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Article REVIEW OF LITERATURE THE DRAMA. &c. ← Page 6 of 8 →
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Review Of Literature The Drama. &C.
from the moment she threw off her quaker ' s attire , and hugged her old uncle , who could scarce believe his eyes . Such characters as ' Helen and Hero , drawn by such a master , ancl in such vivid colours , are indeed a treat to the admirers and patrons of our legitimate drama . How far superior are they to the mawkish and sentimental damsels imported from France to languish on the English boards . If we may offer a remark on the impersonation of these two characters
, we should say it hacl been better had the ladies who enacted them mutually changed their parts . Far be it from us to disparage the performance of either , it was admirable ; but we will express our opinion thus : no one could have embodied Hero better than Miss Faucit except Miss Taylor , and no one coulcl have performed Eustace better than Miss Taylor except Miss Faucit . AVe have not as yet quoted a single passage of this play , and the reason is , that almost all the beautiful descriptions have alread
y appeared in the public prints ; let us confine ourselves to notice one great beauty pervading the whole poem , which seems quite to have escaped their observation . In no author is there such perfect and constant elegance of style as in Mr . Knowles ; all of course study beauty of diction in the striking parts of their works , in Mr . Knowles ' s writings it is everywhere equally perceptible . Let us quote two instances of this peculiarity in " AVoman ' s Wit ; " in the scene before alluded to between AValsingham and Eustace , where the latter , forgetting her disguise , ancl advocating Helen ' s cause too warmly , is thus
rebuked" My cause thou was ' t engaged in , How is ' t I find thee in another ' s listed ?" Is not her reply an exquisite illustration of our remark ?—" AVhat is the cause of her thou lovedst but thine ? " And then in the very same scene , what can be mere terse than Eustace ' s answer to AValsinghamwhen he that he believed the libertine Lord
, says Athunree rather than his own true Helen" You believed him ! Him you believed that ne ' er was true before , Her disbelieved was ne ' er before but true !" How thankful should we all be to Mr . Macready , a name inseparable from the cause of the legitimate drama , for bringing forward this play . Of his acting all
praise were superfluous . Long may our distinguished Brother Knowles , for a Brother he is ancl a true one , five to adorn our British dramatic literature , and to be an honour to the Craft he is an ardent lover of . Brother Knowles has addressed a letter to the Queen , praying that her Majesty will deign to be a supporter of the English stage , and will condescend to grace our national theatres with her presence . May she consent to do so , and may she render to our Brother Sheridan Knowles , at least the same tribute of admiration which her great predecessor Elizabeth did to his prototype , AVilliam Shakspeare .
Parburys Oriental Herald , No . 9 . —The business of a reviewer is to be candid , not to read as if he looked for faults , but rather to open the volume with a secret hope to discover beauties . The book is , as it were , a party desirous of making his acquaintance , which may be mutuall y serviceable ; let , therefore , good-humour prevail . Our acquaintance with the Oriental Herald bas ripened into friendship , and we look for
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of Literature The Drama. &C.
from the moment she threw off her quaker ' s attire , and hugged her old uncle , who could scarce believe his eyes . Such characters as ' Helen and Hero , drawn by such a master , ancl in such vivid colours , are indeed a treat to the admirers and patrons of our legitimate drama . How far superior are they to the mawkish and sentimental damsels imported from France to languish on the English boards . If we may offer a remark on the impersonation of these two characters
, we should say it hacl been better had the ladies who enacted them mutually changed their parts . Far be it from us to disparage the performance of either , it was admirable ; but we will express our opinion thus : no one could have embodied Hero better than Miss Faucit except Miss Taylor , and no one coulcl have performed Eustace better than Miss Taylor except Miss Faucit . AVe have not as yet quoted a single passage of this play , and the reason is , that almost all the beautiful descriptions have alread
y appeared in the public prints ; let us confine ourselves to notice one great beauty pervading the whole poem , which seems quite to have escaped their observation . In no author is there such perfect and constant elegance of style as in Mr . Knowles ; all of course study beauty of diction in the striking parts of their works , in Mr . Knowles ' s writings it is everywhere equally perceptible . Let us quote two instances of this peculiarity in " AVoman ' s Wit ; " in the scene before alluded to between AValsingham and Eustace , where the latter , forgetting her disguise , ancl advocating Helen ' s cause too warmly , is thus
rebuked" My cause thou was ' t engaged in , How is ' t I find thee in another ' s listed ?" Is not her reply an exquisite illustration of our remark ?—" AVhat is the cause of her thou lovedst but thine ? " And then in the very same scene , what can be mere terse than Eustace ' s answer to AValsinghamwhen he that he believed the libertine Lord
, says Athunree rather than his own true Helen" You believed him ! Him you believed that ne ' er was true before , Her disbelieved was ne ' er before but true !" How thankful should we all be to Mr . Macready , a name inseparable from the cause of the legitimate drama , for bringing forward this play . Of his acting all
praise were superfluous . Long may our distinguished Brother Knowles , for a Brother he is ancl a true one , five to adorn our British dramatic literature , and to be an honour to the Craft he is an ardent lover of . Brother Knowles has addressed a letter to the Queen , praying that her Majesty will deign to be a supporter of the English stage , and will condescend to grace our national theatres with her presence . May she consent to do so , and may she render to our Brother Sheridan Knowles , at least the same tribute of admiration which her great predecessor Elizabeth did to his prototype , AVilliam Shakspeare .
Parburys Oriental Herald , No . 9 . —The business of a reviewer is to be candid , not to read as if he looked for faults , but rather to open the volume with a secret hope to discover beauties . The book is , as it were , a party desirous of making his acquaintance , which may be mutuall y serviceable ; let , therefore , good-humour prevail . Our acquaintance with the Oriental Herald bas ripened into friendship , and we look for