She was not called for to appear on the stage
after the termination of the performance, tho' frequently applauded during
it. The actor who did the part of Orosmane, in that scene wherein he
discovers he has killed Zaire unjustly, gave a groan which had an unhappy
effect; it was such an awkward one, that it made all the audience laugh; no
people catch ridicule so soon as the French.
What I principally admire on the French stage is that the actors are always
perfect in their parts and all the characters are well sustained; the
performance never flags for a moment; and I have experienced infinitely
more pleasure in beholding the dramas of Racine and Voltaire than those of
Shakespeare, and for this reason that, on our stage, for one good actor you
have the many who are exceedingly bad and who do not comprehend their
author: you feel consequently a _hiatus valde deflendus_ when the principal
actor or actress are not on the stage. I have been delighted to see Kemble,
and Mrs Siddons and Miss O'Neil, and while they were on the stage I was all
eyes and ears; but the other actors were always so inferior that the
contrast was too obvious and it only served to make more conspicuous the
flagging of interest that pervades the tragedies of Shakespeare, _Macbeth_
alone perhaps excepted.
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