The New York Herald Newspaper, July 23, 1874, Page 4

4 LITERATURE IN LONDON, —__-——- Mr. Swinburne’s “Bothwell”—The Story of Mary Queen of Scots. “Alexander the Creat,” Aubrey de Vere. by THE WORK OF THE (CRITICS. | Personal Letters and Books of | Travel and War. | NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1874--TRIPLE SHEF™ out of its overflowing treasury. Among its latest Welcome giits is Mr. Leslie Stephens? “HOURS IN A LIBRAR Mr, Stephens is 100 confirmed a sceptic and too mueb given to a somewhat afected cynicism to be a pleasant writer on abstract or on social topics, but he is an admirable critic—one who, despite the temptations which beset the litteratew" by vocation, really reads, honestly studies his sub- ject, and has thoughts as well as words upon it. The papers on Pope, Defoe, Richardson, Haw- thorne, Scott, &c., were originally contributed to | the Cornkit Magazine, and they now forma very readable yolume, conversational in tone, @ little whimsical sometimes, but not unpleasantly so. Mr. Stephens is not of the force of Sainte-Beuve, nor has he the fantastic brilliancy of Paul de Saint Victor; but im the combined incisiveness and t/- timété of bis styie there is more of French than Engiish habit and training. Apropos of this sub- ject, the lifelong labors of Jules Janin, the “Prince of Crities,”’ suggest themselves. Never was there | Lonpox, July 9, 1874. | The event of the season in the higher walks of literature is the appearance of Mr, Swinourne’s long expected dramatic poem, Bothwell.” He has been credited with the design of exhausting | the history, or the legend as it has become by lapse of time and dint of controversy, of Mary Qneen of Scots, just as the poet laureate has “ex- | Dausted” the Arthurian myths, “Chastelard,” in the opinion of most critics Mr. Swinburne’s best poem, has long been understood to bear the same relative proportion to the contemplated whole as that borne by the ‘Mort d’Arthur’ to the “Idylls of the King,” and it 1s at length succeeded by “Bothwell” (aiso in dramatic form), in which | the story of the Queen is continued up to the eve ot her embarkation tor England. The volume Js so bulky that it discourages the gen- eral reader, but it is well worth an atten- tive perusal, for it abounds in passages of great force and exquisite beauty, and it shows that Mr. Swinvurne has thorougtily mastered every detail vi bis subject im all its political, social and per- bonalcomplications, The way in which he handles the opposing factrons and the individual antagon- | lism of the Scottish lords, his rendering of the character and mission of John Knox and of the Regent Murray, are all of the utmost merit and the highest finish. But the Queen, Darnley and Bothwell are naturally the chief points of interest, and it would be difficult to accord too much | praise:to Mr, Swinburne’s treatment of the Queen and Durniey. His delineation of Mary is 1n per- tect harmony with that in his “Chastelard;” as fierce and full of surife, passion, hate, cajoler; shrewdness and obstinate folly. Sheis no purer, but she is less coarse, and therein—though the | poem does.lack plain speaking—there 1s a great | improvement im it Mr. Swinburne will | be, to some extent, rehabilitated by this | achievement, Where he 13 coarse and shame- | Jess in this instance he 1s coarse and | shameless according to the truth of the circum- * stances and the time. It 1s not an ingeniously | manufactured and revolting prurience, like that | Which has for so long incurred for him just dis grace. The portraiture of Darnley is altogether | masterly. To read this poem, with the remem- | brance ofthe picture of the Queen’s husband in the Versailles gallery well in one’s mind, is to realize a truly wonderful feat of interpretation. There isa scene in which Mary, Bothwell by her aide, contemplates Henry Darniey’s corpse, which Ougnt-to live as long as the language 1n which it ts | written. { “Bothwell” is not so successful, it seems to us; | but it may ve that we remember Aytoun’s Earl of Orgney too-vividly and that dreary imprisonment | in Norway. Many samples of typical beauty are | ¢mterspersed throughout the lengthy poem, and one | song, sumg by David Rizzio, while his murderers are making their way te the Queen’s chamber, is | altogether exquisite. ‘Bothwell’ 13 a sonnet, | dedicated to Victor Hugo, written in such perfect | French verse as no Frenchman, to