New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-07-12

rros Oar SPECIAL Correspondent -, ~ ,osz
The resumption Of Victor Hueo's Hermann at the
Theatre Francois last Thursday sthe theatrical event
of the season. What with Temlniscence and ac'uat~
1t Ia literary and in sort, political event. Inc
play was first brought out in February, 1880, when
the literary revolutionary war waged by komanu-
Cists against Classieists was at its hight Ii was
veritable battle piece. How warmly, almost hercely'
Its victory was contested and contended Tor by 'e
respectable defenders of the unties ana the worn oi
classic forms and academic institutions Of our grand
fathers ON one SIDE and by the host Of young lTegu
lar champions of romantcism. is familiar part OF
Cha history of French Literature OF that interesting
period The Herna battle was one OF hardest fought
of thi war; and was serious enough then spreading
as il did far outside OF the theatoI winch was the
confer of the field or say, station, OF the general anu
staff-oiicers directing the great stage battery Hot
engagements went on among the Journalists, ana ia
the cafes and nightly skirmishing IN the saloas,
JHpdt mRiaiSse 1t is amusing now 70 read accounts
of those stormy frst nights-sneh, LOT example, as
those reported by the poets wife IN her ct0f i96O
par ImOur de sd Vie or as those g0sslpng alI9lee
eyropos de H3nani published in Figaro the other
week by his old fellOw-cOmbatant AleNaldfe DunlaS'
while tho rehearsals for last 1hnrIsdays repre- pre-
sentaton were, gong on; or, sun ,pIoIeI,; Vlo
feuilleton that 18th night OF HeInam by
the daringest dashingest jayhawker OF oil It's young
partisans, the now lanIeled veteran, lneophlle
Eauthier 1T is now thiTty-seven years since We
entered he French Theatre, long before the hour or
The curtains rising, In company WITH young poels
young painters, young sculptOrs-oyely one was
young then -enthusiastic full OF faith, and resolved
to conquer die in the grand literary battle that
was about TO begin. 1t was the 18th OF February
The day of Hermann date that no rOmanticlSt has
forgotten and which the classicsts perhaps, WI re-
Sides II was not SO in old times and every even
ing Hermann was obliged to sound bis horn to call 10,
gether his mountain hawks, that sometimes would
garry of in their claws hne old classic Peruke ~
krOphy. Certain verses were taken ana retdken uhe
rodoubts, disputed by each army with equal obstl-
macy. One day the rOmanticists tTlumphantly car
ried a passage which the enemy took next day, and
from which they had to be dlslOdged. WHAT uproar!
what cries! what misses and cat-calls! what hqrT-
panes OF braves! what thundeTs OF applause! The
leaders of either party abused each 0thef IKE no
mer's heroes before coming to action, and sometimes
Ii must be confessed, they were hardly more polite
than Achilles and Aganemnon., But the winged
words flew away to the ceiling and attention quickly
I'VE left the house exhausted, painting, but in high
spirite when the evening had passed OH SO Well Wiz
pending the Philstnes II 1t had been bad; and ult
avery one had reached his rooln the echoes oil the
niaht repeated fragments of the sohlOquy OF Hermann
DR. of Don Carlos for all knew the piece by heart
And we. ourselves to day, If need were could hill the
To formsi petition addressed to the king and
signed, among others by seven memDel? OF inc A9a'
closed to works of the school, and especially that
Hcrnani should be prohibited, his Majesty replied;
In matters of literature, gentlemen. nave only
my place in the parteTTe, like the rest OF y0u And
SO the play ran for 50 nights under Charles A. IL was
then interrupted by the Revolution ana theh Dy the
famous lawsuits but in the latter nan OF Louis
Philippe's reign was repeatedly revived Under
The Republic it was acted for the 1lth and last time
In June 1870 Until last week the theateIs OF the
Empire have been closed to Victor hugo whether
EoYernmont has now raised the interdict because 1t
fees strong enough to do So because it no longer
feels strong enough not to do so, is nice question:
One grave Government paper iLeaos .e aaSt aS 4 IN
