Mr. Macready was representing Macbeth at Drury Lane. An actress of great public and private excellence personated Lady Macbeth. She was in the act of going upon the stage, when a letter was placed in her hands by the messenger of the theatre. She glanced at the handwriting and turned deadly pale-but her cue had been spoken by Macbeth. She thrust the letter in her bosom, and walked firmly upon the stage. When the curtain fell upon the close of the third act, my friend saw her with trembling hands hastily tear open the missive. She uttered one exclamation of intense agony, and with a face rigid as marble, but tearless eyes, refolded the epistle. My friend asked her what had happened; but she could not command herself to answer. Stifling down her emotion, she hurried to her dressing room. The curtain rose for the fourth act. At the call boy's summons she reappeared, and with forced composure concluded the part of Lady Macbeth. It was not until the curtain fell, and her professional duty was at an end for the night, that her grief broke forth in tears and in words. The letter apprised her of the death of her husband, whom she had watched over with the truest womanly devotion through the most terrible of trials. He was a lunatic.

CHAPTER XIX.

Ariadne. - English Version, by John Oxenford. - Closing Catastrophe. The three Ariadnes.· Leaping the Rock.- Marie de Meranie. The Misanthrope. Uxmal. -Lovers' Amazements. - Jealousy of Actors. Afflicting Tidings. Loss of Memory. Disastrous Close of the Olympic Theatre. Charge brought against the Manager. Attack of Brain Fever. First Consciousness. Dr. W-tt's Communications. The Manager's Trial. Conviction. - Insanity. - Self-Destruction. Mr. Mowatt's Return to England. Shorn Tresses. - Journey to Malvern.

THE classic tragedy of Ariadne was produced during this season at the Olympic. The Ariâne of Thomas Corneille, the younger brother (by twenty years) of the great Pierre Corneille, father of the French drama, was rendered into English blank verse by John Oxenford, Esq. The French Ariâne is one of Rachel's most magnificent personations. The female interest predominates throughout the play. Indeed, it is almost a monologue, and the character of Ariâne affords rich capabilities for the display of tragic powers. La Harpe says truly of Ariâne, "Cette pièce est au rang de celles qu'on joue souvent, lorsqu'une actrice veut se distinguer par un rôle capable de la faire valoir."

The greenest laurels I ever won in London (at least of the Melpomone chaplet) were awarded to the interpretation of the wronged Greek maiden.

Mr. Davenport represented Theseus, and looked the hero the author permits no more.

Phœdra, sister of Ariadne, rendered by a mediocre

actress, would have been an unimpressive character; but Miss Vining, in the fourth act, electrified the audience by Phaedra's passionate burst of remorse after she had consented to betray her sister and fly with The

seus.

In Thomas Corneille's version, Ariadne is not succored by the god Bacchus, according to the old classical story; but on the discovery of her abandonment by Theseus, she falls upon a sword and expires. The catastrophe is altered by Mr. Oxenford in the English version. A very startling scenic effect is produced by the leaping of Ariadne from a rock, and her plunging into the sea, while the ship of Theseus is disappearing in the distance.

The stage execution of this novel termination was managed in a manner worthy of mention. Three Ariadnes, all similarly costumed, and twin in resemblance, lent their aid to the accomplishment of the thrilling disaster.

The closing scene of the play represents a wildly picturesque portion of the Island of Naxos. In the distance rolls the sea. On one side a ledge of rocks. rises to a dizzy height. From these there juts out a - Arisingle peak the loftiest summit of the island.

adne is pacing the shore when the terrible intelligence is disclosed that she is deserted by Theseus, and that Phœdra has fled in his company. A moment afterwards she beholds in the distance the ship which is bearing the fugitives to Athens. Frenzied at the sight, she rushes up the rocks, and climbs the highest peak, to catch the last glimpse of the vessel. When it disappears she is overcome by despair, and leaps into the sea.

The climbing of these rocks, and the execution of the theatrical stratagem by which the leap appears to be made by Ariadne, was a rather perilous experiment for a person of impetuous temperament and easily carried. away by an exciting personation. It was decided that I could not be trusted to make the dangerous ascent. A young girl was selected from the ballet who strongly resembled me. Ariadne's Grecian robe, with its rich border of blue and gold, her double crown and jewelled zone, were duplicated for my counterfeit Ariadne the second. But this was not all; the classic costume had to be again repeated for the toilet of Ariadne the third a most lifelike lay figure. The face, arms, and bust of the latter were modelled from a statue, and were too faultless for the other two Ariadnes to object to their inanimate representative.

It was found no easy matter at rehearsal to persuade our timid Ariadne the second to even walk up the steep rocks. She stopped and shrieked half way, protested she was dizzy and might fall, and would not advance a step farther. After about half an hour's delay, during which the poor girl was encouraged, coaxed, and scolded abundantly, she allowed the carpenter who planned the rocky pathway to lead her carefully up and down the declivity; and finally she rushed up alone. Our lay representative was couched at the top, ready for her flight through the air. Ariadne the second, at a certain cue, suddenly falls upon her face, concealed from the audience by an intercepting rock. At the same moment a spring is touched, and the lay figure, with uplifted arms, leaps from the cliff, and drops into the abyss beneath.

At night, Ariadne the first, on beholding the ship of

THE THREE ARIADNES.

335

Theseus, uttered a prolonged shriek, broke away from King narus and his friends who impeded her steps, and flew up the rocks; but, turning a cliff at no great height from the stage, sprang off behind the scenes in the arms of a person stationed to receive her. Steps for her descent were found unavailable. At the instant Ariadne the first disappeared, Ariadne the second darted from behind the cliff, and swiftly clambered the rocky heights until she reached their very summit. Ariadne the first uttered the impassioned language of the Greek maiden from behind the scenes, while Ariadne the second was toiling up the rocks, and supposed to be speaking. At the words, "Die, Ariadne, die!" from the lips of Ariadne first, Ariadne second sinks upon the rock, and Ariadne third made her first appearance, and unhesitatingly sprang into the sea.

The resemblance of the three Ariadnes must have been striking, for I have been told the changes could not be detected by the most powerful opera glass.

The illusion was so perfect, that on the first night of the representation, when Ariadne leaped the rock, a man started up in the pit, exclaiming, in a tone of genuine horror, “Good God! she is killed!

The success of Ariadne determined the manager to offer the public a series of new plays. This announcement caused some of the first dramatists in London to devote their talents to the interest of the theatre.

The first play accepted was the historical tragedy of Marie de Meranie, by Mr. Marston, author of the Patrician's Daughter, Strathmore, &c. I was to personate Queen Marie.*

*This play was eventually produced by Miss Faucit, at the Olympic.