The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1880-10-02
French Historical Drama.

The manner in which the French dra- |
matists of the classical school-Corneille, |
Racine and Voltaire-treated history Is |
we'll known. Outside of France, none |
can read "Mohammed," or "Cid," or |
even "Athalie," without being disturbed
by a feeling of ludicrousness on account
OF the glaring discrepancy between the
the historical reality and the artistic rep
resentation With Victor Hugo, how
ever, and the romantic school, the his
torieal drama made great progress IN
France. 1t learned to use that which IN
history is picturesque, and, in this re-
spect, she first act of Sardou's !" Patrie
is masterpiece, leaving far behind all
other attempts Ct the kind, even
Wallenstein's Lager" by Sccm.ier, or
the famous introduction to Goethe's Egg
mont" But it never learned to draw
the historical character. In Patrie
the passions delineated are those which
flourish in the Partisan salons, and
the delineation itself, whenever it be-
comes strong and striking, is local
Parisian and exclusively modern.
"Garin" has the advantages and dis
advantages of the school to which it be-
longs, and nothing beyond. What was
picturesque in the life in the feudal cas-
tie in France in the beginning of the
thirteenth century has been picked up
and put together with great skill, and its
effect on the stage is probably considera-
BILE. But the deliueation of passion, of
character, is stupid. In the opening
scene the lord of the castle curses his
son. But in the thirteenth century there
was not in all Christendom father who
would undertake to pronounce curse
or blessing in his family. That was
the privilege of the Church. and mono
but the witch or the sorcerer dared to
encroach upon this privilege. After the
Reformation, when the priest was driven
out of the house and the family was re-
modelled after the type of the Old Tesla
ment. the pronunciation of blessings or
curses became an affair of the house
father. In the next scene the lord mar
ries Moorish Princess who runs
about with Jew and makes money as
a dancing g-girl. But in the thir-
teenth century such q union was sheer
impossibility. There was not in the
whole church priest who dared to per-
form such marriage, and even if there
had been, the whole retinue, from the
vassal to the serf, would have left such
knight and fed IN terror from such q
castle as If it were q plague-stricken
spot. In this manner the plot goes on
from beginning to end; not at one single
point the passions delineated coincide
with the actual passions of the time rep
resented. But this manner is not
Shakespeare's Truth to the historical
! character, not only to its picturesque
| appurtenances, was the great lesson
which the German dramatists drew a
century ago from Shakespeare, and by
which they created the historical drama
in Germany. and it is this same. lesson
which the French dranatists of to-day
must draw from him in order to make
the historical drama in France an art OF
high order. but which Paul Delair, IN
spite of the Partisan critics, has not
drawn in his "Garin."
EeYpTTAN LocKs.-Up to the latter
half of the last century we had mol
reached to the excellence of the locks
that were in use in Egypt and China
thousands of years ago, and have now
for very long period run in the line ol
re-discovery and re-application OF Eha'
Ind been tested so long ago in them
The essential principle of the Egyptian
lock was movable pins or nails dropping
each independently by its own weight
into the bolt, and securing 1t on being
touched at the right point by correspond
ing pins at the end of the true key. al
) of them recurring to be raised togethe
4 to the proper height The very iates
idea in lock-making may be regarded e
e suggestions or applications OF this prln
8 ciple.
Trcuxrc.r physician was called +