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given, nor can he give, any reason why the sensation of the minor 3rd should be represented by the prime 19 rather than the prime 19661, which is to 16384 the unit-basis nearly as 6.5, the true ratio. It is almost unnecessary to state that his "mare's nest" ratio 4888888 does not correspond with the preceding in form, the first term not being a prime number, and the second term forms no part of the series 1, 2, 4, 8, &c.; and does not Mr. Hewitt perceive that in even naming this ratio as a "good substitute" for, he is, in fact, undermining the very pedestal which he has so elaborately, so cunningly, and so mystically embellished, and on which he has raised and enthroned his "idea." I remain, sir, yours truly, Cheetham-hill, Manchester, Jan. 14th, 1860.

W. W. PARKINSON.

THE CHORD OF THE SIX-FOUR. SIR,The correspondent who writes under the modest signature of "A School-Boy," may not be quite satisfied with your quotation from Beethoven, who was rather a free than a strict contrapuntist. He may think, too, that what would do in a symphony, might not be good in a church.

The fact is, that the perfect fourth, though a consonant interval (except when naked, or when a mere suspension of the third) used to be classed amongst the dissonances, and is called a dissonance by Mozart in his "Thorough-Bass School." To their different views of this interval may perhaps be attributed its difference of treatment by the ancients and moderns. Not only the strict old church composers, but also Handel and his contemporaries avoided writing an unprepared perfect fourth to the bass. Hence, in the chord of the six-four-three, in four-part music, they omitted the root of the chord, and doubled the seventh to that root. The moderns, following Kollman, write the root without scruple, but disallow the doubled seventh. A "Response" is something like a "chant." Now, it was forbidden to begin a chant with a discord, or to have a discord on either of the reciting notes. But the perfect fourth was considered to be a discord, and therefore the chord of the six-four would come under prohibition. As for the reason of the thing, to end a piece of music with the chord of the six-four, would hardly be possible, because it would be like leaving off speaking in the middle of a sentence; but to begin with such a chord would be simply to solicit attention, which can hardly be considered improper.

When a practice is condemned by the ears of one generation, and ratified by the ears of another, perhaps the safest way will be to put it in the category of things indifferent. Let then your querist, discarding prejudice and the trammels of rule, ask himself whether the effect of the "Response" seemed to him good or bad. If the former, no rule is sufficient to condemn it, since there can be no greater authority for any chord than that it has a good effect; if the latter, no rule can justify it; since the avoidance of bad effects is the object of every rule. I am, sir, your obedient servant, THOS. D. EATON.

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SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY. members of the Sacred Harmonic Society, was, on the whole, the THE first performance this season of Handel's Samson, by the most satisfactory that has taken place since Mr. Costa was appointed conductor, and, indeed, since the society was instituted. Of the oratorio itself-now happily becoming more and more familiar to the musical public, and gradually vindicating the high opinion entertained by its composer, who (perpetually, it would seem, overlooking the still more magnificent Israel) hesitated. whether to accord his preference to Samson or the Messiah-we need say very little. That Samson is the most essentially dramatic of those compositions, the subjects of which Handel was enabled to gather from Sacred Writ, will be generally admitted; nor can the fact of two such vast and elaborate works as this oratorio and its immediate precursor, the great musical epic of Christianity, having been commenced and terminated within the incredibly short interval of 10 weeks (from August 22, when the Messiah was begun, to October 12, when Samson was finished) be too often dwelt upon, with wonder and admiration at the genius that conceived and the art that accomplished such a herculean labour.

