The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-05-26 00:00:00

FORCE OF ,IMAGINATION..-TRAGIC SCENE IN' A

-THEATRE.

(From the (Nashville) !Vestern Methodist.)

Mr. J. J..M,Latighlin, late of tlepslinyille, Kentucky,, game
to his death on Saturday last through an accident which has
caused much sensation and sympathy in this city.
M!Laughlin was a young gentleman of good personal accgna-
plishments, genteel manners, and fine talents. age . was
2k3 0r24 years, and he was engaged at tines in the-studir of1;w,
which he doubtless:intendecho have followed as a pr4fession.
His mind was of an exceedingly sensitive,- imagittative, or,poe-
'tical cast, which, with his Somewhat retired and modest de-
meanour, made him an interesting companion to all classes of
people. He arrived in this city some four
,weeks singe, and
'soon made himself known to the Thest)ian Society of ,young
gentlemen in this city as an amateui actor.
The Thespian Society occasionally haVe rblic-exhibitions;
and at one of these, a few evenings ago, Nl' auglain. acted the
part of Bertram, in Maturin's gloomy 441,,,e4 Bertrainor.
-the Qastle of St: Aldobrand. . _ .

Bertram is a combination of terrible quatities. In copious
and ,heart-touchirg eloquence it exhibits to the reader the
tore of a powerful .mitni—ruined ---blasted-Ztlesolate---.-yet, un-,
bending, and holding in his soul,. as the life. of .his being, the
_sentiments, of a deadly vengeance against the ea-rthly,,author, of
all his woes. It was this being whom APtausblin represented.
The tragedy opens with a terrible tempest, in which Bertram,
long an 'exile and outlaw-from his native, lan,d, is thrown upon.
the coast near. the castle of his deadly ezierny,.Al4brp.iid: He
is succoured by a community of ,Inonks, through them gains
access to the castle, and there wreaks
,his long. nursed, double-.
distilled :fiendish vengeance omits lord—he Stahs.liiin to the.
heart. The lady of the castle—of whose conne4kon with the
outlaw, in the past and present, we shall net speak.---falls heart-,
broken at his feet. He then' winds up the 4ra,i4a by ,stabbing
•

M'Laughlin had conned his dreaqul lesson Ayith such .4p an
sorbing 'interest, and so completely stood within the character,during tts.representation, that, the elect was deep. ind harrowipg,
on the minds of the audience. 'He s'eelaii?A:tp.be in a ,high stale
of mental excitement, and with the mcWgloonaypatkos pro,
flounced sueh sentiments as these—'

I have no country
A nd,for itiv-race, the 14st ilcAdtrunlps4all,wake
Trhe.sh:!ete'd" ieligs of my ancestry,
`rie trump of herald to aie,artned lists
In the bright blazon of their stait4l4ss-coat
Calls their lest child agiin!"

The applause"of the,audiance was,great..and of course added;
to,what we,54411 call the
,uioninnania. of the :imagination. ,He'
heCanite „what he represented. There was something like
.an:
overimwermg.ieality in,what he wrought. His ster=his eyes
,—the stern tones of. his :voice—low and husky •with th.e deep
.le!.rt.hip.utke of ,p,assion,-;were the outlaw's own.' • The- audience,]
u
we
understand, , were almost inclined to say, with the terrpr,
spoken prior in the tragedy,
"Eigh hearted•man,-sublime even in thy guilt." •
•4* * ' t
•
-"Wild admiration thrills me to behold •
An evil strength,snabove,earthly pitch."
* * . i ' * i.
"This majesty pf guilt doth awe•my spirits;
.It,is the einbPdied timid )vho tempted him • . ,
.Sublime in,guilt !"
•
- . . .

:As the tragedy wore to its denouement, his exeitemenrip;
creased, and , the gloomy .spirit.of the play was upon him with, a
power thaimade a strong impression of reality upon his, hearers,
and made them shudder as he pronounced the following,accoM-
panied by the
.plunge of. the dagger that brought him to his
death,
!` Bertram, bath but one fatal foe on earth,
And he is here." (Stabs himself.

-It was at this moment that he plunged the weapon to his,
heart. It is said to have been an accident. It is our opinion,
however, that it was the result of the excited,feelings .of the.
actor,
.who had so absorbingly entered into the dreadful spiritl
of ,his hero, as to drive home his death upon li.is,heart,.hy..the
mere spasmodic action of the muscles thatunconsciously ifioved:
to do the bidding of the tempest of passion within. Taking into
view premeditated purpose, it was an accident—for he had no
design of ending his life with the play; but looking: at his comj
plate identification of feeling with the part he acted, the Ancii
dent becomes a natural and not a wonderful, consequence.
The hallucination, if such we tpay. call it, did 'not end with
the plunge of the dagger. His feelings -bore hini along yeti
further. There was still, after some exclamations of surprise,
from the tragic monks, a dying sentence for him. to
,repeat..
He went through it with a startling effect—
[With a burst of exultation.]
" I died no felon death--
A warrior's weapon freed a warrior's soul."

While he was ,pronoun cing these,. the last words of thei
tragedy, his eyes an.d manner were fearfully wild, the blood was,
falling from his bosom upon the young gentleman. who. had per-
sonated the then lifeless lady Imogene! As. soon as the Last'
words were pronounced, he.fell—to. rise no more.
The,wound was inflicted on the left breast, entered the peri-
cardium, if
,it did not pierce the heart. The bleeding was in-:
ternal, and so slow in its progress that the organic action of the,
heart was not finally closed until Saturday, when he left this.
sbel!nen! na riyt .selcte; and another curtain opened upon the drama
of