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ThPse are some of the objects in the « Museum of Ornamental Art : there are also an ' Educational Collection , ' and a * Commissioners of Psitents Museum . The first-named department contains books , diagrams , ' maps , machines , && ; the latter " consists of a selection from the models in the possession of the Commissioners of Patents , with the addition of others from various contributors , raneinff from the year 1787 to t"he present day , and a complete set of their publications , consisting of several hundred volumes of specimens and drawings of specifications of patents from 1617 to the most recent filed under the new law . In the Galleries are—the Sheepshanks Pictures ( an interesting collection , and a noble gift to the people ) , the * Trade Collection , ' < Economic Museum , and the ' Architectural Museum . ' Here are enough objects of interest for a vear of visits . Let us hope they will lead to improved taste in our manufactures , hitherto matchless in point of utility , but lacking the fine element and divine warrant of beauty . ' _ ... _ . _ , and Female Schools for masters
Attached to the Museum are Male Training and mistresses , and a Normal Central School of Art . These schools are held in the old brick houses formerly inhabited by Mr . Justice Cresswell and Lord Taujot . They are fronted by pleasant gardens , to which the public are admitted . The general objects of the whole institution are thus stated in the u i . To train male and female teachers to give instruction in Art , to . certify them when qualified , and to make them annual fixed payments , varying according to their acquirements . 2 . To aid and assist Committees in the provinces desirous of establishing Schools of Art . B . To hold public inspections and examinations , and to award medals and prizes to the most deserving candidates . 4 . To collect together works of art , pictures , &c , in the Central Museum , and books and engravings in the Central Library . 5 . To circulate among the Schools of Art objects from the Museum , and books and engravings from the Library . " .
.... The present buildings , it appears , are only to be considered provisional , until a suitable permanent structure has been provided . On Mondays , Tuesdays , and Saturdays , the admission is free ; on Wednesdays , Thursdays , and Fridays , which are students' days , sixpence is charged for each person . The ordinary hours are from , ten to tour ; but , on Monday and Thursday evenings , in order to convenience persons working during the day * the Museum is artificially lighted , and kept open till ten at night . The walls of each department of the Museum are painted a different colour ^ as a guide to the visitor ; and a plan is suspended opposite the entrance , tinted in accordance with these divisions . The trouble of the stranger is thus minimised as far as possible .
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MR . KEAN'S REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM . We made some few remarks last week on the latest of Mr . Kean ' s Shakspearean ' revivals , ' as they are called by those who would have us believe that the great dramatist would perish in an obscure grave were it not for the revivifying breath of managersj actors , scene-painters , machinists , and costumiers . We then pointed out the egregious height to which Mr . Kean ' s favourite system of adornment had been carried ; and we now enter into a few further particulars to show that the Oxford-street manager would seem to be bent upon burlesquing his own theory by the extremity to which he pushes it . Let us , however , in fairness acknowledge that the public are themselves in a great measure to blame for the excess which now threatens to degrade all dramatic entertainments to the level of Christmas show pieces or Opera-house ballets . While they countenance by such unmeasured favour these highly-wrought ' revivals , ' the principle will be stretched further and further every time , for fear the appetite should become jaded by mere repetition . The love of such shows is a species of artistic debauchery . A yet stronger stimulant is perpetually demanded , till what was begun with some moderation ends in . a wild riot of excess .
