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5

THE EMERALD.

is suspicious of his uncle, and the ghost | ever witnessed it on our boards; but
confirms him. Thus Hamlet's excla- her tones wanted a mellowness in many
mation, when the ghost relates his story. of their inflections. The phrase "Here's
rue for you," was pronounced with a
"Oh my prophetic soul, my uncle."
wildness and distraction which thrilled
Yet he does nothing against the mur-
every one.
derer; on the contrary he even suspects
the ghost.

"The spirit I have seen may be a devil." He cannot believe it, but "will have grounds more relative." In the soliloquy, after the players had left him, Mr. Cooper was very great. The phrase "kindless villian," in which Mr. Gar rick is said to have been most exquisitly fine, was uttered remarkably well. We have often doubted, whether in the soliloquy on death, the debate should, or should not be interrogative. The commentators differ in respect to this; but on the stage, the sense seems given with the greatest force, when the interrogation is used from the beginning. Mr. Cooper we have observed has pronounced it each way.

In the closet scenes Mr. Cooper mostly excels. And from the beginning to the end, he plays with uncommon spirit and energy. His emphasis was wrong in this line,

Other parts were generally very miserably supported, excepting the Ghost by Mr. Usher, who deported himself respectably. We may also exempt Mr. Dickenson from this charge.

It seems strange that when the Managers perceive a willingness in the public to support "good acting," they should be so negligent of making their plays as perfect as possible. Mr. Caulfield might be introduced as a very respectable second to Mr. Cooper, and we understand he has no objection himIf this is self. But he has never been requested to perform by the managers. the truth, what support should they expect when Mr. Cooper leaves town?

With Mr. Downie for the King, and Mrs. Shaw for the Queen, what can be expected of the rest of the court ?

The Gamester, (Edward Moore) and the Shipwreck. Friday, Jan. 23. Macbeth, (Shakespeare) and Dermot and Kathleen. Monday, Jan. 26.

"Assume a virtue, if you have it not." The word to be marked is evidently Othello, (Shakespeare) and Village Law

assume.

"Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,

And batten on this moor ?"

We see no reason why mountain, should be emphatic. A mountain may be either sterile or fertile, consequently it is not necessarily opposed to moor. Besides the objects of the sentence are feed and batten. The whole interest of Hamlet ends in the 4th act. He is satisfied of the guilt of the king, yet he sets off for England, without punishing it; and after all murders him, by means which were not produced by his

own agency.

In Ophelia we did not expect much from the powers of Mrs. Stanley. The music of the part, in the language of Macbeth,

"is a step,

yer.

Wednesday, Jan. 28.

It has been sometimes the subject of enquiry which of the plays of our immortal poet entitles him to the greatest praise.

While some persons have answered it by one production, and others by another, Dr. Johnson has not scrupled to place Othello at the head of the list. In delineating the beauties of this play, he remarks: "The fiery openness of Othello, magnanimous, artless, and credulous, boundless in his confidence, ardent in his affections; inflexible in his resolutions, and obdurate in his revenge; the cool malignity of lago, silent in his resentment, subtle in his designs and studious at once of his interest and his vengeance; the soft simplicity of Desdemona, confident of merit and concious of innocence, her artless perseverance in her suit, and her slowness to suspect

On which she must fall down, or else that she can be suspected, are such

o'erleap;

For in her way it lies."

She however afforded much satisfaction in the character, as she personated it; she conceived it better than we

With

proofs of Shakespeare's skill in human
nature, as we suppose, it is in vain to
seek in any modern writer."
such an opinion of the play, we look
with impatience at any deficiency of re-

presentation, and with pleasure at every | not well expressed: "Lay thy fingers evidence of excellence. We therefore thus, and let thy soul be instructed"had our share both of pleasure and pain as if his fingers could be instructed. by its exhibition on Wednesday evening. Mr. Fox was deficient in his partWe have no hesitation in declaring, Cassio otherwise was decently repre that Mr. Cooper's personation of Othel- sented. But from the deficiency we lo, is the most finished of his perform- have noticed, we lost the connection The speech to the senate, was and beauties of the reflections on infinely uttered; the phrase pliant-hour-toxication, after he is reproved by 0boyish days-so many fell-had great thello.

ances.

she never can give discrimination, or force to her part. We could not hear her often, and cannot estimate what we lost, but from what we now and then collected, which on the whole was fa vourable.

effect. The brawl was not properly Mrs. Powell appeared like Desdemomanaged; Cassio and Montano shouldna; but she never does, we do not say be fighting as Othello enters, to give him an opportunity to quell them. The sentence, And to ourselves do that, Which heaven hath forbid the Ottomties, Mr. Cooper sounded as uumeaningly as if it was not an interogation. In the scenes with Iago, from the commencement where he is not easily jealous until he is perplexed in the extreme, we saw many occasions to applaud and some to censure. But the last scene was unrivalled.

