The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-01-21
FRIDAY MORNING, JANUARY Fl, 1876.

with levity this fashionable canon of the
hour, we should be sorely tempted to class
it with that solemn demand for the unities"
which, during its sway, menaced the exist
ence of the noblest monuments Of dramatic
genius.
1t may seem a rash avowal, but 1t eases our
mind to hazard it, that the imitatiye arts will
be most perfect when left most free. 81
have ever held" cries the good old vicar,
{" that the virtue that needs constant watch.
ing is scarce worth the sentinel" And We
will add that he who cannot let his Gown
discretion be his tutor" will scarce mend
bis pace from critical beating.
AS an instance of what stage reform has
done In the interest of correctness" let US
turn for moment to Booths Hamlet. The
fiery and impetuous Laertes comes before us
as lymphatic Dane in blonde wig. The
courtiers RosencraniZ and Guildenstern ap-
pear in the simple costume of their age and
natiop. The noble Horatio- soldier, scho-
lar, and gentleman-schoolfello compan-
ion, and bosom friend of the Prince-ob-
serves 80 decorously the proprieties of his
station that we see him, as no doubt he was,
mere feudal follower-half peasant, half
lackey. In Polonius we have sudden
transition from the one extreme to the other.
The old interpretations gave US buffooD.
We now have the precise and sedate Lord
Chamberlaine. The Polonius Of Shakespeare
is neither Of these, but vain, garruIous, in
quisltive old man-full of wise saws and
modern Instances developed Osric; one
who has caught the form of the time and
outward habit Of encounter. The key to his
character is best found ln that charming little
antethetical passage, which he generally
blunders over and then skips.
"Tne best actors 10 the world, either for
tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, PASTORAL
comical, historicalpastoral, tragical.histori-
cal scene individual or poem unlimited
Seneca cannot be too heavy nor Pautus too
light. For the law Of the writ and the
liberty, these are the only men,
The fates be thanked, however, the gentle
Ophelia is still spared to US, and for that
sweet remnant we will forgive the despoil-
ing "correctors" all the rest. True, 1t is
possible that in their jealous onslaught
against anachroDisms they may ultimately
rob her of the white lawn of the nineteenth
century and the flowers of a semi.Eropical
CLINE. But by that time they will, happily,
have refined the drama to the point of ex.
termination.
In the last stages of its excellence we hope
to see the melancholy prince in the correc.
guise Of blonde Norseman, white.eyed and
semi-savage, Fiat aud scant of breath" from
swigging Rhenish, and indolently foregoing
all custom of exercise. Then, too, we shall
have Richard III. who shall indeed be de-
formed and ill-visaged-a sort OF Quilp Plan.
tagenet, without the suavIty of the junk-deal.
er's manners. Othello will bid q long fare
we'll to lamp-black and burnt cork, for the
immutable principle must be asserted that
the leading character Of drama, like the
hero of an Epic poem, SHOULD always be
white man"
Julius Cesar will "make up" in red hair,
and with wart on his nose, while the con.
siderate devotee of correctness will insist on
a slight change In the text in order to let the
audience know that Calphurnia was "no bet
ter than she should have been." For what
are the uses of the drama-aye, what in.
deed-unIess it teaches historic truths?
In sober sadness, dear Dispatch, Is not the
time we'll nigh on Us when the marvellous
creations of Shakespeare must be banished
to the closet? Under the Influence of this
refining process, how much longer can even
that arch.magician Booth keep these dramas
Oh the stage? WAU-zEE.