Bailee

“ CLAUDIEN.
My noble baron, you and I are rivals, and rest our pretensions here on very different foundations; you on being known to the lady, I on the reverse. But I am the wiser of the two.
HARTMAN.
How so, I pray?
CLAUDIEN.
Is it not a notorious fact, that strangers of any apparent likelihood always occupy the vantage ground in every woman's favour? Had the fair Rosella known me as long as she has known you, she might have discovered in me as many faults, perhaps, as would have excluded me from the very threshold of her vestibule. ”

“ SCENE I.—A Hall in the Castle: Enter Livia and the Baron, talking as they enter.
Liv. Yes, Baron; you and your friends have, by this plot of yours, taught me a severe lesson; and I thank you for it, though my own understanding ought to have made it unnecessary.
Bar. Dear Livia; why should, a young woman like you be so much affronted at finding her understanding—for you are mighty fond of that word understanding—not quite infallible? At the age of 63, an age I shall henceforth honestly own I have attained, one is not surprised at some small deficiencies even in one's own understanding. ”

“ I looked at him stupidly.
"But we win," I muttered; "curse it, we win!"
"Or you win for us. Come and tell us," said a calm, steady voice.
"Look after the horse," I cried.
"Yes, yes; I will see to the horse, sir," squeaked the burgomaster; and I limped in, leaning on some man's arm, back to that room with lights. The man put me into a chair, and filled a glass with wine. I drank it; and another, and another. Then I looked round. It was the Prince himself at my elbow.
"‘He is back!' she cried"
"Why, it was you, your Highness!" ”

“ Come, let us have a merry reel together.
[They mix with Dancers, who now advance to the front, where a bumpkin, or dance of many interwoven reels, is performed; after which the Bride is led to a seat, and some of her Maidens sit by her.]
BRIDEGROOM.
Now, while the bride and bonnie maidens all
Take needful rest, we'll pass the cheering cup.
And, Rory of Glenoruch, clear thy throat,
And sing some merry song, meet for a wedding,
Where all are boon and gay.
BRIDE.
O, never mind for that! give us the song
Which thou wert wont on Clachen braes to sing,
And we to praise. ”

“ And now, dear maid, thou pearl and gem of beauty,
The prize for which this bloody fray was fought,
Wilt thou forgive a youthful lover's boldness,
And the rude outrage by his love committed?
Wilt thou not speak to me?
BRIDE.
What can I say?
I was the destined bride of great Rasinga;
My father told me so.
SAMARKOON.
But did thy heart—
Did thine own heart, sweet maid, repeat the tale?
And did it say to thee, "The elder chieftain
Is he whom I approve; his younger rival
Unworthy of my choice?"
BRIDE.
My choice! a modest virgin hath no choice. ”

“ In portraiture, in scenery, in costume, he is simplicity itself. The heroine of the ballad, and, for that matter, the hero also, as a rule, must have 'yellow hair.' If she is not a Lady Maisry, it is a wonder if she be not a May Margaret or a Fair Annie, although there is also a goodly sprinkling of Janets, and Helens, and Marjories, and Barbaras in the enchanted land of ballad poetry. ”

“ Threading their way through a crowd of dancers, whose magnificent dresses of bright-hued satins and velvets laced with silver or gold, and blazing with jewels, sparkled and shone as they glided from hand to hand to the music of an orchestra perched in a recessed gallery of echoing oak, they passed into an inner apartment to pay their devoirs to the Countess, who for a time had relinquished the dance to overlook the tea-board—a solemn, arduous, and highly-important duty, which was executed by her lady-in-waiting, a starched demoiselle of very doubtful age. ”

“ For you, the pantomime of Christmas; for us, the ballet—pensif—poetic, sublime! We are a nation of sentiment; we love always the appeals to our hearts, to our emotions. We should hiss this ballet in Paris. It is good, but it is not good enough. ”

“ The upshot of this journey to London was very comical; and when the bailie afterwards came back, and him and me were again on terms of visitation, many a jocose night we spent over the story of the same; for the bailie was a kittle hand at a bowl of toddy; and his adventure was so droll, especially in the way he was wont to rehearse the particulars, that it cannot fail to be an edification to posterity, to read and hear how it happened, and all about it. ”

