The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-27 00:00:00

PRINCESS'S THEATRE.

THE MONASTERY OF ST. JUST.

The natural desire to witness the accomplished
Stella Colas in a part other than that of Juliet, and
the high expectations raised by the announcement
of the production of a new version of M. Casimir
Delavigne's play, " Don Juan d'Autriche," drew
together on Saturday evening one of the most bril-
liant and crcwded audiences that ever assembled
within the walls of the Princess's Theatre. In "Louis
XI." Delavigne drew the portrait of a tiger and fox
combined, and made the character ridiculous as
well as detestable by its union of bigotry and
wickedness, cruelty and cowardice. In the present
drama he has not dealt so harshly with royalty,
though in the character of Philip the Second of
Spain he has drawn a masterly portrait of a soul
moved and swayed by the fiercest selfishness and
brutality. This, the central character of his pic-
ture, is drawn and coloured in with all that
artistic knowledge of the power of light and shade,
and of the most sudden and violent contrasts in
which the modern French dramatists are so potent.
Mr. John Oxenford has entitled his version " The
Monastery of St. Just," and reduced the original
five acts to three, chiefly by cutting down the
dialogue in those parts where the heroine is not
upon the stage; and he has altered the termination
of the drama in such a way as to make it end
happily, if not powerfully, in the English fashion.
The plot of the play, briefly told, is as follows:
Don Juan, a natural son of Charles V., who is
ignorant of his parentage, is rather in the way of his
brother, Philip 11., now King of Spain; and is
;.n love with and beloved by one Donna Florinda
(Stella Colas). Unfortunately Donna Fiorinda be-
lieves herself to be a Jewess, and the Jews are being
exterminated by the fanatical Spaniards, but this
obstacle would not delay her union with Juan, it
she had not inspired a passion in the breast of her
monarch, Failip IL The King consigns Juan to a
monastery, while he sends the lady to the inquisi-
tion, that be may have the credit of saving her from
torture and death. Don Quexada, a feithiul friend
and tutor of Juan's, finding that the name of the
monastery has been left blank in the royal order,
fills in the name of the Monastery of St. Just. Here'
it is that Emperor Charles the Fifth has retired
after his active life. Juan meets his father
in the monastery, and the old and eccentric king,
after causing the monks to spread a report of his
death, suddenly rouses himself to help his natural
son out of the difficulty. By getting himself elected
priot of the monastery he is able to release Jaan,
in defiance of Philip's royal order; and in the third
act, when there seems no way of saving Donna
Florinda from the attacks of Philip, although she
has denounced herself as a Jewess, he appears in
his monastic robes, makes a statement which seems
to prove that she is not a Jewess, but only a Jew's
adopted child, gives her to Juan, orders the two
brothers to become friends, and everybody to live
happily ever afterwards.

We cannot help tLiaking the second act greatly
confuses the action of the piece, and its entire omis-
sion w,Aild, in fact, not be a great loss were it not
by that means we should lose the opportunity of
seeing Mdlle. Stella Colas as the novice Pablo, a
miechief loving little fellow, who loves the abbot's
oranges, notwithstanding strict orders to the
contrary. But the great feature of the play
was the embodiment of the part of Donna Flo-
rinds by the same talented artiste. Her con-
ception of the part of the persecuted Jewess was
marked by the greatest intensity and pathos.
Her great and grandest effort was the expression
of horror at the declaration of his passion by the
remorseless King. Tee feeling of love, scorn, and
terror were powerfully represented, and these com-
bined with the tenderness and grace of the other
portions of the part rendered it a performance
quite worthy of her exquisite performance of
Juliet. It proved that she possesses a
talent not confined to ono particular " line,"
but that in both tragedy and comedy she
is equally charming and highly effective. Mr
Vining's King Philip was also a very admirable
performance, end Mr Nelson, as Don Juan, certainly
acquitted himself to the greatest satisfaction of the
audience. Mr H. Marston as the retired monarch,
Charles the Fifth, and Mr J. W. Ray as the aged
counsellor, both acted with great effect; and Mrs
H. Marston as the Gouvernante gave us one of those
lifelike portraitures for which she is so remarkable.
The play, which was a perfect success, has been
mounted in the best manner, and such was the
enthusiasm of tho audience at the beauty of the
interior of the Monastery of St. Just, that the artist
had to bow his acknowledgments before silence
could be restored.

