New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-03-21
Mr.. EDWIN FORREST As RrcHgLrEu

Lat night Wa performed, at she Brosdwsy Thea.
ter. Sir Lytton Buwers play Of Richeeu. Balwer ID
sstsrtins example Of what even In an sriHorstic
country, labor can achieve. Without spark OF
orig nal genius to light up his accomplished. versatile,
clever medocrty, labor position, and an cptuess {,
seize an opportunity, have won for him de-
tinction. Initiating Byron, rather than stirred
Ike him with nstive restlessness and
morbid contempt for the weak, msterial hunscity
around him, the first productions Of Bulwer wore
s the gloomy marks Of the mock heroic and biliors
school of poetry Of which he Was disciple. pei
ham, " Devereux" aud Eagene Aram, had, ike
all Byron's productions, criminal for the hero aud
scafiold for his end. But Disraeli, now, ever
stood across his psth, and the spiritual Hebrews
novels found more admirers among that class
OF intellectual aristocracy whom Bulwer chiefly
ccuited. Frefted with uneasy convc ion that his
fctioIs might not purchx for him that fame which
bis vanity so sedulousy craved he dsringy yentured
into every field OF literature in the hooe that in
one walk accident, labor genius might earn for him
q name But this, we fear will never come for, much
as we honor industry every production Of his coined
IN the brain and comes not from the heart, takes
lie fise in reservoir, and not in spring. Buwer
has, like Dsrael and most great literary sdventur
ers, wonderful penchsnt for France which has al.
ways furnished the fairest field fer such free lsnces
The vouptuous reckless Life Of the French Court Pc
oulslly appealed TO fancy which would have loved
to have seen itself stroke1 ard csressed
" I'm grand homme" among the Royal prostitutes
who abounded at the French Court in the Seventeenth
and Eighteenth centuries. Indeed the greatest fault
Of Bull ver's works is the artificial mannersm aud
morbid melo. drama which was fascinating to the
sckly voluptuousness of that era Of France. Bull
wer took TO the stage at q moment when Victor
Hugos dramas were exciting q furore not alone in
France but in Europe. But English propriety, which
could listen with sulenn 10 respectable dulness
was roused into anger by the meodramstic i'm moral
tiles of Bulwers first production, La Duchesse de
"Vullisre,' though its polished vice was oonce lied
under mantle Of sentimental verbage. The play Of
last hight, " Rchelieu" lin which he himself
f,ankly admits, that as has been too often his
wont, and that of his rival Israeli, he has bor-
rowed largely from Alfred Devignys Cling Mars"
and other works was bis next effort. Jesuit.
ism has its generals ss well as its soldiers, but
all alike care not for the that they reach the
end. Eugene Sues Rodin-the " Uriah Heep' of the
order-crawied on like snake and sneakingy spruog
upon bic object Richelieu, the Caesar of Leyolas
camp, traDpled imperously alike upon man or woman
who crossed biz path and strobe on to his purpose
But bis commanding temper was ever softened with
tbst unfailing grace Of manner, which was the
most seductive attribute of his order. His eItrsord
nary insight into character, bis rare a'tanmens, his
refined taste for literature and art made bis creatures
forget they were his tools, and msde his sovereign
forget lie was bis inferior. Never woundiDg the feel
irgs OF the one and careful to maintain courage
end dignity in the presence Of the other he concaed
the affection Of those he employed, aud governed the
mind Of tbose who employed him. But those giant
powers, which yht have achieved such glorious re-
suits for truth and freedom, were wasted in cunning
craft and Richelieu, the master Of all others in his
age the slave Of HE own intriguing and ambitious
heart ard if bis mighty figure stands out upon the
page of History and Time as huge connecting fea-
mark between the abolition OF eudality and the origin
Of the first revolution in France, the glory which be-
longs 70 this sno w s foundation of the French Acsd
emy and bis munifcent patronage Of literature and
the art. ns he d,~,-,e@ hv his nAraacntian Of
Protestsnts and his untirng effort TO JesutZe the
earth.
Such vas the polished courtier, the crafty priest, and
the ambitious statesman which history portrays Rich
ellen to have been, and such the character which
Bulwer however mperfectly, srove to build up in
his drsma. But such was not the Richeleu - which
Mr.. Edwin Forrest presented to audience at the
the hight preceding but still numerous and not noisy.
Having heard thai this character was deemed by Mr..
FORESTS admirers as perhaps bis chef doeuvre we
went with email interest to view the performance,
and came away with q burning conviction that in
IDEAL in elocuton, ard in action, Mr.. Forests per-
,onation was not only false, but foulIy so. 1t
is said that our highest iutelIects have but
one conception and that runs through every work.
into q
same. The same athletic cosrseness and vulgar pas
zion which had desecrated on the night bsfore the
beautiful image Of the gentle thoughtful Dane, pro-
truded sgain from beneath the gown Of Richdieu.'
Mr.. Forrest labored hard to look the Cardinal
There was the red cap, the simulated cough and the
vould.be infrmity of age. But the red cap had
carnival glare the cough was the old Forrest rattle,
and the infrmity of age a farce. The harsh voics
.ra coa,.e knit frame refused to own the stimulation.
In Ire first act. instead of rebukng " De MsuprTs"
e,trsv.rapce with the dignity of the imperious min
;ste, Mr.. Forrest turns upon him with the fury OF
some rufisD mater who had caught his servant In
th<A Again. in the third act, when by the strasagem
of feigpDg death he saves bis me- mr.,
Forrest looks as in the tbroes of srangulaon, and
loses the best opportunity afforded by the play
TO bring out the crafty genius OF the jesuit
In the fourth act, when, reappearng among ms oel
fed enemies, rioting in the news Of bis imaginary
death. his coun.enance should have worn look OF
uroud majesty, blended with contempt for all around
him. Mr.. Forrest looks precisely as Van Ambussh
After successful coquetry with some angry leOp.rdi
and when, in ts splendid close, deserted By all DIS
mipop,, be invokes the terrible power Of the Church.
the great tragedisn looked like Sig Bltz or some
ch iurgler, eevating himself on the top Of his toe
;h wondrou. consciousness of the effect some fear.