New-York daily tribune., 1857-10-03

n
seaside resorts-at Baden Baden, which AuL
come, as il were, faubourg Of Psr,, vita po..
plsys and French operas, represented by s-,,-.l'
Partisan actors and singers; ~ at Denne ,.s,.,.
almost equally crowded, or at cone othnr a.,
hundred other home and foreign spring, srl ksase
The opening Of the chase" asc Lcs,. -. Ss sussss
man, out OF town. and the papers 81 draws
ports OF fatal accidents as is the annual Ca. re-
season--frends shooting each other when M.s ~ 0s
in couples. and solitary Nimrods shoo.;nc !. sant
selves while the rabbits aud partridses va n- .
scathless. laughing In their paws and ina. s.y'
wings. But The French, the Partisan Pnael s'r n
a brave people az they are, never let the us., se
ger they incur in boating and hunting keeo M
back from those fayorite pursuits.
However the town is not empty. Thisis as.
Of vacation ses son, and provincials swarm nm ~
Paris to ill the places on the Promenades, in ths
public gardens and gallerits, and IN the thes,er a.
serted by her citizens Ana the tbester drector,
are beginning to exert themselves andorneea. tier
new pieces. Among the most curious Of these /,
lie 10, Lear nightly maltreated up at the Cirqael,
his cruel daughters and two French translstcrs ,nX
the actors, exciting often the laughter instead cf hs
sympathy of the spectators. The whole affair NUT
sadly veS bis royal ghost and doubtless nothne but
the fact of his being an Old foey ghost, some aou.
sands Of years behind the modern ImpovemeuH f
"young spiritdom" prevents him iron nppius
out his displeasure. ROuviare, whose persous.
ton of Hamlet, of which lately spoke was, withs
few marring defects, very masterpiece Of hstrsoic
art presented little more than the insanity of Lar
There were indeed in that respect points of wondsr
full power and trutbiulness in his acting but thev
were very imperiecty appreciated by the m,iority
of the audience. The translators had made An
honest painstakns version Of the larger part Of the
drama, in the prosiest style, omittmg some fpe p>s.
sages entire and Omittng pretty much al the pcetr
of the rest. The twelve tabeaux-rather fine and
snowy, with no striking fitness 10 the play-hsd
quite success with the audience, who did not com.
prehe Nd and hardly tolerated the text.
The remarks of the Monday morning critics, sas.
pested by the above performance, while they in sey-
era instances betray q tolerable familiarity with,
and a sincere admiration Of Shakespeare's works,
include number of those amusing blunden which
Frenchman, let him be ever 80 ardent romsn6.
cist, is about as sure to commit when speaking Of
the great English dramatist, as, let him be ever ~
ardent liberal, he swhen speaking OF the Amer.
can Constitution and history. Thus Jules Jann
the dean of dramatic critics, cOnfounds Ken. and
the Fool; another critic and dramaist OF consider.
able note makes Lear lone Of the most powerful
kings of ChristendOm;" another persists, as eyeu
learned academicIans had persisted, in calling
Shakespeare the "Oh Williams" So M Gaillaf.
det, Notwithstanding bis intelligence and his long
residence in the United States, commits anilogow
bunders with an astonishing coOlness in his frequent
and often quite able articles on American manners
and institutions, published IN the Presse. Only
week ago, he spoke Of Colonel Benedict" "a Z
celebrated traitor to the cause of Independence dur
ing our revolutionary struggle, aud makes the Hart
ford Convention an organized resistance 10 the Revo
luton by the large Tory party at that time existing
in Connecticut. The only comfort We English and
Americans have. in view of such cases is that we
fa into errors equally astonishing 10 the French
gardiDg their literature, manners and politics.
To return to the Shakespeare feuilletOns. Here
is one which, though written in baBterlng tone,
viii appear to such Of your readers as can under
stand, and, for the moment, take the Frencbmau's
point of yiew not without its grains OF good sense.
At any rate, it is amusing enough TO be quoted u
part: " Notwithstanding the noteworthy essays of
" the romantic school, and although Shakespeare
made familiar to us by excellent trsnslations Ck
els no longer regarded as drunken savage o.
they used to say in Votaires time, it must stl
/" be admitted that the French public 10 not yes
accustomed to these great machines Of fifty melo.
drama and three hundred vaudeville power. Fbt
"my own part, though were to be stoned b
" death by the pontifs Of a certain church, sm
" not afraid TO confess my opinion and to declare
boldly that prefer our Pere Goriot' to the King
Lear of our friends across the Channel 'Pee
King Lear As for that hOrrid Regan and that
" abOminable Goneril, they are not worthy to un.
" lace the boots Of Nine. de Nucingen and Mime, de
Restaud. The two Partisan women are mOnstera,
% but charming monsters. The Princesses, too are
monsters, but hideous, repulsiye monsters. No
sooner has the King, their father, married them
" and given them their dOwry, than they are pos
" sessed with the fixed idea of killing the cd man,
Z" and then killing each other. The husbands are
loxn, JraIo haI III
"hales. Cordelis, the third daughter, plays tho
" tame, useless part of Cinderella. The
=" plot is complicated by the vainies practiced by
one Edmond Cain against his brother Abel Edgard,
both children of certain Duke Of GlOster, whose
eyes aIe put out with superfuous atrocity, for he
shows himsei at the outset of the play 70 be one
Of the blindest of men and dukes. At the deuoue.
ment of the piece, all the personages are dssd
except King Lear, who lacks little Of IT, These
die by the sword, those by the batte-aY, one bys
club, fourth by the dagger and several by poi
son; the rest are strangled." Let the devotees
of Shakespeare read and ponder Balzsc's mastery
study OF the paterpa passion carefully as they do
King Lear before they utterly condemn this laughing
hereto.
But this is not the end of Shakespeare in Psns
this year. An Italian actor is performing in Otbelo
this week with the enthusiastic approval OF tha.
surest Of all critics, crowded house. I have not
bad the pleasure Of seeing SignOr Sslyini in that
part, but judging from what have seen OF him in
others aud from what spectators tell me, conclude
that his persOnstion rises as near to the hight OF
Shakespeares Imagination as any actor ever did 70
that author. Alfred de- Vigny's version Of the Moor
Of Venice celebrated at the time OF its first appear
ance, in lr30 AS an event in the war Of ROmant.
cists against Clssscists, 50 fercey waged in those
days, is to be resumed at the Fraucais during the
Winter; and some sort Of Romeo and Julietteis IN
rehearsal at the OdeOn. Meanwhile they are per.
forming at this last-named theater another drama Of
foreign origin, a versifed imitation Of Schillers
CaLQLL nnd Lifh1 u1der the title Of LoIisc MMlr.