SIGNOR ROSSI, THE ITALIAN TRAGEDIAN.

Evening Star, Issue 4156, 23 June 1876, Page 3

SIGNOR ROSSI, THE ITALIAN TRAGEDIAN.

The * Court Journal' says:—As we are to have Rossi amongst us ere long, curiosity is natural as to all that concerns him. He ought to have been interviewed, but in lieu he is anecdoted, and here is an item from a correspondent :—The first time that Napoleon 111. saw Rossi on the stage he sent Dr Conneau off with orders to bring the " mighty tragedian " to him at once, and said to him: " Monsieur, I am not easily affected, but I own that in the last scene you singularly moved me. You must have made Desdemona suffer horribly when you buried your nails in her throat; her cries of agony were too natural." "Sire," replied Rossi, " the artistes who act with me are acaccustomed to sacrifice everything to their roles. It is possible that I bear a little heavily upon Desdemona's throat, but no one who has ever played her part has dared to tell me so." Rossi is in the plenitude of force and talent, and, singularly enough for an Italian, attributes his remarkable preservation to his cold morning bath, which no severity of season ever interferes with. Perhaps the very sober life he leads has as much to do with it as the cold bath. If his proposed visit to America comes to pass, he will certainly not be prevailed upon to take a single drink at the inevitable bar. ... At Oassale, during a farewell representation, the court society chattered so loudly as to interfere with the representation. Rossi, who was playing Hamlet, came to a full stop in the middle of a sentence, and turning towards a front box from which the greatest noise came, he bowed and said tranquilly—- " I shall hush as long as you do not hush." The public applauded, the interruption ceased, and the play went on, but afterwards Rossi was met at the door by one of the young gentlemen who felt called upon to ask for satisfaction. Rossi made a long face, for he was expected on the morrow at Milan. So he explained his situation to his bloodthirsty adversary, and begged that, in order to get through with their little affair as speedily as possible, they should go to his (Rossi's) rooms at the hotel and quietly shoot one another there. The proposition having been accepted, they went to Rossi's rooms, and had just placed themselves at either end of the salon in order to exchange three shots, when the innkeeper, over-anxious as to his guest's health and hours, knocked at the door (which he found locked) and asked ii nionsieur was ill, as his light burned so late. " No," replied Rossi, "1 am *o hed, thanks. Goodnight." " You ar* deceiving me," persisted his anxious keeper, perhaps enlightened as to the scene in the theatre; "you are certainly ill." -'Go to bed," replied Rossi; "I am putting out my light;" and in a lower tone he added to his antagonist, " This is the only way out of it. Blowout the candles!" "What! are we to fight with pistols in the dark?" "Not quite; we shall each smoke a cigarette, and that will serve to guide our aim." "All right." And bo the famous duel was fought, in which Rossi slightly wounded his adversary. .

Which is the nicest tree we know ?—You! |*WMoh is tie ugliest tree ?—The plane-tree. | "Which is the most sociable tree*—The teatree.

What trees keep order beßt ?—The birch and the elder. .-x '

What ig nothing ?—A footless stocking without a leg. Why is a small sword like beer ?—lt's no use till it's drawn. Tom who derived his pedigree from Noah, explained it in this manner " Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and one more."

Tom who derived his pedigree from Noah, explained it in this manner " Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and one more."