Birch-tree, 3,900 fr.; Spring Flowers, 2,000 fr. Total of the first day's sale, 206,450 fr. Second day's sale:-Farm-yard, night, 14,000 fr.; Labourers, 10,100 fr.; Plain of Barbizon, snow effect, 9,100 fr.; Thrashing Wheat, Lower Normandy, 13,100 fr.; Stacks and Flock of Sheep in the Plain of Barbizon, 7,300 fr.; Vinedresser asleep, 6,000 fr.; Reapers' Noonday Nap, 6,450 fr.; Shepherdess bringing home her Flock, 6,050 fr.; Peasant's Garden, 6,000 fr.; Shepherdess and her Flock, sunset, 5,700 fr.; Newborn Lamb, 6,500 fr.; Shepherdess knitting as she drives her Flock, 6,220 fr.; Path through the Corn-fields, mid-day effect, 3,700 fr. ; The Child's first Attempts to Walk, 4,000 fr.; The Sick Child, 4,500 fr.; Sunset on a Plain, 4,850 fr.; Young Shepherdess seated on a Stile, 4,100 fr.; Peasant-girl of Auvergne watching over her Flock of Goats, 4,500 fr. Total of the second day's sale, 224,740 fr.

THE collection of pictures formed by Mr. Woolner, the sculptor-chiefly of deceased masters of the English school-was sold by Messrs. Christie and Manson on Saturday. There were one hundred and forty-one pictures, but to many of these no great value was attached. We append the prices obtained by some of the principal works. The sale commenced with the disposal of some minor works by F. Wheatley, Samuel Scott, W. Marlow, Paul Sandby, Sir Augustus Calcott, and others. The first figure of importance reached was by the sale of John Crome's Old Cottage for 140 guineas, and this was followed by Storm Coming, Mousehold Heath-the same master150 gs. Both these pictures were etched by the artist. Ferdinand lured by Ariel, an early work of Mr. Millais-exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1850-fetched 300 gs., while another of about the same date, Isabella, realised 850 gs. J. M. W. Turner's Worcester-the subject engraved with variations, by Thomas Rothwell was knocked down at 400 gs. Bonington's An Old French Water Mill reached 300 gs. A Village in Normandy-one of the works of John Sell Cotman, lent to the International Exhibition of 1874-was knocked down for 135 gs. The same artist's Château in Normandy-shown at Burlington House this year-was sold for 275 gs.; while his Cave of Boscastle, Cornwall, much remarked at Burlington House this year for its great power in wave drawing, realised 550 gs. Bruges, on the Ostend River-a John Crome-sold for 280 gs.; Francis the First and his Sister, by Bonington, for 220 gs.; Turner's Neapolitan Fisher-girls surprised bathing by Moonlight for 500 gs.; and his Crichton Castle for 480 gs. Some works of John Linnell finished the sale, and for one of them-The Last Gleam before the Storm, exhibited in 1847 at the British Institution-the only remarkable price of the auction was obtained. It was knocked down at 2,500 gs. The collection brought a total of 8,2017.

NOTES AND NEWS.

WITH what avidity our countrymen in China seize upon subjects which recall their early life here, and remind them of the educational inheritance common to them and us, may be seen from a lecture delivered in January of this year at Shanghai, on "The Iliad and the recent Discoveries at Troy," by Mr. Edward C. Taintor. As a summary of what has been written in support of these discoveries, the lecture is an excellent performance. The other side receives less attention. It is disappointing also to see that the cue given by Burnout, who found one of Schliemann's inscriptions written in Chinese characters, is not followed up by the lecturer to any satisfactory degree. The levity with which he epitomises the story of the Iliad and partly of the Odyssey is not apparently natural, but has been forced for purpose of entertaining the audience. THE Times of India states that the Eighth Annual Fine Arts Exhibition will be held at

the

M. Cottier's report is not a mere dry document as such works usually are, but an interesting and thoughtful treatise on the character and tendencies of art at the present time, on the part that it plays in the life of the nation, and its possible development in the future. Art at the present day tends more and more to be cosmopolitan and international, and France occupies the first rank in this international art. In fact, says M. Cottier, "L'art aujourd'hui est partout l'art français répandu; on le retrouve non-seulement dans son esprit, mais dans sa forme, ses moyens et son faire." This is true, no doubt, to a certain extent, but not so widely as is stated by the French critic. England, for example, is still decidedly national in its art and owes little to Belgian thought in general, has not developed in French teaching, and modern Belgian art, unlike the schools of France, but has drawn its inspiration from its own intensely national life and art of olden times.

