The sun., 1902-12-14

sagged in thy intonation, o son Of the
Arocalypse." To criticize is human
Tho reason Why men and women Of al
ages, all olimes, watch with corsui ing
interest the terrible drama of noble .,ul ,
battling silh madness they ara To he founp
In all lteratures SO leave to the rsycholo-
gst- Poss bly, buried in the abysmal
depths OF our sui consciousness-,he true
arbiter of our destjn es there turks a ter
ror that the hard on victory If mind over
matter. Of the intellect over the powers e
brute darkness. is an unstable one, that
our primeyaI arc ,stor.' "a, sion- and mad
ness still hover in the latent folGs of our
consc ciousness. 10 be released by the pres
sure Of circumstance, and may transform us
into raging animals again. Be this a. II
may. crime and madness are the tso big
natural themes that the masters of art
juggle with-Shakespeare the most won-
derfuly of all
There may be recommended a sound
treatise by ErrCo Ferri professor Of the
University Of Rome. "A Roman ID putty and
row at the -Uuiversite Nou,elln de Brux-
elles" IL il o.. TITLED Les Grimm els dai :
Fart OF la Lttaraturn,- and il is moro
thorough and more sutte than any Of tie
decorative theories Of Lornhroso or Nordau.
After ali enumeration Of the mad folk uf
the classic writer's he considers AT length
the three great tyres Of criminal madre,s
in Shakespeare: Macbeth, criminal bon,
Hdmiet. criminalmad Othoiio. CRIMINAL
through passion. naturally, the words
criminal al q mad do OF com ote the popu-
lar meanings ascrihed to them. These
superb. di. ordered mii DIS are Lot to lie
confused with the inmates Of lu,atic asy-
lums. any more than the brilliant critical
writings Of his youth are to be colfound, d
with Netzsche's later half-crnzy lucu-
brations
Altogether the subject is an intercstir z
one IL a dehectio.I from the main line Of
dramatic criticism. Turgeu.v objected TO
the excessive preoccupation with themes
Of this sort. accusing his great contempo-
rary, Dostiewsky OF making too many
psychological mole-runs" in his novels.
The same anxious inquirer alluded to AZ
the beginnng of these notes also asked us
who and what was Dostiewsky To answer
this question is not within our allotted
province. reference was made To him only
in connection with dramatization Of his
extraordinary novel, Crime and Punish
mert," undertaken for Richard Mansfield
some years ago 10y Charles Henry Metzer.
Called "Rodion the Student" it was enacted
at the Garrick Theatre, and few OF us are
likely to forget Mr. Mansfcld's fourth act. .
with its haunting horror.
Ills mime has an especial pred,leCt ion
for the delineation Of morbid and diseased
souls Whether he exhibits the dual per-
sonaty of JokyN and Hyde Stevenson was
evidently oogni2ant OF the phenomena
called double, or alternating, e e'sona.ity"-
or Il ~ mad ~,is,iallty of the Baron thorr.aL
| or the vaporings Of the decadcnt Nero,
Mr.. Mansfield always sounds clearly the
note Of mania, not a pleasant one. evocati y o
as II il of the shudder. And in the works
OF Shakespeare there II still mine for the
curious or the earnest studen, of the
pathologic in dramatic literature.
We are informed by cable that ID An
nunz.o, cumulative Of Wagncr's success,
has written play founded on -Siegfrled. "
IL is to be called -Sgisrnondo. Duse " II
| produce II at the Costanzi. Rome, next
| spring. BY no stretch Of the ina agination
can We fancy her as B,unnhiide.
The theatrical week in this city will not
go down in history IA one distinguished for
novelties. One production, The Ca,a-
lier," at the Criterion, but Underlined the
fact that Julia Marloue il an actress of rare
gifts, apart from any consideration of her
charming personality. She is the chief
attraction in weak-kneed adaptation of
Mr.. Cables novel-an adaptation. let il be
said in justice TO Mr.. Paul Kester and his
associate, finished in a few weeks This
kind Of hurried theatrical drcssmaking
does not drape itself gracefully oa the