The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1881-06-30
Mistakes of the Stage.

A blunder committed by a supernu-
merary may give an actor much annoy
ance, but a mistake made by himself is
even more provoking. Mr.. Cooper "a
nee performing in the character OF Vn-
ginius. After. stabbingh his daughter to
save her from the pointing touch of APP
Plus Claudius, Virginius stands over her
dead body, holding aloft the bloody
knife. Appius commands his lictors to
seize him. The frenzied father shrieks
out, in tones of desperation
fIf they dare
To tempt the desperate weapon that is mad
With drinking my daughters blood, why let
them.
Thus
It rushes in amongst them!
Way there, way!" d.
Then dashes at the advancing hctors,
he cuts.his way through and escapes.
By some u-naccountable freak of the
tongue, however, when he. heard the
command of Appius to seize him, in
stead of exclaiming, s'Thus it rushes in
amongst Them" he yelled out, in the
most intense rage, ssThus it mushes in
arungst themp' and dashing off the
stage, left the audience convulsed with
irrepressible laughter.
In the same play, when the female
slave, instigated by Appius Claudius,
makes oath that she is the mother of
Virginia, Virginids brings his daughter
forward, and, appealing to the citizens
in the Forum, exclaims:
SIS this the daughter of a slave? I know
IT'S not with men as shrubs and trees, that by
The shoot you know the rank and order of
The stem; yet who from such a stem >
{ pointing 1oith scorn at the toonadn)
Would look for such a shoot?"-
laying his hand tenderly on the head of
his child.
In delivering these lines the tragedian,
Mr.. John r. Scott, with great earnest
ness and feeling once made the following
strange transposition of the closing
words of the text:
''Who from such a shoot (pointing to the
sooD1dn)
would look (taking has daughter by the hand
For such a stem?"
Then followed a dead silence. The
actor was quite unconscious of the blum
der he had made until a slight demon
stration from the audience gave him an
impression that something had gone
awry, when the sternness of his features
gradually gave way to an unmistakable
smile, and the whole house, performers
and all, burst into an uncomfortable fit
of laughter: ssa.~ 80 al
I will venture to add yet another Incl
dent of a somewhat similar character.
In the tragedy of Macbeth" when
Malcome's army is een approaching the
castle. one of the officers of the usurping
Thane rushes into his presence crying
out, s'There is ten thousand when
he is cut short by Macbeth's contemptu.
GUS and indignant exclamation of Geese,
villain?" to which the messenger replies,
eSoldiers, sir" Now, on the occasion
| alluded to, the man came on in hot haste,
and said, s"There is ten thousand
when Macbeth, turning fercely OF him,
cried out, 'Soldiers, villain?" No.
said the messenger, IN a tone of Devil
derment; "no, no. Geese, sir" An6
then the two actors stood staring at one
another In blank dismay, while peal or
peal of laughter burstfrom the audience,
In which the tragedian, unable to pre-.
serve his gravity. at last joined. Order
having been restored, an attempt was
made to go on with the scene, but the
first line to be uttered by Macbeth being
In reference to the affrighted appearance
of the messenger, followed by an indig.
nant inquiry as to who the soldiers were
it was too muchfor both actor and au
dience; the laugh recommended, and die
: not cease until the curtain fell.
IA comical effect was once produced BY
Charles Kembie Gas Shylock,) by trans
posing unconsciously several letters il
the phrase, 'Shall I lay perjury upor
my soul?" and making of it, ''Shall
lay surgery upon my poll? No, not TO
Venice!"