1 A critic in the Pall Mall Gazette says this play "has claims to be accounted the most popular of modern tragedies. It established the reputation both of its author and of Mr. Macready-the actor who first sustained in London the part of its hero. It obtained a long career of success and a measure of fame sufficient to withstand many years' wear and tear. 'Virginius' is indeed half a century old. It was originally written for Edmund Kean, whom Knowles had first met at Waterford about 1813, when both were strolling-players. But in 1820, when the dramatist tendered his tragedy to the Drury Lane management, it was discovered that a play dealing with the same subject and written by Mr. Soane had already been accepted. So Knowles' 'Virginius' was produced at Covent Garden on the 17th of May, 1820. Soane's 'Virginius, or the Fall of the Decemviri,' was played at Drury Lane a few days later; but notwithstanding Kean's exertions in the leading character, the tragedy wholly failed to please, and was withdrawn after three representations. 'Virginius' (Knowles') continued to be one of Mr. Macready's most attractive impersonations to the time of his final retirement from the stage in 1851." The story of the play is one of Livy's, and several dramatic versions of it have been given on the English and French stage. Do I not look at you? But gives the port of impudence to falsehood, App. Keep back the people, Lictors! What's Your plea? You say the girl's your slave - Produce Your proofs. Clavd. My proof is here, which, if they can, Let them confront. The mother of the girl [VIRGINIUS, stepping forward, is withheld by NUMITORIUS. Num. Hold, brother! Hear them out, or suffer me To speak. Vir. Man, I must speak or else go mad! And if I do go mad, what then will hold me From speaking? She was thy sister, too! Well, well, speak thou.—I'll try, and if I can Be silent. (retires.) Num. Will she swear she is her child! Vir. (Starting forward.) To be sure she will-a most wise question that! Is she not his slave! Will his tongue lie for him- In jeopardy by such a bare-faced trick! Against her oath! You swear the girl's your child, App. Your answer now, Virginius. Here it is! I feel for you; but, though you were my father, [brings VIRGINIA forward. Complete the violation, which his eyes Is this the daughter of a slave? I know The stem. Yet who from such a stem would look That saw her lying at the generous And sympathetic fount, that at her cry To cherish her enamell'd veins. The lie Is most unfruitful then, that takes the flowerThe very flower our bed connubial grew To prove its barrenness! Speak for me, friends; Have I not spoke the truth? Already have begun-Friends! Fellow Citizens! The tongues that told him she was not my child His arms around her. Look upon her, Romans! App. No, my Virginia-come along with me. Will you take me home again? O bless you, bless you! [VIRGINIUS, perfectly at a loss what to do, looks anxiously around the Forum; at length his eye falls on a butcher's stall, with a knife upon it. Vir. This way, my child-No, no! I am not going To leave thee, my Virginia! I'll not leave thee. App. Keep back the people, soldiers! Let them not Approach Virginius! Keep the people back! There is one only way to save thine honour'Tis this! [Stabs her, and draws out the knife. ICILIUS breals from the soldiers that held him, and catches her. Lo! Appius! with this innocent blood I do devote thee to th' infernal gods! App. Stop him! Seize him! If they dare To tempt the desperate weapon that is madden'd [Exit through the soldiers. THE SCHOOL BANK. Upon this bank we met, my friend and I- A LAMENT. I stand where I last stood with thee! Sorrow, O sorrow! D. M. MOIR. There is not a leaf on the trysting-tree; There is not a joy on the earth to me; Sorrow, O sorrow! When shalt thou be once again what thou wert? Oh, the sweet yesterdays fled from the heart! Have they a morrow? Here we stood, ere we parted, so close side by side; Two lives that once part are as ships that divide, When, moment on moment, there rushes between The one and the other, a sea. Ah, never can fall from the days that have been A gleam on the years that shall be! [ICILIUS is borne off. LORD LYTTON. THOUGHTS ON SMALL-TALK. The science of small-talking is as valuable as it is difficult to be acquired. I never had the least aptitude for it myself, yet Heaven knows the labour I have bestowed in order to master it. It is not that I have nothing to say; but when I am in company a sort of spell seems to hang over me, and I feel like some fat sleeper who has a vision of thieves, and dreams that he cannot call out for assistance. It is in vain that I observe others, and endeavour to imitate them; a shallow-headed chatterer will make himself agreeable in society, while I sit by in silence. I have taken very considerable pains in my time to observe the various kinds of small-talk, with a view of turning my knowledge to some account; but, though the scheme has totally failed in my own person, a few remarks upon the subject may not be useless to others. I hold it to be an incontrovertible truth, that every subject is to be best treated of dis tributive, under proper divisions and subdivisions. In pursuance of this plan, I shall distribute all small-talk into two species, I. General small-talk; II. Special, or professional small-talk. The former class includes the small-talk which we hear in mixed society, where men and women, young and old, wise and foolish, are all mingled together. In the latter division I would include the small-talk of persons of the same profession or mode of life, as between two apothecaries, two dissenters, two lawyers, two beggars, two reviewers, two butchers, two statesmen, two thieves, &c. &c. &c.; in short, all conversations which are tinctured with the art, craft, mystery, occupation, or habits of the interlocutors. And, first, of general small-talk. However simple the art of general small-talking may seem, and however plain and intelligible the topics may be upon which it is employed; yet, in fact, it is more difficult than the special kind. The materials out of which it is formed are few in number, and easily accessible. The following is a pretty complete assortment. The weather-the health of your friends-the funds any accidents which have happened to any of your acquaintances, such as deaths or marriages the king-Bonaparte-Lord Byron-the cheapness of meat-any wateringplace the corn-bill-the author of Waverleyand the theatre. These are the coin that will pass current in any society. Thus, in a morning call, if two strangers happen to be left together, how agreeably they may pass the time in enlarging upon the above topics. very hot day, sir!"