The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-08 00:00:00

LYCEUM THEATRE.

On Saturday a new five.aet play, entitled The Oaget,
was produced Lore with immense success. For some

tithe hotieeS have been affixed oh the doors of the

theatre Announbing the play, and also at the same time

informing the public that a Cagot is one of a shun-

z •
ned and insulted race, and with this simple observation
we proceed t' dbtAii the plot of the piece. The Count de
Foix having in early life basely deceived' Astarte, a

Cagot woman, the latter, though years have passed by,
lives only to be avenged. The child that she had
by the Count she believes to have perished, but it

has been kidnapped by the Count and acknowledged as
the presumptive heir to the title. In the meanwhile
the Count has married the Lady Viola, who in due time
gives birth to a son. Astarte, while lurking in the
neighbourhood of the castle, in order to carry out her
schemes of mischief, takes the opportunity of stealing the
infant, whom she brings up under the name of Raoul in
; her wretched hut, where he gets his living as a woodman,
and is exposed to all the contempt and infamy of the
Cagot class. Accident enables him to save the life of the
Lady Eugenie, who is betrothed to the younger Count

de Foix, and his gallantry so touches her as to sow in
her heart the seeds of love, which receive fatal nourish-
ment by subsequent clandestine interviews in the depths
of the forest. Astarte sees in this the beginning of her
vengeance. The Lady Eugenie, however, has another
suitor in Sir Aymer de Beriot, the bad man of the piece,
who hires an assassin to get the younger de Foix out of the
way. The murder is attempted, but not consummated; but
the discovery of certain bloody vestments near the Cagot's
hut leads to the accusation that Raoul is the criminal—
which he frantically avows, seeing that Eugenie is in-
clined to give credence to the charge, to her intense
anguish and amazement. The unfortunate Cagot is
accordingly sentenced to death, and the blow is supposed
to fall at the moment that Astarte announces to the

horrified Count that it is his eldest born who is the
headsman's victim. But there is yet another act, in
which it turns out not only that the younger De Foix
lives, but that he who suffered on the scaffold was the
assassin in the employ of Sir Aymer—results brought
about by the contrivances of a friendly priest, who has
been closely watching the progress of events, and has
been enabled to baffle the intrigues of the villain through
whom the perplexities of the piece have mainly arisen.
Mr. Dillon, as the manly and virtuous Cagot, has an
arduous, but a thankful part, and well does he sustain
the large weight of heroism intrusted to his charge. The
character is one of those happy personages in the ap-
plause of whom admiration for the talent of the actor
can be combined with enthusiasm for the virtue of
the person portrayed, and at the end of every act was
Mr. Dillon summoned before the curtaia. The vin-
dictive matron, Astrate, was played with great power
by Mrs. Weston—indeed with so much power that we
could scarcely recognise a lady whose earlier imperson.
ations have appeared to us somewhat frigid and feeble.
Mrs. A. Mellon (late Miss Woolgar) acted the high-
born Eugenie with much passionate force. Mr.
Stuart was careful and purposeful in the wicked Sir
Aymer ; and the good old priest was represented in a
bland, sensible manner by Mr. Barrett.
On the descent of the curtain the first call was for the
author, and was followed by the appearance of .a modest
looking gentleman, who bowed his acknowledgments as
he crossed the stage. The actors were then called in
succession, and Mr. Barrett, in his capaoity of stage-
manager, announced the piece for repetition to-morrow
(to-night is set apart for Miss Fitzpatrick's benefit) amid
universal applause. He was then called upon to name
the author, who was as yet only known by sight to his
admirers. The name of Falkner was accordingly given,
with the addition that its owner had written several
poems, and was a distinguished provincial actor.