THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 OF TOMMASO SALVINI 
 
TOMMASO SALVINI AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-NINE. 
 
LEAVES FROM THE 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 TOMMASO SALVINI 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE CENTURY CO. 
 
 1893 
 
Copyright, 1892, 1893, by 
 THE CENTURY Co. 
 
 THE DEVINNE PRESS. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 TOMMASO SALVINI AT THE AGE OF TWENTY- 
 NINE Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 GUSTAVO MODENA 16 
 
 RISTORI AS " MARY STUART " 48 
 
 SALVINI AS " ICILIO " IN THE " VIRGINIE " OF 
 
 ALFIERI 80 
 
 RACHEL AS "PHEDRE" 112 
 
 FRANCESCO LOMBARDI 144 
 
 CLEMENTINA CAZZOLA 176 
 
 SALVINI AS " OROSMANE " IN THE " ZAIRE " OF 
 
 VOLTAIRE . 208 
 
 93560 
 
LEAVES FROM 
 
 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 TOMMASO SALVINI 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF MY YOUTH 
 
 WHEN I was a little boy I ran away 
 from home because of some fancied 
 harshness, and three days later was found in 
 a distant city and brought back by our old 
 family servant. My father's bearing toward 
 me after this escapade made a profound im- 
 pression on me ; for, instead of punishing me 
 severely, he chose to pass' my misdeed by 
 in absolute silence. His kindness caused a 
 complete change in my boyish character, and 
 I resolved to be a source of trouble to him 
 no more, but to seek in every way to gain 
 his esteem and love. I remained with him 
 a year after this, and I have the satisfaction 
 of feeling that during that year I was scru- 
 pulously obedient and attentive to my duties. 
 
2 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 My father saw that it would be impossible 
 for my brother and me to make serious 
 progress in our studies in the midst of the 
 nomadic life that we were leading with his the- 
 atrical company, and he determined to place 
 us at Florence with our uncle and aunt, and 
 to send me to the Law School, and my 
 brother to the School of Fine Arts. It was 
 my father's wish that I should be a lawyer, 
 and my brother a painter. Our uncle and 
 aunt lived in the Via Romana, near the gate 
 of the Boboli Gardens, and it was not pleas- 
 ant, especially in winter, to walk on every 
 work-day quite across the city from the Via 
 Romana to the Via Martelli, and to the end 
 of the Via del Cocomero (now Via Ricasoli). 
 Our uncle walked with us, and from habit 
 took steps of such great length and velocity 
 that we trotted after him, panting. Occasion- 
 ally, however, on account of indisposition or 
 business, he had to let us go alone, and then 
 we used to take our revenge. We would 
 walk at our ease, and stop on the Ponte Vec- 
 chio to admire the goldsmiths' and jewelers' 
 shops. I won't say that the pastry-cooks' 
 shops did n't attract us too. 
 
 When ten years old I felt no leaning to- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 3 
 
 ward any vocation. My father's will was 
 mine ; and I do not remember feeling distaste 
 for any task that was given me. Whatever 
 was marked out for me to study, it was all the 
 same to me : history interested me, grammar 
 attracted me, in arithmetic I found pleasure, 
 geography amused me, and as to penmanship 
 and spelling, I had a real passion for them. 
 Three years later I was just beginning Latin 
 when my father came to Florence to play for 
 an entire season. During those three years, 
 however, my uncle had often taken me to my 
 father in vacation-time, particularly if he hap- 
 pened to be in a place not far from Florence. 
 Upon these occasions we would see him play 
 in the evening, which was to us a source of 
 unmeasured enjoyment. I took especial de- 
 light in dramas and tragedies. When the 
 company gave a comic piece, I used to ask 
 my father to let me go to bed. 
 
 During one of my vacations, I went alone 
 with my father to Milan, my brother being ill 
 with measles, and I had the good fortune to 
 see a piece played by that wonderful artist 
 Luigi Vestri. The play was a translation 
 from the French entitled " Malvina," and for 
 the first time I learned that one can cry and 
 
4 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 laugh at the same time. Vestri, who had 
 been endowed by Nature with all that she 
 can grant to a dramatic artist, made so strong 
 an impression on my boyish imagination, that 
 when my father presented me to him the next 
 day I stared at him as if under a spell, and 
 was unable to utter a word. I fancied that I 
 was in the presence of a divinity. He patted 
 my face kindly, and I felt a wave of delight 
 rush through my veins. 
 
 About this time a disaster befell my poor 
 father's household. His second wife, whom 
 in our short visits we had hardly learned to 
 know, unmindful of the sacrifices which her 
 husband had made for her, ungratefully aban- 
 doned him. He was so deeply affected that 
 only the thought of his sons restrained him 
 from suicide. For several months he gave 
 himself up to grief, and to projects of ven- 
 geance which his good sense and dignity 
 caused to come to naught ; and it was after 
 this that he came to Florence for a season, 
 as I have said. I was then thirteen years 
 old ; but, strange to say, I looked fully seven- 
 teen. So precocious was my development 
 that not only was I a head taller than the 
 tallest of the boys of my age, but my whole 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 5 
 
 figure was in proportion, and I needed only 
 a little hair on my face to have the presence 
 of a young man of twenty. When my father 
 caught sight of me, he exclaimed : 
 
 "My goodness! what are you going to 
 grow up to be ? The giant Goliath ? " 
 
 " No, father," I answered ; " I prefer to be 
 David, who killed him." 
 
 "Well, you shall come with me," said he, 
 " and I will be your Saul in his good mo- 
 ments. If you can't play the harp to charm 
 away the grief of my soul, you can talk to me, 
 and the sound of your voice will soothe me." 
 
 Accordingly, when, after the carnival season 
 in Florence, my father joined the Bon and 
 Berlaffa Company as leading actor, he took 
 me with him, leaving my brother to his course 
 at the Fine Arts. 
 
 THE AUTHOR'S FIRST APPEARANCE 
 
 THE Bon and Berlaffa Company alternated 
 in its repertory between the comedies of Gol- 
 doni and the tragedies of Alfieri. 
 
 One evening the "Donne Curiose" by Gol- 
 doni was to be given, but the actor who was 
 to take the harlequin's part, represented in 
 
6 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 that piece by a stupid slave called Pasquino, 
 fell sick a few hours before the curtain was to 
 rise. The company had been together for a 
 few days only, and it was out of the question 
 to substitute another play. It had been de- 
 cided to close the theater for that night, when 
 Berlaffa asked : 
 
 "Why could n't your Tom take the part?" 
 
 My father said that there was no reason 
 why he should n't, but that Tom had never 
 appeared in public, and he did n't know 
 whether he had the courage. 
 
 The proposition was made to me, and I ac- 
 cepted on the spot, influenced to no little ex- 
 tent by a desire to please the managers, who 
 in my eyes were people of great importance. 
 Within three hours, with my iron memory, I 
 had easily mastered my little part of Pas- 
 quino, and, putting on the costume of the 
 actor who had fallen ill, I found myself a full- 
 fledged if a new performer. I was to speak 
 in the Venetian dialect; that was inconvenient 
 for me rather than difficult, but at Forte, 
 where we were, any slip of pronunciation 
 would hardly be observed. 
 
 It was the first time that I was to go on 
 the stage behind the dazzling footlights, the 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 7 
 
 first time that I was to speak in an unac- 
 customed dialect, dressed up in ridiculous 
 clothes which were not my own; and I con- 
 fess that I was so much frightened that I 
 was tempted to run back to my dressing- 
 room, to take off my costume, and to have 
 nothing more to do with the play. But my 
 father, who was aware of my submissive dis- 
 position toward him, with a few words kept 
 me at my post. 
 
 "For shame!" said he; "a man has no right 
 to be afraid." A man! I was scarce fourteen, 
 yet I aspired to that title. 
 
 The conscript who is for the first time un- 
 der fire feels a sense of fear. Nevertheless, 
 if he has the pride of his sex, and the dignity 
 of one who appreciates his duty, he stands 
 firm, though it be against his will. So it was 
 with me when I began my part. When I 
 perceived that some of Pasquinds lines were 
 amusing the audience, I took courage, and, 
 like a little bird making its first flight, I ar- 
 rived at the goal, and was eager to try again. 
 As it turned out, my actor's malady grew 
 worse, so that he was forced to leave the com- 
 pany, and I was chosen to take his place. 
 
 I must have had considerable aptitude for 
 
8 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 such comic parts as those of stupid servants, 
 for everywhere that we went I became the 
 public's Benjamin. I made the people laugh, 
 and they asked for nothing better. All were 
 surprised that, young and inexperienced as 
 I was, I should have so much cleverness of 
 manner and such sureness of delivery. My 
 father was more surprised than anybody, for 
 he had expected far less of my immaturity 
 and total lack of practice. It is certain that 
 from that time I began to feel that I was 
 somebody. I had become useful, or at least 
 I thought I had, and, as a consequence, in 
 my manner and bearing I began to affect the 
 young man more than was fitting in a mere 
 boy. I sought to figure in the conversation 
 of grown people, and many a time I had the 
 pain of seeing my elders smile at my remarks. 
 It was my great ambition to be allowed to 
 walk alone in the city streets ; my father was 
 very loath to grant this boon, but he let me 
 go sometimes, perhaps to get a sample of my 
 conduct. I don't remember ever doing any- 
 thing at these times which could have dis- 
 pleased him ; I was particularly careful about 
 it, since I saw him sad, pensive, and afflicted 
 owing to the misfortune which had befallen 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 9 
 
 him, and soon he began to accord me his con- 
 fidence, which I was most anxious to gain. 
 
 A FATHERS ADVICE 
 
 OFTEN he spoke to me of the principles of 
 dramatic art, and of the mission of the artist. 
 He told me that to have the right to call 
 one's self an artist one must add honest work 
 to talent, and he put before me the example 
 of certain actors who had risen to fame, but 
 who were repulsed by society on account of 
 the triviality of their conduct ; of others who 
 were brought by dissipation to die in a hos- 
 pital, blamed by all ; and of still others who 
 had fallen so low as to hold out their hands 
 for alms, or to sponge on their comrades and 
 to cozen them out of their money for un- 
 merited subscriptions all of which things 
 moved me to horror and deep repugnance. 
 It was with good reason that my father was 
 called " Honest Beppo" by his fellows on the 
 stage. The incorruptibility and firmness of 
 principle which he cultivated in me from the 
 time that I grew old enough to understand 
 have been my spur and guide throughout my 
 career, and it is through no merit of my own 
 
io LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 that I can count myself among those who 
 have won the esteem of society ; I attribute 
 all the merit to my father. He was consci- 
 entious and honest to a scruple ; so much so 
 that of his own free will he sacrificed the 
 natural pride of the dramatic artist, and re- 
 nounced the well-earned honor of first place 
 in his company to take second place with 
 Gustavo Modena, whose artistic merit he 
 recognized as superior to his own, in order 
 that I might profit by the instruction of that 
 admirable actor and sterling citizen. My 
 father preferred his son's advantage to his 
 own personal profit. 
 
 SALVINI JOINS MODENA'S COMPANY 
 
 IN Lent of the year 1843, m tne city f 
 Padua, we joined Modena's company, which 
 was made up almost entirely of players of 
 less than twenty years. Now, to be exact, I 
 shall have to say that in the contract between 
 my father and Gustavo Modena I figured as 
 the bone that is thrown in for good measure ; 
 I was to have no salary, but was bound to do 
 whatever was assigned to me by the director, 
 including appearance as a " super" in case of 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI u 
 
 necessity. This was humiliating, after my 
 little triumphs as Pasquino the year before; 
 but my father soothed my susceptibility by tell- 
 ing me that all were subjected to the same 
 condition, which was true. I remembered 
 then that egoistical proverb, " An evil shared 
 is half a joy," and my spirits went up a little. 
 My apprehensions vanished entirely when my 
 father said to me that the time had now come 
 to devote myself seriously to the study of my 
 profession ; that in future I must exert myself, 
 and that it was only right that the sacrifice he 
 had made should be compensated by my good 
 will and application ; and that I should never 
 have a better chance, since the rudiments and 
 the best example of the drama would be 
 exhibited to me by the most distinguished 
 artist of Italy. 
 
 I kissed him, and said, " Papa, I will do the 
 best I can." The next day we went to the 
 theater to receive our instructions from the 
 director. 
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE GREAT MODENA 
 
 To be frank, my first impression of my 
 future master was not wholly favorable. He 
 
I2 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 looked to me more like a drover than an actor. 
 He was fat and flabby, his nose was sunk be- 
 tween his cheeks, his walk was heavy, and his 
 legs had the appearance of elephantiasis. 
 Nevertheless, his white and beautifully formed 
 hand, his vivacious, intelligent, and kind eye, 
 won my sympathy on the spot. His voice, 
 though nasal, was sonorous, and seemed to 
 issue not from his lips, but from his ears or his 
 eyes, or rather from his wide-open nostrils. 
 As soon as'Modena perceived my father, who 
 in comparison with him looked like a lord, 
 they squeezed each other's hands and em- 
 braced; then Modena turned to me and ex- 
 claimed (as was his habit) in his native dialect: 
 "Oh, what a good David! Well, my lad, is 
 your mind made up to study ? " 
 
 " Yes, Signer Maestro," said I. 
 
 " No, no," he said ; " call me Gustavo ; that 
 is better. And what have you been studying? " 
 
 " Harlequin parts, Signer Gustavo," said I. 
 
 "Good!" he said; "now you shall study 
 this speech, and when you know it you shall 
 say it to me, putting into it all your intelli- 
 gence and all your soul." It was the speech 
 of Egisto to Polifonte in Alfieri's tragedy of 
 " Merope " ; and the same speech had been 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 13 
 
 given before me to every new member of the 
 company as a test of his vocation for tragedy. 
 The stage gradually filled up with others of 
 the company, who were to rehearse "La Ca- 
 lomnie" of Scribe, in which neither my father 
 nor I was to appear. 
 
 While the rehearsal was in progress, and my 
 father was making the acquaintance of the 
 other artists, Modena turned to me and said, 
 " In this comedy you shall do the little Moor 
 for me." I fancied that the little Moor was a 
 part. Alas ! he was merely a lay figure, de- 
 vised to garnish the stage by the Signora 
 Giulia, Modena's wife. I was directed to 
 blacken my face, and to get myself up in 
 Oriental costume to figure as the attendant 
 of one of the personages of the play. This 
 first assignment did not encourage me at all, 
 and my father, seeing my disappointment, 
 whispered in my ear, "Never mind; only 
 study, and you will have no more 'super' 
 work to do." The following day I was the 
 only one who knew Egistds speech perfectly 
 by heart, and I repeated it to my father, who 
 corrected me, and showed me the most salient 
 points, and finally encouraged me by saying, 
 "There, you have it well enough." 
 
I4 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 The moment of trial came, and by good 
 luck neither my gestures, nor my voice, nor 
 my expression betrayed the violent palpita- 
 tions due to my emotion. When I got through, 
 Modena exclaimed : " You have some founda- 
 tion ! you '11 make a man for me ! " and with 
 this were assigned to me the parts of Mas 'ham 
 in Scribe's " Un Verre d'Eau"; of Perez, 
 Fillppo, and Gionata, in Alfieri's "Saul"; of 
 Massimiliano Piccolomini in Schiller's " Wal- 
 lenstein " ; of Pietro Tasca in the "Fornaretto" 
 of F. Ball' Ongaro ; of the Lover in Man- 
 zoni's tragedy " Adelchi," and of the lovers in 
 such plays as my father should give on Mo- 
 dena's off-nights. Since I appeared every 
 night, the "super" business troubled me no 
 more. My father had to provide my costumes 
 for all these parts, which was no light expense; 
 but he supported the burden willingly, since 
 he saw the lighting of a fair dawn in the morn- 
 ing of my career. In order to master so many 
 parts in the shortest possible time, I had to 
 sacrifice many hours of sleep. Toward the end 
 of the season, I could have slept on a couch 
 of thorns ; and often when my father and I 
 were returning home after supper, and he, be- 
 coming interested in some discussion with a 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 15 
 
 friend, ceased to attend to me, my eyes would 
 close, and at .the first corner I would lean my 
 head against the wall and fall quietly asleep 
 on my feet. My father, noticing that I was 
 gone, would turn back and take me by the 
 arm, and when we reached home would lay 
 me down on my bed ; and the next morning I 
 would wake up and would not know how I 
 got there ! What an admirable age youth is ! 
 It supports without complaining the incon- 
 veniences of life, and adapts itself gladly to 
 every hard condition, if only it is spurred on 
 by ambition. And at fifteen everything looks 
 rose-colored. 
 
 My rose was destined soon to change to 
 black. At the end of the year of my novitiate, 
 in Lent of 1844, my father fell ill at Palma 
 Nuova. Just at that time I was burdened 
 more than ever with study, as Carlo Roma- 
 gnoli had left the company, and all the parts 
 which had been given to him the year before 
 were transferred to me in addition to my own, 
 among them David in "Saul," Nemours in 
 "Louis XL," Luciano in "La Calomnie." 
 The doctor pronounced my father's malady 
 an inflammation of the bowels, and prescribed 
 frequent baths with bran. In our house the 
 
16 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 only source of water was a very deep well, 
 and it became my duty to draw water to fill 
 the tub. It was a serious fatigue ; but because 
 of the purpose of the task, and perhaps a little 
 because the muscles of my arms began to 
 show a prodigious development from the con- 
 stant exercise, I was never willing to sur- 
 render the charge to others, and performed it 
 regularly for twenty-three days. The com- 
 pany was then about to finish its engagement 
 at Palma Nuova, and my father summoned 
 me to his bedside and told me that I must go 
 on to Cremona with the director, who would 
 be hampered without me. He said that as 
 soon as he was well enough he would follow, 
 but in the mean time it was out of the ques- 
 tion to put that excellent man, our director, 
 to loss by depriving him of one of the most 
 important men of his company. I opposed 
 this decision with energy, but I was compelled 
 to yield to my father's repeated commands. 
 I left him in charge of the people of the house, 
 and engaged a man besides to nurse him, and 
 I took my leave of him with tears and kisses. 
 I felt myself sadly alone without my father's 
 accustomed guidance. It is true that he had 
 become still more grave, and was even in- 
 
GUSTAVO MODENA. 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 17 
 
 clined to misanthropy; but frequently he 
 would forget his troubles in reading to me 
 some extracts from a play he was writing ; or 
 in declaiming a bit of Metastasio, his favorite 
 author ; or in talking to me of my poor dead 
 mother, whom I never knew, since she died 
 when I was two years old ; or of my brother, 
 who was pursuing his studies, or my aunt and 
 uncle, who lived in Florence. One evening 
 at Venice, as we were passing in our gondola 
 before the illuminated Piazzetta di San Marco, 
 he embraced me with silent but profound ex- 
 pression of tenderness, and after a little he 
 said: 
 
 " Do you see that lamp burning there be- 
 fore that image ? That flame commemorates 
 the unpardonable mistake of the sentence of 
 poor Fornaretto, whose part you play; and 
 that light will not be extinguished so long as 
 man is capable of calling himself infallible." 
 
 In my ingenuousness and ignorance I asked, 
 " Papa, how long will that be ? " 
 
 He smiled, and said: "Ah, my son, that 
 lamp will burn on forever." I felt something 
 like a weight in my soul, and that answer was 
 perhaps the inception in me of the first germs 
 of distrust in my fellow-men. 
 
1 8 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 A GREAT AFFLICTION 
 
 MY father wrote to me from his sick-bed at 
 Palma Nuova, exhorting me to behave well, 
 to be studious, and to be loyal to the wishes 
 of the director. But I noticed that with every 
 letter his beautiful handwriting was growing 
 less firm and even, and I began to fear that 
 he was becoming much worse. I begged 
 Gustavo Modena for permission to visit him, 
 but he refused me absolutely. After a few 
 days I went to him again, and repeated my 
 request in a tone of supplication. With a 
 kinder manner than before he explained to 
 me in what a dilemma I should put him if I 
 were to go, as it was entirely impossible for 
 him to find understudies for my parts ; he 
 said that he should have to close the theater, 
 which would be at once a dishonor to him and 
 a very serious loss ; and he assured me that 
 he had had direct news from his friend Beppo, 
 as he called my father, and that he was de- 
 cidedly better, and would soon be able to re- 
 join us. These were fair words, but they did 
 not reassure me, for no more letters came 
 from my father. One morning, without say- 
 ing anything more to Modena, I went to the 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 19 
 
 police-bureau to reclaim my traveling-permit, 
 which had been issued in my name when I 
 was separated from my father; but the Aus- 
 trian official refused to surrender it without 
 the consent of the director of my company. 
 I hurried, beside myself, to Modena, and 
 said : 
 
 " Maestro, I get no more letters from my 
 father, and I have no news of him. I fear that 
 something is wrong. Now you will either 
 give me permission to go. to Palma Nuova, or 
 I will start out on foot and take the risk of 
 being arrested." 
 
 Modena answered very dryly : "What do 
 you want to go there for? Your father is 
 dead." 
 
 May God pardon him the pain he gave me 
 at that moment, in return for all the kindness 
 I had from him at other times! He should 
 not be judged too harshly ; he was tormented 
 by my persistence, and the obstinacy of my 
 determination, and by the thought of the con- 
 sequences to him which must follow, and he 
 fancied that by that brutal announcement he 
 would at once deprive me of all hope, put an 
 end to my plans, and relieve himself from fur- 
 ther embarrassment. He took the view that 
 
20 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 to so grave an evil should be applied a heroic 
 remedy. I fell to the floor like a log, sense- 
 less ; and when I came to myself I was in my 
 bed, and my young comrades were by my side, 
 impotent to calm the hysterical spasms which 
 sent me into fit after fit of delirium. For four 
 days I was in bed with aching bones, bruised 
 and sore, and with frequent spells of convul- 
 sive sobbing. I learned that during this time 
 my uncle had gone to Palma Nuova and had 
 paid all the last sad offices to the dead ; and 
 so at fifteen I was left an orphan, and with the 
 responsibility of working out alone my sup- 
 port and my future. 
 
 SALVINI LEAVES MODENA 
 
 IT was now necessary for Gustavo Modena 
 to accord me some salary to enable me to live, 
 and I remember that my pay was about fifty 
 cents a day. Sometimes when I was cast for 
 an important part he would give me a dollar 
 as extra compensation; this happened very 
 seldom, but I had enough to live on with care- 
 ful economy. When we came to Milan, how- 
 ever, three tailors, claiming to be creditors of 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 21 
 
 my father, presented themselves, and asked 
 me what were my intentions as to obligations 
 standing against the name of Giuseppe Salvini. 
 
 " My intentions?" said I. "I will pay in 
 full ; I ask only for time." They had three 
 notes of 1000 francs each, which my poor 
 father had indorsed for a friend of shaky 
 credit who had never paid them. The notes 
 were renewed so that they provided for pay- 
 ment within three years, and I signed them. 
 The reader can imagine how hard pressed I 
 felt myself under these obligations, which I 
 must meet with what economies I could 
 make from my meager pay. During the re- 
 mainder of the year I was nevertheless able to 
 hoard up 300 francs, which I sent in advance 
 of the time fixed to Lampagnano at Milan, 
 on account of my debt. With regret, but 
 constrained by necessity, I sold some of my 
 father's theatrical wardrobe, and was thus 
 able to meet all my engagements for that year. 
 
 When misfortunes befall, they never come 
 singly; and of this I was now to have painful 
 experience. Soon after my father's death an 
 unlucky incident happened, which compelled 
 me to sever my connection with Modena. I 
 had inherited from my father, besides his cos- 
 
 
22 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 tumes, of which I had sold a part, a beautiful 
 wig of long, golden-blond hair, which he used 
 to wear as Charlemagne in "Adelchi," and 
 which I wore in the part of Massimiliano 
 Piccolominim "Wallenstein." After wearing 
 it, I used to give it in charge of Graziadei, the 
 hair-dresser of the theater, to put by for me 
 in a box. One evening Signora Giulia Mo- 
 dena, who occupied herself with much taste 
 and competence about the dresses of the 
 artists, asked me to lend her my wig. Now 
 to me this wig was a most precious posses- 
 sion, both because it came to me from my 
 father, and because it was to go on my own 
 head ; so I refused her request as civilly as I 
 could, and no more was said about it. The 
 next evening I perceived on the head of one 
 of the "supers" my beloved wig, which the 
 Signora Giulia had obtained from the hair- 
 dresser on some trumped-up pretext. With 
 a "bee in my bonnet" (at that time such bees 
 were numerous with me), and my wig in my 
 hand, I presented myself before the Signora, 
 and made my remonstrance : 
 
 " I wish to know, Signora Giulia, who gave 
 you the right to use my wig, after I told you 
 that you could n't have it?" 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 23 
 
 " Come to Gustavo, and you will find out," 
 said she to me. 
 
 We went to Modena's dressing-room, and I 
 repeated my demand. Could he in my pres- 
 ence blame his wife, recognize that I was right, 
 and that she was guilty of an unwarranted 
 act? Could he, a Modena, my master, make 
 excuses for her to me, his pupil? He con- 
 tented himself with saying, " Go, boy ; go !" 
 He did n't put his wife in the wrong, nor did 
 he admit that I was right ; it was no doubt 
 the best thing he could do. But that word 
 " boy " cut me to the heart, and I left the room 
 without a word. 
 
 The next day I wrote him a letter notifying 
 him that from that moment I ceased to belong 
 to his company, since it was manifest that a 
 mere " boy " could not be qualified to take the 
 chief parts after himself. For his answer he 
 sent to me Massini, the secretary, and some 
 of the senior members of the company, to 
 demonstrate to me that it was not making a 
 very good start in my profession to leave my 
 company in the middle of the season. My 
 friends told me further that Signora Giulia 
 admitted that she had acted arbitrarily, and 
 that it would be an ungrateful thing on my 
 
24 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 part to leave the director in the lurch. This 
 last reason won my consent to remain until 
 the end of the year. Three weeks later I 
 was under contract for the next year with the 
 Royal Company of Florentines in Naples, for 
 first and second lovers' parts, at a salary of 
 2400 francs. Modena engaged in my place a 
 young man from Leghorn of excellent physi- 
 cal and mental qualities and good artistic 
 promise, Ernesto Rossi by name. He has not 
 disappointed the hopes formed of him in his 
 youth. He, too, guided by the counsels and 
 advice of our master, has gained the esteem 
 of all Italy, and in his tours through Europe 
 and America has done honor to his country. 
 
 The six months that I had still to stay with 
 Modena passed in perfect harmony with him 
 and his wife, for both of whom I felt real affec- 
 tion and respect. The nearer came the time 
 when I must leave them, the more fond I 
 grew of them, admiring in her the faithful 
 consort of an exiled citizen, and honoring in 
 him the upright man, the distinguished artist, 
 and the unswerving patriot. Not many days 
 before our separation, I began to realize what 
 a great advantage it had been to me to have 
 his advice, his precepts, his instruction, and 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 25 
 
 his example, and I treasured all these up for 
 the future. When at last we parted, I felt as 
 if I had lost a second father ; and I am sure, 
 from his visible emotion, that he felt toward 
 me as if I were his son. 
 
 MODENA S METHOD OF TEACHING 
 
 MODENA'S system of instruction was more 
 by practice than by theory. In our day he 
 would be blamed, now that it is considered 
 needful that actors should know everything 
 that has to do in any way with their subjects, 
 no matter how little of it they may be able to 
 put to profit. He rarely spent much time 
 in explaining the character, or demonstrating 
 the philosophy of a part, or in pointing out 
 the reasons for modesty or for the vehemence 
 of passion. He would say, "Do it so," and it 
 would certainly be done in a masterly way. 
 It is true that those pupils who were unable 
 to emancipate themselves, and to act as he 
 told them indeed, but with their own resour- 
 ces and expression of their own feeling, de- 
 veloped into mere imitators. In proof of this 
 it is easy to show that most of Modena's pu- 
 
26 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 pils, not excepting some who attained a cer- 
 tain reputation, copied him more in his faults 
 than in his merits. 
 
 ADELAIDE RISTORI 
 
 AFTER leaving Modena. I turned my face 
 toward Naples ; but when I came to Leghorn 
 I learned that I should not have to appear 
 during Lent, as it was not the custom for new 
 actors to play until after Easter. I was pleas- 
 antly settled with some old friends of my 
 father's, and I determined to wait to see 
 Adelaide Ristori, who was then playing in 
 Leghorn, and whom I had never seen. 
 
 Ristori was at that time twenty-three, and 
 had already won most flattering considera- 
 tion. She was as beautiful as a Raphael Ma- 
 donna, of graceful figure, attractive, and of 
 polished and dignified manners. She enjoyed 
 even then the reputation of being one of the 
 most youthful and beautiful actresses on the 
 stage, and at the same time one of the most 
 gifted ; and with good reason rival managers 
 contended to secure her. She was a pupil of 
 the noted Carlotta Marchionni, who for many 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 27 
 
 years was the ornament of the Royal Com- 
 pany of Turin, and held the highest place 
 among artists of distinction. From Signora 
 Marchionni Ristori acquired a wealth of prac- 
 tical and theoretical knowledge, and this, with 
 her essentially artistic nature and her strong 
 will, made her in a few years the favorite of 
 the public throughout Italy. Many fell in 
 love with her, and those who escaped losing 
 their hearts admired her. Young and ardent, 
 almost too poetic, as I was, I could not re- 
 main indifferent to the unconscious charming 
 of that siren ; and although my heart was al- 
 ready inclined to other sympathies, in pres- 
 ence of Ristori's acting it was invaded by a 
 sentiment of respectful affection. I remember 
 that one evening when she played a drama 
 from the French entitled "La Comtesse d'Al- 
 temberg," I cried, out and out, during a mov- 
 ing scene in which a mother reproaches her 
 daughter for suspecting her of being her rival 
 in love. Though I knew well that my con- 
 gratulations could have but small weight, I 
 could not refrain from assuring her of my 
 warm admiration ; and she was kind enough 
 to appear pleased. But when she said that 
 she was proud to receive the homage of a 
 
28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 
 
 pupil of the reformer of dramatic art, she put 
 so marked and ironical an accent on her 
 words that I remained in doubt whether she 
 was mocking me, or whether she intended to 
 direct a shaft against the renown of Gustavo 
 Modena. I should have preferred the first 
 intention to the second. 
 
ACTING WITH RISTORI SERVICE 
 
 UNDER GARIBALDI ESTIMATE 
 
 OF RACHEL 
 
 PLAYING AT NAPLES 
 
 AT the age of sixteen I found myself in 
 jLJL Naples, a member of the Royal Flor- 
 entine Company. The older actors of the 
 company were great favorites with the Nea- 
 politans, whose sympathy and liking it is not 
 difficult to gain. I brought with me the mod- 
 ern ideas inculcated by the teaching of my 
 master, Modena, and the fresh influence of 
 Adelaide Ristori. It can be imagined how 
 I felt in the musty, heavy, unhealthful atmo- 
 sphere to which I had come. I felt like a 
 first officer who was taking the place of a 
 cabin-boy. The only course open to me was 
 to calm my rebellious spirit, to force myself 
 to breathe that atmosphere, the reverse of 
 vivifying though it was, and to keep faithfully 
 
3 o LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 the engagements which I had made. There 
 were undoubtedly artists of ability in that 
 company, but their method was antiquated, 
 except in the case of Adamo Alberti, who 
 was a most spirited and vivacious comedian ; 
 moreover, all spoke with the accentuation and 
 inflections of the Neapolitan dialect, so that 
 my speech, and that of the other new actors, 
 contrasted unpleasantly with that of the old 
 members. The parts that were allotted to 
 me were of little substance, and I had them 
 in such aversion that I could not bring myself 
 to study them ; I was discouraged and humili- 
 ated to such a degree that the expressions of 
 displeasure of the public due to my not know- 
 ing my lines failed to arouse me from my 
 apathy. To my professional friends who 
 sought to encourage me, I said: "The pub- 
 lic is perfectly right; but I cannot help it. It 
 is not possible for me to interest myself in 
 such colorless and inept parts." 
 
