The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-02 00:00:00

nightly at the Lyceum, was first performed

in this country no

less than a dozen

years ago, under another title, it is true
and according to another version, at the Olympic,

In 1851 the play was entitled Sixtus the Fifth—

virtually thesam play now, in 1863, entitled Bel
Demonio. Then, in 1851, in was announced as
dramatised by Mr. Boucicault and Mr. Bridgman,
the former of whom was recognisable in the stalls

on Saturday, looking on, we may rest assured, with
no unfriendly eye at this new and charming double
of his own " Sixtus the Fifth." The drama of " Bel

Demonio" was announced upon the playbills as

"taken by Mr. John Brougham from Stendhal's

Italian Chronicles." Before the plot of the love
story, thus twice told dramatically, had, however,
been taken, even twelve years ago, by Mr.
Brougham's predecessors from those same old Italian

Chronicles, it had been made the theme of a roman•

tic narrative, if we mistake not, by the vivid pen of
M. Paul Feval. However this may be, here is the
lovely old story beheld I. gain under a newer and more

beau'iful aspect than ever—dramatised with singu-
lar ability by Mr. John Brougham, and put upon
the stage of the Lyceum Theatre with a splendour

of appointments, of costume, and of scenery that
has rarely, if ever, been witnessed, that, in some

respects, has never been surpasssed. The scenery is
not only very beautiful, but it is entirely novel in its

arrangement. In several of the tableaux it is far

more than anything that has hitherto gone
by the name of scenery. The interiors often,

the landscapes always, being built up in a
wonderful manner—presenting to view in some
instances, as in the opening scene of the Oid

. - -
Abbey Ruin, or still more in the exquisite moonlit

scene of the Mountain Torrent, with the bridge and

the waterfall, and the craggy heights leading up to
the picturesque little chapel of the monk Anselmo,
presenting to view, we say, a really surpri,ing
series of illusions. That it was so, was evidenced
pretty plainly on Saturday night by the rounds of
applause greeting the first disclosure of each of these
remarkably novel effects of scenery. The reception,
however, as already intimated, was reserved by
the audience for Mr. Pechter himself, upon his
entrance at length before them—for, artfully
enough, it has been so arranged by the dramatis,
that the hero of the love story has been much
talked of by others among the dramatis personae be-
fore he actually makes his first appearance. Angelo
is the hero's name—Brachio Forte he turns out to be
before the play has very far advanced—Bel Demonio
he becomes before it has been brought to its termi-
nation. As Angelo he is an amateur artist, living
a❑ obscure life among certain old abbey ruins
beloved by all who know him, idolised by the sur-
rounding peasantry. As Brachio Forte he is the
orphan son of a famous leader of the people, a
plebeian by birth it is true but a man of lofty and
patriotic ambition who has been destroyed like
another Rienzi. As Bei Demonic), this heroic, noble-
hearted Angelo Brachio Forte caused hisname to be
regarded with terror by his foes as the leader of a
daring band of desperadoes. Angelo becoming the
Bel Demonic), out of the very desperation induced by
his romantic fortunes. The whole secret of the
charm, of the interest, of the passion of the love
story lies, in the fact, that Angelo, tne obscure orphan,
loves and is beloved by Lena (tenderly and grace-
fully played by Miss Kate Terry), the only daugh-
ter of the haughty Count Campereali. Nearly
maddened with rage by the mere dread of the pos-
sibility of any such mesallianee, the proud Count
and his (if possible, still prouder) son, Fabio, resolve
from the very outset of the piece, on the one hand., to
destroy Angelo, and on the other to wed Lena to a
scion of the powerful but detested house of Orsini.
Baffled, however, the Count and his son are in both
of these amiable designs. First of all by the
prowess of Angelo, aided by that of a faith
ful adherent to his fortunes under every emer-
gency, namely, his father's old friend and
comrade, the bluff veteran Ranuccio—a burly
old soldier, admirably well represented, from first
to last, by Mr. Emery—throughout every scene, in-
deed, in which he appeared, by every word he had
to utter. Baffled these hostile intentions in regard
to the lovers, are, however, far more than by the
combined valour of Angelo and Ranuccio.
hey are rendered futile throughout, by the
agency of Ange:o's apparently decrepit uncle,
his dead father's brother, the Cardinal Mon-
talto, afterwards his Holiness the Pope. Ap-
parently decrepit, we say—for, like another
Brutus simulating madness until the moment
when power is actually within hie grasp,
the old Cardinal is pourtrayed throughout the
drama as affecting to be borne down by age and
almost by imbecility—until, in the crisis of the
tist scene, when the guns of the Castle of St.
Angelo announce by their third detonation
ais election as the Savereign Pontiff, his
Uroinence the Cardinal, or rather his Holi-
ness the Pope, throws aside his crutch-handled
stick, draws himself up majestically to his full
height, speaks no longer in quavering, bat sonorous
accents, paralyses the evil pGwer alike of the Orsini
and the Campiriali, announces that Rome has i❑
him a Master, and suspends, with his outstretched
hands above the kneeling lovers at his feet, as the
curtain is descending, the aegis of his pontifical
benediction. It is Cardinal Montalto, it should be
borne in mind, moreover, who has, in the midst of
this dramatic love story, come even then effectually
co the rescue of Angelo and Lena—by (as
the Monk Anselmo) uniting them in marriage
in the very midst of a perfect maze or
labyrinth of difficulties. More of the plot need not
here be particularised. From what has already
been said of it, the breathless interest of the inc

dents of the drama as they follow each other in
rapid succession, may b© conjectured. Referring
now purely to the acting (we have already spoken
of the scenery), the two most admirable " situations"
of all, to our mind, in " Bel Demonic.," are the love
scene between Angelo and Lena in the Palace of the
Campiriali, and the duel scene between the
future Bel Detnonio and the brother of

ttis beloved—one whom Angelo first uncaps
with a pistol-shot, and then disarms with a
sword. Fabio, this same brother of Lena, is the
vetiest spitfire and catamaran well conceivable, It

comes quite a relief at last to everyone when he is at
length despatched. With all our admiration for the

3 kill and the magnificence with which Bel Demonic)

put upon the stage, with all our unstinted and

unaffected admiration for the genius displayed by
Mr. Fechter in his gracious performance of the part

of Angelo Bracchio Forte, otherwise Be

Demonio, we cannot anticipate that the new

drama will monopolize this new seas, n as

The Duke's Motto" monopolized the last—any

more than we can induce ourselves to believe tha

Angelo will take rank in the long and brilliant cata-
logue of Mr. Fechter's parts, side by side with Ruy
Bias—or even with Captain Lagardere. Bel Dernonio

does not hold so well together as "The Duke's
Motto." And certainly Angelo, as a part, is net