The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1890-04-12 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

MDME. BERNHARDT IN A NEW CHARACTER. announcement that Mdme. Sarah Bernhardt would read the r6le of the Virgin Nary in M, Edmond Harancourt's Passion Play caused such • sensation that at noon no Friday it was impossible to find a seat in the Cirque d'Hiver, in Paris. Every place had been taken, very many people having paid high prices for their tickets. The first part of the entertainment consisted of a concert conducted by M. Lamoureux, so that the event of the evening did not come on till half-past 10 o'clock. M. Harancourt's play was, so to say, framed in music. It was immediately preceded by the prelude to " Parsifal." After the first part the orchestra played another portion of "Parsifal,, ' and at the end the IS:uptial March from " Lohengrin." The Paris correspondent of the New York Herald, in describing the performance, says : The poem is a sort of mystic representation of the "Enos Homo." The Virgin is • woman wherein all her maternal instincts and love for her son are in conflict with religious awe and devotion to the Vicegerent of God. Sarah Bernhardt read the lines exhorting Christ to fly and save himself from torture and crucifixion with an impassioned yet subdued force that caustd profound emotion. The audience appreciated this. Shouts of "Bravo! bravo!" and round after round of applause burst forth. When Gander read the lines of Christ as he drove the publicans out of the Temple, and Bremont pronounced the mocking retorts of Caiaphas, the high priest, ionic youngsters in the gallery made a scandalous demonstration in favour of the principles adduced by 'the publicans, and two or three butcher-boys yelled out, "Hurrah for the publicans! They are better than our bookmakers at Longchamps." As Gander pronounced the words of the Saviour calling children to Him, and exhorting to charity and repentance, two or three voices shouted, "Asses de Christ ! Asses de Christ !" The auditnice rose to their feet with excitement, and cheered and applauded the actors. The men in the premiere seats of the parquet, the fashionable portion of the house, shook their fists at the butcher. boys and men who had interrupted the performance, and demanded that the police should put them out of the house. "A la porte I" "A la porte ! resounded on all sides, and the exeitement was tremendous. Gamier with difficulty made himself heard as he shrieked out, "Ladies and gentlemen, Ito you wish the reading of this poem to continue or not, as, if not, we will withdraw ?" " Oui oui ! out! continues," was heard from all pans ot "Non!" Madame tulle, mingled with a few shouts of 'Non!" Madame Bernhardt trembled with emotion, and pressed her handkerchief to her eyes and wept. There was a perfect pandemonium. Nothing could be heard until Haranconrt, the author, bounded down to the platform where the actors were seated and shook them all warmly by the hand, and, facing the tempestuous audience, shouted with a stentorian voioe, " The actors will pause a few moments to enable those persons who are discontented to retire." Harancourt was cheered loudly with shouts of "Bravo, Harancourt ! bravo! bravo!" Theo, by the aid of the police, some 30 or 40 of the discontented—rimet .1 them buteher-boys out for a lark on Good Friday, lie one day of the year when all butchers' shops we closed—left the circus. This lively agitating steno had now lasted half an hour. Sarah Bernaardt and her fellow actors were pale and nervous; but the audience, with the stormy element now eliminated, shouted "Continues, continues !" Then the reading commenced again, and was deservedly applauded.  THE BATTERSEA MURDER LEAGUES On Saturday at Battersea, an inquest was held upon thi hody of a female child that was found upon Clapham-common on the 31st ult., wrapped in a sheet of brown paper and a piece of white calico.— Fred Phipps, an errand boy, said he was playing on Clapham common when lie noticed a parcel lying under the tree near Mount Pond. The parcel was picked up and was found to contain the body of a Ihild.—Dr. Woodward deposed to examining the body of the deceased, which was too muds decomposed for him to say the cause ot death. Deceased was two or three days old, and a well-nourished child.—The jury returned at, open verdict.