aits, in triumph and joy, the
confirmation of her innocence,--and seems to call upon the spirit which
had haunted him, to behold the solemn scene which proves the falsehood
of its mission. But the very tenderness which he shews destroys the
resolution of his mother, and she hesitates in the oath she had begun to
pronounce. His feelings are at once changed,--the paleness of horror,
and fury of revenge, are marked in his countenance, and his hands grasp
the steel which is to punish her guilt: But the agony of his mother
again overpowers him, at the moment he is about to strike; he appeals
for mercy to the shade of his father, in a voice, in which, as M. de
Stael has truly said, all the feelings of human nature seem at once to
burst from his heart, and, in an attitude humbled by the view of his
mother's guilt and wretchedness, he awaits the confession she seems
ready to make: and when she sinks, overcome by the remorse and agony
which she feels, he remembers only that she is his mother; the affection
which had been long repressed again returns, and he throws himself on
his knees, to assure her of the mercy of Heaven. We do not wish to be
thought so presumptuous as to compare the talents of the French author
with the genius of Shakespeare, but we must be allowed to say, that we
think this scene better managed for dramatic effect: and certainly no
part of Hamlet, on the English stage, ever produced the same impression,
or affected us so deeply. We are well aware, however, how very different
the scene would have appeared in the hands of any other actors than
Talma and Madle Duchesnois, and that a very great part of the merit
which the play seemed to possess, might be more justly attributed to the
talents which they displayed. At the conclusion of this great tragedy,
which has become so popular in France, and in which the genius of Talma
is so powerfully exhibited, the applause was universal; and after some
little time, to our surprise, instead of diminishing, became much
louder; and presently a cry of Talma burst out from the whole house. In
a few minutes the curtain drew up, and discovered Talma waiting to
receive the applause with which they honoured him, and to express his
sense of the distinction paid to him.

The part of Orestes in Andromaque, is another character in which the
acting of Talma is seen to much advantage: and to a foreigner, it is
peculiarly interesting, as it displays, more than any other almost, that
unco