The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-01 00:00:00

" And all for us© of that which is wine own."

was the most remarkable, giving to the whole speech the
character of rational expostulation rather than that of
indignant reproach. Ilis chief force he had reserved for
the third act, and the comparison between the Jew and
the Christian came out with great power. In the scene
with Tubal thei mounting exultation with which he
heard tho misfortunes of Antonio was excellently ren-
dered, especially the gasping ejaculation, "I thank God,
I thank Go:I I" But the best touch was the regret for
the turquoise. "I had it of Leah, when I was a bache-
lor." This reminiscence of a young love, suddenly oc-
curring in the midst of a storm of hate, was deeply
pathetic. Objections have been made to this "point,"
on the ground that so violent a revulsion of feeling is
improbable ; but as the whole scene is, in fact, a series of
violent contrasts, we do not see why the actor is to be re-
fused the opportunity of producing a striking effect here.
the trial scene Sbylocit's faxed glance at Antoni 9 Ras

well conceived, though here too the predominance of the
pathetic over the vindictive might be traced. [The spite-
fulness of the Jew's mood was by no means prominent,
but every one could sympathise with the deep sorrow
which he felt when his fortunes were reversed, and the
silent anguish with which he heard his sentence to "be-
come a Christian," was finely expressed. To sum up
all, we should say that Mr. Kean has gained a sympathy
for Shylock, by dwelltng with great effect on certain
parts, and by sacrificing somewhat too liberally the de-
tails which tell on the other side of the question. When
he leaves the stage the audience forget the evil qualities
of the Jew, and are disposed to consider him an ill-used
man. Mrs. Charles liesn's Portia is one of those highly
finished delineations which she alone can give. The
modulations of voice and graceful gesticulation which
accompany the apostrophe to mercy render it exqui-
sitely beautiful. A very remarkable point, not gene-
rally observed by the house, was made with the appa-
rently unimportant words—
" Shy lock, there's thrice thy money offer'd thee."
These were delivered in a tone of persuasion and even
companionate expostulation, as :if she extended mercy
even to the Jew, and would not employ the crushing
power she had in reserve till she had offered every
chance of escape. Mr. Keeley's Launcelot Gobbo is a
rich piece of Shaksperian humour, worthy to be placed
by the side of his Launce. The ludicrous contention be-
tween the fiend and the conscience, when the poor ser-
vant seems physically pushed about by two opposite
powers, was given with the greatest breadth, without an
approach to exaggeration. Long as Mr. Keeley has been
known and admired by the public, the full measure, of
his qualities had scarcely been brought to light before
the recent revivals at the Haymarket. When we have
bestowed a word of commendation on Mrs. Keeley, who
gave inimitable pertness to Nerissa, we fear our praise
must stop. At the conclusion of the play Mr. and Mrs.
Kean were called and appeared before the curtain.
(From the Chronicle.)
The Shylock of Mr. Charles Kean is, from beginning
to end, a consistent, impressive, and often a masterly
performance. Giving a full and poetic effect to the
solemn allusions of the Jew to his people and his faith,
as well as to the more rare touches of feeling which here
and there chequer the sombre hue of the character, Mr.
Kean carries, to a certain extent, the sympathies of his
audience with him, so far, at least, as to allow him to
give full and tremendous force to the final bursts of hate
end revenge. He played the first scene with a stern,
impressive power, which augured well, giving the keen,
satiric speeches with concentrated bitterness. The
opening portion of the third act was, however, his
greatest triumph. He worked the passion gradually up,
as a man maddens himself by talking of his own wrongs,
breakinz suddenly and bitterly from the subject of Jes-
sica's flight to that of his own losses through Antonio,
until he burst out into the full tempest of mingled
wrath, despair, and triumph, at the news of his
daughter's prodigality and his debtor's bankrupty. Still,
however, Mr. Kean does not lose sight of the mere
tender features of the character. Even in cursing his
daughter, he flings a despairing mournfulness into the
phrase—and the intense, absorbing passion of his " I
thank God—l thank God—l thank God," is finely
contrasted with the delicacy of that redeeming
touch of gentle pathos, " I had it of Leah when I
was a bachelor." The trial scene was given with
great and sustained power. Mr. Kean infused a
frozen doggedness intuhis demeanour, which, with
the eager gaze fixed constantly on his victim, and
the mechanical fumbling of the fingers round the haft of
the knife, told exceedingly well. Mrs. Kean's Portia is
one of those bright creations which she loves to embody-
She threw, perhaps, a rather more decided tone of grace,
ful comedy over the part than is generally given to it
and the droll, yet pretty swagger with which, as the
learned Doctor, she marched out of court, was full of
character. Mrs. Keart's declamation in the trial scene is
purity itself, and her by-play during the choice.: of . the
caskets is full of subdued and natural grace. The house
was a crowded and a brilliant cane.

