and edged with a gold border, to which another border has been subsequently joined, in which the following words are embroidered in letters of gold— "Velum Serenissimæ Mariæ, Scotia et Galliæ Regina Martyris, quo induebatur dum ab Heretica ad mortem injustissimam condemnata fuit: Anno Sal. MDLXXXVI. a nobilissima matrona Anglicana diu conservatum et tandem, donationis ergo Deo et Societati Jesu Consecratum." On the plate there is an inscription, with a double certificate of its authenticity, which states that this Veil, a family treasure of the expelled house of Stuart, was finally in possession of the last male representative of that Royal House, the Cardinal of York, who preserved it for many years in his private Chapel, among the most precious relics, and at his death bequeathed it to Sir J. C. Hippisley, together with a valuable Plutarch, and a codex with painted (illuminated) letters, and a gold coin struck in Scotland in the reign of Queen Mary; and it was especially consecrated by Pope Pius VII. in his Palace on the Quirinal, April 29th, 1818. Sir J. C. Hippisley during a former residence at Rome, had been very intimate with the Cardinal of York, and was instrumental in obtaining for him, when he with the other Cardinals emigrated to Venice in 1798, a pension of £4,000 a year from the Prince of Wales (afterwards George the Fourth); but for which, the fugitive Cardinal, all whose revenues were seized by the French, would have been exposed to the greatest distress. The Cardinal desired to requite this service by the bequest of what he considered so valuable. According to a note on the plate, the Veil is eighty-nine inches long, (English) and forty-three broad, so that it seems to have been rather a kind of shawl or scarf than a Veil. If we remember rightly, Melville in his Memoirs, which Schiller had read, speaks of a handkerchief belonging to the Queen, which she gave away before her death, and Schiller founds upon this anecdote the well-known words of the farewell scene, addressed to Hannah Kennedy. "Accept this handkerchief! with my own hand Sir John S. Hippisley descends from John Hippisley, Esq. of Yattan, Recorder of Bristol in the reign of Edward, VI., of a different family, we apprehend, from that of Camley, from which spring the Hippisleys of StoneEaston, co. Somerset, the Hippisleys of Lamborne, Berks, and the Hippisleys of Stanton, Wilts. ROBERT HIPPISLEY TRENCHARD, ESQ., the late representative of the Stanton branch, married twice: by his first wife he had a son, who d. s. p. and a dau.: Ellen m. 1st to John Ashfordby, Esq., and 2ndly to John Long, Esq. of Preshaw: and by his second, he left a son, Gustavus Mathias Hippisley, Esq., who m. Ellen, dau. of Thomas Fitzgerald, Knight of Glin, and died in 1831, leaving issue, 1st, Gustavus Alexander Butler Hippisley; 2nd, Robert Fitzgerald Hippisley, Lieut. R.N. d. unm.; 3rd, Charles James Hippisley, Lieut. R.N.; 4th, Augustus John Hippisley; 1st, Ellen Georgiana; and 2nd, Jane Augusta, m. to W.J. Richardson, Esq. THE OPERA. JENNY LIND continues her career of unparalleled success at Her Majesty's Theatre, and of course the house is still crowded night after night to suffocation; thus, too, we think it would be, were the enchantress to remain for months and months to come. So powerful has been the attraction that no other place of dramatic entertainment in London has been able to make way except the French Theatre, which the genius of Rachel has now rendered great in public favour. This proves how true it is that talent-real, indisputable, surpassing talent, of whatever character or clime, is sure to reign triumphant over the mind of this mighty metropolis. We shall speak further of Rachel immediately; we now return to Jenny Lind. Her newest and latest wonder has been her performance in Verdi's opera composed expressly for her Majesty's Theatre, entitled "I Masnadieri." This lyric production was represented for the first time on the evening of Thursday the 22nd July, and met with complete success. Verdi himself conducted the orches tra, and his presence was hailed with rapturous applause. "I Masnadieri,” as its title infers, is a brigand story, and is founded on the Robbers of Schiller, the plot of which, the Italian libretto closely and cleverly follows. The cast of the principal characters is this: The Times has given so remarkably clear and curiously elaborate an account of the course of the incidents and music in "I Masnadieri' that we cannot do better than extract it here. "The opera" says the critic of the Times "commences with an instrumental prelude in which there is a violoncello solo. The curtain rises