The Sun.
London, England, 1836-10-18 00:00:00

SONS 0

TELL."

AN IRREGULAR ODE.

" Laugh they at this idle threat ?
Tears of blood shall follow yet."—BY 110 N

What ! doff your Caps, and deny your Words !
Sons of " The Tell," unsheath your Swords !
Let the King of Spies, in his wrath, advance,—
Intriguer ! strike—it shall cost thee France !
In the name of God ! for the honour of Man
Return the Traitor ban for ban—
Up, Switzers up ! from bill and dell,
Up, to the cry of '6 William Tell."
Look that your rifles be good and proof,
Deadly to hold the Invader aloof
For a true Swiss aim your quarry scan,
If Men become Wolves—your quarry—Man !
Let the Pikes be shod at your furnace fires,
Think of your Children—talk of your Sires—
Sing the " Ranz des Vaches" for the love of home,
The hearths ye defend—the hills where ye roam.
Tho' his Soldiers march at the tap of drum,
His People will settle " The Aftercome !"
O'r ever the free Swiss blood be spilt,
They'll shiver his sceptre to the hilt
The English are made of sterling stuff,
Were his people o'erpowr'd, we would give him enough
Of bullet and blade for his hellish guilt,
If one drop of the free Swiss blood be spilt.
What doff your Caps, and deny your Words I
Sons of " The Tell" unsheathe your swords !
Let the King of Spies, in his wrath, advance,
Intriguer 1 strike—it shall cost thee France I
In the name of God ! for the honour of Man !
Return the Traitor ban for ban—
Up, Switzers, up 1 from hill and dell,
Up, to the cry of " William Tell !"
Temple, Oct. 17, 1836.

SPARTACUS.

THE THEATRES.

DRURY-LANE.
Mr. Edwin Forrest, a gentleman who has long held the
first rank as a tragic actor in America, made his first ap-
pearance here last night in a new drama, also of American
growth, entitled Spartacus, or the Gladiator. His recep-
tion, by one of the most crowded houses we ever remember
to have seen, was, as it deserved to be, enthusiastic ; and
equal justice was done to the tragedy, which was listened
to throughout with marked attention, and a disposition, on
the part of the audience, to praise rather than condemn.
In his choice of subject, its author, Dr. Bird, has been
singularly fortunate ; for, in the first place, the character
and adventures of Spartacus abound in dramatic materials ;
and secondly—owing to the haughty and contemptuous re-
serve with which the Roman historians allude to them—
they have never yet had justice done to them. Will it be
credited that the Thracian slave, who in one day gained
two victories over two Roman armies, each headed by a
Consul ; who defeated Praetors and Proconsuls by the
dozen ; shook Italy to its centre ; and even marched on
Rome at the head of a hundred thousand men, and all but
got possession of the Imperial city will it be believed
that this hero, for hero he was in the most comprehen-
sive sense of the term, his courage being only rivalled
by his sagacity, and his deeds in arms equalling, if
not surpassing, those of Ca3sar—will it be believed, we
say, that the actions of this hero arc dismissed in the
works both of Sallust and Livy, in the compass
of a few pages—and this, too, at a period, scarcely
forty years before the death of Cicero, when every
great event had its annalist ? Yet such is the fa2t,
and the only way to account for it is by sup-
posing that as a slave and a barbarian, Spartacus was
held unworthy of honourable mention by the aristocratic
historians of Imperial Rome. We repeat, therefore, that
Dr. Bird has been singularly fortunate in his subject, more
so than in his mode of handling it ; not that his tragedy is
deficient in energy, and sound healthy feeling ; but it wants
continuous interest ; moreover, it is languid and heavy in
places ; is broken up into fragments ; and wholly destitute
of that first dramatic requisite, a well-constructed plot.
When Spartacus—who constitutes its only character—
off the stage, its progress and interest are entirely
suspended, and so continue till he comes again on the
field of action. But though, as a whole, the play is
faulty ; in parts, it is full of the true dramatic spirit. The
whole scene in the Amphitheatre, for instance, is admirably
managed ; the language, too, when the passions arc to be
roused, is replete with the right sort of vigour, and such as
a republican only, who is a "good hater" of despotism,
could have penned. The plot of the tragedy is as follows :
Phasarius, a Thracian by birth, and brother of Spartacus,
having been seized and sold as a slave in early youth, is
trained up by his master as a gladiator, and becomes emi-
nent in that station. The soul, however, is above it, and
he forms, with others, a conspiracy to attack their mas-
ters, and free themselves, if possible. Spartacus himself
has also becomes a slave, and is reluctantly forced to
become a gladiator, to prevent a separation from his wife
and child. The two brothers proceed to Rome, under
the guidance of their masters, to make sport for the Ro-
mans, to whom Crassus, now become praetor, is about exhi-
biting the usual shows. The brothers recognise each other
in the amphitheatre, and refuse to fight. The intended insur-
rection is communicated to Spartacus by his brother, and
soon after, being joined by a small band of gladiators and
slaves, they rise upon their masters, disarm the guards,
take the field, and rapidly become a formidable army.
Victory succeeds victory, until Rome itself trembles, and
not less than three armies are brought together before the
career of the gladiator can be stopped. His cause is
at length overthrown, through the obstinacy of Pha-
sarius, who seduces the greater part of the rebel
army to march them direct upon Rome, and is
cut to pieces. In this act he is instigated by re-
venge, on account of the refusal of Spartacus to give
up to him a Roman lady, Julia, the niece of Crassus,
who had been taken prisoner. The remaining part of the
insurrectionary gladiators, now reduced to 7,000, are com-
pletely surrounded, and, being disappointed in an attempt
to reach Sicily, by means of pirate vessels, Spartacus de-
termines to cut his way through the Roman legions. He
had previously sent off his wife and child, under the guid-
ance of his brother, with a view to their escape, but they
are taken and slaughtered. All offers of pardon or recon-
ciliation are now indignantly refused by the barbarian ; lie
determines to employ what remains of life exclusively to
the shedding of Roman blood, fights like a lion to the last,
and falls, covered with his own blood and that of his enemies.
The acting of Mr. Forrest as Spartacus, was throughout
admirable. His very voice and figure were in his favour ;
the one being muscular to a degree, strongly, but not ele-
gantly proportioned, possessing far more of the Hercules than
the Antinous ; and the other replete with a sort of rough mu-
sic, such as we may imagine in one who, during his youth and
the best part of his manhood, has dwelt, a free barbarian,
among the mountains. In the tones of his voice, especially
where he is excited, he
.reminds us of Kean ; but he has
ten times his physical power ; and if infinitely less
genius, at least quite as much, if not more judgment.
Where he made a hit, be electrified his audience ;
indeed, we have not heard more enthusiastic bursts
of applause shake the walls of an English theatre,
since Othello expired with poor Kean. The great recom-
mendations of Mr. Forrest, as a tragedian, we take to be
strong passion, and equally strong judgment. In the
whirlwind of his emotions he never loses sight
of self-control. He is the master, not the slave
of his feelings. He appeals to no fastidious
coterie for applause ; he is not remarkable for the delivery
of this or that pretty tinkling poetic passage ; still less is
he burdened with refined sensibility, wilieh none but the
select few can understand ; far otherwise ; he gives free
play to those rough natural passions which are intelligible
all the world over. His pathos is equally sincere and un•
sopliiiticated. His delivery of the passage—
" And one day hence,
My darling boy, too, may be fatherless,"

