The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-06-11

tle,' June Dist, to be. followed ON the
23d and oath by the Kelley Shannon
Company in 1.-The Moth and the
Flame"
Cleveland Plain Dealer: It is estimat-
led by those who ought to know that J.
NJ Barrie's royalties from 1.-The Little
Minister will ultimately amount to
$3.50, 600. The piece, in addition to play
ing to between $4,000 and $1,000 q
week in America, has begun it's second
season in London at the Haymarket
Theater, where the audiences are enor-
nous, and it is also going in Australia
to very large houses. 1t seems, more
over, to be permanent kind OF sue
cess, and not one of those ephemeral
things, like ..Trilby," that had it's run
and then rolled over on its back and
died. The author of '"The Little Minis
ter ought to congratulate himself very
heartily on having put it into the form
of play instead of relying upon its
publication fees for the sole income
from the story. He sold the American
rights in the book itself for toO, and ms
fees from the English publication were
not anything like as large as one would
naturally look for from a book that
had recorded such an extraordinary
sale.
The latest experiment of the Eliza
bethan Stage Society in London seems
to have been very successful. 1t was a
representation of Fitzgeralds Such
Stuff as Dreams are Made Of" founded
on Calderon's La Vida es Sueno," but
developed upon almost wholly indie
pendent lines. The tale, briefly, is as
follows: A young Prince, who has been
brought UP a prisoner and ignorant OF
his rank, is conveyed to court while un.
der the influence of a sleeping potion
that his father, the King, may there
judge Of his demeanor. If he acquits
himself well he will be acknowledged
as his fathers heir. But If he proves
violent and intractable another sleeping
potion will be administered and the
youth, restored to prison, will believe
that his brief life at court was only a
dream, and SO be spared the misery of
knowing who he is and from what a
hight he has fallen. The son fails in
the ordeal, the potion is administered.
and he wakes once more a prisoner.
The soldiers and the people, however,
hearing that the heir to the throne is
thus imprisoned, rise in revolt and set
him free. The Prince, a second time
restored to his rank, believes that he is
again dreaming, and this idea is skill
fully made use of to induce him to show
mercy to his father and his former
jailer.
The annual meeting of the trustees
of Shakespeare's birthplace was held
the other day at Stratford- on-Avon.
The committee reported that during the
year more than 24C00 persons had paid
for admission to Shakespeare's house,
| representing thirty-five different ma
tionalities and more than 10000 had
visited Ann Hathaway's cottage at
Shottery. The trustees had purchased
first folio of Shakespeare at a total
cost of more than 5000. A second folio
copy had been presented by Sir Theo-
dore Martin, and Ernest E. Baker of
Weston-super- Mare had presented a
copy of a work written by Shakes
peare's son -in-d DR.. Hall. bearing
on the fy-leaf the authors autograp phi.
1t is not my business to praise
ShakeSpeare's character as one is COM
PEELED to praise his art. His character
interests me intensely; his weaknesses
and shortcomings belong to his human
ity, and cannot, for me at least, d.
nlinish the value of his gift to us. Be
sides, it is conviction of mine that
art but follows nature when it estab-
fishes a proportion between the lights
and shadows of a scene In measure
as mans virtues are pre-eminent so
will his failingS be conspicuous; per-
lection is not an attribute of human
ity. However this may be, there can
be no doubt that Shakespeare's chief
faults We're due to weaknesseS-or soft
ness of fiber. This is the complement
and dark correlative of that gentle
kindness which we found to be one
of his chief characteristics. 1t is al
most certain that he vas not stout
nor robust in body, and delicacy of
physical constitution may we'll have
induced that delicacy of mental habit,
that supsrsensitiveness, which shrank
from rudeness and violence, and which
hidden and undesired than to maintain
a resolute denial. First of all, then. it
is incumbent upon me to prove that
Shakespeare was physically delicate
and intensely sensitive-a neuropath in
fine, to use our modern phrase Now,
there is no bodily popularity of Shakes
peare more surely attested than sleep
lessness. At an age when most men
sleep like children without effort and
almost without consciousness of the
blessings that sleep brings, Shakespeare
knew all the miseries of habitual in
somnia. How else can one explain the
long soliloquy of King Henry "?
20 sleep. o gentle Sleep
And, if we ascribe this panegyric on
sleep to Henry Tvs age and weakness,
how can one explain the fact that King
Henry ", stalwart enough, breaks out
in much the same way?
II know
IT'S not the balm, the sceptre and the
ball,
The sword, the mace, the crown imperial,
The intertissued robe OF gold and pearl,
The farced title running fore the king,
The throne he sits on, nor the tide of
pomp
That beats upon the high shore of this
world,
No not all these. thrice gorgeous cere-
mony,
Not all these, laid in bed majestical
Can sleep SO soundly as the wretched
Who with a body filled and vacant mind
Gets him to rest, crammed with Distress
full bread;
Never sees horrid night, the child of hell;
But like a lackey from the rise to set