Desultory Speculator, Number VII [pp. 700-702]

Desultory Speculator —No. VII.
tody as a prisoner for some time. Luidgi anrid his compa nions rush to her rescue and succeed(l. The brigands are
defeated, and the lady is saved. She shows her gratitude by
offering valuable presents to her preserver, who refuses to
receive a reward; and she bestows them upon Lauretta, as
her liberator's intended bride, and indicates to him that she
has influence and will never forget him. Dr. Omeoquaco
arrives-and is smitten with the charms of the beautiful
Lauretta, and offers his wealth to her mother to obtain her
consent to his marriage with her daughter; who had been
attired, at the instance of her mother in her bridal dress,
in expectation of being united to Luidgi: but her mother had
bestowed her on the pompous old doctor, who makes love
to the young peasant with great fervor. Lauretta, how ever, laughs at his pretensions; and though pressed by her
mother, declares she will never consent to marry any other
than Luidgi. In the meantime, poor Luidgi has been stung
by a Tarantula; and Lauretta, half distracted, and finding
no other aid than Dr. Omeoqtiaco, describes her lovdr's
delirium, frantic motions and agony, and begs him to em ploy his medical skill to restore him. He refuses to (lo so,
unless she will consent to become his wife: to which, when
she finds that Luidgi is becoming worse and worse, and if
not instantly relieved will die, she consents, and is led
fainting to the altar. Luidgi, in the 2d act, is brought at his
earnest solicitation, scarcely restored, to Lauretta's cham ber: and an affecting scene takes place between the lovers
when he learns that she has been married to Omeoquaco.
He thinks of the strange lady whom he had rescued fromn
the banditti, and hastens to seek her aid in annulling a mar riage effected by force and violence. During his absence,
and to produce delay, Dr. Omeoquaco having ordered his
carriage to depart immediately with his young wife, Lau retta employs all sorts of stratagems to detain him till the
r eturn of her lover. These scenes are exceedingly amu sing. Finding at last that nothing will do, and not half the
time necessary for the return of Luidgi had expired, she
resorts to the expedient of pretending to be stung by the
Tarantula; and, to the horror of her old husband, assumes all
the contortions, feverish trance, depressions and fainting,
she had noticed in her lover when laboring under the effects
of the poison infused by the spider. Her dancing becomes
frantic, but at the same time fail of grace and beauty-her
husband calls on the company to assist, and Lauretta appears
to expire from exhaustion. The poor doctor is in a terrible
quandary, and is about to be roughly handled by the peasants,
when Luidgi enters with the lady he had rescned, who
turns out to be the Doctor's wife, who he thought had been
murdered by the brigands. Lauretta suddenly recovers, and
after pretending to claim the Doctor for her husband, offers
her hand to her lover; and the Doctor and his former wife
ar c again united, and take their departure. All this is exhi bited by pantomime and dancing. It is founded upon the
supposed effects of the bite of a species of spider, called
the Tarantula, found in the southern parts of Europe, and
especially in the neighborhood of Tarentum in Italy, where
it was first observed. This insect belongs to the genus
Lycosa of Latreille; and the Tarantula is the largest of all
European spiders. It is of a brown color, with the back of
the abdomen marked by a row of trigonal black spots, with
* whitish edges; and the legs, eight in number, marked beneath
by black and white bars. The part surrounding the eyes is
bristled with a few upright hairs. The eyes have sometimes
the color of rubies. The strong huge mandibles are of a
* shining black, except at their exterior base, which is covers ed with a down more or less grey or ochreous in color; the
other parts of the month are black. The feelers have a tint
of ochre which is often vivid; hut they are always black at
the extremity. The legs are strong anid stout, and on the
upper side, of a uniform blackish or yellowish grey. This
description is taken in part from a naturalist, who studied
Bride of the ever-sounding seas!
Each wave titt rolls in dirges o'er
The tombs of warriors who upbore
Thy stars in triumph on the breeze The winds, that journeying onward, sweep
The harps which gild the dark-blue deep The radiant glories of the light,
And silence of star-mantled night,
Shall bring loud welcomes unto thee,
From every land, o'er every sea,
And where oppression binds the slave,
Thy form shall glow-a light to save,
And Earth's remotest clime be FREE!
Si~mpsonville, Ky.
[SEPTEMBER,
700
Shall guard thee still, though they no more
May tread the soil they loved of yore.
An unseen phalanx they shall stand,
Round Freedom's fane, and there unfurled,
The banner of their native land
Shall wave unsullied o'er the world!
,DESULTORY SPECULATOR.-No. VIT.
BY G. W N.
MAM'SELLE FANNY ELSSLE.,', AND THE
TARANTULA.
Mam'selle Fanny Elssler has acquired great celebrity as
a danseuse both in Europe and America. She;s superioiin this branch of art to all who have yet visited this country
and has attained to a degree of perfection in the 11 poetry of
motion," that none, I believe, but Madame Taglioni has c-xcelled. In some particulars, however, I prefer Madame Celeste
to Mam'selle Elssler.'I'he latter, it is true, dayices with
less effort and greater ease; but the former has a finer figure,
and is occasionally more graceful, especially in the Cachue,ha. Celeste is, moreover, decidedly a better pantomimic actress; and in the tout ensemble more. attractive.
This, however, is a matter of opinion, and I do not insist
upon its infallibility. My object, in these remarks, is to give
some account of the origin of one of those Ballets-ttie
TAP.ANTULL -in which Mam'selle Elssler excels, and displays the perfection of her art, The Ballet is derived from
the French baller-to dance, It has been greatly improved by
the French, and especially by Monsieur Noverre, who flourished in the last century and I)ublished a work in two vols.
on the art of dancing. The pantomirole dance was known
to the ancients; but the ballet received its regular dramatic
form from -Baltazarini, the director of music to the princess
Catharine de Medici, The ballet is defined to be in its
widest sense, 11 the representation of a series of passionate
actions and feelings, by means of gestures and dancing."
Like the drama, it is divided into acts and scenes in which
are several entrees-each of which consists of one or more
quadrilles of dancers, who represent the action by their
gestures, steps, and attitudes. The Tarantule is a comic or
dramatic ballet, arranged by M. Coralli. The scene lies in
Italv and the characters are Luidg',, a young peasant; Lauretta, the object of his love, and the daughter of the wealthy
postmistress of the village; Dr. Omeoquaco, a rich and consequential personage; a strange lady, who is rescued from
a band of brigands by Luidgi; and a number of male and
female peasarits-who constitute the corps de ballet. In
the Ist act, Luidgi is represented serenading Lauretta,
while a band of brigands are seen crossing the village arid
taking with them a lady whom tiey have had in their ctis
K