Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 8
1839-02-18
Still dull and cloudy. Division as usual. Evening to the Theatre.
This gloomy weather continues long. At the Office not having any other definite occupation, I made an overturn in my collections of old papers and began to destroy with very little mercy. Home where I continued Antigone. I felt extraordinarily unwell all day and began to apprehend being taken sick but as I fasted, towards evening grew better.
Went to the Theatre to hear a play called “Il Giovanni” being an English hash of Mozart’s music. Mrs. Bailey sung as Zerlina.1 But nothing could well be poorer. This piece I had always expressed a great wish to hear, never having had an opportunity, but either this gives no 191sort of idea of it or I should not like it. Returned home much disappointed and resolved not to go to the Theatre again with such performances.
At the Tremont Theatre, Mrs. Bailey, the former Charlotte Watson, also sang the principal role in the comic afterpiece “Pet of the Petticoats.” In “Il Giovanni,” Joseph Pearson was Don Octavio and Miss Morgan was Donna Leonora (Boston Evening Transcript, 18 Feb., p. 3, col. 2). “Il Giovanni” may have been the extravaganza titled “Giovanni in London,” which was introduced in New York in 1827 and was popular for many years (Odell, Annals N.Y. Stage
, 3:246).