The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-25 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION.

HAYMARKET THEATRE.

The new tragedy of Glencoe, which was brought
out at this theatre on Saturday night, will greatly
extend its author's (Mr. Sergeant Talfourd's) repu-
tation. Though Macready, at the close of the play,
formally announced it as the Learned Sergeant's
Production, yet to those who attentively listened to
it, and marked its careful construction, its rare feli-
cities of thought and expression, and the skilful
manner in which each—even the most subordinate
.of the characters is made to assist the progress
of the plot, such notification was superflous, for the
very first act must have satisfied them of the pa-
ternity of Glencoe. This striking drama, like its
precessor, lon, affords ample evidence that Mr.
ralfourd possesses the constructive faculty in a very
high degree. There is nothing detached or irre-
gular about it—no ,4 passages that lead to no-
thing," or that serve to encumber the story—no
atceropt made to produce effect by the epigram-
Matic point and energy of particular isolated scenes
the plot betrays, in its very simplicity, marks
of patient thought and studious arrangement ;
and the incidents are dovetailed, one into
the other, with such critical nicety, as to form a
compact, consistent, and harmonious whole. When
once the action of Glencoe—which at first is some-
what languid, the earlier scenes being of a narra-
tive; rather than a dramatic character—begins to
stir, it never afterwards flags or retrogrades, but
moves steadily forward, while the attention and
curiosity of the audience keep pace with its pro-
gress. This is true art, not suddenly to rouse ex-
pectation, and then as suddenly disappoint it by
the introduction of some irrelevant scene which
leads the mind astray from the one great point en
Which it should be fixed—not prematurely to force
up the interest, like a hot-house plant ; but to
Maintain it throughout in a state of gradual
and healthy growth. When we say that Mr.
Talfourd excels in the constructive—perhaps
We ought rather to call it. the inventive—
faculty, we would. be understood as paying him
°lie of the highest compliments that it is in the
Power of criticism to bestow ; for if there be
one faculty more rare than another among our
modern dramatists and novelists, this is that one.
Knowles and Dickens, each eminent in his own
department, have not the slightest notion of it ; in-
deed it is one of those primary intellectual qualities
Which, where nature has been churlish, is not to be
acquired even by the longest practice, or the most
unremitting study. The characters in Glencoe,
equally with the plot, show marks of the nicest ob-
servance of propriety. The two brothers, in par-
ticular, Halbert and Henry Macdonald, are finely
discriminated. The sunny and mercurial tempera-
ment of the one is exhibited in striking relief to the
gloomy and imaginative nature of the other ; and
!heir peculiar idiosvncracy is not lost sight of for an
instant. Helen Campbell is also a beauti-
ful creation, but hardly in such perfect
keeping as the two we have just describ2d.
Sufficient motive is not assigned for her sudden pre-
ference of one brother to the other. She acts upon
mere impulse—and this of the fancy, not the heart
----which is at variance with what we are taught to
believe is her real character. Surely the thoughts
of a devoted and high-souled woman—thoughts
Which had grown with her growth, and strengthened
With her strength—would not thus have been di-
verted from the deep channel in which they had
run for years, at the first impassioned confession
of love addressed to her by a man whom she had
always regarded merely as a friend or brother ! To
the language of the tragedy it is impossible to take
the slightest exception. It has all the high polish
of ivory ; yet it is full of animation, and never de-
ncrent in vigour when vigour is necessary. Many
of the descriptions—which, though luxuriant, are
never permitted to interfere with the busi-
ness of the play—are exquisitely charac-
teristic, and have, besides, a high moral
beauty about them which reminds us of Words-
wort,h,
in his happiest moments. Yet they are not
servile imitations ; far from it ; they are merely
evidences of a congenial spirit. We scarcely deem
rt worth while to insist on the pure, elevated tone
of thought and sentiment that characterises Glencoe,
for this is one of the most obvious and
.striking fea-
tures of Mr. Talfourd's genius, and must be well
known
to all who are acquainted with his lon and
18 Athenian Captive. We cannot forbear, how-
Zer, from the expression of a wish that others of
lit dramatists would infuse something of this lofty
uail. refined spirit into their productions ; and not
klbstitute sentimental drivel—which is unintelligi-
ble beyond the precincts of the boudoir and draw-
ing-room—for sound, unaffected humanity. We
have spoken of the vigour and luxuriance of our
author's descriptions : we subjoin a few specimens.
Here is an idea fully and forcibly brought before
the reader's mind in one word ;--

" When the snow-storm burled
Its icy arrows thro' the hills, the woes
Of roofless desolation all would share,
Shrieked at his heart."
The following sketch has all the prec:sion and
distinctness of sculpture :
" So haply I may find the reverend chief
Crouched in some narrow cave, his stately head
In resignation bowed upon his staff,
And waiting without struggle, the last chill
Of slowly-Freezing death."
An ordinary thought is thus gracefully ex-
pressed :