our knowledge, | except Victor Hugo himself, writes nowadays. The use ofvers in the sense of poetry, in the lines— #’apporte au-lien d’od le vers tonne et luit Mon drame épique et piein de tumulte et de famme, . O0 vibre un siécle éteint, od fotte un joie qui fuit. is @ proof-of the mastery of the writer over idiom, Not one English writer in a thousand wouid nave | Yentured upon it withouta misgiving that verse and poetry might be confounded in idea by his doing 30; but Mr. Swinburne’s perfect knowledge of theaccuracy of ‘orm im the French language | guides him aright. | “ALEXANDER THE GREAT.” Mr. Aubrey de Vere, whose previous works, though of considerable beauty and merit, and all instinct with the subtle refinement of a scholar deeply versed in classical and medieval literature, | did not lead the reading world to expect from him @ great dramatic poem, has taken that world by surprise by his “Alexander the Great.” This is@ hoole poem, in which the author reveals the Greek spirit as ably as he brings the great conqueror and | his one beloved Iriend—put tor whom his lite had | ached more than any other human being, in the | agony of isolated muight—toretbly, visibly in bodily presence before the reader. The Persian, | the Hebrew and the Greek civilizations and philos- Ophers breathe their several and contrasting | meanings in these pages, each embodied in @ human interest, irresistibly strong and attractive. | Alexander, so grand, but with his one ali pervad- | ing infirmity, pride, which tempts him onward, as | his conquests grow in number and in splendor, to reject the clew to the truth just dawning upon the | perception of ancient heathendom, and to follow | that which heads toa half persuasion of bis own divinity; so touching, with his infinite jove for | Hepbestion, “whose weight of duties seemed but | Weight of wings,” is wonderfully real. His terri. | bie, harsh, silent, hopeless anguish when Hephas- tion is poisoned by Phylax, evidenced in every sen- | tence the conqueror speaks, though he never Dames his lost triend but once, indirectly; the steady closing of the grip of despair upon the | King’s heart; the sligit cause of his mortal sick- | hess ;‘the severish schemes; the far-reaching com- | mands issued from tie pallet wh ne les, sur- | rounded by his generals. the cuiels of the pha- janx and bis silver shieids; the lethargy and the silence; the attempt of Ptolemy to learn the aying monarch’s wishes as to his successor; the ques- | ion— “Sire, itis come! The king is king in death: 3] the king's ordinance. Who shali wear his crown?” And the famous answer—'The worthlest head,” are all so beautifully and impressively conveyed that it is a great pity there is no actor to play Mr. Aubrey de Vere’s Alexander. His Bephwstion is a great achievement, In the person.on whom the conqueror of the world con- centrated bis one human affection, the grandest | qualities Combine with a contemplative mind ana @ superb disinterestedness and power of sell-sacri- tice, which, by their innate loitiness, and the ab- | sence of Alexander’s own defects, far above him- | that he | a more untranslatable writer en gros than he, because the form and the spirit of his writings are equally and exclusively French; but there mught be—we hope will be—a judicious selec- tion made from bis forty years’ long con- tributions to the Devats, They would form & most useful basis for a critical appreciation of French literature and drama duriug a period Whose history, in those two sections, will be here- alter difficult to trace, owing to the immense iacti- tious overlaying of it and its frequent obscuration by the dust of political and social turmoil. It is curious and interesting to observe how intact Janin’s style continued throughout his Nterary career. It was never affected by fasnion, dts- turbed by haste, deteriorated by the decline of public taste, or infested by slang of any class or calibre. The sinesses ot du chic or du chien had not the smallest effect upon him; he would as soon have adapted himself to the argdt of the halies as to that of the coulisses or the cercles, and so the best aud purest French was always to be found in the seuilletons of the premier seuilietoniste de la France—as refined and correct amid the ignorance and coarseness of modern blatant French journalism as it was ro- bust, manly and rational amid the vaporing and obscurity of the ¢cole du romantisme which had so strong a bold upon the public taste when Jules Janin began to write. The promised volume of poor AIMEE DESCLEE’S LETTERS, edited by Alexander Dumas—is it not time to leave off adding jis ?