110 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



J&*/ mid firnmn. 



¥ 



THE appearance of Salvinl in "Othello" has been the 

 theatrical sensation of the preceding week, and, 

 although his splendid abilities have not, we think, received 

 the recognition from the press they justly deserve, still, he 

 has made a splendid impression, and satisfied the true lov- 

 ers of the drama in its best estate that intellectual per- 

 formances still hold their sway over the hearts of the people. 

 He will create a revolution in favor of "something better 

 than sensation and scenery, and we already see indications 

 that we believe will end in the revival of the production of 

 legitimate drama. Our readers will remember that, up to 

 the time of Ristori's appearance, Mrs. Lander and Mrs. 

 Bowers were without engagements; but after the Italians 

 gave "Elizabeth," the English version was called for, and 

 the two ladies we have mentioned filled successful engage- 

 ments for one or two years. 



One of the interesting events connected with Salvini's ap- 

 pearance is, that we have had the pleasure, for the first 

 time in New York, of witnessing a play laid in Italy by 

 Shakspeare, illustrated by the Italian mind. A great deal 

 of interesting writing might be produced to show how dif- 

 ferently the warm-blooded Southerner translates the pas- 

 sions, compared with the colder northern natures, and cer- 

 tainly Salvini and his company have given us commentaries 

 that will make a lasting impression on all who saw them. 

 In the first scene Othello is a thorough gentlemen, a man of 

 great attention to etiquette, princely in his bearing, and of 

 such heroic stuff, that we do not revolt at the fact that he 

 won the heart of the gentle Desdemona. This phase is the 

 artificial product of a nature, wild and of untamed stock, 

 and it is a magnificent study to notice how the Moor, in 

 Salvini's hands, after having had his coarser nature roused 

 by suspicions against his wife, gradually becomes the thor- 

 ough savage again; his civilization only adding to his inate 

 cunning an inborn barbarism. Of the wonderful differences 

 displayed by the Italian, over the traditionary manner of 

 Garrick, Cooke, and the elder Booth, we will only mention 

 the scene of the murder of Desdemona. Salvini's Moor 

 dwells upon the contemplated sacrifice with the gloatings 

 of a hungry tiger, toys with his victim, until the audience 

 is filled to the verge of horror, and all this is done directly be- 

 fore the audience foot-lights, fifty feet away from the suspen- 

 ded draperies that hide the couch. At an unexpected mo- 

 ment the Moor makes his long contemplated spring, seizes 

 his victim, and bears her roughly across the stage, just as a 

 tiger drags the terrified kid to the jungles, and plunges her 

 — to the great relief of the now painfully wrought-up audi- 

 ence—behind the curtains. In the dead silence which en- 

 sues, the faces of the audience blanched with imaginary 

 murder, enacted, but for details, left to their own imagina- 

 tions, and when the Moor, having accomplished his bloody 

 work, in answer to the call of Iago's wife, with a face the 

 impersonation of horror and remorse, peeps from behind 

 these curtains, the dramatic climax is complete. Nothing 

 could be more effective, more thoroughly cruel, yet most 

 refined; making Shakspeare's stage directions, and the fol- 

 lowing of them by the great tragedians, of. smothering Des- 

 demona before the audience, by contrast a vulgar tenement- 

 house murder. 



As most of our active critics of the press have never 

 seen any of these higher demonstrations of the power of 

 the actor over the audience, they were, "and are evidently 

 bewildered; one went so far, we understand, as to denounce 

 Shakspeare's tragedies, as not intended for the stage, only 

 to be read in the closet. But tradition, regarding the pow- 

 er of delineating the human passions by these great mas- 

 sters, though they now seem exaggerated, are not, probably, 

 up to the truth. We saw the elder Booth in "New Way to 

 Pay Old Debts," so fearfully earnest in the last scene, that 

 the entire stock company, including Mr. Blanchard and 

 Mrs. Hamblin, lost their presence of-, mind, and'followed 

 the fainting, dying form of Sir Giles off the stage, to see 

 the end of the tragedy. 



