The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1865-03-07
PROLEGOMENA.

TIE FATE OF SELFISIINESs.
PROLEGOMENA.
I'VE horrid towers, the abodes of broken hearts.
Ye dungeons and ye cages Of despair,
There's not AN English heart that would not lean
10 hear that We were fallen at last
Was the indignant and impassoned aros.ro,bo
Oh Cowpcr to that national bSt, the French Bast!le.
and the prophetic poet lived To ses,a stor,pel'
sacked, RACED by the peoples cannon and with h.,
people curse and Its cIIacated prisoners restored
to Tue glorious light OF day and the refreshing ar
OF heaven. He lived, too to hail this (apayentIyl
first instancnt Of freedom to an enslaved AMI
down. trodden people; to witness this portentous
warning, from an Infatuated and brutazcd mob,
that patience may be too severely tried, and that
long suffering has its limits and he lived alas, =.
mourn the rcproachfui exclamation, from the seaf-
told, OF the murdered Madame Roland, realized 70
'ne very letter. US to the craes perpera.ed in the
sacred naIae of liberty. "Thc people," 4 saws
Votarc, sarc;tsticaly and truly, care always tie
people ;; from the common cry of Guns that hurled
CorIoiamis into punishment; the lnobs, led On by
Jack Cade and Wat Tyler, thi. burned abbcys ana
butchercd bishops; the drunken buchanan, TIA,
tore Dewitt into pieces; the cowardIy Cantjng
rufans, that hooted and sI.at upon their martyr.i
monarch down TO The ror popuit that cheerci the
atheistcal demagogue, WlIks; "hoOraycd" Oraxr
Hunt; yelled at their brave defender, the Gyc.,t
Duke, and hlssed IN the fury of their rabid rat-
ctaisni, the author Of WaveIly but Of all the "pno-
pie" that ever shouted their emulation in the
l. J, ~
ParsaD patriots, who treated Their feflow-ciiizen;
with n peep through "the national window" (tls
g'uotinel and Illuminated their street lamps with
aristocrats from the provinces' SO alrolty, how
ever, did they mngle the Sanguinary with The gro-
tesIue In their terrible tabeaux, that shtlddenns
horror and fendish mcrriment went hand i'll hand
and Burke's tiger and monkey danced grim mi.
nuct to the delight Of the Sans Cuottes Of the Rue
st. Antoine and the sickening disgust of humanity
The French Revolution has been long considered
subject Astounding in dramatic materials; all is
historians bear witness to details alike remarkable
for then Intensity and contrast-thelr novelty AMI
pictuies4ueness.
Tue adapter has only to select and abridsc-tle
rest is ready done to his hand; but whore there age
many dainty dishes set before him, ana tie drl-
matte banquet cannot make room for them all, the
task OF selection is by means an easy one. Tur-
tie and VcnlSon, saddles OF pork and partridge ps
sa'Hi lie gibicr ar t,njS, rot az cent ne p,da,-
cites, roast and boiled turkeys, so,pe dc gaes cot-
ictfes 9'Honmf9 barren of beef and ph.iu uiliuc
all crying like the Kissing roast st,cking-pgs IN
Ben Jonson's bartholomew Fair, =" to8,c, cat ne!
came, eat me :" might even pose AmYhitryon anI
puzzle Apicus.
However powerfully the novelist, b. his une-
Gua!icd INCORPORATING, may have depicted III sc Al
ralinlS times, the histlomc art, aided by its pictu
rescue auXlarleS-scenery, mechanism and Co.'S
TUNES, not forgetting music when it can he got
ten)-appeaio still more rresistiby 70 the eye and
to the ear. The biack-iookinG, ierocouS red
capped raS2Lluiiins, grinning and chatter.ng like
monkeys, only, as the British bulldog says, a.
deal wctouscr.' and dancing the CarInagnole (tla
Sans Cuotte carantj Ct. ira" III honor OF St. tul-
lotine, the Vengeance Of Dickens's tale Of IvJ
Cities II hirsute, hel'-begottcn bag, Drawing,
disappearing and beating her dreadful dunn; the
terrible tunlbrels with their pale victims; the dlk,
dog-hole dungeons Of the Ab5aye and La Force ,he
red scatiold and its cleaning; knife; the cracked
bell Of the revolut. nary President; the go Z.