The present production of the Tempest must be criticised in much the same way as the former achievements of the same manager . No candid mind will deny the large amount of labour , skill , thought , contrivance , invention , and taste—often amounting to a real feeling for artistic beauty—which mark all Mr . Kean ' s productions .- We may object to the principle as applied to Shak .-speare ; but take any of these ' revivals' as shows , and they are perfect . So with the Tempest . The one hundred and forty operatives have now got into working order ; the scenery has overcome the temporary hitches of the first night ; and the delays between the acts are abridged , though Mr . Kean still begs the indulgence of , the audience in the way of restraining their impatience . __ Several demands are unquestionably made on it . After the opening scene on shipboard , with the atorm , and the terrible Ariel flaming amazement * on the crew ( an effective piece of mechanism ) , the curtain drops , and we have to wait for the succeeding portions of the first act . Several beautiful pieces of 6 cenic art are then provided by Messrs . Grieve and Telbin . The rocky caverns , the bare moorlands , the gorsy heaths , the deep inland foliage , and the sandy shores of the haunted island , are successively represented ; and through them all flutters
the quaint shape of Ariel , illuminated by the electric light , and sparkling like a ray from the stars . All this would be nothing more than a careful and well-felt illustration of the poet , had not Mr . Kean an irresistible passion for introducing his own fancies , merely for the sake of startling « effects . ' Thus ; while arbitrarily making the costume of the Neapolitan nobles that of the thirteenth century , ho chooses to interpret the ' strange shapes ' which carry in the banquet into the nymphs of antiquity , and then introduces a ballet-like effect with their baskets of viands . Now , the feeling of the play—the sentiment of the whole of the supernatural agency—is mediaeval , and not classical ; but Mr . Kuan has evidently a love for Hellenism , which ho indulges on the most inapt occasions . la like manner , the goblins who torture Caliban , Trinctdo , and Stephano , at the end of the fourth act , are copied from ' furies depicted on Etruscan vases . ' It ia true that the Masque performed before Prospero , Ferdinand , and Miranda , takes ( i classical form in Bhakspeake ; but that i « no reason why the denizens of the island should be permanently turned into Greek Graces and furies . The Masque is a dramatic performance , in which the spirits assume certain characters , like any other actors ; but , when they appear in their proper ehapos , we hardly expect to find them mere reminiscences of the Pantheon .
The last scene introduces a novel effect . Prospero—by one ot Mr . Kean s licences—speaks the epilogue from the poop of the homeward-bound ship , and turns it into a kind of ' tag , ' or address to the audience ; the vessel then recedes one way , the island another ; and at length nothing is left but tlio waste of waters , with Ariel poised in mid air , bidding Proapero farewell . The acting 1 is up to the average of the PiuNaises ' s j but it is a foolish mistake to give the part ot Ferdinand to a youiig lady ( Miss Bdfton ) . The representation of Ariel is , so to speak , divided j Miss Katjcq Tisrry supplying the grace , buoyancy ,, and lightness , which she is well fitted to do , and Miss I por , B singing the music ( behind the scenes ) with her usual taste and feeling . The latter lady also plays Juno in the Masque . Some liberties hare been taken with Pcrcei-i / b and Arnu ' s airs ( which are partly sung by a chorus ) , and Mr . J . L . Hatton has supplied some additional melodies . Such is the Tempest of Mr . Kean .
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fifift THE LEADER . [ No . 381 , July 11 , 1857 ,
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MADAME RISTORI AS LADY MACBETH . It is difficult to imagine any-event in dramatic art more interesting than the appearance of the Italian RiSTOiir as Lady Macbeth . Though , probably , few of the Lyceum audience remember Mrs . Siddons in that character , still all of them must have been so familiar with her face and figure that they might almost seem to have seen her . But there was another difficulty . The impossibility of translating Shakspeare has become almost proverbial . In Signor Carcano ' s translation , however , as much has been done as could possibly he done in order to retain the strength of the original , though to those familiar with the English text the difference between the pattern and the copy is very apparent . Nevertheless , the translator has done himself infinite credit by the way in which he has performed his task . The music of the lines and the pathos of expression are certainly a good deal lost ; and Signor Vitaluni , though his performance was very creditable , did his best to increase these defects , for there was not any one of those passages , uttered by Mr . Macreadv with the most touching pathos , which seemed to excite any such feeling in the Italian actor ' s mind . Indeed , in that scene of stupified horror after the
