The New York Herald Newspaper, May 17, 1874, Page 8

“EUROPEAN SOCIETY. Dramatic and Art Cossip in) London and Paris. Opening ot the French and English Salons. WHAT THE THEATRES ARE DOING The Lord Mayor’s Ball to the . Duchess of Edinburgh. THE PROPOSED DUEL IN PARIS. How Two Young Amercans Went Out to Fight and Were Captured. THE DRAMA IN FRANCE. Panis, May 1, 1874, This year’s winter and spring theatrical season tn Paris has been a mech one—that is rich ip the number of new plays produced, but not so rich as to their quality, Nevertheiess, a few good come- dies and operettas stand out amid a heap of inie- Tior ones, and some of these aeserve noticing. The latest production is “La BELLE BOURBONNAISE,” by M. Coedés which, has dethroned “La Fille ae Mme. Angot” at the Folies Dramatiques. The “File” had @ quite unprecedented ran of 411 Rights, though it is worth remarking that a com- edy, which was played under the Directory in 1796, under the title of “Mme, Angot,”’ had a run almost as long—and, indeed, longer, considering the times—o! 401 nights. One might say here, “Mater pulchra, Mia pul- chrior.” At any rate the two Angots, mother and daughter, divide the honor of having reaped tne two greatest successes of which the French stage | stalls and dric-a-brac shops and make purchases Will M, Caedés’ “Belle Bourbonnaise” | as record. rival the tuneful plece which it has supplanted? | When he dies the relatives who had snubbed and Scarcely, but it isan excellent little play for all | even ul-used him are a little surprised to find that that, and its melodies will soon be marched and piped down the streets of Paris by the military bands and the barrel organs. Tne plot is founded on fact. About 110 years ago, while Louis XV.'s impudent mistress, Mme. Dubarry, was ruling over France, a girl called Manon eloped irom her father’s cottage in the Bourbonnais with a swain named Blaise. The pair came to Paris, and Manon was found to bear such a striking likeness to Mme, du Barry that she soon grew to be an object of notoriety in her quarter. But Manon’s father, being a man of stern stuff, followed his runaway child, discovered her whereabouts, ana one even- ing caught her in the streets and gave her such an enthusiastic beating, coram populo, that the affair became a matter of town talk. to the Bourvonnais under paternal escort; but some wit wrote a song “La Belie Bourbonnaise,” in | which the adventures of Manon and the sorrows of poor Biaise, her lover, were pathetically de- scribed; and this song was hummed wherever two ortnree Parisians were gathered together. At that period the Prime Minister, Duke de Choiseul, ‘was racking his brains for a means of overthowing the King’s favorite, and this song came to him as a godsend. By an easy transposition of names and words the “Belle Bourbonnaise’’ of the song became Mme. du Barry and Blaise Louis XV¥., and thus amended by a Poetaster in the Duke’s pay and hawked or bawied about by hireling minstrels tne song re- doubled in popularity. it did not belp the Duke's affairs, however, for, disgusted at the ¢clat given to their iilicit relations, the King and his mistress laid their heads together and sent Choiseul about is business. Such is the historical version of the “Belle Bourbonnaise,” but M. Cordés has im- proved upon it. He makes some courtiers of the Duke de Choiseul’s party get hold of Manon ana plot to put her into Mme. au Barry’s place, after | previously Kidnapping the latter jady. Mme. da Barry hears of the plot ana obtains the start of them by bribing Manon over to her side. A suc cession o! lively scenes then follow, during witch Manon, dressed up as Mme. du Barry, re- ceives the public homage of the courtiers, while Mme. du Barry, disguised as Manon, mixes with the coartiers in private and overhears | all their schemes against herself. In the end the King’s mistress triumpns. Choiseul is dismissed and Manon is sent home with a rich dower to wed her lover, Biaise. It will be seen that in the Operetta no m@ption is made of the beating which the real Mile. Manon received from her father; while, on the other hand, the fine and merry part which the King’s mistress is made to play shows | that the moralities are throughout strictly disre- garded. But this ts only natural on the French Slage, a8 at present ordained. Young people will come away from the “Selle Bourbonnaise” with the conviction that it is a nice thing to elope from one’s home, and yet nicer to eat of the tat of the jand as mistress toa acting King. All this is set | to masic of a jingle so lively, so melodious, so foot-stirring, that the audience shuffie their feet as if they would like to danco the periorm- ance instead of listening to1t. M. Coeddés is young 48a composer, though well stricken in actual age, and the operetta promises to place him on a level With Offenbach, Hervé and Lecog. He has found an excellent performer of the double part of Manon aud Mme. du Barry in the personof the piump Mile. Descianzas, who was the leading actress in tie “Fille de Mme. Angot.” In “LA LEITRE ROUGE,” vy MM. Mare Fournier and Jules Sernima, two French gentlemen have drawn a melo- drama irom Nathaniel Hawthorne's “Scarlet Letter,” and it is being played nightly with great @uccess at the Ambigu. The story ol the “Scarlet Letter” is too well known to American readers to need detailing here. The adapters have done full justice to it, adhering closely to the plot and lay- ing their scenes where the autuor laid them. But it tg characteristic Of the laxity of principle which prevails everywhere as regards literary property that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s name is not men- tioned in the playbills, and I am in a position to state that his son, Mr, Juilan Hawthorne, has re- ceived no acknowle/gment, pecuniary or other- wise, of the appropriation of his father’s work. All this is, no doubt, legal and consonant with the stage of every land. Americans reprint English novels, Englishmen do the same by American works and aiso “adapt” French plays wholesale, Frenchmen pick up literary pearls wherever they can find them and reset them coolly as jewels Of their own fabricating; but surely it is time that international copyright laws shonla put an end to this stace of things and guarantee to suthors the undoubted and unassailable proprie- torship of the works they have wrougat