claims of which to favourable consideration have been more The additional accompaniments supplied by Mr. Costa, the than once discussed, would appear now to be indispensable at every performance of Samson by the Sacred Harmonic Society; and certainly the splendid band of instrumentalists under that gentleman's vigorous control take pains that no effect contemplated by their much respected chief shall be lost or slurred over; so that while strict Handelians may indulge in a notion that, here and there, a little too much had been added by the ready and skilful hand of a modern Italian musician to the original granite structure of an old Teutonic giant, few could have been otherwise than pleased at the perfect manner in which the interpolations, such as they are, were allowed to assert their intrinsic value on the occasion under notice. The choruses were worthy all praise, and the immense benefit derived from the private meetings of the London contingent of the Handel Commemoration Choir for practice and rehearsal again received unanimous acknowledgment. Not to enter into minute details, the whole of that stupendous scene, at the end of Part II., in which the rival apostrophes of Israelites and Philiscolossal burst of harmony; in which are set forth the antagotines are exhibited, now alternately, now combined in one nistic protestations of Micah, friend of Samson, and of Harapha the giant; in which the solemn choral invocation of the Hebrew, "Hear Jacob's God!" meets a derisive comment in the riotous epithalamium of the idolators, "To song and dance we give the day;" and lastly, in which a triumphant climax is attained in "Fixed in His everlasting seat" (a masterpiece of choral effect, unsurpassed even by Handel)-all this revealed the utmost possible efficiency; and the impression produced on an audience that filled Exeter Hall to the doors was indescribable. But the great choral displays in the first and second parts of the oratorio, from "Awake the trumpet's lofty sound" (the celebration, by the priests of Dagon, of the festival in honour of their idol), to "Then round about the starry throne" (the prophecy of celestial glory, with which the Israelites stimulate the religious zeal of Samson) in the one, and from "To dust His glory they would tread," to the "Fixed in His everlasting seat" in the other-have obtained frequent and enthusiastic acknowledgment. Less generally appreciated, considering their excellence, have hitherto been the picturesque choruses in Part III., "With thunder armed, great God arise," ending with a musical embodiment of the act of prayer in the highest degree impressive; "The Holy one of Israel be thy guide," spirited enough to arouse the dormant energies of the most crestfallen hero; " Great Dagon has subdued our foe," and "Hear us, our God, O hear our cry," the first expressing the joy of the Philistines at their supposed victory, the last their despair at the unexpected catastrophe, which has involved their enemy and prisoner, Samson, with themselves, in one common ruin, both masterpieces; Weep, Israel, weep," the lamentation of the Israelites for their lost champion, in pathos not to be excelled; "Glorious hero," following the "Dead March" (rival to the more noted one in Saul), with

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which chorus the oratorio originally terminated; and "Let their celestial concerts all unite," a happy after-thought, by means whereof the composer averted an anti-climax, and brought his great work to a conclusion with becoming pomp and brilliancy. These excepting "Weep, Israel, weep," which was occasionally out of tune, and "Glorious hero," in certain parts unsteady were so finely executed by the chorus in the present instance that their merits were just as sensibly felt as those of any of the more celebrated choral pieces preceding them, and with which they are in all respects worthy to be associated. In short, this performance of Samson may be fairly set down as one of the most honourable achievements of the Sacred Harmonic Society-an achievement, indeed, to which they are entitled to look back with pride.

