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for the most favourable crack or roughness in the rock to make a first step , which moment of delay Berger attributed to indecision and to fear ; and stretching out his hand to me , he cried roughly , ' Come , what are you thinking of ? give me your hand , —that ' s right . Now then ! ' He was wrong in his supposition , for I was neither undecided nor afraid , but he feared that if I grew alarmed I might let go my hold ; and as the moment was critical he thought to rouse and reassure me by his manner , and by holding my hand firmly in his grasp . * Patience , Berger ! patience ! I shall be up in a second ; I am only looking for a place . to put my foot on ; don't think % am giddy . There , now I am up . * And then one of us , lying down at full length , reached with one arm over the ledge of rock , to the spot below where the rifles and poles were lying .
" With bended bodies we now stole along the crest of the mountain as noiselessly as possible , for the chamois were below us on . our left , just over the ridge . We presently looked over . I could not see them , on account of a projecting rock , but Berger whispered , ' There they are ! Quick ! they are moving . ' Still as we were , they must have heard us coming upon them , and , suspecting danger , were already in motion . But they had not yet whistled By ' craning' over , as a foxhunter would say , I just obtained a glimpse of one far below me on a small green spot , and standing at gaze . To fire in this position however was impossible .
Berger , all impatience and fearing they would escape , was in a fever of anxiety . ' Look here ! can you see them now ? ' as with the left foot planted on a crag not larger than the palm of my hand , I stood as it were in the air , immediately above the spot where the chamois were . A crack from my rifle was the answer . " There is more of such matter , interspersed among affrays with poachers , sketches of peasant life , and hunter's anecdotes . The illustrations by Herr Horschelt are very spirited , and add very greatly to the beauty and interest of the volume .
Before concluding , we must find room for the following curious obser ration on
THE EYES OF THE CHAMOIS HUNTEB . " A chamois-hunter has never any superabundant flesh : he is spare of habit , and I have remarked , or perhaps only fancied T did so , that his eye is something peculiar , common to all his class . It has seemed to me that , animated as it is when on the mountain or und £ r the influence of surprise or excitement , at other times when meeting him by chance in common daily intercourse its expression is wanting , as though the feeling that gave it life were slumbering . If there be anything in this beyond mere fancy , I can well account for the circumstance . A chamois-hunter on the plain is like a sailor on shore , —he is surrounded by uncongenial objects , and these and the incidents that exist and take place about him are to him matters of little interest : they in no wise awaken his sympathy . As the seaman is ill at
ease on land and wants to be afloat again , so the hunter is impatient to get back to his mountains . There he is at home , —in all that surrounds him he feels an interest . But the flat land and its occupations are to him tame and tedious ; so he saunters along , and the sparkle of his eye is dimmed by listlessness . Let however but a sound be heard which calls his attention , and at once the eye is dilated ; it is wide open and prominent , the lids drawn far back , and the pupil is seen in a large surrounding space of white . The habit of attentive watching , of ever-constant vigilance , the frequent presence of danger and the narrow escapes from risk- —all these cause , the eye to acquire a certain fixedness of look , as if it
were guarding against surprise . That this is not mere fancy on my part is proved by a circumstance which occurred to me while writing this . After having spent some weeks in the mountains I returned direct to Munich , and the very first observation a friend made on meeting me again was , that my eyes had a different expression : ' You have got / he said , ' a chamois-hunter ' s eyes' He had not , probably , remarked the peculiarity in this class of men as I had done ; but he saw something . strange in my looks , and knowing where I had been , at once attributed the appearance which so struck him to my recent pursuits . " Mr . Boner adds , in a note : —
" Not a week after penning these lines , I happened to be looking through a volume of Hazlitt , and found the following remarks , which at once reminded me of my own observations on the look of the chamois-hunter . I was very pleased to find them , as they confirmed what I had said , Ho is speaking of Raphael : « His figures havfl always an in-door look .... and want that wild uncertainty of expression which is connected with the accidents of nature and the changes of the elements . '— The Round Table : On Gusto . "
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F It E N 0 II PLAY S . What can I say of Madame Ancelot ' s thin comedy Lo'isa , tho only novelty wo have had at the St . James ' s P If the acting were as good aa it usually is on that agreeablo scene , I might eludo the d fflculty by calling attention to Madlle . Page and her entourage ; but although Madllo . Page looks pretty , and 7 t , aivc , and charming , and plays with n pleasant propriety as rare as it is agreeable , I juannot grow dithyrambie in her praise ; while with the others I am positively exasperated . What have tho subscribers done , what have tho critics done , ( except to bo too lenient !) that wo should be afflicted with that winking jetine premier who calls hirnsolf M . Fede * P Where was he picked upP "Who made him P Whero dicj he get that voice P those legs P Whero was he suffered to exhibit that horrible self-satisfaction without being instantly pilloried P
He may throw on his parents , if parents ho had , tho blame of his extremely unprepossessing appearance , and unendurable voice ; but he need not add insult to injury by showing us so glaringly that ho believes himself an Adonis and u , gentleman of the first water , full of wit and sentiment . At any rate , Mr . Mitchell is not bound by any moral obligation to place such a jcurie premier before us ; unless , indeed , ho wishes to given Spartan los . son to our young gentlemen , by placing before them a picture of what the intoxication of vanity will reduce men to ! We arc unhappy enough in our walking gentlemen on tho English stago . A qui le dites vous ! Hut wo havo nothing so immensely immodest and unondurnMo as M . F 6 d 6 . And when I add that Lo ' isa has to be played by throojeunes premiers—all bad , and one exasperating—coup ling that fact with tlio romark that Lou a is an attenuate comedy of ancient material and tho mildest dialogue—you will gather therefrom , my diiticulty iu .
