What's to be done?-for fomething must be done- And again, I am contented to be miferable But not this way,-&c. Let them obferve during her progreffions to madness, with what diftinct fhades fanity and reafon are depicted, let them behold her frenzy increase till the attempts to ftab her husband, let them watch the inexpreffible anguifh of her looks, while the clings to his body when dead, let them view her in her laft agonies give her laugh of horror, for having at laft efcaped from fuch inhuman perfecutors and infupportable miferies, and then while their paffions are warm, let them declare who is her equal. In Jane Shore the fame regard to propriety, to character, fituation, and fentiment is preferved. We have heard it affirmed, that the mistakes the first part of this character, that he is too full of grief, and exhibits too ftrong a picture of melancholy, but this was evidently a hafty and ill formed criticism. Glofter and Lord Haftings before he appears defcribe her fully. L. Haft. I am to move your highness in behalf, Gloft. Say you of Shore. L. Haft. Once a bright ftar that held her place on high, While royal Edward heid the fovereign rule, Gloft. Marry the times are badly chang'd with her A fhew of mummery without a meaning. This quotation will prove how attentively Mrs. Siddons had ftudied her Author, when he gave rife to the above ill judged decifion, and every fentence in her firft fcene is a confirmation that the was right. The whole character is indeed little more than a penitentiary repetition of paft crimes, as the fource of prefent misfortunes, till the fourth act, in which Jane Shore is tempted by Glofter to betray King Edward's children, and we never beheld Mrs. Siddons in this fcene, without increasing admiration. From her performance of Ifabella and Belvidera, we were convinced how powerfully fhe could infpire pity and terror, but her Grecian daughter and Jane Shore, convinced every baholder how perfectly she was mistress of the fublime as well as of the pathetic. Never were gratitude, patriotifm, and difregard of partial felfifh feelings better conceived or better expreffed, than by Mrs. Siddons, after Glofter has told her that. Hastings Haftings opposes thofe who wish to deprive the orphan prince of the crown, when she exclaims→→→ 7. S.-Does he does Haftings! Ay Haftings, 7. Sh. Reward him for the noble deed juft Heaven, She does not as we have seen others, stay to cast a look of contempt at Glofter, her whole foul is intent upon the generofity of Haftings, and her affection for her prince; all other fenfations are fo totally abforbed, and these are poured forth in fuch a rapture of dignified enthufiafm, that the fpectator forgets while the is fpeaking, the danger fhe incurs. There never was a Glofter but must appear infignificant by the fide of Mrs. Siddons, notwithstanding all his threats, while fhe fays Oh! that my tongue had every grace of speech, That I had art and eloquence divine, To pay my duty to my mafter's afhes, And plead till death the cause of injured innocence. Her fortitude if poffible increases, and becomes equal to the strongeft exertions of the strongest mind, after Glofter's denunciation of vengeance, when the thus devotes herself to mifery, rather than abandon her gratitude and loyalty. Let me be branded for the public fcorn, Turn'd forth and driven to wander like a vagabond; Upon the barren, wild, and defolate waste, Or wrong the orphan who has none to fave him. Her refignation is fo perfect, fo determined, and fo fublime, her tone of voice fo firm, yet free from rant, her action fo unconfcioufly noble, and her deporment fo void of all oftentatious felf applaufe, perceptible either in the player as fpeaking well, or the woman as acting with fuperiority, that we think we behold abfolute perfection, both in the actress and the character. It is not the declamation of study, the difplay of attitudes, or the ftride of af fumed dignity by which we are charmed, but thofe exact and forcible expreffions of feeling that ftamp reality on fiction, and make it no longer an imitation but a truth. And here we cannot but recommend to thofe gentlemen who do at prefent, or hope hereafter to perform Haftings, (as well as thofe young ladies, who fhall make fimilar attempts on Jane Shore,) to obferve with the utmost degree of affiduity, by what means Mrs. Siddons Siddons excels in this fcene. Did they do fo, we furely fhould no longer fee Haftings in a fcene, equal, if not fuperior, with refpect to writing and theatrical advantages, depend alone on the strength of his voice for applaufe; we fhould then fee thefe performers emulative only to give a fuperior energy of fortitude infead of vociferation. We fhould no longer confider them as Actors but as Heroes, when they fay, On this foundation will I build my fame, And emulate the Greek and Roman name, Think England's peace bought cheaply with my blood, We read in the papers that a deputation had been fent to Mrs. Siddons, requesting her to fpeak in a more enfeebled tone in the last fcene of Jane Shore. Whether fuch deputation was or was not fent, is not our business to enquire'; but as there is fome juftice in the cri ticifm, we fhall, for the entertainment of our Reader's curiofity, examine how far it is practicable in stage exhibition. That a wo man emaciated with extreme hunger and in the agonies of death, should be able to speak so loud, we can readily allow to be almost impoffible, and fo it is that the fhould fpeak fo much, or that the fhould continue to traverse the streets fo immediately before the dies. But these feem rather to be among the neceffary defects of imitation, in which fiction is obliged to allow its inferiority to fact, and in which the Poet and the Performer are at least to be excused if not jus tified, than of that kind that criticifm by difcovering, may reform. Had Jane Shore been shewn on the ftage as feeble and helpless as the actually was, when expiring for want of food, her words muft have been few, her action none, and her voice not audible; but the Poet wanted to exprefs her thoughts, and the Actress to be heard: to effect which, fome improbabilities are perhaps inevitable. We will grant, however, that the weaker the voice, the more natural is the Player, provided fhe be entirely heard; but this is the first confideration, and to this every other must give place. In the Grecian Daughter Mrs. Siddons difplays the nobler paffions in a ftill more eminent degree: the characteristic