 Through the influence of one of the new 
 actors who sympathized with me, I was cast 
 for the part of Annio in the " Clemenza di 
 Tito" of Metastasio, and on the night when 
 I appeared in this part, which was highly 
 sympathetic to me, I had an enthusiastic re- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 31 
 
 ception. The so-called camorra (ring) was, 
 however, so well organized in that musty as- 
 semblage of artists that I had no chance of 
 getting many such opportunities to distinguish 
 myself. The fear of innovation terrified them, 
 and they were careful to guard against it. I 
 had engaged with that company for three 
 years, with annual augmentation of my salary; 
 but at my earnest request the manager, Signer 
 Prepiani, canceled my contract from the date 
 of the ensuing carnival. That year, 1845, was 
 a most unhappy one for me, abounding in 
 moral and material sacrifices. Out of my 
 salary of 2400 francs, I paid 700 to Lampu- 
 gnani, and 500 on account of the debt of 1000 
 to Rossi of Brescia. I lived at a boarding- 
 house, where I paid two francs and a half a 
 day for my bed and dinner, having for break- 
 fast a small piece of bread dipped in the juice 
 of a melon. The remembrance of the im- 
 portant parts which I used to play with my 
 master, and of the spontaneous and gratifying 
 favor accorded by the public, was constantly 
 before me, and the contrast made my new 
 position seem all the more humiliating. I 
 grew peevish and rebellious, and secretly 
 cherished thoughts of revenge. I planned to 
 
32 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 return when all the old and moldy material 
 of that company should have disappeared, 
 and to put to shame the artists who hoped 
 for my failure. This plan did not testify to 
 excessive modesty on my part, but at sixteen 
 a little vanity is excusable. In the midst of 
 my justifiable acrimony, I could not but rec- 
 ognize incontestable merits in some of my 
 opponents. But not one of these actors and 
 actresses could go outside of the kingdom of 
 the Two Sicilies without exposing himself or 
 herself in the theaters of all other Italian 
 provinces to criticism and censure on account 
 of the gestures, the accent, and the manner- 
 isms which they had breathed in with the 
 Neapolitan air. 
 
 In the course of the year that I spent at 
 Naples, I was enrolled as primo amoroso in 
 the Domeniconi and Coltellini company, to 
 which were to belong, among other artists of 
 merit, Carolina Santoni, Antonio Colomberti, 
 Gaetano Coltellini, and Amilcare Bellotti. In 
 this new and more sympathetic companion- 
 ship I breathed more freely, and began to 
 cultivate with study and application my na- 
 tural artistic bent, which I had feared to lose 
 at Naples, but which was merely dormant. 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 33 
 
 Since I was under engagement to pay the 
 last 1000 francs to the costumer Robotti, 
 brother of the well-known actress, I lived with 
 rigid economy throughout the year 1846 also, 
 when at last my debt was canceled. After 
 that I was able to sleep in peace at night, for 
 I was delivered from the fear of being unable 
 to meet my obligations. The year ran its 
 course for me without great praise or serious 
 discredit ; if I was blamed for any shortcom- 
 ing, it was for nothing more than a certain 
 lack of energy, which was the result of my 
 experience in Naples, and which I could not 
 shake off at once. On the other hand, I soon 
 gained the friendship of the manager and of 
 my associates in the company, who perceived 
 in me, perhaps, some tendency to advance. 
 Coltellini reengaged me for the following 
 year, with the rank of primo attore giovane, 
 and an increased salary, and Domeniconi, 
 who had been absent, resumed the active 
 management. This most intelligent artist 
 had not received from nature the gift of good 
 looks, or of an artistic type of face, or of a 
 natural method, except in comedy ; but he 
 had the merit of appreciating and giving ex- 
 pression to the most intimate thoughts of his 
 
34 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 authors, and that to a degree in which no 
 other artist could rival him. From Gustavo 
 Modena and Luigi Domeniconi I acquired 
 the foundation of my art ; and while careful 
 not to copy the first, and not to ape the man- 
 ner of the second, I sought to profit by what 
 I could gain from both. 
 
 IN ROME 
 
 IN the autumn of that year the company 
 opened at the Teatro Valle in Rome. It was 
 the first time that I had set foot in the an- 
 cient capital of the world ; and during my 
 hours of liberty I visited untiringly its monu- 
 ments, its galleries, its splendid churches, and 
 its admirable suburbs abounding in handsome 
 villas. I believe I formed a just conception 
 of the greatness of that ancient race which 
 dominated the world. I found Rome over- 
 joyed at the famous Encyclical, and at the 
 liberal principles of the Supreme Pontiff, 
 whom all proclaimed the savior of his people. 
 The idolatry of Pius IX. was universal, and 
 I, like everybody else, paid him the tribute 
 of my enthusiasm, and used to repeat from 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 35 
 
 memory sonnets which sang of his saintly 
 virtues, and heaped maledictions on Austria 
 as the enemy of every generous aspiration of 
 Italy. Both the political and the ecclesiasti- 
 cal censure were abolished, and we were free 
 to give many plays which before had been 
 on the Index. 
 
 AN AUSTRIAN SPY GETS US IN TROUBLE 
 
 ONE evening, going casually to the dressing- 
 room of the first actor, Antonio Colomberti, 
 I found there a gentleman of distinguished 
 appearance and somewhat advanced age, 
 whom I did not know, and who was presented 
 to me by Colomberti. When we met in the 
 street afterward, we saluted each other cour- 
 teously, until one day a Roman friend with 
 whom I was walking touched my arm, and 
 asked, "Who is that you are bowing to? " I 
 answered, "A gentleman who was presented 
 to me the other night by Colomberti." " Don't 
 you know," said he, "that that person pre- 
 tends to belong to the Carbonari association, 
 and is really a spy on the Targhini and Mon- 
 tanari, who cannot lift their heads without his 
 
36 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 reporting 1 it? He is a spy paid by Austria!" 
 After that I turned my head away every time 
 I met him, and pretended not to see him. 
 The spy saw through this, and swore ven- 
 geance. A few days afterward I was invited 
 to a country resort, a vineyard, as they call 
 them in Rome, to be present at a lottery 
 for which some thousands of people of all 
 ranks had come together. In a moment of 
 enthusiasm, aroused by the political speeches 
 which had been made, and nourished by co- 
 pious libations, I was lifted by main force 
 upon the bottom of an overturned cask, and 
 called upon to recite some patriotic rhymes. 
 My success was proclaimed with loud ap- 
 plause. A son of the spy was present, an 
 educated and liberal young man, who was 
 ignorant of the despicable and infamous trade 
 of his father, and when he went home he 
 told all about the lottery, not forgetting my 
 success as a reciter of inflammatory verses. 
 The personage in question, whom out of re- 
 gard for his son I will not name, caught the 
 opportunity like a ball on the fly, and sent 
 such a good recommendation of me to the 
 Austrian government, that next year, when 
 I was on my way to Trieste, whither the 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 37 
 
 rest of the company had preceded me, upon 
 reaching" the frontier I was searched and 
 subjected to an examination, and finally the 
 sentence was inscribed upon my passport, 
 " Forbidden to enter the dominions of Aus- 
 tria!" I was in a dilemma. There was no- 
 thing for me to do but to recross the Po; and 
 when I reached Ferrara, I wrote to a friend 
 at Bologna, explaining my position, and beg- 
 ging him to send me some money as a loan, 
 for I had nothing. As soon as the money 
 came, my first thought was to relieve my 
 manager Domeniconi from embarrassment, 
 for without me he could not begin his rep- 
 resentations ; and I resolved, if repulsed at 
 one point, to try again at another. I went 
 to Ancona, destroyed my compromising pass- 
 port, and from the consul of Tuscany secured 
 a permit to travel which authorized me to pro- 
 ceed from Ancona to Trieste by sea. When 
 I landed in Trieste I was promptly arrested, 
 and conducted under guard to the Imperial 
 and Royal Bureau of Police. They asked 
 me what I meant by my impudence and obsti- 
 nacy in daring to set foot upon Austrian soil 
 after I had been warned to keep off. I set 
 forth my reasons, and protested that I was a 
 
 3* 
 
38 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 victim of calumny ; and at last, through the 
 intercession of the Countess Von Wimpffen, 
 a friend of Ristori, the concession was made 
 that I might remain in Trieste until orders 
 concerning me could arrive from Vienna. 
 One might have thought that all this fuss 
 was about one of the most dangerous of 
 conspirators. Efforts were made to obtain 
 authorization for me to stay in Venice also, 
 for which place we were booked after leav- 
 ing Trieste ; and I secured permission, under 
 bonds, to fulfil my engagements there with 
 the company, upon condition that I should 
 present myself every day at the police office, 
 "to show myself," as they put it. This re- 
 quirement became rather a joke, for every 
 morning the consecrated formula would be 
 this: I would say, "Good morning," and the 
 Commissary would answer, "I hope you are 
 well," and I would take myself off. 
 
 One evening, rather late, as I was leaving 
 the Caffe Chiodi to return to my lodgings, I 
 noticed on the further side of the Ponte della 
 Verona five persons who were barring the 
 narrow way by which I must pass. The idea 
 of an attack flashed through my brain. I was 
 ashamed to turn back, and besides it was 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 39 
 
 very cold, and I was anxious to get to bed. 
 I made the motion of grasping a weapon 
 under my cloak, and putting on a bold face 
 I walked resolutely through the suspicious 
 group. Just as I had passed, I heard one 
 say to the others, " It is he." I turned on 
 my heel and demanded, " Whom do you 
 mean?" The chief stepped forward and said, 
 " Go on your way, Signor Salvini ; as for us, 
 we are under orders to watch you." " So 
 much the better," said I; "if that is the case, 
 I shall be all the safer on my way home." 
 It would take a volume to tell all the annoy- 
 ances, the troubles, the persecutions, which 
 I had to undergo because of that unlucky 
 introduction of Colomberti's at Rome. I 
 learned a lesson from it never to make in- 
 troductions except between persons who are 
 well known to me. 
 
 ACTING WITH RISTORI 
 
 WHAT I have been narrating, as will have 
 been observed, began in the year 1846 and 
 extended into the following year ; but to omit 
 nothing of importance, I must now take a step 
 
40 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 backward. In Lent of 1847, I was m Siena 
 with my new manager, Domeniconi, with Ris- 
 tori as leading lady, and other actors of 
 ability. My new class of parts supplied me 
 with a task which it was not easy to carry 
 through : it was customary in Lent to close 
 the house on Fridays, but on every other 
 night of the week I had to appear in a new 
 part, and in company with artists of established 
 reputation. O Memory, goddess of my youth, 
 how great is my debt to thee ! At six in the 
 morning I used to pass out one of the city 
 gates with the part I was to play in my hand, 
 often walking on a thin coating of snow. I 
 would walk miles without noticing the dis- 
 tance, and it was my boast that when the 
 hour of rehearsal came I would make the 
 prompter's office a sinecure. All were aston- 
 ished at me, and the more so because of the 
 thirty-six new parts which were handed down 
 to me to learn by the young actor to whose 
 place I had succeeded, six were in verse. I 
 will not seek to deny that I was spurred on 
 not only by my love for art, but by a softer 
 sentiment by my resolution not to be un- 
 worthy of the affectionate encouragement be- 
 stowed upon me by Ristori, for whom I burned 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 41 
 
 with enthusiasm. But when we came to 
 Rome, in the spring, I perceived that her 
 generous and confidential encouragement was 
 intended not for the young man, but solely for 
 the young artist ! I did not prize it the less 
 for that, and I continued to love her as a 
 friend, and to admire her as an artist. I was 
 seventeen, and my disillusion did not wound 
 my heart, but enriched my store of experience. 
 At that time Ristori was my ideal as Fran- 
 cesca da Rimini, as Juliet, as Pia di Tolommei, 
 and in a host of other roles in both drama and 
 comedy, in which she put forth all the per- 
 fume and freshness of the true in art. All the 
 gifts and virtues which adorned her as a 
 woman and as an actress united to influ- 
 ence me to be worthy of her companionship. 
 Surely, Adelaide Ristori was at that time the 
 most charming actress in Italy. 
 
 FIRST GREAT SUCCESS IN TRAGEDY 
 
 THAT year in Rome an incident occurred 
 which conduced not a little to raise my artistic 
 reputation in public esteem. Many years be- 
 fore, in that city, the celebrated Lombardi had 
 
42 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 played Alfieri's " Oreste." Ventura, Ferri, 
 Capidoglio, all famed actors, and finally Gus- 
 tavo Modena himself, had tried it, but had not 
 succeeded in overcoming the strong impres- 
 sion left by Lombardi, who possessed in pro- 
 fusion the precise requisites for that char- 
 acter good looks, youth, voice, fire, delivery, 
 intelligence : so they were enumerated to me, 
 who had never had the good fortune to see 
 him. Some years had passed since the last of 
 the unsuccessful attempts to revive " Oreste," 
 when, upon the occasion of a benefit which 
 was to be given me, I expressed to an old 
 dilettante who was president of one of the 
 best philanthropic societies of Rome my de- 
 sire to appear in that part. The old gentle- 
 man, who took much interest in my progress, 
 exclaimed: " Dear me ! my son, do you want 
 to tempt fortune, and to play all your future 
 on one card ? Think of what a risk you would 
 run. Others, more experienced than you, 
 have tried it, and have been sorry. Don't be 
 so stubborn as to put yourself in a fair way to 
 lose all you have gained in the favor of the 
 public. My son, don't do it." 
 
 I was in truth very young, and, like the lava 
 which pours from a volcano, I knew no ob- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 43 
 
 stacks; therefore, for my benefit I imposed 
 upon the company, as was my right, the 
 tragedy of " Oreste." The night of the repre- 
 sentation came. My ears were tingling with 
 discouraging warnings; the state of mind I 
 was in is beyond description; yet I found 
 some comfort in my own secret reasoning. I 
 said to myself: "As Romeo in 'Giulietta e 
 Romeo/ as Paolo in ' Francesca da Rimini/ 
 as Carlo in ' Filippo/ as Egisto in ' Merope/ 
 I have found favor with the public; why 
 should I lose it as Oreste, a character which 
 moves me powerfully, and for which I have as 
 suitable physical gifts as anybody ? " I went 
 to the Teatro Valle three hours before the ris- 
 ing of the curtain; I dressed myself at once, 
 and went to pacing up and down behind the 
 scenes like a wild animal, speaking to no one 
 and answering no one. I overheard my com- 
 rades saying among themselves, " Salvinetto 
 is a fool ! " " Salvinetto has gone mad ! " and 
 indeed they had good reason to think so. The 
 auditorium was soon crowded. The play had 
 not been given for many years in Rome ; the 
 public was eager to see it again, and was 
 attracted by the sympathy which my name 
 enjoyed, and by curiosity to witness a success, 
 
44 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 so that not a place in the theater was left 
 vacant. The first act ended with applause 
 for Ristori (Elettra), for Job (Clitennestra), 
 for Domeniconi (Egisto). As I stood behind 
 the scenes I envied them, and thought of the 
 hisses w^hich were perhaps about to greet me. 
 The interlude of music which precedes the 
 second act ended, and Oreste must go on 
 immediately. My Pilade (Giacomo Glech) 
 said to me, " Courage ! Courage ! " "I have 
 it for sale," said I; "do you want some?" 
 and at once I went on. I made my entry 
 without speaking, without bowing my thanks 
 for the applause which attended my appear- 
 ance ; I identified myself absolutely with the 
 personage whose part I was representing. 
 After manifesting by gestures my joy upon 
 recognizing the ancestral scenes from which 
 Oreste had fled at the age of five, I delivered 
 my first verse : " Pilade, yes ! This is my 
 realm ! O joy ! " The public, after the ap- 
 plause of welcome, had resumed silence, eager 
 to see from the start how that impetuous char- 
 acter would develop itself, and now broke 
 forth with a roar of approbation which re- 
 echoed from pit to gallery for as much as two 
 minutes. Then I said to myself, " Ah ! I am 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 45 
 
 Oreste" As the play went on, and at the end, 
 the applause became enthusiasm. From that 
 moment my title of tragic actor was won, and 
 I was only nineteen ! 
 
 A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS 
 
 IN 1848 we made a tour in Sicily. We 
 embarked at Naples, where the political dis- 
 turbances of that year had not yet manifested 
 themselves. During our stay in Palermo, 
 however, the revolution broke out in the isl- 
 and. Ferdinand II. stopped the steam-pack- 
 ets which communicated with the mainland, 
 and we found ourselves cut off from returning 
 to Rome, where we were bound to appear for 
 a subscription season arranged for by the 
 most distinguished families of the Roman pa- 
 triciate. Poor Luigi Domeniconi was in de- 
 spair. He decided to get the whole company 
 together, and proposed that we should char- 
 ter a brigantine and make the voyage by sail 
 to Civita Vecchia. We accepted on the spot, 
 all the more eager to escape from the trap we 
 were in because we heard that the King of 
 Naples was preparing a strong military ex- 
 
46 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 pedition for the purpose of invading Sicily 
 and subjugating the rebels. Our provisions 
 were embarked, and we sailed without hin- 
 drance out of Palermo on the Fortunato, a 
 vessel which had just made a voyage with a 
 cargo of sulphur. We had the lower deck 
 divided into two rooms with canvas, one for 
 the ladies, the other for the men, and laid our 
 mattresses down on the deck, so that the ship 
 looked like a floating hospital. Ristori, who 
 had already become Marchesa Capranica del 
 Grillo, had a sort of state-room of canvas and 
 boards rigged up on deck, and she and her 
 husband were somewhat less uncomfortable 
 than the rest of us. Continuous calms held 
 us back near the Sicilian coast, and the suf- 
 focating heat tempted me and some of my 
 friends to plunge overboard into the sea, 
 which was as bright and clear as crystal. 
 We were swimming quietly in the slow wake 
 of our ship, when of a sudden we were star- 
 tled by a horrified yell. It was the captain, 
 who sprang up on the poop, and called at 
 the top of his voice: "Santo diavolone ! get 
 on board quick, gentlemen ; we are just in 
 the spot where dogfish are most plentiful ! " 
 The sailors began to throw morsels of food 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 47 
 
 as far beyond us as they could, to distract the 
 attention of the bloodthirsty animals, and in 
 a twinkling we were again on deck, swarm- 
 ing up the rope ladder. We got a famous 
 dressing-down from the captain, who was 
 responsible for any misfortunes which might 
 have befallen us as his passengers, and the 
 experience took away effectually our appe- 
 tite for swimming. 
 
 After four days passed at sea, we had all 
 come to have prodigious appetites ; on the 
 sixth day our provisions were exhausted, and 
 we had to get on as best we could with 
 ship's biscuit and fried potatoes. It occurred 
 to the cook to make us some fritters of flour 
 and sugar, which were duly distributed. But 
 just as we were preparing to swallow with 
 avidity this unlooked-for dainty, a mighty 
 yell came from the cook, who had tried one 
 of his fritters, and with swelled lips and 
 burning tongue called to us that the fritters 
 were poisoned ! It appears that the cabin- 
 boy had been sent to the captain's cabin for 
 the sugar, and had taken by mistake a pack- 
 age of flour poisoned with arsenic for the de- 
 struction of rats. Two days more went by, 
 and from being hungry we became famished. 
 
48 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 With the consent of the captain, four of us 
 took the brigantine's boat and rowed off to 
 a fishing-smack to buy the fishermen's catch. 
 But the fishermen declined to sell, saying 
 that they were bound to deliver all they 
 caught to their employer. I explained to 
 them civilly that we had thirty persons on 
 our ship who were actually starving, and that 
 under these circumstances they were not jus- 
 tified in refusing to sell, and I told them that 
 we were willing to pay them twice the value 
 of their fish, but that it was necessary that we 
 should buy them. The blockheads persisted 
 nevertheless in their refusal, and we were 
 obliged to throw courtesy to the winds and 
 to take away a part of their catch by force, for 
 which we threw them a handful of silver. We 
 were pirates, no doubt, but generous pirates. 
 The next morning we made land, and the 
 city of Civita Vecchia gradually came into 
 plain sight. Full of delight, and never doubt- 
 ing that we should sleep that night in good 
 soft beds, we threw our straw ticks over- 
 board ; when all of a sudden a violent con- 
 trary wind arose, and drove the ship out to 
 sea again. We spent that night on the bare 
 planks of the deck. At last, on the following 
 
RISTORI AS "MARY STUART." 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 49 
 
 day, we landed at Civita Vecchia, and, weary 
 from our wretched sleeping" accommodations, 
 sunburnt, and with throats parched by the 
 heat, we made the best of our way to a caffe 
 to get something refreshing. But when we 
 tendered our money to the cashier, he would 
 not take it, because the silver was blackened 
 by the fumes of sulphur, of which the ship 
 was redolent. We all had to set to work to 
 polish our money, and when, after much la- 
 bor, we had brought the coins back to their 
 original brightness, we succeeded with some 
 trouble in getting them accepted, and were 
 free to set out for Rome. Such a chapter 
 of accidents it all was that some of the com- 
 pany seriously attributed our experience to 
 the presence on the ship of some possessor 
 of the evil eye. 
 
 SALVINI ENLISTS 
 
 IN that year the revolutionary movement 
 assumed extensive proportions. In Rome 
 were gathered all that Italy could boast of 
 honest, liberal, and courageous citizens, lovers 
 of liberty. Pius IX., who had given the first 
 
5 o LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 impulse to the progressist and humanitarian 
 theories of the time, became frightened by the 
 menaces of Austria, by the displeasure of the 
 absolute rulers of the other provinces of Italy, 
 and most of all by the insinuations and coun- 
 sels of the clericals throughout Europe, who 
 hated every aspiration toward liberalism, and 
 he abjured the principles he had professed, 
 and proceeded to Gaeta, to fly from the im- 
 petuous wave of the revolution, which would 
 have swept him on into a holy war against 
 the oppressors of Italy. Some time before 
 this, in Rome, as well as in other provinces, 
 the National Guard had been formed, and I 
 had been enrolled in the 8th Roman Battalion. 
 
 THE DEFENSE OF ROME 
 
 THE republic was proclaimed by the will 
 of the people. Mazzini was one of the three 
 consuls. Among the chiefs of the republican 
 army were Avezzana, Roselli, Garibaldi, and 
 Medici; and the various regiments numbered 
 together about fifteen thousand young men, 
 the flower of the best families of Italy. Louis 
 Napoleon Bonaparte was the President of the 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVIN1 51 
 
 French republic, and to win over the clerical 
 party, which afterward helped him mount his 
 throne, he despatched an expedition which, 
 in conjunction with the forces of the King of 
 Naples, and with the cooperation of a rather 
 shadowy contingent from Spain, had for its 
 objective the reestablishment of the Pontiff 
 in Rome, and the subjugation of the Italian 
 republicans. As soon as our Triumvirate 
 learned of these projects, it published an edict 
 to the National Guard, summoning all who 
 were in earnest to mobilize for the defense of 
 the walls and fortifications of the city. I and 
 other young artists with me were not the last 
 to report for duty ; and soon two battalions 
 of volunteers were ready, under the command 
 of Colonel Masi, who intrusted to us the 
 defense of the walls at the Gardens of the 
 Pope, between the Cavalleggieri and An- 
 gelica gates. On April 30 the French, led 
 by General Oudinot, came in sight of Rome, 
 advancing from Civita Vecchia, and were 
 welcomed by a first cannon-shot, which was 
 discharged within ten paces of where I was 
 stationed. I must confess that at that first 
 shot the nerves about my stomach contracted 
 sharply. The French, who were marching in 
 
52 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 compact order along the highway, deployed 
 in skirmishing order in the fields, and opened 
 a sharp though irregular fire. On the ram- 
 parts we had only two small howitzers, and 
 all about them fell the rifle-balls of the Chas- 
 seurs de Vincennes, while the French sharp- 
 shooters were out of range of the bullets of 
 our muskets. After covering us with a heavy 
 fire, they attempted to take our walls by as- 
 sault; but the hail of balls which we poured 
 in on them forced them to give up the notion, 
 leaving the field strewn with their dead and 
 wounded. 
 
 MADE A CORPORAL, AND SET TO BUILDING 
 BARRICADES 
 
 ON that same day I was promoted corpo- 
 ral by the commander of my battalion, and 
 on the night of April 30 I was in charge 
 of the changing of sentinels, and on the 
 lookout for a not improbable night assault. 
 The result of that day had been in our 
 favor; we had weakened the enemy's ranks 
 by over 1500, between killed, wounded, and 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 53 
 
 prisoners. Yet these enemies, too, were 
 republicans, and bore the cock with open 
 wings on their caps, which we saw pierced 
 with our balls when the next morning 
 dawned. For seven days and nights we were 
 not relieved from that post, and our couch 
 was the bare earth. At last we had the good 
 fortune to give over our station to another 
 body of soldiers, but we were at once given 
 the task of constructing barricades at the 
 Porta del Popolo. I had charge of the build- 
 ing of two of them, and these were deemed 
 worthy of praise in the certificate given me in 
 1 86 1 by General Avezzana, formerly Minister 
 of War. This I am proud to transcribe here, 
 with its note by Garibaldi : 
 
 NAPLES, February 12, 1861. 
 
 I, the undersigned, attest that Citizen Tommaso Sal- 
 vim served as a volunteer in the mobilized National 
 Guard posted for the defense of the Vatican Gardens on 
 April 30, 1849, when that position was attacked by the 
 hostile French troops. Further, that the said Salvini, who 
 was subsequently promoted Corporal, continued to serve 
 throughout the siege of Rome, both in the ranks of the 
 Guard and in the construction and defense of barricades, 
 during the whole time of that memorable siege, and that 
 
54 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 throughout this time he conducted himself as a warm pa- 
 triot and a brave soldier. In testimony whereof I hand to 
 him the present certificate. 
 
 GIUSEPPE AVEZZANA, 
 General, ex-Minister of War and of Marine. 
 
 I recommend to my friend Avezzana our comrade 
 Salvini. GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI. 
 
 GLIMPSES OF GARIBALDI 
 
 AFTER the check of April 30, the French 
 wanted their revenge, and since they had dis- 
 covered that our bullets were not made of 
 butter, and that Italians could fight, two things 
 which they would never have believed, they 
 resolved upon a new expedition, this time 
 of 34,000 men, and with a full siege-train. 
 During the truce we gave up 300 prisoners, 
 whom the kind-hearted Italians sent over to 
 the enemy's camp with their pockets full of 
 cigars and their stomachs of wine, since they 
 swore that they had come in ignorance of 
 the state of affairs, and that they would never 
 again bear arms against us. When they left 
 us, they shouted, "Vive la Republique Ro- 
 mainef" But when our republic had fallen, 
 we recognized some of them in the hostile 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SAL'VINl 55 
 
 ranks which marched into Rome, with arms 
 in their hands, and the exultation of con- 
 querors on their faces. Our forces dwindled 
 from day to day, and we could not fill the 
 places of the killed and wounded, and of the 
 sick. One day there would be a brush on the 
 Pincio, the next before the Porta Portese, but 
 more often there would be fighting at the 
 Porta San Pancrazio, where I had opportunity 
 to become familiar with the cannon's roar, 
 with the whistling of conical balls, and with 
 the sight of dead and dying, and of mutila- 
 tion. Behind the stretch of wall which we 
 defended there was a house with a balcony, 
 in which house Garibaldi would often show 
 himself at a garret window to study the move- 
 ments of the enemy with his field-glass. The 
 front of this house was riddled with French 
 balls, but by a happy fortune none of them 
 ever struck the general, though a young 
 Lombard named Tedeschini, a friend of mine, 
 was hit in the eye by a projectile, and fell 
 from the balcony to the ground. When Gari- 
 baldi came out of the house, he saw the poor 
 fellow lying there in his blood, and said, " I 
 told him that this would happen." In point 
 of fact, a short time before he had warned 
 
5 6 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 him from his high window of the risk he was 
 running by imprudently exposing his head in 
 a place where he had no cover. 
 
 Another day, hearing angry voices at the 
 Porta San Pancrazio, I descended from the 
 gallery where I was posted to see what the 
 trouble was, and I arrived in time to hear a 
 sharp discussion between Garibaldi and Ma- 
 sina. Garibaldi ordered Masina to take his 
 " Knights of Death " and seize the Vascello 
 Casino. Masina observed to the general that 
 there were over 500 French soldiers in that 
 building, and that it was an impossibility for 
 cavalry to dislodge them. Garibaldi retorted: 
 "If you don't want to go there, I will go." 
 " No, general," said Masina ; " I am going." 
 He gave the command to his men, but only 
 thirteen mounted their horses to follow him. 
 The San Pancrazio gate was thrown open, 
 and a fruitless hail of balls preceded the 
 sortie of the knights, who charged forth on 
 a full run along the highway toward the Vas- 
 cello, which was a musket-shot away. In their 
 headlong charge one man fell, pierced by a 
 bullet, but his horse ran on with the others, 
 who rode up the ramp, and in on the lower 
 floor of the Casino. In a moment we heard 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 57 
 
 a repeated and prolonged discharge within, 
 and we saw three of those heroes ride out, 
 and these fortunately regained the gate of 
 Rome unharmed. Masina was not one of 
 them. That must surely have been a very 
 sad day for Garibaldi. 
 
 Under the protection of a ditch and a thick 
 hedge along the highway, we advanced from 
 the small postern, under the fire of the French, 
 to retake the bodies and carry them back to 
 Rome. We succeeded, not without difficulty 
 and danger, and were warmly praised by our 
 fellows in arms. Hasina's body was unrecog- 
 nizable, for the French, seeking to prevent 
 us from getting possession of it, had concen- 
 trated their fire on his head as he lay a corpse. 
 
 THE FALL OF ROME 
 
 THE solution of the glorious drama was 
 near. The trenches and rifle-pits planned 
 by the French chief of engineers, Le Vail- 
 lant, were completed, the siege-ordnance was 
 placed in position, and shells rained on Rome 
 regularly every five minutes, day and night. 
 Yet the republicans would not capitulate. 
 
5 8 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 It was a heroic protest rather than a defense. 
 We all knew that we could not hold out 
 against forces so overwhelming, but we knew 
 too that there were in Italy generous hearts 
 full of revolt against the yoke of despot- 
 ism and tyranny. The French made seven 
 breaches in the walls, with the view of secur- 
 ing possession of the heights, and these they 
 occupied by night, with the aid of traitors, but 
 not without an obstinate and heroic resis- 
 tance. The republic fell, but not the repub- 
 licans. As soon as the French had secured 
 possession of a few important strategic points 
 in the city, Garibaldi marched out of the 
 gate of St. John with a few hundred men; 
 many others left Rome singly, and still more 
 withdrew quietly to their own houses, filled 
 with anxiety for the future. A military proc- 
 lamation was issued, commanding all persons 
 to retire to their lodgings at the firing of a 
 gun every evening at nine o'clock. Numer- 
 ous patrols passed through the streets after 
 that hour. I, with Missori (who was after- 
 ward colonel with Garibaldi, whose life he 
 saved at Calata Fimi), the professor of music 
 Dal!' Agata, and others who lived in the same 
 house, used to mock the French patrols, as 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 59 
 
 they passed under our windows, by imitating 
 the cock's crow at them. After a few days it 
 occurred to me that I might be exposed to 
 some annoyance after the reestablishment of 
 ecclesiastical rule, .and I determined to leave 
 Rome for a time, giving as a pretext my de- 
 sire to see my relatives, as well as a certain 
 pretty girl to whom I had been attentive 
 for some time. Accordingly I set out from 
 Rome, and embarked at Civita Vecchia on 
 the steamer // Corriere Corso with many emi- 
 grants of my acquaintance, among them Au- 
 relio Saffi, Saliceti, DalF Ongaro, and Sala of 
 Milan. When the steamer put in at Leghorn, 
 where we were to land, the restored govern- 
 ment of the Grand Duke refused to receive us, 
 and despatched us on to Genoa. There we 
 found in the port the steamer Lombardo, which 
 had taken a large number of the politically 
 compromised, among them Prince Canino 
 Bonaparte, who had been vice-president of 
 the Roman assembly. Our ship was promptly 
 surrounded, like the other, by gunboats ; and 
 after lying there three days, we were taken 
 to the Lazaretto della Foce. To those of us 
 who could afford to pay was assigned a room 
 with straw beds on the floor ; but the greater 
 
60 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 number were forced to remain in the corri- 
 dors of the establishment. I was in a room 
 with my friends. 
 
 An aunt of mine, who was at Genoa, begged 
 my liberty of General La Marmora, who was 
 then commandant of the place, and I was thus 
 able to leave prison sooner than the rest. I 
 was impatient to get to Florence, and I pre- 
 sented myself with my passport to the Tuscan 
 consul, to obtain the necessary visa, and then 
 hurried on board of a packet which was just 
 sailing for Leghorn. That night the gods 
 had a famous battle among themselves. It 
 thundered, it lightened, terrific bolts flashed 
 down from the heavens, and the wind piled 
 up the waves in mountains, up which we 
 crawled only to fall into the abyss beyond. 
 It seemed as if our nutshell of a steamer must 
 go to pieces at any moment. A gruesome 
 noise arose from the dashing about of furni- 
 ture, the crashing of dishes, bottles, 'and 
 glasses, the groaning of the timbers, the 
 shrieks of some of the women, and the cry- 
 ing of terrified children. The cabin doors 
 were fastened, but I stayed on deck to enjoy 
 this grand spectacle of nature ; I was obliged 
 for safety to have myself secured to a mast, 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 61 
 
 or I should have been washed overboard by 
 the waves, which broke on deck without in- 
 termission. In the midst of the disturbance 
 I fell asleep, and at dawn I was not sorry to 
 find myself in sight of Leghorn but in what 
 a state ! I was drenched by the sea and the 
 steady downpour ; I was literally swimming 
 in my boots, and I had to go to my state-room 
 and change my clothes from head to foot. 
 