Mrs. Shaw made up in vehemence what she wanted in correctness; so that her last scene, while it evinced the virago did not display the attachment to Desdemona which the poet intended. The appearance of Mr. C. on our

Put out the light, and then, put out the boards has drawn a crouded house ev

light.

was uttered with critical correctness and force of feeling. Again, speaking of Iago after the discovery of his guilt, we saw a great improvement in this passage.

I look downward to his feet; but that's a fable.

If that thou bee'st a devil I cannot kill thee."

were to

If from the whole play we select one, we think that beautiful

pas

sage, beginning, "farewell the tranquil rind! farewell content!" was the most judiciously uttered. We observed many lapses of emphasis in the course of the performance, which as they only applied to the performance this evening, we think were inadvertencies, and therefore do not notice them. We are yet to learn whether the costume of Mr. Cooper was correct. As a Moor, his religion would induce him to preserve his country's dress, as Venitian General, we question if the colour or the texture of his robes was historically correct.

ery evening of his performance.

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In the twenty and seventh day of the month Asab, there was a tumult among the people, and I turned myself unto a young man of the nation and said unto him, Young man, I pray thee tell it unto me, wherefore are these people moved, and why trouble they them Mr. Usher sustained Iago with very selves. He answering me said, Art considerable ability, better indeed thou a stranger in these parts, and than we had anticipated. We cannot knowest thou not that a Prophet is agree, however, that his readings were come among us, who doeth mighty not sometimes wrong, and his deport-works-causing the people to follow af ment injudicious; but most frequently ter him with shouts and praises and if he did not pronounce with force, he exceeding great noise; for lo, tomor shewed propriety. This phrase was row at even, he goeth up to the temple,

making his face to shine after the manner of Moses. Then said I unto the young man, Lo! where is this mighty Prophet-I pray thee show thou him unto me. But he answering, said unto me, Friend thou hast not a wedding garment, how therefore expectest thon to see this mighty Prophet.

Then I gat myself up among my kinsfolks and acquaintance, and inquir, ed of them for a wedding garment, and found it not, for I wist not that they were scarce in the land. Then considered I within myself and said, surely I will arise and write unto my friend, and he shall get me a wedding garment; for tomorrow at even will I see this great Prophet, who causeth this tumult among the people and the governors and the rulers of the nation; and I will behold him and the mighty things which he doeth, and the excel

lence thereof.

Then after I had considered on these things of my friend, I sat myself down upon a seat and wrote unto thee this epistle. And I pray thee to procure for me the necessary garment, that I may have a right to appear in the assembly of the people.

For the Emerald.

DESULTORY SELECTIONS.
AND ORIGINAL REMARKS.

=

GENIUS.

So great is the general unhappiness

of the human race, that our most suc

tations epitaphs, I conceive a wish to write under them: "As man is composed of pride and infirmities, passen. ger, you here behold them fully represented. This tomb indicates the fee. bleness, and the epitaph the pride of his nature. How just a picture is this of the character of this person when alive! Under robes of silk and embroidery, he concealed from the eyes of the world the weakness and diseases of his decaying body. A wonnded conscience, a feeble understandig, and eternal toil of solicitude and sorrows, were hidden under the mask of a tranquil countenance, and a steady and penetrating eye."

HISSING.

This mode of expressing popular disapprobation of a public speaker appears, from the following passage in Cicero's Letters, to have been very ancient.Speaking of the orator Hortensius, Cælius thus describes the success of that speaker's eloquence : "Hoc magis animadversum est, quod intactus a sibilo pervenerat Hortensius ad senectutem "it is worth observation to remark, that Hortensius arrived at old age, without once incurring the disgrace of being hissed at.

Philosophers sport with the follies of mankind: tradesmen make an advantage of them; and players both sport with them and profit by them.

THE ARABIAN'S TEACHER.

FRIENDSHIP.

An Arabian being asked of whom cessful efforts to attain the sublime or he learnt virtue?-Of the bad, he brilliant, are founded on some humilia-replied, for their wickedness inting circumstance of our nature. Most men endowed with those superior pow. spired me with a detestation of ers of mind, by which they are enti- vice. tled to the denomination of genius, are seen to possess a disordered imagination. The happiest effusions of eloquence and the most splendid productions of the pencil, have generally been the offsprings of minds not less famous for their greatness than their irregularity. Heroism itself acts on the bor-eye witness to. ders of insanity; and the most illustrious conquerers have labored under the maladies of imagination, which haunted Orestes and Hercules.

ON TOMBS AND EPITAPHS.

Whenever I cast my eyes on osten

It may in general be said of friendship, what was said by a man of wit of love, that it resembles the notion of ghosts, viz. it is a thing which every body talks about, and no one has been

EPIGRAM.

To an affected old Maid.
Tho' papa and mama' my dear,
So prettily you call,
Yet you methinks, yourself, appear
The grand-mama of all.

BEAUTY.

