The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-01 00:00:00

FRENCH THEATRICALS.

GRAND OPERA.—Once upon a time, when Lumley suc-
ceeded Laporte at Her Majesty's Theatre, there was a fine
old admiral who used to come to the opera in a blue coat
with brass buttons, such as Fyshe, Palmer, and Sir Francis
Burdett mad to wear. He never missed "Don Giovanni,"
and on his arrival, he used to sweep the horizon of snowy
shoulders with a Dollond's telescope, after which he would
subside into a peaceful slumber in the tail of his box with
smiling instructions to the wife of his bosom, " Wake me,
my love, when the ghost comes." A man cannot take his
wife with him to the stalls of the French Opera, and so it
happens that many occupiers of those pretty stools snore
soundly to the end of "Don Juan." Let chemists ransack
their Pharmacopeia, they will find no such opiate as this.
The magnificence of the scenery is greatly to be praised,
the ballet is beautiful, but the Don is put upon the stags
in all the pomp of easy circumstances, arising from a
splendid subvention, but it is a pompe funebre. Five long
dreary acts which make those who can keep awake, and
who fancy that they must see it out, long for the last scene
impatiently as the boy who whispered to his schoolfellows
in the pew, when he saw the clergyman turn to the fly
leaf of his sermon, "Courage, lads, I see land." Elvira,
Anna, and the Commendatore have some reason for this
sadness—one has lost her lover, the other her father, and
the last—his life. But the Don and his ballet should be
roystering revellers—reckless libertines with boisterous
spirits—pet Faure and Obin walk about the stage as
though they were engaged to do the "Heavy Fathers" of
the drama. They seem to think that they have a very un-
pleasant duty to perform, and they go through it with a
solemnity which is at times absolutely comic. Don Juan is
sedate as the Rev. Mr. Chadband at a tea fight, and Lepo-
rello disports himself like a Puseyito parson. We shall see
how Mane. Carvalho will get up the opera next week at
the Lyrique. She will take Lulina's role with Mlle. Nillson
for Elvirst, and limo. Charton Denzeure for Donna Anna.
M. Barre will make his debut as the Don, and M. Troy as
Loporello. He is said to have been disinclined to play
Leporello, but his scruples have been overcome, and Mme.
Carvalho, like the well-buskined Greeks, has triumphed at
the siege of Troy, as she has indeed in Marguerite, and
everything that she has undertaken.

FOLIES-DRAMATIQUES AND DELASSEMENTS-COMIQUES.---
T his is the very pursuit of novelties under difficulties.
Wherever we go we find nothing new but what has been
long forgotten. And yet not so altogether, for who could
ever forget Mrs. Yates playing "Victorine, or I'll Sleep on
it ?" They who enjoyed the rare privilege of seeing that
incomparable actress in that part must remember how they
crammed their kerchiefs into their mouths and made other
efforts to keep back those tears which flowed from every
eye. Bah ! Mrs. Partington might as well have striven
to drive back the advancing tide with her mop.
Lord Eglinton used to say that the best means
of stopping a woman's tears would be to " dam"
her eyes ; but what dam could keep back those
sacred waters before Mrs. Yates' Victorine, for she was a
Castatia who made fountains flow from every eye at her
will. Ladies used to be carried out sobbing from their
pigeon-holes, which they call boxes at the Adelphi, and
gandins and Liteguardsmen used to retire and stifle their
emotion in the lobby. How many years ago was this ?
don't let us talk of things which make us so horribly old—but
they who can remember this play, and wish to revive their
reminiscences, may go if they please (though they will be
better pleased if they stay away) to the Folies-Dra-
matiques, where they will see this very old friend with a
new face—and a very pretty face she has---Mme. Derville,
but she is not Mrs. Yates. They may also see the " Cadeau
d'un Horloger." The "Chapeau d'un Horloger" was one of
the best plays ever put on the French stage, which
the " Cadeau," from one of the same craft, is not. Imagine
a damsel becoming enamoured of the nigger which you may
have seen at a shop on the Boulevards carrying a clock on
his abdomen ! The proprietor of this bellygerent piece of
horlogerie presents it to the lady, who has, however, pur-
chased one privately, and on the same day she receives
another from her lover. "It never rains but it pours :"
"Il pleuvait des pendules ce jour lk ;" but this sable trium-
virate of timekeepers fails to make the time pass very plea-
santly. Nor shall we find any Delassements at the neigh-
bouring playhouse which professes to be comique. In lieu
of Delaassement we return, unlike Messalina, lassata, but
also satiate. Moreover the troupe is not remarkable either
for youth or beauty: " C'est comme un bouquet de fleurs—
fan6es."

GREAT NORTHERN HOSPITAL, CALEDONIAN-ROAD.
—The members of the Alexandra Dramatic Club gave a
first-class entertainment on Saturday last at Myddbeton-
hall, for the benefit of this useful and much-needed charity.
The hall was well filled in every part by a delighted au-
dience, who, by their oft-repeated applause, fully appre-
ciated the praiseworthy exertions of the club. This is the
only free hospital in the extreme northern district of Lon-
don. Additional funds are very urgently needed to pre-
vent refusal of admissions. There is no endowment what-
ever. Cases are freely admitted day and night, without
tickets or delay.
Some time ago there was instituted in the island
of Cuba a real Abolition Society, devoted to the
task of liberation, and proposing to free all the
negroes in that ever-faithful isle. In Madrid a
similar Society had been instituted, and has not
been disturbed ; but the Royal Government would
not permit the existence of the Cuba Abolition
Society, and by official decree it was suppressed.
The members, it seems, have submitted to the order,
but they have resolved to get as near abolition as
they can without infringing upon superior'command.
They have, therefore, formed an association against
the African slave-trade, and resolved to discourage
the traffic which keeps the " peculiar institution" in
Cuba in life. They pledge themselves not to,ac-
quire property in imported slaves, and to discourage
others who may be inclined to take the stolen negro
into their service. This Society hopes to obtain general
membership throughout the island of Cuba. It ex-
pects to control sections and districts, and by means
of local Vigilance Committees and a Central
Directory, to insure obedience to the Royal decrees
which now denounce the enslavement of native
Africans, and make the acquisition of these poor
creatures a crime. The association will be produc-
tive of good if it is not interfered with by the
Spanish officials. The latter, although bound to
carry out the Royal rescripts, manage to evade them,
and the reason is because disobedience is to their
profit,