Friar. 'Twas you that did it!-O thou wicked prelate ! -- Secretary. Alas! good priest, And scorn'd the warning that thou wouldst have given. [Exit Friar and the Secretary of State. The Ladies Archb. I'll speak no more, from this accursed hour. My lips are seal'd in adamantine silence; Yon marble statue of departed worth Is not more silent on its pedestal, Than from this time am I. Count B. Take me away! Since I have miss'd the guerdon of my purpose, I am grown reckless of all penalties. Hew me in pieces, lop my limbs away, With pincers rive my quivering flesh, and pluck These visionary orbs from out their sockets; I can endure them all! Archb. 'Tis a vain brag- But let me speak no more, lest my unguarded tongue [Enter Friar, followed by the Gipsy Woman, drip- Friar. O horror, horror! never tongue nor pen Began to reel and stagger in his woe, And presently his head did smoke; anon Here properly the drama should have ended; but the author, conscious of his strength, changes the scene, and introduces the queen again, but in a mad state, followed by her ladies, wringing their hands. "Queen. I had a lover once-where is he now? But I have lived to see him burn indeed.. "The law of our nature," which thus induces her majesty at once to acknowledge the truth of the gipsy's predictions, and to accuse the old woman of having rendered her incredulous, every man who has had any experience of himself must have felt, and cannot but be alive to the simplicity and beauty of Splendora's address to the doctor's Cassandra. But we must come to a conclusion. The extracts which we have so largely given will enable the public to appreciate the merits of this extraordinary performance, and we trust and hope the sale will be such as to induce the author to favour the world soon again with some new effort of his impressive talent. Whether "The Fatal Unction" is calculated to succeed in representation we cannot undertake to determine; but we do not think that any sound critic will admit the objection as valid, which Miss Dance made to it when it was proposed to her to undertake the part of the gipsy, namely, that no lady would consent to stain her complexion with umber, and therefore the piece never could be properly performed. We think, however, the experiment might have been made, and Miss Dance, in the part of Splendora, would have been a most lovely and interesting representative, particularly in the mad scene, for, to use the words of an eloquent theatrical critic in the Edinburgh Correspondent, "Who, that saw Miss Dance in Belvidera, can for a moment hesitate in allowing her pathos and fine feeling? and so true were they both to nature, that we shall venture to say, hers were not feigned tears-who, that beheld her in that arduous part, will deny that she had a voice of great extent and compass? The mad scene was terrific and heart-rending in the highest degree; and the ineffable smile of insanity which she gave, while she fancied that she had Jaffier in her arms, and the strangely changed tone of her voice on that occasion, were certainly never more happily conceived, or executed with more distracting effect." By the way, we should here mention, that the other day, in a certain bookseller's shop, we heard a professor in a university, not a hundred miles from the college, say to a gentleman who was speaking in raptures of Miss Dance's poor Belvidera's smile, "What did she go mad for?" To think of any man in this enlightened age asking "What Belvidera went mad for?" and that man, too, not a professor of divinity!! Blackwood's Magazine. THE MISERIES OF SOLITUDE AND TERROR. SOME few years ago, one of the prisoners belonging to the outgangs, in Norfolk Island, being sent into camp on Saturday, to draw the weekly allowance of provisions for his mess, fell unfortunately into the company of a party of convicts, who were playing at cards for their allowance, a thing very frequent amongst them. With as little resolution as his superiors in similar situations, after being a while a looker on, he at length suffered himself to be persuaded to take a hand; and in the event, lost not only his own portion, but that of the whole mess. Being a man of a timid nature, his misfortune overcame his reason, and conceiving his situation among his messmates would be insupportable, he formed and executed the extravagant resolution of absconding into the glens. Every possible inquiry was now made after him: it was known that he had drawn the allowance of his mess, and almost in the same moment discovered that he had lost it at play; search upon search was however made to no purpose. However, as it was impossible that he could subsist without occasionally marauding, it was believed that he must be shortly taken in his predatory excursions. These expectations, however, were in vain,. for the fellow managed his business with such dexterity, keeping closely within his retreat during the day, and marauding for his subsistence by night, that in despite of the narrow compass of the island, he eluded all search. His nocturnal depredations were solely confined to the supply of his necessities;-Indian corn, potatoes, pumpkins, and melons. He seldom visited the same place a second time; but, shifting from place to place, always contrived to make his escape almost before the theft was discovered, or the depredator suspected. In vain was a reward offered for his apprehension, and year after year every possible search instituted: at times it was considered that he was dead, till the revival of the old trade proved that the dexterous and invisible thief still existed. In the pursuit of him, his pursuers have often been so near him, that he has not unfrequently heard their wishes that they might be so fortunate as to fall in with him. The reward being promised in spirits, a temptation to which many would have sacrificed their brother, excited almost the whole island to join in the pursuit ; and even those whose respectability set them above any pecuniary compensation, were animated with a desire of hunting in so extraordinary a chase. These circumstances concurred to aggravate the terror of the unhappy fugitive, as from his repeated depredations he indulged not the most distant hope of pardon. Nothing of this kind was, however, intended; it was humanely thought that he had already sustained sufficient punishment for his original crime, and that his subsequent depredations, being solely confined to necessary food, were venial, and rendered him rather a subject of pity than of criminal infliction. Of these resolutions, however, he knew nothing, and therefore his terror continued. Chance, however, accomplished what had baffled every fixed design. One morning, about break of day, a man going to his labour observed a fellow hastily crossing the road; he was instantly struck with the idea that this must be the man, the object of such general pursuit. Animated with this belief, he exerted his utmost efforts to seize him, and after a vigorous opposition on the part of the poor fugitive, finally succeeded in his design. It was to no purpose to assure the afflicted wretch that his life was safe, and that his apprehension was sought only to relieve him from a life more suited to a beast than a human creature. The news of his apprehension flew through the island, and every one was more curious than another to gain a sight of this phenomenon, who, for upwards of five years had so effectually secluded himself from all human society. Upon being brought into the camp, and the presence of the governor, never did condemned malefactor feel more acutely; he appeared to imagine that the moment of his execution approached, and, trembling in every joint, seemed to turn his eyes in search of the exeHis person was such as may well be conceived from his long seclusion from human society; his beard had never been shaved from the moment of his disappearance; he was clothed in some rags he had picked up by the way in some of his nocturnal peregrinations, and even his own language was at first unutterable and unintelligible by him. cutioner. After some previous questions, as to what had induced him to form such a resolution, and by what means he had so long subsisted, the governor gave him his pardon, and restored him to society, of which he afterwards became a very useful member. SCENE AT THE Siege of CORINTH. He wander'd on, along the beach, |