A lover is generally at a loss to define the beauty by which his passion was suddenly and irresistibly determined to a particular object; but this could never happen, if it depended upon any known rule or proportion, upon the shape of the disposition of features, or the colour of the skin he tells you that it is something which he cannot fully express, something not fixed in any feature, but diffused over all; he calls it a sweetness,

a softness, placid sensibility, or gives it some other appellation, which connects beauty with sentiment, and expresses a charm which is not peculiar to any set of features, but is perhaps possible to all.

ANECDOTE-THE GOOD EFFECT OF

WINE.

A young gentleman of distinction, having lost a considerable sum of money at a faro bank, was so much effected by it, that he determined upon act of suicide, in order to relieve him from his distress.

Filled with this idea, he put a case of pistols into his pockets, and proceeding to a house of fashionable resort in St. James' street, to which he was a subcriber, he ordered a room and a bottle of claret, with pen, ink, and paper. He then wrote a letter to an intimate friend, describing his unhappy state, which he declared himself unable any longer to bear, told him, that by the time the letter reached him, he should be out of his misery, and concluded with some request, as a last proof of his friendship.

Having dispatched this letter, he laid his pistols on the table, and being exceedingly thirsty, and seeing wine standing before him, he very naturally drank a glass: the refreshment this afforded him, tempted him to repeat it; he took a second and a third, and in brief four or five glasses gave such a happy turn to his thoughts, that he deferred his rash purpose until his friend burst into the room with the utmost anxiety; when instead of finding the letter-writer weltering in his blood, he saw him sitting at the table, musing with great composure.

He instantly removed the pistols they finished the bottle together, and the despairing man went home, reconciled to himself, and to that life which

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No paradox is here--plain sense decrees
Man only is at home--where he's at ease.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

ceived-if published, the name of the lady The address of Cromwell has been remust not be so easily known.

The REWARD OF VIRTUE will be

continued next week. We shall always at-
tend with pleasure to translations of inter-
esting subjects.

MONODY ON CHATTERTON that is pe-
There is a wildness and beauty in the
culiarly suited to the subject, and mates
the execution equal to the theme. And yet
MODY at the age of 12 years!
this is said to be the production of DER-

Esq. will ornament our next number.
The Biography of JOHN HORN TOOKE

For the Emerald.

POETRY.

THE WINTER BROOK.

LITTLE Naid of the wood,
Where is now thy silver flood?
Where those herbs, those flowers so
fair,

Foster'd by thy bounteous care?

"Winter hath my beauties torn, Winter, stranger, makes me mourn. O'er this frozen urn to sleep, And in crystal tears to weep. But gentle spring will soon restore All the blooms I had before ! Deign to me your ear to turn, From me this moral, stranger, learn : Age thy honors takes from thee; Winter all my blooms from me. Soon will Spring with soothing voice Bid my frozen urn rejoice. Death will soon bid thee arise, And claim thy birthright in the skies."

MONODY ON CHATTERTON.

Written by the late THOMAS DERMODY,
DAUGHTERS, of Heav'n! blest sisters
of sweet song,
Who nurse the feelings that prolific rise
From Poesy's illustrious birth,
Firing some favor'd son of earth,
And leading to his breast a portion of
the skies,

O, hither move along In pensive pace, Lead bright Imagination's seraph. throng [couthO'er the rude stones that frown unIn yon deep dell's oblivious gloom Sadly sleeps a once-lov'd youth. Ye wood-flow'rs breathe your wild perfume,

Ye shrouded warblers harmonize the gale,

Here, Autumn, fling thy brilliant bloom, And fence from wayward winds the sacred vale:

Tread soft, ye infants of the air, While in the mazy dance you turn, Tread soft-and pause to mourn, Mingling your mystic sports with sickly

care,

For Genius slumbers here!

True Genius, prompt to mount the sphere

Of Fancy, thrid pure rapture's maze,
And view her with unshrinking gaze,
Prompt to veil in antique dress
What Antientry could ne'er express,
Catch the buskin's lofty mien,
Or woo the laughter-loving Queen.
Immortal Boy, thee angels fed
With Poesy's abstracted food,
Thy bowl was fill'd from Fancy's foun-
tain-head,

Thy bowl with wond'rous exstacies em bu'd:

By Heaven's own chymic skill refin'd, Thine was the manner of the mind. Yet man ingrate thy labours view'd, Unknown from Dulness'motley brood! O! next to him whose master hand Could thrill the pang'd nerve of the heart,

Bid the quick tear of Pity start, Or Terror, shudd'ring own his dread

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ous glow!

Averse to bid neglected genius live, Say, shalt thou share the fame a Chatterton can give ?

Had he but gain'd his manhood's mighty prime,

Bright as the sun, and as the sun sublime,

His soaring soul had borne the awful wand

Of magic power, and o'er the fairy land
Of Fancy shed a new poetic race,
Lending creation to his favor'd place.

But oh! the dying sounds decay,
Ah! they fade away,
Melting, melting, melting,
Melting from the ear of day,

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