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s  of defiance; the last combat is little better than a suicide。

The whole performance is; as I said; so full of gusto and a  headlong unity; the personality of Macbeth is so sharp and  powerful; and within these somewhat narrow limits there is so  much play and saliency that; so far as concerns Salvini  himself; a third great success seems indubitable。   Unfortunately; however; a great actor cannot fill more than a  very small fraction of the boards; and though Banquo's ghost  will probably be more seasonable in his future apparitions;  there are some more inherent difficulties in the piece。  The  company at large did not distinguish themselves。  Macduff; to  the huge delight of the gallery; out…Macduff'd the average  ranter。  The lady who filled the principal female part has  done better on other occasions; but I fear she has not metal  for what she tried last week。  Not to succeed in the sleep… walking scene is to make a memorable failure。  As it was  given; it succeeded in being wrong in art without being true  to nature。

And there is yet another difficulty; happily easy to reform;  which somewhat interfered with the success of the  performance。  At the end of the incantation scene the Italian  translator has made Macbeth fall insensible upon the stage。   This is a change of questionable propriety from a  psychological point of view; while in point of view of effect  it leaves the stage for some moments empty of all business。   To remedy this; a bevy of green ballet…girls came forth and  pointed their toes about the prostrate king。  A dance of High  Church curates; or a hornpipe by Mr。 T。 P。 Cooke; would not  be more out of the key; though the gravity of a Scots  audience was not to be overcome; and they merely expressed  their disapprobation by a round of moderate hisses; a similar  irruption of Christmas fairies would most likely convulse a  London theatre from pit to gallery with inextinguishable  laughter。  It is; I am told; the Italian tradition; but it is  one more honoured in the breach than the observance。  With  the total disappearance of these damsels; with a stronger  Lady Macbeth; and; if possible; with some compression of  those scenes in which Salvini does not appear; and the  spectator is left at the mercy of Macduffs and Duncans; the  play would go twice as well; and we should be better able to  follow and enjoy an admirable work of dramatic art。



CRITICISMS CHAPTER III … BAGSTER'S 'PILGRIM'S PROGRESS'



I HAVE here before me an edition of the PILGRIM'S PROGRESS;  bound in green; without a date; and described as 'illustrated  by nearly three hundred engravings; and memoir of Bunyan。'   On the outside it is lettered 'Bagster's Illustrated  Edition;' and after the author's apology; facing the first  page of the tale; a folding pictorial 'Plan of the Road' is  marked as 'drawn by the late Mr。 T。 Conder;' and engraved by  J。 Basire。  No further information is anywhere vouchsafed;  perhaps the publishers had judged the work too unimportant;  and we are still left ignorant whether or not we owe the  woodcuts in the body of the volume to the same hand that drew  the plan。  It seems; however; more than probable。  The  literal particularity of mind which; in the map; laid down  the flower…plots in the devil's garden; and carefully  introduced the court…house in the town of Vanity; is closely  paralleled in many of the cuts; and in both; the architecture  of the buildings and the disposition of the gardens have a  kindred and entirely English air。  Whoever he was; the author  of these wonderful little pictures may lay claim to be the  best illustrator of Bunyan。  They are not only good  illustrations; like so many others; but they are like so few;  good illustrations of Bunyan。  Their spirit; in defect and  quality; is still the same as his own。  The designer also has  lain down and dreamed a dream; as literal; as quaint; and  almost as apposite as Bunyan's; and text and pictures make  but the two sides of the same homespun yet impassioned story。   To do justice to the designs; it will be necessary to say;  for the hundredth time; a word or two about the masterpiece  which they adorn。

