Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1828-08-16

has substituted them for what were his merits
in ,rutb. His touo hes Of familiar nature, when
guided, by taste, were beautiful, are no" o'
come absolutely childish and absurd. The way
in which we heard him, not long ago, speak
the words. 'Gessler has Torn out the oia man
eyes, literally, in despite OF the horrors OF Inc
association. made the house roar with laughter.
And we have no manner Of doubt, that MT.
Macready thought i, one ofNhe finest hits III
the part. We confess we have now no nope
Of his reformation.
Charles Kemble's forte is undoubtedly come
DIV. apd'we shall speak of him under that head,
anon. But he is still! the best Romeo and jail
fer we have: and his Antony, hi, Falconbridge,
ard his Cassie are proverbial Tor their hni'he'
excellence.
Such being Our judgment, right or wrong OF
our principal ragedians, it may be asked US,
where, then, is the tragic acting you do ADMIR-!
We confess, that, as far as relates TO the frdseay
of passion, there is none at this moment which
we thoroughly admire. But neither IS there any
on record which, either from recollec'ioh VI
from its description, we think we should re-
cognise as what we want-wiih two exceptions:
one, the constant, great, and ever-recufr'ng OK
&c ption in all dramatic ma,ters-tiarrlrK X; the
other, Mrs Siddons. Nothing could be more
| magnificent Or perfect than Kemble's CorioIa'
nus-but that is not the tragedy Of passion
and it is Of lha, only that we now speak. we
snail, perhaps, startle our readers when We tell
them that the best and finest exhibitions III
tragic nature that we have witnessed oil late
years. have been pass,gesiEpme OF the mei",
dramatic parts of Miss KclsysAsWe have calico
| them smelo- dramatic 7arts'to be moIe realty
understood-but we deny the term TO be IN
truth applicable 10 The characters We mean
We draw one great and broad dIs'inc'ioh DE
tween tragedy and melo' drame, by which, we
think, they may always be kept distinct. we
consider that TO be melod rame in which the
| ipteres, is thrown upon the physical incidents:
we consider shat, on the other hand, 10 be ira
yedy in which the interest arises from the
feelings and passions Of the persons Of The
piece. Being in 6.e acts, and being called q
tragedy; or being in two, and called melo-
drame makes no difference in the real charac-
ter Of the drama; and we consequently repeat,
that the finest samples, according 10 our Ju'g-
ment, Of tragic acting, that We have scen tor
several wears, have been in some OF the charac-
tiers played by Miss Kelly in the after pieces u
sualIy called melo>dramrs. We will cite, Tor
instance, the tMiller's Maid In that the in
teTest depends, not on gorgeous scenery or Ter
rife explosions-on guns, drums, and wounds,
but on the passions Of love, Jealousy and des,
pair; which do not, in our judgment, IN the
very leas, dcg,ee, cease to be elements OF ira
gedy in its trues, seuse, because they exist in
the breasts ofpersons III humble life. To those
who sheer a, the passions Of the lowig, we
would ask, what they think Of certain tale
entitled 'rhe Heart of Mid Lothian Is no,
that tragedy? If they answer, no,-then We
will give up the cndeavor to convince them as