The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-25 00:00:00

LYCEUM THEATRE,

Dr. Milman's five-act tragedy of "Fazio," origi-
nally played at Covent Garden in the year 1816,
with Miss O'Neill as the heroine, was produced
last night in an Italian garb, with the view of af-
fording a new opportunity for the display of Ma-
dame Ristori's tragic powers. As the plot is now
unfamiliar to most readers, we give it briefly.
Fazio is a poor an enthusiastic dreamer, whose
life is divided between admiration of his wife Bianca
and researches for the philosopher's stone. One
night while engaged at his laboratory a cry for help
is heard, and on the door being opened an old
miser resident in the neighbourhood, Bartoldo by
name, staggers in, narrates the history of his attack
by robbers, and finally dies at Fazio's feet. The
temptation is too strong. Fazio buries the old
man's body in his garden, takes his keys, and pos-
sesses himself of his treasures. Once become a great
lord, his passion revives for a certain Marchese
Aldabella, whom ha bad courted previous to bis
marriage, but who had slighted him on account
of his poverty. She now, howevi r, is too ready
to receive him. Bianca is forgotten, and the love
of Fazio and Aldabella is renewed. Mad with jea-
lousy, Bianca hastens to the ducal council, then
sitting in deliberation as to Bartoldo's mysterious
disappearance, and denounces Fazio as his mur-
derer. Fazio is arrested, condemned to die, and,
notwithstanding the strenuous exertions of his
bitterly repenting wife, finally executed. Al la-
bella's guilty intercourse with Fazio is represented
to the Duke, and she f condemned to a nun's life,
while Bianca dies of grief and shame.
From this slight sketch it will be seen that the
part of Bianca offers full scope for the delicate light
and shade of Madame Ristori's acting ; and, but
seldom have we seen her to greater advantage. As
her greate.t points we would instance her wild
burst of revengeful rage when the thought dawns
across her that by betraying him to the council she
can wrest Fazio from Aldabella's arms, her waken-
ing to reason to find her husband has been led out
to death, and her feeble, impotent attempts to sup-
port her tottering frame, and her assumption of
prophet-like denunciation when the Duke pro-
nounces sentence upon her rival Aldabella.
Madame Ristori was called before the curtain
several times during the piece, and twice at its
termiriation. She was ably supported by the
Italian company, and the stage arrangements were
liberal and effective.

MUSIC.

CONCERTS.

Tn VOCAL UNION.--This society, established for
the performance of English glees and madrigals,
began their second season by a concert at the
Hanover-square rooms yesterday morning. The
room was crowded—a circumstance which gave us
much satisfaction, as indicating a returning atten-
tion on the part of the public to a beautiful and
truly English description of music, which of late
years has been too much neglected.
MR. BENEDICTS'S CONCERTS AT HER MAJESTY'S
THEATRE.—The second of these entertainments was
given yesterday morning. Like the first, it was on
a great scale, and gave employment to all the vocal
and instrumental strength of Mr. Lumley's estab-
lishment. Madlle. Piccolomini sang, in English,
Balfe's famous song, "I dreamt that I dwelt in
marble halls," with a purity of elocution that de-
lighted the audience.