On the question of State aid in art education M. Cottier speaks with the authority of knowledge. The State cannot, he owns, create men of talent, but it is its duty" de tout faire pour y arriver." The argument that State education stifles individual genius and mediocrity, he considers unsound, for whenever an only produces original artist arises he is sure by the very nature of his originality to rise above the crowd in which ing to their great advantage the very institutions he is placed. Other countries are indeed imitatthat it is now the fashion in France to decry. "All epochs in our history," says M. Cottier at the conclusion of his report, "have had their impatient and discouraged spirits, but the posi

[JUNE 19, 1875.

tion that France has conquered at Vienna by her industrial and fine arts takes away all rightful ground for despairing of our country."

THE Gazette des Beaux Arts begins this month its critique on the Salon of 1875. It is written by M. Anatole de Montaiglon, who considers that in spite of a few fine works, that may be regarded as exceptions, "la moyenne du Salon n'est point élevée.' "Ce qui manque le plus," he says, "c'est l'intelligence, sans laquelle pourtant rien ne se fait de durable." The same want unfortuexhibitions. Everything is given us except just nately makes itself felt in most of our modern mind, without which no amount of dexterous painting will ever produce a great work. The the artists' sketches for their pictures, and an Salon article is as usual profusely illustrated with etching from Maillart's painting of Thetis arming Achilles is also bestowed. In the second article, Charles Blanc finishes his instructive discourse on the form of vases. In the third, an English humourist, namely, John Leech, is introduced to the French public. One would certainly have thought that such an introduction had taken place long ago, but M. Ernest Chesneau affirms that the name of John Leech, which has been almost a household word in English homes for the last quarter of a century, is scarcely known on the other side of the Channel. Several fac-similes from the Children of the Mobility are given in illustration of his artistic powers, and a long quotation from Taine's Notes on England, in which that eminent critic analyses minutely the Punch illustrations in which he finds reflected so many traits of our national character, is made to do duty instead of any original criticism on the part of the writer. The other articles of the number a sketch of Jules Jacquemart, under the head of "Les Graveurs Contemporains;" a third discourse on the "Tanagra Statuettes," by M. O. Rayet, and the half-yearly "Bulletin Bibliographique," very deficient, as usual, in its enumeration of English works on art.

are

MR. E. FROMENT has gained a third-class Salon medal for his wood-engravings that have appeared in the pages of the Graphic.

A CURIOUS old painting from the collection of Mr. George Ellis is at present being exhibited at the Leeds Exhibition. It represents with considerable skill and knowledge a party of Indians engaged in gold-washing in a pool. It is not known who painted the original, but an engraving of this subject by Theodore de Brug exists in an old Latin work entitled Historia Americae, published in Frankfort in 1560.

present time on the Swedish coast to recover the AN interesting attempt is being made at the cargo of an East Indiaman, which foundered near the fortress of Elfsborg in 1712. Thus far the nally successful, a large quantity of old Chinese diving operations are reported to have been sigporcelain having already been recovered in so perfect a condition that individual pieces have been eagerly sought for by collectors, and have realised high prices.

of the Virgin recently discovered at Touraine. It THE Louvre has bought for 12,000 fr. the statue is said to be a fine example of French art of the sixteenth century. The ancient vase also which we mentioned before as having been recently purchased by the Conservation des Antiques has been a great gain to the Louvre collection of antiques. It is now considered to be of pure Greek and not of Etruscan origin, and is without doubt a very fine and perfect example of its kind. It is at present exhibited in the salle of Hellenic antiquities formed in the galleries of Charles X.

factory of Venice is being revived by the Fratelli WE hear that the ancient brocade tapestry Agnino. This fabric claims to have existed prior to that of Lyons, and was at first patronised by the Doges for gifts to Eastern monarchs, at which time, it is said, 14,000 hands were employed. Some

of the stuffs were of extraordinary texture and beauty, but the secret of the rarest died with the inventors. It is now sought to recover some of its former splendour. Mr. Layard, minister at Madrid, has been one of the first to test the new manufacture, and has obtained a successful result to the order executed for him. The Princess Dolgorousky has also been supplied with a brocaded tapestry worthy of its past fame. Members of the royal house of Savoy are being furnished with some of its richest patterns. The cost ranges from twelve francs to one hundred francs the mètre.

