The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1888-02-10
MUSIC AND DRAMA.
A Great Play as Presented BY Henry
Irving and Miss Terry.

A Great Play as Presented By Henry
Irving and Miss Terry
The incarnation is uttered, and out Of tho
mist and fame CLEANS the baleful face OF
Mephistopheles. Consider It well, for there
are only a few other moments, and they are
as brief as this, when The spirit on denial
will reassume its naked majesty of pain.
part Of the darkness that gave birth to
ngnT' IS that black, ominOus countenance,
framed in the alcove of stone. Another
instant and it is the incorporating Mephis.
topheles that one beholds in his brave
dress Of scarlet, the long sword dangling
at his side, and in his hat the cocks proud
perpendicular feather. He is no longer ter
rible; now he is playful, familiar, and with
no other reminder Of his former state
Of existence than a volatility that seems
divorced from matter and displays itself
IN restless activity in ever-reaching hands
and noiseless tread. For an instant the
cavalier disguise is dropped, when, posing
as a doctor, he is asked to write asentiment
in the students book. The face again be.
comes stormy in its ipsmobility for the drama
Of creation passes in review, andthe fateful
words of the first tempter are repeated in
hollow tones: fEritis sicut Deus, scientes
b0num ct nahum
The studio dissolves into the Witches
Kitchen-a scene that would have for the
observer a suspicion of triviality did he not
appreciate the charlatan side OF Mephis-
topheles, which isnot incompatible with his
contempt for eharlatanism. The spectator
is supposed to share the amusement of the
scarlet one in his contemplation of what he
calls the 'shocus-poeus OF the trade The
fiery draught is drained by Faust, the bag
in flmy rags and her apish progeny disap-
pear, and before ones eyes energies the
Nuremberg of medieval Germany. There
on the boards is mass of moving life as
warm and natural as IL time had never
s~prinkled on il the ashes OF centuries.
Crowded gabled houses, an arched winding
street, and a cathedral, solemn and mas
sive, with its tower and stained windows.
The citizens are trooping to their devotions
in that democracy Of worship which the old
religion made. The Deggar solicits aims;
tho working people walk in holiday attire,
and the little page with dainty fingers holds
my lady's velvet train. The cowled monks
are in procession, at their head the uplifted
cross.
registering soldiers gather in a noisy
group, and into them giides the cavalier in
red. There is an instantis contrast of the
face of the sot and the blanched features OF
AlCDHicbODAGkCSs n UGf1 III kliRS AbdL Inc
cathedral door arc chattering with heads
together. Silently the stranger joins them
his arm steals about the waist Of one, and
she looks up to meet a leer of cold las
civionsness. The women shrink away in
st~inctively, like virtue fleeing from own,
and one of them hugs a baby closer TO
her breast, From the inner sanctuary is
heard the chant Of alteration. Margaret,
coming from her prisons, y intercepted by
Faust. The old hne of Shakespeare oc-
ours to one; Who ever loved that loved
not a first sigLtl' He follows her. Then
the church bells break into q soft chime,
and M~ephistopheles, in a nervous irrita-
ton that is comical, looks up and stops bis
ears.
ISfsI n aif occasion i0r tue critic VINO
would carp to take exception. How comes
it that the Evil One, who in the Prologue IN
Heaven is allowed to hold converse with
the Almighty is disturbed by. this little
Naturalization of the beIlsf why should
he fall back affrighted later in the play
from the crucidx that bangles at Marga-
ret's string Of beadsg And If he can eater
the cathedral itself and stand before the
repository of Che sacrament wly should he
shrink with a gesture Of adherence from
.he statue OF the Virgin shat adorns the ex-
terror Of The churchi Symbols of religion
are powerless over him because he has he
permission Of the Almighty to subject
Faust t. me seyerest temptations. This is
clearly an Inconsistency, and yet one would
not have it remedied, because "a strictly
logical sequence of events Ii sometimes Of
less importance in q drama than a pictur-
esuue effect. Let Mepastopheles there
fore wriggle and squirm IS tae curtain de-
sends. Tae sight Is enc 10 remain in
memory even ifltdoes not strictly accord
with the conditions Of the piay.-ch.eago
tribune.