The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-01 00:00:00

take its place next to Triplet and Richard Pride; and
Mrs Stirling also embodies a part that affords peculiar
scope for her great abilities. The plot of the piece briefly
told is as follows. The curtain rises and discovers a group
of artisans assembled in a cabaret or wine shop in Yaris.
The delight of the day is their only object, the care of the
morrow being anticipatively drowned in the cup each reck-
less mechanic so often raises to his fevered lips. An expert
engineer, named Daubry, who when sober is an exemplary
husband, but who when maddened by drink is the terror of
his home, passes by the spot with his young son that he is
taking to school. Unable to resist the temptation, and
urged on by his companions, he consents to join the tip-
pling throng. The boy, left to play in the street, is run
over by a carriage, and the mother and sister arrive
only in time to see the child in the hands of
a surgeon, and to' boar th•ci brutal taunts of the
now infuriated drunken father, who is spared the
intelligence of the calamity. At a bachelors' party at the
Cafe Bignon the influence of vinous excitement is shown
on those higher in the social scale, but who are linked with
those humbler personages who have been just presented.
Albert, the son of the Countess of
~Marsan, has loved and
betrayed Blanche, the daughter of the engineer Daubry. A
Dutch merchant, Van Gratz, has slain this young man's
father in a fit of drunken frenzy some seventeen years
before the period of the play, and he has Concealed the
knowledge of the crime from the world, whilst he has en-
riched the impoverished widow and child by way of
atonen. ent. This merchant is a cold-hearted sceptical
octogenarian, whose eighty years' experience of the world
have only led him to a general disbelief in the punish-
ment of evildoers—as, notwithstanding the selfish life he
has 10 and the crimes he has perpetrated, fortune has
smiled upon his speculations and he is now a millionaire.
In the waste of his heart there is one green spot on which
rests all that is human within him. He has a grand-
daughter, Josephs, to whom he is entirely devoted, and
whose happiness he would willingly purchase by all the
wealth he has amassed. She loves Albert, and as a title
will be acquired by the marriage Van Gratz has favoured
the lover she has chosen. To obtain a power over him
the old merchant has lured him into dissipation, and at
play Albert has lost more than his resources enable him
to meet. He gives a bond for the amount, and thus
Van Gratz has achieved his purpose. The love the young
man bears the engineer's daughter is, however, a serious
obstacle to the attainment of the old merchant's wishes, and
the rest of the drama is devoted to an illustration of the ex-
pedients used to got rid of the poor girl who is an impedi-
ment in the way. The evils •of intemperance are shown
under every phase, and through the fascination of drink ho
tempts a dissipated workman to murder her. At the moment
when Blanche in despair flings herself into the Seine the
better nature of the intending assassin prevails, and he
jumps in to save her. The retribution of Van Gratz, which
he had scoffed at as never to arrive, is now at hand ; and
with the hope for which he lived gone, as the rescued
Blanche becomes the wife of the young Count do Marsan,
who was to have been the husband of the granddaughter, he
ends his prolonged existence bitterly lamenting the errors
of his career.

In the embodiment of the character of Van Grafz by
Mr Webster the first thing that strikes the audience is his
wonderful "make up." Every little detail has been care-
fully considered and developed with the hand of a thorough
master of his art, and a more complete and perfect picture
even Mr Webster has never presented to his admirers. The
cold, calculating millionaire, to whom gold is everything
and all-powerful, he performed with an intensity that may
truly be called remarkable. Mrs Stirling, as the wife and
mother of artizm life, embodied the part with all that
truthfulness and deep feeling which is the peculiar
character of her acting, and Mrs. Alfred Mel.
lon sustained the character of her daughter Blanche
with truth, feeling, and intensity. Miss H. Simms
had allotted to her a part which suited her to a nicety,
and Mrs Billington infused into the character of the Countess
sufficient dignity. Mr
,R, Phillip as the engineer Daubry
gave a life-like and natural performance. Mr Killington
was effective as the young nobleman, and Mr Stuart and
Mr Clark each gave their peculiar characters with good
effect.

IThe scenery merits the highest approbation. The one
representing the great foundry with the machinery in mo-
tion, and the concluding one,. Pais by moonlight, will com•
pare with anything that has yet been produced in the way
of scenic illustration at any metropolitan theatre.
The house was crowded to excess, and at the fall of the
curtain the applause was tumultuous.