The Argosy — page 76: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Nero as a Musician. 63 Not only as a vocalist did he aspire to excel, but as an instru- mentalist as well, in which department of the art his endeavours were no less unremitting, and his success, perhaps, more certain. He could play the flute with the best virtuosos of his day, and was no mean performer on the trumpet. He was also a skilful lyre-player, and affected particular dexterity on the Assyrian harp, an instrument difficult to learn, and therefore only cultivated by the best masters of stringed instruments. His ambition to be regarded as the greatest musical celebrity of his age led him to undertake a “‘ starring” tou rthrough all the cities of Greece, in the course of which he sang at the Olympic and Pythian Games in public competition with all comers, and several times received the prize. ‘The Greeks, being more critical or less timid than his Roman subjects, were not so liberal of their applause as Nero could desire, and to correct their omissions in this particular he devised a c/aqueur system, which may well commend itself to aspirants for theatrical honours at the present day. It was on a gigantic scale. Five thousand c/agueurs were stationed in various parts of the theatre, and by many rehearsals were rendered proficient by giving three distinct kinds of applause (which were to chime in at certain parts of the libretto previously marked by the Emperor himself). The first order of applause consisted in isolated shouts of ‘f Bravo,” as if proceeding from the spontaneous admiration of separate individuals among the audience. ‘The second order was even more artfully contrived, for it consisted in starting applause, and then as suddenly repressing it, then allowing it to break out anew, but again restraining it; for which purpose certain contingents of clagueurs were told off, who were called ‘‘ the cold water men,” whose duty it was to hush by hisses and expostulations the incipient clapping and stamping of their fellows. This device of Nero’s must certainly receive the credit of origi- nality, and went further than anything else towards achieving him his theatrical triumphs; for there were few among the audience who suspected the very hissers of partisanship, and often, in anger at the apparition of the latter, they would take up the applause themselves, when it was the cue of the “cold water men” at once to subside. The third order of plaudit was the vulgar and ordinary one of indis- criminate and loud applause from all the clagueurs alike; but this was not so commonly employed as the other two, being too coarse and patent not to arouse suspicion. Such are some of the stories that have come down to us regarding the Emperor Nero, in his singular and little known role of player and musician. Nothing in his life became him like the leaving of it; and had his love of art been mere affectation, it would scarcely have shown in those few terrible moments that precede deliberate death. He was still singing and acting in the theatres of Greece, when the news reached him of the revolt of the Gallic legions, and of a wide- COnmnicbooks (SO) im