(From the Post)
Whether occasioned by the prestige of the performance
on Thursday, at Windsor, in the presence of her Majesty
and the Court, or by the genuine attraction of the dis-
tribution of the characters, The Merchant of Venice,
acted on Saturday night, collected the most crowded
audience of the season. With but few slight exceptions,
the cast was identical, and the result was generally satis-
factory. The costumes are rich and quaint, and the
scenery picturesque and appropriate. The Shylock
and Portia of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean will rank as
amongst their most successful embodiments, and will
prove profitable to the direction, independently of any
extraneous aids. Taken in its entirety, Shylock is the
most complete of all Mr. Charles Dean's portraitures—
the colouring, though vigorous, is not overcharged, and
the fellness is meliorated by touches of tenderness which
soften without weakening. The conception of the elder
Kean is adopted without any slavish adherence to
the working of the original, though the family
likeness has a tendency to carry the mind back to
the creator of the peculiar school of acting. We have,
however, thought that the besetting sin of this concep-
tion is the unmasked malice, and absence of all policy,
in the presence of his oppressors. He throws aside, in
his first interview with Antonio, all concealment, and
rehearses to him, in a voice choking with his wrongs, a
catalogue of his individual indignation, and the general
contempt lavished upon all his tribe. The mere asking a
Jew bill-broker to advance a sum of three thousand
ducats on the acceptance of a prince-merchant of Venice
would, we think, hardly excuse such an outburst of pas-
sion as the words are made to bear in the received ren-
dering. We doubt much whether this be the Shale-
sperian intention ; and, most assuredly, these passages, if
enunciated wish a mixture of sarcastic humour and wily
look, would place the uncommon nature of the bond de-
manded by hylock more within the bounds of probabi-
lity and more germane to the matter. The terms of
the loan would not then strike so harshly, and the after
scenes of the play would gain in truthfulness and dra-
mqtic effect. The inner contempt felt by the Jewf or his
aristocratic persecutors, based upon his ever brooding
thoughts of his ancestors, the Princes of Judah, imparts
a subdued dignity to Shylock, which is readet ransparent
through almost every line of the text; and the tenacity
of his hold of the bargain, and his craving for the Chris-
tian pound of flesh, are caused by the memory of old
and continuous insult, maddened by the recent flight cl
Isis only child, who has not only robbed him, but sinned
against the law of her people by " marrying with the
stranger." The Jew is left desolate in his old age; he
is alone, taunted by his enemies, trampled upon, and
heart struck; revenge is left to him. Ile does not in his
insanity rush forth to slay, for he has, or thinks he has, a
bond for certain vengeance, and he follows out the old
law of blood for blood—for his blood was his child, who
had been stolen—he will have it legally, and he loses his
claim through a verbal quibble, is condemned to lose all
his earthly goods, and compelled to deny his God by the
sentence of the State. The bond might have been for-
given, and the accumulated contempt of all Venice, with
the spittings`upon his gaberdine, and the promises to do
so again and again, might all have been forgiven and
forgotten, had his child, his Jessica, been left to shed a
light and a happiness around his home; but here is the
true cause of his insanity, for lie knew full well that,
had the pound of flesh been awarded to him, he must
have fallen beneath the stilettos of a thousand Vene-
tians; but death was the only hope, and he would re-
join, in a better world, his Leah, the mother of his
apostate child—she of whom he had the turquoise ring
when he was a bachelor. What a host of memories does
its loss conjure up in the old man's mind! Years of
oppression fade away, the tricks and tradings of the
mart, and the money-spinning, and the profits, and all
the heart- hardenings of an overreaching commerce—all
are gone, and for a moment he is again a youth beloved
by the chosen of his heart. What a wonderful stroke of
genius is this one thought of Shakspere—how full of
true humanity, how touching, how exquisitely ex-
pressed, and with what a fine and picturesque orien-
talism does it terminate!—

TIIBAL.
One of them showed me a ring that he had of your
daughter for a monkey.

SHYLOCIC.

Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal; it was
my turquoise ; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor;
I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.
This one line, like a flash of lightning, casts a ray of
heaven on the withering agony and insane vengeance of
" the old Jew." In the various phases of passion of this
scene Mr. Charles Kean was admirable in his varying
intensity, and there was
,a concentrated energy in his
recapitulation of the wrongs he had endured, a fiendish
exultation in his ravings for vengeance, a hideous joy as
he listened to the relation of Antonio's losses, a deaden-
ing despondency and utter desolation as he heard of the
wasting of his gold by his daughter, and a gush of ten-
derness at the memory of his wife, that called forth en-
thusiastic plaudits. The trial scene was given with great
force and discrimination, and the sudden ehange from
assured triumph to the frustration of all his bad hopes
by the sentence of the Doge was as finely conceived
as it was artistically expressed. Mrs. Charles Kean's
Portia was charming, the gaiety of the earlier
scenes, the modest and tempered interest evinced
during the choice of the caskets, and the glance of
wordless rapture when the prize was selected, were
amongst the sweetest portions of her acting. As the
" young and learned doctor" in the trial scene, there
was no; sublimated dignity assumed, nor monotonous
delivery of the famous lines commencing " Tho quality
of mercy is not strained." These were given with a
calm and religious fervour, yet natural and deeply im-
pressive—the delicious verse flossed on equably and mu-
sically, as the soft strains of an organ down the aisle of
a cathedral. The audience was hushed to absolute still-
ness during the recital, and Mrs. Charles Kean was at
their termination greeted with several rounds of ap-
plause. The subsequent scenes were full of graceful
comedy, and the pretty swagger when she has obtained
the ring from Bassanio was richly humorous. Mrs.
Keeley's Nt riasa was capital, and Mr. Webster's Gra-
tiano, Mr. Wigan's Bassanio, and Mr. Rogers's Anto-
nio, were carefully and cleverly performed. Keeley, as
en exponent of Shakspere's clowns, stands alone. No
actor in our memory may approach him in his felicitous
appreciation of the quaint quips and cracks, or the as-
tuteness with which he grasps the philosophy of these
singular creations.
Commentators have differed regarding the source
from which the plot of The Merchant of Venice has been
borrows d, some attributing it to an old translation of the
Gesta Romanorum, printed by Winkin de Word(); but
all doubts have been set at rest by the discovery that the
fable has been taken from a story in the "Pecorone" of
Sir Giovanni Fiorentino, a novelist, who wrote in 1378;
and the choice of the caskets from a tale of Boccaccio.
The following translation of the tale alluded to will be
read with interest:—There lived at Florence a mer-
chant, whose name was Bindo. lle was rich, and had
three sons. Being near his end, he called for the two
eldest, end left them his heirs; to the youngest he left
nothing. This youngest, whose name was Giannetto,
went to his father and said," What has my father done?"
The father replied, " Dear Giannetto, there is none to
whom I wish better than you. Go to Venice to your god-
father, wheats flame is Ausaido, he is childless, and has

