The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-09-11 00:00:00

FROM OUR PARIS CORRESPONDENT.

Naas, sere a.
The statesmen of France have been for e.oine time in a
state of complete repose, the politicians of Paris slumber,
and the gent!enien of the bat have in vain made an attempt
to assume their functions. The theatres alone are partially
essmpted from the influence of the prevailing atsp,,r.
during the last month no less than fat( eti new piece,
have been produced upon the stage—one tragedy, t"
comedies, three comic operas, a pantomime, anti vaudevilles.
Of all these pieces only two were decidedly unsuccessful.
Of those which have more recently made their appearance,
the Duel, a comedy in one act, was that which excited the
greatest expectation, probably from the circumstanced, its
being produced at the Theatre Francais, in which the
criticism of the green-room is the most severely fastitlioes:
If a total absence of hisses, continual applauses during the
performance, and frequent calls for the author after the
fall of the curtain, were certain sigma of success, Af lion
Halevy could have nothing further to wish; hi, 'limo
was so far complete: but if; on the other hand, French
corn, dy requires a plot well conceived, action managed
l with skill, interesting situations, and marked characters—if
It requires a natural dialogue, regulated by good taste—l
am disposed to believe that the new piece cannot have a
long career. Who would expect to find dueling, s bar,
barons custom, which causes such (herniation in the wpm
of families, and against which philosophy and the laws
made so many unsuccesttful efibrts—whs, !say, would ex-
pect to find duelling treated as a guiltless freak on the
French stage, which has been always considered and We-
gizel as a school of tnorals ? Unhappily the 'objectionable
sentences of this comedy are not put into the mouth of a
wild youngster; the advocate of duelling is the fathw of a
family, an old General, who has served his country in
thirty campaigns, and who inculcates his deleterious
maxims without encountering any antagonist who might
support against him the dictates of reason and Christianity.
This is the radical defect of the piece, of which I will gine
a brief outline:—The Baroness Hortensia, widowed by
her husband's taste for duels, consents, at the age of so,
to wed r cousin, Gustave de Fortis, after having relieved
him from the great embarrassments brought upon him by
his indiscretions. Gustave is but 20 y: sea of age. The
Har9nrss is sensible of the disparity which exists between
them ; and, besides, she has some suettician that her
cousin is attached to D Wine, the niece of her first has.
band. She imparts her fears and uncertainties to the old
General, her brother-in-law, and the father of DeleAine;
and the old General, in order to ascertain positively the
sentiments of Gusfitve, can discover no better means than
to provoke him to fielit a duel. Gustave accepts the
challenge. "Then lie cannot love my daughter," con-
cludes the General. Hut Hortensia is not to he convinced
by this sort of reasoning. Anxious to arrive at the truth,
she engsges De/phine to detain her cousin, val o easily for-
gets, in the company of his charmer, the appointed hour of
rendezvous with the General. The doubts of Hortensia
new change into certainty : hut, to complete her conviction,
Gust..ve, who tlesins to imbibe the lave ftr duelling,
fights with an officer, who pretends to the band of Del.
phine, and by whom he had been purposely elbowed in a
drawing-room. Hoe/rash at last, in a very well-written
scene, extorts from Gustave the avowal of his love for
Delp/tine. She releases him from all his obligations ta
her ; and, as it may be easily divined, the ref inn of Gus-
tave, and his union with Dilihine. immediately takes place.
—This analysis of ti e Duel will suffice to show that it is a
trifle quite out of place at the Theatre Francais. The

Odton has, at the same time, produced a comedy in three
acts---the School Pr Widows. This drama is the first at-
tempt of M. Gustave Fdbien Pillet. The success of the piece

did not appear doubtful for a moment; but, at the same
time, the young author ought not to be led away
by the intoxication of a complete triumph. His style it
_ . _

sufficiently correct, but too often without strength or
colouring. Many scenes move heavily along. The idea of
the piece, though strictly moral, is not at all new ; and the,
feebleness of the original plan is scarcely disguised by the
numerous plagiaristtts to which M. Pil!et has bad recoune
A rich widow marries s young profligate, Belval, whose
extravagance and misconduct soon oblige• her to repent the
unwary step she has made. Ste is at length driven to seek
a a, partition, when the ruin of Belval's vicious companion,
and his own contrition, lead to a reconciliation. Bach is
rite plot. This comedy, in short, is very weak in its first
rudiments, but so [sell finished, that, considering it is s
first essay, it may justly excite great hopes from M. Pillet'A
future efforts.—The last, and most amusing,. of the dra-
!static productions of the month of August, was a vatle-
ville brought cut at the " Varietes," anti entitled Les
Petitt s Biographies in 32°. This little piece is the legiti-
mate growth of the times, nourished by that calumniate
spirit which vitiates the atmosphere of modern society.
Those pocket biographies of living characters, after having
been cited before the Pol:ce—after having undergone the
well-merited severities of justice—have been brought, by
the dramatist, before the tribunal of the public. Their
cause, pleaded with skill by actors of no common merit,has
appeared in a more advantageous light to the Judges of the
Parterre than to those of the Courts above, and the pit ce
has had a complete and deserved success. Hortensia,
daughter of 111. Lefrane, a merchant of irreproachable
character, is promised in marriage to Clairrille, a young
advocate of distinguished ability. The first preparations
are already complete, anti the two lovers are waiting with
impatience the happy moment which is to unite their dt 6-
tinics, when M. Lefranc happens to read the Pocket Bic-
graphy of the Bar. He there finds that his daughter's
intended, in spite of his merit, and the brilliant hope■ which
he had excited in his professional career, is abandoned to a
most destructive passion : he finds, in short, that he is a
gamester, anti that he has just experienced some considerable
losses. Left anc believes that what he sees in print must be
the exact truth ; and, as lie cannot endure the idea of admit-
ting into his family one who is capable of plunging it into
poverty and dishonour, he determine to break off the
match, but is prevented by the interposition of Defornirs
the physician anti friend of the family. The Doctor has
less faith in those little pamphlets, in which starveing
writers, protected by their obscurity, vend scandal and
infamy ; and he obtains of his friend the pause of a favr
hours, for the sake of investigating the truth. Chirac,
in the mean time, has read the Biographies of Merchants,
and of the City Ladies, and, indignant at the manner ill
which he finds M. and Madame Lefrane are treated in thole
, publications, he gladly unites his efforts to those of De/ortne
to discover the authors. Their exertions are not in vain;
' they soon return, loaded with letters of retractation and
acknowledgments of error. At the same time, Th-lorme
calls his friends together, and, in order to impress upon them
the contempt in which such works are to be held, be obliges
each person to read his own biography, so that they may
judge how far all have been calumniated. Leframe reads
the article dedicated to him in the Biography of Merchants,
and his wife Bella herself among the Ladies of the City,

Clairrille and the worthy Doctor, too, each finds himself
described, and his vices exactly enumerated ; the effect is
teneral, especially when Defame acquaints them that St.
Jean, a domestic, who had been turned away a few days
dare, was the author of these publications ; the reconcili-
ation betwvn Clairrille and Lefrane is immediately
effected, and the two lovers are united. Such is the
analysis of this little piece, the title of which excited much
curiosity, and the appearance of which was peculiarly well
timed; it is full of humorous situations and sprightly
turns. It was received with great applause, and will, no
doubt, cnj,iy a much longer popularity than the volumes
of which it has borrowed the title.
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