the conjugal and maternal virtues of Cora,
and in the artless display of vivid patriotism in the old blind man and
his boy--there is, exclusive of Rolla's glorious qualities, a mass of
excellence sufficient to make the character of any two plays, and put
each out of the reach of competition with any other that we can
immediately think of.

Such as we have described are the emotions which are always produced by
the play now under consideration, when it happens to be properly
represented. Fortunately or unfortunately as it may happen, the play is
so constructed that almost every part in it contributes largely,
according to its kind, to the interest of the piece. Every person of the
_oppressed_--the Peruvians, even down to the blind man and the little
boy, are made by the poet to produce a large share of the general
effect. For this reason it is a piece which taxes a manager highly,
calling for a variety of excellent talents in the actors. It is not one
of those plays which satisfy the mind and from which we come home
contented, if two or three characters are well done. The play of Pizarro
is a lifeless body when compared with what it ought to be, if _all_ the
high Peruvians at least, are not well performed. In the movement of a
watch every small wheel and every little rivet is as necessary to the
general effect as the mainspring. So Las Casas, Orozimbo, the blind man,
and the blind man's boy, are as necessary not perhaps to the mean
progress of the fable (but to that effect, that necromantic influence
upon the feelings, that penetrating moral which alone can render a play
useful as well as delightful) as is the character of Rolla.

It may appear a singular avowal, yet being truth we will not withhold
it, that having witnessed the performance of this play many times in
England and America, we have never yet seen it performed to our
_perfect_ satisfaction. Kemble was great in Rolla, but the feebleness of
his voice was severely felt by the audience in the celebrated speech of
the Peruvian to his soldiers. That speech has been the stumbling block
of most actors we have seen. Hodgkinson, who in other respects was
unexceptionable, rather failed in it. Throughout the whole character,
Mr. Wood preserved a very equable tenor of acting. He had neither the
rich beauties nor the striking defects of others. He evinced
considerable judgment, but at times powers were evidently wanting.

Mr. M'Kenzie supported Pizarro well, and showed