, 1872-12-15

banl-yau1t may often be Justly called !; q palms.
| taklng' BUSINESS But does it stand the test
which HamMts self imposes? Says he: "There
BE- players, that neither having the accent Of
Christians mark that, Mr.. Barrett-ss nor the
| led and beloved" etc. "Accent Of Chris
tians"-that's the phrase. nlr. Barrett avoids
ranting very we'll, but on tho other hand, he
conce;7es Hamlet to be decleimer, gentleman
who had been finished off by noted elocution-
ist, and who spoke by rule, sir. Thus h1r. Bar
rett delivers himself Of "To be, OF not to be, ~
and of sfOh, that this too, too solid flesh would
down in McGufrey's High School Reader. He
| has them pat-the circum1ex, the rising and the
falling infections, the high and the low pitch
! He understands that expressions Of tenderness
anger, to the falling one. He knows what to do
| with the 'saspirated tone" and where the ssgut-
| tural quality" comes in, especially the latter.
| But we're his words spoken in the accent OF
such tones? Can Mr.. Barrett give an instance
Since this vas very fair defamation, it was ro-
spectfully listened to, but it touched no chord,
for it was Mr.. Barrett speaking d piece, not
Hamlet talking. There was 3 little applause
from aIoft.
ness most commendable quality, and it would
not be unpleasant to listen to him, if he would
only free himself Of some distressing peculiar
ities. It is true that Hamlet was ''fat and scant
o DTEALQ. E0HE IL 10 IGIEOn LQak BaT-
rett should gasp ont his words when he is talking
to the Ghost, md in ssme OF his subsequent
| speeches. First, ho rushes at q sentence at
lightning spsed thsn be gets breath With
A1cGuffey says It's all right.
Neither with 0pheEin nor with his mother can
he assume the 'saccent Of Christians" In both
places his soul is supposed to be torn by passion,
but his manner Of expressing it e1cites no emo
ton in his hearers. It is sometimes necessary
for lawyer to go to the Police Court. A friend
gets in petty scrape, or client has to un-
dergo q preliminary examination. 1t is not
dignified place to VISIT but, when one
| is there, one should make the best Of it, by
studying the queer faces and the queer occur
rences which to be found. and in that
| place, with all its vile accessories, it's sawdust
| floors, dirty walls, foul smells, and uneavory
crowds, have heard soma of the most admira-
heard IN my lie I remember once, when a
drunken trull vas brought up for Judgment,
blear-eyed, staggering, half-naked, and not
ashamed. She had q little girl with her. The
duty: to send the mother to the Bridawen for
hundred days, and put the girl in some asylum.
Then, stretching out her skinny, dirty arms she
burst into 3 torrent Of supplications and en-
treaties. It is useless to give the words: they
gate voice. She was Irish. She belonged to
race quick to feel emotion, and not ashamed
| to express it. I was elbowed, by q
policeman on one side and reporter on the
other. One laughed and saidit was the old game,
| and the other wished the Judge would shut her
up. But I, closing my eyes and shutting ont
the vile surroundings, heard only the wild and
thrilling appeals Of mother not to be separated
from her child. IT was no longer driswold
King Philip of her darling boy. I sat, thrilled
through and through with that keen pain which
we nearly all experience whom We listen to
the utterances OF heart-broken grief, when
IL f..n i
1926, 11r. Clerk !" Mrs. ORourke, alias Con-
stance, broke out into a food Of curses that
hackman could have rivalled, and away went my
illusions. Mr. Barrett could have spoken to his
mother thus; he might htnothave been applauded,
for when We are deeply touched We are
not given to hand-clappings, but
nearly all present would have felt that he YES .
man convujsed with passion, not an actor de-
claiming some lines. So when JanauscLek, fran
ssJoseph! Joseph !'-
"As II her soul In TINT word she would oupour,"
it ia not the actress who speaks. All, no, it is
the loving and deserted woman, and, suffering
with her, we shivcr with pleasure mixed with
pain, and forget to applaud, since, for the mo-
! ment ne feel it is true.
Going home, the other evening, noticed at a
street corner man and woman, both plainly
dressed, he holding her wrists with one of his
apparently unwilling to attract attention, but
my hands, want to go home" Simple words
enough, but the suppressed passion which
animated then, made them maFg;nif.
stopping, II Hamlet could hare but spoken
thus when trying to e1tricate himself from Ho-
ratio to follow his father! But no! He sticks
to the s'guttural quality and abjures the
time, Of that gloomy and psecu]iar voice, used
alike to friend and foe, when greeting the play
ere, OF when mocking at Polonius. The Man Who
Lost His Breath, relates how, to relieve his per-
ple1ity, he learned 1letamora by heart since in
the accentnation OF that drama the deep gut
tura1 WAS expected to reign monotonously
throughout; and to every question put him, re-
Piled in his most frog-lke and sepulchral tones,
Eith some passage from his tragedy, What he
from choice He has given us very
perfect Hamlet Of the elocntionist, but he has
not given us q man "much wrought upon. and
perp1e1't in the extreme" When he tells Opae-
like ferry-boat, and busters at the poor girl,
but with never q trace Of nature about it. One
finds more reality in mock-auction room, where
they frequently act very well. During this
whole scene with Ophell0 WAS forcibly remind
ed Of the the amusements Of ingenious youth,
to-wit:
Dig small hole, lutte the sides with clay, End ELL
it with mixture Of whiskey and water-pretty
atifr. Then catch frog. and put him therein.
After a little while he viii become most fran
kAIdlAS VI AAn~ i- WILL 1AAAP baCn AlaA 1o1tA$ Ao
will stand up on his hind legs and try to turn
handsprings, and he will talk-..ye gods, how
he will talk PIN his own peculiar voice. Of
course.
regret to state that this WAS constantly in
my mind during that scene, and though strove
hard to Danish it, it would not out. And to
make matters worse, there ran through my mind
that dismal chorus which Bacchus and Xnnthia
heard as they crossed the Styginn ferry:
"Brekekekez, coax, coax"
In word, Mr. Barrett's performance is good
OF it's kind, but the kind is not good. It is good
recitation, good defamation, good eloe1tion, but
be be dissatisfied with comedy, where he has
done SO weN2
Mr. Driscou received orders from Mr.. Aikon
to play King Claudius, and he obeyed Were
Mr- Aiken to order him to paint portrait, or
his heart would not be in it. Mr..
Driscou, like many others who acted in
Hamlet, may do excellently we'll in lighter plays,
and do not mean to insinuate that be is poor
actor because he fails Is Claudius. IT he can
make comedy as funny Us he occasionally does
tragedy, he is an acquisition here. When the
sRevi7al " is over, We may have chance to see.
THE 1,ardast hit which this cnnnterfait nf Kim