The Ministerial Explanations this Evening.

The scene presented in the lobbies of both houses
of Parliament this morning was one of great
curiosity ; the cause being the great importance
weched to the statement of Earl Russell in the
House of Lords, and Lord Pamerston in the House
of Commons, of the course the Government in-
tend to pursue in consequence of the non-suc-
cess that has attended the deliberation of the
Conference on the Dane-German question. In
compliance, with orders, the police in charge of the
building open the doors of the House at six o'clock.
As usual, that practice was observed this morn-
ing, and as early as 7 a.m. persons having secured
member's orders for the stranger's gallery this eve n-
ing, began to assemble in the " Waiting Room," a
kind of cellar on the basement, beneath the stairs
leading to the gallery. The persons in charge of
the place compassionately gave the " early birds"
the plessure of a good coal fire, otherwise their
long and weary wait, until a quarter before four
o'clock p,m., would have been almost impossible.
Those, however, who had attended at that
early hour in a short time after secured
the service of a person to occupy the place for them
till a few minutes before four, and in this way
many of the commissionaires and other unem-
ployed persons were engaged at very remu-
nerative rates. At eleven o'clock the room was
declared quite full, and after that hour the candi-
dates for admission had to take up their seats in the
Sculpture Corridor in the order in which they
arrived, as in that manner they would pass
into the gallery. Here, again, men and boys
were engaged to sit until four o'clock, and at two
o'clock the accommodation here presented was
❑early all occupied. Many of those who had not
been successful in obtaining engagements as
" sitters" exacted exorbitant fees for convey-
ing refreshments to those who had; and thus
laughing and joking was carried on as loud as was
considered parliamentary. The prices paid to the
patient waiters averaged from half a sovereign to
half a crown.

A telegraphic despatch from Corfu announces
that the King of the Hellenes left the lonian Islands yes-
terday morning, accompanied by Viscount Amelot, Prince
Gazarine, and Mr. Rumhold, the French, Russian, and
English Charges d'Affaires, who have attended his
Majesty during his journey.
The Flandre-Maritime states that the King of
the Belgians and the Duke and Duchess of Brabant and
their children intend to make a rather long stay this season
at Ostend. Preparations are being made for their recep-
tion at the old Palace in the Rue-Longue.
EXECUTION IN FBANCE.'Fran DUWEZ,
known by the name of the Petit Soldier, who had
been condemned to death for murder, underwent the sen-
tence of the law tue day before yesterday at Valenciennes.
Since his trial he has been confined in the prison of Douai
It was only at six o'clock in the morning that Duwea was
informed that hia application for pardon had been re-
jected, and that he must prepare to die in a few hours.
He hoard the announcement without much emotion,
and then received the last consolations of reli-
gion from the chaplain of the prison. He was
afterwards taken under 'an mart of gendarmes to the rail-
way station, and conveyed to the prison at Valenciennes.
Immediately after his arrival ho went through the ceremony
of the toilette, and was placed in a cart and conveyed to the
place of execution, escorted by a large body of gendarmery,
to preserve order and protect him from the immense crowd
which had assembled from all parts of the country round.
On reaching the scaffold he ascended the steps with firm-
ness, and delivered himself ink) the hands of the execu-
tioners. The next moment all was over. _ _

---
The Gazette des Etrangers states that the in-
surance offices interested in the case of La Fomerais have
decided on paying in lull to the two children of Mdme. de
Pauw the amount of the insurances effected on her life.
The two young girls will therefore receive between them
the suna of 550,000 f,