—has not yet appeared. Her Jaithful servant, Catherinc— gives no other name—who never left her from her childhood to her grave, and for whose benefit the book will be | | sold, has been decreed the prix monthyon, BOOKS OF TRAVEL. Books of travel are, as usual, numerous. popular kind of literature has received a fresh im- petus from the Asbantee war. The special corre- spondents are republishing their letters in book Jorm, in very alluring and well devised bindings, and with considerable additions to the original text. In most cases of the kind the proportion of personal gossip to actual history is so great as 10 render the records of experiences with an army in the fleld of littie value in a historical pomt of view; but in the case of the campaign on the Gold Coast the special correspondents | are not to blame for writing a good deal about themselves, for there was evidently most weari- some monotony in detail, combined with general uncertainty and a wolul lack of that “brilliancy”’ about the affair which furnishes forth the cor- Tespondent’s feast, Mr. Frederick Boyle, tn his “Panteeland to Coomassie’ succeeds in arousing interest by dint of his minuteness, He is a charm- ing writer on all sorts of subjects, from the snakes in the Pyramids to the plenishing of a boer’s sionally produces some very good and useful things rush and buy tt, oh, my transatlantic Itrle ones, This | wagon, and the brand-neweat theory of the crys- | taliization of South African diamonds. He has | made acquaintance with many elligibie savages and introduced them tous, and to him Borneo botanical is as familiar as Kew Gardens. to the Cockney. He stands the test of Ashantee bravely, | and turns what everybody ts tired of into a treat, Only we cannot help suspecting that Sir Garnet Wolsely, who is notoriously not partial to special correspondents, would be glad to expend some of that very generous grant made to bim py a gfateiul Parliament under the auspices of a still more grateful because personaliy obliged gov- ernment, in buying up all the literature of the Ashantce waren masse, It would tax the powers of a Babbage to reckon the number of times Sir Garnet’s name recurs—rarely without an epithet of praise—in Mr. Boyle's book; and, as the General ‘was the life and soul of the expedition, so he is ubiquitous and omnipotent tn the record of it. And there 1s Captain Butter’s book to come and per- haps Captain Sir John Glover’s; but let us ope he | does not write books. Mr. Bovle possesses the gilt of the picturesque in a very high degree, and where the other writers on the last black war failed to gee, or at least failed to make their readers per- ceive anything bat harsh and squalid details of de- lay, perpiexity, by the sure process of exhaustion, he shows them @ succession of pictures, some terrible, some bizarre, but all vivid, characteristic aud amusing. Mr. Hubert Jerningham, of the diplomatic ser- | vice, gives the public the benefit of his experiences of travel in Greece and Turkey during two years in a remarkably pleasant book, which he hopes may “become an extra companion to travellers in those countries, ‘Murray’s Guide Books’ being their companions in ordinary.” This hope will certainly not be fulfilled unless the book be pub- Mshed for that purpose in a portable size, The present edition is huge, handsome and heavy, an article de luxe, not de voyage. tence attracts, for it records how the traveller reached a little station, “which was no other than Brindisi—the old Roman Prundisiom—where Virgil died, and no wonder.” The book is very amasing, indeed, and full of information, It is plain that Mr. Jerningham read up his Greece and Turkey aiter a very thorough fashion, and he combines the results much to the satisfaction of the reader, whom he instructs but does not bore. “South by West; or, Winter in the Rocky Moun- tains and Spring in Mexieo,"’ is the too elaborate title of a book of travel written by a young lady who enjoys the advantage of having Canon Kings- ley for an editor. It 13 to be hoped that the au thoress—an atelligent observer apparently, though she would have been much better out o Many of the scenes which she describes—appre- ciates the privilege as Lighly as