with their brains, When one thinks that the inventor of a twovenice-halfpenny patent mustard pot can invoke the vengeance of the laws against aman, in no matter what country, who infringes his patent, there is somethiug profoundly ludicrous in the idea that a man’s literary inventions shall remain absolutely unprotected. It seems that not long ago there died in absolute poverty a Parisian playwright, one of whose comedies was being performed, at the time of his death, with enormous success in London. The London manager and the “adapters” of the unlucky man’s piece had paid him vothing for it, #0 that he was in the exact position of a cred- itor to whom bis debtors should refuse the com- forts necessary to smooth a dying pillow. Under the present system tnere is nothing to prevent an author from actually dying of hunger while easy- minded persons are enriching themselves by his genias. “LES PARISTENNES,” BY M. VASSEUR, ‘The stifling little theatre in the Passage Choiseul nas been playing a new piece by the author of the famous, or rather notorious, ‘Timbale d’ Argent.” Ty teate of the adventures of a certain Prince The girl returned | Ernest, who escapes from his father’s domains and comes incognito to visit Paris, Determined to enjoy himself, he confines his investiga- tions of French life te the lastest society, and is as much hoaxed, flirted with and fleecea as any wooing Prince need desire. It is the story of Offenbach’s “Vie Parisienne” over again, with this exception, that in M. Vasseur’s operetta the part Of the Prince is taken by a lady. The music is pleasing enough, but the play has not made a great hit, owing to scenic contretemps which marred the first performance. French managers are never So gorgeous as Americans in putting a play on the Stage—that is, hey do not lavish so much in scenery and “properties”, nor do Parisian audi- ences much care about their doing so, But in the “Parisiennes” there is a scene where half @ dozen dvkes and marquises pay a visit to a lady and bring her bouquets, and when the public saw that the parts of these noblemen were enacted by six “‘sapers,’’ dressed like journeymen tailors in reduced circumstances, this was too much even jor Parisian endurance, and a Homeric laugh was raised which swept in gusts over the audience throughout the evening, ren- dering them incapable of bestowing serious atten- tion on the piece. As the first performance vir- tually decides the fate o1 a play, 80 far as the crit- ies are concerned, “Les Parisiennes” was al- most killed outright by this laughter, for the fiat of the critics went forth that the operetta had been made sport of from end to end. I remember once seeing an opera nearly Killed in the same way | at the Opéra Comique. In one scene a crowd of conspirators occupied the stage, and an actor had to ery out, “Let no one go away,” but he called out by mistake, “Let nobody leave this | room,’? ‘Tis roused a laugh, but the merriment rose to @ roar when, a few minutes afterwards, this actor, baving to feign death, the twomen who were to carry him off the stage were utterly unable to lift him because of has fatness, “Make two journeys of it,” sung outa boy trom the gal- lery, and after this the spectators fell into such a mood jor tittering that it was only by a miracle the piece escaped tabooing. “LE COUSIN PONS" —BY M. DE LAUNAY. Out of one of Baizac’s best novels M, de Launay has drawn a comedy for the Théatre de Cluny. Cousin Pons is one of those human oddities whom Balzac, like Dickens, sketched with a loving minute- ness, He is @ music master, halfa miser, a per- | sistent pique-assiette, that 18, social parasite, and | @ great collector of curiosities. His delight is to | stroll along the quays of Paris, inspect the old book wich his few fends regard as so much lumber, | Cousin Pons’ heaps of rubbish form a valuable | art collection, salable at 1,000,000 francs, | | In the novel the discovery is made in the final | chapter, and we part with the greedy heirs as they | | are in the full flood of rejoicing over their ul | | merited inheritance; but in the play M. de Launay | has made Cousin Pons’ weaiti the centre of numerous shabby intrigues, round which the am- | bitions of a host of rapacious people converge. | Cousin Pons 1s also endowed with a niece, who is | | the heroine, and of course this young lady suc- | ceeds in thwarting the designs of the intriguers, gets all her uncie’s money and is happily married | before the curtain falls. Since adapting from novels is so much the Jashion it 1s rether to be de- sired that adapters should penetrate themselves | | with the spirit of the author's original conceptions, | and, if they add new incidents, take care to make tnem fit in with the idiosyncracies of the char- | | acters depicted. M. de Launay has not done this, In giving Cousin Pons a niece he has jorgotten that most of the man’s eccentricities arose (rom nis leading @ sort of hermit’s life as a bachelor. An uncle who lives @ dozen years with a little niece, toward whom he stands as a lather, whom he educates, supports and fondies, is not likely to | become @ lost, half crazy reciuse. The little girl’s | society would humanize hu; or if it did not, then his own vagaries would certainly teil in some way | | upon and prevent her from developing into a | | pright witted, amiable and homely girl. However, in despite of the biemish common to the majority | of adapters, M. de Launay’s “Cousin Pons’ is a | success, and Balzac, were he stili alive, would | searcely disown it. | A BUNCH OF THEATRICAL NEWS. France being stricken with poverty, her theat- rical managers are unable to pay actors and | actresses at a high rate, and in consequence she suffers terribly irom the competition of soreign impresarli—Russian, AMerican and English—who tempt away her finest “stars.” Mile. Delaporte and Mme. Pasca, by far the best of living French | actresses—now that poor Mille. Desciée is dead— | have permanent engagements at st. Petersburg; but the former, being home for a few weeks’ holl- day, has consented to give series of performances at the Gymnase, and the rush for tickets is as | great as it Mile, Delaporte were a renowned stran- ger, often heard of, but mever seen, It is said Vhat the two new stars of operetta—Mme, Judic and Mme. Théo—are -in treaty with a New | York manager, and, as their acceptance is