The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1877-11-13
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4 4 Z ,s is''t Court of King Edwin.
DRAMA,


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Ia ,hi. paper it will be our purpose TO
,;rs MI, drina careful and dispGssion.
40 examination as to its merits or
jsusfit,, with all the candor We are pos.
,,..ei Of, and 10 the words OF oiheilo We
iii ,psak Of i,Eii!is-
"S0,hlag gIienulie,
Sl:sJ! I3Fa aaShi IN malice
ani,lle authors second venture 10
d. domain q. the drama We have fair
Him en- hin Tor an advance beyond the
,JnIrei excellence Of his former work j.
The sons Of Goodwin Whether he has
n,Is such On advance or not, it will be
N. presen, purpose to inquire. For the
j,.igs.i5n 0ithe reader, who may not
ave f.id The WORK, We would here pre-
ni.s tbs. the scenes are laid in the sew.
-r,b century; about four hundred years
,,,,,isr 70 the time in which the scenes
siaThs sons OF Goodwin" are laid. The
NAV. a We viii often take the liberty to
III h. il r1rtly historical and partly the
b,5Ilr! Of the authors own invention.
T6e pl9t may be Substantially stated as
fellows:
Eivin, King OF Dsirs, Is endeavOrirg
10 solldily and strengthen his Kingdom,
md /, disposed to favor the advancement
ICa,istisaity 10 hiI reSlm, "a one great
assn, Of accomplishing the object Of his
ta5ilion. History says that he was one
5iibe T!se.t and best Of those rulers who
vi.ned IN those earlier centuries when
E,slsnd vas collection Of Kingdoms,
n,7er than Kingdom, and which we're
more remarkable for their love OF the
ats Of war than those Of peace. The
Qasen, Elilberga, is even more Of an
.athlsast for the church than the King.
Pauiuus, the prelate, ia fnc specimen
sta Christian bishop, aud quite sincere,
although he Is somewhat OF zsalot. he
Ia, powerful influence with the Queen,
and rses her with much effect TO shape
The course Of events "a they develope
themselves from time to time. Euid Is
Cymrisn princess, but Is a captive at the
Court Of King Edwin. Brian Is her
brother aai Cymrian prince. Peu1a,
King OF MerciI, is Ends lover and
makes hi8 appearance in the latter part
OF the play todemand the release Of Enid.
Coli is priest OF Olin, whom King Ed.
Sia has Induced tc renouncs-or profess
to ,eaouncs-the worship Of Odin and
embrace Christianity, being promised the
hand Of Enid and tie kingdom Of Gwyn.
ed u reward for his aposiscy. Pet.
.itu. il & magician or wizard. lie Is s
p9Eeriul force in influence With those
afouai him. Where he does not excite
EAR be commands something \. least
Ike respect. Blecca is the Earl OF Lin.
elln and is secondary character 90 far
"a the plot is concerned, ~ the other
yhlfsctcrs need rot take up more OF our
dmt, We will proceed with our subject.
Briefly summed up the story Is about
eq1iraleu. 10 the following: Brian has
come to the Court Of Edwin in disguise;
his object ia to release his sister, Enid,
but he is discovered and ia thrown into a
j1Dgeon. Pelli,ua, who has great infn-
guce with King Edwin, induces the latter
TO turn Brian over to his (Psllitus'l
keeping. Pellitus ciIsrs Brian his lib
sr;y ia exchange for the hand OF Enid.
Brian is noble character and spurns
the degrading proposal OF the Infamous
villain. Enid ia in the prison at the time,
and seeing no hope for Brian, who is
condemned to death, she believing her.
ssIf the cause OF BEian's detention
- far as the magician is concerned,
re.o.ulely eudeavors to take heE own life
with dagger which she has concealed
ibout her person. Before she Is able to
eject her purpose, Pellitus snaiches the
dagger IRON her ard throws it aside. 1t is
seized, however, BY Cymrien slave
named Rhyn, a captive also, who stabs
the magician fatally. At this jnncture
King PeudS, the Mercian, appears; the
letters are struck from Brian's limbs, and
be Ia released from confinement. The
residue Of the story eliminates in the
atth act. King Peuda makes his final
request for the release Of Enid, King Ed
win having promised her TO Coli, the
APostatc, refuses, but offers his own
daughter 10 Peuda in lieu Of Enid, pro-
vidiug ihaS he will embrace christianity,
thereby thinking TO add an additional
bond to the strength OF his own King.
DON; this, Of course, is declined, During
the progress Of this act there is 4 repre-
sen:ation 6guro Of 0din mounted on q
pedestal and placed on one side OF the
grea; hall In the palace; and large cru.
sfr Is placed on the other to represent
Christianity. After muck discussion, In
which the various characters give their
different views on Christianity, Paganism,
aud indeed Atheism, as far as Blecca, the
Earl Of Lincoln, il concerned, Golf, the
Apos;ate, In his affected new born zeal,
approaches the squire Of 0lin with an
*, and ia about to destroy the image,
Shen he il slain BY King Peuda for his
neditated sacrilege. All is now contu-
.ion-the sdherents Of Psuda support
bin wish drawn swords; but the wise
eounsels Of King Edwin prevail and pre-.
vent further bloodshed. BE tells Perda,
however, 20 90 to his own land; that as
the latter Is his guest he will not modest
him while on Deiran soil, but declares
Immediate war against MeTeia. He sui.
tera Brian and Euid-Coih being dead
70 accompany Peuda to Alercla. Here
the curtain falls on a very splendid tab.
Ielu.
This drama is a very beautiful struc.
tuFe, bull; on the following subjects As a
basis Christianity, Paganism and Athe.
ism subjects that have provoked discus.
sion from the Christian era down to the
present day. King Edwin is an admir-.
ABLY drawn characteristics TO the full
dignity Of a Christian King; some OF the
hne't passages 10 the book drop from his
hp.. The Queen is something Of an IS.
celtic, 10 gracefully portrayed, but figures
'omewhat in the backgrounds sec.
Gnd.ry character, and is the prelate
PauliuuS strong advocate with the King,
Who By the way is by no means fierce
b,Sot-he ia too enlightened for that.
faalInus, the Bishop, is we'll drawn
character, but a. matter Of artistic
nSt'tsuch character is not a: all diff
cut 10 portray in drauA like this.
Colt, the protesaed recalcittans high
priest Of Olin, is finely drawn picture
81 z IL