A loud shout and clapping proceeded from the Royalists; but I fancy if
hands had been shown these last would have been in a sad minority. I have
often amused myself with comparing the Merope of Voltaire with that of
Maffei and am puzzled to which to give the preference. Maffei has made
Polyphonte a more odious and perhaps on that account a more theatrical
character, while Voltaire's Polyphonte is more in real life. In the play of
Voltaire he is a rough brutal soldier, void of delicacy of feeling and not
very scrupulous, but not that praeternatural deep designing villain that he
is represented in the piece of Maffei. In fact Maffei's Polyphonte appears
too outre; but then on the stage may not a little exaggeration be
allowed, just as statues which are destined to be placed in the open air or
on columns appear with greater effect when larger than the natural size?
Alfleri seems to have given the preference to the Merope of Voltaire.
I have seen Talma a second time in the part of Nero in the Britannicus of
Racine; Mlle Georges played the part of Agrippina. Talma was Nero from head
to foot; his very entry on the stage gave an idea of the fiery and
impatient character of the tyrant, and in the scene between him and his
mother Agrippina nothing could be better delineated. The forced calm of
Agrippina, while reproaching her son with his ingratitude, and the
impatience of Nero to get rid of such an importunate monitress, were given
in a style impossible to be surpassed.
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