The glass works of Venice and Murano are the most ancient manufactory extant. Those interested in the history of them will find it in the Monographia della Vetraria Venezia, 1874. They have uninterruptedly survived over the period of twelve centuries, before and since St. Benedict, who engaged Venetian artists to furnish the windows of Wearmouth Abbey, A.D. 674. In the fourteenth century this fabric roused the jealousy of France, and Parkes in his Essais de Chimique records that there was at that time such industrial activity in Murano as to create surprise throughout all Europe. In 1663 the Duke of Buckingham petitioned Charles II. for the renewal of a patent for making crystal lookingglasses, coach glasses, &c., which he claimed to have brought, after much expense in finding out the mystery, to as great perfection as those made in Venice, from whence, he said, they were then forbidden to be exported, unless wrought and polished. The small island of Burano was, in bygone times, celebrated for its lace work, which, when its exportation to France was prohibited, induced the minister Colbert to enforce the expatriation of a few lace-workers in order to introduce their lace-point in French manufacture. Hence originated the "point d'Alençon." Two benevolent ladies, the Princess Giovanelli and the Countess Marcello, have lately formed a scheme to revive this fabric for the benefit of their poorer countrywomen. An aged woman, the last of her craft, who had survived the manufacture, but remembered and still worked at the Burano lace, was found, and by the energy of these patronesses a school was soon formed. Sixty-seven hands were engaged, but only ten at a time could receive tuition from the infirm state of the instructress. A hundred girls are now waiting to be admitted to the school. The remuneration at present offered, however, does not appear to be tempting, as it takes 150 days of five working hours each to produce a single mètre by one workwoman, and her pay is but 50 centimes (about 5d.) per diem. The demand for the first specimens has been very great. The eminent engineer, Dr. Fambri, strongly recommends the development of this industry, were it only to save the secret of the art, as no kind of manufacture exists more capable of giving sustenance to thousands with very small capital.

THE Levant Herald announces that the Ottoman Museum of Antiquities at Constantinople has just made a valuable acquisition:

These

"Two life-size statues of Roman workmanship, which were lately found in Crete, and appropriated by the Government, arrived here the other day and have since been added to the collection in the church of St. Irene at Stamboul. According to Dr. Déthier, the director of the Museum, they are chiefly interesting as monuments of the moral and intellectual decadence into which the mass of the Roman people had fallen in the days of Nero. statues both represent females. A tolerably legible inscription on the pedestal of one of them labels the statue as that of Claudia, the daughter of Nero by his second wife Poppea, who, though she lived to the age of only four months, was raised by an imperial edict to the rank of a deity and was honoured with altars and temples. The sculptor has, however, represented his subject as a maiden seventeen or eighteen years of age, and has endowed her with an elaborate coiffure. The second statue is thought by the learned doctor to be intended for Poppea, the

wife of Nero; but the inscription on the pedestal no longer exists, having been erased probably during the period of reaction against the brutality of Nero which followed that monarch's sanguinary reign."

of another. He is Mrs. Harris in the flesh at last, after years of ghostly existence in the imagination of Mrs. Gamp. The other, half-unnecessary, characters are one Mrs. Loveden, a sentimental widow; her son, a raw young soldier, whom she would fain have married to the heroine; and one Miss Tarragon, an officer of moral police, on whom devolves the duty of seeing that her code of respectability is violated by no one. I say these characters have not much to do with the main action of the play. They are introduced to lighten it to be its comic element. But though fairly true and fairly amusing, they are not the results of profoundly humorous observation. The comic interest in the play is enough to raise a laughwe are thankful for most things in the way of wit but it is not equal to the serious.

The important action lies with four people: Mr. Vavasour and his daughter, and Mrs. Fitzroy and her son. And here we come to the story itself, which is the play's chief merit.