often written tome to send you to him. He is the richest '
merchant amongst the Christians, and if you behave
we 11 you will certainly become a wealthy man." The
son expressed his obedience to the wish of his father,
tted having received his benediction and closed his eyes,
departed to Ansaldo, who received him with open arms,
and commanded that Giannetto should be obeyed and
served with even more attention than himself. He then
delivered him the keys of his ready money, and told him
to keep a good table, make himself known, and acquire
the good will of everybody. Giannetto lost no time in
following this advice, end iu a short time became the
favourite of ell Venice. It happened that two of his
most intimate acquaintances designed to go with two
ships to Alexandria, and, with the consent of Ansaldo,
Giannetto suffered himself to be persuaded to accompany
them. His uncle procured for him a fine ship, laden
with merchandise, and well armed for its protection. In
the course of the voyage, Giannetto passed a gulf, the
port of which presented so fine an appearance that he
asked the captain its name. The commander replied that it
was the property of a widow lady, who had ruined many
gentlemen. " She has made a law," said the captain, "that
whoever arrives here must share her couch; and if he can
have the enjoyment of her, he must take her for his' wife,
and be lord 01 the country; but if he cannot enjoy her, ha
loses all he posses:led." Upon this Giannetto gave
orders to get into the port, and no sooner did he step
ashore than he proceeded to the lady, who received him
with great honours, and having ascertained that he was
aware of the law she had made, sent for the nobility of
her Court to entertain him. The night being come, the
lady intimated that it was bed time, and Giannetto
having expressed his readiness to attend her, she
pre-
sented him with a goblet of drugged wine. This caused
him to sleep soundly throughout the night, and conse-
quently the lady rose with the sun and claimed the ship,
which was delivered up to her. She, however, presented
Giannetto with a horse and money, and he returned to
Venice; but, fearing his uncle's anger, repaired to the
house of a friend, and sent- word to Ansaldo that his
vessel had been wrecked. His uncle immediately
took him home and consoled him for his loss. The
news was soon known all over Venice, and every one
was concerned for Giannetto. Some time afterwards
his companions arrived from Alexandria very rich,
and telling him that he might easily acquire the
same good fortune, his uncle was persuaded to fit
him out another vessel. His real object, however, was
again to try his fate with the lady who had cap-
tivated his heart, he therefore once more repaired to the
port of Belmonte, where the lady again received him
with joy and revels, again gave him a narcotic, and again
seized his ship when he had slept through the night.
His return to Venice filled his friends with dismay ; but
Isis indulgent uncle resolved upon giving him one more
chance ; but the expense of the former outfits had so
limited his means, that he was ten thousand ducats de-
ficient in the necessary amount for the new venture, in
consequence of which he applied to a Jew at Mestri,
and borrowed the amount named, on the condition that
it was to be repaid at the Feast of St. John, or the Jew
to take a pound of flesh from whatever part of Ansaldo's
body he pleased. Again Giannetto departed, and again
entered the port of Belmonte, where he was received as
formerly, and the day passed in tournaments and other
festivities. The lady, when it was the usual time,
catching him by the hand, begged him to take his
rest. When he passed the door of the chamber one of
the damsels in waiting cautioned him, in a whisper,
not to taste any liquor that might be offered. The lady
said, " I know you to be thirsty," and handed him some
wine, as on former occasions, but he poured it down his
bosom, and consequently remained awake and won the
lady for his bride. They were married with great pomp,
and Giannetto was made Governor of the country; but
his happiness caused him to forget his uncle, and the
bargain that had been made for him would have entirely
departed from memory but for a procession which his
lady informed him was in honour of the feast of St.
John. This at once reminded him of the dreadful
penalty of the day, and he related to his lady the plight
lin which his uncle stood. She instantly supplied him
with money and attendants, and he made his way with
all speed to Venice. The time being expired, the Jew
seized Ansaldo, and insisted on having his pound of
flesh, allowing him, however, a few days to give him
an opportunity of embracing Giannetto before he
died. Several merchants would have jointly paid
the money, but the Jew would not hearken to the
proposal, insisting that he might have had the satisfac-
tion of saying that he had put to death the greatest of
Christian merchants. Giannetto offered twenty
thousand ducats—thirty thousand--forty, and even a
hundred thousand, but the Jew was inexorable, and as
Venice was a place where justice was administered with
the strictest impartiality, there was nothing left but to
let him have his way. In the meantime the lady of
Giannetto had followed her lord in the disguise of a
lawyer, and being informed how matters stood, she made
proclamation that a famous lawyer was come from Bo-
logna to decide all cases at law. The parties cense-
quently came before him, and as the Jew was not to be
persuaded into mercy, the judge decided that the law
must take its course. "Do you cut a pound of this man's
flesh where you choose," said the judge, The Jew or-
dered Ansaldo to be stripped, and was on the point of
using his razor, when,the judge said," Hold ! take care
what you do. If 3eu take more or less than a pound,
I will order your head to be struck off; if you shed one
drop of blood, you shall be put to death. Your paper
makes no mention of the shedding of blood; but says
you may take the pound of flesh, neither more nor less.
And now, if I see one drop of blood, cif goes your head."
The rage of the Jew upon this may be imagined. An-
saldo was of course released, and conducted home with
great joy by Giannetto, who carried a hundred thousand
ducats to the inn to the lawyer, who refused it; but being
closely pressed to take some recompense, Pointed to a
ring worn by Giannetto, and said he would take no
other reward. `• It should willingly be yours," said
Giannetto, " but it was the gift of my wife, who bade
mo always wear it for her beloved sake." The lawyer re-
marked that if the lady esteemed him as she ought, she
would not bo displeased at her present being con-
verted into an offering of gratitude ; upon which
Giannetto gave the ring, and the judge departed, re-
suming her own dress as soon as she reached home.
When Giannetto returned he was received with appa-
rent coolness by by his lady. She asked him where was
the ring she bad given him. "Itis no more than what
I expected," cries Giannetto ; "and I was in the right
to say you would be angry with me, but I swear by all
that is sacred, and by your dear self, that I gave the ring
to the lawyer who gained our cause." " And I can
swear," says the lady, with as much solemnity, " that
you gave the ring to a woman ; therefore, swear no
more." Giannetto protested that what he had told her
was true, and that he said all this to the lawyer when
he asked for the ring. The lady replied, " You would
have done much better to stay at Venice with your
mistresses, for I fear they all wept when you came
away." Giannetto's tears began to fall, and in groat
sorrow he assured her that what she supposed could not
be true. The lady, seeing his tears, which were daggers
to her bosom, ran to embrace him, and, in a fit of laughter,
showed the ring, and told him that she herself was the
lawyer, and how she'obtained the ring. Giannetto was
greatly astonished, finding it all true, and told the story
to the nobles, and to his companions; and this heightened
greatly the love between him and his lady. He then
called the damsel who had given him the good advice in
the evening not to drink the liquor, and gave her to
Ansaldo for a wife; and they spent, the rest of their lives
in great felicity and contentment. The play throughout
Iwas received with much applause, and at its termi-
nation Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean were called before the
curtain.

