The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-02 00:00:00

Miss Bateman in Dublin.

(From the _lrish Times of .N.ov. 1.)
The drama of " Loan" possesses no merit except
s moral. It has no pretensions to literary power,

it affords no instance of true dramatic skill. Even
the lesson of forgiveness which it inculcates would
produce little effect unless it had found an inter-
protess of unparalleled power in the person of Miss
Bateman. The best proof of this is the fact that
other actresses have attempted the character under
a different name, and failed egregiously. There is
an element of repulsiveness about the play which is
only kept cut of view by the marvellous impel..
sonation which has made Miss Bateman's fame.
Almost the fleet feelings which arise after the
sense of wonder has subsided and the spectator
is released from the spell, are the hope that
such a reputation will not end with this piece,
the regret that the excitements of mere "sensation"
have kept "Leah "so long before the public. Miss
Bateman has done so much for a part essentially
weak that we form the strongest expectations of
her future, and are impatient to see our predictions
realised. There are so few artists now who can
assume the style and dignity of tragedy, that it is
not pleasant that the light of a new and brilliant
" star" should be so long confined to melo-drama.
Not that her representation of the injured Jewess
is in any true sense melo-dramatic. It has no
appearance of exaggeration, it never steps outside
the limits of good taste, it is animated by
genuine feeling and realised with startling
power. The object of tragedy is to display
the force of human passion, the intensity of human
woe, and the heroism of suffering. Of these in
all their phases Miss Betemen's Leah is a faithful
picture, or rather a series of pictures which astonish
us by their originality of style, simple grandeur of
conception, strength and completeness of sympathy.
The other characters of the story are either unnoticed
or forgotten, The rude village life and hearty
mirth, the gentle love of Maddalena, the weak dis-
trust and manly remorse of Rudolf, the bitter hatred
of the apostate, only form a background which
serves to throw into deeper relief the beauty of the
pale suffering face immortalised by the actress.
Leah, in her bravo defiance of her persecutors—
Leah, in the midnight loneliness of the forest, and
the fervour of her over mastering love—Leah in the
bitter moment of unjust accusation, and in the
noon stillness of the churchyard, when the
agonised doubt of Rudolf's truth resolves itself
into the soothing phrase, " perhaps he loves me
still," and the earnest "Amen" with which she
blesses the marriage rite—Llah in the sudden
fury of hate transformed into Love, a transformation
she recalls the sympathetic " Amen__
always accompanied by rage and imprecation,
scathing curse which another solemn " Amen" con-
" an d utt when
she ht
ehne
sustained by the hope of re ,
repentant, weeping over the Ease of the child of the
summates—Leah, wayworn
vanendged—Leah,
but still
and
prayer of the churc
marriage she has banhnyeadr,daridecoch aknindgathlie
of
fortrhibealee
various aspects of the character cling to the memory
great tragediennes,
and haunt the spectator in B
in haitlemdarenampos.saeLasielese
tahlel
art of associating facial expression with decla-
matorye
or pathetic grace. Her face
is the pictorial
words commentary and exposition of
th
It seems capable of but a
few transitions—the transitions from love to hate,
from stormy grief to quiet wretchedness. But what
she power
tters,
distinguishes hers from other faces is the rapidity
of its transitions. Now it is agitated by the conflict
of emotions; now it has the show of beatific love;
and deadly dt lhye
again it is as
ui leeln
at reps
o frooraye la; ;
finally
pallor,t wp ales is ce hs
nfioewedtahse fsaated,noerssaos of
ta into t ar
os
wo rnt
intof tons
strange
y calm
relief
flow of rich
brown hair. At all times, whether gloomy
with
hope, writhing in agony, or petrified with despair,
it is a beautiful and memorable face—never un-
womanly, never repulsive. It is aided by such
statuesque gestures as no other living
actress could
t :
assume. Every separate attitude is
Et study for a
sculptor. There
yetT heeraeatlyis
festotmeatbuhointg
the
utterly iade
true genius. Whether it consists in theeffort of
closeness
of the sympathy, which links theartist and the
audience—whether it is in the toweling
majesty
a conception not understood, but clearly
seen, or in
the strange tremor and eager attention
whiohagoi-f
agi-
tates those before whom the success is achieved,
nothing
associated to
with
teh purpose.the
triumphs Bt suchs the Leah of
Miss Bateman. It stirs deeper
feelings than are
almost too great for applause, and
identification of the part withofthe mereai
SO perfect is the
name of the character has become ctr e s relentt
ha;ti:the
h
sources of her extraordinary infl,
her own. The
easily found out. She has the ence are not
and at the same time hiding
art of showing,
of feeling, of making the inner fire felt where
its light is scarcely seen. She has a nervous energy
the strength
which suits the rapid change of emotion, and the
art of making the very most of her resources; her
outbursts of indignation and her expression of
sorrow have all the appearances of spontaneity.
Charles Lamb, in one of his finest essays, compli-
ments an actor upon striking true to the moment of
passion.
'Phis is bliss Bateman's gift. She is never
too late or too soon by a second. Her sensibility is
so quick and keen that each utterance of emotion
finds a response
in the sympathies of each
hearer, and the Whole audience becomes as a
single man. And this ie accomplished in
spite of Americanism of accent and manner.
Her almost foreign intonation is forgotten when
she delivers the curse, and the climax of
heroic strength is reached in the thrice told
" Amen," each time expressed with a different
cadence. Ilistori exceeds Miss Bateman in power,
and Rachel surpassed her in sterling vehemence,
but neither could make silence so impressive. The
look of fixed horror Which forms the interval be-
tween the revoked blessing and the awful curse is a
good instance of the itfiaence she can exert without
the voice. But bar voice is in complete accordance
with her appearance and attitude, and she banishes
the painful impression of her curse by the placid
and loving repose of her dying
forgiveness, which
is given with a thrilling purity of accent and grace
of manner that match the splendid fury of her more
impassioned scenes.

AN ESCORT ROBBED BY BRIGANDS.—The
Umbria Gazette of the 26th October states that two morn-
ings before, on the road frora Foligno, a convoy, containing
money belonging to the railway contractors, and escorted
by six Lancers, was attacked by a band of 20 brigands,
who carried off the whole sum, amounting to £155,0004 •
NUTS FOR NATURAL PnILOSOPIIERS.—As th
workmen employed at the steam saw mills of Messrs.
Douglas and Co., Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, were engaged
in sawing a large balk of English oak, they found in the
centre of the tree 21 nuts. Singular to state, not the least
flaw could be discovered in the tree to account for the nuts
getting inside. The nuts are of the colour a mahogany
and the kernels are as sound as when they were first ripe.