THE Deputy-Master of the Mint in his Fifth Annual Report traces briefly the phases through which medallic art has passed, in this and other countries, since the Middle Ages. Some beautifully-executed autotypes of medals, illustrative of the art at different periods, are annexed to his Report, the first of which is a Syracusan coin representing Philistis, wife of Hieron II. Medals do not appear in any European country before the fifteenth century, with the exception of the gold medals of David II., issued in Scotland between 1330 and 1370. In 1439 mention is made of a gold medal of the Council of Florence, and from that time the art began to flourish in Italy. The medals were at that time modelled in wax and cast in fine sand, and generally finished with the graving tool. An excellent example by Albrecht Dürer, bearing date 1508, is among the autotypes, Vavasour has lived in India, and made a forbut the most beautiful series is that of the Papal tune there. His wife is dead, and he had not medals, beginning with the pontificate of Paul II. been happy with her. He and his one child--a (1464); many of these were designed by Raffaelle, daughter-are now settled happily in an EngGiulio Romano, Francia, and Cellini. Next to lish village, where his generous disposition finds Italy, France was in the early days of the art most a vent in asking acquaintances unceremoniously remarkable for medals, but no very fine specimens to dine, and in giving to a group of disagreewere produced there before the reign of Louis XIV. able busybodies the key of his pleasure-garden. The oldest known English medal was struck in His kindness and indulgence to the tiresome 1480, and is the work of an Italian artist; but local people do not, however, blind him to very few others are met with until the reign of "metal more attractive," and when Mrs. Fitzroy Mary. One of this Queen herself by Trezzo is who had refused him twenty-three years since given in autotype in the Report. Many medals-passes through the village he gets her to redate from Elizabeth, the most remarkable one main upon a visit at his house, and finds her as being that commemorating the defeat of the fascinating as twenty years ago. Perhaps there Spanish Armada, which bore the device of a is some excuse for this, for she, losing youth, has fleet scattered by the winds, with the legend gained art. Moreover, Vavasour's daughter has "Afflavit Deus et dissipati sunt;' no specimen told him a secret: she is in love. Her lover, is, however, known to be in existence. The Christian Douglas, is a soldier, whom he does not artistic tastes of Charles I., and the works know. But the chances are there will be no executed for the Commonwealth by the great reason for opposing the marriage, and if not, medallist Thomas Simon, caused rapid advances Vavasour will be alone again. His feeling for Mrs. in the English art during the seventeenth cen- Fitzroy may, then, be indulged, and the first act tury. The victories of Marlborough were cele- closes on the indication of it. It is a pity there brated by some admirable medals. Since then the is nothing stronger with which to end the act style has tended towards a revival of Roman than the sight of the elderly Vavasour bending types, a recent instance being the Crimean war over Mrs. Fitzroy, while that accomplished woman medal, the reverse of which represents Victory renews her affection not, as with Horace's lovers, crowning a warrior equipped in Roman armour. by the enumeration of past loves, but by the The Napoleonic medals are pseudo-classic in de- warbling of a song which Mr. Hamilton Aïdé has sign, but generally creditable to French art. A composed for the occasion. large increase in the number of visitors to the Mint is to be noted, 5,064 last year as against 3,447 in 1873, the exhibition of the coins and medals belonging to the department being no doubt the extra attraction.

THE STAGE.

"A NINE DAYS' WONDER."

A Nine Days' Wonder-a new comedy by Mr. Hamilton Aïdé-was brought out at the Court Theatre on Saturday night, with every sign of success. That is all that some will care to know, but there are others of us who like to enquire, a little curiously, into the cause of the success, and how far the success is deserved.

There are eight characters in the piece, not including the inevitable man-servant, who in modern comedy can hardly be considered as more human than a dumb waiter. He exists for the purpose of announcing guests with dignity and bringing in letters with grace, but his human qualities are for but a machine. But if kept down very strictly in the most part suppressed. He is not a character, comedy, he takes his revenge by getting much too fully developed in farce. Farce deals with low life, and in that he is important: comedy, with gentle life, and in that he is nothing. There are eight characters, then, but of these one is entirely superfluous, and at least two others have no necessary influence on the main theme of the play. The obviously superfluous is Mr. Brown-the curatewho does nothing but echo and support the opinions

A weak beginning, this: fit only to be the end of a scene, and not the end of an act, but the merit of the story is that its interest increases until the very close. The second act developes a difficulty which only the last words of the third suffice to solve. Christian Douglas-Kate's lover-arrives in the village, and before his claims have been considered, or his character sifted, we are treated to the usual stage symptom of hospitalityVavasour insists on sending for his portmanteau. There are certain explanations to be made, however, before that portmanteau can with confidence be unpacked, and here is a good scene, between Vavasour and the younger man. Douglas is a poor man, but that does not matter. Douglas may possibly be illegitimate, but that is of small

account. Douglas is the son of a woman who deserted him: but so much the worse for Douglas. Douglas is the son of a blackleg, but so much the worse for his mother. Douglas's father was killed in a duel by the lover of his mother, but so much the worse for everyone concerned. Douglas, though poor, sends money to the mother who deserted him. He has told all this with admirable frankness. Douglas is a very fine young man, and he shall be the husband of Vavasour's child.

So all goes well, and we have had to deal with an exemplary would-be father-in-law, and Kate's happiness is assured. But before the act closes, Mrs. Fitzroy and Christian Douglas meet, and another difficulty than those which the young man had foreseen, rises before him. Mrs. Fitzroy is his mother. And here, of course, the interest deepens ;

66

the game is in the hands of these two, and the fortunes of Vavasour, the generous fellow, and Kate, the simple-minded girl, are practically to be decided by the action these will take. Mrs. Fitzroy, knowing only of her son's presence, but not of the cause of his presence, puts the case plainly to him, that he had better go away; for she, after a life of struggle, has come here to find "peace peace:" she, armed with a rouge-pot, and Mr. Hamilton Aïdé's song. In actual life the son, owing little to his mother, would probably have advanced his own claim; but in the drama, for the drama's purposes, he retires-unhappily forgetful of what his common honour owes to the girl-and he only stipulates that Vavasour shall not be kept in ignorance of the past of Mrs. Fitzroy. She kisses her son, and promises confession, and she keeps her promise. But what do you expect of Vavasour, of whose liberality you have already had occasion to judge? He forgives, of course, the faults of Mrs. Fitzroy's youth, in consideration of her charms, her gown, her rouge-pot, and Mr. Hamilton Aïdé's song.