her patron does, But especially it is to be hoped that the American nation will be duly penetrated with gratitude tor the condescension whicn leads tne Canon to say ‘cannot help hoping that this book (edited with a preface by bimseif) may further that better understanding between American and British citi Zeus which 1s growing so fast just now.” If there is a man of the present generation to Whom Sidney Smith's famous deseription of Lord John Russell might apply, without modification, that man is the irrepressible Canun, Whose inaugu- self, raise the frieud whom he loved so profoundly, | ration of the school of muscular Christianity, loved to a height which renders the Imperial mas- | with its simple table of the jaw, Fear God and ter's homage as reasouabie as it is ardent. He- | walk a thousand miles in @ thonsand hours,” has ph@stion realizes the sublime of the Greek ideal of | been followed by such numerous exploits for we nobility and worth, and the poet shows the mea- | amelioration of mankind and the greater giorifica- wore Of his skili in the life-like and sympathetic | tion of the British Phiiistine that that first one is reality with which he invests him, while he never | almost swamped in the forgetfuluess, not of in- silps for @ moment into modernism, never betrays | gratitude, but of overta, consciousness. Or- that be is looking vackward through the ages to | dinary minds can bardly span the greatness of a that “fiving Greece,’ which he portrays with @ | Charles Kingsley; though they may, and do, ven- master’s hand which might have held the stylus veside Abydos. CRITICISM. The literature of criticism is assuming such por- | tentous dimensions that the commentaries upon books are trequently enough jor the appetite of ordinary readers, and are rapidly superscding the | works themseives; «0 that as the educational movement progresses in one direction it ts insid- lously counteracted in another by the publication of books Which enable people to “talk of things they do not anderstand” in the words of those Whose business it has been to study them. One may attain a fair Knowledge of the entire product of the age in literature without reading a hun- dredth part of its books, if one hasa mind to be content with the skimming-dish wielded by tae nands of others; and so to delude one’s if not to deceive one’s associates. But, though critical Ntorature by ita superabundance undoubtediy en- @ourages superficiality and shallowness, it occ: ture on estimating the literary and other value of his brotuer Henry, Who ts aiso not humble, but, on the coutrary, particularly vumptious jmitator. The Canon has found time, while setting all our minds for a® upon the higher hygiene education, classical heroines, sweet smells, moot points of religious faith, Jamaica, the adulteration of jam and astronomical problems of maddening abstrusenes:—or rather abstruseness Which would have been maddening only for the Canon—to stretch that far-reaching arm of lis across the Atia. °, and, grasping all your hands, unite them with ail ours, Bless you, my children! Never quarrel any more about any- thing whatsoever, but say your little prayers, nice aud pretty, at the skirts of my very reverend sock, and relate to generations to come that I, Cauon Kingsiey, tne modern siayer of hydras, and purveyor of the healthiest novels which ever a froward generation refused to read (“Hereward ; The statue of Petrarch will be solemnly unvesled discomfort and danger of deteat | The very first sen- | aud learn to reverence your Saxon sires) that I, | even I myself, have recorded in a preface toa book these words, “As long as the man of the far West is not ashamed of honest toll, and as long as iis courtesy and chivalry toward women is as perfect | as Iam assured it 1s, so long he whil find that every English gentleman who visits him will recognize in him a gentieman also.” Seriously, that ts the sort of thing Jor which, On behalf of our countrymen at large, we feel bound to apologize, For the rest the preface is the only offensive part of the book, waich Is a tolerably well writtem narrative of in- teresting travel In the Western States and Mex- ico, by a young lady who might have leit some of her prejudices and a good deal of her Inggage at home with advantage. A careful editor would have seen that the groan came tn at the right place when, in reference to the Canadtans, the writer say: ‘hey are much