The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-08

or the other Mt the expense Of nature
In America Brander Matthews gladly fell
in line, ending his essay with the remark
| of Dumas, who instanced -Ceimare le
Bel-Aime' and lie Voyage de NJ Perriohon
az ranking Labiche -one of the finest and
frnnkest of the comic poets since Plautus--
the only one, perhaps who oan be compared
with him
The result OF all lhis was that Labiche
stood for election for the uoNt vacant
seat In the Academy. The fact reused
the Rerue des du Mondes-the pedaut- after
oil hold more firmly 10 their prejudces
than the publicl-to vigorous satrical
| protest. but without avail. LabIche took
his place beside Angler and Dumas. No
man better deserved the privilege, Henley
comments, for he had amused and kept
awake the public for nearly forty years
for nearly as long, that is as the Rcruo
had been sending 1t to sleep
III for its sins that Broadway is ignorant
Of the true quality OF Labiche. BY the grav-
itation of like to ike, 1t has become familiar
only with his less notable pieces, his widest
farces. The Phenomenon In Smook
Frook.' Madison Morton's BOX and Cox
are all from one act pieces Of his. Gill
bert's Wedding March is founded on
the hvo act vaudeville "Un Chapeau de
Paille dItalie,' which Sarcey calls %
masterpiece In penrs IL created but
which Is after all a whlrling vaudeville
farce, as was abundantly evident last
autumn when II was put ON by the Cazelles
French Comedy Company. The only play
OF any literary quality with which we have
become familiar Ia Sydney Grundy's A
Pair OF Speotacles, taken from Les Petits
OiseauI. one Of Labiohe's secondary pieces,
at best charming story. When play
Ike lie Voyage de NJ. Perrichon" has been
attempted IL has failed The company
Of the old Boston Museum put on Papa
Perrichon, and W II. Crane, In his youth,
made similar effort. The success of
Cousin Billy" is almost as much a tribute
TO Fitoh's skill in adaptation as to Lahche.
AS far as we are concerned in fact, the
best plays Of Ianche fall. for the most
part, between two stools. Our public is
too little given 20 things Of tho mind TO
relish pure comedy--for example La Poudre
aux Yeux, which has long been a text
book in the French courses of our univer-
sites It's characteristic pabulum is either
farce or what our elder playwrignts called
oomedy-drama. On the other hand, we
are too conventionally proper to acquiesce
in the frankness OF Labiches best vaude-
villes for the sake of their fund Of laughter
and philosophy. Nothing could be more
essentially moral than "Celimare lie Bel
Aime"-and few things more impossible to
Anglo-saXon prldery
The maxim OF -Cellmare-at the core OF
all Labiche's best plays. there is a maxim
Is that the chickens of gay youth will come
home TO roost in the coop of mature re-
spectability Ctlimdre has been a great
dandy and lover of married women-and
lives TO regret the fact when. at the age Of
Al, he marries Your conventional play
wright in handling such theme would
make his honeymoon plagued by the women
in the case Note the freshness of inyen-
ton and the sbsurdity Of Lahiche's comic
spirit In playing his little triangular
game. Cekmdrs has. as ia usual in such
cases, been obliged TO make friends of the
husbands The women are not in the
dramatis persona but the two mem one
laohry1nose and fondling: the other brisk
and hearty-pursue him with their pro-
testatons OF friendly intimacy throughout
the three acts. to tho ever increasing per-
turbation OF the Well BeLored-the all too
well beloved-and end by exposing him to
his wife, his parents-ln-law and 10 each
other.
No mere description could give even a
faint idea of the wealth of device, the breadth
and certainty OF comic effect. with which
these two amiable men are made to per-
secute poor Ctlimdre. But single in
stance will perhaps indicate how Labiche
drives home his moral. even in the widest
gyrations OF topsy-turvy. In one OF the
households he has been the bel-ame, not only
Of the wife and the husband, but Of the hugo
Newfoundland dog, whom he has won with
humps Of sugar. In the third act. having
a. he thinks. thrown the master of the
scent at last he il discovered. while enjoy
ing the first moment OF welded bliss by the
dogs keenly afectionate sense of smell
Being shut up in dark passage the New
foundland chews the best cloak Of cen
mares mother-in-aw That is not so bad
But presently, being tied up. be bites the
leash in two turns the wifes trousseau
out of its hamper. and begins devouring it
This gives CdLimdre's valet. Pitou--a phi
losopher and moraGst--his chance
Pitou- Behold the fruit of an impas-
Toned youth You are the prev
OF dogs that you have not the right TO dir
ownl 1t is the chastisement Of fate
Cel'mare-Dont bother me with your
morauling,
PiDu- Since he has the right 10 CLAW
the trousseau. he should be let 20 claw it,
Sarcey-who was az expert IN his sense for
the PLAYS of his youth az he was clumsy
in dealing with the drama OF the end Of IT,
century has acclaimed 'Celimare- a. the
high water mark Of the con6fis rdudeuiio
With his abundant skill in dramatic writ
ing. his sense Of life and OF fun. his native
why has Labchc written no
pure comedy Of the first order? Because
he was too modest 10 realize his power, one
is tempted to saw. and his critics too blind .
10 reveal it 20 him, Unfortunately for this .
hypothesis he wrote one comedy for the
Francois Moi study in eRotism aud
7tr7iism which gives us a line on his ability
10 put the case somewhat fatty. it is Ia the
main q rather pretentious failure + may
be- a. Angler suggests. that the sense Of
the majesty of the stage for which he was
writing inundated him and deadened his
power Of creation that If he had persisted