But one of the busybodies has seen the kiss between the mother and son, and it is endeavoured to arouse Kate's jealousy. Thus it is that Mrs. Fitzroy learns at last what better love her love was standing between, and that Vavasour learns the relations of Mrs. Fitzroy and Christian Douglas. Mrs. Fitzroy yields: leaves the scene of struggle; and nothing becomes her, in her whole conduct at that place, like the leaving of it. She goes away to find "peace" after all, not in the echo of an old love, but in the knowledge of sacrifice. And Douglas and Kate are to be very happy, when the curtain falls.

Action rather forced, rather strained here and there-as, not very seriously, I have tried to indicate-but, on the whole, a successful play; and a success won, in the main, not by exceptional dialogue, nor exceptional character-sketching, but by the conception and development of a story with substance and interest, and by acting of a kind not common on the English stage. Mr. Aïdé is one of those novelists whom one would expect to be successful at the theatre. In his novels, as in his play, there is always a story to tell, and though this is not told with an exceptional writer's exceptional charm, it is told with what some people like much better-common clearness and definiteness-for Mr. Aïdé does not pause by the way in his novels there are no long descriptive passages without bearing on the story; and in his play, there is little dialogue without bearing on the plot. He is reticent of humour that has nothing to do with the action, and thus being without the fault is also, almost necessarily, without the merit of Mr. Albery.

The acting, as we hinted, may honestly be praised. To the secondary characters of Mrs. Loveden and Miss Tarragon, Mrs. Buckingham White and Mrs. Gaston Murray give all possible importance, without detracting from the importance of those who are meant to be more prominent: something of the mincing affectation which Mrs. Buckingham White found successful in School is brought by her, effectively, into her impersonation of the sentimental village gossip who divides her time between the inspection of other people's business and the praises of the gawky youth whom she would fain see married to Kate Vavasour. Mrs. Gaston Murray, on the other hand, is sharp and decisive, as Miss Tarragon. She upholds with a firm hand every virtue but charity.

Mrs. Kendal, as Mrs. Fitzroy, has a character with which pure comedy has nothing to do. There is nothing light in Mrs. Fitzroy; but Mrs. Kendal struggles to interest the audience in the woman's strange troubles and strange adventure, and putting strong work here and there into the part, she can hardly fail of success. But her delivery of such dialogue as falls to her before the scenes become emotional and exciting, is unnecessarily laboured and even artificial. She loses

no point, but, in this piece as sometimes before, fails to catch the quite easy spirit of everyday talk. But the moment stronger work is demanded of her, she is equal to the task. A face charged with the expression of changing anxieties-a voice seemingly clogged with feeling-and both these under the complete control of an intelligence on which no (6 necessary business of the play" is lost; it is with these means that Mrs. Kendal gains influence over her audience, and almost compels its sympathies where otherwise they would not be.

Miss Hollingshead's representation of Vavasour's daughter-for one thinks of it as a "representation" and not as a laboriously planned "performance"-is admirably natural and fresh. A little while since, Miss Hollingshead was a beginner, and criticism need not say of her, before its time, that she is an accomplished artist. She is not that, as yet; but of the ingénue of gentle life, she is rightly getting to be recognised as quite our pleasantest and best representative. Kate's lover Christian Douglas-is played by Mr. Kendal with his usual satisfactory care. Mr. Hare is, of course, Vavasour, and the performance is among his most complete. The last-that of the French nobleman in Lady Flora-though slight, was free from the faults of that which had preceded it: the present is, as far as it goes, a good thing, wholly. Though with no great profundity, and with no great elaboration, Mr. Hare realises for you this man's character: giving you not a type, but an individual. Into some of the scenes through which Vavasour passes more work might be put, but the sketch of character and manners is crisp and true. FREDERICK WEDMORE.

THE benefit performances which mark the close of the season at more than one principal theatre are announced. Mr. Irving's will take place on Friday and Saturday, July 2 and 3, at the Lyceum. He will on both occasions act Richelieu. Mr. Buckstone's benefit is announced for this day week (Saturday, June 26). A Fair Encounter, A Regular Fix and David Garrick will be the pieces performed, and Mr. Buckstone will, as usual, say a few words-hardly, this time, of congratulation on any artistic success of the seasonand Mr. Sims Reeves will as usual sing a couple of songs.

MR. ALBERY'S Spendthrift is destined for short life. The comedy, it is announced, will be performed for the last time, to-night, at the Olympic. On Monday the reserve force of the Ticket of Leave Man is to be brought into the field.