 IN PRISON 
 
 UPON landing at Leghorn, my first care 
 was to go to the police bureau for my pass- 
 port, which I had had to give to the purser 
 of the steamer before sailing from Genoa. 
 The chief of police put an infinity of ques- 
 tions to me, and I gave him straightforward 
 answers, the result of which was that I was 
 conducted between two gendarmes to the 
 Lazaretto of St. Leopold, which was at that 
 time set aside for the detention of political 
 prisoners. I was put into a large cell with 
 several young men of Leghorn whom I knew 
 to be of advanced opinions, and with a supply 
 of cigars and some bottles of good wine we 
 
62 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 spent three days without incident. On the 
 fourth day I was notified that as my domicile 
 was in Florence, I must proceed to that city. 
 Two new guardian angels bore me company 
 in a coach to the railway station, and were 
 civil enough to spare me the mortification of 
 appearing to be under arrest by sitting at 
 some distance from me in the compartment, 
 though they were careful not to take their 
 eyes off me. At Florence another coach was 
 in waiting, and set me down at the office of 
 the Commissary of the quarter of San Marco. 
 It was dinner-time, and all the officials were 
 out. While I was waiting I discovered a ser- 
 geant, an ex-dramatic artist, whom I knew, 
 and I begged him to inform my uncle of my 
 arrival in Florence as a prisoner. After a 
 time the officer in charge came in, and, learn- 
 ing that I was domiciled in the Santo Spirito 
 quarter, he sent me on to the Commissary of 
 that subdivision of the city. This personage 
 said, with a most impertinent and offensive 
 manner, " You look like a very suspicious 
 character." "You don't mean to say so," 
 said I; "that shows that appearances are 
 deceptive, for, on the contrary, I am the most 
 amiable young man in the world." This 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 63 
 
 flighty jack-in-office proceeded to put me 
 through such a tiresome maze of questions 
 that I thought he would end by asking me 
 the name of the priest who baptized me, or 
 that of the barber who gave me my first 
 shave. Just as at Leghorn, the result of all 
 this prying and inquisitorial insinuation was 
 an order to take me to prison. 
 
 After five days my uncle came and an- 
 nounced to me that I was at liberty, but 
 under the condition that I should leave Flor- 
 ence at once. My director, Domeniconi, had 
 obtained permission to resume his represen- 
 tations, and wrote me to return to Rome 
 at once, and that he would see to it that I 
 should have nothing to fear from the pon- 
 tifical police. 
 
 BACK IN ROME 
 
 BUT what a Rome it was to which I came 
 back ! It was black, barren, lugubrious ; char- 
 acterized especially by the red of the French 
 trousers, and the black of priests' vestments. 
 The few citizens whom one met in the streets 
 looked so sad that one's heart yearned for 
 
64 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 them. Those days were gone when all was 
 life; when the cheerful colors of the nation 
 adorned the streets, the palaces, the houses, 
 and even the sunlight seemed brighter for 
 their presence. Where were all those merry 
 faces, full of hope, eager for glory and for lib- 
 erty ? Where was that sentiment of kinship 
 and of equality which made one say when he 
 met a youth, "He is my brother !" and in- 
 spired a filial feeling to every elderly man ? 
 The air had become heavy, the walls gloomy, 
 the people melancholy ; if we met a French 
 soldier, we said, " There is an oppressor"; 
 if a priest, " There is an enemy of our coun- 
 try." Unhappy Rome! Unhappy Italy! 
 And with those two exclamations I turned 
 back to art, the one resource which lay open to 
 my bruised spirit, and to art I dedicated my- 
 self without reserve. I understood perfectly 
 that the priestly government looked upon me 
 with an evil eye, and I thought it prudent to 
 hold myself in complete isolation all the 
 more so after I had met Monsignor Mattencei, 
 governor of Rome, escorted by police agents 
 in disguise, and he had said to me as he passed, 
 4 'Prudence, my young fellow!" I well un- 
 derstood the covert threat, and I spent every 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 65 
 
 hour that the theater did not require of me 
 in reading" and studying in my rooms. 
 
 Doubtless it would not be possible for me 
 now to remember how much and what I read 
 during the two years that I continued after this 
 with the Roman company. I was by nature 
 more inclined to poetry than prose, and I gave 
 most of my time to the perusal of the classics 
 in poetry and the drama. Homer, Ossian, 
 Dante, Tasso, Ariosto, Petrarch the sover- 
 eign poets were my favorites ; Metastasio, 
 Alfieri, Goldoni, Nota, Kotzebue, Arelloni, 
 ranked next; and after these my preference 
 was given to the foreign authors Milton, 
 Goethe, Schiller, Byron, Corneille, Racine, 
 Moliere. For the bonne bouche I reserved 
 Ugo Foscolo, Leopardi, Manzoni, Monti, and 
 Niccolini. 
 
 By familiarizing myself with these great 
 writers, I formed a fund of information which 
 was of the greatest assistance to me in the 
 pursuit of my profession. I made comparisons 
 between the heroes of ancient Greece and 
 those of Celtic races; I paralleled the great 
 men of Rome with those of the middle ages; 
 and I studied their characters, their passions, 
 their manners, their tendencies, to such pur- 
 
66 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 pose that when I had occasion to impersonate 
 one of those types I was able to study it in its 
 native atmosphere. I sought to live with my 
 personage, and then to represent him as my 
 imagination pictured him. The nice decision 
 as to whether I was always right must rest 
 with the public. It is very certain that to ac- 
 complish anything in art requires assiduous 
 application, unwearied study, continuous ob- 
 servation, and, in addition to all that, natural 
 aptitude. Many artists who have ability, eru- 
 dition, and perseverance will nevertheless 
 sometimes fall short of their ideal. It may 
 happen that they lack the physical qualities 
 demanded by the part, or that the voice can- 
 not bend itself to certain modulations, or that 
 the personality is incompatible with the char- 
 acter represented. 
 
 ABSURDITIES OF THE CENSORSHIP 
 
 OUR company reopened, then, at the Te- 
 atro Valle of Rome, and took the name of 
 that city. The laws of political and ecclesi- 
 astical censure had come again into force, and 
 we actors had to contend with very serious 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 67 
 
 difficulties in observing the innumerable era- 
 sures and the ridiculous substitutions which 
 the censors made in our lines. The words 
 "God," "Redeemer," "Madonna," "angel," 
 " saint," " pontiff," " purple," " monsignor," 
 "priest," were forbidden. "Religion," "re- 
 public," "unity," "French," "Jesuit," "Tar- 
 tuffe," "foreigner," "patriot," were equally in 
 the Index. The colors green, white, and red 
 were prohibited ; yellow and black and yel- 
 low and white were also forbidden. Flowers 
 thrown on the stage must not show any of 
 those colors prominently, and if it chanced 
 that one actress had white and green in her 
 dress, another who wore red ribbon must not 
 come near her. If we transgressed we were 
 not punished with simple warnings, but with 
 so many days of arrest, and with fines which 
 varied in amount according to the gravity of 
 the offense. I remember well that one night 
 when I played the Captain in Goldoni's 
 " Sposa Sagace" I was fined ten scudi for 
 wearing a blue uniform with red facings and 
 white ornaments, for the excellent reason that 
 the blue looked green by artificial light. 
 
 Another time our leading actress was play- 
 ing Marie Stuart, and had to receive the 
 
68 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 dying David Rizzio in her arms, and to kiss 
 him on the forehead just as he drew his last 
 breath. I had to pay twenty scudi for the 
 kiss I had received without being aware of it ! 
 The priests plainly knew their own minds, 
 and they did not falter in chastising the err- 
 ing. The reader can well imagine the effect 
 upon art of all this interference, and annoy- 
 ance, and torment. Art, indeed, was treated 
 as a culprit. Nevertheless, the public con- 
 tinued to fill our house, to applaud, and to be 
 entertained; and it had then a much truer 
 feeling for artistic beauty than it has to-day. 
 The artists, too, were then animated in the 
 highest degree with the honor that should be 
 paid to a profession which, whatever else 
 may be said of it, is eminently instructive 
 and improving. 
 
 HOW THE AUTHOR STUDIED HIS ART 
 
 THE parts in which I won the most sym- 
 pathy from the Italian public were those of 
 Oreste in the tragedy of that name, Egisto 
 in " Merope," Romeo in " Giulietta e Romeo," 
 Paolo in " Francesca da Rimini," Rinaldo in 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 69 
 
 " Pia di Tolommei," Lord Bonfield in " Pa- 
 mela," Domingo in the " Suonatrice d'Arpa," 
 and Gian Galeazzo in " Lodovico il Moro." 
 In all these my success was more pronounced 
 than in other parts, and I received flattering 
 marks of approval. I did not reflect, at that 
 time, of how great assistance to me it was to 
 be constantly surrounded by first-rate artists; 
 but I soon came to feel that an atmosphere 
 untainted by poisonous microbes promotes 
 unoppressed respiration, and that in such an 
 atmosphere soul and body maintain them- 
 selves healthy and vigorous. I observed fre- 
 quently in the " scratch " companies which 
 played in the theaters of second rank young 
 men and women who showed very notable 
 artistic aptitude, but who, for lack of culti- 
 vation and guidance, ran to extravagance, 
 over-emphasis, and exaggeration. Up to 
 that time, while I had a clear appreciation 
 of the reasons for recognizing defects in 
 others, I did not know how to correct my 
 own ; on the other hand, I recognized that 
 the applause accorded me was intended as an 
 encouragement more than as a tribute which 
 I had earned. From a youth of pleasing 
 qualities (for the moment I quell my mod- 
 
 5* 
 
70 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 esty), with good features, full of fire and 
 enthusiasm, with a harmonious and powerful 
 voice, and with good intellectual faculties, the 
 public deemed that an artist should develop 
 who would distinguish himself, and perhaps 
 attain eminence in the records of Italian art; 
 and for this reason it sought to encourage 
 me, and to apply the spur to my pride by 
 manifesting its feeling of sympathy. By 
 good fortune, I had enough conscience and 
 good sense to receive this homage at its just 
 value. I felt the need of studying, not books 
 alone, but men and things, vice and virtue, 
 love and hate, humility and haughtiness, 
 gentleness and cruelty, folly and wisdom, 
 poverty and opulence, avarice and lavishness, 
 long-suffering and vengeance in short, all 
 the passions for good and evil which have 
 root in human nature. I needed to study 
 out the manner of rendering these passions 
 in accordance with the race of the men in 
 whom they were exhibited, in accordance 
 with their special customs, principles, and 
 education ; I needed to form a conception of 
 the movement, the manner, the expressions 
 of face and voice characteristic of all these 
 cases ; I must learn by intuition to grasp the 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 71 
 
 characters of fiction, and by study to repro- 
 duce those of history with semblance of truth, 
 seeking to give to every one a personality 
 distinct from every other. In fine, I must 
 become capable of identifying myself with 
 one or another personage to such an extent 
 as to lead the audience into the illusion that 
 the real personage, and not a copy, is before 
 them. It would then remain to learn the 
 mechanism of my art; that is, to choose the 
 salient points and to bring them out, to cal- 
 culate the effects and keep them in propor- 
 tion with the unfolding of the plot, to avoid 
 monotony in intonation and repetition in ac- 
 centuation, to insure precision and distinct- 
 ness in pronunciation, the proper distribution 
 of respiration, and incisiveness of delivery. 
 I must study; study again; study always. 
 It was not an easy thing to put these pre- 
 cepts in practice. Very often I forgot them, 
 carried away by excitement, or by the su- 
 perabundance of my vocal powers; indeed, 
 until I had reached an age of calmer reflec- 
 tion I was never able to get my artistic 
 chronometer perfectly regulated; it would 
 always gain a few minutes every twenty-four 
 hours. 
 
72 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 In the spring of 1851, Ristori entered the 
 Royal Company of Turin, while I remained 
 with Domeniconi that year and until the be- 
 ginning of 1853. During those two years 
 our leading lady was Amalia Fumagalli, a 
 painstaking actress, whose comic face and in- 
 elegant figure were drawbacks to her com- 
 pensated, however, by a sweet voice, a most 
 moving rendering of emotion, a dexterity that 
 was beyond belief, and a most uncommon 
 degree of artistic intuition. If Amalia Fuma- 
 galli had been beautiful, she would undoubt- 
 edly have rivaled the best actresses of the 
 day, and particularly so in comedy. In many 
 parts she certainly ranked first; and espe- 
 cially in Scribe's " Valerie," in "Birichino 
 di Parigi," and in "Maria Giovanna" she was 
 inimitable. Debarred as she was by Nature 
 from that gift which for a woman has most 
 charm, she had the power to win the esteem 
 and affection of the Italian public. 
 
 RACHEL 
 
 AT this time I had the fortune to be pres- 
 ent at a few representations given by Rachel 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 73 
 
 at the Teatro Metastasio in Rome. Her 
 name had been preceded by her fame, a thing 
 which is sometimes of assistance to an artist, 
 while it increases greatly his responsibility, 
 and as often is positively harmful. But this 
 was not so with Rachel. What can I say of 
 that incomparable French actress ? She was 
 the very quintessence of the art of Roscius ; 
 to render due praise to her qualities of mind, 
 as well as to those of face and form, it would 
 be necessary to coin new epithets in the Ital- 
 ian tongue. Expression, attitude, the mobile 
 restraint of her features, grace, dignity, affec- 
 tion, passion, majesty all in her was nature 
 itself. Her eyes, like two black carbuncles, 
 and her magnificent raven hair, added splen- 
 dor to a face full of life and feeling. When 
 she was silent she seemed almost more elo- 
 quent than when she spoke. Her voice, at 
 once sympathetic, harmonious, and full of 
 variety, expressed the various passions with 
 correct intonation and exemplary measure. 
 Her motions were always statuesque, and 
 never seemed studied. If Rachel had been 
 able to free herself in her delivery from 
 the cadence traditional in the Conservatoire, 
 where she had studied, a cadence which, it 
 
74 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 is true, cropped out but rarely, she would, 
 in my belief, have been perfect. She was 
 the very incarnation of Tragedy. The mo- 
 notony of the rhyming Alexandrine verses 
 was not suitable to her gifts; she should not 
 have been compelled to speak an impover- 
 ished, nasal, uneven, unmelodious language 
 like the French, but the sonorous measures 
 of ancient Greece and Rome. 
 
 Was it in her nature or in her art? Both 
 were so completely harmonized in her by ge- 
 nius as to form a new Melpomene. France, 
 who most laudably pays honor to her distin- 
 guished children, should not have shared in 
 the unjust war made upon Rachel by certain 
 authors and journalists under the contemp- 
 tible promptings of spite and ill temper, 
 by leaving that luminous star unheeded to 
 quench itself by inches in languor and mel- 
 ancholy. Her merit was so supreme that we 
 can well pardon some slight defects in her 
 character defects which were, perhaps, due 
 to the malady which was secretly preying 
 upon her; and both as a woman, and as one 
 who was a real honor to her country, she 
 had the right to expect more indulgence and 
 higher regard from the proverbial equity and 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 75 
 
 courtesy of the French people. The thought 
 that she was disliked by her compatriots ex- 
 acerbated the disease which brought her to 
 the grave. Poor Rachel ! May the compas- 
 sion of an Italian artist reach you in your 
 eternal abiding-place! 
 
 FIRST STUDY OF SHAKSPERE 
 
 I REMAINED with Domeniconi for two years 
 after Ristori left us, and during this period 
 I busied myself with reading the works of 
 Shakspere, translated into Italian verse by 
 Giulio Carcano. Although the name of 
 Shakspere had already more than -once at- 
 tracted my attention, the dubious outcome 
 of the experiments of several meritorious 
 artists who had made essay of him had 
 dissuaded me from occupying myself over- 
 much with his plays. 
 
 At that time the quality of form appeared 
 so important to me, that Voltaire seemed to 
 be more acceptable than Shakspere, and I 
 preferred Orosmane in " Zai're " to the Moor 
 of Venice. The haughty and impassioned 
 sultan possessed me heart and soul, and I 
 
76 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 awaited with impatience the opportunity to 
 portray him. The character appealed to me 
 so strongly that I could not get it out of my 
 thoughts, and it kept fusing itself with the 
 various new parts for which I was cast by 
 my director. I already had by heart some 
 portions of Orosmanes lines, and I took plea- 
 sure in declaiming them before a mirror, with 
 a towel wrapped round my head in lieu of a 
 turban ; and at the start I found some effects 
 which, as I thought, presaged a sure success. 
 I wished, however, to avoid fixing an imma- 
 ture conception in my mind, and I let it lie 
 for several months, so that I might form fresh 
 impressions upon taking it up again. There 
 is no better rule in art than not to permit 
 one's self to be carried away by a first im- 
 pulse. When time is taken for reflection, 
 one's conceptions are always more correct. 
 
 It was my aim to form a repertory of spe- 
 cial parts so minutely studied and rounded 
 that I might be able through them to attain 
 a reputation. 
 
 The conditions of the Italian stage at that 
 time were not such as to offer me the means 
 of attaining my end. Constrained as I was 
 to busy myself with a new part every week, 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 77 
 
 which, though often I did not know the text 
 perfectly, I had to play without reflection, 
 and without having a thorough grasp of it, 
 how was it possible for me to prosecute a 
 serious study of the philosophy and psy- 
 chology of my art ? I resolved to accept no 
 engagement for the coming year (1853), and 
 to live quietly with my relatives in Florence 
 with a view to carry out my plan. 
 
 Just then the works of Shakspere came 
 again into my hands, and, to tell the truth, 
 even on a second reading, his characters, his 
 conceptions, and his form seemed to me so 
 strange that I was still in doubt whether to 
 occupy myself with them. Nevertheless, the 
 impression that I received was a strong one, 
 since I was unable to drive from my mind the 
 adventures of the sad, perplexed, and anguish- 
 driven Hamlet, and of the loyal, generous, and 
 trusting Othello. I made up my mind that I 
 would spend my time, during the next year, 
 on no more than three parts. These were 
 Saul and Othello in the tragedies of the same 
 names by Alfieri and Shakspere, and Oros- 
 mane in Voltaire's "Zaire," which last I had 
 already gotten into pretty good shape. With 
 the carnival of 1853 ended in Bologna my 
 
78 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 engagement with Domeniconi; but I had to 
 stay through Lent in that city to play at a 
 match in billiards which I had begun during 
 the season. During Lent the Zannoni Com- 
 pany came to the Corso Theater in Bologna, 
 and with a view to bettering their somewhat 
 languishing fortunes, made me a proposal that 
 I should appear in a few extra performances. 
 As I was on the spot, I accepted the proposi- 
 tion, a little out of vanity, and a little for the 
 sake of laying up a few more scudi for the 
 needs of my coming period of leisure. One 
 of the most promising plays to give was un- 
 doubtedly "Zaire"; but I was not a little 
 awed by the fame, still bright in that city, 
 won as Orosmane by the celebrated Lombardi. 
 Lombardi must surely have been an artist 
 of great merit to establish himself so firmly 
 in the popular memory. " He who is afraid 
 goes not to the wars," said I to myself, and I 
 decided to seize the chance to give the play. 
 I began my series with " Orestes," " Der 
 Spieler," by Iffland, "Orlando Furioso," and 
 Scribe's "La Calomnie." I did not possess 
 the costumes for Orosmane, but with my re- 
 ceipts from the first plays I was able to fit my- 
 self out with dresses at once rich and elegant. 
 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 79 
 
 On the appointed evening the expectation 
 of the audience was wrought up to a high 
 pitch. Nevertheless, it was favorably dis- 
 posed; and notwithstanding that in the last 
 act my wide Turkish trousers were awkwardly 
 disarranged precisely at the culminating mo- 
 ment of the tragedy, it was a splendid success. 
 Thus one of the three parts in which I had 
 determined to attain superiority had already 
 received its consecration. 
 
 I settled myself very comfortably with my 
 relatives in Florence, and laid out my hours, 
 so many for study and so many for recrea- 
 tion, keeping myself free from everything 
 which might disturb my plans. During my 
 frequent walks I declaimed my parts mentally; 
 but now and then I would forget myself, and 
 instantly would become an object of public 
 curiosity. Again I would be surprised by 
 some passer-by in the act of practising a ges- 
 ture appropriate to the personage who was 
 occupying my mind, and I doubt not that I 
 was often taken for a lunatic. Very often 
 I would seek out-of-the-way and solitary 
 places, pushing on into a fir wood or a chest- 
 nut grove, where my only audience would be 
 the birds. A gentleman of Ferrara, who was 
 
8o LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 fond of declamation, having asked me to give 
 him lessons, I taught him Saul, and took the 
 opportunity to study it myself at the same 
 time. This was the only part in my master's 
 repertory of tragedy which I ventured to play, 
 and in the proper place I will explain why. 
 I avoided the others, fearing lest I should fol- 
 low him too closely or do less well. Those 
 actors whom I saw devote themselves to re- 
 producing those parts awoke my disgust or 
 moved me to ridicule; and when sometimes 
 I heard them applauded by a forgetful or ig- 
 norant public, I became indignant, and would 
 gladly have protested. I shall always con- 
 gratulate myself upon my decision to free 
 myself for that year from the monotonous 
 routine of the stage. I gained in this way 
 the opportunity to reflect, to make compari- 
 sons, and to examine into my defects. I im- 
 posed upon myself a new method of study. 
 While I was busying myself with the part of 
 Saul, I read and re-read the Bible, so as to 
 become impregnated with the appropriate sen- 
 timents, manners, and local color. When I 
 took up Othello, I pored over the history of 
 the Venetian Republic and that of the Moor- 
 ish invasion of Spain ; I studied the passions 
 
SALVINI AS "ICILIO" IN THE "VIRGINIE" OF ALFIERI. 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 81 
 
 of the Moors, their art of war, their religious 
 beliefs, nor did I overlook the romance of 
 Giraldi Cinthio, in order the better to master 
 that sublime character. I did not concern 
 myself about a superficial study of the words, 
 or of some point of scenic effect, or of greater 
 or less accentuation of certain phrases with a 
 view to win passing applause ; a vaster hori- 
 zon opened out before me an infinite sea on 
 which my bark could navigate in security, 
 without fear of falling in with reefs. 
 
 FAULTS IN ACTING 
 
 IN my assiduous reading of the classics, 
 the chief places were held among the Greeks 
 by the masculine and noble figures of Hector, 
 Achilles, Theseus, CEdipus ; among the Scots 
 by Trenmor, Fingal, Cuchullin; and among 
 the Romans by Caesar, Brutus, Titus, and 
 Cato. These characters influenced me to 
 incline toward a somewhat bombastic system 
 of gesticulation and a turgid delivery. My 
 anxiety to enter to the utmost into the con- 
 ceptions of my authors, and to interpret them 
 clearly, disposed me to exaggerate the modu- 
 
82 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 lations of my voice like some mechanism 
 which responds to every touch, not reflecting 
 that the abuse of this effort would bring me 
 too near to song. Precipitation in delivery, 
 too, which when carried too far destroys all 
 distinctness and incisiveness, was due to my 
 very high impressionability, and the straining 
 after technical scenic effects. Thus, extreme 
 vehemence in anger would excite me to the 
 point of forgetting the fiction, and cause me 
 to commit involuntarily lamentable outbursts. 
 Hence I applied myself to overcome the 
 tendency to singsong in my voice, the exu- 
 berance of my rendering of passion, the 
 exclamatory quality of my phrasing, the pre- 
 cipitation of my pronunciation, and the swag- 
 ger of my motions. 
 
 I shall be asked how the public could abide 
 me, with all these defects ; and I answer that 
 the defects, though numerous, were so little 
 prominent that they passed unobserved by 
 the mass of the public, which always views 
 broadly, and could be detected only by the 
 acute and searching eye of the intelligent 
 critic. I make no pretense that I was able to 
 correct myself all at once. Sometimes my 
 impetuosity would carry me away, and not 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 83 
 
 until I had come to mature age was I able to 
 free myself to any extent from this failing. 
 Then I confirmed myself in my opinion that 
 the applause of the public is not all refined 
 gold, and I became able to separate the gold 
 from the dross in the crucible of intelligence. 
 How many on the stage are content with the 
 dross ! 
 
 THE DESIRE TO EXCEL IN EVERYTHING 
 
 MY desire to improve in my art had its 
 origin in an instinctive impulse to rise above 
 mediocrity an instinct that must have been 
 born in me, since, when still a little boy, I 
 used to put forth all my energies to eclipse 
 what I saw accomplished by my companions 
 of like age. When I was sixteen, and at Na- 
 ples, there were in the boarding-house, at 
 two francs and a half a day, two young men 
 who were studying music and singing, and to 
 surpass them in their own field I practised 
 the scales until I could take B natural. Later 
 on, when the tone of my voice had lowered 
 to the barytone, impelled always by my de- 
 sire to accomplish something, I took lessons 
 
84 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 in music from the maestro Terziani, and ap- 
 peared at a benefit with the famous tenor 
 Boucarde, and Signora Monti, the soprano, 
 and sang in a duet from " Belisario," the 
 aria from " Maria di Rohan," and "La Setti- 
 mana d'Amore," by Niccolai; and I venture 
 to say that I was not third best in that triad. 
 But I recognized that singing and declama- 
 tion were incompatible pursuits, since the 
 method of producing the voice is totally dif- 
 ferent, and they must therefore be mutually 
 harmful. Financially, I was not in a condi- 
 tion to be free to choose between the two 
 careers, and I persevered of necessity in the 
 dramatic profession. Whether my choice was 
 for the best I do not know; it is certain that 
 if my success had been in proportion to my 
 love of music, and I have reason to believe 
 that it might have been, I should not have 
 remained in obscurity. 
 
 My organization was well suited, too, for 
 success in many bodily exercises. When I 
 wanted to learn to swim, I jumped from a 
 height into the sea out of my depth, and 
 soon became a swimmer; I took a fancy to 
 dancing, and perfected myself to such good 
 purpose that I was always in favor as a part- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 85 
 
 ner; I wanted to be a good swordsman, and 
 for five years I handled the foils assiduously, 
 and took part in public exhibitions for the 
 benefit of my teachers. In like manner I 
 became one of the best billiard-players in 
 Italy, and so good a horseman that no horse 
 could unseat me. My muscular strength, 
 fostered by constant exercise, was such that 
 with one arm I could lift a man seated in a 
 chair and place him on a billiard-table. I 
 could sew and embroider, and make any quan- 
 tity of pretty little trifles, and I used to devise 
 new games that gave pleasure to numbers of 
 my friends. Everything that I tried succeeded 
 at least moderately well, not from any personal 
 merit of my own, but owing to the happy 
 disposition conferred upon me by nature. 
 
 As to my character, I must confess that 
 I was somewhat positive. I was extremely 
 high-strung, and took offense at an equivocal 
 word or a dubious look. Though apparently 
 self-controlled, I was very violent when my 
 anger was awakened. I was patient in a 
 very high degree, but firm and resolute in 
 my decisions. I was constant when once my 
 affection was seriously given, but changeable 
 in my sympathies. Friendship was a religion 
 
86 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 for me, and notwithstanding frequent decep- 
 tions, I have always remained an affectionate 
 friend. Titles of nobility have never dazzled 
 me; I have always admired the true gentle- 
 man, and venerated the man of real talent. 
 The sentiment of revenge never developed in 
 me, but that of contempt assumed great pro- 
 portions. I have never felt envy of any one, 
 but I have sought to emulate those I have 
 admired. I have sought for money, not for 
 the sake of riches, but as a means of inde- 
 pendence. I have done much good to my 
 fellows, and -have received evil in return. I 
 have thought much for others, and have made 
 little provision for myself; in that little I in- 
 clude the leaden case destined to receive my 
 bones. 
 
 THE CHOLERA IN BOLOGNA 
 
 IN 1854 I became a member of the As- 
 tolfi company, of which Carolina Santoni 
 was leading lady, and Gaspare Fieri the 
 brillante. Carolina Santoni had a disagree- 
 ment with our manager, Astolfi, and left the 
 company in the middle of the year; her place 
 was supplied by Gaspare Pieri's wife, the 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 87 
 
 charming Giuseppina Casali-Pieri, who had 
 some talent in comedy. 
 
 We went to Bologna just as the cholera was 
 beginning to appear there ; it was threatening 
 at the same time several other cities in Italy. 
 I advised all to leave Bologna at once, and 
 to go to some place that was free from infec- 
 tion ; but neither manager nor company would 
 accept my advice, being unwilling to incur the 
 unforeseen expense of a new journey. To 
 mask their stinginess, they declared that my 
 advice was dictated by fear, and Astolfi di- 
 verted himself hugely at my expense, and 
 ridiculed the timidity of my proposition. In 
 the mean time the disease was becoming 
 more and more serious, and one day when 
 I saw an expression of grave anxiety on the 
 faces of my late opponents, I said to them: 
 " You refused my advice, and said that it was 
 due to my being afraid. Now all I have to 
 say to you is that I shall be the last of us all 
 to leave Bologna." Soon the victims of the 
 pestilence numbered 500 a day. The city 
 was in consternation, and business was for- 
 gotten or neglected. At many street-corners 
 temporary altars were set up, and the people 
 would kneel down before them and pray, and 
 
88 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 seek to conjure away the danger. One night 
 I myself stumbled over the body of a person 
 who had been suddenly stricken down. In 
 a short time the city became a desert, and 
 only then did my companions decide to go 
 away. They hired carriages by the day to 
 make the journey ; and when they had all 
 gone, I took a place in the public coach, and 
 reached Leghorn before them. Our manager, 
 Astolfi, upon his arrival at Pistoja, was taken 
 with the epidemic, and lost his life. 
 
 I received a most advantageous offer for 
 1856 from the jovial and courteous, but none 
 the less able, actor and manager, Cesare 
 Dondini. After Luigi Vestri, this actor was 
 the most faithful follower of the school of 
 truth. The very sight of him put one in good 
 humor; the geniality of his disposition even 
 influenced the audience, and made everybody 
 in the house feel happy, no matter how diverse 
 were the parts which he played. He was a 
 very pearl of a man, and a model manager. 
 
 A most brilliant comet was just then rising 
 on the artistic horizon. Clementina Cazzola 
 was born under the patronage of art; as a 
 little girl she was called an infant prodigy. 
 She was the child of artists of humble rank, 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 89 
 
 but nature had endowed her with the senti- 
 ment of the beautiful ; and as the workman 
 extracts the carbuncle from the rock, so did 
 Cesare Dondini raise from obscurity that 
 precious gem of the purest water. Her in- 
 terpretation of her characters was faithful 
 and exquisitely subtle, and the most minute 
 analysis of every profound emotion was ren- 
 dered by her with exactness and truth. Her 
 eyes were like two black diamonds emitting 
 beams of light, and seemed quickly to pene- 
 trate to the very soul of him upon whom she 
 fixed them, and to read his inmost thoughts. 
 In the "Dame aux Camelias" she was be- 
 witching; in the tragedy of "Saffo," by Ma- 
 renco, she was admirable ; in " Pia de Tolom- 
 mei" she was sublime. In this last tragedy, 
 especially, she reached such a pitch of per- 
 fection that it seemed a miracle. I am most 
 happy to render to this incomparable actress 
 a small part of that homage which the Italian 
 public lavished upon her. We all deplored 
 her early death in July, 1858. 
 
 While I was still with the Dondini com- 
 pany, the distinguished tragic poet G. B. 
 Niccolini intrusted to me the production of 
 his "CEdipus at Colonos," and it met every- 
 
9 o LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 where with a favorable reception. Other 
 works, more or less worthy, came at this 
 time to distract my attention from the studies 
 of my choice; but these transient interrup- 
 tions really contributed to ripen those studies. 
 I could not deviate from my purpose to form 
 a special repertory for myself, and I had 
 already made a beginning with "Zai're," the 
 "Suonatrice d'Arpa," "Oreste," "Saul," and 
 my study of " Othello." 
 
 OTHELLO 
 
 THIS last play I was able to put on the 
 stage at Vicenza in June, 1856, with Clemen- 
 tina Cazzola as the most perfect type of Des- 
 demona that could ever be wished for. The 
 usual conception Q{ Desdemona is as a blonde, 
 with blue eyes and a rosy complexion, per- 
 haps because in his pictures Titian preferred 
 that type, and cultivated variety in his colors 
 and half-tints, but for all that, it is not less 
 true that the Venetian type is represented by 
 dark eyes, black hair, and skin of alabaster. 
 In Venice ruddy-haired women are no more 
 usual than those with jet-black hair in Eng- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 91 
 
 land. That excellent artist, Lorenzo Picci- 
 nini, filled most adequately the part of lago. 
 The material of the company was excellent; 
 every care had been taken with the costumes, 
 which were faultless; suitable scenery had 
 been prepared by a scene-painter of ability, 
 and the production of Shakspere's play was 
 awaited with lively interest. It was the night 
 of my benefit, and abundant and prolonged 
 applause was given in greeting to the artist; 
 but it was the first time that a tragedy of that 
 type had been seen in Vicenza; hence popu- 
 lar judgment wavered as to the worth of the 
 work. It would be unfair to lay this too 
 heavily to the charge of a public accustomed 
 to the observance of the Aristotelian limits 
 of classic tragedy. It is not the little band 
 of intelligent persons that we have to con- 
 vince, but the mass of the public. 
 