sufficiency of his majority; he must go through an-
other election. In the fifth and sixth district:
MM. Carnot and Goudch tux, names well knowr
in former days, have been returned by large majo
rities. It is true that in the other seven districts
Government candidates have- been returned, yet
we cannot but look upon the result of the elec-
tions in Paris as a moral blow to. the Government.
At Lille, Bordtaux, and Lyons it is also said that
Opposition candidates have triumphed. The strug-
gle, therefore, is not unlike that which seated
Louis Napoleon, nearly nine ye:ars ago, in the Pre-
sidential chair. Then, as now, the great mass •o•
the people supported him through confideuce in hi,
personal qualities and veneration for his family
name. But Paris, Lille, Lyons, and some ()the.
centres of population and disaffection protested,
perhaps, even more strongly then than now.
It appears that in the present case the number
of Opposition candidates returned is very small—
the Ministerial papers say there are not more than
nine or ten ; so that the Emperor may well assert
that the great body of the people which chose him is
still ready to support the legislators of his choice.
So far, then, the Government has been successful,
and no one can doubt its success. But it is net
at all improbable that from the elections of 1857
may be reckoned a period very different from that
with which the Empire commenced.
Undoubtedly, the policy of the Empire is, and
always has been, to appeal front Paris to France,
from the fickle, critical, and keen-witted inhabi-
tants of the capital, to the more domestic, affec-
tionate, religious, and money-saving provincials.
No one can doubt the determination of the Empe-
ror not to be dictated to by mobs or meetings as
long as he possesses the steady adherence of those
whose votes placed him on the throne. Yet an ad-
verse election in Paris must exercise much influence
both at. home and abroad. In the first place, Paris
is not only to Frenchmen but tin: the world in gene-
ral the representative of France.. English travellers
who visited the country prioisto the first Revolu-
tion observed the complete dependence of mind
which distinguished the people of the, provinces,
and the character is still the same. The very far-
mers and vine growers, who supported Government
candidates this week will begin to doubt their own
wisdom when they hear that a Cavaignac and a
Carnot have been returned by a district of enlight-
ened and witty Parisians. Furthermore, Paris and
the large towns are the only places, or are thought
to be the only places, where electors are not intimi-
dated and ballot-boxes are not tampered with. In
the rural districts the Prefect and the Bishop, the
Maire and the Priest, may be said to constitute
society. The peasantry and small proprietors,
acute and bard-fisted enough in their way, are the
most acquiescent of mortals, so far as regards
dynasties and constitutions. They will follow the
lead of Government officers and spiritual advisers,
and their votes may always be counted on for the
support of existing authority, excepting when,
as in the case of the Presidency Of 1848, tae clergy
are ranged against the civil power. It is likely,
then, that both to France and the world the elec-
tions of Paris, Lyons, and Lille may stand for the
legitimate expression of the country's will. There
there is communication and co-operation ; the
votes, though given by ballot, are no secret, and
the opinions of each elector are known to a large
body of friends. So they may be considered free,
and the result of a more instructed choice than the
decision of any body of provincials. The conduct
of the Government officials must also add to any
distrust with which the course of this conflict has
been regarded. It is now plain to the world that
the Emperor and his advisers set their hearts on
returning every man of their own. party. Paris
was especially the object of their solicitude • so
eager were the Tuileries and the Hotel de Ville
that even in this most solemn constitutional proce-
dure, in this first essay on the rights guaranteed by.
the Imperial system, the most intolerable interfe-
rence was practised. Nor was it successful. Men
who live under despotic power beCome disposed to
respect courage and unshaken self-confidence above
any other qualities of a ruler ; and in this affair
such acts as the warning of the Siecle, the publica-
tion of M. Haussmanti's intemperate address, and
the undignified manifesto of M. Billault may well
have prevented thousands from voting for the Go-
vernment candidates,, and swelled the lists which
gave the Opposition candidates a seat in the Legis-
lature.

Now, however, we must look to the future. The
new Legislative Body is chosen: "It is, as before,
devoted to the Government, but has among its
number a knot of men who, under the various
names of Constitutionalist, Liberal, and Republi-:
can, are hostile to the system which is now esta-
blished in France. The question is—" What will
these new Representatives do ?" The Minister of
the Interior has declared that they are merely
frondeurs who have sought election under the pre-
sent Constitution in order that they may publicly
empress their contempt for it, and refuse their alle-
giance to the Throne. A great body of French.
men, and probably thousands who voted for the
Opposition candidates, think so too. We cannot
doubt that many a workman who has smelt the
powder of the barricades, and whose friend or
brother has disappeared either to the gi ave or to
Guiana, after some insurrectionary movement,
voted in the hope that the candidate of his
choice would indignantly refuse the oath to
obey the usurper, and quit the Chamber, ex-
claiming " Vive la Republique 1" But we can-
not think that the Opposition members wil be
so ill-advised as thus to play the game of the
Government, and acquire for themselves the repu-
tation of factious and theatrical disturbers of the
peace. Even if they do nut recognise the legality
of the means by which the Emperor mounted his
throne, yet he is on it, and a majority of the nation
has not only condoned but approved the excesses
of 1855. Napoleon 111. is Emperor of the French ;
the elections have taken place under the Imperial
Constitution, and to accept the part of a candidate
is to accept he Government which authorised the
election. For the few Liberals who have been re-
turned to quit the Chamber with an affected pro-
test against the regime which alone allowed them
to enter it would be a display highly detrimental
to their cause. It would justify all that the Go-
vernment organs have said respecting the vanity
and intemperance of the Opposition, and would
furthermore be a betrayal of those who have endan-
gered their prospects in order to restore to the con-
stitution an element of vitality. We have said that
be the beginning of a
i
new period.
possibly these
This
stimonas ltywbieso,
if the Liberal
candi-
dates whose claims have been supported by the
people go into the Chamber with a deter mination
to play the part of honest and independent legis-
lators. Without speeches treasonable or seditious,
without protests against the misdeeds of past days,
they may effectually, if they desire' check the self-will
of the Court and the insolence of its functionaries.
Even a dozen men, if they hold together, and make
moderate and well-timed speeches about matters 011
which they are sure to be right, must in a few
months exercise a moral control over any number of
benches filled with the puppets of a Government.
The small end of the wedge has been forced into
the fabric of the Imperial system ; whether it will
be driven home depends on the judgment of the
men to whom the Opposition has confided its
cause.