only | | dependent on the condition of a slight increase in | | the sum originally offered, that difculty will no | doubt be removed, Mile. Schneider, alter a year’s | retirement, has reappeare/ in Offenbach’s “Péri- | chole.” She still sings well, but has grown | cariously fat, and appears to feel that her justre | is waning before the younger beauties of Mmes. { | Théo and Judic above mentioned. M. Dupuis, the | Frencu buffo singer, being in St. Petersburg, lately addressed a petition to the Emperor praying that | Russian managers might be maae to pay a per- | centage to the French authors whose plays they periormed. His interference in this matter was considered impertinent, and he has been obliged to ieave Russia in disgrace, Mile. Marie Legauit, who made her début at the Gymnase some months ago in a play of Moliere’s, has been progressing fa- mousiy ever since, and bids fair, according to com- peétent prophets, to become an actress of the highest order. Mile. Favart, the “Queen,” of the | Theatre Frangais, much irritatew by the comments | that were made tn the press on her spitefulness In exciuding the Jate Mile. Desci¢e from the Francaise | threatened the other day to give her resignation, bat was prevented by an humbie petition from her brother actors, M. Garnier’s new opera house is expected to be readv on the 1st of May, 1875, and by that time it will have cost $15,000,000, Count- ing the loss of the rental on the ground where it has been in process of building for the last twelve | years that moderate sum may be doublea; bat there is no doubt that when opened it will pe found to be worth the money. LONDON THEATRES. ——_— Lonpon, April 27, 1874, | Surely those who have hitherto believed in Mr. | | Albery must be shaken in their faith. Since the production of his first work he haa bad nothing but @ succession of failures, and though his latest comedy, “Pride,” produced last week at the Vau- deville, may probably keep the stage for some | weeks, those who examine it critically cannot fail | to see that it is preposterous in plot, almost de- void of character, aod that the dia'ogue is full of | forced comparisons ana strained jokes, a mixture ) which is known in these days a8 epigram. Ii the | business of modern comedy Is to hold the mirror up to nature—to show us society as | it really is—then assuredly Mr. Albery does not fulfil his mission, When we find a muddle- | headed mechante received on shaking-hands terms | with the family of the house where he mends the | | locks, a gentieman who is always spoken of, even to the servants, as “my brother the baronet,” and | who finally steals sovereigns opt uf a drawer that he may play at cards with the billiard marker of @ public house, who is also on terms with the family, aud is the spokesman of a deputation to a candidate tor the borough, we may well wonder | whence Mr. Albery gets his notions of life. A little | reflection, however, will prove to us that he “annexes them from other authors, The muddie-headed mechanic 18 @ spotled copy of Tom Pinch; the baronet, with his insousiance, | | his Scraps of song and his looge philosophy is a | bad imitation of Harold Skimpole, and there are other charassers inthe pjay in which one recog- nizes 4 slavish parody of Dickens, The dialogue is very poor, full of puerile conceits and jinglng jokes, calculated to provoke the laughter of the pully, Dut tO Ja, offensively on the educated ear, | NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, MAY 17, 1874—QUINTUPLE SHEET. Some of the acting was very good, particularly that of Mr, David James, who played the Skimpoie- fike Baronet with great trechness and verve, and Mr. Farren, who was particularly happy as & | bumptioua towborn cad endeavoring to pass pim- Self of asa gentieman. A Mr, Warner, whom I have not seen betore, has excellent repose and earnestness as a jeune premier, Mias Amy Faw- sitt, who plays the heroine at this theatre, is very mannered and unlike nature. ¥R, TOOLE, I see that an English satirical paper, which pro- feases to have correspondents in America, is en- deavoring, in what they call in sporting language, “to crab” Mr. foole—that is to say, to speak de- rogatorily of him and lessen him in the eyes of American audiences before those eyes have scen him in the flesh. This is not fair, nor ia it fair to institute comparisons between lr. Toole and ¢mi- Dent American actors, with whose performance his has no analogy. If the London actor is well advised he will discard all the gags and nonsense, the idiotic sayings and quaint buffoouery which bis innumerable supporters here seem to look for and insisi upon having from him, and will trust to his own real sterling talent for the effect to be produced. If he does this | do not doubt his suc- cess among the critical, while he can subsequently give his horse-play and nonsense to those who un- derstand nothing better. Gossir. “Philip” not having proved a great success, Mr. Irving has fallen back upon a revival of “The Bells,” which promises to be very successiul for some time, The irrepressible Charles Reade has taken Ast- ley’s Theatre, and is doing very poorly there with “Never Too Late to Mend,” A new melodrama, by Miss Braddon, called “Genevieve,” which has been produced with suc- cess in the country, is about to be played at the Adelphi. Acommittee is being formed for the purpose of raising a fund for the benefit of Mr. J. M. Bellew, whose serious illness (disease of the heart) will prevent him from ever again appearing before an audience. ART IN FRANCE. Paris, April 29, 1874, Thad a “private view of the Salon,” or graud ex- Mnbition of pictures, in Paris, this morning. It 1s rather a considerable favor to obtain a private view of the Salon bejore the public is admitted, and lowed my exemption from the rigid ruie which excludes strangers to the INFLUENCE OF AN AMBRICAN LADY, American ladies seem to captivate everybody and to do very much as they please in France, 60 that I was fortunate in being under such august protection, The snow of pictures at the Salon this year is an unusually good one; but the Ameri- can artists who exhibit are not numerous. Indeed, the space at the disposal of the jury 1s so small in comparison with the demand upon it, that I under- stand, upon trustworthy authority, that several pictures, painted both by Americana and French ar- usts of