The New York herald., 1872-11-04


over their return to fathers home and
fathers love.
Dramatic Art I'm Europc-A Suggestive
Companion.
The drama in Europe, and especially in
England, is rapidly falling below the American
standard of dramatic art We have still few
actors who do many things well and some
things magnifcently. We have, besides, a
long array of promising names, and, with
opportunity and study, our young actors and
actresses must become ornaments to their pro-
fession. The same things cannot be said of
the English stage. In the London journals
we find plenty of praise, but our own expert
ence with many Of the actors who are SO
Iavishly commended forbids the acceptance Of
these estimates as an approach to critical
Judgment. Mr.. Charles Mathews is playing
an over-sprightly Sir Frettul Plagiary in a
version of ''The Critic" where only rivulet
of the original text meanders through a
meadow of modern margin No attempt is
made to revive either the manners or fashions
of the past, and play once called Sheridan's
is made the basis of feeble puns and slipshod
acting. This is in itself such liberty with
the fine old comedies of the last century as to
indicate painful decay of the boasted British
drama But even as an actor Mr.. Mathews is
not vastly superior to John Gilbert, Charles
Fisher or William Davidge, and it must be
remembered that he is the Oldest and most
famous Comedian on the English stage.
After him no other even tolerable represen-
tatives of the chief characters in the old
plays can be found in oil England. In this
also America has the advantage. Forrest,
Jefferson and other distinguished actors still
adorn American dramatic art and, though
Mr.. Lester Wallack now seldom plays the
dashing young fellows who burlesqued fash
Jon hundred years ago, and Mr.. Charles
Fisher has glded into the old man of the
Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, like the celebrated
explorers Of the same names, who found the
headwaters Of the stream which laves con-
tinent, have drunk from the very fountains of
dramatic art. We look forward to Mr.. Lewis
personation Of Slender. in ssThe Merry Wives
of Windsor" with the interest which comes
from expectation. and we have already seen
in the Flutter Of Mr.. George Clarke charac-
ter which meets all the demands of modern
art, combining rs it does the vivacity of con-
temporary acting with faithful portrayal
of the past. Like praise is due to
Others, and we have nearly score Of
young comedians unequalled by any of the
actors OF the Old World. Mr.. Henry j.
Byron, the dramatist who has undertaken to
personate some of his own characters, from
all we have heard Of his acting falls far below
Mr.. John Brougham in his leading parts
All Europe, from Glasgow to st. Petersburg,
cannot supply two such comedy companies as
there are nowhere so many promising actors
as in New York
Since Mrs. Siddons England has not had
an actress like Charlotte Cushman, and to-day
English actresses are mostly after the model
of the Fotheringay with whom young PEN
dennis fell SO violently in love. Mrs. Scott
Siddons came to us as star of the first mag
nitude, but she found that she was compelled
to compete with half score of artists her
superiors in everything except dressing for the
stage. Nelson is the only actress of note who
has had the courage to come after her, and
though we would not PREJUDICE this artist, and
are prepared to see in her long-lost Juliet,
we have no fears that she will surpass, either in
womanly delicacy or artistic skill, the ladies
who are such great ornaments to our theatres.
In Fanny Morant we have ON actress who is
the perfection OF seductive widowhood Miss
Efie Germon, in her own line, is unapproach-
able for the realism of her impersonations.
Miss Fanny Davenport and Miss Linda Deitz
are in the way of becoming complete and
finished actresses. Mrs. Seton, Mrs. Chan
frau, Mrs. Gilbert, Miss Mestayer and others
less widely known take very high place in
their profession. England cannot approach
such an array as this, and even English critics
sometimes speak Of English actresses as repre-
sentatives of the prompter. We have some
ladies on our stage whom we only refer to in
private, and then we are apt to forget both
politeness and euphony, and call them
"sticks." The English stage is crowded with
this kind Of material When we find an Eng
glish journal speaking Of Miss Lizzie Will
mores acting as full of life, vivacity, sprightl-
ness and humor, and congratulating her on
the versatility of style which has gained for
her her present position as an actress, we can
form pretty accurate idea of the condition Of
dramatic art in England. Such good-natured
criticism is only valuable as indicating. that
the baldest burlesque is mistaken for acting,
and that stage effrontery and vulgarity are
equal, in the English mind to life, vivacity,
.sprightliness and humor. In legitimate COM
edy the English s'sticks'' would be only
American ashes; and we rejoice, therefore,
that Mr.. Byron, in his plays of 'sGood News
and 1.-TWO Stars, " makes his heroines actresses,
for otherwise his actresses would never be-
come haroines of dramatic art.