We have precedents of the effect of this intense style, in 

 the remarkable anecdote relating, that Kit North, Byron, 

 Kelly, and Keats went one night to Drury Lane, to witness 

 the elder Keene, in "Richard the III." As the play pro- 

 gressed, Byron became so excited that he violently 

 clutched the shoulders of those beside him, and finally,in the 

 ecstacy of his emotion, fainted away, and was carried in- 

 sensible from the house. 



Because we have no stage where the mirror is l^eld up to 

 nature in its highest developments, it is a mistake to sup- 

 pose that nature has ceased to exist; hence, it has but im- 

 perfect recognition before the foot-lights. 



No changes have taken place in the theatres , this last 

 week, except at the Grand Opera House, where the produc- 

 tion of a new "crowning sensational * and roman- 

 tic spectacular drama," entitled the "Haunted House," 

 was, for the first time, enacted on Tuesday night. This 

 constant succession of sensational scenery plays, shows 

 that the public never seem to tire of them. How would it 

 do to have the scenery run in and out upside down, and 

 the actors perform on their heads? The patent right de- 

 manded for the suggestion. 



BROOKLYN. 



The new Park Theatre is giving, with great success, the 

 best English comedies. The Brooklyn Theatre is doing 

 the legitimate in tragedy. 



Mr. Wallack is to appear at the Park in a local play. 



It is announced that Nilsson, with her troupe, will ap- 

 pear in Brooklyn, at the Central Congregational Church, 

 on the-23d of October. One would think w« were to have 

 sacred concerts. 



DRAMATIC NOTES. 



Miss Rose Eyting appears in a new play at the Union 

 Square Theatre, October 1st. 



On a provincial concert given awhile since, three encores 

 were accorded to three musicians, each responded to for 

 different versions of "Home Sweet Home," On the occa- 

 sion it was understood that Miss Kellogg, soprano, intend- 

 ed to sing that favorite air, but the audience encored a 

 musical instrument solo, and the performer answered with 

 "Home Sweet Home." Miss K. remonstrated. A very cel- 

 ebrated pianist followed, and to the encore which greeted 

 him, he replied with "Home Sweet Home," with splendid 

 variations. Miss K. became indignant at this seeond inter- 

 ference with the programme, gave the vocal version of the 

 great Englisl melody, and the audience, for the third time, 

 treated the popular musician with enthusiastic applause, 

 which was answ r ered by a repetition. 



♦ 



{Publications sent to this office, treating upon subjects that come within 

 the scope of the paper, will receive special attention. The receipt of all 

 books delivered at our Editorial Rooms will be promptly acknoivledged 

 in the next issue. Publishers will confer a favor by promptly advising 

 tts of any omission in this resoect. Prices of books inserted tulten 

 desired. 1 



The Danish Story Teller. Hurd & Houghton. River- 

 side Press, Cambridge, Mass. 



One of the most remarkable men of the age is Hans Christian Ander- 

 son, the Danish story-teller. He strictly belongs to what may justly be 

 called one of the line of men of genius, the founder of a school of litera- 

 ture for children, well known by his writings throughout Christendom, 

 and by his presence not only in Denmark, his native country, but in the 

 literary, artistic, and court circles of Prance, Germany, England, and 

 Italy, where his naivete and unaffected simplicity of affection have 

 made him known and honored. He was born in Odense, Denmark, on 

 the second of April, 1805, in the one room which his father and mother 

 occupied, which served alike for house and shoemaker's shop. He left 

 town at a very early age to seek his fortune, and in 1867 he was received 

 in Odense as the guest of the citizens. The houses were all illuminated, 

 a banquet was given in his honor, and he was presented with the free- 

 dom of the city. In the sixty-two years that lie between these dates, 

 and in the six years since then, is the story of a life full of varied lights 

 and shades. His father was a young man of poetic mind, always hun- 

 gering after a richer life than that of making shoes; his mother a simple, 

 superstitious, and affectionate woman. In their one room began his life- 

 and his earliest reccollections furnished him with scenes which afters 

 wards he wove into his stories. " Our little room, he says, " which wa, 

 almost filled with a shoemaker's bench, the bed,, and my crib 

 was the abode of my childhood; the walls were, however, covered with 

 pictures, and over the work-bench was a cupboard containing books and 

 songs; the little kitchen was full of shining plates and metal pans, and 

 by means of a ladder it was possible to go out on the roof, where in the 

 gutters between our house and the neighbor's there stood a great chest 

 filled with soil, mother's sole garden, where she grew her vegetables. 