observein his hasty zeal that the nterlct was then
a measure of the contrary sort. While another
sjusdeRo 1ainae dOugh-headedy asserts tnat the APP
Dlause which shook the house last Thursday was adj
dressed by faetous opposition to the long-senced
political exile. and not to the poets verses emitting
To note what mistake some one had made IN pro
Voking applause on such grounds
Doubtless the cracking palms ana loud braves the
motive buf as the play went on they appeared to be
more aud tribute to the great merits OF the
remarkable but unequal poem, and TO the admirable
Instrumentation of it BY the actors The amount and
warmth of admiring manifestations were most eN-
traoTdinarv for French audience and, above all for
nm audience 81 the COm6di6 francaS, where, though
an elegant repose of manner Is not strictly the t0n
Us at tho ltalicns tremendous enthusiasm Is gem
orally left to the hands of the C1qHG who are pad
for the manufacture; The audience was OF remaik-
able composition. The critical pressnen IN force,
surviving veterans of the old battles, came back to en-
from the schools n the mountain Of 1851 seq
ens of all sorts of high, political and literary and
social crces-seators, aeadeI9lclals ana leaders OF
fashion There were Prince Napoleon, than whom
no one manifested" more frankly; and that vener-
able old boy Alexandra Dumas, senior, DIS
played in a front balcony seal, letting MS tears
of generous emotion dribble into the pit appauding
pnd appauded and, to pass the Other Gninences
in a side box one whose less Cstcnded gladness at
ths brilliant ovation of Hugo must have been greater
his own reporter the exiles wife
, Outside the house there was large crowd nearly
choking the Rue Rcheieu. gathered there by a sort
of dumb sympathy with the folks inside, or curious
expectation OF getting first report between acts OF
how matters Ncle going Within or ShadOWy hope
of political demonstration, well behaved, however
and unmoested 10y the police.
As the play proceeded, passages occurred, as they
do in any poem OF nearly equal MERIT and length,
and variety Of topic to which portion Of the hear
could adapt present political aluslons, and when
they pointed out as 1t were with appropriate eXclama-
tiOns But incidents Of this sOrt were not so numer
GUS so marked in the theater as they have since
been IN the newspapers. Thus reporter of inven
Tive memory writes that when Don Carlos announces
the death Of the German Emperor TO Don Silva
tho phrase sent thrill through the auditors whose
Thoughts it directed 10 the distant shores where there
IS also an Emperor Macmillan, whose death has 50
recently and often been announced ana denhd
Pretty. but probably lot rue at any rate, the thrill
ing phrase as quoted, does not exist IN The text.
what true that in two places where the actor
omitted verse given in the printed text or gave
slightly different reading critical spectators cried
out fof restoration and the pure text with great car
nestneSs. And here 1t is ft TO state that neither
under Charles X, nor in Louis Phnippcs time, was
Hernani spoken the stage so nearly as 1t was WIT
ton now. This is, indeed for the most part more
the result of progress IN literary than IN p0hueal
liberalism. There are expressions which the mon
archists. hard as they fought for them, could not
maintain on the stage which are now held IN undls-
putcd possession by the realists.
The Hermann has been put upon the stage at the
cost of $1,000 francs. Some innocent lnateriasts
the curtain on one peculiarly fine scene began 10
applaud 1t, but were quickly reminded by Kisses
from the higher sort in the house that literature and
the dramatic art were alone IN order therenot scene
Wanting. And when the curtain fell at the
close of the fifth act, and the apprObaiOn that had
been showered the play andplagers so abundantly
throughout the evening burst INTO roaring storm,
It seemed as though the galleries would come down,
and the roof go up. IL some sedlJiOus cries flashed
through it-passiouate heat lightning wisely unheard
and I'm sep Sscpned 1ga entered h into It's e
ments, its largest element st was generous enthu-