established reputation, were necessarily rejected without any reference whatever to their merit. This fact is tne more to be regretted because THE FINEST PICTURE IN THE SALON OF 1874 is painted by an American artist resident in Paris, It is marked No. 767 in the catalogue, or ratier will appear beside that number when the cata- jogue is published, which cannot be for several days, Its subject is “Corinne’—the Corinne of romance immortalized by Mme. de Stael. She wears ajaurel wreath and the sunlight strikes upon her shoulder and band, The rest of the figure is in shadow. She is dressed in a dark blue tunic and a purple mantle and ts playing upon an antique harp of gold, That, as well a8 the face, is in relef against tne sky, which is a Grecian sky presented with marvellous fidelity to nature. The figare of ‘Corinne is beautifully drawn and the type of face is interesting; itis a grand and sombre love- liness, yet soit and womanly, Nothing can exceed the exquisite harmony of colors in this picture, and Goupil said with French brevity and precision when he saw it, “Nous sommes tous enfoncés.4 It is painted bya charming young American lady whose name, I understand, is MISS ELIZABETH J. GARDNER, OF NEW YORK. Another picture by the same artist is of almost equal excellence, though itis ia a diferent style. It 1s pumbered 768, and shows a rare skill in por- trait painting. It gives likenesses of two pretty little children, which would have done honor to Mile. Jacquemart irom the carefulness of its drawing and the delicate finish of tte details, They are the chil- dren of Mr. James H. Stebbins, an American gen- tleman, who resided in Paris, and whose gallery of pictures is well known by connoisseurs. The chil- dren are dressed in lancy costumes of the reign of Louis XIV., and they look in Miss Gardner's cap- vas like animated flowers. The picture is quitea gem, and there was a crowd of artists round it, apparently taking lessons in colormg. The charm in such a litule picture, nowever, is, of course, the exquisite felicity of touch. Among the other American artists who exhibit this year MR, GEORGE P, HEALEY takes high rank. He tas three pictures of great merit in the Saion, all portraits, and they repre- sent the Pope, Minister Washburne and M. Thiers, They are vigorous in their drawing and artistic in their treatment, Mr. Healey has given the benev- olent expression of Mr. Wasnburne’s face, and the kina, sincere look of his eyes very faithfully, The portrait of Mr. Washburne will be sent to Amer, ica. The likeness of the Pope is pleasant and faithfal, but I doubt if Mr. Healey has succeeded in making a characteristic resemblance of that mtx- ture of oddity and wisdom which makes up the individuality of the ex-President of the French Re- public. MR. EDWARD H. MAY, OF NEW YORK, @ distinguished artist, who has won the gol@ medal in France, appears in the salon this year with a new subject, marked 1,282, and called “The Dreamer,” La Réveuse, It is extremely graceful and rich in color, Mr. May also gives us “A Dead Communard,” No. 1,283; and he has done, per- haps, the best which could have been done with an anpleasant theme, MISS CLEMENTINA TOMPKINS, OF WASHINGTON. has a delightful picture in the salon, It is marked No. 1,718, and she has called it “The Little Mu- sician.” There is a vast deal of freedom, ease and humor about the picture, MR. FREDERICK A. BRIDGMAN, OF NEW YORK, exhibits “A Scene in the Pyrenees,” No, 261, Which is well and agreeably treated. MR. BAIRD, OF CHICAGO, 4 young artist, tull of talent and promise, has won the honors of the Saion for a small picture, marked No. 63, representing @ hen and chickens, It is little, but good—indeed, a carejul and meritorious essay, which will be followed by better things. MISS MARY STEPHENSON CASSATT, OF PENNSYLVA- ‘Ay exhibits a Spanish head (No. 326), painted with a great deal of talent and success, Indeed, no work of ordinary merit had @ chance of being placed (his year, though undountedly pictures of an in- convenient size have been rejected for smaller ones of infertor value, Thave not space to deal with the pictures of French artists at much length, but here isa brief summary of the best paintiugs exhibited this year in Paris, I must take them in the order in which I saw them, and from the memoranda in my note book, and not with any reference to the superiority of one artist over another, The first picture, by a French artist which at- tracted my attention was No, 91, “A Military Execution,” by Emile Bayard. A aoidier who has just been shot ites huddled up in a heap, with his face buried tn the ground, His executioners file past the dead bouy with averted eyes and @ horror stricken expression. | The atmosphere of the picture represents the sad mists of early morning. There is a good deal of feeling in this painaing, byt the subject is too mournful. M, Emile Bayard is engaged as illus. trator to the great pablishing house of Hachette & Oo, He 1s one of the most prominent rivais of Gustave Doré, No. 79. “A Garden Scene,” by H. Barron, is a pretty picture, but somewhat weak. No. 172 “Ag Baatern Woman,’ by Boyle, who painted “The Caravan” at the Luxembourg, 18 & bold and iree picture; but Mr. Beyle is 9 growing | man and will do better things than this. Nos. 252, 233 and 234 are tnree fine paintings by | Bouguereau, who will, probably, win the gold | medal this year, No, 232 represents a mother and | { two children. It bas been sold for 30,000 irancs to | | Mr, Hogg, of New York, for Mr. Bouguereau gets very high prices, and seldom paints a single por- trait under 10,000 francs., The flesh tints in this picture are astonishingly well rendered, and the drawing lf even more remarkabie than the color. No, 233 18 @ noble painting of Homer, blind, old and poor. Too much can hardly be said tn favor both of its conception and its execution, It is ex: pected that this will be the prize picture of the year. It 1s Mt for a national gallery. No, 234, also by Bouguereau, represents “Roman | Giris at a Fountain” and is admirably painted, No, 435. “Girls Swinging,” by Compte-Calix, isa | characteristic picture—a pretty tning for a bou- | doir. No, 205. “Crucifixion of Our Lord,” by Bonnat, is one of the most remarkable pictures in the exnibi- tion, A corpse was nailed to @ cross at the Academy of Fine Arts for M. Bonnat to work from. The result 1s