 In my story of the * Snow Queen' that garden still blossoms." 



He grew into a tall ungainly lad, as shy as a girl, and yet so simple- 

 hearted that he was ready to confi.de to the utmost in any one who 

 smiled on him. At a charity school he learned just a little, but that 

 little so carefully that long afterwards he suffered .for the lack of such 

 common knowledge even as how to spell. It was now, too, he began 

 to associate more with others, and like his companions, to go through 

 eatechism, preparatory to confirmation. He tells a little story here of 

 himself, which shows whence " The Red Shoes " came from. "An old 

 female tailor altered my deceased father's great-coat into a confirmation 

 suit for me; never befere had I worn so good a coat. I had also for the 

 first time in my life, a pair of boots. My delight was extremely great; 

 my only fear was that everybody would not see them, and, therefore I 

 drew them up over my trousers, and thus marched through the church. 

 The boots creaked, and that inwardly pleased me; for thus the congrega- 

 tion would hear that they were new. My whole devotion was disturbed. 

 I was aware of it; and it caused me a horrible pang of conscience that my 

 thoughts should be as much with my new boots, as with God. I prayed 

 Him earnestly from my heart to forgive me, and thon again thought 

 about my new boots.' ' 



\ When he set out for Copenhagen, fce had a little sum of money and 

 his coufirmation suit, and unbounded confidence in every one. He had 

 an innocent way of going right up to people and asking for what he 

 wanted. The theatre was to him the most beautiful place in the world; 

 and he was ready to do anything that would be in place there— dance, 

 sing, or act. So he went to the manager, and asked for an engagement. 

 The manager looked at him, and said, " Ho, your are too thin for the 

 theatre." " Oh," replied Anderson, " only engage me, with one hundred 

 rix dollars salary, and I shall soon get fat." From this time, the 

 poor boy lived, he scarcely knew how, but he was possessed of the rare 

 quality of attracting people's attention by his ingenious drollness. He 

 at least had the good fortune of attracting the attention of good Coun- 

 cillor Collin, who took him as his own sou and began to educate him. 

 He here collated his odd conceits, and his grotesque fancies took shape; 

 the boy student became the man of power. His plays— for he wrote 

 them now — appeared upon the stage, and were acted- He now com- 

 manded attention, and this simple childlike boy became eminent as a 

 writer of childrens' stories which have since found a tongue in many 

 languages. The old legends of his country are revived again, and he 

 has given to the world the keen amusement of many an hour. Among 

 his stories we may name— The Improvisator e; The Tivo . Baronesses, 

 0. T.; Only a Fiddler; The Constant True Soldier; The Top and the Ball; 

 Old Shut Eye, and many others. 



Hurd & Houghton have recently issued The Story of my Life, with por- 

 trait; a valuable and intensely interesting work, which we recommend to 

 our many readers, as deserving a place in their libraries, and which 

 should have a prominent place in every household. 



The entire series of his works, are comprised in ten volumes, crown 

 octavo size, two of which, Wonder Stories, are elegantly illustrated. The 

 volumes are sold separately, the price for the series being $18.75. 

 The Oxford Methodists. One vol. , 8 vo. , 416 pages. By 



Rev.L. Tyeman. New York: Harper & Bros. 



All who have read The Life and Times of John Wesley, by the same 

 author, will hail this work with pleasure. Those who have read the won- 

 derful history of the great Methodist movement of the last century, 

 will be glad to welcome this supplementary work, which so clearly and 

 plainly throws much light upon one of the greatest events in the his. 

 tory of religon. Many old and pleasing memories of men eminent and 

 great, who labored so hard in that grand work of reclaiming the Eng- 

 lish masses, the laboring men of what was termed the Georgian era, 

 from a deeper slough of despond, than that Bunyan describes in his 

 Pilgrim's Progress — the depths of a wretched materialism — these men are 

 not forgotten. Their names shine with an undiminished lusture. These 

 were among the great men of the times, and by their works of kind- 

 liness are they known. We welcome this volume as one sure to do 

 good. When we read of such men as James Hervey, one of the old 

 Oxford Methodists in this work, when such old golden memories are 

 again revived, wo are sure a good work will go on and prosper even to 

 the end. 

