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

Miss Bateman in Dublin.

(From the Irish nnes of Nov. I,)
The drama of " Leah" possesses no merit except
its 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 foand an inter-
pretess 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 out of view by the marvellous imper■
sonation which has made Miss Bateman's fame.
Almost the first 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 Bateman'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.
Theother 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 Rudolt's truth resolves itself
into the soothing phrase, " perhaps he loves me
still," and the earnest " Amen" with which she
blesses the marriage rite—Leah in the sudden
fury of hate transformed into love, a transformation
always accompanied by rage and imprecation, when
she recalls the sympathetic " Amen!_ and utters the
scathing curse which another solemn " Amen" con-
summates—Leah, way worn and desolate, but still
sustained by the hope of revenge—Leah, sad and
repentant, weeping over the face of the child of the
marriage she has banned, and revoking the horrible
prayer of the churchyard—each and all of these
various aspects of the character cling to the memory
and haunt the spectator in his dreams. Like all
great tragediennes, Miss Bateman possesses the
art of associating facial expression with declae
matory power or pathetic grace. Her face
is the pictorial commentary and exposition of
the words she utters, It seems capable of but a
few trausitions.—the transitions from love to hate,
from stormy grief to quiet wretchedness. But what
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;
now the sadness of silent reproach; again it is as
fixed as fate, or as cruel as a fury; finally it passes
into a sort of stony calm and deadly pallor, which
is thrown into strange relief by the 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
statueeque gestures as no other living actress could
assume, Every separate attitude is a study for a
sculptor. There is something utterly inde-
scribable yet easily felt about the effort of
true genius. Whether it consists in the closeness
of the sympathy, which links the artist and the
audience—whether it is in the towering majesty of
a conception not understood, but clearly seen, or in
the strange tremor and eager attention which agi-
tates those before whom the success is achieved, is
nothing to the purpose. But such is the Leah of
Miss Bateman. It stirs deeper feelings than are
associated with the triumphs of mere talent ; it is
almost too great for applause, and so perfect is the
identification of the part with the actress that the
name of the character has become her own. The
sources of her extraordinary
influence are not
easily found out. She has the art of showing,
and at the same time hiding the strength
of feeling, of making the inner fire felt where
its light is scarcely seen. She has a nervous energy
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. This is Miss 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 is 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. Ristori 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 ieflaence she can exert without
the voice. But her 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 from 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 £155,000f. •
INUTS FOR NATURAL PIIILOSOPIIERS.—AS th
workmen employed at the steam saw mills of Messrs.
Douglas and Co., Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, were engaged
in sawing a largo balk of En-gli,,h oak, they found in the
centre of tho tree 21 nuts. Singular to state, not the least
flaw could be discovered in the tree to account fur the nuts
getting inside. The nuts are of the colour of mahogany
and the kernels are as sound as when they were finst_ripe,