The Litchfield County post., 1828-11-06

two or three women, with their counten-
ances begrimed and daubed with any thing
but natural color, smirked, smiled ,whim-
pered, and sang, while men cOurted, sighed,
and made themselves ridiculous by their
antics and capers. And the hero, the pat
riot, he whose advice and actions redeem
ed nation from slavery, who has lived in
history and" the blessings of his happy
countrymen until the present day, who had
no wish, no interest, but in the fate Of his
country-an attentive observer can but say
that William Tell beloved louder than his
companions-why, he knows not that he
scowled, and winked, and screwed up his
face like baboon that he 'sgrinned hor-
ribly CHASTITY smiie," and groaned and
laughed, and secured very liberal portion
of the plaudits that they all stamped
and fumed and fret,ed, frothed at the
mouth, and behaved like maniacs and fools,
and our observer will tell you the
truth, for such is generally the acting of
the present day.
= And of the audience, the same observer
will say. that the pit applauded him most
that roared like Stentor; that the boxes
smiled graciously upon the gentle shipper
ers who filled the plot, as they called it, e.
that some of them looked very sagacious
and very much affected at the beautiful and
flowing lines of The author; that the ape
plause generally began in the gallery, for
the good souls there can heas nothing but
the loudest takers, and very wisely con-
clude that he is the best actor who makes
the most of what he has to say, and who
puts on the most horrible face to say it
withal.
And this is the Drama; the galleries are
right, for they 60 to see the acting, and
they have enough of it to enjoy. But can
sensible men clap their hands and cry
"bravo," as bombast and fustian are ranted
by some celebrated disciple of Thespis!-
Do we have nature upon the stage; do we
see the scenes we are promised in the
bills !? BY no means. Those who nerved
themselves to mighty deeds, warriors, pol
iticians, and men, in ancient times, fathers.
friends, philosophers, and patriots, did not,
that we know, talk in hexameters and lam
bics; they did not measure off the quanti-
ty they might speak until they drew anoth-
er breath, or walk, stand still, or straddle
by rule and measure, square aud compass;
but in this more learned age, when the
Drama is raised, improved, and purified,
the more learned representatives of the
great men of ages past, do all these land are
upheld and applauded by the public taste;
and while this is the case,we deny that the
acted Drama is either shool OF morals or
politeness, or representative of common
sense. Instead of life and the world, we
have carricatures of both, and the most af-
fecting scene that can be selected in the
whole range of the English Drama, taking
all the circumstances of the piece into con-
| sideration, cannot be beheld without excl
ting laughter. We do not deny that it is
most excellent acting, but we cannot con-
tend that il has very near relation to ma
ture.
The whole end and aim of dramatic rep
reservations has been perverted ,---if there
is any thing to be gained bot amusement.
Nature has been driven from the stage, land
her place usurped by actors, and it is of
very little consequence to the Drama, or to
the community, whether the actors be good,
bad, or Indifferent. Nay, take the sea-
son through, and we have quadruped as
we'll as biped actors, and we can indeed
say that nature has''fed to british beasts"
stiff and stately canvass form, both trees
and houses, the city and the country, the
heavens and the earth: and that which has
not been unappropriately termed the lam
guage of the Almighty, the symbols of his
power and his vengeance, which in nature
inspire dread and shuddering, even in the
stoutest heart and the most stubborn un-
Deliver, is made by gunpowder and
rosin
From Crocker's Famity Legends.
BARRY OF CAIRN THIERNA.