New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-05-09
MADAME DE MAINTENON.


,,y,-sn, work on HISTORICAL INTEREST
49,, rms lar CORRESPONDENT or TifH TEiBCNEI
Pans Aprii 2O.-The production AT the Oueoh =.
Conpces FIVE act drama, is theaircaI event VI
;,.nartonoe This is the first time that Madame ae
MaiuteBon the chief parsonage OF the dranis' mas
y,ean brought upon the stage. 81. Coppees pay
written in verse. and has many literary pean'iee'
IL ia telling IN its effects although prooaDin'' "
constantly lost sight Of and .unheroic heroine lh
the meridian stage Of existence Is 0to"tn' w.
the scene What it. thenf Inc ",'1D 49,
So,,ee,s dietion which is picturesque ana sulhihs
without eecentrcity. ,,,..,
B Coppcc has broken new grouhh III Do'@H"'s -, ~
.o,f 90 the court Of Louis Quatorze ~ Versailles
1e 10 bobtuaiy the poet OF the GlDeohl'lsh oiaSe'
of the street sweopeTs, vine-dressers Migrants III
search Of work. fishers and their wives eosVoi
noneers. colliors and engine-drvers he WHITES VI
en- A. AIillet would have painted them. senu-
,,ont in his poems is undiluted by sentnnehtahly'
and is always healthy and communicative iooA
.,,or Co,rke as 81 great preacher and moral teacher
IIis ,oo1ns rive noble impulses. and show "hat
.,rrar5epr lies in the honest performance OF 'he
overvdov duties and tasks Of life. lie mas eospoi
70 procIaiu which he sets forth in simple, stWrihg
mud touching words whenever he writes poe',''
srbere is habitualy in his touch rousing vlgof lie
secs deep down into the abysses Of human niisei''
,Rut what depth of human wretchedness ~ 'noiS
into which some ray of celestial hight docs no' l"u
.,ro,s Whereyer that light penetrates there Is
Cora of some SORT COppAe is quick TO perceive anu
svmDathize with blossoms of the hearts aheeuohs
a. ,nisersbIe places Madame de Maintenon' the
.o,t,al figure of his play, was not endowed win
bloom of this sort for she was cold, heartess car
,ulatinc and a self-seeker under all the cirouu-
utances of her extraordinary life. Her BRAN was an
.otivo one hut intellect divorced from heart does
notbinr great OF good. Lucifer IN the OriehVal
antholoxies symboliEed the divorce OF BRAN rom
the affections Coppee does not call INTO NiS'oio
notion in his theatrical piece any great passion u
hoss that of religious ardor lnow little understood III
France). to interest the spectators ana 10 olinu
them TO the dramatic shortcomings OF Madame nc
Maintennn. HIS drama might as well have been
called q The Psater" as anything else all the
mechanism of the play turning upon an old psalm
book.
Madame dc Maintcnon nee dAubigne' ana chris-
tened FRANCHISE. was of Protestant stock, and the
granddaughter of a Calvinist poet Aghppa
dAubcne; the friend of Jeanne dAlbrct Queen oil
Navarrc of the first Prince de Condo, her brother
snlaw of Admiral Coligny and other illustrous men
and women of the reformed faith IN the siXteenth
century From this A9rippa she inherited literary
relic IT was Psalter. written by him Tor the use
of God-fearing Protestant soldiers, vino sang ms
psalms going to battle. by strange combination
of events this pious book very nearly prevented us
authors granddaughter from reigning and govern
sng at Versailles aud fonenting the persecution oil
the French Calyinists.
The prologue of the play explains that there
were very near being love passages in the loyeless
early life of FRANCHISE dAubgue. She was an
orphan girl Of twelve in the house OF Protestant
mutt who had nephew of ten staying Win her
one Antoine dc Meran. The boy, rendered preoo-
cous by family misfortunes, fen deeply in love with
the beautiful girl from La Martinique. Ills passion
grew with his age. But he was shy in declaring H.
and his cousinship an excuse Tor the expires
rions Of tenderness which escaped him. Antoine
only explains himself in 1860 when he was twenty
Eve aud FRANCHISE the wife of the hunchbacked
bumorist scarron She had married this Joke OF
Nature TO secure q roof her head and at least
n daily crust of bread When she accepted him she
was the prologue explains, deeply attached TO .
corelirionist one Antoine de Meran, who, on hear
ing of her marriage determined 10 seek his fortune
in the French Antilles. The portrait skeehed mere
of Antoine is In COpp6os finest style. DE Meran Is
grand and loyable He has q little orphan brother
seven years his junior, who depends upon him. ana
whom he will take TO the West Indies Before
starting on his voyage he socits an interview with
Mime. Scarron. which she grants. Antoine Scarron'
being old and invalid believes in happy iuture,
Tho lady has a secret presentiment that she VIII
never more see the companion Of her childish days
But she is prudent. and ia spite OF her ioreoodihg
wishes 10 make sure of second husband before
the bufoon with whom she is mated dies Calcu-
aaton runs abreast with love in the heart oil iran
coise who Is correct under all circumstances very
-vpdept. and though disposed TO love keeps passion
In the background As Antoine Is taking leave she
writes in Tia old Psalter VIII ID she has by her. Au
vevojr with her name and the date OF the parting
mud hands il TO Antoine. lie is TO keep the family
relic whose history she tells him, in remembrance
of her As he is an ardent Protestant, no souvenir
could be more grateful. The prologue here comes
40 an end. and the drama begins fifteen years after
the departure of Antoine for La Martinique
AMBITION DRANAuzEp.
The curtain rises. wonderful chapter is to be
added 20 French history Scarron is dead, and al
most forgotten His widow has been reduced to a
state of domestic servitude In the houses Of some
great ladies OF her acquaintance. Bells were not In
use In tho seventeenth century. The dowager
Scarron. who was beautiful and Distinguish, was
light of foot, q faithful messenger, and had dis
Greet tongue and clear head. She was used as a
household messenger from one set OF rooms 10 the
nther-from the apartments Of Madame Ia Duchesse
10 those of n 10 Duc--and often executed delicate
commissions In the city. Wherever she went she
kngratatcd herself into the favor of her patrons.
Her seltshness was kept under from policy, and
words of wisdom and high morality often dropped
from her mouth. They appreciated IN society
(which was as much interested In the Letters OF
Pascal against the Jesults as that of the second
kmpire was la ROchefort's LaAteTne. IL was very
delightful for great intellectual snd pious lady
such as Nine. dc Sevigne, to chat ut her hresioe
when tired Of the pOIups and vanitos OF aristocratC
life with the eweet. pensive prudent obserVan'
and unknown to anybody intensely and daI1ngy
ambitious Nine scarron. A noble patroness IN
-. 10 10 Mnufp