The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-21 00:00:00

LYCEUM THEATRE.

Last night a new drama, entitled " A Sister's Sacrifice,"
was produced here with complete success. It is adapted
from a French piece, called " Les Orphellines de Valneige,"
which is derived in its turn from " Genevieve," a celebrated
tale by M. de Lamartine.
The heroine is GenDvieve herself (Madame Celeste), a
sempstress and shopkeeper in the village of Valneige, who
by honest industry supports herself and her half-sister
Josette (Miss Julia St. George). Such a model of virtue
and honesty is Genevieve that notwithstanding a perpetual
feud between the mountain and the valley, she, an inhabi-
tant of the latter, so thoroughly gains the respect of M.
Girard (Mr. Barrett), a wealthy farmer in the upper regions,
that he consents to her union with his son Cyprien (Mr.
Emery). Under these very favourable circumstances hap-
piness seems absolutely inevitable, when suddenly a diffi-
culty occurs. The Girard family is composed of good
steady people, who are, moreover, strict Catholics, and
Genevieve is exactly fitted to their standard ; but Josette
has been brought up in the faith of her father, who
was her mother's second husband and a Protestant.
Genevieve will be welcomed at the mountain farm as
the bride of Cyprien, but she must leave the

little coquettish heretic down in the valley—an arrange-
ment which causes such overwhelming grief to poor Jo-
sette that Genevieve is obliged to remain with her and
break off the very advantageous match with Cyprien Girard,
though she well nigh breaks her own heart at the same
time.

Several months are supposed to elapse before the second
act begins, during which Josette dies, and in the course of
that period Genevieve has been on business to Paris,
whence she has returned to weep over her sister's grave.
Surely we have here another chance of happiness ; for
though Cyprien is engaged to marry a somewhat unamiable
maiden named Catherine (Mrs. Keeley), he is quite pre-
pared to return to his old love, Genevieve, now she is re-
lieved from the sisterly inemnbrance. But a fresh cloud
soon darkens the horizon. Poor erring Josette has died
without diminishing the population, an illegitimate off-
spring immediately supplying the vacancy caused by her
decease. To save the honour of the dear dead
girl, Genevieve allows her neighbours to believe that she
herself is the mother of the child, the revelation of whose
existence has caused a village scandal.
The scene of the third act is laid down in the mountains
outside Girard's farm. Genevieve, wretched and an out-
cast, wanders thither to die. It is the morning on which
Cyprien is to be married to Catherine, for everybody believes
the tale of Genevieve's shame, and when she is discovered
she is about to be hunted from the place, but Madame
Belan conceives that she has kept silence long enough,
comes forward, and declares the right of the story. Cyprien
is overwhelmed with remorse, Genevieve is free and blame-
less, but his promise is given to Catherine and he will keep
it. Now Catherine shows her generosity ; she sees the
strait in which her betrothed is placed, she voluntarily
surrenders his hand, and the curtain falls on the union of
Cyprien and Genevieve.
The simple story is very skilfully worked out, and it has

the advantage of remarkably good acting in a considerable
number of characters. G4nevieve is most touchingly deli-
neated by Madame Celeste, who, though she has played in
far more showy parts, has seldom appeared in any that
have gone more thoroughly to the hearts of the audience.
Mrs. Keeley is excellent as Catherine; Mr. Emery as
Cyprien, Mr. Barrett as the farmer Girard, and Miss Julia
St. George as Josette, are all good ; indeed there is a ge-
neral completeness in the production of the piece.
The scenery, dresses, and decorations are exceedingly
beautiful and appropriate, and reflected great_ credit on the
management. Amidst the unanimous applause of a house
crowded to the ceiling, the piece was given out for repeti-
tion every evening until farther notice.