The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-02 00:00:00

PRINCESS'S THEATRE

A new five act play, from the pen of our old friend
Kenny, was produced here last evening, and was most
successful. It is entitled Infatuation, and the scene
is laid in Paris during the reign of Napoleon,
at the period of his divorce from Josephine.
The heroine of the play is the Duchess de Bracciano
(Miss Cushman), the daughter of one of the old nobi-
lity. Her father fell a sacrifice during the Reign of
Terror, but the Emperor has restored to her the family
estates on condition that she marries the Duke de
Bracciano (Mr. H. Wallack), one of his ministers.
The union is an unhappy one. The Duchess is en-
thusiastic, warm-hearted, and honourable. The Duke,
a ci-devant Jacobin, is a cold, calculating, heartless
politician. Can it be wondered at that she is miserable ?
Colonel St. Ange (Mr. Hield), her cousin, loves her
with a brotherly affection, and, in one of
the earliest scenes of the play, we find him
solemnly warning her against the machina-
tions of Hermain Lindorff (Mr. Leigh Murray),
a German refugee, who has obtained the post of Secre-
tary to the Duke, and who has abused the confidence
reposed in him by attempting to win the affections of
the Duchess. It is evident that he has been but too
successful. She fires up instantly, and reproaches her
cousin, in the most bitter terms, with having lent him-
self to a plot against an unfortunate exile. There
is an alarm in the street—Lindorff has been set upon
by assassins, and slightly wounded. This incident
tends to complete her infatuation, for that moment it
is evident that she is devotedly attached to Lindorff;
although she strives as much as possible to hide the
truth from herself. On his recovering, Lindorff pre-
sents himself before her; his appearance is sad, and
his manner respectful. She endeavours to appear
calm, but it is evident that it costs her a severe
struggle. Lindorff takes advantage of this oppor-
tunity to declare his love, and then rushes from her
presence, bidding her farewell. She directly after-
wards receives a letter from him—at first she refuses
to open it, and determines to return it to him. She
looks at it, forms excuses to herself for her conduct,
and then opens and reads it. The acting of Miss
Cushman in this scene was truly great. Never has the
struggle between duty and the heart been more power-
fully or touchingly depicted. Lindorff in this letter
hints at suicide. She is in agony—she hates and
despises her husband, she loves Lindorff, but she, the
last descendant of a noble race, will never consent to
dishonour her ancestry. She too will seek refuge in
death. A ray of hope appears—the chance is a despe-
rate one, but it is still a chance. Her husband may
consent to a divorce, and trusting to this almost hope-
less hope, she writes to Lindorff and bids him live.
Her husband enters and endeavours to induce her to
go to Court with him, to seek admission into the
household of Marie Louise, to ingratiate herself with
the new Empress, and keep up a correspondence
with the Austrian Court, in order to secure a refuge
for him and for herself, in the event of any unforeseen
catastrophe occurring to the Emperor. She at once
rejects his proposals, and threatens to denounce him
to the Emperor if; he will not consent to a divorce.
He listens calmly to her, and as calmly refuses her
request, telling her she has no evidence to prove the
nature of the overtures which he had made to her.
At this moment the Countess de Chateau Vieux
(Mrs. Brougham), her aunt, enters. She has
overheard the conversation, but the Duke is in-
exorable, and calmly bids them do their. worst.
The Countess goes to the Emperor to sue for the di-
vorce, and the Emperor refuses to grant it unless the
Duke also consents. In the meantime St. Ange, who
has been on a special mission to Austria, has learned
that Lindorff is as he suspected, .a villain, and sends
to his friend Gobert (Walter Lacy), a military dandy
of the first water, to cause Lindorff to be arrested and
conveyed to the frontier. Gobert, who thinks it will
be a fine thing to manage it all himself, goes to Lin-
' dorff's lodgings, but finds that Lindorff is not altoge-
ther unprotected. There is a certain Pierre La-
roche (Mr. Wallack) living with him, and
Pierre and Lindorff arrest the Colonel, and
shut him up in a cellar. In the meantime St.
Ange, fearing lest his cousin should become the vie-,
tim of the intrigues of Lindorff, has returned to Paris
with leave, and is placed under instant arrest in con-
sequence by the authorities. The Duke, believing
that his wife loves St. Ange, and that it is her love
for him that causes her to desire the divorce, endea-
vours by every means in his power to prolong the
period of his imprisonment. The Duke is alone in
his cabinet, and Pierre de la Roche is announced.
They have been old colleagues in the revolutionary
tribunals during the Reign of Terror, and Pierre
demands that the Duke shall consent to the divorce.
At first the Duke is inclined to order him under
arrest, but Pierre tells him it will be useless, as he
has it in his povor to make him the execration of
every human beingfOrnd hejells him he will do so
unless be immediately conseirg to the divorce. The
Duke, as agent of the revolutionary tribunal, had,
out of private pique, caused the arrest and execution
of the father of the Duchesei and, having murdered
the father, he had married the child. To prevent
this exposure the 'Duke a once consents to
the divorce, and the Duchess unexpectedly
finds herself free. Pierre seeks Lindorff to
communicate to him the happy intelligence
and the old veteran finds that he has been deceived.
He had believed Lindorff to be honest—that he really
loved the Duchess—instead of that, he finds him a
heartless libertine and Pierre determines to defend the
Duchess from his machinations. On finding herself
free, the first thing the Duchess does is to fly to the
habitation of Lindorff. She there finds Pierre, who ex-
poses to her the utter worthlessness of the man on whom
she had fixed her affections. She declares her utter
disbelief in the imputations cast on Lindorff,
and her contemptuous scorn for his calum-
niators. Pierre produces to her letters, which
prove that Lindorff was affianced to another,
and that be intended to betray the Duchess

to a life of ignominy. Lindoff enters. She places
!rs I- c,,:nress,vl
his countenance, as he peruses them, and in the
agony of her heart exclaims " Guilty." She is
convinced, too late, that she has thrown away her
affections on a villain. She would fain leave the
room. Lindorff attempts to prevent her. He is de-
termined to abuse the power which her trusting
nature has given him over her. Pierre defends her.
Sounds are heard without. It is the guard, with St.
Ange at their head, come to arrest Lindorff.
Pierre shows the Duchess a secret passage by
which she effects her escape, so that , she is
spared the shame of being found in Lindorff's room.
The rest is soon told. Lindorff, who is a runaway
swindler, is arrested and convoyed to Austria. Gobert
is released from the durance of the cellar. St. Ange
is restored to liberty, and, as the divorce holds good,
is rewarded by the hand of the Duchess, who has
completely recovered from her infatuation. The act-
ing of Miss Cushman was throughout very fine.
There are many powerful situations in the play,
which afforded her admirable opportunity for the
display of her powers, and of which she availed
herself to the utmost. She was called for
at the conclusion, and received with loud applause.
Wallack, whose Pierre was a fine hearty piece of
acting, then came forward, and announced the piece
for repetition amidst loud applause, and with some
slight expression of disapprobation. The house was
crowded.