The Washington herald., 1911-04-02
STORY OF RICHELIEU

The drama of "RicheIieu,"- In. which
Mr.. Mantell will appear at the BeIasco
next Wednesday evening, is the most
enduring work of Sir Edward Bulwer,,
Lord Lytton, one of the foremost literary
figures of the mid-Victorian period. The
play was written" in 1899 and was, orig
inally acted by William Charles Mac
ready, at that time Engiand's- greatest
actor, and proved to be one of the fam
Gus English actors greatest triumphs
He played it with success in London and
the British provinces, and gave it its
first American performance at the time
of his historic engagement in New York
in the forties. Macready's American en-
gagement was in many respects unfor-
tunate. Edwin Forrest, the American
tragedian. had been hooted in London.
He charged Macready (probably ufi-
JUSTLY with the insult, and set power
full influences at work toward breaking
up Macready's tour of the States. On
May 10. 1919, n mob gathered in front
of the Astor Place Opera House, New
York. where the English visitor was
making his bow. Their purpose was to
wreck the theater and to tar and feather
or murder the star. The mob refused
to heed the order of the militia to dis
perse, a volley was fired, and seventeen
persons were killed. Macready was
smuggled out by side door of the
theater and hustled to New Rochelle in
a carriage. Thence he escaped by train,
sailing a month or two later for his
native shore. ''Richelieu'' was one of
the few bills he was permitted to present
in America.
Few. more interesting figures in the
worlds history have appeared than the
Cardinal Richelieu. He was born in 1886,
and after his service in the French wars
entered the church. in whose councils
he was to be a potent figure for many
Years. in fact, until the day of his death,
in November, 164o. At the period of the
play. the cardinal was about fifty-five
years of age. not by any means an old
man aS years so, but the unrelentinS
strain had worn out his frame and set
the mark Of age deep upon him. He
was. moreover. constantly in the hands
Of physicians and surgeons, and the hor-
rible methods of treatment practiced in
those learned professions at the time
helped to lower his vitality, so he had
come to that stage when one might fifty
apply tho description OF a soul of iron
keeping the frail tenement of the body
together by sheer force of will bril-
lldNI court SuITOuIiutu MN. dlld loi
generation he was the real master Of
France.
In his anteChambers were literary men,
merchants. soldiers, cOurtiers, states
men. suitOrs. spies. SwaShbucklers. and
secret agents. Louis XIII. whom he os-
tensibly served. WAS a mere figurehead.
and the Iron Cardinal ruled France
and dominated Europe absolutely. He
had spies in every court on the conti-
nent, in the boudoir OF Queen Anne, in
the household Of Louis XIII, and all
over France, in Brussels. Rome. and Lon
don and he maintained five or six armies
md two fleets. No other great historic
figure has been so generally miSunder-
stood and misrepresented. To imagine
MIN a. cold and detached recluse. abb
sorbed entirely in affairs of state and
church. austerely alien to every emo
tiCn save ambition, would be as inaCCu-
rate as that calumny Of his enemies
which assigned him mistress at every
stage of his career. The real RiChelieu
is found between the two extremes.
In his drama, Buwer-Lytton has
drawn somewhat upon his Imagination,
but in the main the characters and in
cidents are authentic. Julie de Morte-
mar. his niece; Joseph, the CapuChin
monk who was his secretary and conf
dant for many years, and most of The
other characters are well proven, while
the romantic love affair of Julie and
de Mauprat has been we'll established in
the annals OF the time.