The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-08 00:00:00

MI?. FEC_HTER'S CLAUDE .3IELNOTTE.

The following charming tribute is paid to Mr.
Pechter's Claude by the able theatrical critic of the
Examiner :—At the Lyceum Mr. Pechter is bringing
to an honourable close a career spoilt by mistrust
of substantial English fare, and faith in the feeblest
of French melodramatic slops that had but a spice
of romance in them. He imported " gingerade" for

those who desired of him home-brewed October. If
be had done earlier in his career what he has done
now, Mr. Fechter might have felt iu good time,
and to good purpose, the encouragement to which
his great skill as an actor, and in some respects un-
equalled care as a manager, entitled him. Lord
'at3 " Lady of Lyons," written
for Mr. Macready thirty years ago, was
as the author said in his preface to the nrst
printed edition of it, with a distinct view
to stage effect. " I was mainly anxious," said
Lord Lytton, "to see whether or not certain
critics had truly declared that it was not in my
power to attain the art of dramatic construction and
theatrical effect." The result we know. Precisely
in those qualities, the " Lady of Lyons" excels
every acted play of any literary weight that has
been written in our time. In adapting this play for
Mr. Fechter at the Lyceum one or two slight
changes have been made, by the author's permission,
which improve the stage effect. The first scene,
showing Pauline at home and her refusal of Beau•
seam% is not necessary to the construction, but
valuable where the strength of the play depends
much on the actress who represents Pauline.
At the Lyceum Mr. Fechter's Claude Melnotte
is the one part of the piece. Miss Carlotta Le-
clercq never claimed the rarer gifts of dramatic
genius, and her Pauline, is in the highest degree
creditable to her; pleasing, clever, in parts duly
energetic; is not more than a clever and sufficient
execution of the business of the part in acting up to
Mr. Fechter. The first scene, therefore, is expunged.
At the close of the act, instead of a letter from
Bcauseant, it is Beauseant himself who brings, in
the moment of desperate anger at Pauline's insult to
his messenger, Claude's temptation to abase her
pride and satisfy his love ; and this is, no doubt, so
done as to increase stage effect by adding to the
sharpness of definition in the situation upon which
the curtain falls. At the close of the second act,
Mr. Fechter follows the author's original inten-
tion by restricting himself, when Damas talks of
envying him, to the significant " Do you ?" instead
of adding the lines through which the signification
was expanded by the desire of other actors. Other
changes are but few and slight ; unless they be in
the last act, which, so far as we were concerned,
was sacrificed to the carpenters who had occupied
in setting scenes between the acts as much time as
should have sufficed to set the scenes and play the
last act also. But we have heard and seen enough
to assure us that this is the best Claude Melnotte
by whom the part has yet been played. The study
is thoroughly fresh, thoroughly French also, in the
best sense, and for that the truer. It softens with
fine by-play all the passages which abase Melnotte
below the sympathy of honest men ; brings out for-
cibly the patriarchal reverence that coloured the
tenderness of a son's relation to his mother in France
of old, and that is to this day found in the provinces ;
and it puts new soul into the last speech of the fourth
act, after Melnotte has agreed to go to the wars and
recover his honour : To Damas, " There is MY
hand ! Mother, your blessing. I shall see you
again,—a better man than a prince,—a man who
has bought the right to high thoughts by bravo
deeds. And thou l—thou! so wildly worshipped,
guiltily betrayed," &c. In delivery of this there is
a passionate intensity, an abandon, light with the
sense of sudden relief or possible relief from a load
of conscious meanness, yet with all its impulsive
energy and rapid utterance marvellously coloured
with diverse expression. It will be fixed for years
to come in the memory of this generation of play-
goers as one of the finest bits of acting the stage of
our time has furnished. It is needless to add that
the scenery is excellent, and that Mr. Addison and
Mrs. 11. Marston are the best representatives we
have of llamas and Madame Deschapelles.

ROYAL GALLERY OF ILLUSTRATION.—Our reader°
will be glad to learn that this popular place of amusement
will re-open on Monday, October 14, with the highly suc-
cessful entertainment, "A Dream in Venice," in which gr.
and Mrs. German Reed and Mr. John Parry will re-appe3r,
and which will be followed by "Merrymaking at Evoleen
Hall." A novelty from the pen of Shirley Brooks is is
active preparation.
THE MANCHESTER FENittxs. --There wcre two
Fenians arrested on Sunday evening at Levenshuhne, Dolt
Manchester, on the charge of being concerned in the lato
outrage, but they have not yet been confronted with wit-
nesses able to identify them. Some arrests were also made
at Henley, in the Potteries, on Sunday, in consequence of
a threatening letter posted there on Saturday.