-"Yes, indeed, sir; my thermometer stood 80 in the shade. Pray. sir, are you related to the Rev. Jeremiah Jollison? I hope he is well."-"I am his brother, sir: he died two years ago.”—“God bless me! but it's more than two years since I saw him. Pray, sir, what do you think of Spanish bonds?" &c. &c. Such is the conversation you generally hear after dinner (before dinner there is none), in stage-coaches, at hotels, and at watering places. It is most suitable for adults. The grand difficulty in this kind of small-talk is to discover any subject; for as I imagine it to be a metaphysical truth that the mind cannot, ex mero motu suo, call up any subject it pleases, the dialogue must necessarily depend on the power of association in the brain of the individuals who maintain it. It requires great presence of mind to call up a sufficient number of topics to meet a sudden emergency. Thus, when you meet a friend in the street, who, in spite of your attempts to pass him with a nod, will stop and speak to you, how awkward is it to have nothing to say! This happens to me continually. When you have shaken hands, and the one has said, "A fine day," and the other, "Yes, very," you stand for a few moments gazing with a vacant sort of look upon one another, shake hands again, and part. The same accident sometimes happens in morning calls. After having exhausted all the commonplaces of civility, you feel yourself suddenly run on shore. It is in vain you attempt to think of some subject of discourse; the longer you search, the further you are from it; except the conviction that you can find nothing to talk about, your mind is à tabula rasa. Your guest at last rises, and puts you out of your agony. There are some people, however, who have a genius for small-talk. Their stock seems boundless. It is no matter where, or with whom, or upon what they are talking; still it flows on and on "in one weak washy, everlasting flood." It is a great infliction to be the only person in company with these inveterate small-talkers. Their discourse makes one's head ache. It is like the perpetual dropping of water upon the crown of one's pericranium. To me, however, such people, if their conversation is not addressed to me, are a great relief. They save me the trouble of attempting to talk, and the mortification of a failure. Every one must have occasionally experienced the up-hill, heart-breaking labour of talking did you give?"- "Two shillings an inch, but the cursed fellow had pulled the child's neck almost out of joint, to make it an inch longer. But didn't I tell you of the fun we had at Br's? You know we had that fellow who was hanged on Wednesday for murdering his grandmother. Well, he was devilishly ill hanged, and so we thought we'd galvanize him. We got the battery ready (you know it's a pretty strong one), and, as soon as ever it was applied, the fellow-(but won't you have some more porter? Waiter, another pint of porter!) the fellow lifted up his brawny arm and threw it twice across his breast. The pupils were all delighted, but our Irishman O'Reilly—you know O'Reilly, who nearly got into a scrape with cracking the crown of the sexton at St. Pancras-O'Reilly, who was standing by with a stout board in his hand, no sooner saw this to an impenetrable person. "Well, what sort of a day had you?" said I to a lively friend of mine. "Oh! my dear Peter," said he, "I had the ill-luck to be seated at dinner next to the dreariest young lady you ever did not talk with. She seemed to be afraid lest, if she opened her mouth, jewels and roses would fall from it, and she should lose them. I did do all that might become a man.' I tried her with Lord Byron-I tried her with Moore-I tried her with the theatre-I tried her with Walter Scott-I tried her with the park-I tried her with Albert-with Noblet-with Mrs. Hannah More-with the tread-wheelthe frost-quadrilles-lancers-Sir Charles Grandison, and Spanish boleros."-"Ah! but, my dear friend," said I, "did you try her with dress? Did you tell her of the Valenciennes lace which you brought over the other day in the collar of your coat? I see where your mis-motion, than, not quite understanding the take lay. Instead of talking to her of books, you should have talked of book-muslin. You should have discoursed of milliners instead of authors, of flounces instead of poems."-You occasionally meet with the same sort of people in stage coaches. "Beautiful country this we are travelling through, sir?" "Yes, sir." "Fine cattle this stage, sir." "Yes, sir. "Did you get any sleep in the night, sir?" "No, sir."—"Did you see the papers before we set off, sir?" "No, sir."-And so the conversation terminates. II. Of special small-talk: and, first, of such as is purely professional. Under this head I include the conversation of persons who are of the same profession or occupation, and who therefore speak a kind of language peculiar to their craft, and frequently unintelligible to the rest of the world. Physicians, lawyers, and merchants may be taken as examples. " There is something particularly piquant in the small-talk of gentlemen of the medical profession. I well recollect the conversation of two young surgeons, who were sitting in the next box to me in a coffee-house near Great Marlborough Street. "Oh, by-the-by, Jenkins, I got the finest subject yesterday you ever saw." "Ay! where did you get it?". 'From France, to be sure, and never saw a fellow so neatly packed; by Jove, he was as round as a ball.""What was the damage?"-"Oh, the fellow who sent him me, said if I would send him back the hamper full of beef, he should be satisfied; so I sent him a trifle."-"Have you any part to spare? (Waiter, another chop.)" -"Why, you may have a limb reasonable.' "Well, then, next week; but just at present I have got a very pretty small subject."-"What VOL. IL But have affair, and fearing that the fellow was actually Have "From Millikin's." -"And your books?" "I always go to Callow's."- By-the-by (whiff, whiff), I think you haven't changed your dissecting coat, have you?"-"Hush, hush! the people about you will hear they all think now that it's the woodcock, a little too gamy in the next box."-This was quite sufficient for me; I had been for some time aware of a strange odour, but I had laid it to the account of the woodcock. No sooner, however, did I discover the true origin of it, 1 I have since discovered that the surgeon receives a crown for shaving and dressing a subject previous to dissection. 42 |