The solo music was, for the most part, equally successful. Miss Banks-soprano (one of Mr. Hullah's most clever and promising singers)-although slightly disconcerted at first by the unaccustomed largeness of the arena, in "Let the bright seraphim" (deriving, it should be stated, no small advantage from the way in which the famous trumpet part was given by Mr. Harper), elicited the sympathy of the audience to such an extent that Mr. Costa deemed it expedient to allow her to repeat the air, although it directly ushers in the final chorus. The same favour was shown to Signor Belletti in "How willing my paternal love," the last song of Manoah (Samson's father). in accordance with a still more unanimous manifestation of approval; and rarely has approbation been extorted by a more legitimate and truly artistic display. The other bass was Mr. Weiss, who, in the music of the giant, Harapha, has maintained his ground against every rival, and who never sang "Honour and arms," and "Presuming slave," his part in the duet with Samson, "Go, baffled slave,' or the declamatory recitatives, with greater animation and dramatic power. To Miss Dolby was allotted the part of Micah, which is as much as to say that the airs, " Return, O God of Hosts," and "Ye sons of Israel, now lament," were rendered with a classical purity of style that left no room for criticism. Indeed, the expression infused into the last was on a par with that which gained such warm approval for Signor Belletti; but as this air and the succeeding chorus form but one piece, there was no opportunity for the audience to be equally "demonstrative." The part of Samson is one of the grandest ever imagined by Handel, and at the same time one of the most arduous to the singer, whose physical force and intellectual capacity are alike severely tasked. The elder Braham could at once understand what Handel intended, and render the great composer's meaning plain to every intelligent hearer; but, since Braham, one singer alone has been found with the requisite gifts of voice, intelligence, and executive skill to give the music of Samson with proportionate effect. That one, it is scarcely necessary to add, is Mr. Sims Reeves, who alike in the sombre and desolate pathos of "Total eclipse," the religious and at the same time passionate fervour of "Why does the God of Israel sleep?" and the fierce impetuosity of "Go, baffled coward, go !" rises to the height of the situation, depicts every shade of sentiment and emotion, and thus thoroughly realizes the design of the composer. How finely Mr. Reeves delivers recitatives we need not insist. Of these in Samson there are enough and to spare; but when so simply and unaffectedly declaimed, their prolixity is in a great degree lost sight of Again, in the long and not very invigorating dialogues with Harapha and Delilah, the same rare talent almost closes the lips of the well-intended councillor, about to utter a recommendation to unsparing curtailment. Even the comparatively unthankful air, "Thus when the sun in 's watery bed," which prepares the final "exit" of Samson (Part III.), was made impressive by the peculiar significance given to the last lines"The wand'ring shadows ghastly pale, "All troop to their infernal gaol,

"Each fetter'd ghost slips to his sev'ral case "-which, though without precedent, materially enhanced the interest of the song, and brought the situation it is meant to illustrate more vividly before the mind. The setting of the sun, as an image of the hero's approaching departure for another sphere, had clearly in this instance suggested nothing to the

composer too subtle or profound for the comprehension of the singer. The reading of the entire passage was in the highest sense poetical.

A word of well-merited praise for Mr. Brownsmith, who presided with his accustomed ability at the organ (which, by the way, is now and then over-taxed in the additions to the score of Samson), must end our notice of this really admirable performance. Mendelssohn's Lobgesang and the Dettingen Te Deum are announced for the 3rd of February.-Times.

MUSIC AND THEATRES IN PARIS.
(From Our Own Correspondent.)

January 25th. A PERFECT shower of débutants and débutantes seems to have fallen on the theatrical world of Paris, for every week one has to signalise the rise of some new star, or at least of nebulous appearances who hope to become stars. The week before last a Madamoiselle Battu obtained a complete success at the Italian Opera, (a success that has gone on increasing) and will shortly fill the part of Lucia di Lammermoor, Roger taking that of Edgardo. Edgardo. The performance is fixed for February 2nd, and will be preceded by the revival of Il Matrimonio Segreto, of Cimarosa, which has not been performed in Paris since the seasons of 1846-47. Then, on Monday week, another débutante, of the name of Mademoiselle Marie Brunet, made her appearance at the Grand-Opéra as Valentine, in the Huguenots. She is fresh from Marseilles, where she has been playing. Mademoiselle Brunet was a pupil of Madame Damoreau's, and then took lessons of Duprez. She is agreeable and modest looking, but her voice, though possessing many of the qualities necessary to a singer, is not equal to the exigencies of a part like that of Valentine. Monsieur Gueymard sang charmingly: the rest of the performance was not quite so satisfactory. A very sad event occurred in the course of the evening, and one that has been the subject of universal regret. M. Narcisse Girard (the successor of Habeneck at the Opéra, and also at the Société de Concerts) was at his post as usual, at the Opéra, conducting the orchestra, up to the third act of the Huguenots, when, at the end of the septuor of the Poignards, he felt himself giving way, and was obliged to resign his bâton to M. Millot. In the lobby he became extremely ill, and was obliged to be conveyed home. Three hours later he was dead. His affection was aneurism of the heart. The death of M. Girard is considered an irreparable loss in the musical world, and the elite of the profession were assembled at his funeral, to testify the respect they had held him in while living. The chefdu-cabinet of the Emperor, M. Mocquard, was also there. M. Alphonse Royer, M. Leboue, M. Deldevy, and M. Trianon pro

nounced funeral orations.