was marked by theiruest and tenderest sensibilty. Equally
successful was he in that pleasing pastoral idea,
" And Peace was tinkling in the shepherd's bells,
And singing with the reapers ;"
which, had it been written in Claude's days, that great
painter would undoubtedly have made the subject of one
of his best landscapes.
Famine shrieked in the empty corn-fields,"

a striking image, which immediately follows the preceding
one, was given by Mr. Forrest with an energy amckunting
almost to the sublime. Not less impressive was his del;
very of

" There arc no Gods in heaven,"
which bursts from him when he hears of the murder
of his wife and child by the Roman cohorts. Having thus
spoken of A. Ir. Forrest's merits, it remains to say a few
words of defects. These are chiefly physical, and such,
we apprehend, as no practice can remedy. He constantly
pronounces the letter sas sh, which, in a language abound-
ing In gibliant :ou
nds, is extremely offensive ; and in his de-
livery of the more quiet passages i'i;;pizasizcs far too much.
However, as he has made a decided hit—such a one as has
been made since the memorable year 1814—and shown
himself the first trmie actor of his day, WO Oel little dis-
posed to dwell on -his defects. America may well be
proud of him, for though he is not, strictly speaking,
what is called a classical actor, yet he has all the
energy—all the rado, active sprit—all the jpgovnita-
ble love of freedom that pho.FapoFlSes OP transatlantic
world. We say this, because there were many repub-
lican allusions in the play, where the man spOke out,
quite as much, if not more so, than the 40tPr. Hav-
ing seen hire in Spariarus, we no longer
wtric.er at his
having electrified the New World. A. man better fitted,
by nature and art, to sustain such El character, and a
character better fitted to turn the heads of a nation,
which was but the other day in arms against Eng.-