Patient Penelope-an early pleasant little burlesque of Mr. Burnand's-is played every evening at

the Strand.

MISS HELEN BARRY'S benefit was to take place last night at the Princess's, when she was to appear as Katherine in the Taming of the Shrew.

and employing actors of more than ordinary conA FIRST piece of more than usual importance, sequence, is played now every evening at the Court Theatre, before A Nine Days' Wonder. It is called Book the Third: Chapter the First, and bears obvious signs of a French origin. But it has been performed already, we are told, upon the English stage: nearly twenty years ago, at the Haymarket. The title has reference to a passage in a novel by Le Sage which a young woman, desiring to be rid of an importunate young man, found it desirable to recite to him at full length. The young woman is acted by Miss Fawsitt, and the young man by Mr. Clayton, and the excellent spirits apparently enjoyed by both these artists communicate themselves in some degree to the audience. Mr. Kelly, who made a hit as the dull peer in Lady Flora, is also included in the cast.

Giroflé-Girofla has been performed at the Criterion Theatre every night this week; La Filleule du Roi having been somewhat rapidly withdrawn.

THURSDAY last was the day fixed for the production, at the Théâtre Français, of M. Charles Monselet's L'Ilote, which we announced last week. The piece is specially destined for Mdlle. Reichemberg. The same night, in Les Femmes Savantes, Mdlle. Blanche Baretta-hitherto of the Odéon-was to make her first appearance in the Rue Richelieu. She leaves at the Odéon hardly one actress of any importance, if we except Mdlle. Hélène Petit, who was in London but a few weeks ago.

La Cagnotte has been revived at the Palais Royal.

THE time of year has come, in Paris, when many of the theatres fall back on insignificant long time, but which they are too wise to bring one-act pieces which they have had by them a be made by more important plays. Faithful to out in those winter evenings when fortunes are to the summer custom, the Gymnase has given two Clerh: two clever young men who arrived from little plays by the same authors-the brothers Lyons a week or so ago, with their pockets full of writings. La Galerie du Duc Adolphe-one enough to get represented-is hardly more than of these writings which they have been fortunate a means of exhibiting tableaux vivans. In this way many of the most popular pictures of the last few years have been placed before the public. Their other piece-Le Wagon 513-turns upon laughable to see, is not very amusing to tell. an adventure in a railway carriage, which, though Lesueur has filled the thing with comic effects, so that the brothers Clerh-with pockets less full of manuscript than when they came from Lyons -have reason to be thankful.

THE subject of giving afternoon performances at the Comédie Française is, it is said, under consideration.

Cinna was performed at the Théâtre Français on the occasion of the anniversary of the birth of Corneille. Considered by many to be the chef d'œuvre of the master, Cinna nevertheless appears to some to be unfitted for performance as a whole; but whatever can be done for it, to save it from neglect, is of course done at the Français. In the performance of last week, Maubant, Laroche, Dupont-Vernon, and Mdlle. Favart took part. Afterwards, Le Menteur was acted, with Delaunay, as usual, in the principal part.

THE great performance of the week at the Théâtre Français has been that of Alfred de Musset's On ne badine pas avec l'Amour: a revival talked of long beforehand, and sure for some time to continue a subject of interest. The piece was played, if we remember rightly, when the company of the Théâtre Français was in London; but then with the old cast. Half the interest of the representation of which we speak, in Paris, arose from the fact that Mdlle. Croizette was to replace Mdlle. Favart, and Thiron to replace Talbot. Opinions differ as to the result of the change, though they cannot differ as to a change being necessary: Mdlle. Favart, who used to play the part with much grace and an infinite variety of diction, having now become entirely unsuited to the character of Camille. In the performance of any piece by De Musset the delivery of dialogue is quite as important an affair as any play of face or gesture, and that is why Malle. Croizette, whose special characteristics are energy, fire, and aplomb, would not at first sight seem best fitted for the part of Camille. One wellknown critic, at all events, in duty bound, has suggested that the role should have been given to Malle. Sarah Bernhardt. But then, even of Mdlle. Sarah Bernhardt, it is possible to have too much. Croizette, acting throughout with her habitual insight into a part's requirements, nevertheless reserved her main effect for her final scene. Thiron's success, in the part of the foolish Baron, has been uncontested. Our readers may not be aware that the piece submits to several alterations before it is pronounced, in France, fit for the stage. It was not in the first place written for the stage. "On

y trouve "—even now says an accomplished critic, fully alive to its excellences and its charm

On y trouve beaucoup de décousu, et rien n'y est moins justifié que les entrées et les sorties. Or on sait que la règle des entrées et sorties a remplacé aujourd'hui l'ancienne et fameuse règle des trois unités, et les habiles vous prouveront par les raisonnemens les plus concluans qu'en dehors de cette règle il n'est pas de salut. Ils ont raison dans une certaine mesure, et la nouvelle règle me paraît beaucoup plus rationnelle que l'ancienne, quoiqu'elle procède d'une esthétique moins élevée. Malgré tout, il est certain que les pièces de Musset, quoique aussi mal construites que possible, à l'exception du Caprice qui rentre dans les conditions normales du théatre, ont généralement réussi à la scène. Cela tient visiblement à la beauté littéraire de la forme, à la pureté du dessin, au charme du coloris, a l'intensité de vie, au mouvement répandus dans l'œuvre entière."

