New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-11-13
THE DRAMA--MUSIC.
NIP IRVING IN THE LYONS MAIL.

arimp "a
,.qnb Lesnques who CHANGED to bear strong personal
resemblance to this 1niscreant accused Of this crime
oDA vos brought to trial and partly by the testimony OF
many witnesses who directly to his identity Win
the murderer and partly through the cruel precipancy
M an unjust jndge named Jerome GOher, who rejected
conclusive abb and assumed his guilt he was convicted
and condemned death; and subsequently he suffered
upon the seaiold' -uo.
ne left a widow and three chill dren His body was
buried in that barren and dismal cemetery OF Pere La
Case in Paris, to the famous tomb OF ADcu anu
Helosc aud his grave is marked by simple non
nent o! white marble, bearing this inscription !"
ncmnirc de Joseph LesurQucs, victime de la lS ueo
abe des errcurs humane 81 Octobrc. 1885, ID 'eu'o
ct ses cnfants, martyrs tous deu1 sur Ia teiI
eont rfnis au cieL" Lesurques left TINS e''ol'
20 the real murderer, which was pnDhSic' AZ ''s
.You in whose stead I about to die' Ies' o"nen'
with the sacrifice of my life fever you IAN lhto thc
banda Of instice think OF my children co'ereu WIN '
grace and of their mother prey 10 ueSpaii' ~ ~ ~
uroonc the misery caused by the Iaiai hAeho'S Ina.
hear 10 Won" In 1900 the truth became Kho"h uuu ne
ossas.in Dubosc was executed by the guiIothc'
~ ,bis bass Of facts the melOdrama of lie Courier
Ne Ivop. was constructed and wrtenin 1901 oy Messrs
oreau Sevaudln and Delacour ana twas Pr'duceu "'no
ae6 Theatre in Paris with Lacrcsonere as D"doSc ana
I,s,roues It's great, and II mas remahcua
tovoe ON the French stage since. In the original
niece LesprQes is led to the scaod but when the play
wa, adapted for the English theatre In 1851 1t was pro-
yided with happy conclusion. little later Challes
brought IL out Al inc
u,ng version made by Charles Reade and himself per
forming the double part In 1877 Mr. Irving rcvivedi
with abundant success at the London Lycem under the
name of The Lyons MAIL and last night he presented
here at the Star Theatre 1t had before been given in
EeyYork but mover under favorable circumstances, or
nv an actor comparable with the extraordinary man who
Last night set before of the most surprising ana al
,rsble achievements in versatility and Characterization
that ever have been seen upon the stage.
nTbe LYONS Mail is in three acts. The first shows
the commission Of the crime. II is devoted manly 10
D,bosc IL is made up OF exciting incidents ana IL pre-
s.nts fearful and CHASTITY picture. Its atmosphere Is
that of horror suspense and 1t clearly dscoses inc
web Of fatal circumstance in which the innocent man Is
M depOrably enangled The second act Is dcVotcd 10
Iesuroues and it shows the recude and loneliness OF
his character the genteness the hrmncss the simple
eandor and nobility with which he cOnfonts his cruel and
terrible fate Its chief incident is the rejection by him OF
his fathers appeal that he will avoid by suicide the as
grace OF death upon the scaOd The situation at TINS
point OF agOnizing interest The hrd act reVers
TO Dv6osc and presents him in awful scene OF brutal
depravty. surveying from garnet window the prepara-
tons for the execution his double The end is his Dis
appearance Che supposed to be prectated from the
housetop and almost instant entrance OF the freed
and indicated LeS,TQues.