assassination—. One cried God bless us and Amen the otherhe so far forgot himself as to imitate—like some ventriloquist—the voice of a man half asleep , just as if Macbeth in the midst of his stupor would attempt anything of the sort . Considering all the difficulties , therefore , with which liistori had to contend , she doubtless showed no small boldness and self-confidence in appearing as she did before a London audience . But the event has quite justified that self-confidence , for her success was complete . To any one who ever saw Risxori , or ever read Macbeth , her fitness to represent Lady Macbeth at once suggests itself . Mrs . Sid dons , indeed , used to say that Lady Macbeth should be a slender woman with light hair and blue eyes . But the noble figure , dark hair , splendid face , and grandeur of deportment which distinguish Ristoriseemas she first appears on the stage reading the
, , letter of her husband , to be the incarnation of Suakspeahe ' s idea . Nothing could be finer than the way in which Ristori at once discerned MacbetVs hint —divined its results—planned in imagination the means of carrying it into effect , and threw her whole soul into the daring project . The contents of the letter seemed to reveal to her the possible means of gratifying that terrible ambition which had hitherto consumed her life . Having once conceived the idea , she never looks back . Everything must be moulded to her design . Macbethhimself is to be her instrument . With the fixed determination to sacrifice everything in order to gain the crown , nothing could be grander than the manner in which , having heard of the arrival of Duncan , she prepares herself for her enterprise . She at once puts off human nature , and places herself under the protection of the Evil Spirit . nine
Sorgete , o D ' omicidi pensieri agitatrici L ' esser mio snaturate , e di ferocia _ La piu . ria , mi vestite tutta quanta ! How like a tragic muse the great actress stalked about , conjuring the spirits to her aid— tutti Invisibili spirti io vi scongiuro . How she rushed upon her husband on his first entrance—took him in her arms as it were and fondled him , or drove him as she pleased into acting the terrible tragedy which they had planned . It would be idle to criticize in detail every scene in this great play in which Ristori appears . A few salient points will sufficiently prove the greatness of her powers . Every critic has remarked upon the characteristic way in which she interprets the famous passage I have given suck and know How tender ' tis to love the' babe that milks me .
As in the Medea , she physically acts every single incident in the dreadful idea . When Macbeth comes out from the murder , and breaks forth into a sort of unconscious howl , it was admirable how she ran upon him and closed his mouth with her whole hand . It seemed so natural . Ristori ' s presence on . the stage after the murder is discovered , and . her elaborate acting , were full of significance . The sudden pauses in her grief for the death of the King , to see how Macbeth was acting his part—illustrated as these alternations of feeling were by the changes in her countenance—gave an interest to this scene , and a prominence to Lady Macbeth , quite unusual . Passing by the banquet , in which , perhaps , there was a little stiffness and exaggeration , we come to the sleep-walking scene —the last in which Lady Macbeth appears in the play . It will be long before any one who witnesses that striking spectacle will forget it . The Doctor and the Nurse are on the stage , when suddenly the side scene is lighted up , and in stalks a superhumanly tall figure , with a light hanging by her side . Clothed in a
night-dress , -with the luxuriant hair hanging down her back , and on each side ot her pale , "linen cheekp , " she seems like the spirit of Cjlytemnestra . Slowly slie deposits the lamp , and , fronting tUe spectator , he at once discerns with what an intense power the Italian actress has realised the terrible conception . That noble countenance is indeed a tablet of unutterable thoughts . We do not envy the man who could contemplate it without a thrill . The worn , wan brow and cheeks—the open but glazed eyes—the look of overwhelming care and remorse , which the will of the woman could suppress in her waking moments , but not in her dreams—are all there . Powerful as her will was , physical nature had sunk in the contest , and the mysterious presentiment of approaching death which was stamped on those features visibly added to the terror of the scene . Alas ! with what an earnest agony she rubbed and rubbed again those polluted hands—laved them in the bason—stopped for an instant to chastise ( as she had done in fact ) her husbund with the valour of her tongue—again rubbed her hands , pointed with u forlorn despair once more to the one fatul spot , and then
murmuring , Here ' s the smell of blood yot—( Qui odor dl sanguo sompro )— - ' smolt it with a fateful loathing . The whole scene was truly admirable ; and as she passed from the scone , pushing her terror-stricken lord before her , the spectators seemed to feel a weight removed from their-hearts , and many exclaimed , in shuddering wonder— " That was indeed Lady Macbeth 1 "
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Fit A PIAVOLO AT THE ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA . Tins production of Fra Diavolo at the Lyceum on Thursday evening excited great and goueral Interest , and was attended by one . of tho most brilliant audiences of tho season . There could bo no manner of doubt 'tlidt an opera so universally admired and enjoyed as this favourite masterpiece of tho brilliant French composer would achieve iilinoat a now reputation , with the advantages of the orchestra , the cast , and tlio mise on seine which belong to tho Royal
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 11, 1857, page 668, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2200/page/20/
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