intensely realistic and disagreeable. No. 255. Wedding in Alsace,” Gustave Brion. An exquisite picture, which was sold before it was finished. M. Brion carried off the gold medal of honor some years ago. No. 225. “Wedding in Brittany,” A. de Bouch- erville, i8 @ very laborious work which, pernaps, shows more patience than talent, No, 26% “Marriage of Georges Dandin,” by George Brillouin. A fine picture, which will proba- bly bring a high price. It is capitally painted, and full of brilliant color artistically handled, M. Plassan exhibits three pictures this year, all good, M. Plassan is a French artist well known to American buyers. No. 1,495, ‘Palm Sunday;’ a young girl decorating a crucifix in her bedchamber. No. 1,496, “The Doctor’s Visit; the expression of the doctor’s face is shrewd and humorous. The pa- tient, a young lady, seems to be shamming, No. 1,497 is a companion picture to that painted by Mr, Piassan last year to point a moral on gormandiz- ing. It represents @ glutton reposing after din- ner, behind him 1s @ plump young housekeeper drinking his wine, It is @ brilliant canvas, and the idea is suggestive and funny. No, 1,303, “Peruette,” by Merle, an artist of high repute among American students, who had the honor of counting Miss E, J. Gardner among his pupils. His picture this year hangs on a legend of Dauphiny, which relates that a young girl whose lover was banged, made a vow that she would never toll or spin any more. She is seated lis‘lessly beside her spinning wheel, and the per- fect lassitude of her hands is well rendered. She looks as il she never could do anything again. M. Merle’s canvas is however, more remarkable for the sentiment he puts into it, than for his peculiar handling of color. Nos. 1,374 and 1,375 are two grave paintings by Munkacsy. Lhe first represents a gang of felons being driven in handcuffs to prison, and the second “A Pawnbroker's Shop.” The handling of these subjects is powerful, but the coloring disagreeable; too much black and white tn it, No, 1,232. “A Banquet Scene,” by De los Rios, a young Spanish artist of some promise. The draperies in this picture are beautifully painted. Mile. Nelie Jacquemart has three pictures in the exhibition—Nos. 969, 970, 971. They are all por- traits remarkable for their correctness of draw- ing, vivid colors and a faithful resemblance to the originals, Mile. Jacquemart has a talent so care- ful and conscientious that it almost attains to genius. Her portraits of men are somewhat bet- ter than her ladies, who seem rather too stiff. No. 1,205 18 @ picture of “Luve and Folly,’ by Emile Lévy. It 18 one ol! the gems of the exhibi- tion. Folly is seen guiding the arrows of blind love. No, 1,142 13 @ PORTRAIT OF THE PRINCE IMPERIAL BY LEFEBVRE, which has made @ great noise and has only been admitted by the jury on condition that it shall be withdrawn if it becomes the pretext for any poli- tical demonstration. The portraits of M. Lefebvre are not so good as those of Mile. Jacquemart, but he has a high reputation. His likeness of Napoleon IV. has some distinction in the figure, ama the clothes are well painted, but the head is poor and weak. The lips seem as if they were pasted on, and the hair 1s hard and wiry. No. 797 is a remarkable picture by Gérome. He has represented Frederick the Great just returned from hunting, and playing the flute in his study. This painting is very carefully done, but the ae- tails are all worked out with the same painful attention and the back-ground protrudes too much. Another remarkable canvas is “L’Eminence Grise,” a masterpiece of conception taken from French history. It represents Father Joseph, the familiar of Cardinal Richelieu, going down the staircase Of the Palais Royale. Beneath him are the greatest nobles of France, saluting him with their plumed hats sweeping the ground, while other noblemen who have passed on mock him behing his back. The gay dresses of the courtiers contrast well with the sombre gown of the priest, whose eyes are bent on his breviary and who seems to be unconscious of the homage and mock- ery around, No. 1,111, “The Stabat Mater,’’ by H. Lazerges, is @mourntul and beautiful picture of the most terribie suffering which this sorrowful world has seen. The figure of the Blessed Virgin standing beside the cross is pathetically rendered. Thave already exceeded my space and must sum up rapidly. No, 1,224 is so exquisite and delicious a picture thatI cannot pass it py. It is vailed “Le Bagage de Croquemitaine” (Bogey’s Luggage), and tiere 1s the most delightful collection of naugnty ciil- dren ever imagined put into a basket all ready for bogey to carry them off, unless they promise to be good for ever and ever and go to bed meantime. It is a picture for @ young husband to give a young wite. No. 646, Harvesting,” by Xavier de Cock, isa boudoir pictare, of a rare and pleasing beauty, MM. de Neuville, Alma Tadema, Carolus Duran, Pelouse and a crowd of younger artists, all merit special mention; and M. Cabanel’s portraits of the Duchesse de Luynes and Mme. Welles de la Val- lette, M. Princeteau’s life-size portrait of Marshal MacMahon, on horseback, and M. Matejko’s scene from the history of Poland, deserve ign praise. ENGLISH ART. Lonvon, May 2, 1874 Yesterday was the day on which the so-called “Private View” of the pictures about to be pub. licly exhibited in the galleries of the Royal Acad- emy, at Burlington House, was given to some thousand ladies and gentlemen, who, from their position in society or from the fact of being friends at Court, were enabled to obtain tickets. You see everybody at this gathering, Cabinet ministers, bishops, half the female peer- age, authors, the judges and the leading barris- ters, and canny men from Manchester and the North who look upon picture buying as a good in- yestment and jay owt their money accordingly. So great is the crowd thut the art critics who used to form @ portion of it complain that they could not | see the pictures for the laaies’ dresses, and could | not concentrate their attention for the chattering | | | | | and buzzing round them, So that an earlier day has been accorded them, when they have all the gaileries to themselves, MR. MILLAIS, R. A. ig the facile princeps of Evgiish painters, whether | in portraiture, genre, or, as he has recently proved, in landscape. He sends contributions this year in