The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-01 00:00:00

THE FRENCH BUDGET.

PARIS, May 31.
The official report of the Budget for 1867 has
been distributed to-day in the Corps Legislatif.
It fixes the ordinary expenses of the year
at 1,523 million francs, 1 millions less
than the amount requested. The ordinary
revenue is stated at 1,617,375,877 francs. The
resulting surplus of revenue over expenditure is
thus 944. millions of francs, of Which 90 1-5 millions
have been carried to the ordinary Budget. In the
extraordinary Budget the expenditure for which
authority was requested is reduced by 1,225,000
francs. The expenses amount to 132 i millions
francs, showing a surplus in the extraordinary Bud-
get of 150,000 francs.

French Theatricals.
IrAtrENs.—Shakspere is the prevailing epidemic of the
French stage. "Hamlet" and "Othello" at the Italian
Theatre ; the "Merry Wives of Windsor" at the Li,rique ;
"Richard III." at the Porte St. Martin; and "Macbeth"
supping full of horrors at the Odeon. The divine " Wil-
liams" triomplze sir route la ligne. M. Paul Faucher, draped
in the caoutchonc cloak which renders French critics im-
pervious to ridicule, drops our bard's divinity in his last
feuilleton, and serves him up as the " immortal Williams."
His colleagues parade their ignorance of our language
with amusing pertinacity, and affect to -understand and
appreciate Shakspere, which is as impossible for them as it
wore for an Englishman not to be bored by Racine or
g
Corneille. But let that pass. Non ra
ionazn da lor, ma
guarda, e passa to the Italiens. It was not
without some mis-
givings that we saw Anzleto on the niche. How could the
noble Prince of Denmark talk to tho gravo-di ers about
Yorick in Italian, or give his directions to the grave-diggersg
n the lingua Toscana 7 The reverence for Shaksperisso
ideeply rooted in an English breast that it cannot brook any
foreign meddlers with his glorious creations. But they
who went to scoff at Amleto last week remained to pray,
for they of the present generation may rest assured that
they have never seen Hamlet played with such
energy, such touching pathos, as Rossi has infused into
the role. The ultramontane actor has carefully studied
and collated every line of the original, and has mastered
those difficulties which it is given to hinds of the highest
culture-only to understand and appreciate. Parole, parole,
parole; " Words, words, words." These are but words,
but ho who uttered them threw passion and pathos and
anguish into their intonation, which brought down upon
him a torrent of applause. It were needless to particu-
larise any of the many beauties strewed so plenteously
thiough the role—they are excellently summed up by M.
Theophile Gautier, who says of Rossi's noble bearing,
" You might make an album in the style of Retsch's
' Faust,' by sketching his attitudes in the principal scenes,
and these simple outlines would, serve to convey the
hidden meaning of the drama." And who is this Rossi ?
He passed almost unobserved some years ago under the
effulgence of Mdme. Ristori's genius. He was the Paolo
who read Galiotto to Francesca, when
"Per piu fiate gliocchi ci sospinse.
Quolla lettura, e scolorocci it vise."
But his great genius then paled its ineffectual fires be-
fore that of the great tragedienne. It shines brightly
now " with purest ray serene." Even had Mdme. Ristori
descended to take the part of Ophelia„ she must have
been content with but a moiety of the admiration
which was so cordially and lustily bestowed upon
Signor Rossi. He intends to go through the Shaksperian
repertoire, it appears. " Othello," " Coriolanus," "Lear,',
"Macbeth," are in his programme—to surpass his Hamlet
will be impossible. Before leaving this theatre for the
Lyrique let us congratulate M. Bagier, and equally the
French Government, on the tardy justice about to b© ren- 1
dered to his claims. A subvention of 100,000 f. is to be ac-
corded to him—but a ninth part of the sum granted to the
French Opera; but he must be thankful for small mercies
and all frequenters of this theatre will rejoice to hear Of
this alleviation of the heavy burthens imposed upon him
by the exorbitant pretensions of Italian artists.
LYRIQUE.—Can any one give any reason for the unjust
oblivion of Balfe's charming "Merry Wives of Windsor ?"
There was a trio between Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page and
their fat friend Falstaff, which should have rendered his
opera immortal. It was, moreover, in high favour in
Paris some 25 years ago ; some of us may even remember
having danced Falstaff quadrilles at Tivoli and Ranelagh.
Even in Germany, "Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor"
was as popular as Balfe's "Bohemian Girl." Yet a heavy
German composer of the terribly classical kind, one Herr
Nicolai, has composed an opera on the same subject, and
has prevailed upon M. Carvalho to bring it out at this
theatre. Of the opera, all that can be said is that the
music is dull, heavy, and German ; but happily there is
very little of it, and a great deal of very amusing dialogue
—in short, the Merry Wives of Windsor, Falstaff, Dr.
Caius, Shallow, Slender, Sweet Anne Page, Master
Fenton, are all very faithfully represented, and the
concluding scene at Herne's Oak will make you
laugh almost as heartily as the comments of the Shak-
sperian critics on "Le Chene de Horne." Mlle. Dubois
(
and Mme. St. 17rbain are the Merry Wives, and pitilessly,
indeed, do they torment Ismail, who has stuffed himself
out into a very presentable Falstaff. The learned in music
lore assure us that Nicolai is endowed with great genius;
we can only the more regret his having bestowed so little
of his store upon us in this work. The habituds of the
Lyrique are crying out again for "Faust." If Mme. Car-
valho should remain obdurate, they will sing the chorus at
her gates, and claim their rights Le fer a la main —Le fer-
er-er it la main.