The Opéra-Comique goes on steadily and successfully with the Pardon de Ploërmel; meanwhile the rehearsals of the new work by Ambroise Thomas are being actively pursued. At the ThéâtreLyrique, we may soon expect the Baucris and Philemon of M. Charles Gounod. A little work of MM. Crémieux and Caspars, Ma Tante Dort, has just been brought out. Mad. Ugalde sings in it. Madame Carvalho is able to take a little rest from her arduous labours for a short time, as Mdlle. Marimon is performing her part of Cherubino in the Noces de Figaro very successfully. Two little operettas have also been brought out at the Bouffes-Parisiens, one of the Nouveau Pourceaugnac, written by MM. Scribe and Poisson, and set to music by M. A. Hignard, has completely succeeded, as well as Croquignolle trente sixième du nom, written by MM. Gastineau and Deforges, and set to music by a young beginner, M. Ernest Lépine.

The Théâtre-Français, ever faithful to the traditions of Molière, has been playing the Femmes Savantes, and the Folies Amoureuses. A young débutante, Mdlle. Rosa Didier, was warmly received, and gained much applause by her acting.

The Théâtre du Vaudeville has given the public another drama de genre. The Pénélopé Normandé of M. Alphonse Karr, founded on his novel, and which he has dramatised for this theatre, has just been brought out. The principal parts were played by MM. Lafontaine, Munié, Felix, Aubrée, and by

Mesdames Doche and Alexis Pastolet. Lafontaine and M. Munié were the the two characters that came out most strikingly in the piece; the part of the heroine is so odious a character, and one almost impossible to play any amount of tact, so as in any way to render it agreeable, that Madame Doche did not obtain so great a triumph as she had doubtless anticipated. The Emperor and Empress were at the second performance.

The Théâtre-Imperial opened its doors on the 17th of January. One month has sufficed M. Holstein to prepare his drama, L'Histoire d'un Drapeau, and when one sees how much has had to be done in that time, it appears marvellous. L'Histoire d'un Drapeau, as its title indicates, is a military piece, and abounds in charges of cavalry, regiments marching to martial music, attacks at the point of the bayonet, combats, banners waving, cannons firing, in fact, all that military show, glitter and tumult, that the soul of a Frenchman delights in. It has one advantage over other dramas of this class; the plot is clear. The story runs thus:- Two Parisian workmen, François Beaudoin and Frédéric Wolf, are in love with the same girl, Marie, whose father is an emigrant, and who has been brought up by Madame Wolf, the mother of Frédéric. Several young workmen in the shop of Madame Wolf have embroidered a magnificent tri-coloured flag, whilst the lovers have manufactured the silk and forged the steel of which the rest of it is composed. This flag is destined for the battalion of Parisian volunteers, and is received by them from the hands of General Bonaparte on the bridge of Arcola. Before the departure of the troops, Francois Beaudoin receives the assurance of love from the lips of Marie. Frédéric, who thus sees all his hopes vanish, swears a mortal hatred to his rival, and goes over to the enemy. Thus the whole drama turns on the enmity of these two rivals; but the authors (MM. A. Dennery and ***), however, have made a pleasant ending to it, by bringing about the sincere repentance of the traitor, and the happiness of the lovers. The piece was entirely successful, though, of course, a great deal is due to the attraction that lies in the many brilliant phases of French history which are visibly presented. A panorama of glorious events is unfolded, exhibiting successively the Pyramids, Cairo, Vienna, Moscow, the Kremlin, the return from the Island of Elba, and the apotheosis of the battle of Solferino. Every scene is splendidly got up and displays fresh marvels. The most remarkable were, Cairo, the Retreat from Moscow, and the Apotheosis. There is constant movement on the stage, and about three hundred soldiers (theatrical ones) are employed. The piece, there is no doubt, will have a long run.