each of these styles, Here are some Scotch firs, fall, gaunt denizens of the woods, with gnarled trunks and dark, sombre foliage, with the | budding heatuer augtue rusted bracken growing round their roots. Mere isa huge wain, with its burden of trees that have been feiled for winter fuel, and which seem to stand right out of the can- vas, while in the distance is a mountain, with those now purple, now siaty-gray tints never met with out of Scotland, In the post of honor in the large gallery 1s his great pictare, “The Northwest Passage,” in whieh the daughter of an old Arctic Voyager is reading over old logbooks | to her lather, who, surrounded by charts, &¢,, is pondering over the vexed question, his decssign veing sppareniy “st might be done, and England should do it.” The painting of this old man’s head 18 indescribably dine, and the whole composition and tone of the picture is excellent, Mr. Millais is not quite so successful as usual in his portraits this year; and one in particular, of @ little boy, the heir of the house of Rothschild, ina velvet Knickerbocker suit and with a scariet sasb, is like a dummy tn a tatlor’s window. ‘MR. WATTS, R. A., is, perhaps, our finest portrait painter. This year he has two magnificent heads—one of John Stuart Mill, calinly philosophic, farseeing and conscious of power; the other of the Rey. James Martineau, the famous Unitarian preacher, gaunt, stern and rapt, with the duty, which ia the characteristic of his life apparent io every feature. OTHER PORTRAITS of excellence in the Academy are those of Sir William Fergusson, the eminent surgeon, by Ru- dolf Lehmann; of John Bright, by Lawes Dickin- son, eminently life-like, and in which the tronical curl of the under lip has not been omitted; of Lord Lawrence, by J. E. Wililams, @ good likeness of the eminent Indian official and chairman of the first London School Board; of the Rey. John Henry Newman, by Mr. Rawden, in which justice ia done to the strange, warm, ascetic features of, Perhaps, the cleverest ma&n or his day; and of the late Viscount Palmerston, by Sir Francis Grant, a very poor production. MR. FRITH, R. A., whose name is well known tn America through his great pictures of ‘The Derby Day” and “The Rail- way Station,” sends a canvas larger than eitber of these, representing the Roman Catholic ceremony of blessing the childrea in the main street of Boulogne. The bishop iu his gorgeously embroiderea robes, the children who are hurrying forward for the episcopal benediction, the respectiully observ- ant crowd and the staring English visitors, are all most cleverly rendered, and the idea of motion in the procession is well given, Mr. Frith has a fancy Picture of “Pamela,” the heroine of Richardson’s novel, and other less important works, MR. WARD, R, A., seems to paint nothing but historical scenes, either from the time of Charles II. or at the period of the French Revolution, This year we have Lady Rachel Russell pleading for ner husband’s Ife to the Merry Monarch, and, of course, plead ing in vain, A better example of Mr. Ward 1s tlie last slumber of Marie Antoinette in the prison of the conciergerie on the night before her execu- tion. There is great delicacy and refinement in the face and figure of the unhappy Queen, and the Management of a ray of light, which comes through a gratea window, is a good bit of techni- cal skill, SIR JOHN GILBERT, A. R.A, sends only one contribution, “A Field of the Cloth of Gold,” painted with all that dash and ¢/an, that Vigorous manipulation and warmth and breadth of color which nave 80 long characterized this clever painter's productions, The dresses of the two monarchs, Henry and Francis, the housings and caparisons of their chargers, the gold and silver armor of knights in attendance, the sheen of the tents and banners, are gorgeous in the 6xtreme. MR. F. LEIGHTON, RB. A. is the head oi tre quast poetical, but certainly soft and sensuous, school. His pictures this year are a Moorish garden io the old city of Granada, with a quaint gateway in the background, a drooping fountain and @ beautiful brown skinned, turbaned child leading two lovely peacocks, one pure milk white, His other landscape is a view of the Jews’ quarter in Damascus. He has two very fine figure pictures, one Clytemnastra from the battlements of Argos, watching for the beacon fires which, are to announce the return of Agamemnon, a pale, determined woman with bloodless cheeks and set lips, and an antique juggling girl, a nude figure tnrowing up golden balls, which is condemned as being somewhat out of drawing. MR, CALDERON, R. A., has two pictures; one large one, representing the Queen of Beauty decorating the successful champion in a tournament, who, it is to be noted, thongh he has been through the heat'of the fray, has not a single dent on his armor, and looks as though he had only justentered the lists. A far better picture he calls ‘Half-Hours.with the Best Authors,” representing three very pretty giris seated on sofa and ottomans, and who, oppressed with the heat of the weather and the duiness of their novel, have fallen asleep, OTHER ROYAL ACADEMICIANS, Mr. Frost sends his usual crude nudities, Mr, Hooke his blue seas and Devonshire hills, Mr. Cope his highly colored meretricious notions of Shak- speare, Mr. Harsley his ruffling cavaliers and quaint Puritan damsels, Mr. Faed his Scotch peasants, Mr. Ausdell his Scotch shepherds and goatherds, Mr. Vicat Cole nis sunny English landscapes, Mr. John Lewis his Oriental interiors and glimpses of street lile in the East, Mr. Rea- grave his rustic lanes, Mr. Dabson his Scriptural subjects and Mr. Sydney Cooper his never failing Kentish cows, In my next letter I will glance at some very in- teresting work by persons who have not yet at- tained the dignity of R. A. CIvic BALL TO THE RUSSIAN DUCHESS. Lonpon, April 30, 1874, Last night about ten o'clock, after having dined at the annual festival of the Newsvendors? Institu- tion, 1 lit a cigar, and, jumping into a Hansom cab, started off for the Mansion House, where the bail in honor of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, vo which I was invited, was being held. The cigar May seem a detail, but, as willbe shown, it was an important one. After traversing the Thames Em- baukment I came into Queen Victoria street, and found myself traversing a long lane of the popu. lous