Vandalia Whig and Illinois intelligencer. [volume] (Vandalia, Ill.) 1832-183?, 1833-08-14
MIRIAM LA BALLERiNA,

"NoW by my mood, Gentle, and no Jewcss"
Merchant Of Venice.
mo, no. cried the Jew Levi, while he
struck violently with his cIeuched fist the
table at which he had just supped, one
Sabbath evening. No, my daughter
shall never go upon the stage, TO amust
by her pirouettes the idlers Of Palermo
What! Miriam la Ballerina a daacer-
holy Father Abraham, my daughter. an o
pera dancer! and that too, when ouI
young neighbor Aaron is ready to marry
her; when she may be tomorrow the
bride of the richest merchant in the city
when -
q do not wish to vcx or contradict you.
love- interrupted his wife; 'but, however.
Miriam anxiously longs TO appear at the
theatre. She feels advancing to be
her vocation, and she may make large
fortune by that means, and honestly too
though all dancing girls have not the best
regulations
Hold your foolish tongue, woman con
tinued her husband; you know, or ought
to know, that dancing girls are no better
than so many incarnate Babylonians.
would rather like our great Patriarch, sa-
criice her with my own hands. than have
her public gazing stock for fools, and the
common object of gossiping Scandal
Icha BOD! 1chabod! a daughter Of the
tribe of Judah a public daucerr
sBut still, love, said his wife in a sooth-
ing tone, David has danced before the
ark
sAye,' answered with solemnity the old
Jew; sbut that dance did not in anywise
resemble the one which Miriams so fond
of practising; it was grave, measured
movement, to the slow sound Al cymbals
and psaltries,'
sThat, my dear answered the old lady
syou cannot know positively. The book
of Samuel. which the Christians call the
book of Kings, makes no more mention O.
one description of dance, than of anoth
err
sTongue of SATAN shouted the Jew
worked into frenzy by this petticoat op
position, swould you destroy our chile
here, and herealter?'
This complimentary interrogatory Ell
fectually stopped the old Jewess's mouth
she removed the remains of their supper
and spoke no more to her husband on thai
evening except to remind him that the
clock of San Cypriano had sounded the
usual hour of retiring to rest.
Three months after this scene, the grea
Opera House of Palermo was more crow
ded than il had been for years. The pit
the boxes, the galleries, the orchestra
were all crammed almost to sutfocalion
and in one of the private boxes sal Tho
Ambassador of England, and his secreta
nv of Legation, chatting about the youn!
debutante, who had excited so great al
interest and attracted so large an audi
epce. sThcre is something IN the cir
cumstances of this debut said the secre
tary, which renders la Signorna Miriam
both piquante and romane,qne; herfathe
is Jew. who, forsooth. piqnes hlmsel
upon his Hebrew morality, and wishes It
marry his daughter to IA fellow of mer
chant. instead of allowing her 10 becom
the Terpsichore Of Sicily. Such des
tiny for girl, whose steps express tn
very poetry of motion, would be too shock
i,g! The gentle Jes>ica herself has hat
soul enough to spurn the dull monotony o
abonrgeois life; she has quairelled with al
her family, cut her commercial Corydo'
and appears tonight in search at once c
celebrity and IA protector
"Diavolow answered or rather soliic
quized the ambassador, arranging at tn
same time the curls Of an admirably bull
wig. ''rhe girl must have spirit;
should like to introduce her to an Englis
audience, provided she would accept c
me as her compagnon du voyage. Their
would be something quite oriental, patr
archal, in being loved by gentle Jewes
and the poetical name of Miriam, tool
But see, the curtain rises, and the bale
begins" And the ballet did begin wit
its pastoral scenes and canvass vine
yards, and in came the shepherds an
shepherdesses with their crooks and ga
lands Of flowers, (the only ruralities i
their composi'ion,) and danced, and grin
aced, and made love, after the most az
proyed and orthodox theatrical fashion
. and at the third scene, in came the Ion
expected Miriam, a tall, dark haired dan
self, sen bergere,' with the grace of Tag