The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-04 00:00:00

illek, 41). STAMPED, 51)

MADAME .RISTUIrI 1N A NEW

CHARACTER.

{From Galignani's Messenger.)

'The re-appearance of the great Italian tragedian
Madame Ristori, in Paris, is an event in itself cal
ciliated to create great interest in the theatrical
world, but when it is added that, the renowned
artiste was to appear in a Frenen character, alnd in
a new piece, curiosity and excitement arose Ito an
extraordinarily high point. The Odeon Theatre
was of course crowded in every part to excess, and
the reception of this now unquestionably first of
living actresses was everything that might be ex-
pected by her friends. The plaudits on her entrance
were loud, long, and enthusiastic ; so warm, indeed,
was her welcome as to produce evident emotion in
the feelings of the fair stranger, while acknowledg-
ing its unusual and special cordiality. The drama
" Beatrix" is written by M. Legouve (the author, it
will be recollected, of " Medea," in which Madame
Ristori made so great an impression both here and
in London) expressly for this lady, and it is certainly
skilfully composed for the peculiar circumstances in
which she appears, the character she represents
being that of a distinguished foreign artiste, as will
be seen from the subjoined sketch of the subject.
The action is laid in one of two smaller Courts in
Germany, where the reigning Grand Duchess, a
generous and munificent protector of the arts, has
just received Beatrix, a famous Italian actress, witi'
the most special honours. Beatrix holds that species
of eminence in her art that opens all Courts and
Palaces before her; to the highest gifts of genius she
adds those still more rare, nobility of character, fas-
cinating beauty and virtue, that the slightest breath
of slander has never been able to reach.. These
claims to respect and admiration rend her an almost
universal idol; but the heart of the fair enslaver has
hitherto remained unscathed. This indifference is,
however, put an end to by the devoted and uncon
trollable passion of the young Prince, son to the Grand
Duchess, who having once seen Beatrix while on
his travels, she has remained from that moment
the sole and constant object of his idolatry. On
now meeting her he pleads his passion in terms so
fervid and sincere as to touch her heart ; but she
disguises her feelings towards him, and he quits
her in despair. The Grand Duchess, at a brilliant
assembly given in honour of the great actress, in-
sists on her giving them a specimen of her tran-
scendant powers, by repeating the great scene from
Shakspeare's Romeo and Juliet, where the unhappy
lovers expire in each other's arms. The part of
Romeo is taken by the young Prince, and the
maddening transports of the lovers, their vows of
eternal fidelity, and alternate feelings of rapture
and despair expressed in the burning language of
the greatest of poets, create an emotion so real and
so powerful in both, that the anxious eye of the
mother at once detects their secret ; but listening
to the ardent appeals and despairing eloquence of
the Prince, she feels disposed to give way. Bea-
trix, however, nobly struggles against her passion,
and finally sacrificing her affections to the future
welfare of her Royal lover, departs, bearing with
her the friendship and blessings of the Grand
Duchess, and still remaining the queen of the
drama. It will be seen from this sketch that the
life and soul of the piece lies in the acting of Mdme.
Ristori, and its success, which was brilliant, must
be set down as entirely due to that lady's inimitable
talents. The manner in which she would speak
the French language was evidently the great point
of curiosity with the auditory, and this ordeal she
passed through to the entire satisfaction of the
public, who hailed her very first sentences with
loud plaudits. The Italian accent was not how-
ever imperceptible, but the nature of the character
lends itself to this little anomaly, and then the
acting of Ristori, the eloquence of the eye, and the
grace and elegance of her every gesture, would
almost supply the place of language were the
tongue even mute. The grand scene of the soiree
was that from Romeo and Juliet, and here Madame '
Ristori was indeed great ; the tenderness, passion,
and agony of the scene, as depicted by the great
bard, never had a finer interpretation ; the curtain
was twice raised for her to come forward and re-
ceive the renewed applause of the public at its
termination.

THE BUILDERS' STRIKE.

