Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-04-30
JOAN OF ARC.
Miss Dickinson's Lecture AZ the Opera
HOuse.

Miss DicEdnsOn's Lecture at the Opera
HOuse.
Miss Anna Dickinson de iveTed her lee
ture, Joan Of Are" last night to a very at
tentive and 2 very well entertained audi
eBce. In this notice it is not our province
to c]riticise or 20 point specially the excel
lencies or defects Of her treatment Of her
most happily chosen subject. For a
woman, of the culture, habits and inclina-
tiOns Of Miss Dickinson, there is, perhaps,
no character in history better suited either
10 her taste or inclinatiOns to treat before a
popular audience Of the present day. In
doing so the audience is primarily interest
ed in clearly hearing what she has to say.
For this in some parts, for the average
acoustic qualities Of halls, Of which the
Opera House is no exception, her utterance
is a little too rapid. When, how
ever, she means to be impressive, size is
powerfully distinct. The entertainment
She offered last night was exceedingly
pleasant, and received the tribute of rapt
attention, sometimes interrupted by hearty
applause.
The fair speaker herself is personally
pleasing, and both herself and her subject
secured the rapt attention and the uDdivi-
ded swell done" of the audience. The
lecture viii be repeated tonight, and We
would be gratilied to see the Opera House
filled to hear a great historical character
described as probably 10 other living person
can describe 1t TO sight and ear. 1t Occu-
pies an hour and forty minutes in the de-
livery.
Miss DickinsOg's me hOd Of treatment
was descriptive and not philosophical. She
cOntented herself with tracing 50 far as she
could within the limits Of her time the life
Of Der heroine, and she failed IN the fire.
quent digressions which she made to rise
20 the plane Of lofty thought. Miss Dick
insOn seemed to find but one lesson in her
fIvOTite'S history, and that was that man in
all ages has commonly been unjust to
women. As for the manner Of the lecture,
that approached more near to perfection
than any other address which we remember
70 have heard fall from her lips. 1t was
freely marked by passages which were
simply beautiful, and often her sentences
aud phrases were mad by . combination
OF words that fell unsteady upon the ear.
1t was in her pathetic passage, We thought,
that her strongest power lay.
She wa sensibly affected whenever she
came TO describe any incident sad or trying
that befell her heroine, and she impaired
some portion Of her emotion to the many
listeners seated before her. She held at
t]enJion, too, and this it seemed TO us she
did by the clcaruess and picturesqueness Of
her narrative, aud her evident sincerity and
-carnestness Of purpose. She is not a mere
platform orator, who is content to collect
facts at leisure, and weave them into taking
discourse, merely for the sake Of winning
fortune. She has a far higher ambition
than that, and she permits it always to
color her speech.
Il Is impossible to too highly land Miss
Dickinson's demeanOr IN the earlier part of
the lecture. When she first began to speak,
aud indeed for the greater part Of the even
ING, her reserved manner, her temperate
gestures, and her di~spassionate tones con-
tributed 10 make impression on the aU-
dience which was more pleasing than she
usually eXerts; but as she began to enter
more earnestly into illusions regarding the
present Time, she brought back tine bitter
tone, the pert manner, the spiteful gesticu-
latiOn which characterize her less happy
moods, and instantly it seemed to us that
though her audience smiled at her remarks,
her influence with it was manifestly shaken.
To our mind, il was when she put a curb
on her disposition to say spiteful things,
and cOntented herself with describing in
her fine way the difficulties and dangers
and intrigues which Joan was forced to
meet and overcome, that she was likely to
succeed il demonstrating to her hearers the
fitness and ability Of women to occupy
higher positions than they are for the most
part able 10 obtain.
Miss Dickinson is an eloquent woman.
She is so wrapped up in her theme, and in
tense in IFS development, that she pays no
heed to the bursts Of applause thai greet
her, but talks right through them. Her
English is amOdel Of force and precision.
Miss Dickinson has painted a picture Of
the wonderful French m~aidenthat will GER
tainly never be forgotten bythose who have
heard it: She has caught the character and
portrayed it magniicentlv. The p%Ortraiture
{ full Of genius, and the delivery Of the
exquisite lecture was one of the most i'm
FASHIONED and stirring efforts of sustained
~eloquence that we ever listened TO. At
times she kindled into a blazing heat, the
audience, in spite or her, breaking out into
a storm Of cheering under the thrilling in
spiration of her elOqUence,