The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-24 00:00:00

formed, and has never, perhaps, since Gluck's days,
been so faithfully presented to the public. Mdlle.
Battu sings the part of Alceste with a genuine
pathos which was hardly to be expected, and few
artistes could exceed the elegance of her personation
of the heroine. To the admirers of what in Eng-
land is called classical music this performance affords
a rich treat, but they must hasten to enjoy it, for it
will remain but a short time on the playbill. The
boxes yawn over it, and the loge infernale unequi-
vocally pronounces it a bore.
VAUDEVILLE. -" Le Fou d'en Face." Dr.
Johnson, or some equally wordy-wise sage, said, or
is said to have said, " Sir, if you marry a widow,
make sure that her first husband was hanged."
Widow Livia's first husband was not hanged,
but Hector, who occupies the apartment above
her, never heard the oracle of the great lexico-
grapher. " Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly
to be wise,' and so being, we must hope for
his own sake, already very foolish, his only resource
is to be wise after folly's fashion. It can only be in
consideration of this that the authors and the audi-
ence of the Vaudeville allow him to drill holes
through her ceilings so that he can watch all her
goings and comings. In England such shocking
doings would be put down at once. Now, Madame
Livia is very tired of her honourable state of widow-
hood, which it is always to be considered is the
greatest compliment she could pay to Husband No.
1, and in this case No. 1 must have been a charming
fellow, for not one of all the pretenders to her hand
comes up to her ideal of what No. 2 should be. She
has the worst of all the ills known to humanity, she
is ennuyee. Her only amusement. is to watch the
mopes and modes of a madman who lives on the other
side of the street. Hector, who knows every move-
ment she makes and hears every thought which she
utters—for it seems that in France widows have a
habit of thinking aloud--is at his wits' end for some
means of introducing himself to the lady of his love.
At last he hits upon the idea, and a very natural
one for a man at his wits' end ; it is to force his way
into herpresence in the character of a madman on the
opposite side of the street. The stratagem succeeds
of course, for otherwise the curtain must fall, and in
his assumed character of the madness he makes her
alternately laugh, cry, tremble, each and all in the
most fascinating manner, and mot leaving her a
moment for ennui. Finally he affects a lodgment in
her heart by opening her cupboard and showing
her a " pickpocket," which is the French for a
burglar, concealed in it. Single ladies, I must make
a parenthesis, this is the virtue of Judases. Having
turned out the thief, who had certainly paid dearly
enough for his evil intentions by having to listen to
Hector's mad ravings, he falls at Madame Livia's
feet, assures her that if he is mad it is only with
love, and she who is evidently not less mad gives her
hand. It is a mad farce,t an amusing one ; the
plot is•old, but the dialogue is vivacious, and it will
be often played as a lever de rideau. The maddest
character in it is not the fou d'en face.
Amßiciu.---Les Amours de Paris.—From the mad
loves of the Vaudeville we must pass to the Pari-
sian Loves of the Ambigu, which are both mad
and bad. If the reader has ever attended a dra-
matic performance in China or Japan—the glori-
ous days of the Sanscrit drama which last a week
or more are, alas ! things of the past—he will un-
derstand the pleasure of seven acts which drag
their slow length through six mortal hours. In
China the play would hardly last longer, and at
least there are the fresh air of the morning, the
flowing tea, the two hours allowed for dinner
about midday, the cool of the evening, to palliate
the infliction. To analyse such a performance
would only be wasted time. It begins with a sui-
cide by drowning, ends with another by the rope,
and is diversified by a murder by a shooting in the
middle. The authors have kindly omitted poison-
ing out of regard to the feelings of their audience.
But the piece is worth seeing to those whostudy
human aberrations on philosophical principles.

.
A PANIC IN A RAILWAY TWAIN.—A singular
panic occurred on Sunday evening on the
Versailles Rail-
way to a special train heavily laden with visitors from
the La Marche steeplechases. Shortly after crossing the
river at Asnieres the engine and carriages came to a stand-
still, and a sudden terror seizing on the passengers a rush
was made to the doors, and in a moment the whole of the
passengers scrambled on to the line, somo jumping from
the seats on the roof in cause forir hastealao t
m . alighFortunately no
t, no one, how-
ever, knowing of any r
other train passed artlsatauhagethtoiinmtghe,e,bcauanutdaet hoef
half
the g t
ashamedt asrtdo
phpaavaoi
fen,gt
theirhreey-
isuftio:DrfpcethEaoellN:ege, Cambridge, expired somewhat sudfdaaeblnfoluayst
assuredatl:heeii)rassseeantgse,
resume
DEATH AT CAMBRIDGE.—Mr. Freeman,
last 30 years and more has been head porter to
I wf o;
ihoisolni
walsaroibsts'
on Monday night. The dwecaseapseads,siwn,hoc was returning from
when he esrOvoelciletgoe
aa vis
quarteri visit to somer
ere,laot,icVleosc,k,
though in a fit. Assistance was i
deceased was conveyed in afl mmediately rendered, and
Bridge-
street, where he shortly yto his lodgings in B
spoken. afterwards ex • ris.a
ge_
pired without having

HARDSHIPS OF HOP-PICKERS.—A project :origi-
nating with the Rey. J. Y. Stratton, the incumbent of
Ditto; Rent, for ameliorating the condition cf the myriads
of poor creatures who make their way into the large hop-
growing districts for employment in the picking, has been
very warmly taken up, and a memorial on the subject has
been most readily signed by owners and 9.9cupiers of hop
lands and others interested in the social and moral welfare
of the county. A meeting of growers is to be held to-mor-
, rosy at Mailstono,