I hear that Giuglini is engaged at the Scala of Milan for twelve performances; he is to be paid 2,000 francs a night. He will make his first appearance in the Favorita. The programme of the concert Richard Wagner is going to give at the Italian Opera runs thus:-1.-the overture to the Vaisseau Fantôme; 2-Marche et choeur; 3.-Introduction to the third act of the Pèlerinage; 4-Song of the pilgrims; 5-Overture to Tannhäuser; 6-prelude to Tristan and Isolde; 7-Introduction; 8-March of the betrothed (with chorus); 9-Nuptial Feast (introduction to the third act), and epithalamium of Lohengrin. The orchestra and the choruses will be conducted by Richard Wagner. Ritter has just returned from his excursion to Marseilles, were he made a very successful stay. Jullien is still trying for a tenement large enough to contain the 500 musicians who are on dit to compose his orchestra, and the audience his name will draw.

The prefecture of the Seine has just published the following notice:-A competition (concurrence) for choral compositions with accompaniment, by the committee for the teaching of singing in the commercial schools; two gold medals, of the value of 150fr. each will be awarded, one to the author of a song for male voices, and the other to the composer of a song for first and second tenors and bass. The composers are to have the liberty of choosing their own words, but they are to reject immediately any poetry which in subject or style would not suit their music, destined for the primary educational establishment of the town. The pieces that have won the prizes will be performed at the public meetings of the Orphéon, and will remain

the property of the composer. The manuscripts are to be sent to the Hotel de Ville, before the 15th of March. The composer's name is not to be signed on his work, but each composition is to be accompanied by an epigraph or motto, which motto is also to be copied in a sealed letter, with the name of the composer underneath. I hear M. Lefèbre Wély is composing an opera entitled Les Paysans de Nivelle.

The receipts of the various operas, theatres, concerts, balls, &c., arose during the month of December to the amount of 1,359,619fr. 85c.

The Pardon de Plöermel meets with as great success in the other continental towns as it does here, especially at Hamburgh and Dresden. Meyerbeer was staying in the latter town when it was brought out, and was present in the theatre, the public calling for him after every act. The King of Saxony sent for him to his box, and expressed the warmest admiration of his work. Madlle. Burde-Ney was the Dinorah.

The Italian papers tell us that the Duke of Satriano, exmanager of the San Carlos, has been replaced by a very estimable and intelligent man. The accounts from Venice are not so smiling. The theatres have been shut up for the moment by orders, on account of some disturbances that arose in the San Benedetto. The Venetians, who seize every allusion that they can apply to the Austrians, began shouting out in that part of the Barbiere where these lines occur :

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WE have, during the week, received several communications respecting the leading article in our last impression, in which we commented on the letter of "Musician," which appeared in The Times of January 12th. Most of these are favourable to the grant of a subsidy from Government for educational purposes, and the writers lay much stress on the fact, so oft insisted upon, that Music alone of all the Fine Arts is ignored by our legislators. The reasons advanced are neither new nor weighty, or we should have found room for the letters which contain them. The question of a subvention, or a non-subvention, after all, is scarcely so much a matter of policy as of speculation. We may argue for a thousand years, but, until a trial be made, no good results can follow. Nevertheless, as, in a controversy of such interest, the arguments on both sides are worth hearing, let from that we have always considered it our duty to support. us suppose ourselves advocating a somewhat different opinion

