The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-28 00:00:00

M. SCRIBE.

Independent of the interest which his genius ex-
cites, so long as the higher drama is considered the
most refined and intellectual entertainment of so-
ciety, no educated person can think of M. Scribe
without a real feeling of gratitude. His works in the
original, or copied, translated, imitated, and too often
travestied, defaced, and mangled, have amused the
whole world from Paris to Constantinople, from St.
Petersburgh to Messina. Ner has our English stage
been the least benefited by the works of M. Scribe;
we could mention the name cf a manager of one of
our first theatres who states that, whenever he was
in any difficulty for want of novelty, he always re-
sorted to the translation of one of Scribe's pieces,
and always with the greatest success. He is the
author of ten comedies in five acts, and of twenty
in one, two, or three acts, all of the highest
order, and given at the Francais ; and of
150 vaudevilles, given at the Gymnase, where
he achieved his first triumphs. As a lyrical poet, he
is equally without a rival, whether for the number or
the beauty of his libretti. He has written the poetry
of forty grand operas and of one hundred comic
operas. To these must now be added his libretto of
the forthcoming Tenmesta. In all, this extraordinary
man has written 340 works, independent of his novels,
such as "Piquillo Alliaga," &c.
Although so hale and active, and possessing such a
flow of spirits that he appears at least fifteen years
younger, Eugene Scribe was born at Paris on the
24th September, 1791. His father was a silk mercer
near the Millers des Haller, in the Rue St. Denis.
The lively wit of the future dramatist was discerned
by all his friends at an early age, and his father, de-
sirous that the powers of his mind should have ample
means of development, placed him at the great College
of Ste. Barbe. Whilst there, however, his father was
ruined by the revolutionary wars, and when, at 18
years of age, Eugene Scribe left college, he was an
orphan, and wholly destitute of fortune. Fortunately,
he found a kind guardian in his relation, M. Bonnet,
a celebrated barrister, and the legal defender of Ge-
neral Moreau. This gentleman destined his ward to
the same profession as himself, and Eugene Scribe,
therefore, betook himself to the study of the Roman
law, having for his "grinder" no less a personage
than that celebrated jurist and politician I)upin the
elder, later his colleague at the French Academy,
and, at this moment, once more President of the
French Legislative Chamber. But in all studies the
legal fact that was most deeply impressed on Eugene
Scribe's mind was, that at 21 a young man is master
of his actions ; and having reached that age, his pas-
sion for the drama having absorbed all other tastes, he
determined to renounce the law, and to live free and
independent, and to owe nothing but to the labour of
his pen. The latter resolution he has nobly kept, for
in France, in spite of his long career, M. Scribe is
cited as a very rare example of a man who, although
courted by high and low, never solicited nor accepted
of a place or a favour under the numberless Govern-
ments and administrations which have succeeded each
other in his unfortunate country. Justly, therefore,
is he entitled to the crest he has assumed—a pen,
with this motto, " Inde Liber et Felix" (hence free
and happy). Shortly after reaching his majority he
began his dramatic career by writing a vaudeville
for the Gymnase, that favourite theatre of the old
House of Bourbon, where even now there remain the
traces of that peculiar wit and elegance, that parfum
de noblesse et de bonne societe, which distinguish
alike the letters of SCwignC, • and, although in a man-
lier and more philosophical form, the works of M.
Scribe. The refinement and elevation of the aspi-
rant's first vaudeville naturally led to his being en-
gaged to write for the Theatre Francais, where he
showed himself, in an age successively disfigured by
the exaggerations of romanticism and the still more
loathsome doctrines of Socialism, a worthy successor
to Moliere. To describe M. Scribe's career and
the progress of his successive works would demand a
volume. The result, in the rewards he enjoys, how-
ever, it is gratifying to state. He has received every
species of honorary decoration ; he is a Commander of
the Legion of Honour, and has received crosses from
almost every Sovereign in Europe. He is a member
of the famous Quarante de l'Academie. Although he
derives no profits from his works out of France, he
has acquired, by labouring at his pen for many years
from five in the morning to seven in the evening, a
noble independence. At his elegant villa at Meudon,
near Paris, or at his larger domain in the provinces,
he spends his life amidst his family and friends, send-
ing forth constantly new stores of amusement to the
world at large, and not forgetting to do substantial
good to the smaller circle around him. Thus loving
work and retirement, equally esteemed as a private,
individual and as a public character, M. Scribe pos-
sesses gifts of fortune which they who best know him
most deeply feel that he well merits.