 From Vicenza we went to Venice, and our 
 rendering of " Othello" met with the same 
 reception there. There was applause, there 
 were calls before the curtain, an ovation even ; 
 but the people, as they left the house, said, 
 "This is not the kind of thing for us." While 
 that pale imitation, Voltaire's "Zai're," was 
 lauded to the skies, thanks to its irreproach- 
 
9 2 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 able form, " Othello" did not appeal to the 
 taste of the Venetians. It will easily be be- 
 lieved that I made little account of this mis- 
 taken judgment, and repeated the play several 
 times, until at last they found "some good" 
 in it. At Rome I forced the play on public 
 favor. A sure sign that it commanded inter- 
 est was that there was always a full house. 
 It was not to their taste, it is true, but they 
 could not stay away. For four seasons I 
 always selected that play for my benefit. The 
 first time people blamed me; the second, they 
 began to be interested; the third, they were 
 pleased; and after that every time that I went 
 to Rome they asked me how soon I should 
 give " Othello." 
 
 HAMLET 
 
 I BECAME so much enamored of the great 
 English dramatist, that I was constrained to 
 neglect somewhat the classic school, though 
 I still held it in warm affection, in order to 
 occupy myself with a character extravagant 
 indeed, but nevertheless full of attraction 
 that of Hamlet. I chose the translations by 
 Giulio Carcano as the most in accord with 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 93 
 
 my taste, and for a fixed yearly payment he 
 ceded to me " Othello" and all his other 
 translations and abridgments from Shakspere. 
 In the eyes of the public my form seemed too 
 colossal for Hamlet. The adipose, lymphatic, 
 and asthmatic thinker of Shakspere must 
 change himself, according to the popular 
 imagination, into a slender, romantic, and 
 nervous figure; and although my Hamlet was 
 judged more than flatteringly by the most 
 authoritative critics, and by the first dramatic 
 artist of that day, it will always take rank 
 after my Othello. I do not know whether I 
 should felicitate myself upon having incar- 
 nated that son of Mauritania; sure it is that 
 he has done some injury to other personifica- 
 tions of my repertory, though not less care- 
 fully elaborated. I am bound to declare 
 that Hamlet, Orestes, Saul, King Lear, and 
 Corrado in "La Morte Civile," cost me no 
 less study or application than Othello, and 
 that my artistic conscience has never doubted 
 that there was full as much merit in my in- 
 terpretation of those characters as in that of 
 the other. Nevertheless, Othello has always 
 been the favorite and the best applauded, 
 Othello is a sight-draft, which the public h; 
 
94 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 paid promptly every time that it has been 
 presented. 
 
 SOPHOCLES 
 
 THE reader who has become accustomed to 
 my small modesty will permit me to make an- 
 other assertion. The part in which I have the 
 least fault to find with myself is that of Sofocle, 
 in the drama in verse of the same name by 
 Paolo Giacometti. The play was written ex- 
 pressly for me ; and I venture to say that the 
 emotions of that grandiose figure are modeled 
 so well upon my capabilities that his spoils 
 would ill become any other artist. Yet that 
 name, venerated as poet and as citizen, cannot 
 boast that it ever drew a full house. Those 
 who came were always full of enthusiasm; but 
 though I tried it repeatedly, the audience was 
 always scanty, and this notwithstanding that 
 the play is one of the most meritorious that 
 have been written in this century. 
 
 SAMSON 
 
 ANOTHER work was written expressly for 
 me by Ippolito d'Aste " Sansone," a bibli- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 95 
 
 cal tragedy, rich in noble verses, striking in its 
 conception, and of incontestable scenic effec- 
 tiveness, but beyond a doubt, as a philosophi- 
 cal and literary production, much inferior to 
 "Sofocle." Yet the preeminent Greek poet 
 was forced, by the capriciousness and injus- 
 tice of the public, to yield the primacy to the 
 biblical hero. This play, too, became a spe- 
 cialty of my repertory. I must, however, 
 acknowledge that my athletic figure and 
 powerful muscles, and the strength of my 
 voice, had their part in the great success of 
 this play. It is idle to deny that for certain 
 parts appropriate physical and vocal qualities 
 are indispensable, and are an inseparable 
 factor in success. It is an illusion that in the 
 representative arts intelligence and talent 
 are alone sufficient to win a great reputa- 
 tion. The singer may possess an admirable 
 method, facility in trilling, perfection in into- 
 nation ; but if he has not also a fine and 
 powerful voice, he will never rise above me- 
 diocrity. The public demands, in addition to 
 talent, physical presence ; in addition to art, a 
 sympathetic and unlabored sonority of voice. 
 If there is deficiency in one or another natural 
 gift, attention becomes dulled, enthusiasm is 
 
96 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 not aroused, and the public sets one down in 
 the category of the intelligent and worthy, 
 but not in that of the eminent. 
 
 And this is not an injustice, for one is in 
 no way constrained to join a profession of 
 which the demands are so exacting. The 
 public has not forced you to put yourself in 
 a position where you must beg for its indul- 
 gence, or to expose yourself in an endeavor 
 which is beyond your strength. Those in- 
 complete artists are unjust who rail at the 
 coolness of the public, at the sharpness of 
 the critic. Such characters as Saul, Samson, 
 and Ingomar demand an imposing form and 
 a masculine and powerful voice, and since 
 nature had favored me with these material 
 advantages, I was able for long to couple 
 my name with those of the biblical king, the 
 hero of the Jews, and the barbarian. 
 
 IN PARIS 
 
 WHEN I had become in fair measure sat- 
 isfied with my rendering of Orosmane in 
 "Zai're," of Saul, and of Othello, I persuaded 
 my friend and associate Cesare Dondini to 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 97 
 
 try our fortune at the Salle Ventadour in 
 Paris. I carried only my art with me, and 
 in that mare magnum of all earthly celebrities 
 this proved to be a rather scant capital. In 
 Paris, no doubt, true merit is appreciated ; 
 but if one has not the means of presenting 
 his merit along with a pretty liberal dose of 
 charlatanism, it is offered to deaf ears, and 
 the few who do appreciate it are swallowed 
 up in the indifference of the vast majority. 
 Well, we arrived in Paris, and, thinking to 
 flatter the national pride, we chose Voltaire's 
 "Zaire" for our first production. Our chief 
 actress, Clementina Cazzola, was frightened 
 by Ristori's great success, and declined to 
 accompany us on this venture; all her parts 
 were accordingly intrusted to a conscientious 
 young actress, Alfonsina Aliprandi, who filled 
 them with credit. Orosmane was acclaimed, 
 Zaire applauded, Lusignan (Lorenzo Picci- 
 nini) praised ; but the play had lived its time, 
 the classic type was in decadence, and our 
 choice of a piece was criticized. We promptly 
 produced "Saul." This sublime composition 
 was pronounced by the Gallic critics heavy, 
 dry, arid, incomprehensible. May Heaven 
 pardon them! They were incapable of un- 
 
98 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 derstanding it. I convinced myself that this 
 was really the case when I went to look for 
 a French translation of " Saul," in order to 
 have librettos prepared to promote apprecia- 
 tion of it, and found that fine opening, "Bell 1 
 alba e questa," rendered, "Oh, quelle belle 
 matinee!" I became even more convinced 
 when Alexandre Dumas, fere, maintained 
 that Alfieri should have made his Saul a 
 young man, and not an old one. If an acute, 
 many-sided, imaginative talent like that was 
 capable of making so nonsensical an exhibi- 
 tion of itself, it can easily be imagined what 
 the smaller fry said. Thus "Saul" shared the 
 fate of "Zaire." There was applause, and 
 there were flattering notices, but the play 
 would not draw. As our last anchor of 
 safety, we tried "Othello." Shakspere was 
 the fashion, and even I became the fashion, 
 too ! Paris was moved ; and according to 
 her wont, being moved, she went into a state 
 of exultation. The Anglo-Saxon sojourners 
 came, too ; the journalists were forced (I say 
 forced, because they did it greatly against 
 their wish) to fall into line with the general 
 appreciation, to float with the current, and to 
 bring themselves to do me justice. "Othello" 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 99 
 
 paid the expenses of our season. The most 
 generous praises were lavished on the artists ; 
 in especial a demonstration was made by the 
 Comedie Frangaise, which decided, in order 
 to do honor to the Italian actor, that on the 
 night of his benefit several of its actors and 
 actresses should take part in the representa- 
 tion. I must admit that if the French once 
 begin to be agreeable, they do not stop half- 
 way ; and it was no small achievement to have 
 interested the manager and the artists of that 
 model playhouse. 
 
 At this time I formed the acquaintance of 
 a lady who wields much influence among the 
 publishing enterprises of North America, and 
 she urged me to go to New York ; she said 
 that she was sure I should have great suc- 
 cess there, particularly in " Othello," and pro- 
 mised me that I could count on her friendly 
 interest as a guaranty of a favorable out- 
 come. I hesitated, however, because of the 
 length of the journey, of my usual diffidence 
 as to my own ability, and, above all, of the 
 exiguity of my finances. What means had I 
 to fall back on in the event of a disaster? 
 I thanked the amiable lady, and dismissed 
 the thought. 
 
ioo LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 A thousand testimonials of esteem and 
 sympathy followed, which it would be tedi- 
 ous to set forth here. Through these, as by 
 an electric flash, knowledge of our success 
 was disseminated in Italy, and offers of new 
 and advantageous engagements pelted Don- 
 dini like hail. In his function as manager 
 he accepted one of these for Sicily, compris- 
 ing the three chief cities of the island; and 
 the results of that year were highly profit- 
 able for our association. So it is that with in- 
 crease of fame comes increase of funds also ! 
 
 Upon our return to Italy, Signora Cazzola 
 resumed her post in the company. 
 
 We next went to Sicily, opening at Ca- 
 tania. The four years that I passed with 
 Cesare Dondini were the most advantageous 
 of my career to my artistic reputation. The 
 public, and more than the public, my col- 
 leagues, conceded to me the palm in the 
 rendering of several parts. They affirmed 
 that I had no rival as Orestes, as Orosmane, 
 as Saul, in the "Morte Civile," in the "Suo- 
 natrice d'Arpa," as Sansone, in " Pamela," 
 and finally as Othello. This judgment, though 
 of much weight, did not quench entirely my 
 ardent desire to make myself a specialist in 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 101 
 
 still other plays. At the end of my service 
 with the Dondini company, I was engaged 
 as chief actor for the Compagnia Reale de' 
 Fiorentini of Naples from the first day of 
 Lent in the year 1860. I found but small 
 change in the atmosphere of the theater 
 after my fifteen years of absence. Almost 
 all those who had been attached to it in 
 1845 were still there. The celebrated char- 
 acter-actor Luigi Taddei, who had joined 
 the company ten years before, had become 
 old and rather infirm, and, though always ad- 
 mirable, appeared but seldom. Only Fanny 
 Sadowsky, though advanced in age, retained 
 the spirit and energy of the fair days of her 
 triumphs. In fine, the walls of the establish- 
 ment had received a coat of whitewash, but 
 the foundations were the same. The quality of 
 the public, too, was unchanged in that hun- 
 dred-year-old theater. There were still those 
 families who subscribed for their seats by the 
 year, and who inserted in their marriage- 
 contracts, as one of the conditions, a box at 
 the Fiorentini for the bride. It was once 
 their cherished pleasure to create or destroy 
 the reputation of those who came before their 
 supreme tribunal. 
 
102 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 At that time the company, subsidized by 
 the Bourbon government, still enjoyed the 
 privilege of playing in that theater without 
 competition, whence arose a Chinese wall 
 between the actors of that company and all 
 others of the peninsula; so that if any of 
 them happened to leave Naples for Florence, 
 for instance, they would ask him whether he 
 was going to Italy ! Nevertheless, the report 
 of my success had broken through the pro- 
 tecting wall, and curiosity was at a high pitch. 
 Prepiani and Monti were dead, and Adamo 
 Alberti alone remained as director of the en- 
 terprise ; and as I could remain only one year 
 at Naples, he had already secured my suc- 
 cessor. Upon my arrival in Naples, Alberti 
 asked me, in accordance with the terms of 
 my contract, which gave me the right of 
 choice, with what play I wished to begin, 
 and I indicated "Zaire." But they had no 
 scenery for "Zaire," and it would hardly do 
 to be content with a makeshift. "All right," 
 said I ; " we will take the * Suonatrice 
 d'Arpa.'" But in that play Signora Sadow- 
 sky had not yet mastered her part. "Very 
 well; then I will give 'Oreste." But Bozzo, 
 who was cast for Pilade, happened just then 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 103 
 
 to be ill. " Excellent," said I; "in that case 
 I '11 play whatever you like." I divined very 
 clearly the motive for this spirit of opposi- 
 tion. The good man had engaged for the 
 next three years an actor by the name of 
 Achille Majeroni, and he was afraid that 
 too marked a success on my part might be 
 hurtful to his speculation with my successor. 
 Finally he proposed to me to open with 
 Goldoni's " Pamela"; but the Pamela could 
 not be Fanny Sadowsky. " How 's that?" 
 said I; "do you want a tragedian to begin 
 his season with a comedy, and without the 
 support of the leading lady at that? Well, 
 let us have it so ! " He was delighted with 
 my answer, which certainly he had not ex- 
 pected, and made haste to announce my first 
 appearance in " Pamela," as happy as if he 
 had won in three numbers at the lottery. 
 Many were surprised at this choice of a play, 
 and to the many who remonstrated with me 
 I made answer that I would not set out with 
 grumbling at my manager; that in order to 
 get first to the goal in a long race it was 
 better to begin to run slowly, rather than to 
 start off at the highest speed, with the risk of 
 finishing second. 
 
104 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 On the appointed evening the size and qual- 
 ity of our house were imposing. The court 
 and the first literary and artistic notabilities 
 were there. The friends of the old actors 
 had their guns cocked and primed ; the jour- 
 nalists and pseudo-authors with whom Na- 
 ples abounds were all under arms, and more 
 disposed to find fault than to praise. I had 
 before me the double task of routing the old 
 fogies of 1845, and of being equal to the 
 exaggerated renown that had preceded me ; 
 in short, I had serious difficulties to over- 
 come, and at the same time I had against me 
 the inveterate bad taste of that public, which 
 is not offended by a conventional cadence in 
 phrasing, by monotony of delivery, and by 
 gestures and motions worthy of Punchinello. 
 I was not in the least nervous in face of this 
 serious and really difficult undertaking. My 
 pulse did not count one beat more than the 
 normal. I neither looked at the house, nor 
 even saw it by chance; I identified myself 
 entirely with the personage whose part I was 
 playing (Lord Bonfield), and I made such an 
 impression on that rather hostile audience, 
 that at the end of every act it showed me, 
 first favor, then admiration, and finally enthu- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 105 
 
 siasm. When I came to the scene in which 
 Pamelas father, who is thought to be a vil- 
 lager, reveals his true rank to Lord Bonfield, 
 and tells him his story, declaring himself to be 
 a count and proving it by authenticated docu- 
 ments, whence it results that his daughter 
 Pamela is worthy to become the consort of 
 the aristocratic and impassioned Lord Bon- 
 field) I succeeded by the mobility of my 
 countenance, and by the feverish motions of 
 my body, in following every part of the tale 
 with such intent interest and such truth, that 
 without uttering a syllable I drew from the 
 audience a prolonged cry of enthusiasm, and 
 no more doubt attended the completeness of 
 my success. Poor Alberti ! He was con- 
 strained to follow the current, and to take 
 steps at once to put on the stage those very 
 plays which he had found such excellent 
 reasons for not giving, and these confirmed 
 me emphatically in public favor. "Zaire," 
 "Oreste," " Hamlet," "Saul" transported Na- 
 ples with enthusiasm. 
 
 It would be impossible to note all the 
 marks of esteem and appreciation which the 
 Neapolitans lavished upon me. Everybody 
 wanted to know me; everybody wished for 
 
io6 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 my friendship ; everybody made it his boast 
 to be seen in my company on the prome- 
 nades and at the places of resort; and every- 
 body would say in passing, " Here is that 
 most excellent fellow, our Salvi;//" I had 
 really come to belong to them, I was no 
 longer my own master; and to such a point 
 that the burden of entertainments, visits, in- 
 vitations became almost oppressive. I had 
 secured my revenge ! I had won over a pub- 
 lic that had been confirmed in its habits ; I 
 had convinced critics disposed to be severe, 
 and overcome the hostility of the envious on 
 the stage ; and I had put the laugh on a dis- 
 obliging manager. 
 
 During my stay in Naples, heroic acts of 
 almost incredible valor were done in Sicily by 
 the thousand followers of Giuseppe Gari- 
 baldi, who overran the entire kingdom of the 
 Two Sicilies. Naples was freed from the 
 tyranny of the Bourbons, and received in se- 
 curity every free citizen of Italy. Gustavo 
 Modena, who had always been interdicted 
 from setting foot on the soil of Naples, took a 
 fancy to visit the Parthenopean city, and at 
 the same time to make himself known profes- 
 sionally to the Neapolitans. I encouraged 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 107 
 
 him in this project, eager again to come into 
 relations with my old master, and to see him 
 play ; but he kept answering my letters with 
 new doubts and difficulties. At last, how- 
 ever, the way seemed clear, and I busied my- 
 self with hiring the Teatro del Fondo, and 
 with engaging several actors of other com- 
 panies, who had taken advantage of the an- 
 nulling of the monopoly of the Fiorentini to 
 come to Naples. In a word, I organized a 
 company from what I could find, but it was 
 sufficient for Modena's purpose ; and despite 
 Alberti's unremitting hostility, I secured per- 
 mission to give him my own support for a 
 night. Modena arrived in due time at Na- 
 ples, but he kept putting off the announce- 
 ment of his appearance. I was able to see 
 him only in the daytime, for I had to play 
 every night; and every day I saw more 
 clearly, to my deep regret, that his physical 
 strength was failing. Finally he declared 
 that his health would not permit him to face 
 the judgment of the public, and that he found 
 himself compelled to return at once to his 
 home in Turin. It was a bitter disappoint- 
 ment, and a real grief to all who loved our 
 art. I was eager to have him dine with me, 
 
io8 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 with the Signora Giulia, before his departure ; 
 and they accepted upon condition that there 
 should be only the three of us. I promised, 
 and two days afterward they came. As can 
 easily be imagined, the stage formed the sta- 
 ple of our conversation ; and I begged him, 
 before he left, to drop in some evening at the 
 Fiorentini, so that I might have his opinions 
 and advice upon what progress I might have 
 made. "I have seen you," he answered. 
 -How?" said I. -Where? When?" 'And 
 he replied, " I have seen you in ' Hamlet ' and 
 in ' Saul.' ' I felt as if a bucket of cold water 
 had been doused over my head, and for five 
 full minutes the conversation lapsed. He had 
 come twice to the Teatro de' Fiorentini with- 
 out my knowing anything of it. Finally I 
 took courage, and asked him his opinion. 
 "Here it is," he answered. "Nobody can 
 play Hamlet but you ; in * Saul ' my fourth 
 act is better than yours, but your fifth act is 
 better than mine." Not a word more did he 
 say. Ought I to appeal from this judgment, 
 or to be so modest as not to deem it just and 
 impartial? I do not think so; I should be 
 wanting in respect to the infallible criticism 
 of that unequaled judge, and should, more- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 109 
 
 over, be false to my own conscience. Yes; 
 Modena's words were true, and I will tell 
 why, since he did not see fit to explain them. 
 As a fervent republican and a very bitter foe 
 of clericalism, into the diatribes of the fourth 
 act, the reproaches heaped by Saul on the 
 high priest Ahimelech, he put all his energy 
 and the conviction due to his political creed, 
 and he obtained extraordinary results. This 
 effort left him, however, prostrated with fa- 
 tigue, so that he was not in a condition to 
 supply the great exertion demanded by the 
 fifth act. In my own case, since I was not 
 under obligation to fill before the audience 
 the double character of artist and of anticleri- 
 cal, I husbanded my strength, so that, without 
 weakening the fourth act, I was still in con- 
 dition to give full effect to the passion, the 
 delirium, and the calamitous ending of that 
 ill-starred king. 
 
 DEATH OF MODENA 
 
 IN 1 86 1 I visited Turin as first actor and 
 manager of a company bearing my name. 
 Hardly had I arrived in the city when the sad 
 
I io LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 news came to me that Modena, my master, my 
 second father, had ceased to live. I hurried 
 to his house to render the last tribute of my 
 affection. I had the honorable though mourn- 
 ful office of bearing on my shoulder, with three 
 other faithful friends, the body of this distin- 
 guished man. That evening, as a slight tribute 
 of grief, I had the theater closed, and I headed 
 a subscription to a fund for the erection of a 
 monument on the grave of the great patriot 
 and artist, and all the members of my company 
 contributed, of their own motion, a day's sal- 
 ary; in addition I gave a performance the pro- 
 ceeds of which were applied to the fund. It 
 all footed up to a handsome sum, which was 
 placed in the hands of a committee formed of 
 the political friends of the dead man ; and in 
 addition to my collections this committee re- 
 ceived many other liberal subscriptions from 
 all the provinces of Italy. 
 
 Four years passed, and having occasion to 
 write to Modena's widow to secure a manu- 
 script of "Mahomet II." which belonged to my 
 master, I asked her for news of the fund. 
 Her answer ended as follows: "Never ask me 
 again what has become of the money for the 
 monument of my Gustavo; it is a sad and dis- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI in 
 
 graceful story." And it is a disgrace to Italy 
 that not yet has just honor been paid to the 
 memory of that inimitable artist and distin- 
 guished patriot. 
 
 To return to the chronicle of my artistic 
 career, in 1861 and 1862 my company was 
 formed of chosen artists, such as Clementina 
 Cazzola, Isolina Piamonti, my brother Ales- 
 sandro Salvini, Guglielmo Privato, Gaetano 
 Voller, Gaetano Coltellini, and Luigi Biagi. 
 All my thought and activity were devoted to 
 the direction of my artists, to train them to 
 work together, to inspire them, so to speak, in 
 such manner that our productions should be 
 distinguished for the homogeneity, the precis- 
 ion, and the harmony of the rendering. I gave 
 all my energy to the object of surpassing the 
 various companies of highest rank which had 
 deservedly acquired a stable renown ; and with- 
 out fear of contradiction I can say that in this 
 I had satisfactory success, as was made plain 
 by the size and contentment of our audiences. 
 
 FRIENDLY RIVALRIES IN NAPLES 
 
 IN 1863 I filled a few short engagements 
 with a company under the management of 
 
ii2 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 Antonio Stacchini, an excellent genre artist, 
 and in the intervals of idleness I went for the 
 first time to London to look over the ground, 
 which seemed to me capable of giving a good 
 harvest. I visited several theaters ; but the 
 only one which seemed to me at that time 
 promising for an experiment with Italian 
 drama was the St. James. But the demands 
 of the agent of that house alarmed me. After 
 having hunted through every corner of that 
 vast city, I returned to Italy, disappointed as 
 to my plans, but not discouraged. I hap- 
 pened to be at Leghorn for the sea-bathing 
 when the leading actor Adamo Alberti, then 
 manager of the Florentine Company in Na- 
 ples, came there with the purpose of engaging 
 me with Clementina Cazzola for his theater 
 for three years. 
 
 Achille. Majeroni, with Fanny Sadowsky 
 and Luigi Taddei, left the Teatro de' Fioren- 
 tini to join the Teatro del Fondo, taking with 
 them many of the patrician families who had 
 been subscribers at the Fiorentini. The sub- 
 scription-list at the Fondo reached the total 
 of 130,000 lire, while ours was only 80,000. 
 We had, however, great advantages over them 
 in the novelty of our chief actress, Clementina 
 
RACHEL AS "PHEDRE." 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 113 
 
 Cazzola, and in our repertory of forty plays, 
 which had never been given in Naples, and in 
 which that admirable actress and I supported 
 each other. Majeroni, taking advantage of 
 the abolition of the censorship, began to offer 
 to the public all the plays which had been 
 placed on the index by the Bourbon govern- 
 ment ; these were not liked by the aristocratic 
 society people, and they declared that they 
 did not want any more of them. At the 
 Fiorentini, on the contrary, all the new pieces 
 were greeted with sympathy ; and although 
 our subscribers were few, the paying public 
 crowded our house more every night. Our 
 plays were free from all licentiousness and 
 demagogism; they were chosen for their senti- 
 ment and literary worth, and the most fastidi- 
 ous audience could sit through them and 
 experience nothing but interest and plea- 
 sure. In Lent of 1865 the tables had been 
 turned. The Fondo theater had 60,000 lire 
 of subscriptions on its books, and we had 
 140,000. Not that the artists of their com- 
 pany were not excellent. Achille Majeroni 
 was an actor of splendid physical and vocal 
 gifts, and many of his roles were played with 
 rare ability ; but he had the fault of being 
 
U4 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 slightly monotonous in his cadences, and had 
 a systematic evenness of intonation at the 
 close of his periods which was unpleasant to 
 the ear. Fanny Sadowsky maintained her 
 high promise, and with her beauty and intelli- 
 gence raised for herself a firm pedestal, upon 
 which she stood like a statue of Canova, 
 adorned with grace and feeling ; but even 
 she was affected by the same shortcomings 
 as her colleague Majeroni. Luigi Taddei, a 
 very celebrated comedian, in many ways re- 
 called the talent of the great Luigi Vestri; 
 but unfortunately he was compelled by a 
 stroke of paralysis to leave the stage. To al- 
 leviate somewhat his unhappy financial condi- 
 tion, the artists of the Fondo and the Fioren- 
 tini joined forces, and gave a benefit to the 
 excellent and unfortunate artist. The play 
 was " Oreste," and it was given at the Teatro 
 San Carlo with a result at once honorable 
 and lucrative. Our two rival companies kept 
 up a constant exchange of courtesies; there 
 was between us an emulation in civility and 
 friendliness, and if there was rivalry, it was a 
 rivalry without bitterness, or rancor, or self- 
 assertion. Finally the Fondo Company had 
 to abandon the contest, and at the opening 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 115 
 
 of the third year it left Naples for upper 
 Italy. We were left undisputed masters of 
 the field, and the Teatro de' Fiorentini was 
 no longer able to hold the people who wanted 
 to get in. At this time I gave Giacometti's 
 " Morte Civile," and a little note sent to me 
 by the celebrated author shall narrate for me 
 what was my success. Here it is: 
 
 GAZZUOLO, December 3, 1864. 
 
 MY DEAR TOMMASO : Permit me affectionately to press 
 your hand to thank you for the rehabilitation given to my 
 " Morte Civile " by the power of your talent, at the Teatro 
 de' Fiorentini, in face of the unfortunate outcome of the 
 attempt a few evenings before at the Teatro del Fondo. 
 If this may perhaps be counted as one among so many 
 noble satisfactions which Art has honored herself by ac- 
 cording to you, it is not less one for me also, with this 
 difference, that I remain in it a debtor to your genius ! 
 
 PAOLO GIACOMETTI. 
 
 We must make allowance for the joy of an 
 author who has been applauded; it is never- 
 theless true that the " Morte Civile" was dur- 
 ing the three years of my stay in Naples a 
 necessary and safe complement to the reper- 
 tory for every week. 
 
n6 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 HIS ''OTHELLO" AT ITS BEST 
 
 BEFORE giving "Othello" it was my wish 
 to familiarize the Neapolitan public with a 
 class of works foreign to that which had pre- 
 viously been seen on the boards of that theater. 
 I had already played Voltaire's "Zaire" several 
 times, and other plays characterized by vehe- 
 mence of passion, and it seemed to me that 
 the time had come to try the effect of the 
 implacable Moor of Venice upon my audi- 
 ence. It is very seldom that I have attained 
 satisfaction with myself in that role; I may 
 say that in the thousands of times that I have 
 played it I can count on the fingers of one 
 hand those when I have said to myself, "I 
 can do no better," and one of those times was 
 when I gave it at the Teatro de' Fiorentini. 
 It seemed that evening as if an electric cur- 
 rent connected the artist with the public. 
 Every sensation of mine was transfused into 
 the audience; it responded instantaneously to 
 my sentiment, and manifested its perception 
 of my meanings by a low murmuring, by a 
 sustained tremor. There was no occasion for 
 reflection, nor did the people seek to discuss 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 117 
 
 me; all were at once in unison and concord. 
 Actor, Moor, and audience felt the same im- 
 pulse, were moved as one soul. I cannot de- 
 scribe the cries of enthusiasm which issued 
 from the throats of those thousands of persons 
 in exaltation, or the delirious demonstrations 
 which accompanied those scenes of love, jeal- 
 ousy, and fury; and when the shocking catas- 
 trophe came, when the Moor, recognizing that 
 he has been deceived, cuts short his days, so 
 as not to survive the anguish of having slain 
 the guiltless Desdemona, a chill ran through 
 every vein, and, as if the audience had been 
 stricken dumb, ten seconds went by in ab- 
 solute silence. Then came a tempest of cries 
 and plaudits, and countless summonses before 
 the curtain. When the demonstration was 
 ended, the audience passed out amid an in- 
 distinct murmur of voices, and collected in 
 groups of five, eight, or twelve everywhere 
 in the neighborhood of the theater; then, re- 
 uniting as if by magnetic force, they came back 
 into the theater, demanded the relighting of 
 the footlights, and insisted that I should come 
 on the stage again, though I was half un- 
 dressed, to receive a new ovation. This 
 unparalleled and spontaneous demonstration 
 
n8 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 is among the most cherished memories of my 
 career, for it ranks among such as an artist 
 rarely obtains. 
 
 A SCENE AT THE DANTE CENTENARY 
 
 IN 1865 a celebration of the sixth centenary 
 of the divine poet was organized in Florence, 
 and the municipality invited me, with Ade- 
 laide Ristori, Ernesto Rossi, and Gaetano Gat- 
 tinelli, to illustrate some tableaux-vivants by 
 reciting the original lines of Dante. The choice 
 was left to me, and I selected the first and the 
 thirty-third cantos of the "Inferno"; I was 
 asked besides to recite a part of the ninth 
 canto of the "Purgatorio," the description of 
 the Gate of Paradise. At that time I was pres- 
 ident of a society of mutual succor for Italian 
 dramatic artists, which I had myself founded 
 in Naples, and which was in a very prosperous 
 state. I took with me to Florence the banner 
 of my society, that it might figure among those 
 of other associations of Italy. In the proces- 
 sion there were united with me as representa- 
 tives of the dramatic art, besides the artists 
 I have named, more than a hundred others, 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 119 
 
 among them many comedians. Our beautiful 
 banner, designed by the celebrated painter 
 Morelli, as well as the reunion of so many rep- 
 resentatives of our art, made a pleasing im- 
 pression on the public, which had assembled 
 from all Italy, and our passage in the procession 
 was especially distinguished by loud applause. 
 On the evening of the tableaux Ristori, Rossi, 
 and Gattinelli were admirable. The Teatro 
 Pagliano presented a truly imposing spectacle. 
 King Victor Emmanuel, the senate, the am- 
 bassadors, the ministers, the army, the courts, 
 the arts, industry, commerce in a word, every 
 caste of society was represented, and that great 
 house was too small to hold the immense crowd 
 which packed itself uselessly about the doors 
 of the theater in the vain hope of enjoying the 
 spectacle. As the reciter of the first canto, I 
 was naturally the first to present myself on 
 the stage. My entrance was greeted with 
 sympathetic applause. When I reached the 
 point where the divine poet symbolizes in the 
 wolf the Roman Curia, and says : 
 
 Molti son gli animali a cui s'ammoglia 
 E piu saranno ancora, finche Pveltro 
 Verra, che la fara morir di doglia! 1 
 
 i Many are the animals with which she wives, and there shall be 
 more yet, till the hound shall come that will make her die of grief. 
 
 C. E. NORTON. 
 
120 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 I looked fixedly at the king, and stood for 
 several seconds without speaking. The audi- 
 ence caught the allusion on the instant, and a 
 storm of applause burst out as if it would 
 never stop. I believe that Victor Emmanuel 
 at that moment would have preferred to be at 
 the hunt rather than in the theater. The peo- 
 ple persisted in their applause, and in crying: 
 "Viva il Re! Viva 1'Italia!" His Majesty 
 did not understand, or did not wish to under- 
 stand, the allusion which had aroused this 
 enthusiasm, and hesitated for a time, but at 
 last he was compelled to rise, and with appear- 
 ance of great excitement thanked the people 
 several times. The applause was so tremen- 
 dous that I thought the theater would fall 
 about my ears. 
 
