Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1849-1856, 1850-08-08


imagination Of The spec a,or, they make Of
a fiction a reality. give material existence
to the dream of the pet and the painter.
and breathe life into the sculpiured forms of
ideal beauty eave US no time, nor viii,
nor power to wonder aud admire at the
skill that produced them, so spell bound are
we with their intense actualiiy and vivid
being and il is no, ill The curtain is clos
cd upon Them, and We are withdrawn from
thoughts 10 Il G head that conceived, and
I e hand that executed them then, and
not ill then, we vent onr wonder and de-
'isht in broken and inadequate expressions
Of praise.
Such was Mr.. G.. VandenhoI's Macbeth
on Saturday evening and, carried away as
we, and all who heard il, were At he time,
we are at loss how to ana'yse and con-
yey our Impressions. The performance
was neither, entirely, reading. nor quite ac-
ting the artists method combined the ele-
giant ease of the drawing room, and the
grace of the gentleman, with the illusion OF
the stage and the power, without the ex-
aggera'on Of the actor nothing was " ov
erdone," nor come tdrdy off !" and we
believe that, asa whole and in lis details,
the play was more fully interpreted by this
Ira IN rpa1nn haar,nt ha INN
one educated and enthusiastic min than
we have ever seen i, rendered on the stage
by the combined but dislointed action Of
sereral unsympathsing and uncongenlal
representatives Of the several characters.
Vandenhof has one extraordinary facul-
ty which, as dramatic reader, he possesses,
we think, pre- eminenlly; it is the power Of
painting to the eye, and individualsing TO
TO The ear; by gesture, by expression of
face, sometimes by glance Of the eye or Il
turn Of the head, he puts a who'e Sceneim
Of people before you, and you see and hear
, them, assign them locus IN quo, and
watch the revealing Of their different mU-
,ives, characters and passions as pllpally
as if they severaly and Individually stood
and Lreathed and acted before you, We
observed this in his reading of ihe Trial
Scene in the Merchant Of Venice on Mon
day evening in which ShyIock, the Duke,
Poriia, Basssanio, Antonio and Gratano.
were all separate and distinct indiviluali-
ties. 1T was no less remarkable in the
Macbeth on Saturday evening. The am
bilious but waveriug Thane, and his bold
minded, gully wife APPEARED in terrible
distlnctness /; and Il cir different sex, char
acteristics ani idlosyncracy were never, for
a moment, forgotten. TLis is a poaer of
self abstraction, as well as a facility and
versatility of execu'ion tha, few, very few
artists possess and yet it is one which is
absolu ely necessary to the producing Of a
perfect illusion On the mir d Of the auditor.
by means Of this, VandenhoT held his au.
dience wrap,, aud subdued TO his will
and their attention never Jagged for an in
stant III! he closed the volume.
We have scarcely left ourselves space
to 90 into the d tals of The reading. We
can only say that tho artists Interpretation
Of the character, in lis strength and itsweak-
ness, o! Macbeth-,he rude and successful
soldier of feudal age, onkndled to the
crown' by the
"All hail that shalt be king heresllcr,-"
Of the weird s,ters,--his hopes sIreng her,
ed and inila!ed by the superstition of his ma
ture -vaclIa,ing between consc ence aud am
bi'ion-hls scrnp!es overcome by the boljer,
more practical, less imaginative but
more strongly intellectual nature OF his ter
rlble iie-stalking Though treachery and
murder to the solidatng his IL
tie and his power by the b b'ood and slangh-
ter OF the lnnorcnt victims to his suspicion
and jealous fears seeking further support
from The demon who was be,raying him
trembling, and to,,erng and staggering as
the ground gives way beneath his feet, and
al last, - abandoned by the Juggling fends
that "keep the word of promise TO the ear
and break it to the h, pe"-panic-siruc
at the tearing asunder of the lying prophe-
cy in who's tangled web Of lruih-shloud-
ing falsehood his fate is wrap,, and fin
ally Tie fearful energy Of his desperate va
lour when he meets his death as a warr-
or and chief--all these onls and shades
were skiIiully rendered. In addition to
this, the delivery of the sohloques in geu-
eral and the eocdtionary beauty with which
he gave several passages remarkable for
their philosophy or poetry of expression,
is deserving OF the highest praise. Lady
Macbeth. also, was a strong and highly
wrought portrait a study for an acres S,
both in lis conception, and in the ni:e ap-
probation of the text and the bringing out
Of its dsopes. meaning. To The Incan,a-
,ion Scene Of the witches he gave pecul-
lar and powerful effect; his
Double, double toll and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble"
| came ever aud again upon the ear like the
/ III.