virtues of Euphrafia are fortitude and filial piety, and of these the gives the ftrongest and most permanent picture. To cite every paffage in which he is excellent, would be endless; but there are two in which fhe rifes fo much above expectation, that not to note them would be unjust. The first is when the supposes her father murdered by Philotas. And doft thou then, inhuman that thou art, Here will I dwell, and rave, and fhriek, and give In the recitation of this fpeech, Mrs. Siddons is fo perfectly what fhe defcribes, fhe raves and fhrieks in accents fo piercing and fo loud, that the Spectator fupplies all the other circumftances: he imagines all Sicilly actually hears her, and that he fees her standing on the cliff in madefs and defpair! The other is in the fourth act, where Dionyfius requires her to draw off her husband Phocion and his powers from the fiege; to which the replies, Think'st thou then So meanly of my Phocion? Doft thou deem him To melt away in a weak woman's tear? Her manner of faying Oh thou doft little know him, conveys fo confummate an idea of an elevated mind, that every one who hears her is perfuaded she is perfectly capable in real life of acting the part the here only perfonates, and they admire the woman even more than the actress. When we fay every one, we would be understood to mean every one of those who are themfelves fufceptible of the like fentiments. We fhall pafs over her agitation while fhe fears Philotas has at last betrayed her father, and the manner of her ftabbing the tyrant, as we must many more beauties, and make a few observations on her in the Fair Penitent. Nothing, perhaps, gives more permanent fatisfaction from Poet, Painter, or Player, than when they perfectly affume the manners of the perfons they reprefent; and in this Mrs. Siddons is particularly happy. Her look, her step, her geftures, vary with the character. In Ifabella her behaviour is meeknefs and refignation to unmerited misfortunes; in Jane Shore lowlinefs and contrition for past offences; in the Grecian Daughter that true dignity which a confcious ftrength of mind and rectitude of action 'naturally infpires, is every where prevalent; and in Califta that haughty affectation of being above controul, which a deviation from virtue ever produces in a great but proud mind. She walks with greater precipitation, her geftures are more frequent and more violent, her eyes are restless and fufpicious, pride and fhame are ftruggling for fuperiority, and guilt is in the contraction of her brow. We think however, that in her fcene with Horatio in the third act, the night we faw her, fhe fell into an error by no means ufual with her; the difcovered too much rage in the firit part of the scene, and thus formed an anticlimax : but perhaps this was cafual. Her general performance of the part is fuperlative, and the fpeech where the ftabs herself is above defcription terrible in the utterance. It is immediately after the entrance of Horatio, who comes to tell her of her father's death. And doft thou bear me yet, thou patient earth? you; This Parricide fhall be thy plague no more. Thus thus I fet thee free, So perfect is her conception of the infamy of her crime and the horror of its confequences, and fuch is her deteftation of herself and of the ruin fhe has induced, that we think it impoffible for an inno cent female to behold her agony, without feeling an additional dread of the like fin; or if fhe had begun to cherish vicious inclinations, not to be terrified from putting them in act. It is no hyperbole to fay we congratulate the nation on the happy effects that are likely, at least for a time, to follow from its being fo much the fashion among thofe of high rank to attend the performances of Mrs. Siddons. That they were degenerating into that laxity of manners which ridicules the ties of conjugal obligations, and the dictates of felf denial, is too notorious to be difputed; there is now, we hope, a probability that they may be roufed from their lethargy, We cannot close this account of her characters without noticing the affecting and capital stile in which she plays the mad fcene of Belvidera, and of this nothing can be a better proof, than when in the midst of her phrenzy, the breaks out into a laugh, we fee the audience always burft into tears. The reality of her maduefs must be thoroughly impreffed upon the mind, before laughter can incite à fenfation fo different as that of weeping. The manner likewife of her pronouncing the exclamation oh! in all paffages where the paffions are violently agitated, is one of her most marking beauties, and peculiar to herself. Let us conclude with a few general obfervations, which may point out to others the errors they are liable to, and the excellencies it is their duty to emulate. We have before fpoken of the attention which Mrs. Siddons pays to the manners, and we repeat the obfervation, to fhew the neceffity of this attention by its effects. All who excel as Artifts, Poets, or Critics pay the ftricteft regard to confiftency, and the production of a whole. Whoever neglects or flightly regards this, is in continual danger of offending. The idea of a whole must extend itself as carefully to cach diftinct part of a performance, as to the work collectively. Incongruities give difguft in a proportionate degree as they deviate from truth and reality. The Actor who at his entrance is feen to ftare about, or even to take what he may fuppofe an unobferved peep, that he may examine how many of his acquaintance he can difcover in the pitt and boxes, lofes fight not only of character but of refpect, and deferves a fevere reprehenfion. Yet this is done at our theatres every night with an astonishing affurance. Whatever reminds the Spectator that he is at the playhoufe, and that Rofincraus and Guildenstern are not the school-felfellows of Hamlet, but two filly youngsters who have taken up the profeffion of an actor, because they are idle, and not because they are ambitious, brings to his remembrance feveral disagreeable circum. ftances all at once, and infpires him with a portion of contempt for Meffieurs Rosincraus and Guildenstern, of which were they aware, they would certainly behave with more propriety and caution. Nor is this cenfure aimed at or confined to individuals; the fault is common, that there are but very few who are not fometimes guilry of it. This evil is of the fame fpecies with that of the Actors perfoENG. REV. Vol. I. Mar. 1783. nal |