 A MEMORABLE PERFORMANCE WITH RISTORI 
 
 To my pleasure in having given occasion to 
 that political demonstration was added another 
 on the two nights of that same occasion when 
 the tragedy of " Francesca da Rimini" was 
 given at the Teatro Niccolini before houses of 
 equal quality, to that of the Dante recitations 
 at the Pagliano. Adelaide Ristori was Fran- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 121 
 
 cesca y Ernesto Rossi was Paolo, Lorenzo Picci- 
 nini was Guido da Polenta, Antonio Bozzo 
 was the Page, and I filled the part oiLanciotto. 
 Adelaide Ristori did not fall behind her world- 
 wide fame ; Ernesto Rossi surpassed himself, 
 and that is not saying little; Lorenzo Picci- 
 nini was acclaimed ; and they say that my suc- 
 cess was a revelation. The betrayed husband 
 of Franccsca had had until then interpreters 
 who had not brought out the loftiness of that 
 generous, loyal, and loving nature ; he had 
 generally been conceived as a stern, tyranni- 
 cal, and vindictive husband, and the character 
 had been played by artists accustomed to de- 
 pict the most revolting characters. I made 
 him an affectionate husband, worthy of pity in 
 his misfortune, and torn by anguish in the 
 just recriminations which he hurls at the guilty 
 pair, and the public felt sympathy with the 
 afflicted husband and betrayed prince, and dis- 
 approval, blame, and condemnation for his 
 betrayers. It seemed to me that I had pene- 
 trated to the moral of the tragedy. It was not 
 for nothing that Dante placed adulterers in 
 the circle of the tormented. The new inter- 
 pretation of this part spread very quickly 
 among cultivators of the Italian stage, and I 
 received warm felicitations even from persons 
 
122 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 who were not known to me. At the end of 
 the third act Adelaide Ristori gave me a kiss 
 of admiration. At the end of the fourth the 
 public, which by etiquette had been constrained 
 to silence, called my companions and me many 
 times before the curtain, and when the tragedy 
 was completed it seemed as though the ovation 
 would never stop, and we were obliged to repeat 
 the play on the following night to content 
 those who had not been able to obtain tickets 
 for the first night. A marble slab in the vesti- 
 bule of the pit commemorates in letters of gold 
 this eventful performance. 
 
 After a few days I returned to Naples, and 
 when I appeared again on the stage my re- 
 turn was applauded as a son is greeted when 
 he comes back to his family a most unusual 
 thing in the theaters of Naples. The govern- 
 ment had named me by decree a Knight of 
 St. Maurice and St. Lazarus, and the artists of 
 the Fiorentini Company united in a subscrip- 
 tion to present me with the cross, bearing the 
 following inscription on the back : 
 
 To TOMMASO SALVINI, 
 
 PRINCE OF THE STAGE, 
 
 His COMPANIONS IN ART. 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 123 
 
 You can imagine how pleased I was with 
 this amiable proof of esteem and affection of- 
 fered to me by my brothers in art. 
 
 AN AMENDE FROM PRINCE HUMBERT 
 
 IN 1863, while I was with the manager 
 Antonio Stacchino, we had occasion to play a 
 few times at the Teatro Carcano in Milan. 
 One evening Humbert of Savoy, the son of 
 Victor Emmanuel, who was sojourning at 
 Monza, came and stayed through the whole 
 play. As I was on the point of going on the 
 stage for the fourth act, an aide-de-camp of 
 the prince, who is now a general, handed me 
 a package, and said, "In the name of His 
 Royal Highness." I thanked him hastily, put 
 the package in my pocket, and went on to 
 proceed with the act. When I came off I 
 hurried to my dressing-room and undid the 
 packet, expecting to find some souvenir ; but 
 it was money ten napoleons in gold. I 
 confess that at sight of it my pride was 
 wounded. What was I to do ? I did not 
 care to refuse the gift, as I had done some 
 time before with the Prince of Carignan, for 
 
124 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 fear of offending the son of our great king ; 
 therefore I decided to keep the money, hoping 
 that the future would give me an opportunity 
 to clear myself of the suspicion of being a 
 venal artist. In 1865 and 1866 I had the 
 pleasure of enjoying the acquaintance of the 
 estimable wife of Senator Vigliani, who was 
 then prefect at Naples, an Englishwoman, 
 highly educated, and an impassioned admirer 
 of Shakspere. In the course of my visits I 
 took occasion to refer to what had happened 
 at Milan, and to express my sense of injury. 
 The high-spirited lady was surprised, and 
 seemed even to show real regret, and I could 
 not doubt that she would speak of it to some 
 frequenter of the Prince's court.- One day 
 when I was on the terrace of the prefecture 
 with many gentlemen and ladies who had 
 been invited to watch the passages of the 
 masks, for it was carnival time, the same offi- 
 cer who had placed the packet in my hands in 
 Milan, and with whom I was on the footing 
 of acquaintanceship, came to my side and 
 said, "Salvini, when do you take your bene- 
 fit? " " Some night before long," I answered. 
 11 Let me know when the time comes," said 
 he; "for His Royal Highness desires to be 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 125 
 
 present." I announced " Francesca da Rim- 
 ini " for my benefit, and the Prince, punctually, 
 as is the habit in the House of Savoy, came 
 to the theater. On the morrow I received 
 the following letter: > 
 
 MOST ESTEEMED SIR : His Royal Highness was greatly 
 interested by the performance which took place yesterday 
 evening, i6th instant, at the Teatro de' Fiorentini, and in 
 which you gave new evidence of your powerful dramatic 
 genius. The august Prince is full of admiration for an ar- 
 tist who has had the ability to raise himself to your well- 
 merited fame, and, desiring to give you a sincere attesta- 
 tion of his particular esteem, he has taken satisfaction in 
 intrusting to me the pleasant charge of presenting to you, 
 in his august name, the pin in brilliants which I transmit 
 to you with this note. It is a pleasure to me to be the in- 
 terpreter of the kind feelings of His Royal Highness to- 
 ward you; and I take advantage of the opportunity to 
 assure you of my own very high consideration. The 
 Major- General, ist aide-de-camp. REVEL. 
 
 I opened the inclosure, and discovered on 
 the pin beneath the royal crown the letters 
 " U. S.," for Umberto Savoja. The Prince 
 had had the delicacy to compensate me with 
 usury for a mistake, very probably not his 
 own ; and I could do no less than exclaim in 
 my heart : " Viva Umberto ! Viva 1'Arte ! " 
 
126 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 At this time it was my misfortune to see my 
 illustrious and beloved colleague Clementina 
 Cazzola waste away from day to day in the 
 clutches of an incurable disease. The doctors 
 pronounced that if the good creature persisted 
 in the exercise of her art she would shorten 
 her life, and she was constrained to retire 
 from the stage in the hope that rest and quiet 
 would conjure away the menace to her health. 
 In her absence the whole weight of artistic 
 responsibility at the Teatro de' Fiorentini fell 
 upon me, and I put forth every effort of which 
 I was capable to make the loss to the man- 
 agement as light as possible. I was obliged 
 to feign satisfaction while my heart was full 
 of pain, and this throughout two years. I 
 sought to quench my trials in my art, and 
 while I was struggling between laughter and 
 tears, art found profit in the combination of 
 emotions due to my afflicted state. In that 
 year, 1866, Paolo Giacometti delivered to me 
 the tragedy of "Sofocle," which I had sug- 
 gested to him, and in studying that sublime 
 character I perceived that with the death of 
 the protagonist I could identify my own af- 
 flicting position. Sofocle dies at the moment 
 when the crown of olive decreed by the 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 127 
 
 Greek senate is brought to him, and when 
 his sons return from the field to announce 
 to him that the haughty Alcibiade, out 
 of respect for the grand tragic poet, re- 
 nounces his intended destruction of the 
 necropolis where repose his ancestors; thus 
 Sofocle is happy with the assurance of 
 resting with his own. He dies surrounded 
 by his family, honored and acclaimed by 
 his fellow-citizens, while his nephew with 
 his lyre chants in his stead the pa^an, the 
 sacred hymn to the fatherland. He dies 
 following the strains of that melody, un- 
 consciously moving his fingers, and fancying 
 that it is he who is singing the hymn of 
 Athens to his lyre ; he dies with a smile on 
 his lips, with joy in his heart but he dies ! I, 
 too, smiled, but in place of joy I had death 
 in my heart. I, too, sang the hosanna, but 
 the "De Profundis" held my soul. I, too, 
 was filled with joy from the love and acclaim 
 of my countrymen, and the relative posi- 
 tions of the Hellenic poet and the Italian 
 tragedian were so closely parallel that my 
 rendering of his emotions could not but be 
 true. A letter from the author, which I 
 have preserved, will tell more eloquently than 
 
128 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 I could the effect produced by the play and 
 its interpretation : 
 
 MY DEAR TOMMASO : Thank you, my friend, for the 
 fine account which you have kindly given me of the out- 
 come of my "Sofocle"; thank you for the papers you 
 have sent me, from which I should have formed an idea, 
 if your letter had not been enough, of the reception given 
 to my piece, as well as of your sublimity in acting it. I 
 have not seen you, and who can tell when I shall see you, 
 in the guise of the Homer of tragedy, and I am extremely 
 sorry for it; for if I had been present at the play I should 
 have enjoyed one of those moments which are perhaps the 
 only happy ones in an author's life, and I should have im- 
 printed a fraternal kiss upon your forehead, which is glo- 
 rified by the flame of genius. When an author offers his 
 creation to an artist, and this artist who is to bring it before 
 the world of letters receives it with a religious respect, 
 meditates on it, and magnifies it, he acquires a sacred claim 
 to the esteem and affection of the poet. To your worthy 
 colleagues who, so far as I have seen by the accounts, 
 have seconded you admirably well, I beg that you will 
 give assurance of my gratitude. You did well to suppress 
 a few verses which might have proved a clog upon the 
 action or an obstacle to your conception ; and as to your 
 idea of having a string of the lyre snap as Sofocle dies, 
 there could be nothing either more opportune or more 
 poetic: I compliment you upon it. I send you a kiss; 
 and receive from my wife, with her most distinguished 
 service, her grateful appreciation of the success of " So- 
 focle." Yours always, 
 
 PAOLO GIACOMETTI. 
 
 GAZZUOLO, April 10, 1866. 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 129 
 
 Nothing worthy of telling- happened to 
 me in 1867. At the head of a company of 
 artists of medium ability I traveled through 
 the Italian cities, finding everywhere the sym- 
 pathy of the public; this was satisfying to my 
 pride, but the alarming condition of my ex- 
 cellent colleague overwhelmed the triumphs 
 of the artist. In 1868 I continued in the 
 management of my company, with Virginia 
 Marini as first actress, who in 1864, 1865, 
 and 1866 had been with us at Naples, under 
 my direction and the counsels of Clementina 
 Cazzola. She had an iron will, unwearying 
 application to study, surprising native tal- 
 ent, with a sympathetic and harmonious voice, 
 which caused to be overlooked her defect of 
 unconscious imitation. 
 
 SALVINI AND VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 IN the summer of 1868 I was at the Poli- 
 teama Theater in Florence with Virginia Ma- 
 rini. Florence was then the provisional capi- 
 tal of the kingdom, and from King Victor 
 Emmanuel down all the notabilities of Italy 
 had a standing appointment to meet in the 
 
130 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 evening at the Politeama. The king seemed 
 to take much interest in my playing, for he 
 did not stay away a single night. I have been 
 asked which roles seemed to appeal most to 
 him; they were Ingomar in the "Figlio delle 
 Selve," Sansonc in the tragedy of the same 
 name, and Van Bruch in "Giosue il Guarda- 
 coste" three strong, ardent, robust, loyal 
 characters. It seemed as if he mirrored him- 
 self in them; and when I passed near the 
 royal box after having saluted the public, 
 I would hear the voice of a stentor shout, 
 "Bravo! Bravo!" It was the king. 
 
 One evening, perhaps more pleased than 
 usual, he took from his finger a diamond ring, 
 and commissioned the Marchese di Brem to 
 bring it to me on the stage. The marquis 
 said to me: " His Majesty begs you to accept 
 this reminder of his royal admiration. You 
 must prize it, for he has worn it for five years." 
 A few days after this, at nine o'clock one morn- 
 ing, my servant came to my bedroom and told 
 me that there was a gentleman in the draw- 
 ing-room who desired to speak to me at once. 
 I was a little vexed, and I said: "How? At 
 this time of the morning? But I am still in 
 bed." Then I heard a voice calling from the 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 131 
 
 next room: ''Excuse me, Salvini ; I am the 
 Marchese di Brem, and I come from the king 
 to say to you that His Majesty wishes to see 
 you at once at the Pitti. Dress yourself as 
 fast as you can, and I will wait at your door 
 with the carriage." So I put on my dress- 
 coat and went to the palace. The marquis 
 accompanied me to the royal antechamber, 
 where I found many people awaiting audi- 
 ence, and, informing me that the officer on 
 duty would call my name, he left me with the 
 words, "I warn you that His Majesty takes 
 you for a republican." 
 
 Among those who were waiting there were 
 many diplomatists, officers of rank, the Gen- 
 oese sculptor Varni, whom I knew, and a 
 pretty young girl who did not mingle with the 
 others, and whom I expected would be sum- 
 moned first before the king. Soon two gen- 
 erals, whose names I forget, came out of the 
 royal apartments, and I heard my name spoken 
 by the officer at the door. I advanced to the 
 door of the first room, after which there were 
 five others to traverse before reaching His 
 Majesty; and I saw at the end of the vista, as 
 in a picture framed by the five doors, the form 
 of Victor Emmanuel, who awaited my ap- 
 
132 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 proach with legs and feet joined, and his hands 
 in the pockets of his wide trousers. When I 
 reached the threshold of the last door, I halted, 
 and in the position and with the military salute 
 of a veteran, I said, "Your Majesty!" The 
 king advanced toward me, and, extending his 
 hand cordially, said: 
 
 "My dear Salvini, I am very glad to see 
 you and to know you personally." 
 
 "Your Majesty," said I, "I am greatly 
 flattered by the honor which Your Majesty 
 does me." 
 
 "My dear Salvini," said His Majesty, "a 
 man of your merit flatters other people by 
 his acquaintance." He took two cigars and 
 offered one to me. "Do you smoke?" 
 
 "Yes, Your Majesty. But I am an old 
 corporal, and smoke only Tuscan cigars." 
 
 "Light this one, and tell me what you 
 think of it." He lighted a match and handed 
 it to me to light a great Havana cigar; then 
 he lighted his own, and approached a win- 
 dow looking out on the Boboli Gardens. "I 
 wanted to tell you how much I admire you 
 as an artist. You are a republican, are you 
 not?" 
 
 "Yes, Your Majesty. But when there are 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 133 
 
 kings who are loyal, warlike, and honorable, 
 like you, it is possible to be a constitution- 
 alist." 
 
 ''Thanks; thanks. It is very true that I 
 live only for my nation. The battle-field is 
 the post of my predilection. Politics cut the 
 grass under my feet ; and sometimes, just as 
 you say in the 'Figlio delle Selve,' 'I could 
 rend the world/ I could rend the walls of 
 my room. And I do not think that you have 
 been a flatterer in calling me ' Re Galan- 
 tuomo.' It seems to me that I am in truth 
 that; but I could equally be a loyal pres- 
 ident of your republic if I were not under 
 the obligation of preserving a crown which 
 has been transmitted to me, and which dates 
 from centuries." 
 
 "Your Majesty, no one contests that obli- 
 gation ; but even if it were a burden for you, 
 with your loyalty you would sustain it easily." 
 
 " Thanks ; thanks. For that matter, loyalty 
 is traditional in the House of Savoy ; it is in 
 the blood, and I have no merit in observing it 
 and in causing it to be maintained." 
 
 Up to this point all the words of the dia- 
 logue, spoken as we were both leaning on 
 the front of the window, remain as if in- 
 
 9* 
 
I 3 4 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 scribed in my memory, and I can be sure of 
 their exactitude. I made several attempts to 
 draw the conversation upon the needs of art, 
 the necessity of providing for its restoration ; 
 but when I sought to express my views, the 
 kin of answered that the theater could not 
 
 o 
 
 deteriorate since it had representatives like 
 me, that my name was an honor to the 
 country, that artists must spring up from my 
 example; in fine, with these praises he closed 
 my mouth, and went back to politics. Among 
 very many expressions which have escaped 
 my mind one has remained with me, and its 
 intimation has come true: that he would be 
 content to die on the day when he had been 
 able to set his foot in Rome. Can you, dear 
 reader, tell me the motive of this frankness, 
 cf these royal confidences, to me, a dramatic 
 artist? I have not yet succeeded in explain- 
 ing it. Perhaps, under the impression of the 
 strong and generous characters that I had 
 been playing, he fancied that he was opening 
 his mind to Sansone, to Ingomar^ or to Van 
 Bruch; and when, in my hints about the 
 needs of art, he was brought back to the 
 prosaic Salvini, he changed the subject to get 
 back to the atmosphere which gave him plea- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 135 
 
 sure. A good hour had passed, and my cigar 
 was nearly finished, when I permitted myself 
 to deplore the fate of the persons who on 
 my account were waiting in the antecham- 
 ber. Victor Emmanuel answered me: "Let 
 them wait. You are certainly more occupied 
 than they, and I do not believe that for that 
 you wish to go away so soon." " I will go 
 away," I answered, " when Your Majesty 
 gives me the command." Upon this he ap- 
 proached the writing-table, and taking up a 
 packet, gave it to me, with the words: "Take 
 this. I want you to have a souvenir of our 
 acquaintance, and I hope that this will not be 
 the last time that I shall have the pleasure of 
 talking with you. I salute you." He again 
 held out his hand to me, and I went away, 
 saying: "I am at the orders of Your Ma- 
 jesty." When I had reached the second 
 room, I heard a loud ringing, and while the 
 officer on service was advancing to the king, 
 Victor Emmanuel called out behind me: "I 
 shall see you this evening," informing me 
 thus that he would come to the Politeama. 
 I went back to ,my house charmed with the 
 affable, frank, and familiar manner of the " Re 
 Galantuomo." I opened the parcel which he 
 
136 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 had given me, and in it was a box with the 
 royal cipher containing the cross of Officer 
 of the Crown of Italy. A few days afterward 
 a very different cross was fixed in my heart, 
 a cross of strife and of mourning Clemen- 
 tina Cazzola was dead ! 
 
 OFF FOR SOUTH AMERICA A STORM 
 
 CONVINCED that, owing both to lack of pub- 
 lic and government support, and to the grow- 
 ing carelessness as to details among Italian 
 managers and actors, dramatic art was suffer- 
 ing a partial eclipse in Italy, after a tour in 
 1869 in Spain and Portugal, which, owing to 
 the very heavy expenses, and to the revolu- 
 tionary movements in progress, produced but 
 scanty returns, I decided to accept the offer 
 of a respected South- American impresario. I 
 was anxious to test the question whether in 
 the New World work and study could look 
 for an adequate reward; and I was attracted 
 also by the foreign appreciation of my coun- 
 try through the agency of art. 
 
 The new company which I formed for the 
 year 1871 was made up in part of artists who 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 137 
 
 were in Florence at the time, and in part of 
 others whom I knew by reputation. Isolina 
 Piamonti, a clever and sympathetic actress, 
 with a melodious voice and an attractive face; 
 Signor and Signora Aiudi, with their daughter 
 Pierina, who afterward became one of the 
 best younger leading ladies on the stage; 
 Lorenzo Piccinini, and Domenico Giagnoni, 
 were my chief supporters, and with them I 
 had twenty of lesser rank whom I need not 
 name. This was a company which for South 
 America might be called extremely good; it 
 was certainly one of the best that had ever 
 played in those countries. Before setting out, 
 I gave twelve representations in Bologna, to 
 get the company well organized and working 
 in unison, selecting those plays which I meant 
 to give in America. At the close of the 
 Lenten season, we all went to Genoa, and 
 embarked aboard the steamer Isabella. The 
 cost of the voyage both ways for the entire 
 company was paid by our impresario, Senor 
 Pestalardo of Buenos Ayres, with which city 
 the South-American experience of our com- 
 pany was to begin. The national festival fell 
 just at the time when we were due at Buenos 
 Ayres, and that of Montevideo was to be 
 
138 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 celebrated during 1 our stay there. Everything 
 was well planned, organized, and provided 
 for, so that the speculation could not fail; the 
 impresario and I counted on sharing a hand- 
 some profit, almost a fortune, as a result of 
 the tour. 
 
 It was my first voyage to America, the first 
 time that I dared the ocean in a nutshell; 
 and, whatever may be said, this experience 
 must produce a certain impression upon any- 
 body. Hardly had we entered the Gulf of 
 Lyons, which is traditionally unkind to the 
 sailor, when a tempest burst upon us, so 
 furious that we carried away one of our 
 masts, and had our sails torn to ribbons, and 
 suffered some damage about the decks. All 
 the passengers were compelled to keep below 
 to avoid danger from the waves. I begged 
 the captain's permission to remain awhile on 
 the bridge to admire that imposing spectacle 
 of irritated nature. To tell the truth, my 
 desire to admire the fury of Neptune had 
 only a secondary place in my mind. I was 
 terrified at the idea of beino- drowned like a 
 
 o 
 
 rat in my state-room berth, and I fostered the 
 vain hope that since I was a very strong 
 swimmer I might be able to save myself in 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 139 
 
 the event of shipwreck. So far as I could, in 
 the midst of the violent motion, and my alarm 
 at the danger, I made my observations. 
 What a magnificent spectacle it was ! The 
 sky was veiled with impenetrable clouds; the 
 sea was a confused mass of black velvet 
 drapery with tufts of white lace, moved and 
 changed in countless ways by the violent 
 gusts, and hurled with a crash against the 
 sides of our ship. The rain beat against my 
 face, and the lamps shot fitful rays over the 
 horrible but majestic scene, while the detona- 
 tions of thunder, and the vivid gleams of the 
 lightning, recalled to my mind the siege of 
 Rome. 
 
 At daybreak we found ourselves running 
 in dangerous proximity to the African coast. 
 The ship's prow was turned toward Gibraltar, 
 and we made that port with difficulty. It re- 
 quired three days to put the vessel in condi- 
 tion to go to sea again. 
 
 A MODEL FOR OTHELLO 
 
 AT Gibraltar I spent my time studying the 
 Moors. I was much struck by one very fine 
 
140 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 figure, majestic in walk, and Roman in face, 
 except for a slight projection of the lower lip. 
 The man's color was between copper and 
 coffee, not very dark, and he had a slender 
 mustache, and scanty curled hair on his chin. 
 Up to that time I had always made up 
 Othello simply with my mustache, but after 
 seeing that superb Moor I added the hair on 
 the chin, and sought to copy his gestures, 
 movements, and carriage. Had I been able 
 I should have imitated his voice also, so 
 closely did that splendid Moor represent to 
 me the true type of the Shaksperian hero. 
 Othello must have been a son of Mauritania, 
 if we can argue from lagds words to Rode- 
 rigo: "He goes into Mauritania"; for what 
 else could the author have intended to im- 
 ply but that the Moor was returning to his 
 native land? 
 
 AT MONTEVIDEO 
 
 BY reason of adverse winds and weather 
 our voyage to Montevideo occupied forty-two 
 days, and when the tender of the steamship 
 company came to meet us, it was with the 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 141 
 
 melancholy announcement that yellow fever 
 had broken out in Buenos Ayres, and that the 
 death-rate was eight hundred a day. This 
 was depressing news, especially to me who 
 had submitted to the discomforts of so long a 
 voyage, and had punctually paid my artists 
 thirty per cent, above their regular salary, 
 and ten francs of extra pay each, during a 
 month and a half of idleness, in the hope of 
 replenishing my greatly diminished exchequer 
 with the fruits of my art. But much more 
 than by my personal hardships, and the ex- 
 penditure of a considerable sum, I was occu- 
 pied by my responsibility for the safety of my 
 companions, whom I had involuntarily led 
 into this predicament. My impresario had 
 taken refuge in the country beyond Buenos 
 Ayres, and there was no way of communi- 
 cating with that city, since the sanitary cor- 
 don fenced it in, and the telegraph was in 
 operation only for government service. I did 
 not know a soul in the country, I did not 
 speak the language, and for a moment I felt 
 bewildered. On landing, I soon found my- 
 self with Signor Sivori, a wealthy Genoese 
 merchant, who had been commissioned by my 
 impresario to place himself at my disposition 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
142 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 and to be my guide and helper. The excel- 
 lent jnan asked me whether I was in need of 
 funds, but I answered him that I was in need 
 of nothing but a theater. Sivori told me that 
 that had been provided for as soon as the 
 epidemic had appeared in Buenos Ayres, and 
 that the Solis Theater, the best in Monte- 
 video, was at my disposal. A day later our 
 first announcement was issued ; but I am sure 
 that the natives, when they read my name on 
 the posters, asked themselves whether I was 
 a tenor or a ballet-dancer. I opened with the 
 " Morte Civile," and the next day there was 
 no further question as to what I was. The 
 newspapers and the Italian residents had 
 made my quality public, and signs of general 
 satisfaction were manifest. After the first 
 night the theater was always crowded. It 
 was the custom of the country to give only 
 three representations a week, but I was re- 
 quested to give four, to content those who 
 wished to see me oftener. The house, at 
 opera prices, could hold no more than about 
 $3000 ; but for my benefit night the receipts 
 were $4500, for everybody wanted boxes and 
 orchestra chairs, and the best seats were at a 
 premium. I received a great number of pres- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 143 
 
 ents, and wreaths and bouquets enough to 
 cover the whole stage. 
 
 In connection with this benefit at Monte- 
 video occurred a rather curious episode. As 
 I have said, King Victor Emmanuel had pre- 
 sented me with a diamond which he had 
 habitually worn. On account of my devotion 
 to the ' Re Galantuomo," I never took this 
 off my finger, except in those cases in which 
 artistic considerations forbade the wearing of 
 it. One night when the " Morte Civile" was 
 played, I had to take the ring off, because it 
 would not have been proper to retain it in 
 my character of a convict fleeing from prison, 
 and, as was my custom, I placed it with my 
 watch and chain at the back of my dressing- 
 table. After the play a number of people 
 came to my room while I was dressing, to 
 congratulate me, and my servant handed me 
 my watch and chain, but forgot the ring. My 
 attention was distracted by the conversation 
 of so many people, and I did not notice the 
 absence of the ring ; but when I came to go 
 to bed I perceived it, and sent my man to the 
 theater to recover it. The keeper did not 
 live in the building, and all the doors of the 
 theater were closed. The next morning my 
 
144 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 servant got up very early and hurried to 
 the theater, but the sweepers had already put 
 the actors' rooms in order, and my ring was 
 no longer to be found. Had I lost my finger 
 I should not have felt more lively regret. I 
 lodged a complaint with the police, and sev- 
 eral persons were arrested ; I had notices 
 'posted promising a liberal reward ; I had the 
 form of the diamond lithographed with a de- 
 scription of the ring, and sent copies to all 
 the jewelers of America and Europe ; but I 
 got no word of it, and never recovered it. All 
 Montevideo talked of this unfortunate acci- 
 dent. On my benefit night, while I was re- 
 ceiving the ovations of the public, and was 
 almost buried in the flowers that were thrown 
 to me, a beautiful child of five or six years 
 advanced with a silver salver in his hand, and 
 held out to me a small object which was 
 upon it. As I bent down to kiss the little 
 fellow, a quantity of flowers thrown from a 
 box struck the salver, and caused the little 
 packet to fall, and I lost sight of it in the 
 mass of flowers. The curtain fell, and while 
 the audience was demanding me before the 
 curtain a number of people from the wings 
 swarmed around me to find the object which 
 
FRANCESCO LOMBARDI 
 
 " 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 145 
 
 had gone astray ; but I was distrustful on ac- 
 count of my previous loss, and shouted in a 
 loud voice : " Off the stage, all of you ! " My 
 imperious and threatening command caused 
 the stage to be evacuated at once, while the 
 little child who had brought the gift fled, ter- 
 rified and weeping. I began a search alone 
 among the flowers, and I soon found the 
 object, which had fallen out of its box. It 
 proved to be a very beautiful brilliant, to 
 which was attached a card with the words : 
 
 You have lost the ring of a King ; 
 The Republicans of Montevideo restore it to you. 
 
 The kind thought gave me great pleasure, 
 and the ring was superb; still it could not re- 
 place that which had been stolen. 
 
 During our stay of two months at Monte- 
 video the epidemic at Buenos Ayres ceased, 
 and communication was reopened. Shortly 
 afterward I announced our last appearance, 
 with "Giosue il Guardacoste" (" Joshua the 
 Coast-guard"). All the arrangements were 
 made with the steamer America to carry the 
 company to Buenos Ayres, whence no sani- 
 tary bulletins had been issued for two weeks. 
 
146 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 So lively was the sympathy felt for me by 
 all classes that on my farewell night the au- 
 dience was not like the public paying hom- 
 age to an artist: it was an affectionate family 
 which saw with grief the departure of a well- 
 loved member. In the midst of the applause 
 and bravi, I distinguished the cry as if with 
 one voice: "Otra vez ! Otra vez /" ("Once 
 more! Once more!"), with the sense that I 
 should stay one night more to repeat my last 
 play; and there was no way of stopping this 
 cry until I had expressed my formal consent. 
 I secured a delay of twenty-four hours from 
 the management of the steamship company, 
 so that I should not miss my engagement at 
 Buenos Ayres. On the morning following 
 this final representation, two hours before our 
 sailing-time, as I was preparing my small 
 private baggage, I heard a confused sound 
 in the distance, mingled with martial strains, 
 coming from several directions. As I ar- 
 ranged the objects upon my toilet-table I said 
 to myself: "It remains to be seen whether 
 there is some commotion which will prevent 
 us from getting off!" In a little while two 
 gentlemen presented themselves, one an Ital- 
 ian, the other a native, in dress-coats and 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 147 
 
 white cravats and gloves, and requested the 
 favor of accompanying me on board the 
 America. I accepted with pleasure, but I 
 could not make out the occasion of this re- 
 quest. , The Italian then told me: "The 
 citizens of Montevideo with the resident 
 Italian colony, of whom we are the delegates, 
 wish the honor and pleasure of accompanying 
 you to the steamer." I then first understood 
 that I was the object of a popular demon- 
 stration, and I answered the gentlemen that 
 I was at their orders. I left the baggage to 
 my servant, and descended the stairs with the 
 two delegates, one on each side of me. 
 
 When I reached the street two bands struck 
 up, and a great shout of "Viva Salvini!" arose 
 from the throats of a crowd numbering thou- 
 sands. The streets through which I was to 
 pass were strewn with flowers, the windows 
 were hung with draperies, and filled with 
 ladies and children, who threw down flowers ; 
 as to the men, they were either in the proces- 
 sion, or standing at the doors of their houses, 
 holding their hats in the air and shouting. 
 Our advance was very slow on account of the 
 immense crowd which packed the streets, and 
 although I was surrounded by an escort of 
 
148 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 gentlemen who requested the people to make 
 way for me, we were often compelled to stop, 
 our path being wholly blocked. At short in- 
 tervals a pause was made, while addresses 
 were read to me in Spanish or Italian. When 
 the reading stopped, the cheers would begin 
 again, and in this way we at last reached the 
 mole, upon which had been erected during 
 the night a large arch of greens and flowers, 
 under which I had to pass. But first all the 
 addresses were presented to me engrossed on 
 parchment, and the people wanted to place 
 around my body an enormous wreath tied 
 with the colors of Italy and of Uruguay. It 
 was not possible for me to walk with this 
 rather voluminous decoration on my back, 
 and I passed under the triumphal arch car- 
 rying the wreath in my hands, with the aid 
 of the citizen delegates. Two tugs dressed 
 with flags were waiting to take me out to the 
 America. The bands and many citizens went 
 on board of one, and with the two delegates 
 I embarked on the other. At my side I found 
 old Signor Sivori, with tears in his eyes! Be- 
 fore proceeding to the America the two tugs 
 steamed around the harbor, passing alongside 
 all the men-of-war of various nations which 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 149 
 
 were stationed at Montevideo. The sailors 
 manned the yards, and the officers were drawn 
 up on the quarter-decks, and all cheered while 
 their flags were dipped in salute. The Amer- 
 ica sounded her whistle to summon her pas- 
 sengers on board, and then a thunderous 
 shout arose from the mole ; it was the part- 
 ing greeting of the people of Montevideo. I 
 went aboard the America with my head whirl- 
 ing from so great a manifestation of esteem, 
 and I found my colleagues so full of excite- 
 ment and emotion that they embraced and 
 kissed me. 
 