city, marshalled into order on either side by policemen, From end to end no vehicle put my own Hansom was in sight. The people had been pent up in this crowd since eight o’ciock waiting for the royalties, and had natu- rally become impatient and irascible. When, after @ prolonged interval, they found, instead of pomp and pageantry, a single nack cab coming towards them, their wrath broke out, The fact of my smoking a cigar under such circumstances seemed to offend them, and I had to run the gauntlet of a storm of cries, hisses and hootings. ‘Put out that cigar!” “Can’t you afford a carriage!” “Come out of that old cab!’ were among the shouts that saluted me. While, with acertain experience of public life, Ihave never, ap to the present time, experienced open disapprobation, I must confess that last night I Was very soundly hissed and hooted, THE ARRIVAL. The exterior of the Mansion House was sur- rounded by a guard of honor of the Honoraie Artillery Company Vulunteers. Above the portico burned an enormous oval star in crystal and gas, with emblematic branches of laurel, anchor and true lover’s knot, and the words “Welcome” and “Navy” on two medallion shields, Passing up the broad stone steps, now awning covered and crimson draped, between files of the Lord Mayor's servants, with powdered heads and gold coats, I arrived at the vestibule, and apparently oniy just in time, for {L had scarcely looked round upon the splendid decorations—a jo. dicious mélange of evergreens, looking glass, richly perfumed exotica, now in high banks, now in trailing testoons, hanging baskets of drooping Nowers swinging amidst gaudy ban- hers and civic bucklers—thap tue band outside, striking up first the National Anthem and then the Russian Hymn, announced that the dis- tungulshed guests were at hand, The Lord Mayor’s retinue came hurrying up, followed closely by the Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress. Very wonderful to a stranger is the aspect of this retinue. ‘There is the Sword Bearer, @ gentleman in a purple velvet gown and au enor- mous high fur cap, carrying a huge sword, There is the Mace Bearer, in a black gown and a full bot tomed flowing white wig like a judge, bearing & massive silver mace, There are trumpeters in gold laced coats, knee breeches and silk stockings, velvet shoes with rosettes in them and close ft- ting black velvet caps, with silver trumpets for their instruments, The Lord Mayor 18 a pleasant, homely looking gentleman, with a thoroughly Scoteh face. AS soon as the royaities have discarded their outer wraps the little procession is formed and starts for the paliroom, First comen the Lord Mayor, loading | Payne protested against ti the Duchess of Edinburgh, then tne Duke of Edtm burgh, escorting the Lady Mayoress, The Prinoe and Princess of Wales came next, bowing right and left, and as the Prince of Wales passes the HERALD representative he is pleased to shake bands with him with that frank cordiality wbich wins 80 many heartg, The big, burly Duke of Cam- bridge and the Duke of Teck, wno seems to have sadly gone off in personal appearance during the Jast year or two, bring up the rear, At the end of the vestibule, where the passage bifurcates, there he was fitted up a lovely li iy t ing fountain, on which t! colored ime ighe played with excellent effect, took place in the Egy ption i ‘ook place in an a fine handsomely decorated, and Bait ted menced immediately on the arrival of the royal- tues. The Duchess of Edinb iced with the Lord Mayor, the Duke with the Lady Fazoress, the Prince of Wales with the Duchess helene cauld Bisaccla, wife of the French Ambassador, the Princess of Wales with the Duke of Meckien. burg-Strelitz, and Duke Teck with the Duchess of Sutherland. Alter the anadvilla there was a waits, 1n which the Prince of Teck took part, the Princess and the Duchess of Rdin! sitting on the high chi which had been = ot pared for them on the d dais, and chat Edinburgh stood on one side looking at the danc- ing. with the Duke of Cambridge, while the Duke THE COSTUMES, The Princess of Wales, who looked, as usual, wonderfully high bred and lovely, wore a pale pink satin dress trimmed with ivy and roses of & darker hue. The Duchess of Edinburgh, who ia seen to much greater advantaye out of her bon- net, wore delicate green, Both ladies had tiaras of diamonds and carried bouquets of white ca- mellias. The Prince of Wales and the Duke Edinburgh wore the blue and gold uniform Elder Brethren of the Trinity House. It was @ retty sight to see all the royal party mye Beet er on the dais and chatting with their and hostess, the mirrors behind tiem reflect the innumerable gaslights and the varied hues of uniform, silk, satin, ganze and Jewels worn by the partakers in the iestivities, body who had any ciaitn to be anybody wat Ev who ha claim nybody there? Tis short, dare, ordinary looking littie man is the Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marsnal Premier Peer of Englund, This fair mao, with t carelessly arranged hair and flaming beard, stand- ing on the outside of the crowd, which he surveys lazily, is the Duke of Sutherland. Here are the German, French, Austrian, ‘turkish, Russian aod Belgian Ministers, all in glittering uniform, and Mr. Moran, the American Chargé d’Affaires, in @ plain suit of black veivet. The present govern- Ment was represented by Mr. Gathorne Hardy and Mr, cross; the laste government by Lord Sydney. Dotted about the room were some of the Ashantee heroes, Ovionel Mosty ofthe Welsh Fusileers; Sir Archibald Allison, the Black Watch; Lord Gigord, wearing his newly won Victoria Cross; Captain Commerell, of the Navy, who was shot down early in the expeditio1 i Captain Grubbe and Captain Sartorious. The tall man, with the stooping shoulders and the specta- cles covering his sightiess eyes, !s Proiessor Faw- cett, newly returned to Parliament, The short, stout, keen-faced man in the blazing scarlet uni- form, with silver epaulettes, ig no warrior, bas Mr. Edward Levy, editor of the Daily Telegraph and a Deputy Lieatenant of the city of London. 