 Oldport Days. By Colonel Higginson. Boston: James 



R. Osgood & Co. 



This collection of very lively and highly interesting historical and 



other stories, ten in number, is like the call of old and remembered 

 friends whom we are always glad to hail, and this collection of the old 

 times and localities of Newport, has for all lovers of Colonel Higgin- 

 son's writings and stories (and who does not love to read them), a double 

 interest when presented in this new and very acceptable form, by Os- 

 good & Co. To all who know Newport, it is pleasant, to follow the au- 

 thor again in his tour of observations about the old place. Here we 

 have Oldport Wharves; The Haunted Window; A Driftwood Fire; a i, 

 Artist's Creation; In a Wherry; Madam Delia's Expectations; Stytishirit 

 and Petrarch; A Shadow; Footpaths, Oldport in Winter. 



These sketches and stories will be new to a large portion of our read- 

 ers, and the publishers are entitled to much credit for the beautiful and 

 appropriate style in which the book is issued. 



Mr. Higginson has long possessed the reputation of being one of our 

 best writers, and we are much gratified in welcoming to public notice 

 these stirring memories and scenes of New England. We would like to 

 notice this work at length, but have to content ourselves with only a 

 short extract. • 



" The hat is, here, what it is still in Southern Europe— the lineal successor 

 of the sword as the mark of a gentleman. It is noticed that, in goino- 

 from Oldport to New York or Boston, one is liable to be betrayed by au 

 over-flourish of the hat, as is an Arkansas man by a display of the 

 bowie-knife. Woman's faces are apt to take, from old age, a finer touch 

 than those of men, and poverty does not interfere with this, where there 

 is no actual exposure to the elements. From the windows of these old 

 houses there often look forth delicate faded countenances, to which be 

 longs an air of unmistakable refinement. Nowhere in America, I fancy, 

 does one see such counterparts of the reduced gentlewoman of England 

 — as described for instance, in "Cranford," — quiet maiden ladies of 

 seventy, with, perhaps a tradition of beauty and bellehood, and still 

 wearing, always, a bit of blue ribbon on their once golded curls— this 

 head-dress being still carefully arranged, each day, by some hand-mai- 

 den of sixty, so long a house-mate as to seem a sister,— though some 

 faint suggestion of wages and subordination may still be preserved- 

 Among these ladies— as in " Cranford " — there is a dignified reticence iu 

 respect to money matters, and a courteous blindness to the small econo- 

 mies practiced by each other. It is not held good breeding when they 

 meet in the shop of a morning, for one to seem to notice what another 

 buys. These ancient ladies have coats-of-arms upon their walls, heredi- 

 tary damasks among their, scanty wardrobes, stores of domestic tradi* 

 tions in their brains, and a whole court-guide of high-sounding names at 

 their fingers' ends. They can tell you of the supposed sister of an Eng- 

 lish Queen, who married an American officer and dwelt in Oldport; of 

 the Scotch Lady Janet, who eloped with her tutor, and here lived in pov- 

 erty, paying her washerwoman with costly lace from her trunks; of the 

 Oldport dame who escaped from Prance at the opening of the revolu. 

 tion, was captured by pirates on her voyage to America, then retaken by 

 a privateer and carried into Boston, where she took refuge in John Han- 

 cock's house. They can describe to you the Malbone Gardens, and as 

 the night wanes and the embers fade, can give the tale of the Phantom 

 of Rough Point. Gliding farther and farther into the past, they revert to 

 the brilliant historic period of Oldport, the successive English and 

 French occupations during our Revolution, and show you gallant in- 

 scriptions in honor of their grandmothers, writt en on the window panes 

 by the dimonds rings of the foregn officers." 