PORTE ST. MARTIN.—Even the nudities of the "Biche
aux Bois" have been exercised by the manes of the
divine Williams. Our old friend, that hunchback
bugbear of English history, "Richard the Third," was
" untimely ripped" from the womb of " Williams"
some ten or fifteen years past. The playgoers of that
day may remember how admirably Ligier personi-
fied our deformed King. M. Moues drama was then laid
on the shelf, where it has lain perdue until last week, when
the cahiers were taken down and dusted and served up
afresh to satisfy the prevailing Shaksperian taste. M.
S6jour has shown as little respect for history as for the
Swan of Avon. He has cut out characters from other
plays, and transformed them as perversely as nature de-
formed our quasimodo King—who by the way is repre-
sented by the historian Sharon Turner as an Adonis. Sir
Stephen Scroop is taken from " Henry the Fourth," and
served up as " Scropp." M. Deshayes makes a great deal
of this part, worms himself into Richard's confidence,
and plays the spy without forfeiting his right to
be held a chivalrous knight. Tallied° has a thankless
task in succeeding Ligier—for when a well-graced actor
such as he leaves the stage the eyes of men are idly bent
on him who enters next. Yet for those who had not the
good fortune to see that great arti tin his best days, Tail-
lade will be a "perfect Richard"—" bloody, bold, and reso-
lute," attending, as Sam Weller has shown him, to " busi-
ness before pleasure, as Richard said when he murdered the
King before he smothered the babies." His death scene is
horrible, almost as good as Kean in the last act, and quite
equal to Ligier. M. Sejour has taken so many liberties with
history that Englishmen will scarcely be able to sit out this
play with any patience ; but for the indigenous frequenters
of the Boulevard du Crime, who aro as little conversant
with our history as with their own, "Richard Trois" is
perhaps destined to bo a favourite. With all due respect
to theruling goddesses with zoneless waists, the fair vota-
ries of Terpsichore, with whom une miss indecente est de
rigueur, you might suppose the corps de ballet to be the
very last corporation in Christendom to which his worship
the Mayor of Nanterre would apply for a Rosiere. Yet
as the wisest of Kings found a lily amongst thorns —un
giglio le qine—the search would not invariably be
futile. And as ornithologists tell us certain birds make
their nests in crocodiles' teeth, so does virtue "se nicher"
at times under the ballerina's jupe boufante. The two
candidates for the Prix Monthyon this year are a &cur de
Charite and a danseuse of tho Porto St. Martin. All honour
to the latter young lady, whose qualifications for the
palma nobolis are said to be indisputable. Indeed, without
detracting from the merits of the rival candidates, those
of the danseuse are entitled to precedence, caiteris paribus,
for her profession has exposed her to temptations which
can never have assailed her competitor.

'oreigu alaal i'aeliet last.

.IIL S DUE.
Australia and New Ze! and, via aouthampton Juno 19
Ditto, via Marseilles
Brazil and Cape Verde. by British packet June
Ditto, by French packet
Cape of Good Hope, June 13.
Ascension, and St. Helena....Jjounnee ..22:
China, re„---,,„
g. and Singapore, via Southampton.. June 3.
Ditto, via Xarseilics
Falkland Islands
India (Calcutta), and Ceylon,
... June 3.
Gibraltar, via Southampton ..... ... .........
Ditto, via Marseilles .................. ....... June 1 I
via Southampton....
3
India (Bumbay), via Southampton. ................ June 13.
Ditto, via darseilles .. .......... . ........... . . June 7
Malta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton June 3.
Ditto, via Marseilles ........................ June 28.
Utturititus, via Southampton ......... . ..•Jude l 3
•• .. June 14
Ditto, via Marseil:e.. ...................... ....J .June 7.
Newfoundland .......................... ... . Jane 7.
Portugal ............ . , ••
Ditto, by private ship to Lisboa...
United btates and British North America, by Bri-
tish packet
Ditto, by United States packet, via Southanip.

ton ...... • ........ •
Ditto, via Cork
Ditto, Of Canadian packet, via Londonderry , , June 1.
West Ccast of Africa, Madeira, and Teneri Jane 10.
West Indies and Pacific (except Bahadias and
liondurat)
Cuba and Alt xico .........
Bahamas, via New Y ark...
Bermuda, via Halifax..

......... .June 13
............... June 2s

................J une 28

.....June O.

Letters from Italy mention that the flags of the
volunteers bear on one side the Roman she-wolf,
and on the other the lion of St, Mark.