1 do not doubt, however, that he would lead an attack against the jorces of the it Mau Gazette or the Saturday Review with courage and skill. Here, in plaig evening dress, is Mr. Gustave Doré, whois now ss much at home in London as in Paris, and who rather preiers the ease of the Mansion House to the crowded assemblies which used (alas!) to be held at the Hotel de Ville. “Om peut circuler, ici,” says he, stretching out hia hands. Here are mempers of Parliament in shoals and city dignitaries by the score, and here the; remain until twelve o’clock, when supper is serve and, as by the stroke of a wand, the dancing 1s deserted, AN AMERICAN VENDETTA. See Paris, April 25, 1874. It is dimecult to relate the circumstances come nected with a duel without giving pain to the par- ties concerned in it. careful as possible, and the more so because m this instance it is hard to say whether William Payne and Frank Riggs are to be blamed or praised jor’their part, which was only a suborat- nate part, in this transaction. It appears that for some time past there has been an unpleasant feelingetween the families of Mr. Riggs and Mr. Payne, and it was, perhaps, un- fortunate for them all, under such circum stances, that Mr. Riggs should happen to be President of the Washington Club in Paris, where’ both tamilies at present reside. For Paris, like all Continental cities where there is a large foreign colony, is a cruel place for goasip, and, as scandal spares nobody, it has not been very gentie or probably very just to Mr. Payne, father of the young man who wished to fight a duel with Frank Riggs last Toursday at Maubeuge, and who ac.” cordingly went there for that purpose, Certain it-is that some disagreeable rumors were current that Mr. Payne, Sr., who is a mem- ber of the Washington Club in Paris, did not pay bis card debts with that promptitude which ts usual in good society. The rumor was doubtless false, because Mr. Payne is arich maz, who has many claims to the respect of the American colony in Paris, and would not be likely to forfeit them by behavior which would expose him to unfriendly observations. Moreover, even if Mr. Payne haa been careless on tmis delicate subject, a distinct charge might have been brofght against bim, and he might have been called upon by the club com- wittee to answer it. If no distinct charge could be made the subject should have been dropped as unworthy the serious attention of gentlemen. I¢ 4s, however, alleged that Mr. Riggs, President of the Washington Club, did not give these considera- tions the weight which is surely due to them, and whether in jest or in earnest he addressed some remarks personally to Mr. Payne which had better been Jeit unsaid. Mr, Payne, ladecd, being about to take his place at the card table, was told by Mr. Riggs that he could not be allowed to play til he had settled old scores, Mr. Payne here seems 0 have lost his presence of mind, and instead of turning tne tuning olf ag a silly joke, or insisting on an imme- diate explanation with Mr. Riggs, he 1s understood to have gone away and to have taxen advice abont a business he could uave managed beter himself. Acting upon the unlucky advice whicn he received Mr. Payne is alleged to have waited for Mr. Rij at tne entrance of the Washington Ulub, and have said to him:— “are you going to make me an apology for what you said 1”? Mr. Riggs now appears to have acted impru- dently andeven unkindly toward a fellow .coun- tryman whose honor was at stake, and who would naturally feel inaignant and angry i it was dis- puted. “Mr. Riggs answered that “he had n0 apology to offer;” and MR. PAYNE STRUCK HIM A BLOW IN THE FACE. He migut, to be sure, have brought the aifair before the club committee and have insisted on excuses being nade to him after he had proved the false- nood Of all reports affecting him; but every genm- tleman will not coudescend to discuss a question touching his honor, and jew men can answer for their temper under extreme provocation. Mr. Riggs, when struck by Mr. Payne, conducted nimself with more caution and propriety than be had done when giving the weight oi his autnority as President of tne club toa charts against Mr. Payne, which, in any case, had not been examined or regularly brought betore him in his official capacity. He said nothing, be did noth ing, and very properly declined to om gage in a ‘sirect tiot But he Drougus be assault which had been made upon him by Mr. Payne before the Club Committee, to which the ‘affair should have been referred in the first instance; and the Club Committee, tly Telusing to acknowledge any poracetoe could justity a blow Tht sen ee Me Mr. Payne from the Was! Proceeding, aulegt that the Club had nothing to do w: quarrel, and it 1s not easy to agree or to differ with him on’ that iene; but the lub relused to re- naider its decision. sotlewttiene “tne aons of both gentlemen, who enerousliearted young yellows, and who navarall consider each of their fathers in the Might, though rewlly bot are, probably in the al Wrong, began to lOve tozgerhieads. 4 They were in finding = it, an one eae froee cited, charged th abet equally e: 5 fe other OF "ie old convent nweotence of having “spoken words about a lady.” It did not. of course, signify what lady or what words. All the boys really wanted was to take each otuer by the ears, and away they went, like young geese ina high wind, Tofght it aii out at Maubdeuge, in Belgium. Then the Washington Club, or some sensible members O! it, having hews of their bloodthirsty intent, thought it high time to show a little more sagacity and 00d feeling than had hitherto beew displayed by any of the parties more directly ime terested. Accordingly they telegraphed to the proper authorities in Brusseis, and at one o’clock on “Thursday morning a strong body of police were m waiting tor the hot-blooded young men at Maubeuge, on the Beigian frontier, where they had steaa- fastly purposed to kill each other, They arrived at about six in the evening, so that the Belgiam police, who are, happily, @ stolid folk, had plenty of time to exercise their national virtue of pa tience. The strong body of Belgian police threat ened to take Master Payne and Master Riggs inte custody unless they returned peaceably 10 Paris They were quite able to do ag) and therefore Mas ter Riggs and Master Payne did return peaceal to Paris, which was much the best result wi . could happen to thom, Nobody 6 hurt. The has been no bloodshed, and It 1s really to be hi that everybody will now look npon the squabblé from a ‘Pick Wickian” point of view, have @ “Merry KO rounder’! and jet bygones be bygomus: I will, however, try to be aw _