Were, then, Government to hold out its hand to Music, as it does to Painting and Sculpture, we should be among the foremost to bestow our praise; nor are we disinclined to allow the advantages likely to accrue. Music, as an art, is

to the Royal Academy of Music, he asks the question, “Will not Parliament afford a like assistance to Music?" By all means, let us have a "Royal Commission," or "A Committee of the House of Commons," if we can get it; but let us never lose sight of the important fact, that music cannot be legislated for like Painting and Sculpture. It must have a special statute of its own, or none. It remains to be seen whether Parliament will entertain the views of "Musician," which our correspondents unanimously share. We shall wait until the application for a subsidy be made, of which, by the way, we foresee no indication. It will be then time enough to discuss the subject at greater length; at present, discord, not music, is likely to assert dominion over the determinations of the House, so that we must not be too eager in our hopes. For our own part, like Lear, we can be patient.

unquestionably not inferior to Painting or Sculpture; while | "Musician" was hardly in a "Musician" was hardly in a logical mood, when, alluding it has a scientific basis to which neither can lay claim with anything approaching the same degree of truth. But this is hardly what our legislators have to consider. The support of an Academy for the purpose of training pupils for the stage, and the concert-room, or making them teachers, is the only means by which Government can forward the interests of Music. But this would not place Music on the same basis as the sister Arts. Painting and Sculpture would still have their exhibition galleries and museums set apart for them, and Music be consigned to the theatres and concertrooms. A mistake is committed by placing all the arts in the same category. Music is not merely an acquired pleasure, a feeling derived from observation and attention, involving judgment and intelligence no less than taste and sensibility, but an instinct of the soul, born with our very being, instilled into us with our first hearing, and made the vehicle of our earliest lispings, until it grows into a requirement, a necessity of our existence. It may be said-we speak with reverencethat Music is the only earthly enjoyment we know we shall possess hereafter. A special taste is necessary to understand and appreciate the beauties of the brush and chisel. Curiosity will not become admiration except through the medium of enlightenment. Education must prepare the way before delight can be received from a picture or a piece of hewn marble; but the savage will melt into tears at the first hearing of a simple air; and birds, beasts, and even fishes, have been attracted by the irresistible power of melody.

The passion for Music is so universal, as absolutely to become antagonistic to its progress as an art. What everybody loves and desires, the legislature sees no reason for protecting or interfering with. When the list of candidates for advancement in the army was submitted to Napoleon, he selected those only who had no names to recommend them. There was wisdom as well as generosity in this. Our lawgivers, not without reason, conclude, that that which has so many friends and sympathisers stands in no need of extraneous assistance. When it is considered what sums of money are annually lavished on Italian Operas, Musical Festivals, Anniversaries, Concerts public and private, teaching, &c., &c., and what numbers of foreign professors flock to this country from all parts of the world, and live on the fat of the land, it is not at all surprising that Parliament should turn a deaf ear to every application for a grant. The splendour exhibited at the Italian Opera, and the immense expenditure incurred in keeping it up-the failure being attributable to mismanagement only-incapacitate our rulers, themselves, in all probability, subscribers, from perceiving that there is another and more important branch of Music in which their co-operation might be usefully employed. As a school, the Royal Academy of Music has done little for the reputation of the country, and of late years has sunk into comparative insignificance. Its incompetence may, as "Musician" seems to think, proceed from the want of finances. We are not exactly of that opinion, but, nevertheless, should have no objection to see Government take the Institution under its wing. That the same patronage and support could be extended to Music as to Painting and Sculpture, it is reasonable to inagine. But in the administration of musical affairs, what would represent the National Gallery? what the British Museum? Could symphonies, oratorios, and operas be hung round the walls of buildings with the same advantage as paintings? Could manuscript scores be exhibited. in underground places, with the same profit to the multitude, as the Elgin marbles or the excavations from Nineveh?

