Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-04-06
LADY OF THE LAKE
SCOTS Immortal Poem Reproduced
on the Stage.
WITH ALL The IRAPPIyCS OF ART
A American Party Of Tosrisss Witsess
the Play In Scotland. aud Oas Of the
Number kseites the Ludicroas and
Serious lneidents Of ls.

A summer evening in beautiful old
Edinburgh. The streets are filed with
. vast concourse Of people strolIing
idly up and down. The walls are cov-
cred with playbills advertising a dra-
matte production of Scott's Lady of the
Lake, with scenery painted from ma
ture. and Mr.. Murdock ~ Roderlck
Dhu. Large autographs Of the gentle
man represent him as q shaggy, swarthy
giant, who from, his expression has just
been che wing aloes. We had Just been
over the county where the scene 10 laid,
and one lady Of the party expressed .
wish TO see the play. We stepped into
carrisge at the Waverly Hotel and
were driven down Princes-st. past the
beautiful gardens, and then up Lothian
road around the base of the Castle rock
to the Lyceum Theatcr. The lady in the
box Office evidently sized me up for Jay
Gould or Rockateller. for she asked me
with a deferential air If l wouit have
an amphitheater stall.
allow much are theyv l asked with
as opuient an Air as could assume.
'sThree pounds, seven and six pence
EACH" she replied, reaching for the
tickets. When could breathe again [
informed her that something a little
less altitudinous III price would do Just
as we'll. "Perhaps the dress circle
would suit you," she suggested. Sup
posing that a dress circle was dress
circle all the world over, said that |
thought 1t would. She laid down the
tickets and said: "One pound ten
EACH" l asked if there were any
cheaper seats. '.Oh yes, in the second
ampitheater, the prices range from a
crown down to Is pence" We took
second ampitheater.
Remains nj Former Elegance.
The interior of the theater showed
the remains of former elegance, but its
glory had departed some time before.
The high-priced stalls were narrow com.
partments at each end of the first gal.
lery, separated from each other by high
board partitions covered with dingy red
upholstery. The central part of the first
gallery was the dress circle. The place
was tlronged, but there was a scarcity
Of dress goods that was almost alarm.
ing. The view from where we sat was
like glimpse into Mahommedan para
disc or an over-populated Eden. The
scenery on the stage WAS superb, but
the orchestra was decidedly rocky. The
dialogue and songs of the play were
Scott's noble lines unmntilated. The
scene opens with the meeting of James
Fi:zJames with the fair Ellen Douglass
at the foot of Loeb Katrine. Ellen was
. noble looking girl, . little too large
for tlmid maiden, and James, with
his curly whiskers and fancy hunting
costume, looked like medieval dude.
The second sceue shows boa. sweeping
down the loch "from far Glengyle,' q
and as it approaches splendid chorus
sings the boat song to stirring martial
air. Bold Roderick Dhu and his clans
men true step ashore. Ellen's Isle is
his stronghold, and Douglass, the out
lawed earl, is there i'll hiding. Muir.
dock, as Roderick, is superb. Hi;
physique is grand, his voice command.
ing, his bearing impressive. His imper,
sonation of the fierce, ungovefnable
robber chief was almost fauitless,
Standing in his chieftan's bonnet, his
dark tartan plaid thrown gracefully
over his herculcan shoulders, with dirk
in belt and broadsword on thigh and
his powerful limbs showing beneath his
Highland kilt, he stood the perfect EN-.
bodiment Of Clan Alpin's naughty
leader.
Food for the DeisArtians.
If students of Delsarte and actors ir
general would only learn how thin the
line of dcmarkation is between the ex-
pression commonly assumed by dis
gruntled and baffied williams and that
involuntarily assumed by all pei sons in
the middle stages of sea sickness, they
would employ it with great caution, foi
by so dong they would take less often
that lamentabIe and disastrous step
from the sublime to the ridiculous. Tc
return to the play: Young Malcolm
Graem. ElIen's lover, drops IN, rs lover:
often do, and while he is there Rod
erick proposes for Ellen's hand, where.
at Ellen weeps copiouslv and says she
cannot love him. Old Douglass says
that Ellen's word goes. and then Rod
erick's heart cracks in twain. lie grips
the old man by the hand and is about
shed a tear on his shoulder when he
catches sight of young Malcolm con.
ducting the fearful Ellen out of the
room. The chief flies into passion
and grapplcs fiercely with the Graem.
Dirks are dawn and the outlook il
good for coroner's job when Douglass
interposes. Roderlck saorts with rage
boy he would scatter him all over ten
acre lot. Malcolm is 90 mad that he re-
fuses 10 stay all night a. he had intend.
ed. He goes out, plunges into the lake
and swims over TO the main land where
he spends the night bare-legged and
alone among the blackberry briars on
the rugged slopes of Ben Au. An aged
minstrel, old Allan Bane, manages TO
inject considerable of lie art into the
PLAY. Allan was harper from
lTarper's Ferry, but his voice wa.
badly cracked and there were several
rusty places in his larynx. These de.
fects were painfully apparent when the
old man would pour forth his soul in
fifteen or twenty stAnzss. and several
Of the audience. who were better &C.
ausinted with the play than myself
would 90 out during these intervals tc
fortlfv themselves with " Mountain
Dew" popular brand Of Highland
whisky.
Spelling for . Plight
Roderick is spoiIing for fight, and
concludes 20 declare war against the
king. The scene Of the fiery cross Wa
weird and thrilling On lofty erss
jHtting out over . Wild and lonely gler
stood Bran, the Druid priest. before =
rock-aewn altar. A slaughtered gos'
lay on the FIRE that burned with . lurld
fame. The priest was tall and bony
his face was ike parchment drawn ovei
skull. and bic eyes CLEANED wlidls
through q tangled rnsss Of slvery hsi'
and heard. He pronounced the mean
tation and the eurse, and ss the deep
hosrse roar, "Woe - the traitor
woet" echoed up from Clan Alpine
gathered in the glen below. the effeci
vas powerful and thrilling. The ter
Genes adea On Seventh r.xes