The subject OF this piece il will be perceived Is OF The
horrible kind but so is the subject Of Macbeth and
horror like beauty is perfectly legitimate element of
art only treated in artistic manner There arc
OF course aspects of human nature and conduct an" OF
actual life which ought TO he described or shown
But when as in this case, of the nObest traits and
finest feelings Of humanity, and some OF the most ORA
matte and instructive contrasts Of character can be de-
rived from the analysis and exposition of theme Of
crime the use of that theme in intellectual ard arts
tic way entirely right and tho subject becomes Gle
waited by the that is made OF It, Matthias IN Tho
Bells" for example, Is only exinnkeepcr, now brgo
master in a village of Alsace who has done amurder
But Mr. Irving far transccnding the conditions supplied
by his authors, personates MidS in such way as to
lift him the domain of poetry, and make him char
acter Representatives. long the stage shall possess
history, or art shall be recognized among mcn-ot the
action Of great rem0rse In greatly sensitive soul De-
fine hin as you like call him by what you please
and prove 10y vncbe logic that he figures in one OF the
thinnest weakest Of all possible plays the fact remains
that this Matthias of Mr. rCnSs is worthy to stand he
side the highest type of human that you can
summon out Of all the literature OF the past
Manfred Is not picturesque does he suffer more
nor does he impart significant moral lcsson-not
withdrawing his sublime surroundings and his maSnlh
cent blank verse.
30 in 1.-THE Lyons Mail"-wlnch simply shows how near
an gentleman came TO being sacrificed for the
crime Of an abomnable and miscrcantthe actor
has in still another way, elevated the theme This time
by the astonishing amplitude of the various nature
that he poured into a common dramatic mould The
piece counts for little. If DuboSc and LeSrqUeS were
cast to different players and all the parts acted
with average merit upon the peacefule of medocry
1t probably would count fol nothing II Mr. Irving were
to appear simply Dabose he would only make dra-
matte tributary to the showing Of monscr and that
would offensive, useless, fruitless and BY
treating the whole piece with intellectual earneness and
with perfect refinement of touch, and by playing both
LeS,qIe and Dab0sc entirely and spendidly well, he
gives pathetic reality to fearful and possible human
perience he denotes the almost incredible variety OF
attributes which, by intuition and imagination may be
circmnscribed within and. the same human being
and he affords a snguarly brilliant illustration Of the art
which distnctvey appertans 10 an actor. In
this latter particular the performance has an
instructive value which ought especially TO be recognized
spectators stagear have too much the habit Of think
fng-when they think at athat an actor does no more
ind can do no more than what has been laid ont for him
to do by the dramatic author Hence 1t is that Judgment
Il often expended upon the literature OF play instead
Of the acting Hence, when actor plays HIo,lrt or
Lear his auditors often lost in the everlasting in
curry a. 10 what Shakespeare meant. Hence the
mon Injustice measuring actors essentially dra
matte faculties and skill by exclusive reference to the
question OF his fidelity to the author. Mr.. Irv-
fng-iko N. COaucin, the French stage
and Ike Mr. Jefferson on our Own,-has AL
along been remarkable for his insistance upon
what tho actor gvos the character that he assumes
pnd TIC subjecfhat he treats Anybody stand up
and repeat the grand sOlOquics OF Maebeh: but the
actor present MaoJeh In physical with all
the fire OF his wicked towering ambition, and all the
passion and conflict OF his end haunted soul crysallnod
IN distinct and positive body II is what Mr.. Irving
himself has done with his various characteristic getting
inside OF them and making them live actual mentlat
shows his superlative excellence actor. And ho
will largely benefit tho public in this couny If he should
help TO teach H. in looking at acting 20 lay aside for
while, the book Of the play, and not 10 suppose that
every hing depends upon correct punctuation. II is not
that actor aa DC accounted right, who begins
by undertaking to present King Le2r ana ends by pre-
tentLg Ming John but that the actor embody
Characters with something Of himself and according 70
known and undeniable standards Of human nature
"Aftcr the strokes OF Shakespeare JOnsOn, OF
Wychcfey Otway," says Fielding, lin Tom
Jones - touches of nature viii escape the reader
which the udicious action Of Garrick, OF Cibber,
OF u Give convey 10 him"
finer eXempcation of abstract dramatic faculty than
This which Irving gives in Lyons Mail" Is