G89 

 THEATRICALS. 



AMONG the numerous parts in which Mr. Vandenhoff has appeared 

 since our last, there is none, perhaps, in which he has been more suc- 

 cessful than in that of Cato. It has been said that he throws too much 

 severity into his style, and is too vehement in his manner for the calm 

 and philosophic Cato. Let us sketch a faint outline of the character 

 of Cato as handed down by history. 



Marcus Cato was the great-grandson of the famous censor. From 

 early youth he was remarkable for the austerity of his manners, and 

 the great object of his care was the safety of the republic, and the 

 welfare of his fellow-citizens ; one whose religion (in the words of 

 the poet Lucan) whose creed it was 



" patrise, impendere vitam ; 



Nee sibi, sed toti se genitum credere mundo !" 



The stoic, however, was not exempt from the failings of our nature. 

 He is represented not to have inherited the temperate habits of his 

 ancestor the great Censor. Seneca has undertaken his cause ; " for," 

 says he, " it were more easy to look upon drunkenness as a virtue 

 than to believe Cato guilty of a vice !" We question if this argu- 

 ment would have had much weight with the Temperance Society. 

 There is another trait in Cato's life which proves his philosophy. 

 Cato's second wife, Marcia, was a woman of remarkable personal 

 charms ; which Hortensius (the philosopher's friend) was not slow 

 in admiring. Cato, perceiving the passion of his friend, with a dis- 

 interestedness which has few parallels in this degenerate age, lent 

 her to Hortensius mind we say lent her ; for on the death of Hor- 

 teneius, Cato received his chaste spouse again to his bosom. Rare 

 examples of the perfection of domestic felicity ! But Cato's virtue 

 was ever in extremes. Of however light and elastic a quality his 

 morals may appear to have been, all historians are agreed as to the 

 austerity of his manners. Plutarch adds, that he was not sudden in 

 choler ; but being once enraged, implacable ! How then can it be 

 objected to Mr. Vandenhoff's answer to the embassy from Caesar, 

 that he is too vehement in the expression of his feelings ? Look at 

 the author's own words. Does he not make his hero most violent in 

 his expressions against Ccesar ? Does he not make him exclaim to 

 Decius 



ff Didst thou but view him right, thou'dst see him black 



With murder, treason, sacrilege, and crimes 



That strike my soul with horror but to name them !" 



Should this, could this be spoken with the calmness of a speculating 

 philosopher? Impossible. On the other features of Mr. Vanden- 

 hoff's performance we have only to join in the encomiums unani- 

 mously bestowed. To conclude, we have paid this tribute to Mr. 

 Vandenhoff because we think it due to a performer who in all his 

 personations seems to make character especially his study, and who 

 to the genius of the actor adds the elegant resources of the scholar. 



