The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1849-03-20

postlC art the world mas pfoouceu. we were;
therefore, more than uncommony anxious to hear it
read by one whom many consider the first ofliving
actors. We must admit that we were disappointed.
1t may be that our expectations were too great that
Mr.. Macready had, by his fine reading of Hamlet,
led us to imagine that he possessed yet higher
powers, which might be developed in Macbeth.
Throughout the play he seemed to be making an eff
fort his spirits did not appear to accord with the
work he was engaged in. His mind seemed to be
performing task-not to be giving out the sponta-
neous eflsions of an inspired and untiringly soar
ing genius. 1t was only at rare intervals that his
soul seemed to take fire and give full meaning to
the magnificent conceptions of the divine poet.
The only two scenes in which he did full justice
to the poet were that between Macbeth and his
wife, Immediately after Duncan's murder, and the
conversation between Malcolm, Macduff and Rose,
when the latter tells the thane of Fife how his wife
and babes were savagely slaughtered. The hest
tation of the good Rose in communicating the
news was finely delineated, aid the effect of the
information on Macduff was well manifested. La
dy Macbeth was made to appear in all her strength
only during the interview with her husband after
the murder; the supernatural powers of the poet
excited for while the actors kindred spirit, which
seemed during the rest of the evening, to be in
eclipse.
To read Macbeth well, requires genius, not only
Of the highest order but of the greatest versatility
The reader must be able not only to render the
feelingsa passions Of human beings, but he must
also be able to enter into the shadowy emotions and
ndefnable sensations of those dim creations of the
poet that hover between men and women, between
humanity and mere spiritual existence. Mr. Ma
.l,,h oa of
to give to the witches of Macbeth their entire sig
nifcance. He made us feel, on Saturday evening,
the magnity of these strange beings but he failed
to convey their humor which so materially adds to
and heightens their deviltry. Like the laugh of
Mephistopheles in Faust, the humor of the witches
as wierd as their outward appearance, curdes the
blood and freezes all the noble sympathies Of our
nature. Shakspeare's habit of contrasting the
tragcal by contact with the comical, is no where
more strikingly shown than in the conversation of
the witches; and cannot be better illustrated than
by the first witch in the third scene of the first act
"A sailors wife had chesnuts in her lap.
And mounched and mounched and mounched -
aro;nt Aes sSiteSl the mmp-fed ronyon cries,
But in a sieve III thithsr sail.
And. like a rat without tail,
III do, IL do, and III do
To make an audience comprehend this passage
would task to the utmost the powers of Garrick !;
the artist, rightly to pronounce it, should be under
the inspiration Of the comic muse fully as much as
the tragic. Mr.. Macready has never, to our know
ledge, displayed any great power for comedy
Hence his failure in the Witches.
But there were several Of the human characters
of the play that Mr.. Macready did not succeed in
conveying correctly. Banquo did not appear to us
as Shakespeare represents him-the personification
of common sense-the acute observer, the intelli-
gent thinker, the man of fancy without the higher
faculties of the imagination. That such is Ban
quo's character may be readily seen in a few pas
sages. Imagination is wanting to him, particularly
the superstitious imagination for he is little moved
by the witches on the heath and thinks their vati
cinations idle and Macbeth's faith ridiculous. His
acute observation, his wisdom and his great fancy
are shown in these several passages:
-"Ths guest of summer
The temple; haunting manet: does approve.
Smells wooingy here: no jatty, fneze, buttress
lis pnsas q aas they
Most breed and haunt, have observed, the air
Macbeth says of him:
-" IT'S much he dares
And to that dauntesS temper of his mind,
He hath wisdom that doth guide his valor
10 act In safety.
How homey and yet how fancful his remark:
- There's husbandry in heaven.
Their candles are all out"
1t was particularly in the scene on the heath,
where the witches appear to Banquo and Macbeth,
that Mr.. Macready failed in depicting Banquo's
character. He made Banquo as much agitated
and terrified by the witches as was Macbeth The
poet keeps Banquo comparatively unmoved; he
Il.
tiers; but the thane of Glams is so startled that he
cannot for some moments sufficiently command
himself in order to speak to the supernatural hays
1t is only when the witches are about to retire that
Macbeth finds words to stay them. True, it de-
mands extraordinary powers to pass from the deep
tones of the witches TO natural and human tones !;
perhaps still greater efforts to forsake the heated
and supersttious brain of Macbeth and take refuge
in the cool, collected understanding of Banquo
We hardly expected even Mr. Macready to effect
such things fully and completely +; but we did look
for finer execution of the third in the first act
than was given us on Saturday evening.
The Lady Macbeth of Mr.. Macready was not
what we anticipated It was by no means equal to
that which Mrs. Charles Kean gave us two or three
winters ago. The letter from her husband was
well enough read the " great Gamis ~ with which
she grees his return, and the thoroughly ambitious
and aspiring nature manifested by the "Greater
than both, by the all hail hereafter" were given
with much force but the intense feeling and ina
gination of
Tx. ss have pss a1' aHG %i S bcw
The future in the instantl'
were not adequately expressed. More justice was
done to the remorse which seizes the Lady
towards the latter part of her life; or we should
rather call it that relaxed dependency which must
ever attack woman who has committed so horri-
BILE crime and has not the active occupations that
enable men to keep their consciences from trou-
bling them. The celebrated "We fail,' with
which Mrs. Siddons was accustomed to give her
hearers SO deep an insight into Lady Macbeth's
character, was very inadequately pronounced by
Mr.. Macready. He uttered these words in loud,
strained treble. They should, we think, be pro-
nounced in rather low, suppressed tone, in order
to express the perfect confidence of strong soul,
and the rather unjustifable-yet altogether wo-
manly-contempt with which Lady Macbeth re-