The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-12-01

and sing the praises of deaf Beethovcn's Pro
netteo!
/ To La Scale went the travellers and it wa
there they had new revelation of Italian char
| acter.
The opera was good, but our friends had seer
it better performed in Paris and in Munich
so, while they waited for the ballet, they coulC
| glance around and study the character of thu
house. The Whitecoat was everywhere sprin
killed., and the pale, pain-lined face was every
where seen, but they no more mingled togethe
than will oil and water. Helen observed then
curiously, and saw, with half-shudder, the
awful gulf that gaped between these two-tht
conqueror and the conquered. 1t was terribly
ominous revelation to the innocent girls heart
the possibility of tyranny so absolute, producing
hatred so intense. Whitecoat sat him dowr
here and there, where he pleased, as the master
should, contempt and insolent disdain in his
gesture and in his twirled moustache. Scorr
and pride and disdain in his muttered curse, in
his laugh at brother Whitecoat's ear, in the
clank of his sword, and the scowl of his brow
Yet Whiteeoat was not easy in his seat; the
slave could still avenge himself; for never was
proof of hatred, dread, and loathing, more di
rectly given, than manifested on those dark
pale faces, in their every look and action. Did
a Whitecoat sit near a Pale-face woman, she
shrunk away, and drew her dress closer to her
as if serpent skunk by, or ghost walked past
Did one stare, she would grow pale, nervous
try to avert her face, and seem to have palpable
recognition of the evil eye. And ever on those
pale, pain-lined faces walked there languid
weary smile, yet smile SO made up of con
tempt, so dark, so malign, so vexatious, that
Helen fancied she would rather have scorpion
sting her on the cheek, than face such smiles as
those. Worse than all, they seemed to seek to
restrain these smiles, as if dreading some con.
| sequence from them, but yet, spite all their
| efforts, unable to do so, so deeply were their
hearts filled with this contempt and scorn and
loathing.
| Presently, Helen began to notice that the eyes
of three especial persons were on her, intenty
gazing.
| First the eyes of a Whitecoat sitting near, a
red-faced Colonel, to whom Tokay was nc
rarity-pride, and insolence, and cruelty, and
truculent suspicion, cleaning in his twinkling
eye, in his swollen face, in his martinez erect
ness, in his wheezy, pompOus breathing, and
the trowsy penthouse of his gray moustache.
Second, an Italian, his face paler than the
pale, his black hair long and wild, his large
| eyes full of lurid light, with brown hollows un-
derneath them, his hands nervous and tremu-
| lOus.
And these two gazed only at Helen. But the
everything in the house. Him Helen confessed
to herself she liked least of any, and dreaded
most his stare.
An Englishman, perhaps forty years old, red
and white in his colors, check in his dress, gen.
| tlemanly In manner and shrewdly keen in look
Why did not Helen like him? His color was
fresh, horid-hs manner manly; there was
perhaps soupcon of dissipated habits in his
dry lip and in the redness of his eyes, but
nevertheless he seemed "wel born English
man." Why did Miss Beale experience such
aversion for him? Was the repulsve influence
seated in that impudent I" stony British stare, "
so strangely alternated with a furtive sort of
uneasiness, seeming as if he were in dread of
some disgrace, some peril, and hated himself
because capable of yielding to THAT dread? Was
it because of the chance look she now and then
saw flashing out from his eye-a look full of
Lee.. so~-eL, l-..4..;-- :-.-li: 49,. a. ..I anL,I.
watchfulness? She did not know, she could
not analyze her feelings, but, from the first mo-
ment, she associated him in her mind with a
hSena-called him softly, to herself, Hyena,
and thought of that beast, cowardly and def
ant wasting its strength in search after offal
and in robbing Of grave yards, and craunching
of dead mems bones, by night The image took
possession of her, and she could not Danish it.
Vexed indeed was she at its recurrence, and
still more at q subtle consciousness that Hyena
watched her ever; that he was somehow aware
of her loathing, and-which most vexed and
alarmed her that, when he looked at her,
there was something came into his heart which
prevented him from being Hyena, so long as he
did look.
Number One, sitting slightly in her rear, and
to her right, flung his insolent glance around,
bridled himself up continually, and, while his
breath came thickly, and with jerk and
wheeze, like a suppressed eructatlon, seemed to
say to himself, looking at her Potz tausend :
fraulein worthy my handkerchief The Herr
Colonel might perchance make worse Sc
lection of a mistress to grace his Danubian
Schloss Vas gum Henker her eyes pierce
clear through lapels, mazarin, and padding
One of the high-thinking Goddesses, she
Number Two, seated just in front of her, and
in the first tier of the loge, twirling noiselessly
what seemed nosegay of three flowers in the
palm of his hand, seemed, as he gazed at her,
to soar away in a lyrical dream, entirely lovely,
and entirely unsubstantial
Number Three, standing against pillar,
within easy reach of the whole group, nearest
to Merivale by Helen's side, but where he could
touch Number Two, seemed to watch all
Number One with contempt, Number Two
with pity and scorn, Merivale with--a frown,
| Helen with-suppose we say, a sob.
an interest she took in watching these three,
and she was still so engaged, when, the Opera
finished, the entr' expired, the curtain rose
upon the Ballet. Now, indeed, she could not
fail to look, for it was new emotion to her,
| this "poetry in action" for which Milan is so
| Justly celebrated. 1t was sort of rose-colored
rendering of GAS You Like It," under the
name of "Orando Rosalinda," and though
the plot was not Shakspeare's, though not a
word was spoken, and the whole affair was de-
| lghtfully artificial it could not fail to charm.
| The immense stage, the maze Of figures, the
magnifcence of dress and scenery, the lyric
passion of the music, now wild and fierce, now
low and wailing, now triumphant, exuting,
victorious, the exquisite harmony of the dances,
and the acting, which seemed to say more, to
| give its meaning more accurately and intense
| ly than words-all this could not fail to en-
trance. Not only Helen was enchanted, but
the audience also, till they were strung up and
| ripe for one of those sudden madnesses which
The Italians call tinOre, and which we have no
| synonym for in word or act, as likewise we have
| no limit to the expression of our wonder at be-
| holding it. And it came.
There was a scene between GidcOmo {" the
melancholy Jacques " and Rosalinda. With
a pirouette, a lively gesture, and strange vivaci
ty and expression, they argued about the land
| from which they were banished. Jacques was
hopeless; he did not wish to return thither
tyranny ground it down, the spirits of the PEG
pie were quenched-all so plainly acted, that
they seemed to hear him say to the land:
"Caduta e la ,ua goria-e moi vedi!"
Then, how the woman flung off her light frivo
Gus air, how passion swelled in her limbs, fash
ed from her eyes, painted under her bosom, in
formed her with the port and majesty of sybil