New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1866-10-02
RISToRI IN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND.

of the Theatre Francois witnessed these plays with feel
ing akin to old acdaintance Not in the of Eli
zabeh Queen of England which last night produced
for the first time in America, and which,
after the long-drawn agony and stilted speeches
Of Mafei came with all the electric freshness
of bracng Autumnal breeze Further knowi-
edge of Maria Suarda convnces us that acting play
Il does not merit its immense reputation. Rstons mo-
ments of greatness alone save 1t from utter dreaIlness
and We doubt exceedingly whether there will be any call
its repetition after Americans have gained more ex
tended knowledge Of her repertoire Bacon has said,
A wise man will not Judge the whole play by one act,
and yet 70 think we'll of Maria Stuardaaer first per-
formance bien eRteHdu-wo a.e obliged to forget
all but the third acas even Rso cannot make the last
act wha, might have been had the damatst known the
meaning of stage effect. Though the Gen0ese poet
Giacommetti is Schiller yet is his play of Eliza
beta" much are than that which preceded M as
clever prose uninterrupted action alive than
the bankeSt of bankyerse and everreturnng stagnaon
We free 20 confess that we DO not understand why
such artistic Rso does not perceive where in Nara
Stuarda il fault and relieve her audiences OF much
patient suffering by curaing its by 10 means iar pro-
portions ,-
With "Elizabeth' we have such complaint to make
II IA admirable. With the instincts OF Bouclcau Gla-
commetu has taken one Of the strongest women
in history, surrounded her by some OF the
cleveres characters OF her brilliant court put such da
logue into the mouths of all as would not have dgaced
the originals and massed incident upon incident skill
fully that the interest never Gags for one moment
Though "truth be stranger than felton," truth in
spite of Emersons dctum, docs not always find it
has Giacommetii seized upon every thread OF ro-
nance that woven about the name OF
'tho Virgin Queen has ignored dates and facts in
highly poetca manner, and produced in consequence
play most pleasing and effective The manner, however,
in which black is made white and white black by this
clover Genoese reminds MS that fame, after ALL IS
terrible two-edged sword, very likely to cut Its
possessor 10 the quick. Writers exercise q spe-
cies of squatter sovereignty over historical per-
sonages make them angels demons as
hest uts the bent of their genius and justify their license
in the name OF literature and the DRAMA is this night
Sara RICH. wrong II has been done ever since DOCKS
were made and the unkndet cut Of all Is, that though
history NAV most emphatcaly contradict the poet and
the novelist the world will pernaciousy cling TO
the striking tahleauI, the red and the blue lights
Of fiction and forget the facts by which MS
imaginary dranafis persoHe might be disspaed
When will Richard Ill ever recover from the eect oil
Shakcspeaes tragedy Let US nope that upon eateus
another and better world the victims OF mat mighty III
strument the pcl endowed with divine enduaneeDy
which they are able 10 receive its attacks with the moral
epidcrms Of hipp0potamus.
Italian dress and II her temper be Of tho same metal as II
was 200 years ago, she would be likely were she IN the
flesh, 20 administer a. good box on ears as
once made those Of Essex nge and BID him 90 ana be
hanged" right royalty. Sho made 20 detest Spencer,
whom she admired and peusoned she listens 10 her own
praises In Henry VIII aud cancels Shakespeare debts
hat his PLAY NAV DO performed at Windsor. Essex lies
stouty IN Bacons name that Elizabeth may give
him seat in the pnyy council because OF his
and out whenever the dmmatist pleases Maria
Iamhum h. introduced In short and effective scene,
Esex flies into his magnificent nge not as history states
because u beng thwarcd in his desire 70 put friend IN
command Of he forces in Ireland but on account OF
r0vll rrplnanG aGrOpOs OF BIS unuy but brave bearing
a. Cadz. II would not answer Tor iIasely QLeeA 70
box hcr voc cars; therefore does she merely raise her
hand 10 stise him. be IN return breaks his sword
ard throws u AZ her feet. The monkisn story Oh
Ebcihs passionate love Tor Essex Is tN,,u' anu Oh u
tie play degcuds for action. IL Is forgotten tnt tue
Queen should number three years aud ton, Hhe Is
sex is In the bloom ofmauhood IL forgotten that Esso1
h. the grandson Of Ezlbeths cousin Catherine Carey,
arIf ha All ffIO
have been other than maternal =" nave Alueu the
only ever loved the desPAlnAg cry
of Gncommct'is heroine, and there Is intro
drcfl the pretty romance OF the ing which, none zero
IrH ,rordfef "Ahi n Essex would only send me the
nng' exclaimed ;he frantic Queen, and Lady Anna Bur
o. 10 ocrs seek the traitor ~ MS pnsoAt but tAa-
beths pride dominates her heart and Lady Anna daca
not SIR not until the Lcadsman has done bis wose does
the Countess OF Nottingham-who 20 meot dramatic c-i-
rcncics b deeply though hopccssy enamoufed OF
Esser, rush into the presence Of the Queen,
and reveal herself the bearer 81 tho Eas rng which
NM. retched little fact OF EseAs marIlag IS well kept
t OF SIGHT aud even as tho old roinsnee Ianks Il
rot until year afler TIE execution that he Couuies
when diving, revealed her secret Lf Drdme obige.
