Somehow he had contrived surreptitiously to pick up the dates and
leading facts of his father's campaigns (making a speciality of the
Battle of Wagram), but the vague ambitions which they inspired only
helped his little mind to prey upon itself. It was not "the times" (as
with _Hamlet_) but his own nose that he found to be "out of joint."
The appeal of _Hamlet_ is to the intelligence; that of _L'Aiglon_, so
obviously pathetic in his own eyes, is rather to the heart. Indeed the
intelligence of the audience is here often in trouble; for a
certain acquaintance with history is required and both actors and
stage-management offer little aid to the average ignorance. While
the more obvious and melodramatic situations--such as the death of
_L'Aiglon_ or the business of the sentry--are treated at great leisure,
it is assumed that all historical allusions, however necessary to an
understanding of the situation, will be as tedious to the audience as to
the players, and they are rushed through--as in the mirror scene---at a
pace that baffles our halting pursuit.
If any male character lends itself to interpretation by a woman, it
is such a character as _L'Aiglon_, who, for all his spasms of martial
ardour, was half feminine. And to this side of him, and not this side
alone, Miss MARIE LOEHR did justice in a performance of which her high
spirit had not underrated the difficulties.
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