- --~._

We are very happy to say that there is nose' a
good prospect of a permanent adjustment of the
difficulties between the masters and workmen, and
that a compromise will probably be effected on
terms more advantageous to the men than they at
first had any right to expect. The suggestion
which we made last week in these columns—that
the men should accept the proposition of working
by the hour, under an increased scale of wages,
which would enable them, working five days of 10
hours, to knock off at one on Saturday without
any diminution in their weekly earnings—has
been, we are glad to say, most favourably received
by the men themselves. Under these terms, we
believe, from all we have beard, a settlement may
soon be come to and work resumed at the four firms
' from which the men have struck. We by no means
intend to say that the turbulent spirits who rule
at the trades' unions committees are at all in-
clined to accept the proposition of payment by the
hour. Such an arrangement leaves each man at
liberty to make his own terms of work without the
assistance or dictation of the unions, and is there.
fore a fatal blow at the pewer and influence which
they hitherto used so mischievously for the men's
interests. They are therefore likely to oppose it to
the last, but they will, it is hoped, be compelled to
give way to the wishes of the men themselves, who,
we are very glad to say, are in a great measure
taking the settlement oft he dispute into their own
hands. If they do so entirely—if they will consent
to use their own judgment in the matter withc,,,ut
relying on the blind guidance of Mr. Potter and
others—there will soon be an end of the question.
The truth is that the men are for once thoroughly
alarmed, and suspect that their . leaders have
misled them. They relied on a certain amount
of public sympathy, at least from other trades,
and they relied also not a little on the
support of one or two journals taking np what
they chose to call the rights of labour. To their
astonishment they find that every organ of public
opinion without a single exception has gone against
them, and exposed the unreasonableness and injus-
tice f their demands with unusual vigour. They
have found that this expression of public opinion
faithfully represents the feelings of every class, and
that many trades, though willing to contribute to
their support while " out" have expressed in the
strongest terms their entire disapprobation of the
" strike." This universal opposition made the men
more than doubtful, and when the knowledge spread
abroad that the masters would close their shops,
that the unions, from the badness of trade, the
severity of the winter, and other causes, could fford
little or no relief to a general " loek-out," and,
above all, that foreign workmen were certain to
be introduced, which would have the effect of de-
pressing the market price of labour for years
to come—the men became thoroughly aroused,
and pressed for a reasonable adjustment of the
dispute. It was then that the liberal terms offered
by Messrs. Lucas and Messrs. Kelk, under payment'
by the hour, began to tell upon the wavering. Of
all the trades on strike, the masons are the best off.
Neither Messrs. Lucas nor Messrs. Kelk expected a
single man of that calling to give in under a two
months' struggle. But the obvious liberality of the
terms offered have shaken even these, and already,
in spite of all the threats and entreaties, and even
high pay of the unions to buy them out, 28 have
returned to their work at Messrs. Lucas's, and there
will probably be 50 before the end of the week.
In short, the majority of the men appear satisfied
with the terms offered under payment by the
hour, and have eagerly taken up our suggestion
that they should work five days at ten hours
and take a half-holiday from one o'clock on Satur-
day, receiving the same wages as heretofore.
Two days after this suggestion appeared in our
columns a deputation of delegates waited upon
Messrs. Lucas, and asked whether if the men worked
their 10 hours under the hour system of payment
fer five days they would object, as we suggested, to
have their pay books ready at 1 o'clock, so that the
men might from that hour take a half holiday. To
this Messrs. Lucas at once consented. The earnings
were then calculated under this arrangement of the
hour system and half holiday, and found to be as
follows :
Five days, of 10 hours, at 7d. per hour £1 9 2
Saturday, Gi hours, up to 1 o'clock 0 3 91

Total .... -
The earnings of the men now, without a
half
holiday, are 335., so that for their half day each
man would only p
to ay, a halfpenny. The delegates,
however, appeared think that this was too much,
for they asked Messrs. Lucas if they would give the
men the extra halfpenny, making their wages, with
the half holiday, 335., exactly the same as at present,
without the holiday. This, after some minutes'
consideration, Messrs. Lucas at once agreed to do.
Emboldened by this concession, the delegates then
Pay the usual
demanded that the masters should