and discovers Carlo in a tavern on the confines of Saxony. He is reading Plutarch, and expresses his disgust at the degeneracy of his own age, in a recitative imitated from the same situation in Schiller. At this time he has written home for his father's forgiveness, and expresses in a tender cavatina ("Oh mio Castel Paterno") accompanied by the wind instruments, the joy he anticipates from revisiting the place of his birth. The troop of his comrades enter with a letter, which contains a refusal of the pardon. On beholding Carlo's despair, they agree to form a troop of robbers and elect him for their leader. The scene terminates with Carlo's caballetta, in which he vents his rage and despair, and is joined by the chorus. We are now removed to the castle of the Moor family, and find Francesco, the younger son, expressing his impatience at his father's long life now he has got rid of his elder brother. He sings an aria with violoncello accompaniments, followed by a spirited cabaletta, after he has plotted with Arminio (Italian for "Herman,") that the latter shall disguise himself as a soldier, and make a false statement of Carlo's death. The chamber of the old Count Massimiliano Moor is then discovered. He is sleeping, and his niece Amalia, the betrothed of Carlo, is watching. After a prelude of flute, oboe, and clarionet and a recitative accompanied by these instruments, comes a light cava. tina by Amalia, "Lo aguardo avea," the words of which are taken from Schiller's Schön ure Engel. This is followed by a duet between Amalia and the older Moor; and the act terminates with a quartet, consequent upon the entrance of Francesco and Arminio with the news of Carlo's death. The parts taken by the several personages indicate their various characters; and the orchestral accompaniments are so distributed as to illustrate the different passions. The act drops upon the apparent death of the count, who is overcome with grief at the melancholy news. These incidents in the castle belong to Schiller's act. The opening portion of the second act of the opera is taken from Schiller's third, with considerable alteration. The first scene represents an enclosure near the castle chapel, where Amalia approaches the tomb of old Moor. A chorus behind the door indicates the joy of Francesco on succeeding to his father's estate, while Amalia, on the stage sings an aria, the adagio of which is accompanied by the harp solo, and is followed by a brilliant cabaletta, introduced by the news, brought by Arminio, that Carlo still lives. Then comes the offer of love by Francesco, and his rejection of Amelia, which forms the subject of a duet. A scene in the forest follows. It opens with the incidents connected with the rescue of Rolla, one of the band, and the destruction of Prague, all this part of the action being carried on by the chorus. A romanza, by Carlo, in which he sets forth his melancholy condition, comes in relief after the general excitement, and the act terminates with a stretta, consequent upon the arrival of the soldiers who have surrounded the band. Several incidents of the original play are here packed closely together. The third act likewise falls into two portions. First, we have the interview between Carlo and Amalia in the forest adjoining the castle, which gives occasion for a duet. Then we have the interior of the forest, with a robber chorus, founded on the celebrated Stehlen, morden, which once set all the German students into a blaze of fanaticism. The act ends with the rescue by the robbers of the old Moor, who, though supposed dead, is still living, having been imprisoned and concealed by Francesco. In the finale, the robbers swear that they will avenge the wrongs of their chief's father. The theme is proposed by Carlo, and every phrase is repeated by the chorus. This subject, which is first in the minor, goes with a crescendo into the major, accompanied by the whole force of the orchestra. The fourth act opens with the terror of the conscience-stricken Francesco after his horrible dream. He has a descriptive aria, and on the entrance of the pastor comes a duet, in which the reverend man utters his pious menaces, and Francesco prays, while the voices of the robbers who are attacking the castle are heard behind the scenes. The pastor is in unison with the trombones, and Francesco is accompanied by a tremolo on the violins, while the robbers are sustained by the whole mass of the orchestra. A duet between Carlo and his father, and a trio, in which the robbers join, and in which Amalia dies by the hand of Carlo, terminates the opera." All the singers engaged exerted themselves