The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-26

1903.
hsds ~ nouAns Nm = 90 oflths most
adnn1red scsoD % hls Julius cDsaTJ u
Il poaibls TO hsar without disgust brutus
rsprpach CAsaius WITH feeling an itohins
In his handi Such <ords - the following
arc still moro rsvolting: I bad rather b .
dog and bay the moon than p,chi . Homan.'
Even Chaaeaubriaod. Who. " hc the mt
IN the order Of tims. was Tho gTeassse OF
tbs early Romanticists. sharss The feeling
Of the a~otsN rtetAs whss II b geestson
Of tragedy. Shakespsass b evsn o'aoher
IN Chatesubriand's syss than in Voitaires;
the English dramatists Examples are
dangerous, both for Art and for morals;
his works are 1T for IN audience composed
Of judges arriving from Bengal Or from
the coast of 0uinsA.s On ths oehsr hand. Q
nation that hlows the riiss u an 'oannot
return 10 mon1Gss without riskins lie
morsh. In this respect liking tor snakes
peare h far more dangerous In France
than In England. With thu Englsh II b
only ignorSnos: With ~ h h dspravify.
Bad taste and vice nearly always 20 TO-
gether.' Our author rsminds ~ that this
very Chateaubrtand. whose sO4nie du- Chris
tianisms' vss TO appear the following pear
ard to second 20 efIectusliy the romantic
reno walton. did not heAitate, b order to en-
phasise his disappFobation Of Shakespeere,
TO compare him to . Gothic cathedral.
involving the man and the edifse in the
same condemnation. 'One besuty IN 0hakes-
peare does not excuse his innumerable
s1n
by ias obscurity. and By the vefy deformtty
Of its proportions. but 10 ono dreams OF
building . palace on such . model.
The comparison Of Shakespeare with
Gothic cathedral has since been scoepeed
by his admirers. and converted into praise.
Nine. de Sta u. 70 enthusiasts about NORTH
ern literature vas not 1t an bind TO
Shakespeare defects: In the pseudo -0ssian
alone did she find the really Characteristic
representative Of the North. There exist.
II seems to me- she nid. two literatures
quite distinct, the one that comes from the
South. and the one that desoends nom the
North: the ons Of which Homer b the source.
and the one whose source b Ossian.'
Even a. late a is77 the attempt TO play
Shakespeare In Enslish on the boards Of .
Parisian theatre proved prsmaturs. Ham.
let and sOthsllo' were hiased Oh the stage.
Contemporansousiy however. private per-
formances Of Shakespeare In English were
given by subscription and were received
with consideration. Five yeAs later .
change bad como over public ssntam ent
For several sessons, beginning with 1877.
Shakespeare waS played In Paris IN his
native tongue By English actors. Charles
Kemble, for instance, acted Ho@sta. ROMEO
and 0thsilo; Msorsady. NscsstA: Edmund
Ksan appeared ~ Hom.lst, Richard III.
and OtAsllo: Miss Smithson - Dssdsmo~e
and OpAsiia. An the Paris literary men
and artists attended the performance.
Hugo. then writing the prefaoe Of 'Crom-
well,' was there; 20 wAs Dumas. who felt
boxiessrst BY Hamlet and underwood
from that moment, - he expressed II In
his immoderate language, the possibility
Of building . wosld:' % was Berlios, whose
emotion took . quasi-rehSious turn. and
Who began To wonder II there was really
an eternal LIE and II In Heaven he should
meet Shakespeare and bis interpreter. tho
beautiful Henrietta Smithson.' A Q mat
ter OF fact, In 1883 Berlios married Miss
Smithson, who forthwith Nd him . life
that cave him no foretaste Of the joys OF
the elect.
We arc told that tire Pasiaian public a.
tended tie performances Of Shaksspsars
BY English actor with dep emotion. To
sssist its comprehension Of tls playa. tiny
sditions ol them bad hesn printed. ooo-
tAinine both the rrsnch md EnglisA tsxts.
At times, the sudisncs fslt . littb inciined
70 laugh, -, for inetancs. when Hssisl
was sssn to eat himself On the noor. a
posture 90 incompatible With tragic dig
nity,' and whom Ophslia walled IN with
long straws stuck In her hair >; but thess dis.
respectful inolinations were quickly 70
pressed. In our suthcr's opinion. The o..
perience Of 1877, and the years immediately
following. was decisive 20 far - The epoch
Of the triumph Of Romantidsm was oon'
cerned. 'From that moment Shakespeare
Ia admitted into the pantheon Of The literary
gods. French paintsrs. posts and musi'
clans are Of one mind: Ingres himself. classi-
cal InRres, makes room for him In Homsr'a
cortAre. His inausncs becomes mors
marked - the Romantic MONUMENT grows
wider. II can be traced In the works Of
an the literary men Of The period. from
Victor Hugo TO Flsubert. from Dumas tc
Musset. Victor Hugo divides the history
Of mankind into thres pertods-penods Of TIKI
ode, OF the epic and Of the drama, repre-
rented by Moses, Homer and Shakespeare
all the rivers OF poetry 'hov into the ocear
Of the drama; everything In modsrr
poetry tends toward the drama. and TIKI
drama, according to Hugo. is Shakespeare
Dumas, growing moro and more immoder
sse, goes further still. and calls Shaksspears
the poet who has created most after God
Nevertheless. for al his idolatry. Dumsa
does not hesitate TO treat rather unccre-
moniously the productions Of this divin'
being. The author Of Tbs Three Mus
keteers' dares not confront the mouse In
Hamlet but. in the version Of ths plsJ
written by Dumas In collaboration with
Paul Meurioe. the awful animal Is left un
mentioned.
The enthusiasm for Shakespeare conqusr'
the representatives Of schools the mos
opposed. Shakespearean fancy. for OK
ample, guides the hand Of Ausset whsr
he becomes q dramatist. and he 10 praiset
therefore by Heine In book whsre prats'