The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-09-27
GOSSIP ABOUT BOUCICAULr.

| upoA tue ntHko was II A10 Sut, IN which
he assumed the part Of young Irish ren-
tleman, and although be was thsn fully 65
years of age he personated youth With all
it's springyness and abandon as success
fully as he might have done had he been
forty years younger. Not many men of
his years would have az few obstacles to
overcome in such an assumption q he. for
barring wealth of badness there was
little in his physical condition at that time
to indicate his age. Il WAS one Of his rules
never to eat or drink to excess, although he
was fond of good dinner or a glass of
good wine. His brow was unwrinkled and
the crows tracks, at the corners Of his
eyes were neither many nor deep, while at
that time his general health was almost
perfect.
Zone might say of Boucicault that if he
was young old man he was also an old
young man, for his greatest success in dra-
matte authorship was achieved before he
had attained his majority, and that too
without the aid of influential friends in the
profession upon which he was entering.
London Assurance was staged when its
author was but 10 years of age, and its pop
ularity has been retained to this day. And
while think Of it, believe comparatively
few have ever associated the name Of Bou-
cicault with the dramitlzasion of Rip Van
Wrinkle that Joe Jefferson has nade SO
familiar to u all. In our boyhood no
play was more popular than Colleen Bawn,'
of Dion Boucicault, and in our later years
we have been equally charmed with THE
Shaugran.' Our Irish friends, however,
have not fully shared in this enjoyment,
for they protest that the French ancestry
of Boucicault prevented more than q super
fetal understanding on his part Of the
Irish peasantry and has led to an absolute
| burlesquing of what are to the Irish the
most sacred associations. have, indeed,
seen sensitive Irishmen leave theater dur
| ing the performance of wake scene in
one Of Boucicault's plays, which they said
did violence to their most tender recollec-
| tions and religious sensibilities.
1.-TWO things, think, contributed to this
defect in Boucicault's dramatic compost
tions. In the first place, he was not
| thorough student of Irish literature, and in
the second place he had preconoieved no
tions Of the dramatic unities. as playriahts
call the reaching after stage effects, that
were 80 strong as to overcome his regard
for the truth of life. AL through the plays
of Boucicault runs one error wherever he
has attempted the Irish brogue and the
| same error is common to all American-Irish
comedians. It consists in giving to words
ending with syllable in which there is
double the sound of broad q. as when feet
is pronounced fate or beet (the vegetable)
is called bate. Were an Irishman to
threaten another with thrsshinR he would
say, I'll bate ye,' but if he spoke of the
vegetable it would be as beet, with the
long sound of 9. No real Irishman speaks
of his 'swateheart,' though his sweetheart
may be often his theme. He does. how
ever, call the sea the say and in his mouth
deal is dale This nice discrimination,
which is common to the most iiliterate as
we'll az to the educated, has it's origin in the
condition Of the English language when it
was first generally introduced into Ireland,
away back in the times Of Henry VIII. and
Elizabeth. Take up your Shakespeare and
you'll find that invariably (or with only
enough exceptions to prove the rule) the
rhymes of the bard of Avon bear out this
theory. that words we now pronounce with
the broad sound of 9 we're in the Eliza
bethan era given the sound of broad. His
sonnets furnish the readiest evidence of
this. Turn to the LXXXIVth and you'll
read:
Let him but copy what in you is writ,
Not making worse what nature made SO clear,
And s, CT a counterpart all fare his wit
Making his style admired everywhere.
"And the Cid gives us this proof:
My love is strengthened. though more weak in
seeming;
Hove not less though less the show appear
That love is merchandise, whose rich esteeming
The owners tongue doth publish everywhere
'Here We have clear and appear
rhymed with where while at another
place in the sonnets dear is rhymed with
there and elsewhere rhymes with hair
and hairs with tears (the lachrymal
fuid.) The instances of this sort of
rhyming are so frequent as to preclude the
explanation of poetic license It is sim
ply old English which survives in the Irish
of to-day.
"As to Boucicault's ideas of dramatic
unities and his insistence upon them in
spite of the testimony of those who could
speak with authority, I'll tell you an Incl
dent that was related to me by one of the
participants. Mr.. Boucicault was at work
upon play in which was prison scene.
In the city at the time were six or eight
Irishmen who had been condemned for
political offenses to the penal colonies, but
who had about the time speak of es-
capped to America. Boucicault conceived
the notion of proving his play by the expe-
riences of these gentlemen. and to that end
invited them to his rooms, where he
read them the passages in question. In
no case did the ex-prisoners agree with
the dramatist's conception of prisoners
sensations upon finding himself deprived
of the liberty of action he had previously
enjoyed, but as one after another related
his own sensations he was brushed aside BY
the playwright with some such remark as
THAT isn't il at ALL or oh, that does not
meet the dramatic requirements until the
party lett the house in disgust. Not one
suggestion of the invited critics was ac-
copied. With Boucicault dramatic unities
did not necessarily hinge upon the actual
tiles of life.
No playwright Of modern times has been
more frequently accused Of plagiarism than
Boucicault. These aoousatiops began
when London Assurance was first pro-
Il h~~e 1>onv, ko6 mn ko rao-1v