The New York herald., 1871-01-01


born-What is Being Done at the Other
Houses-The New and the Old-Pubhc
Readings The Demi-Mond at the
Opera-Christmas Preparations.
LONDON Dec. IL, 1870.
"There Is only one pleasanter thing In the world
than oling under a tree with book,n said Charles
James Fox, "and that ls lolllnQ under free with
out book" In a similar spirit 1t may be said
that there is oniy one more enjoyable thing than
witnessing thoroughly good play, and that Is wit
Messing thoroughly bad one For the latter grali.
hca.ion we are indebted to Lord Newry, whose new
play OF "EcaSte," produced few nights ago at the
Globe theatre, was the most laughable dasco within
the memory Of living man. 'Our young remem-
brance cannot follow it," as the juvenile gentleman
says In "Macbeth." The play In question tby which
must be understood 10 mean not Macbeth, y hut
the drama produced as Aforesaid at the Globe,
was unequivocally damned" Upon the stage
elsewhere .'damns have had their day;r neverihe-
less the obsolete process OF theatrical danaron IL
now and then resorted TO at a London play house,
and never was II exercised under more laughabe
circumstances than In the of Lord Newry's un-
fortunate drama. Like the famous wedding OF
Ballyporeen, celebrated by Dean Swift. wnich "wil
who were not" "Ecarte' is likely to be remembered
well by those who had the luck TO present
NJ the first representation by all whs have heard
or read anything about that Incompatible perform
ance. The house was crammed to sufocaton. or
well nigh So all classes of the community being
adequately representative "h0wng swes'
in the stalls, the second class gentry
In the boxes, the bourgeose IN the
pit and the gods In Their spacious
gallery on high Expectancy was on the tiptoe, for
Brtishers for all their good qualities, snobs TO
man and love tc 40 skirts, In however ideal sense
against live lord. "A nod from lord Is a break
fast for fool" says the old proverb, ana certainly
the pleasure seekers who paid last Saturday to see
the new play got no more substantial vaue Tor their
money than the imaginary repast enjoyed by the
hungry noodle who Is content accept the saluia-
tion OF peer In substitution for u meal. Laughter
they certainly had to their hearts content ana tHat
goes for something in this valley Of tears; but OF
tellectual entertainment they had not an lota.
TIE PLOT.
The plot OF "Ecarte" was mystery as insoluble
as the true purpose OF a pyramid. The story is, or
rather was-for, rest Its soul IL is dead-a tangled
web which to unravel would madden the finest in
tellect in the world. There was no interdependency
OF motive among the characters who came on and
went off. with no more regard to one anohcr's OBJ
jecs and intentions than the passengers In railway
tram may be supposed TO entertam one towards the
other. Each OF the dramatic personages kept his
peculiar business 10 himself, gong where he liked
and talking In the sill 81 and most irrelevant
ner possible To call such thing 81 play was
about as reasonable as If man should upset upon a
heath a CARLOAD OF bricks ana call IL house.
Mr.. Farclough, who also had an Important part
to I'LL. seemed hopeessly at sea; and Mr. q. Temple,
TO whom was assigned the f0ie OF an accomplished
scoundrel who was presumed to spread terror and
ruin wherever ne went only succeeded in evoklng
shouts OF laughter. Meanwhile the .sgods, were in
uproarions spirits, and their commentaries upon
the play were by far the most amusing portion or the
evenings proceedings. "HOld your head up ~
Turn out your toes ~ "Don't speak through your
~ "Take your hands out of your pockets sir z,
--thcse were but a few OF the sage adlnonitlons
kindly addressed 10 the actors upon the Stage by
their mentors IN me gallery. AZ last the curtain
came down, amid v0lleYs Of laughter and storm OF
Kisses, and all the fun over.
DION BoUCICAuLT'S EFFORT.
with little that Is really interesting and exciting
very much tiit Is DOWNRIGHT nonssnsica and pre-
posterous Is united In anomalous combination In a
new play by Mr. Bouclcault, which has been brought
out nc the Hoborn theatre under the ghastly title or
"Jezabel; or, the Dead ReckoniDg.n 1t has been said
with perfect truth that 'Resuigam'' would he no
bad motto for this strange play, so common al oc
currencc Is II Tor people who had been supposed
to be dead and buried 70 rise again, TO
the utter amazement OF friends and foes
who have been poisoned and bachelors who have
been hanged, all come to life again, cropping up
lrrepresslbly In the most unlikely places, and Great
ing an uncomfortable suspicion as to whether you
see before you men and women OF flesh and blood
or mere ghosts and phantoms. There are one or
two striking scenes and dramatic situations, part
cuary IN the first act, but the interest is soon
played out and the drama grows weaker and
weaker till at last II dies or meren anitOn, the
tain falling upon a languid, mattentive audience,
who 40 not appear 10 ''care beam blossom how
the story Closes so that II does close.
leading character Mexlcaa adventuress, who
has fatal proclivty for poisoning and polygamy
Mr.. Parselle also makes nit in the part OF Dluf
old s'salt." whose good nature betrays him INTO
ridiculous dilemmas; and, generally speaking the
by Mr. Mason, Is fairly acted and pretily mounted.
But 1t has no clement OF vltaty, and III all proba-
bllty Will soon vanish and be fOrgotenthe fate OF
many better play.
THE OTHER HoUsEs-wHAT THEY ARE DOING.
AT the Princess theatre business has been rather
Slack. The "Plece de Resistance the French
strangely term it, is the old military Vaudeville ol
.fhe Pretty Girls or Stilsberg; but the 'reslsance
Is less III the piece than IN the public, who resist per-
tinaciously the attractions o the play preferring
their cosey iresldes to the nerce blast OF
wind and showers of snow (which poets call the
driyen.n Mr.. Webster's impersonaton OF Napoleon
!. is an admirable piece Of acting, mlDutely truth
ful 10 historic tradition In all particulars OF personal
portra!ture anu exceedingly spirited and expressive
III all that relates to dramatic But not only is
the weather against him, but NJ oleonic glory IS no
longer in the ascendant me hatred which
our fathers felt for the great Cors was succeeded
by romantic reaction, Hncii there was abun-
udill tVuenCc Ine stage d3 wei dS elsewhere;
but the tide has now set III the opposite dlrcc ION,
and people longer relish either plays novels
In which ''e petit capora' is the central person.
age Such are the variations OF puDc opinion ana ]
such the wild vcissitudes The Princess closed |!
last night until the holidays.
The old game OF French and Engsh.n which Is
still favOrite pastime with schoOboys, Is being
played In dramatic sense at the Opera Comique
where One-half OF the performances In French
and the other half In English The 0alc section ..
the entertainment consists for the most part OF
lively little play, IN which Mile Deiazet |
mpersonates juvenile characters, being herself at
the mature age Of eighty; but 'youth Will |
have its nng,n as the octogenarian remarked when
he threw himself over the bridge. The latter part
the evening devoLed to an English Duresuuc OF