with creditable energy and evident effect, but, as might be expected, Jenny Lind was the soul of this opera. The production has many inherent merits, but her unsurpassable voice at once achieved its prosperity. Taglioni is now at Her Majesty's Theatre, and still maintains her preeminence as the divinity of dancing. The management appears determined to terminate, as spiritedly as it has carried on, this magnificent season. THE FRENCH THEATRE. RACHEL. MLLE. RACHEL, the greatest of living tragedians, has, as usual with her, converted the St. James's Theatre, previously the arena of vaudeville and melodrama, into a temple of the strict and stately classic drama. The works of Corneille, Racine, Voltaire, and their modern imitators (a subject we discussed in last month's Patrician), now become as familiar with the public, as those of cur own immortal Shakespeare. How admirably are those classic plays of France represented at the St. James's Theatre! The faults they undeniably possess sink unnoticed before the surpassing genius of Rachel. Length of speechifying, pomposity of diction, and want of action are no longer perceived, for, the enchantress has infused her spirit into the poetry; she may be compared to the sun bursting, in its glory upon the glassy expanse of some large and lordly lake: the aspect, though grand, was chill and inanimate before : it is now on fire, dazzling and sparkling in its brilliancy. Mlle. Rachel has appeared in Les Horaces, Phedre, Marie Stuart, Andromaque, Virginie, and Tancrède. The style and excellence of her acting as the heroine in the four first of these tragedies is now well known in the last, that of Tancrède by Voltaire, her performance is a novelty. This powerfully written play, to which the celebrated opera of Tancredi" owes its libretto, is one of the chef-d'œuvres of its author: it is replete with beautiful verse, and is thoroughly chivalrous in sentiment and story. Of Tancrède, M. Schlegel, no friend to Voltaire and the classic drama, speaks thus in his celebrated lectures : "Since the Cid no French tragedy had appeared, of which the plot was founded on such pure motives of honour and love without any ignoble intermixtures, and so completely consecrated to the exhibition of chivalrous sentiments, as Tancrède. Amenaide, though honour and life are at stake, disdains to exculpate herself by a declaration which would endanger her lover; and Tancred, though justified in esteeming her faithless, defends her in single combat, and seeks in despair the death of a hero, when the unfortunate error clears up. So far the piece is irreproachable, and deserving of the greatest praise. But it is weakened by other imperfections. It is of great detriment to its perspicuity, that we cannot at the very first hear the letter without superscription, which occasions all the embarrassment, and that it is not sent off before our eyes. The political disquisitions in the first act are tedious; Tancrède appears in the third act for the first time, and he is impatiently expected to give animation to the scene. The furious impre cations of Amenaide at the conclusion are not in harmony with the deep but soft emotion with which we are overpowered by the re-union of two lovers, who have mistaken each other, in the moment of their separation by death." The imperfections M. Schlegel speaks of appeared not in the representation of the St. James's Theatre: had he listened to Rachel, he would no longer have complained of the imprecating language at the conclusion. The impassioned eloquence of Rachel gave to the passage exquisite effect. Her exclamation" Tancrède, cher Tancrède" as she threw herself on the body of the beloved and expiring knight will not be soon forgotten by those who heard it. Her acting throughout the whole tragedy was admirable: Amenaide is by her personified to the life-the high born damsel of an age of chivalry, haughty and ardent, yet gentle and benevolent, unbending in her notions of honour, and boundless in her affection. At the beginning of the play where occurs the following speech, the tone of Rachel is replete with force and dignity: Ah! combats ces terreurs, Et ne m'en donne point. Souviens-toi que ma mè When she hears that Tancred, who has just slain in single combat her oppressor, nevertheless listens to the accusations against her, her burst of indignation is truly startling: Lui, me croire coupable! AMENAIDE. FANIE. Ah! s'il peut s'abuser, Excusez un amant. AMENAIDE. Rien ne peut l'excuser.... Quand l'univers entier m'accuserait d'un crime Sur son jugement seul un grand homme appuyé, Il aura donc pour moi combattu par pitié! VOL. IV NO. XVI. |