The Press.
London, England, 1855-10-27 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

With the simplicity of Palissy there was
mingled great shrewdness. In that one of
his books from which we have quoted he
represents himself as " Practice " pressed by
" Theory " to discover his art of manufacture.
Though, he replies, he were to employ a
thousand reams of paper to write out all his
accidents, yet Theory would have much to
learn for himself ; but, being further pressed,
he pretends that he will comply. When,
however, he has detailed his mischances, and
explained the general principles on which he
worked, he shrewdly adds :

The errors I committed in mixing the proportions of my
enamels, gave me knowledge of more than of what things
were not suitable. Therefore, I am of opinion that you
should work to find the said proportions as I have done,
otherwise you will have science too cheap, and perhaps
that may cause you to despise it; for I know well that
there are no people in the world who give easy bargains of
their mysteries and their arts, excepting those who got
them at almost no cost ; but they who have practised them
through great expense and toil do not part with them so
lightly.

The troubles of the period did not spare
Palissy. He made little secret of his Hugue-
not opinions, yet was protected by the power
of his patrons. But, under Henry 111.,
Palissy, then "an old man of seventy•six,
" still teaching philosophy, and still superin-
" tending his workshop in the abandoned
" palace of the Tuileries," was accused as a
heretic and sent to the Bastille. Two fair
girls of good station shared his captivity.
The King was desirous to spare the Potter,
and had this discourse with him :

" My good man," said the King, " you have been forty-
five years in the service of the Queen my mother, or fn
mine, and we have suffered you to live in your own reli-
gion, amidst all the executions and massacres. Now,how-
ever, I am so pressed by the Guise party and my people,
that I have been compelled in spite of myself to imprison
these two poor women and you ; they are to be burnt to-
morrow, and you also, if you will not be converted."

" Sire," answered the old man," the Count de Maulevrier
came yesterday, on your part, promising life to these two
sisters, if they would each give you a night. They replied
that they would now be martyrs for their own honour, as
well as for the honour of God. You have said several
times that you feel pity for me ; but it is I who pity you,
who have said lam compelled.' That is not speaking
like a king. These girls and I, who have part in the
kingdom of heaven, we will teach you to talk royally. The
Guisarta, all your people, and yourself, cannot compel a
potter to bow down to images of clay."
The girls were burnt a few months after-
wards, and Palissy died in confinement.
The extracts from Palissy's works would
alone make this an excellent library book.
Mr. Morley's narrative is, besides, carefully
compiled, though, we think, in parts, too
ambitious. The dissertations on manners
interfere too much with the biographical
sketch, and might have been better thrown
into an appendix, as the reader, anxious for
the personal history of Palissy, is impatient
at meeting with so many checks. But the
episodes are useful, as revealing the character
of the times in which the Potter's life was
cast. How curious are some of the glimpses
we catch here of the social state of France in
the middle of the sixteenth century. "It is a
" common thing to see men lying dead of
" want by the roadside," says a writer of that
day ; and we, who fancy that adulteration is a
vice of modern society, may learn better from
a fragment of Palissy's experience :
Of the trader he desires to know what he has put into
his pepper, that enables him to buy it in Rochelle at
thirty-five sole the pound, and to make a great profit by
selling it again in the fair of Niord at seventeen sole, " in
consequence of the adulteration added to the said pepper.
Then I asked why he was so foolish and withoutjudgment
as to deceive thus wickedly the customers; but, without
any shame, this rascal maintained that the folly of which
he was guilty was a piece of wisdom ; and I urged upon
him then that he was damning himself, and that he could
afford better to be poor than damned; but this insensate
said that poor men were of no esteem, and that he would
not be poor, follow what might : then 1 was constrained to
leave him in his folly."
In this respect, at least, the world has not
much changed during the last three hundred
years.
The volume is carefully produced, and has
the advantage of a good index.

COVENT GARDEN.—M. Jullien has announced the
commencement of his winter concert campaign on
Monday week, the sth of November, at this opera-
house.

SATURDAY,

Itst gram.

OLYMPIC THEATRE.

TLUR theatre, after a thorough renovation of the in-
tenor, was reopened to the public on Saturday last..
The season commenced with The School for Scandal,
the cast being the same as on the night of Mr..
Wigan's last benefit. The performance having been,
fully noticed by us on that occasion, we shall say but
little at present. A word more of praise is due, how-
ever, to the fine acting of the manager in the great
scene ; the sudden change from intense anxiety,
while Joseph is doubtful whether or no Sir Peter has
caught a glimpse of Lady Teazle behind the screen,
to the forced and almost ghastly merriment which he
assumes in inventing the story of the little French
milliner, was finely conceived and executed. Mrs.
Stirling, too, has improved upon her notion of Lady
Teazle's manner, while listening to Joseph's dishonour-
able insinuations : the country-breeding, which is too
simple to see at once whither his advice is tending,
was much more strongly marked than before. Most.
actresses make Lady Teazle display such a very pal-
pable intelligence of her situation throughout, that.
the scene becomes almost unfit for presentation to a
mixed audience. The points of dialogue and situa-
tion were appreciated throughout by an audience
which filled the house as soon as the doors were
opened.
After the comedy Mr. Robson appeared in a
trifle, dignified by the name of a new farce, called
Catching a Mermaid. It is of the very slightest
materials, and would be unbearably stupid but for
the introduction of the " Country Fair," the song
which first brought Mr. Robson into notice, and in
which he displays, in a most striking manner, his.
wonderfully versatile power of imitation. In the
spoken supplement the actor introduces, as is usual,
different characters among the visitors and perform-
ers in the lair, identifying himself with each in suc-
cession, with all the rapidity and accuracy of a
ventriloquist : now the anile proprietress of the wax-
work, with a tart temper and an audible want of
palate ; now the hoarse and voluble exhibitor of the
peep-show, with that indescribable voice which sounds,
as Hood says, " as if it passed over a nutmeg-grater,"
indicative of hard weather and hollands ; then the
child, " with childish treble," screaming out his
delight at a first sight of the wonders of the booths,
the indignant mother of nine, the old lady inarticulate
from swelled face, and the all believing lout who
swallows all the lies of the exhibitors, and abuses his
more rational and sceptical companion for a" spooley,'
feature, voice, gesture, and bearing, contributing to
the surprising reality of the ensemble in each charac-
ter assumed by the actor. It is certainly a most
remarkable exhibition of a special faculty rarely
possessed (or at least displayed) in such comprehen-
siveness.