 BUENOS AYRES AND RIO DE JANEIRO 
 
 AT Buenos Ayres I found the populace 
 saddened by the recent epidemic (which had 
 not left a single family unscathed), and in 
 need of distraction and of breathing an at- 
 mosphere of less depression, and the Teatro 
 Colon was always filled. Almost all the boxes 
 were closed with gratings, for the families in 
 mourning did not wish to be deprived of the 
 pleasure of the theater, but did not care to 
 appear openly; so it seemed as if I were play- 
 
1 5 o LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 ing in a convent or a harem. I heard people 
 applauding me, but I could not see them. In 
 success and financial returns, Buenos Ayres 
 was not behind Montevideo ; but we lost the 
 national festivals in both cities occasions 
 which are always highly profitable to a thea- 
 ter. From Buenos Ayres I went to Rio de 
 Janeiro, where I was disappointed in not find- 
 ing the Emperor Dom Pedro, who was trav- 
 eling in Europe. Nevertheless the Princess 
 Regent, daughter of the Emperor, did not 
 miss a single night at our theater, and on the 
 evening of my benefit she had me summoned 
 to her box, and presented to me a beautiful 
 solitaire, which was handed to me by her 
 consort, the Comte d'Eu. She honored me 
 with an invitation to the imperial palace, and 
 I found her of the most exquisite amiability. 
 I met no actor of distinction in South 
 America. The theaters were busy with zar- 
 zuele, as bouffe operas are called in Spanish, 
 and these they gave with much spirit and 
 correctness. The audiences show interest, as 
 do all those of the Latin races, but they are 
 much quieter than in Italy. They rise easily 
 to enthusiasm, and as easily forget their im- 
 pressions. 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 151 
 
 ERNESTO ROSSI 
 
 AFTER the close of my tour in South Amer- 
 ica, I returned to Italy, having signed an 
 agreement for the carnival-season at the 
 Teatro Valle in Rome. I had some time to 
 spare, so I gave first a few performances at 
 Bologna and at Naples. 
 
 It was, I believe, at about this time that the 
 proposition was made to me that I should 
 play Py lades, in Alfieri's " Oreste," with Er- 
 nesto Rossi. I have always been delighted at 
 an opportunity to join forces with artists of 
 real worth, and I accepted the offer with the 
 greatest pleasure, all the more so because the 
 part of Pylades, in my opinion, has the ad- 
 vantage of lending itself to the production of a 
 great effect with comparatively light fatigue. 
 Be very sure of your lines, keep under con- 
 trol any exuberance in your vocal power, 
 mark the positions liberally, accentuate your 
 phrasing in just measure, hold the interest 
 and curiosity of your audience by the play of 
 your expression, be natural and simple while 
 yet maintaining the dignity of the buskin, and 
 the part of Pylades is mastered. I had be- 
 
152 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 fore this seen Ernesto Rossi in other parts of 
 the highest importance, such as Paolo in 
 " Francesca da Rimini," Romeo, and Hamlet. 
 There was a time when, in the last of these 
 parts, the Italian public considered him as 
 superior to all others who had essayed it. 
 Whether this judgment was right or wrong, 
 it is indubitable that in that role he satisfied 
 the canons of Italian taste more perfectly 
 than those of the Anglo-Saxon. While he 
 was still young, his sympathetic face and his 
 voice were well adapted to Shakspere's ec- 
 centric personage, as, indeed, to all roles in 
 which the passion of love was dominant. I 
 do not believe there ever was an artist who 
 could pronounce the words, " I love you ! " 
 as Ernesto Rossi said them. The word 
 " love " sounded well on his lips, but that of 
 "rage" seemed astonished to fall from them, 
 and out of place. Impassioned characters 
 found in him an innate comprehension, but 
 he could not sink himself sufficiently in such 
 as were virile and imposing ; this was from 
 no defect in his ability, but owing to lack of 
 natural aptitude for such parts. Many of the 
 parts which he played, and which won re- 
 nown for him, were by his fine and keen in- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 153 
 
 tellect, and by his unwearied study, fashioned 
 and polished like a diamond. The cutting of 
 the gem was perfect, its rays projected their 
 multiform colors and dazzled and charmed ; 
 yet it could not be maintained that it was of 
 pure water. It had a faint straw tinge, in- 
 distinguishable except to experts, but visible 
 to the experienced, to the intelligent, and to 
 careful analysts, and this almost impercepti- 
 ble tinge was the fact that the art did not 
 sufficiently conceal the man. Very frequently 
 the man himself would be betrayed in a ges- 
 ture, or an expression, or in the voice. While 
 the audience was impressed by the actor's in- 
 numerable endowments, and had before its 
 eyes the very personage and passion that he 
 was portraying, of a sudden its illusion would 
 vanish, and it would be reminded of the man 
 who was playing a part, who was studying 
 his inflections, and designing his motions. 
 In Ernesto Rossi this small defect is like a 
 mole on the face of a beautiful woman, which 
 may even be looked upon as a charm. 
 
154 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 FIRST TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES 
 
 AFTER a few months of rest, I resolved to 
 get together a new company, selecting those 
 actors and actresses who were best suited 
 to my repertory. The excellent Isolina 
 Piamonti was my leading lady ; and my bro- 
 ther Alessandro, an experienced, conscien- 
 tious, and versatile artist, supported me. An 
 Italian theatrical speculator proposed to me 
 a tour in North America, to include the chief 
 cities of the United States ; and although I 
 hesitated not a little on account of the igno- 
 rance of the Italian language prevailing in 
 that country, I accepted, influenced somewhat 
 by my desire to visit a region which was 
 wholly unknown to me. Previous to cross- 
 ing the ocean I had several months before 
 me, and these served me to get my company 
 in training. 
 
 My first impressions of New York were 
 most favorable. Whether it was the benefit 
 of a more vivifying atmosphere, or the com- 
 fort of the national life, or whether it was 
 admiration for that busy, industrious, work- 
 loving people, or the thousands of beautiful 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 155 
 
 women whom I saw in the streets, free and 
 proucl in carriage, and healthy and lively in 
 aspect, or whether it was the thought that 
 these citizens were the great-grandchildren 
 of those high-souled men who had known 
 how to win with their blood the independence 
 of their country, I felt as if I had been born 
 again to a new existence. My lungs swelled 
 more freely as I breathed the air impregnated 
 with so much vigor and movement, and so 
 much liberty, and I could fancy that I had 
 come back to my life of a youth of twenty, 
 and was treading the streets of republican 
 Rome. With a long breath of satisfaction 
 I said to myself: " Ah, here is life ! " Within 
 a few days my energy was redoubled. A 
 lively desire of movement, not a usual thing 
 with me, had taken possession of me in spite 
 of myself. Without asking myself why, I 
 kept going here and there, up and down, to 
 see everything, to gain information ; and 
 when I returned to my rooms in the evening, 
 I could have set out again to walk still more. 
 This taught me why Americans are so un- 
 wearied and full of business. Unfortunately I 
 have never mastered English sufficiently to 
 converse in that tongue; had I possessed that 
 
156 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 privilege, perhaps my stay in North America 
 would not have been so short, and perhaps I 
 might have figured on the English stage. 
 What an enjoyment it would have been to 
 me to play Shakspere in English! But I have 
 never had the privilege of the gift of tongues, 
 and I had to content myself with my own 
 Italian, which is understood by but few in 
 America. This, however, mattered little ; 
 they understood me all the same, or, to put 
 it better, they caught by intuition my ideas 
 and my .sentiments. 
 
 My first appearance was in " Othello." 
 The public received a strong impression, 
 without discussing whether or not the means 
 which I used to cause it were acceptable, and 
 without forming a clear conception of my in- 
 terpretation of that character, or pronouncing 
 openly upon its form. The same people who 
 had heard it the first night returned on the 
 
 second, on the third, and even on the fourth, 
 
 ^ 
 
 to make up their minds whether the emotions 
 they experienced resulted from the novelty of 
 my interpretation, or whether in fact it was 
 the true sentiment of Othello s passions which 
 was transmitted to them in short, whether it 
 was a mystification or a revelation. By de- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 157 
 
 grees the public became convinced that those 
 excesses of jealousy and fury were appro- 
 priate to the son of the desert, and that one 
 of southern blood must be much better quali- 
 fied to interpret them than a northerner. The 
 judgment was discussed, criticized, disputed ; 
 but in the end the verdict was overwhelmingly 
 in my favor. When the American has once 
 said " Yes," he never weakens ; he will always 
 preserve for you the same esteem, sympathy, 
 and affection. After New York I traveled 
 through a number of American cities Phila- 
 delphia, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Washington, 
 and Boston, which is rightly styled the 
 Athens of America, for there artistic taste 
 is most refined. In Boston I had the good 
 fortune to become intimately acquainted with 
 the illustrious poet Longfellow, who talked to 
 me in the pure Tuscan. I saw, too, other 
 smaller cities, and then I appeared again in 
 New York, where the favor of the public was 
 confirmed, not only for me, but also for the ar- 
 tists of my company, and especially for Isolina 
 Piamonti, who received no uncertain marks 
 of esteem and consideration. We then pro- 
 ceeded to Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, 
 Buffalo, Toledo, and that pleasant city, De- 
 
158 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 troit, continuing to Chicago, and finally to 
 New Orleans. I reached New Orleans at 
 carnival time, and, in a masked procession in 
 which all nations were represented, I was 
 revolted and offended to see Italy figuring as 
 Pope Pius IX. giving his benediction to a 
 band of brigands, who with their daggers in 
 their teeth were kneeling at the Holy Father's 
 feet. I was so much disgusted by this of- 
 fensive and repulsive travesty, clue to the 
 suggestion of some renegade, as well as by 
 the unpardonable ignorance of the carnival 
 committee, that I could not refrain from pub- 
 lishing a letter of protest, over my signature, 
 in which I said : 
 
 Italy for true Italians should be represented by Victor 
 Emmanuel, by Gioberti, Cavour, and Garibaldi. Every 
 good Italian must repel, protest against, and despise this 
 insult offered to a nation which, by its antique traditions, 
 and by its recent deeds, deserves the respect and the ad- 
 miration of the civilized world ; and we are sure of finding 
 an echo of adhesion to this sentiment among the American 
 people, which is accustomed to render homage and justice 
 to all that is noble and generous. 
 
 Italians congratulated me, the press kept 
 silence, and the people remained indifferent ; 
 and so the matter was forgotten. This was 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 159 
 
 the only disagreeable experience of this tour 
 in America. 
 
 From New Orleans we sailed to Havana, 
 but found in Cuba civil war, and a people 
 that had but small appetite for serious things, 
 and was moreover alarmed by a light out- 
 break of yellow fever. One of my company 
 was taken down with the disease, but I had 
 the pleasure of seeing him recover. Luckily 
 he had himself treated by Havanese physi- 
 cians, who are accustomed to combat that 
 malady, which they know only too well. 
 Perhaps my comrade would have lost his life 
 under the ministrations of an Italian doctor. 
 In the city of sugar and tobacco, too, it was 
 " Othello" which carried off the palm. Those 
 good manufacturers of cigars presented me 
 on my benefit with boxes of their wares, 
 which were made expressly for me, and 
 which I despatched to Italy for the enjoy- 
 ment of my friends. In spite of the many 
 civilities which were tendered to me, in spite 
 of considerable money profit, and of the ova- 
 tions of its kind-hearted people, I did not 
 find Cuba to my taste. Sloth and luxury 
 reign there supreme. 
 
 I returned from Cuba to the United States, 
 
160 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 and gave five performances in Philadelphia 
 and ten in New York, after which we went 
 to Rio de Janeiro on the steamer Ontario, a 
 voyage of twenty-eight days. We stopped 
 on the way at St. Thomas, and at Para, on 
 the great river Amazon. A short time after 
 our voyage, the Ontario was lost with all her 
 passengers and crew. My good star has al- 
 ways followed me, and in the innumerable 
 journeys undertaken during the long period 
 of my travels I have never had to lament an 
 accident. 
 
 AGAIN IN BRAZIL 
 
 THE Dom Pedro Theater of Rio de Janeiro 
 was the first scene of our activity. The au- 
 spicious season, the freedom from epidemic, 
 and the certain presence of the Emperor 
 Dom Pedro d'Alcantara, who had returned 
 from his travels in Europe, were most favor- 
 able, both to the brilliancy of our artistic 
 success, and to our financial profit. The 
 Emperor had me often at his palace in the 
 city, and invited me to a lunch at the country 
 palace of Petropolis, where I saw the Em- 
 press, to whom I could give no greater plea- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 161 
 
 sure than to talk of her dear Naples. The 
 affability, kindness, and learning of Dom 
 Pedro are well known. He was a perfect 
 polyglot, and conversed with me in unim- 
 peachable Italian ; the Empress still spoke 
 with the Neapolitan accent. I played ten 
 times at the Dom Pedro, and then I changed 
 to the Fluminense Theater, which was in- 
 tended for opera, and there I appeared eight 
 times more, with a constantly growing afflu- 
 ence of spectators. On my days off, I en- 
 joyed visiting the enchanting suburbs of the 
 city, and I formed the opinion that the real 
 America is in Brazil. There Nature bestows 
 her gifts with abundance, and all growth is 
 luxuriantly rank. The trees are as high as 
 our campanili, the roses are as large as pine- 
 apples, the birds display a thousand hues, 
 the sky is always serene, the men are cour- 
 teous, the women most amiable, and even the 
 negroes are more docile and civilized than in 
 their native land. The climate, alas ! leaves 
 much to be desired, and if a European is not 
 careful to lead a hygienic and well-regulated 
 life, he runs the risk of leaving his bones 
 there. I was under contract to go to Chile, 
 but during my stay in Brazil negotiations 
 
162 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 were concluded arranging for a few appear- 
 ances on the way at Montevideo, and at 
 Buenos Ayres. I gave twelve nights more 
 at Montevideo at the Solis Theater, for 
 which the house was taken by storm. For 
 my benefit the boxes and the best places 
 were put up at auction, and nearly twice the 
 proceeds of the regular prices was taken in. 
 The theater managers each made $2500 for 
 their own account. The people insisted upon 
 my remaining at Montevideo" through all the 
 time that I had destined for Buenos Ayres, 
 and I consented the more readily because 
 in the latter city there was some appear- 
 ance of political disturbance, which soon de- 
 veloped into civil war. The opera, which 
 had suspended at the Solis Theater to make 
 room for me, had to wait, under an in- 
 demnity, for two weeks more before open- 
 ing again. I paid ^1000 sterling to the 
 administration of the English steamers for 
 the voyage and return of my company from 
 Montevideo to Valparaiso, and, traversing 
 the Straits of Magellan, in eleven days we 
 were in Chile. I should not be frank if I 
 said that the Chileans received us with en- 
 thusiasm. Both at Valparaiso and at San- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 163 
 
 tiago I had a succes d'estime, little more, 
 and our business was light, but yet covered 
 the large expenses of so costly a journey. 
 The returns, however, did not compensate for 
 the trouble of going there, especially as we 
 were shut out of Peru by one of the numer- 
 ous revolutions. 
 
 Upon my return I arranged to give a fare- 
 well appearance at Montevideo. On the 
 morning of my arrival fourteen persons lay 
 dead in the Plaza de la Matrice, as an accom- 
 paniment to the presidential elections. Our 
 play was given, notwithstanding, and to a 
 splendid house. This ended my engage- 
 ments with the company, and I pursued the 
 voyage on the same English steamer to Bor- 
 deaux, while my companions took the Italian 
 ship. 
 
 APPEARANCE IN LONDON 
 
 IN Paris I found a letter from the impre- 
 sario Mapleson, who proposed that I should 
 go to London with an Italian company, and 
 play at Drury Lane on the off-nights of the 
 opera. I was in doubt for a considerable 
 time whether to challenge the verdict of the 
 
164 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 British public ; but in two weeks after reach- 
 ing Italy, by dint of telegrams I had got to- 
 gether the force of artists necessary, and I 
 presented myself with arms and baggage in 
 London, in the spring of 1875. 
 
 Hardly had I arrived, when I noticed the 
 posting, on the bill-boards of the city, of the 
 announcement of the seventy-second night 
 of " Hamlet" at the Lyceum Theater, with 
 Henry Irving in the title role. I had con- 
 tracted with Mapleson to give only three 
 plays in my season, " Othello," the " Gladi- 
 ator," and " Hamlet," the last having been in- 
 sisted upon by Mapleson himself, who, as 
 a speculator, well knew that curiosity as to a 
 comparison would draw the public to Drury 
 Lane. 
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF IRVING's "HAMLET" 
 
 I WAS very anxious to see the illustrious 
 English artist in that part, and I secured a 
 box and went to the Lyceum. I was recog- 
 nized by nobody, and remaining as it were 
 concealed in my box, I had a good oppor- 
 tunity to satisfy my curiosity. I arrived at the 
 theater a little too late, so that I missed the 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 165 
 
 scene of Hamlet in presence of the ghost of 
 his father the scene which in my judgment 
 contains the clue to that strange character, 
 and from which all the synthetic ideas of 
 Hamlet are developed. I was in time to hear 
 only the last words of the oath of secrecy. I 
 was struck by the perfection of the stage 
 setting. There was a perfect imitation of the 
 effect of moonlight, which at the proper times 
 flooded the stage with its rays or left it in 
 darkness. Every detail was excellently and 
 exactly reproduced. The scene was shifted, 
 and Hamlet began his allusions, his sallies of 
 sarcasm, his sententious sayings, his points 
 of satire with the courtiers who sought to 
 study and to penetrate the sentiments of the 
 young prince. In this scene Irving was 
 simply sublime. His mobile face mirrored 
 his thoughts. The subtle penetration of his 
 phrases, so perfect in shading and incisive- 
 ness, showed him to be a master of art. I do 
 not believe there is an actor who can stand 
 beside him in this respect, and I was so much 
 impressed by it, that at the end of the second 
 act I said to myself, "I will not play Hamlet! 
 Mapleson can say what he likes, but I will 
 not play it " ; and I said it with the fullest 
 
i66 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 resolution. In the monologue, "To be, or 
 not to be," Irving was admirable; in the 
 scene with Ophelia he was deserving of the 
 highest praise ; in that of the Players he was 
 moving, and in all this part of the play he ap- 
 peared to my eyes to be the most perfect 
 interpreter of that eccentric character. But 
 further on it was not so, and for the sake of 
 art I regretted it. From the time when the 
 passion assumes a deeper hue, and reasoning 
 moderates impulses which are forcibly curbed, 
 Irving seemed to me to show mannerism, and 
 to be lacking in power, and strained ; and it is 
 not in him alone that I find this fault, but in 
 nearly all foreign actors. There seems to be 
 a limit of passion within which they remain 
 true in their rendering of nature ; but beyond 
 that limit they become transformed, and take 
 on conventionality in their intonations, exag- 
 geration in their gestures, and mannerism in 
 their bearing. I left my box saying to my- 
 self, " I too can do Hamlet, and I will try 
 it ! " In some characters Irving is exception- 
 ally fine. I am convinced that it would be 
 difficult to interpret Shy lock or Mephistopheles 
 better than he. He is most skilful in putting 
 his productions on the stage ; and in addition 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 167 
 
 to his intelligence he does not lack the power 
 to communicate his counsels or his teachings. 
 Withal he is an accomplished gentleman in 
 society, and is loved and respected by his fel- 
 low-citizens, who justly look upon him as a 
 glory to their country. He should, however, 
 for his own sake, avoid playing such parts as 
 Romeo and Macbeth, which are not adapted 
 to his somewhat scanty physical and vocal 
 power. 
 
 THE DECLINE OF TRAGEDY 
 
 THE traditions of the English drama are 
 imposing and glorious ! Shakspere alone has 
 gained the highest pinnacle of fame in dra- 
 matic art. He has had to interpret him such 
 great artists as Garrick, Kemble, Kean, Ma- 
 cready, Siddons, and Irving ; and the literary 
 and dramatic critics of the whole world have 
 studied and analyzed both author and actors. 
 At present, however, tragedy is abandoned 
 on almost all the stages of Europe. Actors 
 who devote themselves to tragedy, whether 
 classical, romantic, or historical, no longer 
 exist. Society comedy has overflowed the 
 stage, and the inundation causes the seed to 
 
168 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 rot which more conscientious and prudent 
 planters had sown in the fields of art. It is 
 desirable that the feeling and taste for the 
 works of the great dramatists should be re- 
 vived in Europe, and that England, which is 
 for special reasons, and with justice, proud of 
 enjoying the primacy in dramatic composition, 
 should have also worthy and famous actors. 
 I do not understand why the renown and 
 prestige of the great name of Garrick do not 
 attract modern actors to follow in his foot- 
 steps. Do not tell me that the works of 
 Shakspere are out of fashion, and that the 
 public no longer wants them. Shakspere is 
 always new so new that not even yet is he 
 understood by everybody; and if, as they say, 
 the public is no longer attracted by his plays, 
 it is because they are superficially presented. 
 To win the approval of the audience, a daz- 
 zling and conspicuous mise en scene does not 
 suffice, as some seem to imagine, to make up 
 deficiency in interpretation ; a more profound 
 study of the characters represented is indis- 
 pensable. If in art you can join the beautiful 
 and the good, so much the better for you ; 
 but if you give the public the alternative, it 
 will always prefer the good to the beautiful. 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 169 
 
 RECEPTION IN LONDON 
 
 MY season in London was a real event. 
 The London public had very great attrac- 
 tions both at Drury Lane and at Covent 
 Garden. At the former such celebrated ar- 
 tists as Nilsson and Tietjens, with the tenors 
 Campanini and Fancelli, and the basso Nan- 
 netti, were singing in " Lohengrin," " Fi- 
 delio," and "Lucia di Lammermoor " ; at 
 Covent Garden, Patti and the barytone Co- 
 togni were delighting their hearers with " La 
 Traviata," " Dinorah," and the " Barbiere di 
 Siviglia." I was acting at Drury Lane on 
 the three alternate nights when opera was 
 not given. Whether it was the novelty, or 
 that " Othello" had not been played for a 
 long time, or merely one of the anomalies 
 of the public, which, when it has once set 
 its face in any direction, can with difficulty 
 be made to change, Drury Lane was crowded 
 on the nights when I played Othello. The 
 Prince of Wales did me the honor to summon 
 me to his box to assure me of his admiration. 
 The celebrated poet Browning proved his 
 friendship by securing my admission as a 
 
1 7 o LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 guest to the Athenaeum Club. The Garrick 
 Club and the Arts Club tendered me a re- 
 ception, and granted me honorary member- 
 ship. I went to call upon the diva Patti, 
 who was surrounded by the most select so- 
 ciety, on one of her reception-days, and she 
 had the courtesy to make me this compli- 
 ment: " Do you know, Salvini, that I am 
 a little jealous of you ? " 
 
 Between April i and July 16, 1875, I gave 
 " Othello" thirty times, the " Gladiator'" four 
 times, and " Hamlet " on my last ten appear- 
 ances. The last play gave the final touch 
 to my reputation ; to this a few lines which 
 I had from Robert Browning will testify. 
 After playing Hamlet I expressed to him my 
 regret that I had not been able to attain in 
 that role all that I had aimed at ; and he 
 answered me : 
 
 MY DEAR SALVINI : I do not know whether what you 
 say to me is true about the chords of tenderness which 
 you lacked, or which failed to respond to the touch, in 
 your first representation of " Hamlet." But this I know, 
 that during your play on Friday the entire lyre of tragedy 
 resounded magnificently. Ever yours, 
 
 ROBERT BROWNING. 
 
 I left behind in London many genial ac- 
 quaintances and enduring friendships, besides 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 171 
 
 a sincere affection for a young orphan girl 
 who became my wife in the course of that 
 year. I went away with much regret, but 
 with the hope of returning to England for 
 the long season of the following year. 
 
 A TOUR OF GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 I RETURNED to Italy well satisfied with my 
 first experience in London, and I arranged 
 with Colonel Mapleson for a tour in England 
 to begin March i, 1876, to include the chief 
 cities outside of London, and the season in 
 the capital itself. My new wife was unable 
 to accompany me on the journey which had 
 previously been arranged, and she remained 
 in Florence. I visited Newcastle, Manches- 
 ter, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, 
 Belfast, and Birmingham, and on May 15 
 I appeared again in London, at the Queen's 
 Theater, which has since been pulled down. 
 Mr. Mapleson certainly was not fortunate 
 in his choice of so obscure a theater; yet 
 our performance of "Othello" drew, even 
 if under difficulties, a public generous of ap- 
 plause. After the seventh repetition of the 
 Moor of Venice I fell seriously ill, tortured 
 
172 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 by a carbuncle between the shoulder-blades, 
 which gave me intense suffering. For sev- 
 enteen days I could not close my eyes, and 
 when wearied nature could no longer resist 
 sleep, the lancinating spasms of my torment 
 counterbalanced the refreshment. The Prince 
 of Wales showed me the thoughtful atten- 
 tion of sending me his own physician, who 
 after consultation declared that my days were 
 numbered. Fortunately he was mistaken ; 
 but the gloomy opinion spread, and several 
 newspapers mentioned it. My sole anxiety 
 was the fear that it would reach my wife's 
 ears; and to prevent her from setting out to 
 join me, and spare her the fatigues of the 
 journey and a great anxiety, which would 
 surely have been injurious to her in her con- 
 dition, I sent her word that a severe attack 
 of rheumatism in my right shoulder pre- 
 vented me from writing to her with my own 
 hand. In this state of affairs I saw that even 
 if I were to get well I should be an invalid 
 for several months, and I determined to dis- 
 charge my company and shoulder the finan- 
 cial loss. Although my doctor sought to 
 console me with hopeful words, from the im- 
 pression betrayed by my dear and good 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 173 
 
 friends who came to see me, I was con- 
 vinced that all was over with me. .Some of 
 them had hardly entered the room and 
 caught sight of me, when they fled without 
 speaking, covering their eyes with their 
 hands, and making other manifestations of 
 grief. 
 
 Fate willed that my illness should gradu- 
 ally assume a less alarming character; and 
 after three days, during which I was given 
 up, the doctor declared that the danger was 
 past, but that I should have to undergo, as 
 I had anticipated, a long convalescence. My 
 appetite returned a little, I was able to keep 
 up my strength with good wine, and soon 
 I was assured that I should live to see again 
 my family and my native land. As soon as 
 I could stand on my feet, I arranged every- 
 thing for my departure. I stopped for two 
 days in Paris to rest. Ristori, who was stay- 
 ing in that capital with her family, had pre- 
 viously invited me to spend a day with her, 
 and she was astonished at my emaciation 
 and at the alteration in my features. When 
 at last I reached Florence, I had to explain 
 everything to my wife, who gave herself up 
 to a torrent of tears at the thought of my 
 
174 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 danger, and of how she had been cut off 
 from succoring me in this painful experience. 
 
 VIENNA 
 
 AFTER a period of rest with my family at 
 San Marcello and Antiguano, I returned to 
 Florence with my health perfectly regained, 
 and with all my former energy, and formed 
 a new company with the purpose of going 
 to Austria and Germany. To secure the 
 applause of a public accustomed to weigh 
 in the balance artists as conscientious, as 
 thoughtful, and as philosophic as the Ger- 
 mans was a prize not to be despised, and I 
 desired to win it. On February 22, 1877, I 
 opened at the Ring Theater in Vienna, with 
 the indispensable "Othello"; and although 
 the audience, with a few exceptions, did not 
 understand a word I uttered, I flattered my- 
 self that I was received with favor. This 
 confusion of tongues, which, as we are 
 taught, God brought about as a punishment 
 upon the builders of the Tower of Babel, 
 might, one would think, be revoked after so 
 many years, so that all might use one Ian- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 175 
 
 guage. But this is not to be ! To-day 
 every ignorant person speaks one language ; 
 one who respects himself must be master of 
 two ; an educated man must know three or 
 four; and a learned man is necessarily a 
 polyglot. Yet it seems to me that all the 
 time that must be spent in the study of lan- 
 guage is wasted, and that it could be given 
 much more fruitfully to the acquisition of the 
 sciences. I envy those who can learn many 
 tongues with ease, for this gift has never de- 
 veloped in me ; and in Vienna, particularly, 
 because of this, I suffered some embarrass- 
 ment. We Italians have, however, a facil- 
 ity in making ourselves understood without 
 speaking, supplying the lack of words by 
 gestures, and by the mobility of our expres- 
 sion, and by these means I was often able to 
 unravel difficulties. The most lively interest 
 in my playing was shown by the artists of 
 the Burg Theater, some of whom I had the 
 pleasure of knowing intimately ; and I shall 
 always cherish the recollection of the cour- 
 tesies which I received from Sonnenthal, 
 Lewinsky, Mitterwusser, and the clever and 
 amiable wife of the last. The Viennese are 
 full of enthusiasm for the arts ; they honor 
 
i;6 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 and appreciate highly any one who rises 
 above mediocrity, and give expression to 
 their sentiments by the nightly homage to 
 their favorite artists of a profusion of flowers 
 and wreaths. I made such a collection of 
 souvenirs that my lodgings were hardly large 
 enough to hold them all. The press was 
 unusually favorable to me, and from the 
 translations which I procured of the articles 
 concerning me I found that little or nothing 
 had escaped appreciation of all that I had 
 expected would be lost on account of my for- 
 eign idiom. I do not refer to the praises 
 which were addressed to me, but to the de- 
 tailed studies of my conceptions. There 
 were just observations, judgments seriously 
 weighed, urbane and dignified criticisms, and 
 praise unmarred by exaggeration : nothing 
 could be more correct, more wise, more con- 
 scientious. 
 
 The German actors have one most valu- 
 able quality that of studying much, a fea- 
 ture which in general is wanting in us 
 Italians, for we are wont to fancy that we 
 have done much study when in fact our prep-, 
 aration is still insufficient. The Germans are 
 more patient in application; they investigate 
 

 CLEMENTINA CAZZOLA. 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 177 
 
 with accuracy the personage whom they are 
 to play, and they lead all the actors of the 
 world in their talent for merging their own 
 personality in that of their role. It may be 
 that they are somewhat lacking in life, that 
 they do not rise to the feverish heights of 
 passion, but always remain calm and col- 
 lected ; but what harmony and precision in 
 the whole ! One might imagine that they 
 were guided by a mathematical study, as it 
 were, of their art, and that they had under- 
 taken to put it into methodical practice. 
 From this come that unison, that evenness 
 of the whole, which have earned such high 
 encomiums for the Meininger Company. 
 The great actress Wolter, the Ristori of the 
 North, by her intellectual qualities stands in 
 the first rank among the actresses of the 
 century. In talent and penetration, and in 
 identification of herself with her roles, she is 
 second to none, and she is not wanting in a 
 spark of genius to illuminate her carefully 
 elaborated interpretations. 
 
 I remained at Vienna from February 22 
 to April 8, and played twenty-five times 
 in "Othello," "Hamlet," "Macbeth," the 
 "Gladiator," the " Morte Civile," "David 
 
i;8 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 Garrick," and " Ingomar." I made the ac- 
 quaintance of the author of the last very 
 beautiful and interesting composition, Baron 
 von Bellinhausen, who wrote under the pseu- 
 donym of F. Halm, and he was kind enough 
 to declare me his most successful interpreter. 
 If you can only succeed in an enterprise, 
 your temerity in having attempted it will 
 always be condoned; and it was in truth 
 a temerity on my part to play in Vienna a 
 German piece which had already been ad- 
 mirably presented by celebrated actors. But 
 " fortune favors the brave ! " 
 
 A RECITATION AT DOM PEDRO S 
 
 DURING my season in Vienna, Dom Pedro 
 d' Alcantara, Emperor of Brazil, and the most 
 erudite crowned head of the century, was ex- 
 pected in that city. One morning at eight 
 o'clock the secretary of the Brazilian legation 
 came to my hotel to announce to me that the 
 Emperor Dom Pedro desired to see me as 
 soon as possible. I dressed at once, and at 
 nine I was in the presence of his Majesty. As 
 soon as he saw me he said to me in pure Ital- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 179 
 
 ian, and with as much eagerness as if he were 
 asking me to save his throne : " Salvini, you 
 must do me a service ! " I was somewhat 
 taken aback, for I did not see how I could be 
 in a position to do service to an emperor. 
 "Your Majesty," I said, "in what can I be 
 so happy as to serve you ? " He answered : 
 " You must play the ' Morte Civile.' ' I was 
 reassured and breathed freely, and answered : 
 " It will give me much pleasure, your Majesty ; 
 but I have already given the ' Morte Civile ' 
 five times, and I fear that the public may have 
 had enough of it." " Do it the sixth time for 
 me," said the Emperor, "and never mind the 
 public." I said: "Your Majesty's judgment 
 outbalances that of an entire public, and your 
 desire shall be satisfied as an honor to myself." 
 On that evening all aristocratic Austria 
 crowded the Ring Theater. During Dom 
 Pedro's sojourn in Vienna, I was invited to 
 recite Prati's poem " La Cena d'Alboino," in 
 a large concert-hall, for the benefit of the 
 Viennese students. In addition the entertain- 
 ment consisted of vocal and instrumental 
 music. Dom Pedro was among the first of the 
 audience to arrive. While I was waiting my 
 turn, an aide-de-camp of the Emperor Francis 
 
i8o LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 Joseph invited Dom Pedro to go to the impe- 
 rial palace on some pressing business. Dom 
 Pedro was visibly annoyed, but he arose and 
 left the hall, so I had to make my recitation 
 without him as an auditor. Before he left 
 Vienna, being unable to return all the innu- 
 merable attentions paid to him, he directed his 
 minister to give a grand entertainment, and I 
 was not forgotten. Unfortunately I had to 
 play Othello on the night in question. Greatly 
 fatigued as I always was by that play, when 
 it was done I dressed, and went to the Bra- 
 zilian minister's residence. The crowd of no- 
 bles and dignitaries, with all the feminine 
 aristocracy of Vienna, was so dense as to 
 make it almost impossible to pass from one 
 room to another. I placed myself in a door- 
 way, and perceived Dom Pedro before me, 
 who, while talking with the Princess Metter- 
 nich, kept turning his glance in my direction. 
 Of a sudden he rose, and, coming straight up 
 to me, he requested me to repeat the poem of 
 Prati's of which he was so fond, and which he 
 had been unable to hear at the Academy. I 
 saw that I was lost. 
 