" I feel no chill ; the ecstasy within me,
Clothes all without with summer."
Halbert Macdonald's character is skilfully pour-
trayed by his mother—so as to prepare us for the
Part he takes in the play—in these terse, emphatic
terms

" You have mused, my son,
In dismal solitudes, on our old tales,
Till each wild pass is haunted, and the wind
Struggling within a mountain gully, moans
Or shrieks with prophecy."
Here is another proof of the grace and beauty
tth;
.c.. our author can throw over a common-place:
" Poor youth ! companionship in mirth,
Ungraced by thought, makes shallow friends !"
_ the following passage is as pure in sentiment
43 it is poetical in expression :
Grief, Madam I 'Tis the pensiveness or joy,
Too deep for language, too serene for mirth,
Makes me seem sad. To meet in manhood's bloom
The gentle playmate of my childhood ; propped
On the same arm to tread the same wild paths ;
And in sweet fellowship of memories, feel
Hour after hour of long-forgotten pleasure
Start forth in sunny vividness, to break
The mist of heavy years—is joy so hearted,
That it can find no colour in the range
Of gladness to express it—so accepts
A solemn hue from grief."
Describing incidentally an aged Highland
fe-
male, whom the superstition of her neighbours
had invested with supernatural powers, John Mac-
donald is made to observe
'Tis said she gazed
On that best piece of heavenly workmanship,
Our Mary's beauty, when the shrivelled Queen
Of England foully shattered it."

We have two objections to make to the above
passage. First, the epithet " shrivelled" is mean
and prosaic ; and secondly, the word " shattered"
does not convey the idea which the author means
to express. To " shatter "is the work of an in-
stant ; but Mary's beauty was not destroyed
at once ; it waned by degrees under the blighting
influence of a protracted imprisonment. We quote
one more extract, which will show how completely
Mr. Talfourd has caught the solemn and earnest
tone of old Highland feeling, when called into play
by superstition :

" As I left
Mac lan's door, and walked in mist, which clung
Around me like a shroud, that voice shrieked forth
Close at mine car The hour is nigh l' Each cliff,
Pillar, and cavern, echoed back the words,
Till they appeared to lilt the glen with sound,
As floods from thousand streams might deluge it—
It transfixed me,
As with an arrow ; when it sunk, still .Night
lietld its breath, waiting terrors."
In the whole range of modern poetry, we know
()I* nothing more impressive than this ghastly im-
personation of Night. There is a shadowiness
about the image, which is yet quite distinct enough
d'r all purposes of effect, that takes a startling hold
on the imagination.
Having thus expressed our opinion of Glencoe as
4 literary production—the plot we need scarcely ana-
YE; for the Sunday Journals must have already
r'natle it familiar to the generality of our readers—it
_Mains to speak of the acting. Macready, as the
romantic, and impassioned Halbert Macdonald, dis-
played much spirit, and also his usual vices of de-
clamation. This gentleman seems to have an es-
pecial fondness for divorcing the substantive from
the adjective, by making a solemn pause between
t
'enl, which is exceedingly injudicious, for they are
a - •
Cungenlal couple, who never act apart, but to their
mutual embarrassment and perplexity. We liked
IY-1, aeready best in the more level passages of the
Play ; for these he rarely failed to give with pro-

priety. We must not, however, omit to notice his
interview with his brother by the lakeside, which
combined tenderness with dignity, and produced a
strong effect upon the audience. Mr. Howe as
Henry Macdonald, was respectable ; and Mrs.
Warner, as his mother, was as impressive as the
part required her to be. She gave terrible emphasis
to this striking passage :

"ILet hint live. Glcnlyon,
I pray you may have life stretched out beyond
The common span of mortals, to endure
The curse of Glencoe cleaving to your soul !"

Miss Helen Faucitt's acting as Helen Campbell,
was replete with true feminine grace and delicacy,
and must have satisfied the most fastidious critic.
This young lady is one of the most improving per-
formers of the day. We augur from her dawn a
brilliant meridian. The tragedy was received
throughout with triumphant shouts of approbation,
by one of the most crowded houses we have wit-
nessed this season. We predict that it will have a
long run, and that it will not be the last with which
the author will favour us. Indeed he has every motive
for exertion. The dramatic faculty is strong within
hi n ; he conceives and devclopes character—as he
has shown in lon and in Halbert Macdonald—with
uncommon skill and subtlety ; and in sustained
elegance of language, loftiness of purpose, and
moral beauty of thought, there is no other dramatist
of the day who can for an instant be compared to
him.