The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1859-03-26

We aro quite sure that the Albaaes of our theatre re
joiee 10 sec the name Of this b~ewitchiug actress amongst
the Homogeneous for the spring season. SIZE came
among US only a month since quite unknown. and she
had the further disadvantage of appearing in conjunction
with that popular artistic, Agnes Robertson, and in very
secondary parts. Yet, ia spite Of these drawbacks, her
rare beauty her winning manners, the air Of bon ton, an
well as her intelligent and skilul acting have achieved
for he's a leading position in her art, aud universal
popularity.
There Is a peculiar charm in the acting of this flsci
nating woman not easy 10 analyze or describe, and which
might best be defined in the familiar phrase of as caae
areya. There Is, Ina fact, such truth, facility, natural
grace, and freshness In her representations that we are
almost tempted to believe at first that some we'll bred
girl has escaped from school and run upon the
stage to tell US of her amusing adventures at Bath rs
" Lady Rodolfo, on to let us enjoy her charming efforts
10 re-unite the estranged affections OF her parents In the
a Little Treasure" So easy and unaffected is her style
that we are led away captiyes to her skilful imitation OF
nature. and are only thoroughly conscious of the delusion
50 artisticalIy p~ractised upon us when the curtain falls and
the spell is broken. Mrs. Allen is said to be quite a
novice in her difficult profession, and that this Is the first
season she has yenturod TO assume any prominent role.
If this be SO, then, we do not hesitate to predict for her
a brilliant and successful career. She has, evidently, a
natural aptitude for the stage, and playing for her is but
the simple expression of her own demonstratiye DISPOSE
ton. TO this sympathy for her art she adds an intelli-
gence that seizes the incest shades OF character and the
most subtle emotions of the heart. She has, besides, The
immense advantage OF a physique admirably adapted for
the delineation of all that is tender, delicate, graceful,
and gay in woman. Her face is a bright mirror wherein
is reflected, with wonderful fidelity, the rapid and various
phases of passing sentiment whilst her eyes are
equally infectious, whether sparkling with hilarity or
revealing in their soft and lustrous depths an irresistible
expression of pathos.
We have been surprised to learn that all the principal
parts played by Mrs. Allen since her appearance have
been not only never played by her before, but that she
was obliged to study them ut very short notice. Her
venturing to assume such a role as LADY Gay ~Spanker'
under these conditions and which she was actually forced
to do, is a proof of elf-relance. almost of hardihood.
Her failure was naturally anticipated, but, to the surprise
of her own comrades, she acquitted herself with such
marked success. MS the ardent applause of the audience
testified, that her future and rapid rise in her profession
became from that moment u matter of undoubted GER
tainty. We congratulate her on the triumphs that await
her, and which no obstacles can prevent, if her fine
natural gifts are developed by that industry which is the
Indispensable handmade to even the highest genius.
THg LITERARY CLuB.--An appreciative audience assem-
bled at the Literary Club Rooms, on Thursday evening,
to listen to the address of Joseph s. Wilson, esq on tire
subject OF the Highland Clans Of Scotland. and were entertained
with an intellectual treat of the highest order, both on
account of the novelty of the views presented, and the
energy and eloquence with which they were enforced.
Nature, in her lower forms-in her vegetable and hi
NAL kingdoms-h had always, he said, been a great teacher
She was the representative of humanity, and, conse-
~qucntly, the study of man commenced with the study OF
Nature, at its very foundations. But intellect elevated
man above the brute creation, and enabled him to con
troll those propensities to which the brute, in the order of
his life, always submitted. Reason-the power of gene
ralisation-the pursuit of truth constituted the broad
line of deinarkntion between the higher and lower orders
Of the creation. Bat intellect assumed different forms, and
presented various aspects to the eye OF the observer in
different countries, and under the influence of various
circumstances. Race was u ground of difference more
influential than even climate, laws, and institutions
and the history of the HighlandeTs, for the last two
thousand years, during which they had maintained their
nationality and Independence, had evinced the inextin-
~guishable vitality and power of the Celtic element,
which impaired to that race remarkable and heroic traits
which distinguished it from every other people. Some
thing of the formation of character was doubtless attrib.
utable to locality. The Inhabitants Of mountainous dis.
tricts, all the world over, had been distinguished for
their bold, hardy, manly attributes, while the refine
ments of civilization had clustered. in creator profusion,
about the lowland regions, and this was particularly the
case with the highlands and lowlands of Scotland.
The four hundred thousand Highlanders, divided into
fifty two clans, distinguished from each other by their
dress, their customs, and their peculiar policies, and
proud and tenacious OF these distinctions, defiant Of each
other, aud together defiant Of the whole world, when
tliIil iiSiAo WNiCl uliAASN ~ ~ Ni6AIutisikJ
cd, constituted an army of heroes more formidable than
the legions of Rome, and, If possible, more insincible.
They never had been, and they n liver could be, conquer
ed in their mountain Businesses. The union of the clans
resembled the union of the States of the American con
fsderncy. They might, ut times, quarrel with each other,
but. united against a common enemy, they were perfectly
irresistible. There was a wild love Of the supernatural
blended with their genius, a deep conviction of an unseen,
mysterious agency constantly Mt work in their midst,
which, if not religion, was allied to it, and which i'm
parted to their character a peculiar charm and elevation.
No country in the world was more fruitful in beautiful
aud startling legends of an influential character. There
was a noble development Of physical elements in the
Highlander, who gloried in N form of stalwart and al
most gigantic proportions, but, with all his strength,
mental and material, there was still a yearning after
something higher and more reliable than his own ener-
gies, and this had been supplied by the Christian faith.
The national spirit of Scotland, as it glowed both in
the Lowlands and the Highlands, had been beautifully
imbodied by Burns in the immortal song, Scots wha hi
wi Wallace bled," &c. 1t answered to the national pean
of Americans, and to the Marseilles Hymn of the French
republic. The domestic and adhesive character of the
Scot was finely represented in the "Cottsrs Saturday
Night of the lowland poet, and his truthful, trusting
spirit and tenderness Of character, in the inimitable
verses OF the same author, inscribed to Highland
Mary The vigor of the Scotch ihtellect had been
manifested in every department of inquiry, particularly
in that of intellectual philosophy. The French sophists-
Voltaire, Diderot, DAlembert-the ingenious specula-
lions of that masculine thinker, Hume, and the whole
school Of German transcendentalists had been completely
demolished by the massive systems of the Scotch meta
physicians, who, in unrayelling the structure OF the mind
and developing its proportions, had not found 1t neces-
sary to undermine the foundations of religion. The
great national poet and novelist of Scotland, Sir Walter
Scott, had done more than any other individual to impalt
a classic interest to every mountain and dell To every