Mr. Standish has married a French lady, accomplished,
clever, and pretty. Intermarriages between French
and English are now not unfrequent; and it is pleasant
to observe the French politeness and bon ton
ingrafted on English sincerity and good sense.
Of this, Mr. Standish offers a very good example;
for, while he has acquired all the Parisian ruse of
manner, he has retained all the English good qualities
for which he has always been esteemed.
CHAPTER VIII.
Charles Kemble dined here yesterday, and in the evening
read to us his daughter Fanny’s Tragedy of Francis
the First—a very wonderful production
for so young a girl. There is considerable vigour
in many parts of this work, and several passages in
it reminded me of the old dramatists. The character
of “Louisa of Savoy” is forcibly drawn—wonderfully
so, indeed, when considered as the production of so
youthful a person. The constant association with
minds deeply imbued with a love of the old writers,
must have greatly influenced the taste of Miss Kemble.
Francis the First bears irrefragable evidence
that her reading has lain much among the old poets,
and that Shakspeare is one of her most favourite ones.
“Triboulet,” the king’s jester, may
be instanced as an example of this; and “Margaret
of Valois” furnishes another. “Francoise
de Foix” is a more original conception; timid,
yet fond, sacrificing her honour to save her brother’s
life, but rendered wretched by remorse; and not able
to endure the presence of her affianced husband, who,
believing her pure and sinless as he left her, appeals
to her, when “Gonzales” reveals her shame.
This same “Gonzales,” urged on by vengeance,
and ready to do aught—nay, more than “may
become a man,”—to seek its gratification,
is a boldly drawn character.
The introduction of the poet “Clement Marot”
is no less happy than judicious; and Miss Kemble gives
him a very beautiful speech, addressed to his master
“Francis the First,” in which the charm
that reigns about the presence of a pure woman is
so eloquently described, as to have reminded me of
the exquisite passage in Comus, although there
is not any plagiary in Miss Kemble’s speech.
A poetess herself, she has rendered justice to the
character of Clement Marot, whose honest indignation
at being employed to bear a letter from the amorous
“Francis” to the sister of “Lautrec,”
she has very gracefully painted.
The “Constable Bourbon” is well drawn,
and has some fine speeches assigned to him; and “Gonzales”
gives a spirited description of the difference between
encountering death in the battle-field, surrounded
by all the spirit-stirring “pomp and circumstance
of glorious war,” and meeting the grisly tyrant
on the scaffold, attended by all the ignominious accessories
of a traitor’s doom.
This Tragedy, when given to the public, will establish
Miss Kemble’s claims to distinction in the literary
world, and add another laurel to those acquired by
her family.
Copyrights
The Idler in France from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