THE Norwegian poet, Andreas Munch, has achieved what must be called an equivocal success with his long-expected drama, Fjeldsoen (the Mountain Lake), which has at last been brought out at the Royal Theatre of Copenhagen. P. Heise has added the charm of his exquisite music to what seems to be a rather tame, thin, and illconstructed story. The scene is laid in the south of Norway, and deals with peasant-life during the times when Christianity still strove with Paganism.

66

MUSIC.

LOHENGRIN AT HER MAJESTY'S OPERA. THE long-talked-of production of Lohengrin at Drury Lane took place last Saturday. The work itself was spoken of in such detail last month on the occasion of its first performance at Covent Garden that it is unnecessary to say much about it now; but a comparison of the rendering at the two houses presents several interesting points for comment, and it is to these that in the present notice we propose to direct the attention of our readers.

Speaking in general terms, it may be said that at Drury Lane the cast was in parts the stronger, while at Covent Garden the better ensemble was obtained. Exactly where the one company was strongest the other was in comparison weakest; the one, so to speak, supplemented the other; and could it have been possible to combine the best features of the two in one performance, an almost perfect rendering of Wagner's great work would have been the result.

The place of honour, in noticing last Saturday's performance, is certainly due to the Ortrud of Malle. Titiens. Though both dramatically and musically a part of great importance, the role is still so secondary to that of Elsa, that our greatest operatic singer would have been fully justified, had she chosen, in declining to "play second fiddle" to Mdme. Nilsson. With a self-abnegation as honourable to herself as it is unfortunately rare in her profession, Mdlle. Titiens accepted the subordinate part, and set a noble example by showing that she valued her art above self-glorification. The result, as might have been anticipated, was that the Ortrud was the great feature of the evening. It is only in the second act that the part has any prominence; and here Mdlle. Titiens was truly superb. The gloomy duet with Frederick, in which she was admirably supported by Signor Galassi, became in the hands of these two artists an absolute revelation; and in the scene with Elsa which follows, the lady showed herself equally great as an actress and a singer. The short solo Entweihte Götter," in which, after Elsa has withdrawn, Ortrud for a moment throws off the mask of hypocritical servility, and appears in her true colours, was given with a power which electrified the house. No finer performance than that of Mdlle. Titiens has ever, probably, been seen upon the stage.

The next best impersonation in the opera to the Ortrud was unquestionably the Frederick of Signor Galassi, which was not only excellently sung, but most admirably acted. Signor Galassi

deserves especial praise for avoiding the so common fault of acting to the foot-lights instead of to his partners on the stage. In such passages as the narrative to the King of Gottfried's disappearance in the first act, and in many parts of the great duet with Ortrud above referred to, nine actors out of ten would address themselves to the audience, and turn their back upon the other performers. Signor Galassi, on the contrary, never seemed for a moment to forget the character he was sustaining, and he may be assured that the connoisseurs among his hearers appreciated the dramatic truth of his acting all the more that he

made no concessions to them.

Of the Elsa of Mdme. Nilsson it is impossible to speak so highly. That the lady is a most finished vocalist no one will for a moment dispute, and as regards the singing her performance left absolutely nothing to desire; but her impersonation of the character will not for a moment compare with that of Malle. Albani at Covent Garden. The explanation may be given in one word hardly very flattering, perhaps, to the singer, but in our opinion the simple truth which ought to be told. There appears to be far too much selfconsciousness about her acting. We should be very sorry to do Mdme. Nilsson an injustice; but the impression produced on was that she thought more of the effect she was making than merely of the truthful presentation of the character. As an example of this may be mentioned the scene of the bridal procession in the second According to Wagner's minutely careful stage-directions, Elsa ought to come on the stage at the eighteenth bar of the music, and pass very slowly across to the cathedral, standing still from time to time while the chorus "Gesegnet soll sie schreiten" is being sung.

act.

us

As it was, Mdme. Nilsson never appeared on the stage till just at the conclusion of the chorus; and, as the absurd result, they were singing "Heaven bless her! how beautiful she looks!" when she was not in sight at all. In many Italian operas nonsense of this kind would be of no consequence; but it is other wise with Wagner, in which every note and every line has its dramatic significance. It is impossible not to suspect that Mdme. Nilsson did not choose to be on the stage unless she was singing or acting; but if so she certainly might with advantage have taken a lesson from Mdlle. Titiens, who in the first act has to be on the stage for three quarters of an hour without a word to say, and with nothing to do but to look fierce. It would be unjust, however, not to add that in the great duet with Lohengrin in the third act Mdme. Nilsson was most excellent. Here both acting and singing were superb; but on the whole her conception of Elsa failed to satisfy us.