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WHEN, a short time since, while lamenting the death of Mr. Wright, we compared the position of the inimitable London comedian at the Adelphi to that of M. Ravel at the Palais-Royal, we little thought that we should speedily have to record the demise of an artist at the latter theatre. On Wednesday the 18th instant, after an illness of two months, expired the great popular farceur M. Grassot, so long identitied with the honours of the merriest theatre in Paris. It seems but the other day that he took a new lease of his reputation by singing the famous "Gnouff! Gnouff!" which was for the time the rage of the French metropolis.

A Parisian critic speaks of him thus: "He was not an artist in the strict sense of the word, but a singular and eccentric individuality. He did not bring to the theatre any result either of study or of observation, not even a talent for any kind of combination, but simply the good and bad qualities of his own nature. He was Grassot-nothing more. He had an odd, original turn of mind; he talked a language of his own; he discovered words that no vaudevillist could have imagined, expressions of a bizarre, picturesque kind, which gave a particular character to his conversation, and of which great use has been made in composing parts for him. Now he is dead; his parts may be played by others, but the personages, whom he has created, will not be resuscitated— those personages were himself."

When we read the above, we almost feel that we were wrong in placing Ravel by the side of Wright, and that death has corrected our error by associating him with Grassot. The antecedents of the French comedian, prior to his appearance at the Palais-Royal, are wholly without importance; so are the præ-Adelphian days of Wright. There is however, this difference in the beginning of their career, that Grassot started with a failure. The piece in which he made his début was the first vaudeville from the co-operating pens of MM. A. Lefranc, Labiche, and Marc Michel, and certainly if he did them any damage by his early break-down, he has since made ample amends; for, without Grassot, where would have been many of the works of those indefatigable writers?

The disease of which he died he used to term his "laryngite," but it was, in fact, a consumption, and many who saw him immediately after his return from Italy, where he sojourned for some time to promote the restoration of his health, preAnd this was in the dicted that his end was close at hand. midst of the furor occasioned by the "Gnouff, Gnouff." During the last weeks of his life he lived on a pension accorded him by the management of the Palais-Royal, on the delicate pretext of allowing him time for his recovery, but

there is no doubt that the pension was really a recompense for past services.

I' faith, Thalia has now-a-days so many tears to shed, that it will be hard to distinguish her from Melpomene.

THE Saturday Review, which has often called attention to the general immorality of French comedies, and which by way of teaching its readers what to avoid in the way of modern French literature, gives them the earliest information of the appearance of such books as Madame Bovary, Fanny, Les Filles de Platre &c., published, a few weeks since, some objections to a new piece by M. Léon Laya, entitled Le Duc Job. Our able contemporary does not say of M. Laya's play that it is one to which a mother cannot, without danger, conduct her daughters, &c., but complains that its morality is of a low order, and, moreover, false. Now, Le Duc Job is the most successful piece that the Théâtre-Français has produced during the last few years, and the author evidently intends it to be regarded not merely as a comedy of intrigue, nor as one depending solely on the exhibition of character, but, above all, as a moral comedy. Consequently, if its moral is trivial or, worse still, erroneous, the work is an utter failure from M. Laya's point of view, whatever applause the audience may bestow on the acting of M. Got, the representative of the principal character. We have seen and read Le Duc Job with equal interest, and are prepared to do battle for it on the ground that it is written with a healthy object, and that its morality is neither common-place nor unsound.

