The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-10 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

A musical prodigy made his deblit here last even-
ing. The young Paul Julien is only ten years of
age, and already he is one of the first violinists of
his day. The son of a French mechanic, who pos-
sessed, however, some knowledge of music, Paul
Julien in his infancy displayed a great
taste for musical science, and on a small
violin made for him by his father he,
at the age of seven years, wasin the habit of perfotrn-
ing at various provincial concerts in France, where
he obtained great applause and a scanty supply of
money. After undergoing all the hardships which
attend this wandering mode of existence, the little
Paul came to Paris, where Alard heard him and pro-
posed his admission as a pupil at the Conservatoire.
He appeared before the committee and commenced
playing his trial piece on the miserable old violin of
domestic manufacture, and before he had nearly
finished it he was admitted unanimously : this was on
the 24th December, 1849, and on the 21st July,
1850, Paul Julien carried off the first prize;
he had seventeen competitors, two of whom
had carried off second prizes the year preceding,
and he performed on a miserable violin which he had
purchased for twelve francs. Since then his career
has been one of uninterrupted success ; his youth
and his genius have made him the universal
pet of the Parisian salons, and last evening
he made his first appearance before an Eng-
lish audience at her Majesty's Theatre. He
performed in the most perfect and brilliant
style imaginable a fantasia on airs from Linda di
Chamouni, and the contrast between the child-like
appearance of the performer and his wonderful exe-
cution formed a contrast which heightened the plea-
sure that every one felt from listening to his mar-
vellous performance. His manner, too, is most
graceful and Elegant. Paul Julien is a wonder, a
marvel even as was Mozart ; even now he takes rank
among the very first vi.linists of the age.

FREN CH PLA I S.
ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.
Valeria, the last new tragedy produced at the
Theatre Francais, was performed here for the first
time last evening ; Madlle. Rachel sustaining
the the
two characters, or to speak more correctly,
double character of Valeria and Lysisca. In writ-
ing this tragedy, MM. Auguste Maquet and Jules
Lacroix have managed to accomplish three things
dear to the heart of every French dramatist—they
have managed to fit Rachel exactly, and thus
to secure the representation of their play
so long as she shall remain on the
stage ; to falsify history ; and to present
as a paragon of virtue one whose name has
hitherto been a synonym for the most disgusting
debauchery. The tragedy is neither more nor less than
an attempt to whitewash the character of the Empress
Messalina, and to represent her as the virtuous victim
of a calumny which for eighteen centuries has been
received with implicit belief. Valeria, the heroine,
is in fact no other than Messalina herself, the dignified
wife of that fou grotesque et sombre, the Emperor
Claudius' who is led by the nose alternately by the
virtuous Valeria and his sister the vicious Aggripina.
Aggripina discovers that in Rome there is existing an
abandoned courtezan, famed for the recklessness of
her proAigacy, a Greek, by name Lysisca, who bears
a most remarkable resemblance in feature, form, and
voice, to Valeria (in fact she is Valerie's sister, who
had been stolen when a child). This Lysisca is,
through the medium of Narcisse, a freedman of
Aggripina, supplied with the means of indulging her
orgy with Alenester, a dancer, and
passions, is introduced into the palace where she in-
dulgesm t
in
nidsan of their banquet Claudius is intro-
wife to death, mistaking
i nthe
escapes ; whilst the unfortunate
fordu c
hered , condemning
Lysisca
who his
Menester, who knew his companion as Lysisca and
Lysisca only, is stabbed lest he should betray
the secret. Valeria, in the meantime, has
fled with her son Brittanicus to Bit wi to
juin Silius, who having been condemned
for libelling her, is by her saved from death
and then becomes her lover. He is in command of
the fleet at Baim, and on her arrival with her son
proclaims Britannicus Emperor, but on the arrival of
Cecina, who it appears had had a liason with Lysisca
at Smyrna, and who persists in identifying
Valeria with Lysisca, Siliusrejects her,
notwithstanding her protestations of innocence,
and her supporters abandon her. She returns to
Rome, determined to vindicate her honour, and then
Silius discovers the truth, and offers to restore her,
when Cecina rushes in and announces that Valeria
has been put to death by the Emperor's order,
but to his surprise he sees Valeria standing before
him. He is followed by Aggripina, who, having
caused Lysisca to be put to death as Valeria, now
comes with the Emperor's edict for the execution of
the real Valeria, who, seizing a dagger from the
hand of Silius, stabs herself; and with her last worda
thus announces to Aggripina her own fate :
" Ton fils J)omitius—ce vainqueur ephen a-es
Tons fils sera.Heron, tors fits tuera sa mere."
The great attraction of the piece is the appearance of
Rachel in two characters, so essentially dif-
ferent as those of Valeria and Lysisca, and whe-
ther as the dignified Empress, or the impudent,
abandoned, voluptuous Lytisca,she was equally great ;
it was scarcely possible to imagine that she who as
the tender mother was watching over and soothing
her sick child, and by her exquisite pathos and ten-
derness was melting An Wats, flould a am-