“ There was a shrieking chorus—can you imagine a steam whistle playing ragtime?—and a dance of weird, wild vehemence. The lean body was contorted a dozen ways at once, the long white arms whirled and stabbed. She seemed to be a dozen women fighting, and each of them a prodigy of force. ”

“ He was so pleased with that that he repeated it and laughed.
“You teach me my folly,” she muttered, and then looked up with a gleam in her eyes. “I brought you a dowry worth honour, if I am not.”
“Dowry! Dowry!” he spluttered, his big loose lip flapping. “Your England—an ant-heap of vile, impudent, naughty heretics! Madam, I rode through your London to-day and I swear not one head was bowed before me.”
She sighed drearily. “They mean nothing. But you hate them so.” ”

“ BAWLDY.
She bade me——she bade me say—ye maun come to her.
GRIZELD BANE.
To whom, and where? Thou speakest as if my hand were already on thy throat, where it shall very soon be, if thou tell not thy errand more distinctly.
BAWLDY.
The stranger leddy at the tower, the Leddy Annabell, desires that ye wad meet her in the lone shed, near the outer gate, in the afternoon. Gi' me an answer, an please ye.
GRIZELD BANE (in a kind of chant) .
Where there be ladies and where there be lords,
Mischief is making with glances and words,
Work is preparing for pistols and swords. ”

“ He sat there behind a table, with a fellow at his elbow who eyed me askance as I entered, and whispered low in his master's ear. The Prince did not answer; his steady dark eyes sought mine, and he sat with his fingers drumming on the table watching me.
"Nay, you look not like an assassin," he said quietly. ”

“ I have not done anything wrong.”
“Will you tell the King that it pleases you to play with Master Culpepper?”
She grew pale. “Why, it is nothing. It is only sport. And what is it to the King if I—if——”
“The King bade me say that he would walk in the privy garden at four.”
“Oh!” It was a cry of childish triumph. She clasped her hands together and her eyes glittered, and she laughed to herself.
“It is a great honour, madame.”
Catharine sprang up. “Doctor! told you? It is true? He means——”
“Madame, you had best not know what he means. The King loves humility.” ”

“ The King stood up and laid his hand on Eustace's shoulder. “We go together,” he said. “For the rest—stand to your arms, hold out to the end.” He strode to the door and drew the bar and beckoned the women. Slowly, amazed they came, and close behind them Eustace and he marched out on the Welsh spears.
In the misty twilight they saw saffron cloaks clustering and the spear-heads glitter. The girl's mother cried out: “Iestyn! Iestyn! we have trapped their King. See, he follows after me to render himself.” ”

“ But the woman who had called him a fairy came so close that he must needs look up at her: "Yea, yea. I have no fear to handle iron. And I will eat your salt and your baked bread," he laughed. "I am no fairy, I. Good faith, I have dwelt too long with men." ”

“ The curtain went up on a feverish little slavey with her mind set on going to the ball, on Our Policeman wanting a shave, on the orphans in boxes, on baked potato offered as hospitality by a half-starved hostess, on a waiting Cinderella asleep on a frozen doorstep.
And then the ball—and Mona Lisa, and the Duchess of Devonshire, and The Girl with the Pitcher and the Girl with the Muff—and Cinderella in azure tulle and cloth-of-gold, dancing with the Prince at the end like mad—. ”

“ Do you come here on the summons of a lady to attend her tea-table, for the express purpose of casting ridicule on the whole sex?
BRIGHTLY.
⁠I thank you, Miss Vane, for reminding me of the purpose which brought me here; and the more so, that it is to hold judgment on yourself. But it cannot be done in this informal lazy manner; let every body stand round me, that I may open the proceedings with official decorum.
[They all rise from the tea-table and arrange themselves on the front of the Stage.] ”

“ The dancing is infinitely strange. They walz with impetuosity— with frenzy—interspersing their dance with certain capers, twists, hugs and leaps, which evidently excited great admiration: a Highland fling was nothing to it. ”

“ MILAN, 28th June.
I have been to the Scala theatre, to see the Ballet of the Vestal, one of the most interesting Ballets I ever beheld. Oh! what a mighty magician is the ballet master Vigano, and as for the prima ballerina, Pallerini, what praises can equal her merit? then, the delightful soul soothing music, so harmonious, so pathetic, and the decorations so truly tasteful and classical! I can never forget the impression this fascinating Ballet made on me. ”