Though history turns strange somersaulisi Gacommets
hands be fJG DE most pa paints Elizabeth trn'hialy
and IN speech delivered BY Buresh sums up Le charac-
& F,sbehs wonderful contradiction Of character to be
rtryced 6. when think OF her ~ the offspring OF two
such turbulent spirits a. Henry VIII and Anna Boleyn
Could that temper have been other thah eAPcous auu
passionate which had undergone such extraordinary ys,s
stCdes TAnk Of Elizabeth as an infant WIN "nelIher
gowp, nor khle nor 70 manner o. hne1 5o Qg'A'S4s.
mul - nOr bzgns-thnk OF her AZ fourteen asthe vic
tim Of Sir Tnomas ScymouTs ambitious schemes-think
OF hsrGt tvcnty-ore making first visit 70 the Tower
tLough the Traitors Gac'rem, thai Tor quarter
of century she held psone. oi state, and then NJ
the charity forgive her personal faults for the sake
oi lcf great virtues queen ]. rs no end OF praise TO
/ say thar she never forget her friends.
NotwitIsapd.ng that all the dram0f persona Of Eliza
beth arc even when mere sketches OF Importance, Gl-
conmo has committed no such fatal mistake Schiller
in Mana S,uefda. Though each character bo indicrcny
performed, yet the play cannot lose rs interest when
Rstor c-ncs it upon her royal shoulders Prominent Is
the character OF Sir Francis Dmke the semmes Of tle
Sixteenth Century, he who boosted OF singing inc
WHISPERS nj Che King OF SPAIN andesyc hecdye Yachts
OF the NcNi Squadron made the circuit OF the CLONE
in yolcl ~ only 100 tuns No less conspicuous is 81
Francis Bacon who, from the treatment he had received
from Giacommctu must have been set down as indeed
"the megneg Ut mankind" Anything more contempt
BE than the part he played in Elizabeth could not be
easily mnened In true Italian fashion he sses EsserS
hard for the it o HawIch ana turns upon ms so-cAel
benciacJr ssh the hour of need arrives IL Is too bad
Evidently The dumatist had read Mncauey with the eye
OF flithAacGuley OF whom Nal,cg savage Lander mas
written I'm Marginal note IN our possession lie could
measure BaeOns hghth (se) or breadth lie was not
that lacon was next 10 Shakespeare the "lseat
man that ever existed The only rcdeemng feature OF
Gacommot's Bacon u.s. that he says good word for tls
same Shakcstcirc
Such is The" Elizabeth Of the Italian dramast. The
Elizabeth Of kisOns company fails 10 carry out Giacom
mctts line intentions Much acting there could
not b.. EsSx the lorlly Essex the chiyalrous, the
handsome, the darngho whom Donizett set to passion
ate music in hs Roberto Deyoreux IA believing buffalo
In tights. Bacon is harlequin Signor Carbon IN james
vi is more Unanimously carboniferous than ever.
But Kistonl In the white heat of emotion we can only
be silent 10 Charles keans Louis XII we thought we
had seen iac work Of mimic art our eyes would
ever gaze upon Even Louis Xl pales before the terrible
realism OF Ros Elizabeth At present language fails to
express guatncss. Mcdea Maria Siuarda are forgotten
In the a.uiacent impesOnaon which has held an audi
enco brclthas with Intensity of interest Cntclrm rs
now impossible. IL would be an impernencc TO attempt
10 do anything ike justice 20 this wondrous woman we
will not pay bcr poor compliment TO indulge IN
differing ganernliles but eaye our impressions 20 be