(From the Herald.)
Shakspere's Merchant of Venice was played on Satur-
day night, cast in all the essential particulars as it was
last week at Windsor Castle. Coupled with the new
Christmas piece, the attraction appeared to be of no or-
dinary kind, for the house was crowded in every part.
Mr. Charles Kean's Shylock is a well• considered and
thoughtful personation, and probably one of the most ef-
fective that he undertakes. The Portia of Mrs. Charles
Kean is as graceful an embodiment as can well be
imagined, and in the great scene in the fourth act
singularly dignified and impressive. This, in fact, is
the only situation of any real importance which the
character evolves, and Mrs. Charles Kean re-
alises it to admiration. lier delivery of the
apostrophe to mercy is finely beautiful, pregnant, in the
calmness of simplicity of her utterance, with devout and
exalted persuasion. Mrs. Keeley was the Nerissa, and
Mr. Keeley Launcelot Gobbo—one of those pure
Shakspearian " bits" in which he has never in our time
had an equal. Mr. Leigh Murray and Mrs. Compton
were exchanged for Mr. Caulfield and Miss P. HOrton,
in the parts of Lorenzo and Jessica, the latter a substitu-
tion that could not be deplored. Among the other
changes of the Palace east, it may be mentioned that
Mr. Brindal and Mr. Tilbury were employed in lieu
of Mr. Diddear and Mr. Addison as the Duke
and old Gobbo. Altogether the play was re-
presented with a degree of efficiency that the
town of late years has not been accustomed to—
meaning by efficiency that prevalence of excellence
throughout, which, while ensuring the gratification of
the spectator as a dramatic performance, also secures a
growing respect for the establishment. Mr. Webster
has during the present season exhibited an improved
wisdom in the principles and details of his management,
evidently of service to his interests. The amalgamation
of the Keens with the company, and their renounce-
ment of the privileges of " stardom" in the choice of
pieces and the limitation of appearance, has proved prac-
tically beneficial to the house, and corroborates the
opinion that we have often expressed, that though the
public may be capricious, it is never virtually and de-
structively indifferent to that which really challenges
consideration.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
CHESTER CUP.
ENTERED UP TO SATURDAY EVENING.

The following horses have been named or this event;
the entry closes on Monday night:—Cawroush, Ri-
baldry, Clermont, Loupgarou, Great Western, Egret,
Vesta, Eagle's Plume, Reality, Lugar, Solon, Impostor
(late Lanesborough), Rothersthorpe, Auricula, Peep
o'Day Boy, Primrose, Sunnyside, Rodney, Burghley,
Bedlam, Sir Peter Laurie, The Swallow, Bon-mot, Epi-
darius, Emily, Avenger, Ellen Loraine, New Forest
Deer, cby Harkaway, out of Diana; Fireaway, Henry
of Exeter, Windermere, Cossack, Cockermouth, Fore-
e'losure, c by Vulcan, 4 yrs; Mogador, The
Stinger, Radulphus, c by Sir Hercules, out of Empress,
Sister to Satirist, Idle Boy.

LANGPORT, SOMERSETSUIRE.--AN EAGLE SHOT.
—A prodigious sea eagle. (Halitus), messuring seven
feet from wing to wing, and weighing upwards of nine
pounds, was killed with an ordinary gun a few days since
whilst wending its rapid flight over a wood in the neigh-
bourhood of High Ham, by Mr. William Thyer, of that
place, a feat which must gain for him the reputation of
being (in sporting phraseology) " a crack shot." The
bird has been purchased by Mr. Edward Quekett, of this
WWII; IYII9 intends giving iC Ogee iii his museum.