Le Duc Job is directed against one of two great evils by which-to judge from the novels and comedies published during the last few years in Paris-the whole of contemporaneous French society is affected. The first of these is the passion of even old men for "dames aux camélias," the second the mania of even young men for gambling on the Bourse. The former of these pleasing subjects was pretty well exhausted for dramatic purposes when the author of this same Duc Job produced a few years since, at the Gymnase, his Cœurs d'Or. The public had already had the Lady of the Camelias, and its still more immoral antidote (as it was considered) the Marble Maidens; M. Léon Gozlan had taught the audience of the Theatre-Français "Comment on se débarasse d'une maîtresse," by marrying her, and M. Emile Augier had shown the public of the Gymnase how to dispose of her afterwards, by first allowing her to disgrace her husband's name, and then shooting her. In the Cœurs d'Or, M. Laya pointed out that marriage was the sort of thing most young men would have to come to at last; that they ought to be prepared for it; but that if they were not, and there were obstacles in the way—why then (without going into further particulars), that all women were not tigresses deserving to be shot down like wild beasts, but that some had "hearts of gold," and would sacrifice their own happiness to secure that of their not very estimable lovers. There was some honourable feeling in this, and at least as much truth as in the Dame aux Camélias-of which the groundwork is simply that of the Vie de Bohéme, rendered unnatural through the breach between the hero and the heroine being made the result, not of a misunderstanding, but of an intention on the part of the latter to appear faithless when she is in her heart faithful. The Cours d'Or was the last remarkable piece suggested by the peculiar arrangements of that "thirteenth arrondissement-which never had a mayor, and the dwellers in which are neither married nor given in marriage.

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The production of La Bourse by M. Ponsard, at the Odéon, was the signal for a number of other pieces on the same subject. Here, however, there was no opportunity for argument. The most determined dealer in paradox would searcely dream of maintaining (in public) the advantages of reckless gambling on the Stock Exchange. Besides, we all know which of the two passions-that for money or the other one-is strongest, and above all the most interesting. The Bourse comedies could not obtain the same success as those of the Thirteenth Arrondissement, but more than one has attracted attention, and that by M. Laya is certainly a production of considerable merit.

It is easier to turn a story into a drama than to turn a drama into a story (consult, however, Mr. Charles Reade on this point), and as we never could perform either of those operations with facility, we shall not attempt to give It will be enough the entire plot of Le Duc Job. to say that the hero, the Duc de Rieux, owes the name of "Job" to his poverty. He is " as poor as Job;" for, being a duke, he has only six or seven thousand francs a-year on which to support his title. Like another duke of our acquaintance (not in actual life, elated reader, but in Le gendre de M. Poirier) de Rieux has enlisted in an infantry regiment, has seen service in Algeria, and has already attained the honourable rank of sergeant. He returns to France, sees once more his beautiful fair-haired cousin, Emma, whose vision has haunted him throughout the African campaign, and tries to persuade himself that he is not in love with her. For if, as has been clearly proved in the columns of the Times, a mere roturier cannot get married on three hundred pounds a-year, what is a duke to do with only from two hundred and forty to two hundred and eighty. He might, perhaps, barter his title, but de Rieux's noblesse "obliges" him to do nothing of the kind. Besides, his cousin is already engaged to be married to a successful speculator on the Exchange. The accepted lover (accepted by the parents, after the French custom) is a friend of the duke's, but when de Rieux hears from his own lips by what means he has contrived in a few months to make his fortune, he can only reply-" Well, you are a very good fellow, but what you have done I confess I would not do for a million." De Rieux conceals his love and mourns in secret, but cannot bear the thought of his darling Emma marrying this man of the Bourse. Emma, who admires her cousin, and has every confidence in his advice, divines, from his manner, that he has no respect for her destined husband, and at last questions him on the subject. De Rieux will give no direct answer, but from the nature of his replies, and from his agitation, the young girl discovers that he has no esteem for her intended, and that he loves her. Hitherto the moral effect of the drama has been to enlist the sympathies of the audience on behalf of an honourable man in misfortune, and to show them how little, in comparison, a rich speculator appears, who has amassed a fortune, not dishonestly, but by pursuing a course which no man of delicate feeling could have adopted.

In the remaining portion of the play we find de Rieux still unwilling, on account of his poverty, to marry Emma, while Emma is hesitating (a little) between a wish not to be eclipsed in splendour of living by her rich female relatives and her love for "the Duke Job." It is of course very mean of Emma to calculate whether it is possible to live on her dowry and the duke's two hundred a year (he has lost some forty pounds a year by the death of a friend to whom he had lent a portion

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