation of what may seem severity , observe that I haVe" throughout criticized according to ah abstract gtstfrdrifd of the Art , and ncrt according to ths present condition of the stage . I might easily and cdn ^ scieritioasly haVe * written" a panegyric ; biit there would hot nave been half the real complirrifettt in it there U ih the fotegoirig attempt at pHiitfsopiiie" artalySis , though biatiie may have been ' precipitated " by the analysis . True , very tr'ute the adage -, " Art 1 Mdifficult , Criticism easy ;' but there is soiriethiiig tdf easier thati Criticism , and that is riahe - gyric ! Vivian .
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WILT fnOV LOVE ME , THtfS , FOR EVER ? Thou gazest , deep and earnest—Deep and earnest are thine eyes ; 1 know that iri our being There are answering sympathies : I know there dwells upon me An affection rich and pure , And ask , with anxious yearning , « ' Will it ever , thus , endure ? " Quick changes come upon us — Changes not in our control ; There are shadows and eclipses * And dark tides upon the soul . With tremulous emotion I accept thy bounteous store , But ask , with anxidus yearning , ' Wih thdu love me evermore ?" Thou knowest all my weakness , Thou knowest all my power ; Thou 'st read my life , and knoWest Every weed arid every flower ; And if within my nature Any gracious gift there be , 1 would its brightest radiance Should transfuse itself to thee . God knows , no selfish impulse Draws my heart thus close to thine ; I would that all thy toiling Should partake of the divine ; I would be wise and perfect , Living truly , heartily , That life ' s most glorious haloes Should surround and hallow thee ! And if upon thy pathway I have cast one tiny ray , — Made one moment brighter , happier , By my life or by my lay , — TherU thou catrist not loVe a nature That ia meaner than" my own : Thou canst never have enjoyment Ia a soul of lower tone . So I rest my heart contented , For , in this clearer view , I see thou 'It not withhold me Such love as is my due ; And , if some richer nature Win the gift that once wus mine , I mast bow my head submissive To a law of the Divine ! But , with earnest strong endeavour , I would labour by thy side , Brtrn the right to be companion , fellow-worker , and thy guide ; Thro' all earth ' s weary turmoil Keep a loving noul , ami pure , And thy botihtioH of affection Will for ever , tlius , endure . Ma-rim .
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Thm A « t tfo Efi . OT . — " One must bo an old practitioner , " he udded laughing , " to Understand striking out . Hfchiller wmj particularly great ih that , f once huw him , On the occasion of his ' MuHe . naimanach , ' reduce a poiriirtmft p 6 erh of trto-arid-twenty strophes U > neven ; and no loss resulted from thin terrible operation . On the contrary , those seven fttrophea contained all the good and effective thonRhtHof the two-and-twenly . "—Goethe ' s Convffrtationa xoiih Eckotmemn .
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This page ia accorded to an authentic Exposition of tte Opinions and Acts of the Democracy of Europe : as such we do not impose any restraint on the utterance o £ opinion and , therefore , limit our own r esponsibility to the authenticity of the statement .
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POSITION OF POLAND . Sortie of our readers , in perusing the exposition given in the two last numbers of the Leader of the Polish democracy , may wonder why Poland ; being so prepared , and her past revolutionary moveriients so convincingly showing her courage arid unlimited desire to reconquer her political independence—of which she was so infamously despoiled—took no
advantage of so favburable a circumstance as 1848 offered her , and did hot simultaneously rise in the cause of her restoration . We , therefore , give the following extract from a document upon this subject , issued by the most competent party in this matter , viz ., the Centralization of the Polish Democratic Scciety , inserted in No . 2 of the French weekly publication •* La Voix du Proscrit , Orgaite de la Republique Universelle" : — " ... After having read M . de Lamartirie ' s manifesto , Poland could not be deceived , for in it she perceived the declaration , repeated in every imaginable shape , ' that the republic will intake no war against any one ; that the treaties of 1815 were admitted as the basis and starting poihtfor the relations of the Republic with ether nations ; thatit will make no propaganda . ' No , Poland , whose name was not even mentioned , could not be deceived , could not mistake the concealed malevolence directed against herself and other oppressed nations in the following ambiguous phrase : ' that the Republic would think itself empowered to arm , should the hour of reconstructing oppressed nationalities in Europe , or EiiSEWHERii , appear to have struck . ' " To admit the treaties of 1815 de facto , if not de jure , was to plainly avow that France was ready to ally herself with Poland ' s enemies ; moreover , to clearly confess her readiness to acknowledge as ' faits accomplis , ' the suppression of the constitution of the so-called kingdom of Poland , the annihilation of the Republic of Cracow , and the destruction of the Polish nationality . Then , what did the declaration mean by the phrase ' that the republic would arm itself , should the moment of the reconstructing of nationalities appear to have arrived ? ' Was it not to proclaim that France would make an easy bar " gain , both of justice and of the imprescriptible rights of other nations ? Was it not as much as to say ' let us he in peace at home ; we are determined not to stir ; our own interests are our guide , egotism our compass ?' " It is not the first time that we have made the above remarks . It is not only in Poland that the revolution of February waa deemed an abortion , and the words fraternity , and international solidarity , official lies . Those who doubt this have but to ask the Germans what their feelings , after the appearance of M . de Lamartine's manifesto , were ? Let them recal to their memory the language and the acts of the amazed German princes , who had lost all hope of escaping the revolutionary blow and who unexpectedly perceived the means of salvation furnished to them by a minister of the French Republic . " Thus Poland knew that , should the chance of arum turn against her , she would be abandoned , sacrificed , as she was under Louis XV ., under the first French Republic , under Napoleon , and in 1830 ; in Bhort , as she alwajB has been . She well comprehended this , and so alno did the Polish Democracy in exile . When the Polish exiles in France manifested their anxiety to repair to Poland , what did the French Government « ay to them ? ' . Wait ; for if you go now , you would incite an immediate insurrection , which would be premature : Francois not yet ready to back you . Consider your country merely as our advanced post and forlorn hope amidst the enemies , the release of which post requires that ihe main ar ' my be fully organized . ' It waa iri vain we represented that ii was not for the purpose of making an immediate insurrection we wished to go to Poland , but merely to prepare it ; that we were well acquainted with the state of our country ; that the rising- of the country is unavoidable , imminent , but thutperhapH it might be weak , hence * sterile . Sterile , because it wouM not have been properly prepared and organised . Weak , because \ X , would not ; be headed and led by Democrats , ft wiih with impatience and patriotic anxiety , therefore , thut the exiled Polish Democrat * , deprived of every ineaiiH , nwaited . Meanwhile , the French statesman began to amum ? and allure them-with project * of fWminU ; a- FoKrth Legion , renisfhg , nevertheie « H , tfogive any explanation iln to t . H ** ' object of ritinh for million . We are in ifrrlorartfcrt a « to whr > formed that project , but we well know that members of the provisional government ( ffv ^ ri were jiiat au ignorant on this subject as ourarivteH ' . It wtan ofily HOthe time afterwards when ilutaafR had ' alr ^ a'dy liiieil the ' frontiers of the kingdom of
≪&Nn#Taft Fttftnrranj, And Its Official Acts.
< &nn # taft fttftnrranj , AND ITS OFFICIAL ACTS .
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Feb . 8 , 1851 . ] « & * & *«»»** 133
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 8, 1851, page 133, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1869/page/17/
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