saying anything descriptive of it ! Could one but fall back upon the old approved method of saying nothing under the guise of recounting the plot ! " the plot is as follows" —but I'll trouble you for the " follows !" It was but the other evening I saw this comedy , and the plot , if plot there be , lives not in my memory . I am more fortunate with
THE DESPERATE GAME , which is performing now at the Apelphi ; for the story is both navel and intelligible , although turning on that often abused pivot " A faint heart never won a fair lady . " Who knows ? who guarantees that maximP Does boldness always succeed with the capricious charmers ? J ' ai me * dontes . Many hearts are frightened at boldness—timid fluttering things and tremble like Horace's fawn—at least . / find it so : Yibas hinnuleo me similis , Mary , Quserehti pavidam montibus aviis Matrem , non sine vano Auraruna et siluae metu ! ( There is more of it if you will but look out for i 6 ; meanwhile take Spenser's imitation -.
Like as a hind Yet flies away of her own feet affeared ; And every leaf that shaketh with the least Murmur of wind , her terror hath encreased . ) But all this is beside my purpose . The adage is an old one , and " hath still its honor , " so let us admit the truth , even though Mary was scared by an adventurous Vivian ! ' Captain Radcliff is a bold man , who long has loved that loveable Mrs . Summerton , following her footsteps with a retiring modesty , somewhat incongruous when one thinks of his subsequent exploit ! Perhaps it was his timidity which made him so audacious ; your timid men are the very devil when they do burst through the bonds of restraint ; they fly at you
like a rat driven up into a corner . There is perhaps nothing so formidable as the spasm of fear ! Thus , we will , if you please , assume that the gallant captain ( all captains are gallant , as all ladies are fair and all mothers-in-law delightful ) is constitutionally a timid man , and learning that his ladylove is engaged to be married to her cousin Postlethwaite , who only loves her for the money newly inherited , he , with the audacity of timidity , resolves upon his " desperate game . " He enters the house by night , as housebreaker , robs her of 15 , 000 / ., her whole fortune ; and having thus reduced her to poverty easily persuades the mercenary cousin to relinquish her hand , which he then claims for himself . Such is the subject of a very amusing and novel farce , which Mr . Morton has adapted from the French with skill , and which Keeley , Leigh Murray , and MissWoolgar , play with delightful humour .
On Wednesday Masks and Faces was brought out at this theatre , and very curious it was to notice the different effects on a different audience of this striking comedy ; many of the really " crood things" were comparatively unnoticed , whereas some unexpected jokes revealed themselves . In the box next to me there were three persons vastly delighted when Peg Woffington said , " bring twenty-four knives , and forty-eight forks "—they repeated it to each other with the gusto with which one caresses a witticism ! The great novelty of the cast was Madame Celeste as Peg Woffington . She played it much better than I had anticipated ; but one could not get over the incongruity of the French accent in the mouth of an English—a truly English actress . Her serious passages , especially those of sarcasm , were very effective ; but her gaiety wanted geniality anj faiety . The reel was admirable . What a masterly performance j 8 Webster ' s Triplet ! How touching in its pathos , how discriminating j its detail ! Vivian .
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THE OPERA . The Hoyal Italian Opera begins to show symptoms of convalescence . The performance of Guillaume Tell , o \ x Thursday last , would have been remarkable even in the great days of the Two Houses ; and , so far as the parts of ^ / vzoWand 2 W / wereconeerned , exhibitetlaresult probably nearer perfection than any hitherto attained since the first production of the opera . Tho groat event of the evening was the first performance of Arnold by Tarnberiik . Wo havo attended " the first nights " of more tenors who havo sustained this character , both in England and i / i France , than we can well reckon upour personal operatic experiences of this kind having begun with Duprea . From that great singer downwarda ( in every sense downwards ) no representative of the part of Arnold can bo compared with Tamberlik . Of all his triumphs since his first appcaranco in Kngland , the triumph of Thursday night is the most brilliant . Never was his glorious , bin unsurpassed , voice more irresistible . Enthusiasts in the higher ruinous of the house
forgot themselves , and shouted , " Bravo , " while he was still singing -whisperers in tho pit were suppressed indignantly by their ecstatic neighbours •—and even the dandies themselves , the iinporturlmbly " swell" young gentlemen with rigid eyebrows and wavy whiskers , condescended , for once in away , to look p leased and surprised , like ordinary huninii beings . The groat points in Tamberlik ' s performance , wero his sinking of the duet with Ronconi , in tho iirst act , in which ho gave the celebrated "Of
Matilde , idole do man amc , " with tho most exquisite sweetness , purity , and delicacy ; his acting as well as his winging in tho noble trio of the second act ( with Honconi and Formes ) , which , in one word , was perfection ; perfect in its pathos , in its power , in its admirable dramatic expression ; and his delivery- ( singing seems n , meagre word to pxprcss it , ) of tho renowned finale , " 8 < iioez moi . " Hore , bis magnificent vibrato soared triumphantly over chorus and orchestra . All the di flic nil . higli notes iu this grand appeal to arins ( the despair of every other robust tenor since the time of Uuprez ) , were sung without tho slightest appearance of effort , and the famous " high € " at the end rang through tho theatre with aa effect nevor to bo forgotten by those who heard it ; , and uproariously acknowledged by a double " recall . " If Kosbuu had been preHont on Thursday night , he would incontinently forsake tho cultivation of pigs , for tho aako of writing a now part for Tamberlik . Ronooni wo havq afr u < Jy uoen in the okaraotor of Tell . It will suffi Q .
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i Aprjl l& 1853 . ] T H E t E A J > E R . 381
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Leader (1850-1860), April 16, 1853, page 381, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1982/page/21/
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