 11 Your Majesty," said I, "I come from 
 playing Othello, and my voice is rough from 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 181 
 
 it ; moreover, I do not know whether it will 
 be opportune for me to recite in Italian be- 
 fore these ladies and gentlemen who are not 
 acquainted with the language." 
 
 " Never mind! Never mind!" he replied. 
 "If these gentlemen do not understand, so 
 much the worse for them ; but you will do 
 me a very great pleasure, for I am very fond 
 of those verses of Prati's, whom I know per- 
 sonally." 
 
 How could I refuse ? Soon the orchestra, 
 which had been playing on a raised dais, 
 passed into another room, and the dais was 
 left free for my stage. Dom Pedro himself 
 directed the placing of chairs in rows like 
 those of a theater ; and when all was ready, 
 and the company had been informed of what 
 I was to recite, the Emperor invited me to 
 begin. I found that not all my audience 
 were ignorant of Italian, for from time to 
 time there were spontaneous cries of Bravo ! 
 and Bene ! Some understood, some pre- 
 tended to understand, and most understood 
 not a word. My recitation was nevertheless 
 effective, and when it was done I was sur- 
 rounded by many beautiful ladies and by 
 many gentlemen, who offered me abundant 
 
182 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 congratulations perhaps to pay their court 
 to the Emperor. Dom Pedro waited until 
 the crowd had finished its phrases of admira- 
 tion, and then approached me, much moved, 
 and spoke in my ear only the words: " Sub- 
 lime! Thank you." This was at about two 
 o'clock, and I drove back to my lodgings so 
 wearied and worn out that I could not sleep, 
 by reason of my overwrought nerves. The 
 next day I concluded that it was at no little 
 sacrifice that one could win the admiration 
 of an emperor. I ought, however, to be 
 grateful to him, for after such an advertise- 
 ment the Ring Theater was patronized by 
 the best society during the remaining nights 
 of my season. 
 
 PLAYING AT POTSDAM 
 
 FROM Vienna I went to Pesth, thence to 
 Prague, and then to Berlin. In the capital 
 of Germany I met with a flattering greeting. 
 I had the opportunity to know the most dis- 
 tinguished men in literature and in art. The 
 court displayed much interest in my acting, 
 and the old Emperor William particularly, as 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 183 
 
 I judged, must have felt much sympathy for 
 me, for he would rise from his chair and go 
 to the back of his box to applaud without 
 being seen. It appears that etiquette imposed 
 upon him reserve in open manifestation of 
 approval. The Crown -princess Victoria, now 
 the widow of the Emperor Frederick, honored 
 me with undisguised marks of her approval, 
 and did not lose a single one of my per- 
 formances. People wanted me to petition for 
 presentation at court, but I declined, for the 
 reason that I did not care to expose myself 
 to the humiliation of a refusal, and that if any 
 of the august personages desired to know me 
 personally, they had only to command my 
 presence before them. It seemed that eti- 
 quette did not admit of that ; but my feeling 
 of delicacy kept me fixed in my resolution. 
 At last I received a summons to present my- 
 self at court. I was received by the Crown- 
 prince Frederick William and the Crown- 
 princess Victoria, with all their children, then 
 very small, and was treated with the greatest 
 affability and courtesy. Among many ques- 
 tions which they put to me, they asked me 
 whether I should have any objection to give 
 a play with my company in the theater at 
 
184 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 Potsdam. I could not refuse so kindly an 
 invitation. The evening and the play were 
 decided upon. The next day a chamberlain 
 came to ask me diplomatically what compen- 
 sation I wished for giving this play at the 
 private court theater. I answered that when 
 I gave my cooperation for an entertainment 
 outside of a public theater it was not my 
 custom to fix a price, and that I would not 
 do it. The chamberlain, however, insisted, 
 saying that it was not proper that the court 
 should accept a gift ; to which I replied that 
 it was not my intention to make a gift, and 
 that I would ask as my compensation the 
 gloves which the Crown-princess would have 
 worn when applauding me. I had great 
 trouble to persuade the diplomatic messenger 
 to take back my answer, but he had to con- 
 tent himself with it. On the appointed day 
 I took my company to Potsdam to play 
 " Sullivan," a comedy for which only the 
 dress of to-day is requisite. All my actors 
 were lodged in a wing of the palace, where 
 refreshments were provided, and I was in- 
 vited to take my place in a carriage in which 
 were the Crown-princess Victoria and her 
 sons, and we drove to Sans Souci to visit 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 185 
 
 the memorials to Frederick the Great and to 
 Voltaire. The Princess described every object 
 and locality to me in detail, with the greatest 
 interest and affability, together with all the 
 memories attached to scenes so full of associa- 
 tions. Upon our return to the palace, I made 
 ready to give my play. A sudden indisposi- 
 tion kept the old Emperor from being present. 
 The small but graceful theater was literally 
 packed with the official representatives of all 
 nations, with the most distinguished of the 
 nobility, the diplomatic corps, the magistracy, 
 and the military. The performance was of 
 glacial frigidity, for at court all applause is 
 absolutely prohibited. After the play I was 
 invited to take tea with the Crown-prince and 
 Crown-princess, and I found myself in the 
 midst of all these beautiful and elegant ladies 
 and distinguished gentlemen, who plied me 
 with questions, congratulations, and compli- 
 ments. Of these one, which surpassed all 
 the others both in its form and in its exquisite 
 idea, was addressed to me by the Crown- 
 princess, who said to me : " Since Rachel, 
 you are the first, Salvini, to tread the stage 
 at Potsdam ; I think that its doors must be 
 closed after so great an event ! " And in fact 
 
1 86 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 the doors of the theater in Potsdam have not 
 been reopened since my appearance there. I 
 went away from Berlin delighted with the 
 kindness and courtesy of the German court, 
 and with a public of such intelligence ; and 
 upon my arrival at Trieste, where I stopped 
 to make four appearances, I was informed 
 by the German consul that there was an ob- 
 ject addressed to me at the custom-house. I 
 went there, and found a ring with a solitaire 
 diamond which had been sent to me by the 
 Emperor William and the Crown-prince and 
 Crown-princess, as a souvenir of my appear- 
 ance at Potsdam. 
 
 A SECOND VISIT TO PARIS 
 
 MY company was still engaged for the 
 whole month of June, and I wished to take 
 advantage of the opportunity to appear four 
 times at Venice. The Princess Margherita 
 of Savoy, now our beloved queen, was at 
 Venice for the sea-bathing, and was present 
 at all my performances. I preserve pre- 
 ciously a beautiful souvenir which she was 
 good enough to send me. From Venice I 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 187 
 
 returned to Florence, and again took up my 
 wanderings with different actors and ac- 
 
 o 
 
 tresses. I opened at Paris, October 3, 1877, 
 in the Salle Ventadour ; of all that I played 
 there, to the " Morte Civile" was adjudged 
 the palm. It was a real revelation to the 
 Parisians. It would be tedious to repeat all 
 that the greatest artistic and literary lumina- 
 ries wrote of it. Victor Hugo, La Pomme- 
 raye, Zola, Gautier, Vitu, elevated to the stars 
 both composition and interpretation. The 
 celebrated dramatic critic Vitu even made a 
 translation of it, so that it might be acted in 
 French at the Odeon. Not " Othello," not 
 " Macbeth," not " Ingomar," nothing aroused 
 such interest as Paolo Giacometti's drama. 
 
 After three nights at Antwerp, six at Brus- 
 sels, and two at Lille, I went back to Paris 
 for eleven more, five of which were devoted 
 to the " Morte Civile." 
 
 ESTIMATE OF MOUNET-SULLY 
 
 IN Paris I had the opportunity to know the 
 famous Mounet- Sully, whom I admired much 
 in Victor Hugo's " Hernani," and to whom I 
 
1 88 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 permitted myself to make a small criticism 
 on his highly artistic and meritorious per- 
 formance a criticism of the justice of which 
 he was fully convinced. It is only conscien- 
 tious artists who are able to recognize their 
 own defects. I found in Mounet-Sully too 
 much nervousness ; he was always on the 
 stretch, continually in forced action, as if 
 something might break at any moment. He 
 was a man of fine presence, of most accurate 
 delivery, and if he could have freed himself 
 from the traditions imposed upon him by the 
 Conservatory, traditions to which all French 
 actors who adopt the serious style are sub- 
 jected, it would have aided him to be less 
 conventional. He is to-day one of the most 
 solid pillars of the Maison de Moliere, and 
 that is not a little thing. 
 
 SARAH BERNHARDT 
 
 ONE night when I went on the stage to 
 see Mounet-Sully he presented me to Mme. 
 Sarah Bernhardt. I had never heard that 
 excellent artist except as Dona Sol in " Her- 
 nani." I was entirely satisfied with her physi- 
 cal and vocal gifts, as well as with her incisive 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 189 
 
 and penetrating diction, but it seemed to me 
 that her movements were a little angular. I 
 saw her another time in the "Dame aux Ca- 
 melias," and she was attractive in the earlier 
 acts, both from her " voice of gold," as the 
 French style it, and from the naturalism with 
 which she molded the character. At some 
 points I noted a little precipitation in her de- 
 livery, the reason for which I had not ob- 
 served in Victor Hugo's verses ; and while I 
 recognized in her superior talent for assum- 
 ing her role and modulating the various ex- 
 pressions of the voice, for so accentuating 
 her phrases as to give them brilliancy, and 
 for making herself up with that attractiveness 
 which is, perhaps, peculiar to French ac- 
 tresses, yet I could not help noticing, espe- 
 cially in the last act of the play, a seeking 
 after effects that were discordant with the po- 
 sition and character of the personage. I saw 
 her afterward at Florence in Sardou's " La 
 Tosca," and in that play she produced the 
 same effect on me. She has very great gifts, 
 an exceptional artistic quality, and notable 
 defects. When I went through Paris on my 
 last return from North America, I saw her in 
 "Jeanne d'Arc." 
 
 I am not blind to the fascinating merits of 
 
190 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 that eccentric actress, and I proclaim her the 
 brightest star which has in recent years risen 
 above the horizon of dramatic art ; but I ask, 
 is the superiority attributed to her by the 
 world all pure gold? Is there not in it a taint 
 of alloy? Her sentiment, her artistic in- 
 tuition, the acuteness of her interpretation, 
 her moving and harmonious voice, the just 
 accentuation of her phrasing, the tastefulness 
 of her dress all this is gold, pure gold. A 
 slight tendency to declamation, a use of ges- 
 ticulation not always appropriate, a marked 
 precipitation of speech, especially at critical 
 moments, and a pronounced monotony in pa- 
 thetic expression, constitute the alloy. So 
 much has been, and is still, said of the extrav- 
 agances of that original genius, that wherever 
 she goes, no one will stay away from seeing 
 her. It must, however, be admitted that all 
 these advertisements draw more attention to 
 the woman than to the actress. 
 
 COQUELIN 
 
 I MUST give, too, my impression of another 
 celebrated French artist, an impression which 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 191 
 
 is highly favorable to him, yet not without a 
 "but," for which he will bear me no grudge. 
 He is the cleverest, the most exact, the most 
 delicate, the most keen in his delivery of a 
 monologue that our century has produced. 
 Every one has already perceived that I re- 
 fer to the elder Coquelin. How subtle and 
 bright is the intelligence which this actor 
 brings into play to give life to his delivery! 
 With how artistic a touch he colors every pe- 
 riod, every phrase ! In how just a measure 
 he balances his effects, so insinuating his 
 humorous anecdotes that one would fancy 
 they were told by many persons and not by 
 himself alone! The variety of his voice, the 
 mobility of his face, are powerful auxiliaries, 
 which he uses with studied art ; he is never 
 vulgar, never artificial, never monotonous, 
 never incorrect. If this almost perfect artist 
 could disabuse himself in the matter of play- 
 ing a few parts which are not adapted either 
 to his natural tendencies or to his character- 
 istic face, if he would confine himself to such 
 typical characters as do not have to support 
 the responsibility of the entire play, in my 
 opinion he would heighten his fame. When 
 one does everything, one does too much, and 
 
I 9 2 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 can with difficulty attain to perfection. For 
 that matter, this fault is found in many great 
 artists, and I have seen but rare exceptions. 
 
 THE FRENCH PUBLIC 
 
 WHAT can I say of the French public ? 
 Has it a taste of its own, an independent 
 judgment? I doubt it. Those ten, twenty, 
 and thirty men of superior intelligence who 
 never miss a first night, whether of music or 
 drama, guide and lead after them the mass 
 of the audience. Would the claque with its 
 paid applause ever have become established 
 in France if the public had an opinion of its 
 own ? And if it had such an opinion, would 
 it submit to the imposition of judgment upon 
 it? It is very true that if the play or the 
 actor is not in touch with the audience, the 
 claque has not the power to force it to return 
 and see the same play, but it serves, never- 
 theless, to modify any distaste on the part of 
 the public. In Italy it could have no other 
 effect than to make the public still more 
 hostile to a play. One can never obtain 
 a sincere, independent, legitimate judgment 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 193 
 
 from the mass of the French public. If the 
 thirty intelligent persons do not approve, the 
 mass will remain indifferent. And just so it 
 is with the press. If the papers favor a play, 
 they have much influence on public opinion, 
 they incite the people to fill the theater, and 
 the audience, whether it will or no, is per- 
 suaded that it has been amused. If the cen- 
 sors are unfavorable, the house will stay 
 empty. Hence it results that it is never the 
 public which decides, but the thirty assiduous 
 men of intelligence who render the verdict, 
 and the press which condemns or applauds. 
 When I was again in Florence, I lived 
 quietly and happily with my wife, whom I 
 could not take with me on my professional 
 tours, since she was obliged to attend to our 
 family affairs, and to care as well for her own 
 health. During the summer I busied myself 
 with my garden and vineyard on my small 
 property near Florence. At the end of Octo- 
 ber, 1879, we returned to our winter quarters 
 in Florence, and on November 13 our second 
 child was born, after which event my wife was 
 taken with an obstinate fever ; then inflam- 
 mation set in, and finally scarlet fever, which 
 in her enfeebled condition did not break 
 
i 9 4 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 out openly, but none the less accomplished 
 its maleficent work. After a month of suffer- 
 ing under this accumulation of ills, a violent 
 attack of peritonitis developed, and the poor 
 creature, worn out, lost her reason and then 
 her life, leaving me two little babies as 
 memorials of our love. 
 
 I cannot describe my anguish of mind. 
 The world imagines that the artist wraps up 
 all his aspirations in his own self-love. It is 
 indeed true that that satisfaction appeals to 
 the mind, but it cannot compensate for the 
 tortures of the heart. Not to have known 
 my mother, who died when I was two years 
 old; to have lost my father at fifteen; to have 
 seen waste away, still young, the woman who 
 first inspired me with deep affection; to have 
 been bereaved of my wife, who was not yet 
 twenty- four; and finally, to see a brother die 
 upon whom I had counted as the friend of 
 my old age all this I have endured. Truly 
 those who have no feelings are most happy ! 
 
 A TOUR OF EASTERN EUROPE 
 
 LEFT alone by the death of my wife, with 
 my well-grown sons at school, and my last 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 195 
 
 children too young to give me any consola- 
 tion, I threw myself with renewed ardor into 
 the embrace of art, resolved to seek no other 
 distraction, but to look for relief and oblivion 
 in unwearied study, in practice on the stage, 
 in continuous traveling; but throughout four 
 years it was impossible for me to forget my 
 misfortune. All that was not connected with 
 my art was repulsive to me: to new acquain- 
 tanceships I was indifferent; traveling did not 
 cheer me; and even in the exercise of my 
 profession the dominating recollection of the 
 irreparable loss I had suffered remained fixed 
 in my mind. 
 
 On November n, 1879, I again started 
 out, this time for Trieste, whence I went 
 again to Vienna. Having given a few nights 
 at Pesth, I went on to the cosmopolitan city 
 of Russia, Odessa. There everybody has 
 a more or less complete knowledge of Italian, 
 and I had a festive greeting from the hetero- 
 geneous population. 
 
 I remained in Odessa from January 15 to 
 February 20, 1880, and then went to Rou- 
 mania, where I first appeared on February 
 23. I played six times at Jassy, three times 
 at Galatz, twice at Braila, and finally, on 
 March 20, I proceeded to the capital, and 
 
196 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 stayed there until April 14. I was so well 
 received by the people and their rulers, that 
 the Prince, now King Charles I., honored 
 me with the Star of Roumania. The schol- 
 arly Princess, now Queen Pauline Elizabeth 
 ("Carmen Sylva"), showed me the greatest 
 kindness and courtesy. She had the kind- 
 ness to read to me one of her poetical works, 
 written in French, which seemed to me full 
 of dash and interest, and elegant in form. I 
 shall always retain an agreeable memory of 
 the exquisite welcome of that court. After 
 leaving Bucharest I played three times at 
 Cracow, and on April 20 left Roumania to re- 
 turn to Florence, in order to take breath for 
 my future peregrinations. 
 
 TRAGEDY IN TWO LANGUAGES 
 
 IN this year the agent of an impresario and 
 theater-owner of Boston came to Florence to 
 make me the proposal that I should go to 
 North America for the second time, to play 
 in Italian supported by an American com- 
 pany. I thought the man had lost his senses. 
 But after a time I became convinced that he 
 was in his right mind, and that no one would 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 197 
 
 undertake a long and costly journey simply 
 to play a joke, and I took his extraordinary 
 proposition into serious consideration, and 
 asked him for explanations. 
 
 "The idea is this," the agent made answer; 
 "it is very simple. You found favor the last 
 time with the American public with your 
 Italian company, when not a word that was 
 said was understood, and the proprietor of 
 the Globe Theater of Boston thinks that if he 
 puts with you English-speaking actors, you 
 will yourself be better understood, since all 
 the dialogue of your supporters will be plain. 
 The audience will concern itself only with fol- 
 lowing you, with the aid of the play-books in 
 both languages, and will not have to pay any 
 attention to the others, whose words it will 
 understand." 
 
 " But how shall I take my cue, since I do 
 not understand English? And how will your 
 American actors know when to speak, since 
 they do not know Italian ? " 
 
 " Have no anxiety about that," said the 
 agent. "Our American actors are mathema- 
 ticians, and can memorize perfectly the last 
 words of your speeches, and they will work 
 with the precision of machines." 
 13* 
 
198 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 ''I am ready to admit that," said I, " al- 
 though I do not think it will be so easy ; but 
 it will in any case be much easier for them, 
 who will have to deal with me alone, and will 
 divide the difficulty among twenty or twenty- 
 four, than for me, who must take care of. all." 
 
 The persevering agent, however, closed 
 my mouth with the words, " You do not sign 
 yourself ' Salvini ' for nothing ! " He had an 
 answer for everything, he was prepared to 
 convince me at all points, to persuade me 
 about everything, and to smooth over every 
 difficulty, and he won a consent which, 
 though almost involuntary on my part, was 
 legalized by a contract in due form, by which 
 I undertook to be at New York not later 
 than November 15, 1880, and to be ready to 
 open at Philadelphia with " Othello" on the 
 29th of the same month. 
 
 I was still dominated by my bereavement, 
 and the thought was pleasant to me of going 
 away from places which constantly brought 
 it back to my mind. Another sky, other 
 customs, another language, grave responsi- 
 bilities, a novel and difficult undertaking of 
 uncertain outcome I was willing to risk all 
 simply to distract my attention and to forget. 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 199 
 
 I have never in my life been a gambler, but 
 that time I staked my artistic reputation upon 
 a single card. Failure would have been a 
 new emotion, severe and grievous, it is true, 
 but still different from that which filled my 
 mind. I played, and I won ! The friends 
 whom I had made in the United States in 
 1873, and with whom I had kept up my ac- 
 quaintance, when they learned of the con- 
 fusion of tongues, wrote me discouraging 
 letters. In Italy the thing was not be- 
 lieved, so eccentric did it seem. I arrived in 
 New York nervous and feverish, but not dis- 
 couraged or depressed. 
 
 When the day of the first rehearsal came, 
 all the theaters were occupied, and I had to 
 make the best of a rather large concert-hall 
 to try to get in touch with the actors who 
 were to support me. An Italian who was 
 employed in a newspaper-office served me as 
 interpreter in cooperation with the agent of 
 my Boston impresario. The American ar- 
 tists began the rehearsal without a prompter, 
 and with a sureness to be envied especially 
 by our Italian actors, who usually must have 
 every word suggested to them. My turn 
 came, and the few words which Othello pro- 
 
200 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 nounces in the first scene came in smoothly 
 and without difficulty. When the scene with 
 the Council of Ten came, of a sudden I could 
 not recall the first line of a paragraph, and I 
 hesitated; I began a line, but it was not that; 
 I tried another with no better success; a 
 third, but the interpreter told me that I had 
 gone wrong. We began again, but the Eng- 
 lish was of no assistance to me in recognizing 
 which of my speeches corresponded to that 
 addressed to me, which I did not understand. 
 I was all at sea, and I told the interpreter to 
 beg the actors to overlook my momentary 
 confusion, and to say to them that I should 
 be all right in five minutes. I went off to a 
 corner of the hall and bowed my head be- 
 tween my hands, saying to myself, "I have 
 come for this, and I must carry it through." 
 
 I set out to number mentally all the para- 
 graphs of my part, and in a short time I said, 
 
 II Let us begin again." 
 
 During the remainder of the rehearsal one 
 might have thought that I understood Eng- 
 lish, and that the American actors understood 
 Italian. No further mistake was made by 
 either side; there was not even the smallest 
 hesitation, and when I finished the final scene 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TQMMASO SALVINI 201 
 
 of the third act between Othello and lago, 
 the actors applauded, filled with joy and 
 pleasure. The exactitude with which the 
 subsequent rehearsals of "Othello," and those 
 of "Hamlet," proceeded was due to the 
 memory, the application, and the scrupulous 
 attention to their work of the American 
 actors, as well as to my own force of will and 
 practical acquaintance with all the parts of 
 the play, and to the natural intuition which 
 helped me to know without understanding 
 what was addressed to me, divining it from 
 a motion, a look, or a light inflection of the 
 voice. Gradually a few words, a few short 
 phrases, remained in my ear, and in course of 
 time I came to understand perfectly every 
 word of all the characters; I became so sure 
 of myself that if an actor substituted one 
 word for another I perceived it. I under- 
 stood the words of Shakspere, but not those 
 of the spoken language. 
 
 In a few days we went to Philadelphia to 
 begin our representations. My old acquain- 
 tances were in despair. To those who had 
 sought to discourage me by their letters 
 others on the spot joined their influence, and 
 tried everything to overthrow my courage. I 
 
202 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 must admit that the nearer came the hour of 
 the great experiment, the more my anxiety 
 grew, and inclined me to deplore the moment 
 when I had put myself in that dilemma. I 
 owe it in a great degree to my cool head that 
 my discouraging forebodings did not unman 
 me so much as to make me abandon myself 
 wholly to despair. Just as I was going on 
 the stage, I said to myself: " After all, what 
 can happen to me ? They will not murder 
 me. I shall have tried, and I shall have 
 failed; that is all there will be to it. I will 
 pack up my baggage and go back to Italy, 
 convinced that oil and wine will not mix." 
 A certain contempt of danger, a firm resolu- 
 tion to succeed, and, I am bound to add, con- 
 siderable confidence in myself, enabled me to 
 go before the public calm, bold, and secure. 
 
 The first scene before the palace of Bra- 
 bantio was received with sepulchral silence. 
 When that of the Council of Ten came, and 
 the narration of the vicissitudes of Othello 
 was ended, the public broke forth in pro- 
 longed applause. Then I said to myself: 
 ''A good beginning is half the work." At 
 the close of the first act, my adversaries, who 
 were such solely on account of their love of 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 203 
 
 art, and their belief that the two languages 
 could not be amalgamated, came on the stage 
 to embrace and congratulate me, surprised, 
 enchanted, enthusiastic, happy that they had 
 been mistaken, and throughout the play I 
 was the object of constant demonstrations of 
 sympathy. 
 
 AMERICAN CRITICAL TASTE 
 
 FROM Philadelphia we went to New York, 
 where our success was confirmed. It re- 
 mained for me to win the suffrages of Boston, 
 and I secured them, first having made stops 
 in Brooklyn, New JHayeiv^-aftd Harjjnrd. 
 When in the American Athens I became 
 convinced that that city possesses the most 
 refined artistic taste. The theatrical audi- 
 ences are serious, attentive to details, ana- 
 lytical, I might almost say scientific, and 
 one might fancy that such careful critics had 
 never in their lives done anything but occupy 
 themselves with scenic art. With reference 
 to a presentation of Shakspere, they are pro- 
 found, acute, subtile, and they know so well 
 how to clothe some traditional principle in 
 close logic, that if faith in the opposite is not 
 
204 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 quite unshakable in an artist, he must feel 
 himself tempted to renounce his own tenets. 
 It is surprising that in a land where industry 
 and commerce seem to absorb all the intelli- 
 gence of the people, there should be in every 
 city and district, indeed in every village, peo- 
 ple who are competent to discuss the arts 
 with such high authority. The American 
 nation counts only a century of freedom, yet 
 it has produced a remarkable number of men 
 of high competence in dramatic art. Those 
 who think of tempting fortune by displaying 
 their untried artistic gifts on the American 
 stage, counting on the ignorance or inexperi- 
 ence of their audience, make a very unsafe 
 calculation. The taste and critical faculty of 
 that public are in their fullness of vigor. 
 Old Europe is more bound by traditions, 
 more weary, more blase, in her judgment, not 
 always sincere or disinterested. In Amer- 
 ica the national pride is warmly felt, and 
 the national artists enjoy high honor. The 
 Americans know how to offer an exquisite 
 hospitality, but woe to the man who seeks 
 to impose on them ! They profess a cult, a 
 veneration, for those who practise our art, 
 whether of their own nation or foreign, and 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 205 
 
 their behavior in the theater is dignified. I 
 recall one night when upon invitation I went 
 to see a new play in which appeared an ac- 
 tor of reputation. The play was not liked, 
 and from act to act I noticed that the house 
 grew more and more scanty, like a faded rose 
 which loses its petals one by one, until at the 
 last scene my box was the only one which 
 remained occupied. I was more impressed 
 by this silent demonstration of hostility than 
 I should have been if the audience had made 
 a tumultuous expression of its disapproval. 
 The actors were humiliated and confounded, 
 and as the curtain fell an instinctive senti- 
 ment of compassion induced me to applaud. 
 To return to my tour. From Boston I 
 went to Montreal and Toronto, thence to 
 Cincinnati for a week, and again to New 
 York for a fortnight. I think that all my 
 dramatic colleagues will agree with me that 
 the life of an actor in America is extremely 
 wearing. The system obtains everywhere of 
 opening the theaters every night, and I can- 
 not blame the owners from the point of view 
 of their own interests ; for since they hire 
 their watchmen and attendants by the year, 
 they must pay their salaries whether their 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 f*A. 
 
 OF 
 
206 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 houses are open or closed. They are there- 
 fore constrained to impose similar conditions 
 upon the managers. The most celebrated 
 artists must therefore play every night except 
 Sunday, and in some States even on that day, 
 and on one or two days of the week they 
 must play twice. Think of an artist, all of 
 whose repertory is made up of tragedies of 
 Shakspere, and tell me whether it is possible 
 that human strength can resist such a strain. 
 Admitting that one's nerves may be elastic 
 enough to endure it, one cannot control the 
 vocal organs ; and after a few weeks of such 
 exaggerated effort, the actor's strength and 
 vocal faculty diminish, and the later repre- 
 sentations seem pale, and without the life and 
 fire required for the best results. I always 
 held back from submitting myself to this im- 
 position ; I was never willing to play more 
 than four or at the most five times a week, 
 and even to the injury of my immediate in- 
 terests I would never depart from this resolu- 
 tion. There may have been actors able to 
 support the burden more easily, but I know, 
 though endowed with muscles of steel, sound 
 health, and a strong voice, I would not un- 
 dertake it. I know well that to keep a 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 207 
 
 machine in good running order, there must 
 be time to keep it always polished and oiled ; 
 with this precaution, even after fifty years of 
 activity, it will not show a trace of rust, and 
 will still be in condition to perform its regular 
 functions. In so long a period my machine 
 was forced to stop only twice; and both 
 times, after the damage was repaired, dam- 
 age which resulted not from imprudence, but 
 from unforeseen accidents, it began running 
 again as efficiently as before. I continued 
 my peregrinations to Albany, Buffalo, Detroit, 
 and Chicago, and other cities in the West 
 and South. 
 
 A VISIT TO THE CAPITAL 
 
 AT last we proceeded to the capital of the 
 United States. Washington is a very attrac- 
 tive city, with superb edifices, wide and well- 
 paved streets, beautiful shops, and a popula- 
 tion of most agreeable quality. It is safe to 
 say that, after those of Boston, the theater 
 audiences there are the most intelligent and 
 appreciative in North America. The dele- 
 gates to Congress, of the different States, 
 with their families, form an important contin- 
 
208 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 gent of intelligence beyond the average. In 
 that city I had an experience worth relating. 
 With an acquaintance who spoke Italian and 
 English I went one day to visit the Capitol. 
 When we had entered the majestic structure, 
 and were walking through the offices, the cor- 
 ridors, and the private rooms of the commit- 
 tees I noticed that I was an object of curios- 
 ity to the many people whom I met. After 
 half an hour spent in visiting the labyrinth 
 of halls and galleries, a gentleman presented 
 himself to me as a member of the House, and 
 invited me in the name of the Speaker to 
 visit the House of Representatives. I tried 
 to excuse myself on the ground of my modest 
 morning-dress, but the gentleman who in- 
 vited me observed that this question of dress 
 was little attended to in America, and I 
 yielded to his arguments and to those of the 
 friend who was with me, and presented my- 
 self before the Speaker. The Speaker rose 
 from his chair, as did all the members pres- 
 ent. After a few very courteous words, he 
 gave me permission to visit the hall of the 
 House, and as I passed through the corridors 
 between the lines of seats, all the members 
 advanced from right and left to shake hands 
 
SALVINI AS "OROSMANE" IN THE "ZAIRE" OF VOLTAIRE. 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 209 
 
 with me. When I reached the back of the 
 great hall a crowd of the pages of the House, 
 dressed in uniform, surrounded me with little 
 note-books in their hands, belonging to the 
 congressmen, and asked for my autograph. 
 I had to write my name two hundred and 
 seventy-eight times ; and, luckily for me, the 
 attendance that day was not large ! My 
 hand became cramped with so many signa- 
 tures, and Heaven knows what my callig- 
 raphy became before I finished! 
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 THE celebrated actor Edwin Booth was 
 at this time in Baltimore, a city distant two 
 hours from the capital. I had heard so much 
 about this superior artist that I was anxious 
 to see him, and on one of my off nights 
 I went to Baltimore with my impresario's 
 agent. A box had been reserved for me 
 without my knowledge, and was draped with 
 the Italian colors. I regretted to be made so 
 conspicuous, but I could not fail to appreciate 
 the courteous and complimentary desire to 
 do me honor shown by the American artist. 
 
