26 JUNE 1858, Page 9

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Madame Ristori, since the commencement of her present engagement, has appeared (for the first time in London,) in two of Mademoiselle Ra- chel's characters, the Phedre of Racine and the Adrienne Lecouvreur of Scribe. As these characters are not in any way connected with the Italian stage, we may conclude that she has now laid aside her national position, and filling up the vacancy left by Mademoiselle Rachel, would become the leading tragedienne of Europe. There is no one at present to support the classical drama in Paris ; so henceforth, we presume, Valian not French, is to be the language spoken all over the world by the poets of Louis XIV. . As far as London is concerned, Madame Ristori might have judiciously waited for another season or two before she appeared in her new charac- ters. She brings with her, it is true, the advantages of a commanding style of beauty, and of a voice susceptible of the nicest modulations, and in other natural gifts she is unquestionably superior to Mademoiselle Rachel. Her poses are of the most striking kind, and when introduced by way of climax to her speeches, already endowed with all the charm of her elocution, they are almost certain to electrify an audience. Of the drama of Alfieri, where the characters are boldly marked out, and slightly coloured, she seems the born interpretess ; a higher actress of outline can scarcely be conceived. But with Mademoiselle Rachel, ideal as she was, there was an under-current of reality, which was ever manifesting itself in a thousand details, all perfectly natural, and most of them too minute for the pen of the describer to follow. We admire in Madame Ristori the accomplished artist rich in natural gifts, all of which she freely and ably employs in the interpretation of the poet's meaning. Mademoiselle Rachel, on the other hand, caused us to forget the artist, and becoming, as it were, the character she assumed, enabled us to study the development of emotion at first hand. Though some years have elapsed since she last appeared before us, her recent death has caused her image to revive with singular freshness, and hence we doubt whether this is exactly the moment when another artist can wisely provoke a comparison.