La"teine" Of thcvecferoUs galleries. TIE travelling
g1ndstone to sharpen swords and choppers, and :b5
plkes gaIlanded with the tIi-color and crowned
upnrfC-all these fro
the stage brings before us with marvellous reyl-
sl!nilltude and effect; and the dramatic gournand
who, after good dinner, would sup full OF horrors,
shall be toasted to his appetite's content.
There is all important difference between what
may be called Il party drama, in which section Al
tecks section, and patriotic one, III which all sec
tons are united against common tyrant las III the
case Of William Tell, &c( The author Of the an
Robespierre" as ground i'll the above event which
avoided all objection, Robepierre being te tyra1:
against whom all parties were united-both the ex-
lied noble and she imprisoned patriot.
To place him most forcibly before an audience.
and at the same time to realize of the most
striking features Of his career, the author has So
lccted for the action Of his story two separate days
OF the Revolution, respectively illustrating It's gay
and its gloom-the first being the Jacobn Festival,
on the 10th of August, 1898, when Paris was III
volvcd IN deilIurn OF enjoyment with It's tra'cr
nlty and Equality, Its B0ulcyardS and It's tali-
rooms ard the second, that Of RobespicTre's tau
nearly twelye-month aftcrward, when the Iialgn
of Terror al its height. and the Revolution, u
the words of 'Falhon, "had become game Ill
which men played for their lives"
To this statement the author has now only 70
add that, III drawing the character 0! kobcsPierr'
he has been guided by the chief authorities uioh
the Revolution who all agree III considering hun :"
IN instance Of gigantic esotism; as man shc
having been despiScd from his outset Tor ms aHIv
mental and rhysica! powers, made his whole care.
Il revenge of wounded vanity. One who pres ntta
this distinction, that while some embarked IN t-F
contest like the dirondist', merely to eotabl'a
liberty, and others, like D;tnton and lIcraut t.
obtain wealth and pleasure, he only desired power
5 means OF indicating mind which hld D'th
all sides moderated! With this view, the trtIsF
he supported in defending France from her invaders
became a mere faciie instrument 20 accomplish HIS
own end-,hat Of sweeping oil his personal ahi''s'
nsts; and the same vanity which inspired hm -
save his country, III order to place himself al a's
head, induced him, Of course, to remain there .e
she Was saved by the use of the system IAt'
policy explains at once his despotism and it ieLl
button he experienced when, ut the height 0i III
ambition, he was destined 10 receive the e.ecF'.'"
OF his country instead Of Its homage. HheL So"
matiZCd on al sides as tyrs.lt and murltieit o..
teset by daily threats Of ASSASSINATION he al i,i
became victim to the very terrors he had li'''''N
upon others.
Thus, his history is essentially dran.'it' s',e
the moral Of bis story is less a political .ll
cial one, exomplifyine, rs 1t does the lSe'''''e NV
Of selEshness.
To dwell, for the moment, under The 'orF'd s'-
Of the guiiiotne; 10 listen 10 tie bt.S ~ l1"o
tots OF unclaimed tigers ard devils, aEd y ~
over oppression and sorrow, from which "c' otsi
with equal laws and ltwabidinS ~nd ;'i s'n
Government, are happily exempt, &c, ~ ii'S ~ ~
tho stern lesson thus written III the hiV>N -
grateful hearts and with increased al Jolt,
c: injustice and tyranny that could So l''l.1,.'
transform Gods once glorious image me- SEi''~
for which " he'll blows Wit. its fires
BAAl.AD. ....--Miss INb" 49,
To conclude With the new Farce u