Oenon, whom I took to be the sister Sarah,
was something of an actress, but her part was so hateful that no one
could applaud her. I felt in reading 'Phedre,' and in hearing it, that
it was a play of high order, and that I learned some little philosophy
from some of its sentiments; but for 'Adrienne' I have a contempt. The
play was written by Scribe specially for Rachel, and the French acting
was better done by the other performers than the Greek. I have always
disliked to see death represented on the stage. Rachel's representation
was awful! I could not take my eyes from the scene, and I held my breath
in horror; the death was so much to the life. It is said that she
changes color. I do not know that she does, but it looked like a ghastly
hue that came over her pale face.
"I was displeased at the constant standing. Neither as Greeks nor as
Frenchmen did they sit at all; only when dying did Rachel need a chair.
They made love standing, they told long stories standing, they took
snuff in that position, hat in hand, and Rachel fainted upon the breast
of some friend from the same fatiguing attitude.
"The audience to hear 'Adrienne' was very fine. The Unitarian clergymen
and the divinity students seemed to have turned out.
"Most of the two thousand listeners followed with the book, and when the
last word was uttered on the French page, over turned the two thousand
leaves, sounding like a shower of rain.
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