Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-11-21


| And away 10 the deep sea harvest the stalWar
! Ieapers go,
kindly sight and hearty word they Will
| give to him who lies
! Where the clover springs, and the heather
| blooms, beneath the northern skies.
ROssi's and Booths HamIet-A
Comparison.
| Lucy Cooper's Paris Letter in Appleton !
| JOurnalI
PARIS, October 19.-The greatest ART
event Of the past week has been the first
appearance of Signor R0ssi as Hamlet, ="
at the Sale Ventadour. It has been
said that no italian, or, in fact, tie ma.
tive Of no southern cline, could ever adj
equstely persOnate the royal Dane.
Something Of tue Teutonic or Anglo
Saxon element appears TO be necessary
to the nature OF him who would fifty
embOdy this greatest of Shakespeare's
characters. Still less does it appear
probable that he who can TersOnate
"Othello" grandly would succeed as
"Hamlet.D The result merely showed
how false such precOnceived ideas may
prove. have never bean so fortunate
as to witness the "Hamlet" of Signor
Salvini. But with the refined, poetic
and scholarly presentation of Booth /
have long been familiar. Nothing could
be more unlike Booths conception Of
the part than is that of ROssi, and yet
both bear evidence OF the closest and
most thoughtful study, aud both are full.
" justified by the text, thus proving
how complex and msDy-sided is this
perplexing and fascinating character,
TIE Hamlet" of Booth is a refined,
dreamy, philosophical parsonage,
delicate il nature to the verge
Of effeminacy, nervous even to
Mysteries, shelteriDg his excitable, sensi-
tive nature behind a feigned madness
that becomes half reality. But the
"Hamlet" Of Rossi is really and pitiably
insane. He comes before US in the first
scene bowed beneath the weight of woe
too deep for words; ne scarce finds greet
ing in the listless depths Of his misery
for his friend "Horstio," and only the
tidingsof the appearance of the "Ghost"
have power TO arouse him from his aps-
thy. In the scene with the "Ghost" he
is more thrilled with terror than touched
with that fine spirit of yesrning tender
meas that made Booths cry "I'lI call
thee .fdtherm 50 exquisitely pathetic.
But nothing could be finer than the
gesture wherewiIh he flung aside the re-
VI llS anu
turned to follow the spectre, in grand
scorn OF death or Of terror. Like Booth,
he falls PROSTATE IS the "GhOstn disap-
pears, and in the wild and whirling
words" wherewith the act concludes,
we catch glimpse of the catastrophe
that this awful revelation of the hour
has brought to pass Hamlet" is mad.
Like some stately column overthrown
NV on aaTfhnnoHo hiS TNnhIo mind Iica
shattered before US, wrecked by the con-
vulsion that has hurled the moral world
around him into chaos. HencefOrWard
throughout the tragedy in the wild eyes,
the pale, haggard face, the speech that
varies from miIthless mockery to fiercest
passion or deepest woe, may be read the
story of his distraught brain. Read by
this light, $50 be or not to be-" be-
comes the wall of tortured soul, seek
ing vRinly for rest and willing to rush
forth to win ii, even through the dead
portal OF suicide. In the words 40 die,
to Sleep" might be heard the passionate
yearning of the breaking heart and
burning brain for the slumbsr that |
knows 40 waking; but with the utter |
ance Of the line ''To sleep-perchance to |
drsam,n came the swift shuddering re- |
coil that show what manner of visions |
haunted the restless couch Of the hapless
prince. His interview with "Ophelia"
Is touched with intensest pathos. He |
graves her prayers as one lost in an abyss
u hopeless misery. He bids her Ego /
ler ways to 8 nunnery" as q refuge from
1 world that is but one scene Ofsngulsh.
He has, indeed, forgotten that he ever
owed her. What have such fair visions
10 love and tenderness and welded joys
% do with the world of horror wherein
be dwells? He has truly wiped away
vi 'trivial, fond records" from the
able OF his memory, only to inscribs
here one &ll. consuming remembrance.
n the play sceDce he crouches at
'Ophelia's" feet, toying with her fan
md peering from bsnesth it at the
King" and Queen" and in the last
rand outburst-
Why, let the stricken deer go weep!
e shivers the frail toy Of ivory to splin-
ers in his convulsive clasp. The scene
With his mother formed one OF the
randest points in the whole PERSONA
iOu, though his cry after Staying "Polo-
Jus" OF "Is't the king?n lacked the
cree, triumphant tone OF exultation
therein Booth used to give it. But the
'enzy Of his terror at the appearance of
he "GhOst," and the pathetic tender
ess wberewith lie besought his mother
} repent
Confess yourself to heaven!
epent what's past, avoid what is to come,
ERE beyond description. In the scene
18th the grave-diggers and the struggle
the grave of "Ophelia," we prefer the
sntler "Hamlet" of Booth. But in the
st act ROssi was grand beyond the
over of rivalry. With che shadow Of
lie coming doom darkening over him, [
2 makes ready for the encounter with [
Laertes." Profoundly mournful was {
lie delivery Of the Words
lou wouldst not think how i'll aII's here {
about my heart; but ii is no matter. +
I'd from the very depths of prophetic I
ophecy he utters the famed and beau I
ful spesch- /
If it be now, it's not to come, etc. {
is fencing is model of grace and skill. s
e changes fOils with "Laertes" in a q
1itt, graceful way, that renders the z
bstitution perfectly natural. After L
g revelations of his dying adversary, C
clutches the foil halfway down the v
7de and smites the liking" with this o
iprovised poniard, after forcing to his t
IS, with fierce, irresistible gesture, the v
Use ned chslice- il
brink of this potion. Is the union here? C
follow my mother! o
lie group st the end of the tragedy was Il
culiarly interesting and impressive.
2 tottered to the throne, and there, on a
e raised dais-king az last, if but for g e
dominates the scene of 81
rnsge and towers triumphant in death @
owe his fUes. As his last words drop n
;eTing from his lips, strain of fsr-off il
music announces the ap- o.
bach OF "FOrtinbras." And then ii
ne rect Is silence"-the powerful frame "
by the "potebt poison, !" the q
adow of death sweeping ACROSS the II
BILE features, and the curtain desceuds lie
on one OF the greatest dramatic i'm r!
Of our century. Ia