210 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 It was only natural that I should be most 
 kindly influenced toward him, but without 
 the courtesy which predisposed me in his 
 favor he would equally have won my sym- 
 pathy by his attractive and artistic linea- 
 ments, and his graceful and well-proportioned 
 figure. The play was ''Hamlet." This part 
 brought him great fame, and justly; for in 
 addition to the high artistic worth with which 
 he adorned it, his elegant personality was 
 admirably adapted to it. His long and wavy 
 hair, his large and expressive eye, his youth- 
 ful and flexible movements, accorded per- 
 fectly with the ideal of the young prince of 
 Denmark which now obtains everywhere. 
 His splendid delivery, and the penetrating 
 philosophy with which he informed his 
 phrases, were his most remarkable qualities. 
 I was so fortunate as to see him also as 
 Richelieu and lago, and in all three of these 
 parts, so diverse in their character, I found 
 him absolutely admirable. I cannot say so 
 much of his Macbeth, which I saw one night 
 when passing through Philadelphia. The 
 part seemed to me not adapted to his nature. 
 Macbeth was an ambitious man, and Booth 
 was not. Macbeth had barbarous and fero- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 21! 
 
 cious instincts, and Booth was agreeable, 
 urbane, and courteous. Macbeth destroyed 
 his enemies traitorously, did this even to 
 gain possession of their goods, while Booth 
 was noble, lofty-minded, and generous of his 
 wealth. It is ^thus plain that however much 
 art he might expend, his nature rebelled 
 against his portrayal of that personage, and 
 he could never hope to transform himself into 
 the ambitious, venal, and sanguinary Scottish 
 king. 
 
 I should say, from what I heard in Amer- 
 ica, that Edwin Forrest was the Modena of 
 America. The memory of that actor still 
 lives, for no one has possessed equally the 
 power to give expression to the passions, and 
 to fruitful and burning imagery, in addition 
 to which he possessed astonishing power of 
 voice. Almost contemporaneously a number 
 of most estimable actors have laid claim to 
 his mantle; but above them all Edwin Booth 
 soared as an eagle. 
 
 After a very satisfactory experience in 
 Baltimore, I returned for the third time to 
 New York and gave " Othello," " Macbeth," 
 and the " Gladiator," each play twice, and 
 made the last two appearances of my season 
 
212 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 in Philadelphia. After playing ninety-five 
 times in the new fashion, I felt myself worn 
 out, but fully satisfied with the result of 
 my venturesome undertaking 1 . When I em- 
 barked on the steamer which was to take me 
 to Europe, I was escorted by all the artists 
 of the company which had cooperated in my 
 happy success, by my friends, and by cour- 
 teous admirers, and I felt that if I were not 
 an Italian I should wish to be an American. 
 
 IN EGYPT 
 
 AT the end of May, 1881, I landed at 
 Havre, and went on to Paris, where I took a 
 good week of rest relative rest, that is, for 
 in that city it is not easy to do nothing. I 
 did not fail to frequent the Comedie Frangaise 
 to hear some of those excellent society come- 
 dies which are played there with so much 
 taste, delicacy, and truth; and after having 
 myself recited such a vast quantity of verse 
 during seven months, that pure and beautiful 
 prose appeared to me a most savory change, 
 seasoned as it was with the most delicate 
 sauces and spices by the most expert of 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 213 
 
 cooks. When I reached Florence my first 
 thought was to retire at once to my country 
 house, to enjoy that calm which one cannot 
 find except at home and in the bosom of his 
 family. However, offers of new theatrical en- 
 terprises came to disturb my repose, and I 
 was constrained to accept a proposition that 
 I should go to Egypt for the months of 
 December, 1881, and January, 1882. I 
 formed, for these two months only, an Italian 
 company, and on December 3 I opened in 
 Alexandria. Theatrical methods there are 
 regulated upon the Italian principles, and it 
 is necessary to change the play every night ; 
 so besides my accustomed tragedies I gave 
 dramas and comedies, as, for example, "Le 
 Lapidaire," by Alexandre Dumas; "Fasma," 
 by Dall' Ongaro; "La Calomnie," by Scribe; 
 and "La Suonatrice d'Arpa," by Chiossone. 
 
 I need not say how much pleasure the 
 people of Alexandria took in these plays. 
 The Italian colony overwhelmed me with 
 generous demonstrations, and the Boat Club 
 invited me to name after myself a new ac- 
 quisition of their navy not, it is true, a 
 Duilio. After playing fourteen times in 
 Alexandria, we went to Cairo, and I lost no 
 
214 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 time in visiting those tremendous monuments 
 the Pyramids, glorious and imposing relics of 
 a greatness the idea of which we cannot now 
 even conceive. 
 
 RECEPTION IN RUSSIA 
 
 AT the end of January I went back to 
 Italy, and was invited to go to Russia. I got 
 together fresh actors and actresses, and on 
 February 24, 1882, I presented myself on the 
 stage of the Maria Theater in St. Petersburg. 
 I thus passed quickly from a land of suffocat- 
 ing heat to one of bitter cold, but changes of 
 temperature have never affected me much. 
 I confess that when I first entered that em- 
 pire I had a vague apprehension, the cause 
 of which I did not fully explain to myself. 
 I had been invited by the Direction of the 
 Imperial Theaters, I came in the quality of 
 a foreign artist, and no harm could possi- 
 bly come to me ; nevertheless, after the vex- 
 ations inflicted by the customs officers at the 
 Russian frontier on the members of my com- 
 pany, an indescribable disgust developed in 
 my mind. My imagination is naturally fer- 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 215 
 
 vid, and in my fancy I saw the poor exiles in 
 Siberia, the knout administered in the public 
 streets to disrespectful subjects, the tortures 
 of the prisons, the summary confiscations of 
 the property of the suspected, the arrogance 
 of the soldiery, the extreme rigor of the laws, 
 the servile obsequiousness obligatory toward 
 the Czar, the despotism of the great, and the 
 extreme degradation of the humble ; and all 
 this seemed to me so dark as in fact to be 
 wholly black. The Nihilists had only a little 
 before laid their inexorable hand on their 
 prey, and all were still palpitating with the 
 tragic end of the Emperor Alexander II. 
 You can imagine how the Government stood 
 to its arms, and how the people constantly 
 trembled with dread. The theater was a per- 
 mitted and innocent distraction, and there, 
 freed from fear, and laying aside the pertur- 
 bation of politics, the public worked off its ex- 
 citement in clamorous enthusiasm, sometimes 
 to the point of disturbing the course of the 
 play and disconcerting the unlucky actor. I 
 have never had experience with a public so 
 systematically persistent in applause as the 
 Russian. After the artist has gone through 
 a very fatiguing part, and, panting, pros- 
 
2 i6 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 trated, in a bath of perspiration, hopes to 
 be able to retire to his room to rest, he is 
 obliged to stand for a full half-hour, exhausted 
 and perspiring as he is, to receive the inter- 
 minable ovations of the people ; and he must 
 go before the curtain fifteen, twenty, or even 
 thirty times. Not content with that, they 
 wait for you at the door, no matter how long 
 you take to dress, and stand in lines for you 
 to pass between, begging a look or a touch 
 of your hand ; and if you live so near by as 
 not to need a carriage, they accompany you 
 on foot to the door of your lodgings, with 
 open manifestations of sympathy. The Rus- 
 sian is courteous, hospitable, liberal to the 
 actor; but, like all those whose enthusiasm 
 exceeds due bounds, he forgets easily. 
 
 There have been but very few native artists 
 of celebrity. On the other hand, the Imperial 
 companies, which play only in St. Petersburg 
 and Moscow, are meritorious, and distin- 
 guished for the smoothness of their represen- 
 tations. In the secondary cities the artistic 
 contingent is of wretched quality, and may 
 be compared with the lowest ranks of our 
 own the so-called guitti; but the Rus- 
 sian public, particularly in the provinces, is 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 217 
 
 amiable, tolerant, and ready, for the sake of 
 amusement of any kind, to accept an alloy for 
 the pure metal. I made twenty appearances 
 at St. Petersburg in thirty-eight days, and 
 then went to Moscow, where I gave eleven 
 more performances. At Moscow the public 
 seemed to be much calmer, and, moreover, 
 our houses were much better. In both cities 
 splendid gifts were made me, which I pre- 
 serve as pleasant remembrances of an enjoy- 
 able experience. By the end of April, 1882, 
 I was again resting in Florence. 
 
 STUDY OF "KING LEAR" 
 
 AFTER having given due attention to the 
 interests of my family, and fulfilled my social 
 obligations, I employed my time in polishing 
 my study of Shakspere's King Lear, and 
 overcoming some difficulties which that 
 character presented to me, with the in- 
 tention of bringing it out in the United 
 States, whither I had arranged to go in the 
 beginning of October. My work on that 
 day preoccupied me greatly, and although I 
 had brought it out in a preliminary appear- 
 
218 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 ance at the Teatro Salvini, and it had been 
 well received by public and press, I did not 
 feel entirely satisfied with myself, and I pro- 
 posed to combat my difficulties deliberately 
 and seriously. I wished to find the way to 
 make some scenes more effective, while main- 
 taining the character in its proper relations. 
 It was necessary to devise means for produc- 
 ing effects with auxiliaries different from 
 those to which I had been accustomed, to 
 move and interest the audience by creating 
 new combinations and contrasts, and by con- 
 juring up a type of sentiment in accord with 
 the character and the age of that grandiose 
 personage. I do not know whether I was suc- 
 cessful, but the greeting of the public gave 
 me assurance that I made at least some ap- 
 proach to my object. I was thus provided 
 with a new play for my third venture in the 
 United States. 
 
 I played 109 times in this season as against 
 95 the time before ; moreover, the last six- 
 teen representations of the " Morte Civile " 
 were most lucrative, since I gave them in 
 company with the famous actress Clara 
 Morris. It is right that I should pay a 
 merited tribute to this excellent actress; for 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 219 
 
 one could not wish for a better interpreter 
 of the part of Rosalia in the drama I have 
 named. This season was also more brilliant 
 than the one before it, because the rumor had 
 spread that I would not come again to North 
 America a baseless and absurd rumor, since 
 the financial results were rather such as to 
 encourage me to cross the ocean again, as in 
 fact they did. The public was, however, so 
 fully persuaded of the sincerity of my alleged 
 resolution, that several gentlemen associated 
 themselves to offer me a banquet at the 
 Hotel Brunswick, at which all classes of New 
 York society were represented. The distin- 
 guished German actor Barnay, who was then 
 in New York, came to the banquet after his 
 play, and made a speech full of kindly enco- 
 mium, which aroused sincere enthusiasm. 
 
 I again recrossed the ocean, not to rest, as 
 I might perhaps have been excused for doing, 
 after so many and continuous fatigues, but 
 to study the part of Coriolanus in proof of 
 my unwearied love of my art, which I have 
 always looked upon as my second mother. 
 If in the vicissitudes of my life I had not had 
 this recourse, I do not know what would 
 have become of me. Art has always received 
 
220 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 me, restored me, protected me ; and if it has 
 not been able to make me forget my mis- 
 fortunes altogether, it has mitigated them. 
 I owe to it my moments of comfort, satisfac- 
 tion, and joy, and now that I am constrained 
 to abandon it, I do not weep, for I have 
 never been weak ; but my heart feels the 
 sting of bitterness. 
 
 While I was occupying myself with the 
 character of that impetuous but valorous war- 
 rior, it was proposed to me to go to Rome and 
 Trieste, and to play a few times in Florence. 
 My fellow-citizens never evinced more affec- 
 tion and admiration for me than upon this oc- 
 casion. At Rome my nine appearances were 
 greeted with hearty interest and enthusiasm. 
 At Florence the theater was never large 
 enough to receive those who wished to secure 
 entrance, and at Trieste I was overwhelmed 
 with ovations. The same company went 
 with me for a season at Covent Garden, Lon- 
 don. The time of the year was not propi- 
 tious. At the end of February there were 
 very thick fogs accompanying a humid and 
 cold atmosphere, and the heating arrange- 
 ments of the theater were so defective that 
 it seemed like playing in an ice-house. I 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 221 
 
 remember that on the night when I played 
 the " Gladiator," in the fourth act, when I 
 had to fight in the arena with nothing but 
 silken tights on my body, before I went on 
 my teeth chattered with cold. At the end 
 of that very fatiguing act the perspiration 
 rolled from me as in a Turkish bath, and 
 when I reached my dressing-room a heavy 
 chill came over me, from the effects of which 
 I suffered long. The audience sat in their 
 overcoats and furs, the men with their collars 
 turned up, and the women with their heads 
 wrapped in shawls and hoods. Our season 
 had opened with excellent promise, but what- 
 ever may have been the public's love for the 
 theater, many were constrained to stay away 
 in such weather for fear of illness. I made 
 urgent complaints to my impresario, but the 
 evil was irremediable. After twenty-one 
 nights of " Othello," "King Lear," " Mac- 
 beth," the " Gladiator," and " Hamlet," we 
 proceeded to Edinburgh, and the weather 
 having become milder, our business again 
 rose to its regular level. Our tour included 
 the cities of Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, 
 Birmingham, Brighton, and Dublin, and closed 
 with a farewell representation of " Othello " 
 in London. 
 
222 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 " CORIOLANUS 
 
 IT being out of the question to remain in 
 London, the only city in which a summer 
 season is possible, I proposed to my company 
 that they should continue at my disposition 
 at half salary from the end of May until 
 November i of that year (1884), proposing 
 again to go on the road at the latter date. 
 They agreed; and on November 4 we began 
 a series of nine representations at Naples, 
 whence we went to Messina, Palermo, and 
 Catania, and thus I ended the year, resolved 
 to confine myself for the immediate future to 
 the study of the banished and vindictive hero 
 Coriolanus. I felt that I could divine that 
 character, which resembled my own in some 
 ways not, certainly, in his warlike exploits, 
 but in his susceptibility, in his spurning of 
 the arrogance and insolent pretensions of the 
 ignorant masses, and, above all, in his filial 
 submissiveness and affection. Unfortunately, 
 I was not able to submit the results of this 
 study to the judgment of the Italian public, 
 as I have done with all my others, since it 
 demands too costly a stage setting, and it was 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 223 
 
 impossible to secure in the great number of as- 
 sistants that artistic discipline without which 
 the grandiose easily merges in the ridiculous. 
 I regretted this much, as my compatriots 
 would have given me an unbiased and intel- 
 lectual judgment of the work; but for the rea- 
 sons I have stated I reconciled myself to giv- 
 ing it for the first time at the Metropolitan 
 Opera House in New York, where, indeed, 
 nothing was lacking for an admirable setting 
 of the tragedy. This, as my reader will not 
 need to be told, was the fourth time that I 
 went before the American public, on three of 
 which times I was supported by an English- 
 speaking company. 
 
 The close of my artistic career approaches, 
 and with it the end of the anecdotes with 
 which it has been diversified. The chief 
 object of these memoirs is to make it known 
 to any one whom it may aid how a young 
 man, without inherited resources, and con- 
 strained to look out for himself from very 
 early years, can, by upright conduct, firm res- 
 olution, and assiduous effort, acquire in time 
 some renown, and the means for enjoying the 
 comforts of life in his old age without be- 
 ing dependent on anybody. Those who meet 
 
224 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 with misfortune owing to too little applica- 
 tion to study, or to pretensions out of pro- 
 portion to their deserts, deserve indulgence 
 indeed, but not compassion. If my example 
 can be of utility to those who are born with 
 artistic instincts, I shall have the reward for 
 which I hoped in undertaking this sketch of 
 my life. Moralizing is now out of fashion, 
 but an example still receives attention, and 
 may be of service. Art is pure, loyal, honor- 
 able, uncontaminated. Through these virtues 
 it exacts, commands, imposes morality upon 
 whomsoever places himself under its aegis, 
 and it rejects, condemns, and punishes him 
 who fails to respect it. It is for this reason 
 that great artists, with rare exceptions, are 
 moral and honorable. 
 
 A LUDICROUS APPEARANCE IN KHARKOV 
 
 BEFORE telling of my fourth visit to North 
 America, I must narrate a rather strange ex- 
 perience which I had in the spring of 1885. 
 A lady (I say lady to distinguish the sex) 
 made me an offer to play in Little Russia 
 with native actors. My knowledge of all 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 225 
 
 foreign languages is extremely limited, but 
 of Russian I do not know a single word. I 
 informed my would-be impresario of this dif- 
 ficulty, and she diminished my hesitation by 
 writing me that Italian was more or less 
 familiar to all in those regions, and particu- 
 larly at Kharkov, where there is a university, 
 and that the actors would do their best to 
 cooperate with me; and she added that she 
 would provide two prompters speaking the 
 two languages. Persistence sometimes over- 
 comes even avarice, and I allowed myself to be 
 seduced by her pressing arguments. I went 
 to Kharkov, where the company was as- 
 sembled, and I was scandalized to behold a 
 theater entirely of wood, old, ruinous, and 
 littered with the dirt of a century, which was 
 enough to make me shiver. The actors, 
 except the leading lady, who could recognize 
 French by sight, did not understand a word 
 outside of their own tongue; there were 
 indeed two prompters, but the Russian knew 
 no Italian, and the Italian no Russian. At the 
 rehearsals the two prompters made a conven- 
 tional sign to each other to call the attention 
 of the one upon whom it was incumbent to 
 speak. The actors, who were Russian pro- 
 
226 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 vincials, seemed not to be in the habit of 
 committing their parts to memory, for even 
 at the last rehearsal which I made with them, 
 they were not sure of their lines. The un- 
 happy prompter had to repeat a phrase two 
 and three times to get the actor to take it, 
 and you can imagine what smoothness this 
 system produced in the representation. I am 
 naturally patient, and I sought to inculcate 
 into this band of mountebanks the advantages 
 of more study, more exactness, more atten- 
 tion, and I sought to furnish them with an 
 example by never giving the Italian prompter 
 occasion to speak; but it profited nothing. 
 The public representation began, and the 
 audience, accustomed to that system of acting, 
 was not at all disturbed by it, but seemed to 
 look upon it as a surprising phenomenon that, 
 while the murmur of the prompter formed a 
 constant accompaniment to the words of the 
 other actors, when I spoke the murmur ceased. 
 It seemed, too, that little attention was given 
 to exactness in costume, for I noticed that 
 Brabantio in " Othello" wore short breeches 
 and shoes with buckles, like a priest. In 
 the "Gladiator," instead of tunic and toga, 
 the lover came on the stage in trunk-hose 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 227 
 
 and short Spanish cloak of the time of Philip 
 II. You can picture to yourself what the 
 scenery, furniture, and accessories must have 
 been. But the people did not complain, and 
 did not even criticize. In their eyes every- 
 thing was admirable, and they gave vent to 
 the most exaggerated enthusiasm. During 
 the rehearsals the prompters occupied stools, 
 one on each side of the stage, but during the 
 public performances both crowded into the 
 little prompter's box, which was covered with 
 a hood of pasteboard. On the first night I 
 was so much preoccupied that I thought of 
 nothing that did not concern the course of the 
 play itself, but on the second I noticed those 
 two unfortunates wedged in together, simply 
 melting with perspiration, each with one arm 
 out of the box holding the book of the play, 
 and nudging each other at intervals to indi- 
 cate whose turn it was to prompt; and, think- 
 ing of the Siamese twins, such an impulse to 
 laugh came upon me that with difficulty I 
 avoided making a scandal. 
 
 The University of Kharkov is large and of 
 much importance, and, as was natural, the 
 audiences were made up in large part of stu- 
 dents. Every one knows the characteristics of 
 
228 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 that picked class of society, marked by energy, 
 enthusiasm, goodness of heart, and generous 
 tendencies, compounded with thoughtless- 
 ness and disorder. Especially in Russia, 
 where the students are held in check by 
 a rigorous Government, which suppresses 
 every liberal aspiration, whenever an oppor- 
 tunity offers to give rein to excitement, the 
 reaction follows, and unbridled demonstra- 
 tions break out. I refer to this because one 
 night I had experience of the consequences 
 of this condition. I do not remember what 
 the play was, but when I came out of the 
 theater I found a real mob waiting for me, 
 and with deafening shouts they lifted me in 
 the air and carried me above their heads like 
 a balloon to my carriage, into which they 
 threw me as if I were a rubber ball. I may 
 remark that I weigh 250 pounds! As soon 
 as I felt myself freed from their clutches, I 
 shouted, " Whip up, driver ! " and the horses 
 broke into a trot; but the crowd ran be- 
 hind the carriage shouting and clamoring, 
 and from time to time I caught the words 
 " Un souvenir!" It was not easy for me 
 to satisfy them at that moment, but a happy 
 idea came to me. When I reached my hotel 
 I remembered that I had in my portfolio a 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 229 
 
 number of visiting-cards. I took them all and 
 threw them into the most fervent group of 
 manifesters, and while these were busy pick- 
 ing up the cards, I had time to get out of my 
 carriage and rush into the hotel, happy in my 
 deliverance. The Russians are most lavish 
 in their gifts, and I brought away many as 
 remembrances of those regions, which I have 
 not seen since. At Saratov and at Taganrog 
 there was no lack of demonstrations ; but as 
 there were no students, enthusiasm did not 
 become dangerous to life, as in Kharkov. 
 We were to have gone on to Kazan, but the 
 manager thought it good to pocket all the 
 receipts, and to omit to pay the actors, who 
 justly refused to keep on under these con- 
 ditions. I gave a performance for their bene- 
 fit, and took my departure, leaving that 
 management of little faith the richer by sev- 
 eral thousands of francs on my account also, 
 but very glad, nevertheless, to get away 
 from it. 
 
 MISFORTUNES IN CALIFORNIA 
 
 FROM my journey to Russia I returned 
 to Florence, to await the time of going to 
 the United States, where the season opened, 
 
 15- 
 
230 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 as usual, in the month of October. My first 
 performances were in the new Metropolitan 
 Opera House. There I first produced " Cori- 
 olanus," and I was so happy as to meet with 
 a flattering reception. After the usual tour 
 through the chief cities, in February, 1886, 
 we went to California. The weather was un- 
 usually severe. Along the line beyond Den- 
 ver was erected an immense penthouse of 
 wood, many miles long, to carry over the 
 tracks the frequent avalanches from the 
 mountains above. To admire this Titanic 
 work I went out on the platform of my car 
 before we reached the entrance of the snow- 
 shed, and for more than half an hour I was 
 compelled to breathe the damp cloud of smoke 
 and steam, which was shut in by the shed 
 and could not escape. I say I was forced to 
 breathe it, because in the darkness and the 
 dazed feeling produced by the dense and 
 black atmosphere, and the undulation of the 
 swiftly running train, I was afraid to move for 
 fear of falling on the rails. When we shot 
 out into the light I was as drenched as if I 
 had been ducked in a well, and I believe it is 
 to this that I owe the complete loss of my 
 voice after our first two or three performances 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 231 
 
 in San Francisco, a thing which in my 
 whole career had never happened to me 
 before. It was a most provoking accident. 
 Everything promised us at the outset a splen- 
 did financial success, my artistic success 
 was won already, when the sudden closing 
 of the theater, the uncertainty of the people 
 whether I could go on again, and the con- 
 temporaneous appearance of several new at- 
 tractions, all united to divert the public from 
 us, and we passed a week of interrupted 
 profit and unlooked-for loss. I tried the 
 most heroic and disagreeable remedies, but 
 the disease would not be turned from its 
 course, and we had to wait until my vocal 
 organs could resume their sonority. While I 
 lay in bed trying to get well, out of spirits, 
 cross, and worried, not only for my own loss, 
 but for that of my manager, a telegraphic 
 despatch came from Florence to aggravate 
 my trouble and grieve me sorely. My bro- 
 ther Alessandro was dead. This sad news 
 pained and depressed me so greatly that 
 when I returned to the stage, not fully cured, 
 and afflicted by my sudden loss, the public 
 could not have formed a very favorable 
 opinion of my artistic merit. Certainly I was 
 
232 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 not in condition to make the most of what I 
 may have had. 
 
 PLAYING WITH BOOTH 
 
 FROM California we returned to New 
 York, where I had an offer to play for three 
 weeks with the famous artist Edwin Booth, 
 to give three performances of ''Othello" a 
 week, with Booth as lago and me as Othello. 
 The cities selected were New York, Philadel- 
 phia, and Boston. As the managers had to 
 hire the theaters by the week, they proposed 
 that we should give "Hamlet" as a fourth 
 performance, with Booth as Hamlet and me 
 as the Ghost. I accepted with the greatest 
 pleasure, flattered to be associated with so 
 distinguished and sympathetic an artist. I 
 cannot find epithets to characterize those 
 twelve performances ! The word " extraor- 
 dinary" is not enough, nor is "splendid"; 
 I will call them "unique," for I do not be- 
 lieve that any similar combination has ever 
 aroused such interest in North America. To 
 give some idea of it, I will say that the re- 
 ceipts for the twelve performances were 
 $43,500, an average of $3,625 a night. In 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 233 
 
 Italy such receipts would be something phe- 
 nomenal ; in America they were very satis- 
 factory. During this time I came to know 
 Booth, and I found in him every quality that 
 can characterize a gentleman. The affability 
 and modesty of his manners rendered him 
 justly loved and esteemed, not only by his 
 countrymen, but by all who had the fortune 
 to make his acquaintance. For the perform- 
 ances I have described, the best-known artists 
 who were then free were engaged ; and my 
 son Alessandro played Cassia in " Othello" 
 and Laertes in " Hamlet" with honor to him- 
 self, as he had also played with credit in more 
 important parts in the course of my tour. 
 This still youthful actor was endowed by na- 
 ture with the gift of easily acquiring north- 
 ern idioms. He was educated in German 
 Switzerland, and had made a thorough study 
 of German, which rendered the acquisition 
 of English easy for him. I had sought to 
 influence him in any other direction than 
 that of the stage, but in a few months he ven- 
 tured to present himself before the New 
 York public in a lover's part, in English, be- 
 side that able actress Clara Morris, and the 
 verdict was encouraging. By degrees he 
 
234 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 mastered the English language to such a de- 
 gree that it could not be perceived that he 
 was a foreigner. Nature bestowed upon this 
 youth the material of an actor. He has a 
 good presence, a fine voice, a vivid imagina- 
 tion, and a natural adaptability to diverse 
 characters. In my opinion those best suited 
 to him are the virile and energetic ; in the 
 languid, amorous, and sentimental he does 
 not seem to me so successful. 
 
 FIFTH VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES 
 
 IN 1889 I accepted a fifth engagement for 
 North America. The actor's life in North 
 America can be summed up in three words, 
 " Theater, railroad, hotel." Very few are the 
 cities in which a stop of two or three weeks is 
 made. Away from the large centers, some- 
 times theater and town are changed every 
 night, with the intervening weariness of 
 packing and of sleeping-cars. And in addi- 
 tion there is the infliction of the reporters, to 
 which you must submit, the thousands of 
 autographs from which there is no relief, and 
 the admirers who persecute you. As you 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 235 
 
 can imagine, at the end of such a season of 
 seven months the actor is very eager to tear 
 this shirt of Nessus from his back. But with 
 all that, if I had been ten years younger I 
 should have returned thither ten times more. 
 One can endure in America what would not 
 be endurable in Europe, and especially in 
 Italy. I do not know whether this is due to 
 the air, or to the material comforts of life, 
 or whether it is that the example of industry 
 animates, fortifies, and spurs one on : but it is 
 certain that so continuous a strain in Europe 
 would prostrate a man in a single year, while 
 in America, one undergoes it with resigna- 
 tion and resists it with courage. I will not 
 deny that the anticipation of a satisfactory 
 profit had some influence in maintaining my 
 vitality, although my strongest incitement 
 came from knowing that I was appreciated 
 and loved. 
 
 "SAMSON" 
 
 IN October, 1889, then, I found myself 
 again in North America, and I began again 
 the life which I have described. This time, 
 too, I was fortunate in the choice of a play 
 
236 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 which I had already given in the United 
 States during my first visit in 1873 with 
 the Italian company. After seventeen years 
 1 'Samson" could be called new to the audi- 
 ences who saw it. This play was put on 
 the stage as a great spectacle. Scenery, 
 furniture, costumes, accessories, all were 
 made new for the occasion. The fall of the 
 temple of Dagon was presented with so 
 much realism that I feared every night that 
 I should be crushed under one of those 
 enormous blocks which fell on all sides of 
 me. My son Alessandro had the stage man- 
 agement, and he took diligent precautions 
 against a catastrophe. Nevertheless, one 
 night a block of cornice rebounded, and gave 
 me a bruise on the leg which lasted for 
 several days. I was fortunate in having in 
 the actress who played Delilah a most effi- 
 cient coadjutress in the great success of that 
 tragedy. During seven consecutive months 
 I gave only three plays fl Othello," "Sam- 
 son," and the "Gladiator," except that in the 
 last month I added the "Morte Civile," to be 
 able to take a little breath, and played it 
 as a rest. I gave "Othello" thirty-six times, 
 "Samson" thirty-five, the "Gladiator" 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 237 
 
 twenty, and the " Morte Civile" twelve, in 
 all one hundred and three performances, all 
 requiring great expenditure of force. I need 
 hardly say that, as always, the public showed 
 me appreciation beyond my deserts. 
 
 I realized, however, that I should not have 
 the courage to make a sixth appearance in 
 America under those inexorable conditions, 
 and I resolved to announce my farewell to the 
 American people in the papers, with expres- 
 sion of my regret at taking my leave of them 
 for the last time. No one would believe my 
 declaration. People adduced the example of 
 other artists, who have used this means to 
 swell their audiences; but to the honor of 
 truth I can say that I never was under the 
 necessity of having recourse to so puerile a 
 subterfuge. I was induced to say adieu to 
 the United States by my fear of being no 
 longer able to answer their expectation, for it 
 had cost me too much to hide the extreme fa- 
 tigue consequent on my performances during 
 the season just expired. In former years, 
 owing to my exuberant strength, every effort 
 came spontaneously; now I felt that, to attain 
 the same effects, I must make a greater ex- 
 penditure of energy. As I left that hospita- 
 
238 LEAVES FROM THE 
 
 able land behind, and saw the great Statue of 
 Liberty fade gradually from my sight, I felt a 
 pang in my soul, and if my eyes were dry, my 
 heart wept. I made a salute to that country 
 whose people are so full of vigor, industry, 
 and courage, and lack neither culture, nor 
 understanding, nor feeling. May the United 
 States receive the salutation of a humble 
 artist, who while his heart beats will feel for 
 that nation respect and love! 
 
 In returning to Europe the thought con- 
 soled me that I left in the land of Wash- 
 ington an offshoot of my blood. My son 
 Alessandro loves the United States as I do, 
 and can henceforth call himself half Ameri- 
 can ; and I am sure that with industry and 
 unflinching will, besides winning general es- 
 timation for himself, he will keep alive be- 
 yond the ocean a sympathetic memory of me. 
 In the mean time, thank God, he represents 
 me worthily, and through him my name is 
 still heard in America. 
 
 IAGO 
 
 IN 1890-91 Andrea Maggi's company was 
 at the Teatro Niccolini in Florence for the 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 239 
 
 carnival season. Maggi had played the part 
 of Othello in other cities, and every condition 
 seemed to favor my taking that of lago in 
 that theater, one of those of the highest re- 
 pute in Italy. I accepted, and set to work to 
 study, not the character, which was already 
 impressed on my mind, but the mechanism 
 of the words, a thing which for some little 
 time had become difficult for me, owing to 
 a defect of memory. It was much harder for 
 me to commit exactly to memory the precise 
 lines of the part of lago than to form a con- 
 ception of the personage and to study out the 
 effects. As to the last, the best way to arrive 
 at many is to seek for none. This is not the 
 place to make an analysis of the character ; I 
 will only say that every one looks at it in his 
 own way, and that I have already published 
 my view of it. The " actor of the classic 
 school," as some impressionists call me, aimed 
 to present an example of naturalness in de- 
 livery, while bringing into relief the poetic 
 beauties of the part, and to effect this so that 
 the verse form should not obscure truth ; and 
 it is said that success was not lacking. 
 With this interpretation I completed my tril- 
 ogy of parts of the second rank, the others 
 being Lanciotto in " Francesca da Rimini " 
 
240 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO SALVINI 
 
 and Py lades in " Oreste " ; and it was my 
 purpose with these to demonstrate that even 
 in an inferior part it is entirely possible to 
 win the consideration of the public. 
 
 It has always been my aim to overcome 
 the difficulties of my profession. The more 
 difficult a thing has seemed, the more firmly 
 I have set my mind upon conquering it. Not 
 a few of the characters which I have played 
 in the course of my long career have aroused 
 bitter criticism, and yet have been well re- 
 ceived by the public because my interpreta- 
 tion has been found accurate. Others have 
 dated their success from some counsel of 
 mine, which was based on experience, and 
 for which the author has been grateful to me. 
 Has the collection of the masterworks of art 
 always found in me an interpreter of mirror- 
 like truth ? No, I say. I have sought to the 
 extent that my limited abilities have per- 
 mitted to penetrate to my author's ideal, but 
 I have the conscience to confess that I have 
 not always risen to the height of my own 
 conception. I have never had a more severe 
 critic than myself in matters pertaining to my 
 art. As I myself look at it, my sentiment 
 of blame is stronger than that of satisfaction. 
 
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