Signor Campanini as Lohengrin sang better than Signor Nicolini, but did not act so well. If there was none of the supernatural element about the latter, there was (if the bull may be allowed) even less about the former. Fancy a Knight of the Holy Grail with an eternal smile on his face! On the other hand, Signor Campanini's singing of the part was charming. It was truly delightful to hear the sustained cantabile passages given without that wretched vibrato which is the bane of most of our public singers; and a better performance of Lohengrin's farewell to the Swan in the first act, and of such passages as the "Athmest du nicht mit mir die süssen Düfte " in the thirdto name but two out of many which might be instanced-could not be wished for.

As King Henry, Herr Behrens, though at times somewhat rough, was very satisfactory-an enormous improvement on the unfortunate gentleman to whom the part was allotted at the other house; and Signor Costa, though neither in voice nor in declamatory power equal to Signor Capponi, was a fairly efficient Herald. The chorus was on the whole much better in tune and more effective than at Covent Garden, and the pianos and pianissimos were far better attended to. On the other hand, the orchestra was horribly coarse. Wagner's

scoring is so full that the greatest delicacy is required in many parts from the players in order not to overpower the voices. Unfortunately one of Sir Michael Costa's chief characteristics seems to be love of noise; and the brass instruments throughout the evening blared away with an effect that was simply distressing. An excellent musician who was present, and who heard the work for the first time, remarked that "he never heard such a hideous noise as Wagner's orchestration in his life." That the fault, however, lay not in the orchestration but in the playing, and therefore in the conductor, whose duty it is to see that it is subdued, was clearly proved at Covent Garden, where the very same passages, given with the necessary refinement, produced indeed the effect of richness, but never of noise. As it was, listening to the orchestra on Saturday evening was nothing less than a musical martyrdom. At Covent Garden one could hear how Wagner's accompaniments ought to be, at Drury Lane how they emphatically ought not to be, played.

Another defect in the performance was that Sir Michael Costa, whose sympathies are certainly with Italian rather than with German music, took some of the tempi very decidedly too slow. This was more especially the case in the great scene of Lohengrin's arrival in the first act, and of the introduction to the third act. Both are expressly marked by the composer to be beaten two in a bar; and in both, if we are not mistaken, Sir Michael Costa beat four. The dragging of the time which resulted utterly ruined the effect, especially in the exciting climax of the chorus in the first act, which aroused such enthusiasm at Covent Garden. Here, on the contrary, it became simply tedious.

The "cuts" were on the whole judiciously made, but there were one or two striking exceptions. The worst were the omission of an important passage in the first finale, and the suppression of a part of the charming bridal music in the second act. On the other hand, a considerable part of the male-voice chorus, “In Früh'n versammelt uns der Ruf," nearly all of which was omitted at Covent Garden, was restored, to the great advantage of the scene.

The mise-en-scène, though less gorgeous than at the rival establishment, where a speciality is made of this department, was nevertheless thoroughly satisfactory, and some of the stage-business was more in accordance with Wagner's directions than at Covent Garden. The scenery, by Mr. Beverly, was singularly beautiful, especially the view of Antwerp Cathedral in the second act.

In one respect Wagner's music gives a most valuable lesson to our singers. Those who will do justice to it must set their art above themselves. Here are no opportunities for applause at the entry of the prima donna, or after a solo; and on Saturday, as before at the other house, all such attempted interruptions of the performance were resolutely put down. Would that all our vocalists would learn that operas are not written solely to afford them opportunities for display, but that they must consider themselves merely as the servants of art-the vehicles for its interpretation. The more genuine the artist, the less self will be thought of; and no better illustration can be given

of this than the Ortrud of Mdlle. Titiens of which we have just spoken. EBENEZER PROUT.

Ir the performances of French opera at the Gaiety of which we have spoken in recent numbers are not financially successful, it will be a shame and disgrace to our London public; for every fresh opportunity of hearing them confirms the opinions already expressed as to the remarkable effect of their ensemble. The novelties recently produced have been Auber's Domino Noir and Herold's Zampa. The former work not only contains some of its composer's most charming music, but has also the advantage of one of M. Scribe's best libretti. The adventures of the young nun who steals out of her convent to attend