 The Fair God. By Gen. Lew Wallace. Boston: James 



R. Osgood & Co. 



This is not what may be strictly called a sensational novel, and the 

 lovers of mere sensationalism, will perhaps be disappointed in not find- 

 ing intense and passional emotions, and these subjects treated in that 

 high toned style, found in the description of all modern love stories. In 

 this they will pro bably be disappointed, for the heroine is made to act and 

 talk like a rational, reasonable girl. This work has much of an historical 

 character, as it delineates in a pleasant, concise narrative many interest- 

 ing events of the period called Aztec life; the Mexican conquest, by 

 Cortez. No one who has recently written upon this subject, has or can 

 produce a more readable work upon this interesting race, than the au- 

 thor of this book. This work will bear a careful re-reading with 

 pleasure and profit. 



California. A book for travelers and settlers in Cali- 

 fornia. By Charles Nordhpff. New York: Harper & Bros. 

 We are very glad to see in a beautiful and fitting binding this finely 

 illustrated w : ork by Nordhoff . Although some portions of the same 

 have heretofore graced the magazine, it is nevertheless new to many, 

 even who have read it before. It deserves a prominent place upon the 

 centre table of our New York and Boston friends. 



Popular Science Monthly, October. New r York: D. 



Appleton & Co. 



This Magazine is at hand, and is an unusually interesting number. 

 From the very beginning of this work the interest and value of the same 

 has been an acknowledged fact: scattering its light and scientific infor- 

 mation far and wide, with an undimmed lustre. We are always sure 

 of something solid, and satisfactory when we open a new number of 

 this work. The number for October is particularly interesting as con- 

 taining a very interesting article upon the moon, by Proctor, with graphic 

 illustrations, which taken with the text makes the wonderful phenomena 

 of the moon and its surroundings like an open book. This article is of 

 itself worth the price of the volume. Astronomy has for years been 

 called a dry, prosaic study; let any one read carefully this article and he 

 will rise from its perusal with the conviction, that there is a literature, 

 as well as law, to the astronomical world. This article amply redeems 

 astronomy from the charge of "dullness," for since the hour the "morn, 

 ing stars sang together wdth gladness," the' golden legends of the heav- 

 enly bodies, in their wonderful orbits have been like to one grand epic 

 of the omnipotent power of God as revealed in the wonders of the heav- 

 ens. This number contains many other very interesting papers of 

 much value, which we reluctantly pass at this time. 



They Met by Chance. < By Olive Logan. New York: 



Adams, Victon & Co. 



This is one of the most absorbing books of the day. It may truly be 

 called the story of a heart. It is forcibly written, and will have a large 

 sale, as it possesses all the elements of a first class novel. There is a 

 spice of real fun, running through this -work rarely found, and for origi- 

 nality, sterling sense, and character picturing, we have rarely seen its 

 equal. The contents from which something of the character of the book 

 may in a measure be judged, v are as follows, viz:—-' The Man from Osh- 

 cosh;" "The Chicago Hog Merchant;" "The Horse Mad Quaker City 

 Gent;" " The Two Society Belles;" "The California Widow;" " The Man 

 She Netted;" "The Pious Sewing Woman;" "The Pacific Sport." 1 

 vol., 12 mo; Cloth $1.50. 



ANNOUNCEMENTS. 



As the Christmas and New Year's holidays draw near, the cursory 

 notes of preparation among the publishers are heard and seen. The 

 House of Hurd & Houghton, Riverside Press, Cambridge, have in 

 press, and will shortly publish quite a number of valuable and interest- 

 ing works. Among them we notice Bianca Cdppello: A tragedy in five 

 acts, by Elizabeth C. Kinney. The fair authoress is well known to the 

 reading public through her poems, and her newspaper communications, 

 written during her many years' residence in Italy. Her drama was com- 

 posed at Florence, the land of romance and story. It reveals a deep and 

 sad story, in which the tragic element is intermingled with the love and 

 hate of the beautiful and guilty Bianca, 



The Grammar of Painting and Engraving. Iliustrated 



from the pencil of Charles Blanc, " Gvammarine des Arts du Pes- 

 rfra." By Mrs. N. Daggett. With the original illustrations, in one 

 volume, quarto. 



This will be a fitting companion for Mrs. Clement's Handbooks. The 

 illustrations are exceedinly beautiful and of great value to the art studeHt 