All allegories have a tendency to escape from the purpose of  their creators; and as the characters and incidents become  more and more interesting in themselves; the moral; which  these were to show forth; falls more and more into neglect。   An architect may command a wreath of vine…leaves round the  cornice of a monument; but if; as each leaf came from the  chisel; it took proper life and fluttered freely on the wall;  and if the vine grew; and the building were hidden over with  foliage and fruit; the architect would stand in much the same  situation as the writer of allegories。  The FAERY QUEEN was  an allegory; I am willing to believe; but it survives as an  imaginative tale in incomparable verse。  The case of Bunyan  is widely different; and yet in this also Allegory; poor  nymph; although never quite forgotten; is sometimes rudely  thrust against the wall。  Bunyan was fervently in earnest;  with 'his fingers in his ears; he ran on;' straight for his  mark。  He tells us himself; in the conclusion to the first  part; that he did not fear to raise a laugh; indeed; he  feared nothing; and said anything; and he was greatly served  in this by a certain rustic privilege of his style; which;  like the talk of strong uneducated men; when it does not  impress by its force; still charms by its simplicity。  The  mere story and the allegorical design enjoyed perhaps his  equal favour。  He believed in both with an energy of faith  that was capable of moving mountains。  And we have to remark  in him; not the parts where inspiration fails and is supplied  by cold and merely decorative invention; but the parts where  faith has grown to be credulity; and his characters become so  real to him that he forgets the end of their creation。  We  can follow him step by step into the trap which he lays for  himself by his own entire good faith and triumphant  literality of vision; till the trap closes and shuts him in  an inconsistency。  The allegories of the Interpreter and of  the Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains are all actually  performed; like stage…plays; before the pilgrims。  The son of  Mr。 Great…grace visibly 'tumbles hills about with his words。'   Adam the First has his condemnation written visibly on his  forehead; so that Faithful reads it。  At the very instant the  net closes round the pilgrims; 'the white robe falls from the  black man's body。'  Despair 'getteth him a grievous crab…tree  cudgel'; it was in 'sunshiny weather' that he had his fits;  and the birds in the grove about the House Beautiful; 'our  country birds;' only sing their little pious verses 'at the  spring; when the flowers appear and the sun shines warm。'  'I  often;' says Piety; 'go out to hear them; we also ofttimes  keep them tame on our house。'  The post between Beulah and  the Celestial City sounds his horn; as you may yet hear in  country places。  Madam Bubble; that 'tall; comely dame;  something of a swarthy complexion; in very pleasant attire;  but old;' 'gives you a smile at the end of each sentence' … a  real woman she; we all know her。  Christiana dying 'gave Mr。  Stand…fast a ring;' for no possible reason in the allegory;  merely because the touch was human and affecting。  Look at  Great…heart; with his soldierly ways; garrison ways; as I had  almost called them; with his taste in weapons; his delight in  any that 'he found to be a man of his hands'; his chivalrous  point of honour; letting Giant Maul get up again when he was  down; a thing fairly flying in the teeth of the moral; above  all; with his language in the inimitable tale of Mr。 Fearing:  'I thought I should have lost my man' … 'chicken…hearted' …  'at last he came in; and I will say that for my lord; he  carried it wonderful lovingly to him。'  This is no  Independent minister; this is a stout; honest; big…busted  ancient; adjusting his shoulder…belts; twirling his long  moustaches as he speaks。  Last and most remarkable; 'My  sword;' says the dying Valiant…for…Truth; he in whom Great… heart delighted; 'my sword I give to him that shall succeed  me in my pilgrimage; AND MY COURAGE AND SKILL TO HIM THAT CAN  GET IT。'  And after this boast; more arrogantly unorthodox  than was ever dreamed of by the rejected Ignorance; we are  told that 'all the trumpets sounded for him on the other  side。'

In every page the book is stamped with the same energy of  vision and the same energy of belief。  The quality is equally  and indifferently displayed in the spirit of the fighting;  the tenderness of the pathos; the startling vigour and  strangeness of the incidents; the natural strain of the  conversations; and the humanity and charm of the characters。   Trivial talk over a meal; the dying words of heroes; the  delights of Beulah or the Celestial City; Apollyon and my  Lord Hate…good; Great…heart; and Mr。 Worldly…Wiseman; all  have been imagined with the same clearness; all written of  with equal gusto and precision; all created in the same mixed  element; of simplicity that is almost comical; and art that;  for its purpose; is faultless。

It was in much the same spirit that our artist sat down to  

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