The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-08-26
EDITORIAL NOTES

The first performanc at the Comodie F'rancaise, the famous national theatre of Paris, was given 233 years ago. At the death of doliere in 1637 his com
 pany of actors at the Palais Royal separated into two bodies. The fusion of these formed the French National
 Theatre. or Cornedie Francaise found ed by a decree of Louis XIV. The
 monarch and courtiers attended the first performance August 25, 168O and the actors, fifteen men and twelve
 women, the best of their time, were heartily appIauded. The king contin-
 ued his patronage until his latter years, when the theatre was much de-
 pressed, but it was revived by Louis XIV. In 1799 owing to the overthrow
 Of the monarchy. it went out of sex- istence, but in 1903 it was restored, and 1 under NapoIeon's patronage it again
 became a true national theatre. In l 1880 the republic held a great celebra- ton of the bi-centenary of the estab- | lishInent of the celebrated playhouse
 and home of French dramatic art
 Cannon were first used, according to
 the testimony of most historians, in the battle of Crecy, France, 567 years ago today, when Edward III. of Eng land and his son Edward the Black Prince, with about 36, 900 troops, de-
 feated Philip Of France with an army
 of 13o, 600 men. The French loss was l 30, coo while the English loss was small.
 Two years before the battle Edward III had formed an artillery train and an ordnance establishment The guns
 were of the rudest make, cumbrous and inefficient, sand most authorities
 agree that they had little to do with
 the great English victory at Crecy. It has been alleged that cannon were
 used by the Moors in the thirteenth century, by Henry III. of England
 during the rebellion of the Duke of l Gloucester in 12s0, and by the Span iards against Cordova In 1280, but it is
 held by those well qualified to judge
 that the first unQuestionable testimony of the employment of cannon was by
 Edward III. The Chinese are also sup posed to have had cannon before their invention by Europeans. The substitu- tion of cannon for the old mechanical artillery was gradual and throughout
 the fourteenth century the main de- pendence was placed on machines used
 to hurI stones and Greek fire. Artil- lery science made great strides in the 1 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when
 brass guns and artillery carriages on | wheels were invented, and iron was
 substituted for stone in the manufac.
 ture of projectilee.
 One hundred years ago this morning l. Karl TheOdOr kOrner. the CWenIy-LWO year old Prussian ''lyrist of liberation ' sat on a fallen tree and scribbled in his notebook Around him soldiers ! Ss1ept-soldiers who but a short time
 before had been students. and who composed that gallant and romantic hand of Lutzow volunteers who fought so valiantIy in the war for freedom
 from Napo1eon's yoke. As the sun rose Korner completed his writing, and called a comrade to listen to his poem. It was the rapturous bridal
 ..Song to his Sword a 1ove-raph- sody to that g1earning. weapon which is the soldiers bride'-tfe widest
 of those stormy war songs which, sung by many voices around the camp fires
 at night, had set the Prussian armies abIaze with patriotic fervor. The | youthful poet had just finished read ing the last verse of his masterpieces ] when the signal for action was given.
 In the first flush of youth and dawning
 glory, the poet, cleaning sword at I side, rode forth on the high road be- tween Schwerin and Gadebusch, in Meck1enburg-and rode not back again. In the engagement that fol- lowed, Korner, as adjutant, fought at Lutzow's side. The French were in
 great force, but they could not with
 stand the assault of soldiers who sang
 as they attacked. The French broke and fled, and among the hottest in pursuit was Korner. As he rode through the wood a shot from one of the fugitive tiraileurs who lay hidden