The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-07-14
THE TALE OF TROY.
Peers and Beauties Persona;ing Ancien,
 Greeks.

Greeks.
 A" social event of altogether unpre- edented character occurred ia London last evening, this being the rendering by combination of tableauN yivants. acting and music of the chief scenes in Home, $ Had and Odyssey in the original Greek. I, had the additional attractions of being produced On private stage. under the care of eminen. university pro- fessors and scholarly artists. by persons of fine culture. and among them many of the mos, beautiful ladies in London. 1; was given in the theatre of Cromwell house. South kensiag.on. the residence of Sir Charles and Lady Freake. which. crowded as |, was las, night. will hold abou, three hundred and fifty persons. I; was for the benen. of the department. for ladies. Jus, established a, Kings college. which will probably clear one thousand d pounds sterling by i.; for il vas gwen in English on Tuesday will be repeated in Greek on Monday. and every person pre- sent. even the artists. paid guinea for his or her ticket. Much more might have been obtained if the ticket. had been sold l; auction, for seven hundred applications for las, nigh; alone were refused. and know of ten guineas being offered and re- fused for a ticket. The audience was of distinguished character. there being. besides Professor Newton and other eminent professors. Mir. and Mrs. Glad stone, Miss Swanwick. one of the fines: Greek scholars in the country; Lady Burdet,-Cout,s and other personages present, The ladies in the fullest even- :ns dresses looked like parterre of flow CTS gathered from the great conseva- tories. and when the curtain fell on the mythical Greek ideals on the stage male humanity had only 10 rise and turn round to see tableaux of realistic beat ties in front. Gladstone fair hand had but,onholed hin with ll,ies of the valley-was only ,wo yards d.s,an. from where we sat. and never saw him look SO happy in my life; he ben, forward in fixed attention 10 every word, and when eyer scene ended gave expression 10 his delig ght with as much enthusiasm as If he were still more familiar with an OK lord theatre than treasury bench. The only thing, suppose, tha, could have added 10 his ecstasy would have been Il some one had lab-led the dead Hector Wolf t-tha, terrible Wolf who denied the existence of Homer.
 The curtain hrst rose on a tabieau rep resenting Aphrodite withdrawing a veil from Helen, revealing her to Paris. while Peitho whispers to Helen. and Eros stands near. As veracious historian. am bound to say tha: this tableau was a disappointment It was arranged by Sir Frederick Leighton, and too much was <<H, sL- spectators could not fail 10 see that the goddess of beauty was not beautiful. and that Helen was still less beautiful. There was no escaping the fact It did not matter so much about Aphrodite, as he was not to appear again. bu, the prospec, of asso- ciating the great Trojan war with a homely Helen was not pleasant. One could not help feeling that i, would have been better If Peitho tpersuasion) could have persuaded Helen 70 charge places with her. for a more beautiful woman than Peitho Mrs. Simonds. nee Prescott; of Boston. Mass.) certainly did no, appear on the stage or ia the room during the evening. Eros mus hare been blind when he made his selection of lady 10 demoral:ze Paris: bu, i. must be said of him tha, when his Helen came 10 speak and act she disclosed a power which largely made up for her want of beauty. l. must also be sad tha. Helen would not have appeared no.icea5ly plain had she not been so constantly surrounded by the picked beauties of aristocra,ic Lon don. There followed ,his the scene of the Scacan Gateway. where appear pr;am and the elders, Hector and Iris (disguised as Laodice). Then enter Theand, pries,ess Of Athene, and kneeling. places a nch robe on the knees of the goddess. iheano utters her prayers, and promises offerings If the spear of Diomedes be shattered. Then there IS chorus And t may be mentioned that there was on thss and other occasions very beautiful music, most of 1t composed for the occa- son by Otto Goldschmid,. Malcolm Law son, Walter Parra,, aud Professor Monk. When Helen enters Iris kindly invites her to approach, and priam receives her gently, relieving her Of reproach fer their troubles and laying i, on the gods. Helen sises eloquent expression 10 her reEnorse
 When sii nave ief. excep. Hector. And romache enters, attended by ihe nurse and the little boy Astynax. Androma ache niied up the ideal admirably. The nurse vas the wife of the disiin guished clergy man. Mir. Haweis. Mrs. Ills book or oress IS well known. and she carried oui me costume os a Greek serving woman even to the bare feet, while her little boy