Litchfield enquirer., 1871-02-09
! The Last Days of pon,,e,, :.

The excellent representation of the ssvictims,s 6y the Washington Dramatic and Literary Aseo- ciation which we attended few weeks since! er- couraged us to face the severe weather and tfav- cling of last week to see the Last Days of Pom. peii. ' By seven P. M.. the hall was full, Then canne several sleigh loads of out-of-town people whom It seemed pity to turn away, yet who could not De comfortably seated. About fifty persons more than the hall should have held suc- ceedsd in cramming themselves into it and about as many, we ara informed, were unable to. gain admission at all. Tie aisles were of course filled with extemporized seats one or two of which were little too high, and, where an audience IS placed on level floor, two inches extra night in seat, or even ady's tall hat, may cut of twenty people behind from fair view of the stage The Manager tried to compose matters by little talk from behind the curtain Che offered measles in the family" as an excuse for non appearance: in reality he was in costume as Arbaces and of course couldn't come out permatursly). At last every one was seated or "down" in some way, and the performance commenced.
 The play is founded on Bulwer's novel, varied considerably to suit the exigsncies of the stage. During the three hours of it's performance the in- terest never Jagged and the audience, squeezed as it was tan annoyance which we are assured will not again be permittedj, looked on with an increasing interest to the last To our inexperi- ence the acting seemed excellent throughout; but Arbaces decidedly carried of the palm. Mir. Gum looked and acted the grave and powerful part of the Chief Priest of Isis magniAeently Our inn pression (formsd on performances witnessed rko r0Qc that auh in -acting-but his rendering of Arbaces was not open to that criticism. Nydia, Ione and the Saga of Vesuvius were all admirably acted. Talk ing matters over; our Litehfeld party differed as to which of the female parts was best sustained, and we shall not risk an opinion. Mrs. Burbo al- so deserves very favorable mention Regarding the maleiparts after Arbaces, there was nearly as much difference of opinion among us. Some crit icised Glaucus for want of fire; but our own opin- ion of his acting was quite favorable. He looked the part admirably, and his style suited the char acter, though there was unquestionably occasion al lack of force. The part of Calenus seemed to us we'll done, except that at the close his indig- nation at Arbacss was hardly equal to the oc- casion. The play-writer often sacrifices his subordinate characters to the more important ones, however. that our criticism in this regard may be undaserved Lydon performed, very creditably, difficult part that d1d not altogether suit him. We must no. neglect Burbo, who brought down the house oftener than any other actor. He over-did the yawning trife, but his snore was the most powerful thing of the kind we have heard for nearly twenty years-since, to be more specific, we roomed at the Mansion House, for few weeks, with gentleman who then adorned the medical profession among us.-On request of lady ofour party we further report that a Pompeian gentleman with an eye-glass (whose name we forget) acted erquissteEy. Y. :,
 The scenery, the costumes. the statue of Isis, the thunder lightning, eruption of Yesuyius, &c.. were so good that we wonder how the Association managed to prepare them all. We have no doubt that it's Manager appreciates to the full that lighter, quieter performances suit small theatres and amateur actors better than heavier, harder. theatrical work, but an occasional eruption of the Pompeii kind certainly does turn out success.
 We were pleased to see how we'll these enter tainments are patronized. There must have been not far from 400 people present; s107 was taken in; and the ,oalking was much better tha J cthe sleighing. as we can testify of our own personal knowledge In all, over dozen Litchfeld people were seated near us, and there were probably others scattered about the Hall. -'@-@
 If space permitted, we should hko to add something about the good effect on a community of well organized system of entertainments. Americans show less judgment in this than in any other respect. It is our firm belief that if there were more Farmers Halls in the country, there would be less mischievous gossip and less drunkensss. Music, dancing and the drama caE easily be made to promote good morals as well as good manners, and we hope that the Washing ton Dramatic and Literary Association will prove the pioneer of many institutions of that kind.
 . . WASHINGTON. -r.H
 As there has been some boasting over fat pigs in the County, we send the weights of one SOW and litter of Dios eioht in