“ Murrain take thee and thy love too! thou hast no more spirit in thee than a worm.
Bar. Bravo, Boy! thou hast enough of it, I see; and I'll put a stand of colours into thy hand as soon as thou art strong enough to carry them. Thou art my boy now; I will protect thee.
Page. I thank you, Baron.—And my sister; will you protect her too?
Bar. Yes, Child; both of you.
Page. Refuse him then, Nina: hast thou no more pride about thee?
Nina. Alas! I should, have more pride: I know l should; but I have been sadly humbled.
Page. Thou'lt be still more so if thou art his wife, trust me! ”

“ At the conclusion of the banquet, which was served at five o’clock, the king entered his cabinet, where his tailors were awaiting him for the purpose of trying on the celebrated costume representing Spring, which was the result of so much imagination, and had cost so many efforts of thought to the designers and ornament-workers of the court. As for the ballet itself, every person knew the part he had to take in it, and how to perform it. ”

“ I don't doubt of success; for my lady has lived a great part of her life in an old castle in the North, and has as good a notion of a ghost or a goblin as most folks.
Cook. He, he, he! Some folks will be warm enough to-night without frying cutlets. And bless you, man! if Mrs. Pry should come in your way, give her a claw for my sake.
Rob. O never doubt that, hussy—And here, in good time, comes Sharp to settle his part of the business; for you know we are to give his master a claw too, as well as Mrs. Pry. ”

“ The Ballet Music is famous for its brilliant harmonic and orchestral colors, exotic melodies, and pulsating rhythms. In Act 2, Scene 1 there takes place the Dance of the Moorish Slaves, an oriental dance performed before Amneris by the Moorish boys. The Ballabile is another oriental dance which appears in Act 2, Scene 2, performed by the dancing girls during the celebration attending the arrival of the triumphant Egyptian army headed by Radames. ”

“ And then on a sudden she checked and stood a beaten horse, heaving and trembling. "God's body, my wench, are you bewitched?" the King said, and gentled her and again tried to turn her. But turn she would not. She trembled the more and whinnied, and the King was aware that there was no sound in the woods but her whinnying and panting. ”

“ And as the couple moved off together I suddenly discovered why the scene reminded me of a London coster dance. Every young man and many of the old ones wore a hat—generally a bowler—and even if he took it off to valse, which not many of them did, he carried it carefully under his arm as he danced, regardless of the inconvenience to his partner. ”

“ Play, play," and he beat a roll on the drum and struck up a merry ballad while she played on a lute, and then he plucked out his bagpipe and making it drone and squeak danced grotesquely. Soon they had a ring about them, and the girl slipped off her green cloak and stood out in a golden dress that clung about her and danced while he played upon the horn. ”

“ Entering, O-liver was transported at once to the dance hall on the Barbary Coast—a great room with a bar at one end, the musicians on a platform at the other, a stairway leading upward. Groups of people waited for a signal to dance, to drink, to act whatever part had been assigned them—people with unearthly pink complexions. The heat was intense.
With her face upturned to the director, who was mounted on a chair, stood a childish creature who was pinker, if possible, than the rest. She had fluffy hair of pale gold. She ran up the stairway presently, and the light was turned on her. ”

“ From the Illustrated London News, December 24, 1853.
[193] The young woman of this picture is a “high-kicker” who evidently has made a hit with the audience at a modern Christmas ballet. When she gets behind the scenes among “properties” left over from the ancient days, she gives a frisky vent to her feelings by flashing her heels in the faces of the grinning old masks.
In short, she represents pantomime in its most modern development, the ballet, as contrasted with the grotesque humors of the past. ”

“ In some instances we have set other words to a ballad tune, as XXXVI. One of my old singers said to me concerning this ballad, "When my little sister, now dead, these twenty years, was a child, and went up from Exeter to London with me in a carrier's van, Lor bless'y, afore railways was invented, I mind that she sang this here ballet in the waggon all the way up. We was three days about it. She was then about six years old." The ballet, by the way, is not particularly choice and suitable for a child or a grown-up girl to sing, according to our ideas. ”