Well, Sirs, what say you to our little play—
Must it expire, or live another day?
Will you permit once more our group to try
To raise your laughter, or to make you cry?
My spangled robes laid by, and waving plume,
In muslin frock my sex I re-assume;
And though in simple dress I’m now array’d,
I hope you’ll not reject a little maid,
Who sues for favour, for herself, and those,
Who, like herself, are now in common clothes.
And I assure you, ladies, from my heart,
I like my robes much better than my part;
The shining spangles are to me so dear,
I’m come to ask—may I again appear?
O! pray indulge me in this one request,
And I will strive to please you,—and be drest!
On leaving Covent-garden, she was engaged by Mr. Elliston to perform at the Birmingham theatre, as a star, for some nights; after which she appeared in Bath, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, York, Doncaster, Hull, Brighton, and every theatre of consequence, in the kingdom.
Miss Clara Fisher has at this time, 1822, been on the boards more than four years, and has already performed in about one hundred theatres. She has travelled through various parts of Great Britain, a distance of upwards of ten thousand miles; and she has performed in Shakspeare’s character of Richard III. more than two hundred and fifty times, besides other arduous parts in the various departments of the English drama. Her singing and dancing are equal to her other accomplishments, and yield delight to all who witness them. Bring yet but eleven years of age, she will furnish for the future historian a rare instance of precocity of intellect. She is gracefully formed, but not tall of her age; her face is oval, and full of expression; her eyes blue, large, and animated; her mouth particularly well moulded; and her hand and arm are considered by artists as uncommonly beautiful for her years. The general opinion of critics is, that she resembles in voice, and manner of acting, the late celebrated Mrs. Jordan.
An authentic anecdote is related of our heroine, which places, in a strong point of view, her felicitous conception of character, and her extraordinary collectedness and presence of mind, under circumstances, which, in all probability, would confuse and flutter even a long-experienced actor. Immediately after leaving Drury-lane, she performed for Mr. Elliston, at Birmingham. A new and elegant crown was there made for her, that she might appear to advantage in the character of Richard III. The crown was accidentally made too small, and was with difficulty kept on the head. When Richard (personated by this little lady) descended from the throne, in the presence of his nobles, and was delivering one of his most impassioned speeches, the crown fell off upon the stage. Contrary to the natural expectation of all, little Clara took no notice of the circumstance, but concluded her speech with the same energy and commanding deportment with which it commenced; and then beckoning to Catesby to approach, “Catesby!” said she, pointing to the fallen diadem, and stood erect and motionless, with the haughty dignity of monarchy, until, the brief mandate understood, he lifted it, and solemnly replaced it upon her brows. Thus, when a less-gifted performer would have found it difficult to save the whole scene from derision, did she sternly maintain the regal character she had assumed; and commanded the respect, surprise, and admiration of the audience.
Earth Eaters; from Humboldt’s Personal Narrative.—“The inhabitants of Umana belong to those nations of the savannas, [Indios andantes,] who, more difficult to civilize than the nations of the forest, [Indios del monte,] have a decided aversion to cultivate the land, and live almost exclusively on hunting and fishing. They are men of a very robust constitution; but ugly, savage, vindictive, and passionately fond of fermented liquors. They are omnivorous animals in the highest degree; and therefore the other Indians, who consider them as barbarians, have a common saying, ‘Nothing is so disgusting, that an Otomac will not eat it.’ While the waters of the Oroonoko and its tributary streams are low, the Otomacs subsist on fish and turtles; the former they kill with surprising dexterity, by shooting them with an arrow, when they appear at the surface of the water. When the rivers swell, which in South America, as well as in Egypt and in Nubia, is erroneously attributed to the melting of the snows, and which occurs periodically in every part of the torrid zone, fishing almost entirely ceases. It is then as difficult to procure fish in the rivers, which are become deeper, as when you are sailing on the open sea. It often fails the poor missionaries, on fast-days as well as flesh-days, though all the young Indians are under the obligation of ‘fishing for the convent.’ At the period of these inundations, which last two or three months, the Otomacs swallow a prodigious quantity of earth. We found heaps of balls in their huts, piled up in pyramids, three or four feet high. These balls were five or six inches in diameter. The earth which the Otomacs eat is a very fine and unctuous clay, of a yellowish gray colour; and, being slightly baked in the fire, the hardened crust has a tint inclining to red, owing to the oxide which is mingled with it. We brought away some of this earth, which we took from the winter provision of the Indians; and it is absolutely false that it is steatitic, and contains magnesia. Mr. Vanquelin did not discover any traces of this earth in it; but he found that it contained more silex than alumine, and three or four per cent. of lime.
“The Otomacs do not eat every kind of clay indifferently; they choose the alluvial beds or strata that contain the most unctuous earth, and is the smoothest to the feeling. I inquired of the missionary, whether the moistened clay were made to undergo, as Father Gumilla asserts, the peculiar decomposition which is indicated by a disengagement of carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen, and which is designated in every language by the term putrefaction; but he assured me, that the natives neither cause the clay to rot, nor do they mingle it with flour of maize, oil of turtles’ eggs or fat of the crocodile. We ourselves examined, both at the Oroonoko, and after our return to Paris, the balls of earth which we brought away with us, and found no trace of the mixture of any organic substance, whether oily or farinaceous. The savage regards every thing as nourishing that appeases hunger; when, therefore, you inquire of an Otomac on what he subsists during the two months when the river is the highest, he shews you his balls of clay. This he calls his principal food; for at this period he can seldom procure a lizard, a root of fern, or a dead fish swimming at the surface of the water.
“If the Indian eats earth through want during two months, and from three-quarters to five-quarters of a pound in twenty-four hours, he does not the less regale himself with it during the rest of the year. Every day, in the season of drought, when fishing is most abundant, he scrapes his balls of poya, and mingles a little clay with his other aliment. What is most surprising, is, that the Otomacs do not become lean by swallowing such quantities of earth; they are, on the contrary, extremely robust, and far from having the belly tense and puffed up. The missionary, Fray Ramon Bueno, asserts, that he never remarked any alteration in the health of the natives at the period of the great risings of the Oroonoko.
“The following are the facts, in all their simplicity, which we were able to verify. The Otomacs, during some months, eat daily three-quarters of a pound of clay slightly hardened by fire, without their health being sensibly affected by it. They moisten the earth afresh when they are going to swallow it. It has not been possible to verify hitherto with precision how much nutritious vegetable or animal matter the Indians take in a week at the same time; but it is certain that they attribute the sensation of satiety which they feel to the clay, and not to the wretched aliment which they take with it occasionally.
“I observed every where within the torrid zone, in a great number of individuals, children, women, and sometimes even full-grown men, an inordinate and almost irresistible desire of swallowing earth; not an alkaline or calcareous earth, to neutralize, as it is vulgarly said, acid juices, but a fat clay, unctuous, and exhaling a strong smell. It is often found necessary to tie the children’s hands, or to confine them, to prevent their eating earth, when the rain ceases to fall. At the village of Banco, on the bank of the river Magdalena, I saw the Indian women who make pottery, continually swallowing great pieces of clay.”