The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-11 00:00:00

PRINCESS'S THEATRE.

A new tragedy, in five acts, entitled The Templar,
was produced here on Saturday with triumphant and
most deserved succes. The author, Mr. Slous, is a
new aspirant for dramatic fame, and he bids fair to
become one of the best writers of acting plays of the
day. He thoroughly understands the art of construc-
tion, and never commits the fault, the unnatural
fault, of delaying the action of his drama in order to
give his characters an opportunity of spouting sickly
sentimentalities in misty language ; his characters are
all human beings, not monsters of perfection or of
vice, and they speak a human language and are actu-
ated by human feelings; we feel with them and we 1111..
derstand their expressions. The play is excellently well
built, the interest is gradually worked up through every
act, and the climax does not come until the end of the
play. The scene is laid on the coast of Normandy,
the time is at the time of the destruction of the
Templars, and thus runs the plot :—Gaston la Marche,
a French noble of the sect of the Albigenses, is living
in the condition of a poor fisherman on the coast, with
his daugbter Isoline. In the persecution of his sect
his castle had been :sacked, and his wife and son mur-
dered, he himself having escaped with his infant
daughter. The author of his ruin, Aymer de la
Roche, has become a Templar, and is master of the
Preceptory near which La Marche and his daughter
dwe.t. A secret attachment has been formed between
Isoline and Bertrand, a young soldier, who has con-
cealed from her that he is the follower of the Templar,
and is himself under the monastic vow of the order. At
length he reveals to her this secret, which she hears
with grief and horror, and resolves to tear herself
from him for ever. She seeks her father, and im-
plores him to fly with her to some other abode, but
withholds the cause of her agitation, till pressed by
his questions, she reveals her secret. La Marche dis-
covers another secret, by reading (somewhat irregu-
larly) a letter addressed to De la Roche, of which, in
his lowly capacity, he has been employed to be the
bearer; be discovers that his daughter's lover is the
son of his arch-enemy the Templar, towards whom he
nourishes implacable hatred. Thirsting for revenge,
he seeks De la Roche, to whom he denounces Ber-
trand, as having, in breach of his vows, carried on an
unholy interccurse with a woman. He contrives that
his daughter shall again meet her lover ; and, in
proof of his accusation, conducts the Master of the
Templars to a place where he hears Bertrand urging:
Isoline to fly with him. Bertrand is instantly
seized, solemnly tried for breach of his vow, and:
condemned to death. The Master offers him his
life on condition of his revealing the partner of his
crime, an offer which he firmly and scornfully rejects.
La Marche, who, in the disguise of a monk, has wit-
nessed the trial, is touched to the heart by the youth's
nobleness, and determines to save him. Seizing an
opportunity, he communicates to Bertrand the secret
of his birth (of which the youth himself is ignorant),
and tells him to seek an interview with his father
and reveal it to him, giving him also the means of
proof. But Bertrand's guards refuse to conduct
him to the Master's presence ; he is conducted to
the scaffold, and the moment of his death has almost
arrived when Isoline, who has made her way into
the interior of the Preceptory by climbing over
broken arches and ruined walls, throws herself

wildly at the Master's feet, exclaiming that it is his
own son who is about to suffer death. The stern
Templar at first repulses her, but La Marche, who
has followed her, avouches the truth. While the
Templar hastily countermands the execution, the
trumpet signal of death is heard, and all seems over,
when suddenly there are sounds of conflict; a great
body of troops, under the king's lieutenant, have
stormed the castle. The soldiers of the Temple de-
fend• themselves bravely. Bertrand rushes to his
father, and fights by his side. But the old man is
slain ; his troops are routed ; and Philip of Valois, en-
tering at the head of his forces, proclaims the disf olu-
tion of the order and the banishment of the knights
from France ;at the same time absolving from their
vows the inferior grades of the order, and thus remov-
ing the bar to the union of Bertrand and Isoline.
The part of Gaston de la Marche was sustained by
Mr. Charles Kenn, and that of Isolke, his daughter,
by Mrs. Charles Kean ;and never have we seen either
of them to greater advantage. The scene in the
second act, in which the old father discovers that his
daughter has not given hies the whole of her confi-
dence, was superbly acted both by Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Kean ; and in the scene in which Gaston
denounce: Bertrand to the Templar, Mr. Charles
Kean was most effective. The look of pride and
hate which he casts on the Grand Muster, when
he orders him to kneel as a serf, was the very
perfection of acting. Fine, very fine was he in the
trial scene ; and in the next scene, when he dare not
look at his daughter crossing the ruined arch, but in
agony listens to the account the woodman gives of her
progress, and then when he hears she is safe falls
senseless to the ground, giving one rgouized shriek, he
was equal to his father. Mrs. Kean's delineation of the
gentle, loving Isoline,was beautifully pathetic; and Mr.
Belton ;have a most spirited version otthe part of Ber-
trand. The raise en scene was beautiful. The seacoast
scene was equal to the best of Stanfield's productions,
and for gorgeous magnificence we have seldom seen
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Blinertriganhdts.
Beautiful exceedingly, too, was the subsequent scene
of the ruined arch leading to the fortress of the
Terrplars. At the conclusion the applause was rap-
turous. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean were first called
on, then Mr. Belton, and then there were loud calls
for the author, who bowed his thanks from a private
box. The house was crowded in every part.

THE IRISH SOUTH EASTERN RAILWAY.-An ex.
carrion trip will be made over this line—from Carlow to
Kilkeuuy— on Tuesday next.