218 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAFT. ROSS. 
select amongst them some prima donna to warble forth —Ah 
perdona ! or Tu che accemdi, to the dukelings, and lordlings, 
and greylings and foplings of the Opera House, the commander of 
the expedition declared himself perfectly satisfied with their 
cantatory abilities, and it certainly follows that a man who has 
had enough of a thing, must necessarily be fully satisfied. 
During the confinement of Capt. Parry in the ice, he estab¬ 
lished a theatre in which the beauties of the English drama were 
represented, and most ably sustained, to borrow a theatrical 
phrase, by the whole strength of the company; and in the North 
Georgia Gazette, we read that the actors performed their respect¬ 
ive parts in the most creditable manner, although no snarling 
waspish critic sat on the third row in the pit, to bestow his cen¬ 
sure or his approbation according to the weight of the bribe, 
which had been tendered to him. Not intending however in the 
most remote degree to cast any illiberal or severe reflection on the 
histrionic talent of the theatrical corps of the Hecla, which burst 
forth in the most vivid colors, like the coruscations of the aurora 
which were flashing over their heads, still it must be acknow¬ 
ledged that although the Hecla company might have acquired 
some proficiency in their new profession, by the dint of study 
and application, yet that the theatrical corps which performed in 
the cabin of the Victory, had far the advantage of them on the 
score of nature, and if the authority of Garrick be in any degree 
valid on a subject of that kind, it is impossible for any indivi¬ 
dual to become a great actor, unless he takes nature as his guide; 
not that the tones of the performers of the Victory could be 
called naturals, for they ran into all the wildest and most discord¬ 
ant sharps and flats which were ever included in a musical 
gamut; but still it was nature—downright unsophisticated nature 
in its most genuine and unadulterated sense, no Lanza nor Liverati 
had been at their elbow, to determine the question of how many 
octaves their voices could sustain, and solfa-ing them from the 
highest to the lowest, until they arrived at the deep deep G of 
Miss Love, or by what other name that delightful warbler may 
be known. Taking therefore all these circumstances into our 
serious consideration, we cannot be accused of an unbecoming 
