markably displayed, because he is peculiarly fitted, by his
complete personation of character, and the deep interest which he seems
himself to take in the part he is sustaining, to excel in performing
what chiefly requires such interest. He is, at all times, so fully
impressed with the feelings, which, under such circumstances, must have
been really felt, that one is uniformly struck with the truth and
propriety of every thing he does; and of course, in soliloquies, which
must be perfect, when the actor appears to be seriously and deeply
interested in the subjects on which he is meditating, Talma invariably
succeeds. In this soliloquy in Hamlet, he is completely absorbed in the
awful importance of the great question which occupies his attention, and
nothing indicates the least consciousness of the multitude which
surrounds him, or even that he is giving utterance to the mighty
thoughts which crowd upon his mind. "Talma ne faisoit pas un geste,
quelquefois seulement il remuoit la tete pour questioner la terre et le
ciel sur ce que c'est que la mort! Immobile, la dignite de la meditation
absorboit tout son etre."--De l'Allemagne, 1. c. We could wish to avoid
any attempt to describe the acting of Talma in those passages which the
eloquence of M. de Stael has rendered familiar throughout Europe; yet we
feel that this account of the tragedy of Hamlet would be imperfect, if
we did not allude to that very interesting scene, which corresponds, in
the history of the play, to the closet scene in Shakespeare. Talma
appears with the urn which contains the ashes of his father, and whose
injured spirit he seems to consult, to obtain more proof of the guilt
which he is to revenge, or in the hope that the affections of human
nature may yet survive the horrors of the tomb, and that the duty of
the son will not be tried in the blood of the parent who gave him birth.
But no voice is heard to alter the sentence which he is doomed to
execute; and he is still compelled to prepare himself to meet with
sternness his guilty mother. After charging her, with the utmost
tenderness and solemnity, with the knowledge of her husband's murder, he
places the urn in her hands, and requires her to swear her innocence
over the sacred ashes which it contains. At first, the consciousness
that Hamlet could only _suspect_ her crime, gives her resolution to
commence the oath with firmness; and Talma, with an expression of
countenance which cannot be described, aw