[127] Same
[128] Same
This article is followed by “Notices of the Acted Drama in London”[129], the second of a series of sixteen articles which ran regularly, January 1818 to June 1820.[130] These are decidedly interesting,—even thrilling, if such a term may be employed,—in that they approach with contemporary assurance names which dramatic legend bids the present day revere:—Mr. Kean, Mrs. Siddons, Miss O’Neil, Mr. C. Kemble, and others. The first of these articles (January 1818) states: “our fixed opinions are few;” ... but continues further that one of these fixed opinions is that “it would be better for all the world if he (Shakespeare) could be thought of as a poet only—not as a writer of acting dramas. If it had not been for Mr. Kean, we should never have desired to see a play of Shakespeare’s acted again.”[131] As for Desdemona,
“The gentle lady married to the Moor!—
“If we had been left to ourselves we could have fancied her anything or anybody we liked, and have changed the fancy at our will. But, as it is, she is nothing to us but a slim young lady, in white satin, walking about on the boards of a Theatre.”[132] The writer of this article furthermore reminds the public: “we shall ... always have more to say on five minutes of genius, than on five hours of dulness.”[133] And—“It would also be desirable for both parties, if our Edinburgh readers would not forget that we write from London, and our London ones that we write for Edinburgh.”[134] The second installment, February 1818, of these dramatic notices, comes down to more specific criticisms.—“Perhaps we were more disgusted by this revived play, the Point of Honour, than we should otherwise have been, from being obliged to sit, and see, and hear Miss O’Neil’s delightful voice and looks cast away upon it.—Though they have chosen to call it a play, it is one of that herd of Gallo-Germanic monsters which have visited us of late years, under the name of Melo-Dramas;... It makes the ladies in the galleries and dress-boxes shed those maudlin tears that always flow when weak nerves are over-excited.”[135]
[129] Ibid., V. ii, p. 567
[130] Ibid., V. ii-vii
[131] Ibid., V. ii, p. 428
[132] Same
[133] Ibid., V. ii, p. 429