The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-06-19
THE JULY MAGAZINES.
nHARPER,R.o

BrotnerS, mas the 1oloWlnB table oil contents:
"The Mont Gents Railway and Tunnel" :"
A. H. Guernsey, with thirteen illustrations;
''Poet and Painter, Miss H. r. Hudson; ''The
United States Naval Academy" Allan d.
Brown. with twelve illustrations; "Along the
Florida Reef" (concluded), Dr. J. B. Holder,
with seven illustrations; "The Recovery of
Jerusalem, Lyman Abbot, with twelve illus
trstions; "Put-in Bay" William B. Hincks,
with four illustrations; "Anteros,p by the
author of Guy Livingstone" etc. (con-
cluded); 'Music in the Night, Mrs. Harriet
Prescott Spofford; ''The American Baron,"
by the author of ''The Dodge Club in Italy,"
'The Cryptogram, etc., with three illustra-
tions; "When this Old Flag was New"
r. H. Stoddart, with thirteen illustra-
tions; ''The Saddest of all is Loving" Miss
Laura Sunderland; "Anne Furness," by the
author of 'Mabel's Progress" etc.. ''The
Star-Spangled Banner" Mrs. Nellie Eyster;
'"The Spectre from Elbs, Benson ]. Lossing,
with five illustrations; ''The Story of q
of the Lake Region, Professor A. winchel,
with four illustrations 'My Two Lime
Trees" by the author of "John Halifax,
Gentleman;" ''Queen Louise, of Prussia,
Frances Shaw; editors Easy Chair" ''Edi-
tors Literary Record" Editors Scientific
Record" Editors Historical Record"
Editors Drawer"
The editor, from his :, Easy Chair, utters
some sound doctrine with regard to the
mounting" of plays, which we quote for the
benefit of our readers
The propriety of the modern manner of
mounting" plays at the theatre with the
strietest regard to what is called historical
accuracy was the bject of an admirable
essay year or two since by Mr.. Richard
Grant White, and the splendors of the ere
vivals" at some of the theatres, and especially
at Booths, constantly suggest the question to
those who, sitting in that theatre, await the
rising of the curtain. 'If Henry the Eighth
is to be played" asks Pistol of his companion,
''would you see his Majesty enter in Yelling
ton boots and cooked hat ? and Queen
Katharine in such dress as your cousin Kate
wears, conquering, every EVENING" If it is
Macbeth or Hamlet, will you have them in
our hats and dress-coats? And if not, if you
will have their costume such as we know that
they wore, why not have the objects around
them such as we know that they we're? The
palace of Henry the Eighth, whose domestic
life Goodwin Smith says used to be fslictousy
described by an old Oxford professor as
'clouded with infelicities,' was not furnished
with carpets and Paris upholstery. II, there
fore, you will dress him as he was, do the
same justice to his house. Let us have per-
sons and scenes as faithfully reproduced as
possible"
To this, which is the fair, usual statement
Of the argument, the friend seems to answer
that he would be obliged to Pistol if he would
describe the dress of Macbeth and of Hamlet;
aud if he cannot accurately do SO, will he say
how important that kind of accuracy probably
is if even he can not determine it? Does he
think that the other spectators will be
troubled by anachronisms and improprietes of
detail in representation if he is not? And, if
so, is not the reason this-that Macbeth and
Hamlet are not figures of history, but of the
imagination, and that although the scene is
laid in Scotland, it is not the geographical
Scotland, the land o bannocks and barley
meal, but true fairy-land, like that Shake
spearean Bohemia which is washed by the sea?
They are denizens of the realm of ima-
gination. Therefore we must discrimi-
late. Dramas that are strictly historical and
,ocal must be treated differently. Henry
the Eighth, for instance, is a clearly out.
lined figure in the fancy. His burly person
his cap and feather, his doublet, are parts OF
his impression upon the mind. The mention
of his name recalls them all. Therefore, il
the royal Blue-beard should be represented
in q summer sack of to-day and trowserl
which would have satisfied d 'Artois, we shoult
all greet his Majesty with uproarious laugh
ter. And SO with Queen Katharine and
Richard the Second and Richard the Third
The association of these persons with anothe
that some degree of accuracy in the accesso
ries is indispensable. But even this ma,
go SO far as to destroy the real effect of th,
play
Thus Bulwer's play of RicheLieu, which
must have been written for Mr.. Crummles
renowned tragedian, Folair, it is SO full oi
tedious 'gag," was put upon the stag
at Booths Theatre with the utmost study am
care. Richelieu's chamber was a reproduc
ton, it is said, of an old room in Rouen, AM
it may well have been, for in every detail i
was admirable. When the curtain rose ant
discovered 'Richelieu' sitting at his tabl
with his study lamp, the dim light obscurel,
thrown upon the recess in which was tn
heavily draped sbed, the fire burning in tn
chimney, and the massive ceiling-these ad
mirably finished details, with the careful COS
tune and withered figure of the Cardinal
made as perfect a picture as coul
be seen. A series of such would be uniq u
and delightful entertainment. It was oil
France, and this was the famous Frenc
minister. But when he spoke! What
did his Eminence speak English in his solilo
quies?
Upon which Pistol, of course, explodes
and remarks that such question is foolish
because, he says, something must be left t
the Imagination. His friend does not deny il
But he says that if the appeal is to the imag
nation, that faculty ought to be helped, an
not perplexed. Now the inevitable effect
extreme accuracy of detail in th
scene is to quicken the sense of acct
racy and propriety If there is fire yisibl
burning in the chimney, the fact of the SCI
son of the year is forced upon the mind, pc
haps rather impertinently, and it expects an
demands that every thing shall conform.
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