The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-02 00:00:00

FIRST APPEARANCE OF MISS BATEMAN.

Mr. Webster commenced his winter season last evening,
and had the wand of Prospero fallen into his hands, he
could not have created a greater change in the interior of
his theatre than it presented on the admission of the public,
compared with its appearance but two or three nights ago.
Then it was dark, dusty, and faded ; now it is light, bright,
and brilliant. In fact, a more wondtrful embellishment
has never been made in so short a space of time. The great
feature of the evening, however, was the debut of Miss
Bateman, an American actress of great celebrity, in a, play
called " Leah," a translation of the German play of "De-
borah," in which Madame Ristori appeared at Her Majesty's
Theatre last season. It will be remembered that, some 10
or 12 years ago, two juvenile comedians, " The Bateman
Children," respectively aged six and nine, appeared at the
St. James's Theatre, in selections from our best English
comedies, and created a very favourable impression
by their acting; the young lady, whose arrival has
been heralded in the usual public way, is the
senior of those two children, but now a matured actress.
We must candidly confess we have always had a horror of
the " forcing " principle that must be employed in bringing
up a juvenile prodigy to the mark of excellence, because, as
a rule, it always ends by crushing out all taste and inclina-
tion a child may exhibit for any particular study. Few,
very few, who have undergone the exhausting efforts have
been heard of in after time, and as the excellence of their
early training has not been shown, it cannot but be surmised
that they have, when the opportunity presented itself,
thrown up a study which could only have engendered dis-
like, and completely destroyed all real natural ability. As
a rule we think this must be taken to be the case, but as
there is no rule without an exception we are pleased to re-
cord Miss Bateman as one of those rare instances. The play
of " Leah " is intended to illustrate the perseeu•
tion endured by the Jews in different parts
of the world, and in the present instance
the scene is laid in Styria, and to prepare the audience in
some measure, the following lines appear in the play bill—
" Happily the last vestige has disappeared from our own
annals of religions persecution, but that en the Continent,
and especially in some parts of Germany, it subsisted to a
very recent period. In a remote village of Styria, whose
inhabitants, simple and primitive in their manners, live in
Christian peace and harmony with each ether, the appear-
ance of a poor Jewish maiden with her aged relatives is
sufficient to rouse the worst passions of human nature, and
to convert the peaceful peasant into a ferocious hater of his
fellow-creature. The wretched outcasts are denied all
communion with their Christian brethren—they are deemed
incapable of the common feelings of humanity, and bent
only on evil and sordid gain, and the village knows no rest
until they are secure that the Jewish intruders have been
hunted from its boundaries." The plot is rather long, but
briefly narrated, it is as follows :—A young Jewess named
Leah, with two or three of her persecuted race,
on their way to Bohemia, are compelled through sickness
to halt on their road and make a temporary resting place at
the outskirts of a village in Styria. By accident a young
farmer, Rudolf, the son of the magistrate of the place,
and the betrothed lover of Madelena meets the Jewess
Leah, and an attachment, occasioned no doubt by the
beauty of the suffering and persecuted maiden, is formed.
The frequent and unusual absence of Rudolf from :home
induces certain inquiries as to the cause, but none suspect
that it is occasioned by his attachment to Leah, Through
the instrumentality of Nathan, an apostate, who, 15 years
ago, became a Christian to further his personal and worldly
interests, the residence of the young Jewess is discovered,
but not her love for Rudolf. In order to escape the ill
treatment to which she and others of her race had been
exposed, she leaves her temporau habitation and encounters
Madelena, a niece of the village priest. This young lady,
feeling a kindly sympathy for her sufferings, endeavours
to persuade Lorrenz, the magistrate, to allow her to
obtain shelter in the village. Neither the magistrate nor
the priest is disposed to be deaf to the young damsel's solici-
tations; but their charitable impulses are worked upon by
Nathan, who is known as " Bertolf, the schoolmaster,"
and who professes such a deep-rooted hatred for the entire
Jewish race, that the villagers, following his dictates, turn
upon Leah with a degree of ferocity which sets at nought
all her hopes of being treated otherwise than as an outcast.
Rudolf, however, protects her, and declares that, not-
withstanding the strong prejudices existing between his
race and her own, she is the sole object of his love and at.
tachment, and that he will speedily make her his wife.
This declaration is overheard by Nathan, who immediately
informs the father of Rudolf, and then follows a brief but
painful interview between father and son, the result
of which is that, as Nathan suggests a Jew will
do anything for money, a sum of money ahal
be offered to Leah to leave the village, and thus enable
Rudolf to regain his partly lost affection for Madelena.
After a while Rudolf consents to the experimentbeing tried,
certain in the deep love of Leah that she will indignantly
refuse the bribe; but Nathan, who is chosen to carry the
money to Leah, gives it to another Jewess, named Sarah,
who gladly promises to quit the village. Intelligence is at
once sent to Rudolf that the Jewess has accepted the money.
But in the meantime an old blind Hebrew, who has over-
heard the interview, detects in the voice of Nathan a villain
who has committed other crimes besides apostacy. This so
enrages Nathan that he kills the old father on the spot.
Leah, however, fearful of her lover's absence, seeks him at
his father's house, and is spurned by all, even by Rudolf,
who believes the calumnies told of her. Five years are
now supposed to elapse, when Leah re-appears, vowing
hatred and revenge on Rudolf. In the meantime Rudolf
has married Madelena, and their first-born has been named
"Leah." Instead of a curse, the heart-broken wanderer
breathes a blessing upon Rudolf, and dies, but not before
he denounced the treachery and apostacy of Nathan.
Having thus outlined the plot, let us now speak of the
performance, and first of Misa Bateman. She is now a lady
of the most graceful figure, with fine expressive features,
glittering, dazzling eyes, and a blonde. Her voice is good,
every word she utters is audible (but with it there is the
transatlantic twang), and her action grand, imposing, and
majestic. It is not until the third act that any great call
is made upon her powers; but then, when the effort
was made, the audience were most enthusiastic in
their applause. The fourth act was also very finely given,
and in the concluding scene she gave many of the lines
with exquisite delicacy and pathos. Since the appearance
of Miss Cushman we have not had a finer actress from the
other side of the Atlantic, and when she has overcome some
of her Americanisms, which an artiste of her great talent is
sure to do, she will become an amazing favourite with
the public. Mr. Billington played the part of Rudolf with
great earnestness ; and Mr. Arthur Stirling, as Nathan,
useful addition to the talented
gave evidence of being a very
company of the Adelphi.

The play has been put upon the stage in a magnificent
manner, and we have to congratulate Mr. Webster upon
the successful manner in which he has inaugurated his
winter season.