more loyal, alas! than the English.” And an editor who was not also a court chaplain would have expunged a rude and silly sage In Which the author, who is to do so much for the harmonizing of the twomations, records how she did not respect the prayer in the American orm of worship for “any Presiaent, but Just tor our dear Queen.” The cnapters on Mexteo are flip) ant but amusing enough, and, of course, the “patriotic President,’ as Canon Kingsley calls | Dim in a paragraph of the pat-on-the-back kind, will duly appreciate the author's advice. TUE BEST OF ALI. Incomparably the most interesting book of the day ts Mr. MacGahan’s “Campatgning on the Oxus and the Kiva.’ The public were prepared tor the absolute novelty of the scenes which tt describes, bythe wonderful paintings of Mr, Verestehagin, exhibited at the Crystal Palace; but the freshness, vigor and sustained vivacity of the narrative and | the vivid interest of the personal adventures so simply and modestly related in that all-in-the- day’s-work style, Which never fails to charm, have | commanded a great success for the book. As your | readers haye had the advantage of reading Mr. MacGanan’s narrative in detail, tt 1s unnecessary to indorse, for their edification, the general verdict | of approval. LITERARY CHIT-CHAT. THE Geographical Magazine, a new monthly, ts- sued in London, is cdited by Mr. Clements R. Markham, and affords a complete and interesting | record of the progress of discovery and geographi- | cal knowledge. Mr. LESLIE STEPUEN’s “Hours in a Library’? are lively and readable sketches of half a dozen Eng- lish and American authors, Hawthorne, he tells | us, was a kind of Edgar Poo, without the denrium | e “If our cousins raise more Hawthornes | we may possibly feel more gratetal than for some of their other productions.” | “Wosten AND WoRK” is the title of a new weekiy | magazine, edited in the interests of women by Miss Emily Faithfull, of London, and other strong | Ininded ladies, mostly single. Mk. A. Histor has edited “The Book of Scottish Anecdotes” by way of proving that however much of a surgical operation it may be to get a joke mto the head of a Scotchman, thousands of excellent jokes have been gotten out without any at all. Tuk Largest Book of falry tales 1s Mr. John T. Naake’s “blavonic Fairy Tales, Translated from the Russian, Polish, Servian and Bohemian.’ They are very wonderiul, charming and impossible. AN ENTERPRISING AMERICAN publisher some time ago anpounced an edition of the Bible, “with | photographic’ portraits of Abraam, Moses, David, Jesus Christ and the apostles.” . Apparentiy there is no difficulty in procuring them, for the London Spiritualist, of June 19, furnishes a portrait of the medium aud “the spirit,” taken from an instanta- neous photograph. ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY Of @ Man Of great ge- nius! The town of Avignon is preparing to cele- brate the five hundredth anniversary of Petrarch. and adorned with garlands “gilded with gold,” | gays the Echo. We shouid imagine it woaid be | | difficult to gild them with anything else. Tue Rev. J; G. Woop, aathor of “Insects at | Home,”' “Homes Without Hands” and other popu- lar works of the same nature, is about to issue a | Dew book, entitled “Insects Abroad.’ It will deal | with the transiormation of insects, and of the im- Mmense use even the most obstructive and obnox- ious of them are in the economy of nature. Victor HvuGo’s Papgr, Le Rappel, has a larger circulation than any other in France. Its regular | issue is stated at 80,000 copies, Mr. Howakb STAUNTON fell literaliy at his desk, an unfinished letter, with emendations from Shakespeare, being upon it. He died in the fore- noon, but not so early as Thackeray, who, baving been used to write in bis bedroom, with his desk on bis knees, as was his wont, suddenty felt faint | | and Jay down on bis bed, where be was found, his | hands raised above his head, as if suffering trom | pain, EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM AT SBA. The London Gazette of Juiy 10 publishes an ac- | count of the extraordinary adventures of part of the crew of the bark Arracan, of Greenock, which, while on a voyage trom Shields to Bombay with @ cargo of coals, took fire irom | Spontaneous combustion of her cargo, and on the 17th of February was abandoned | by her crew, who then took to their boats and en- deayored to make jor the Maldive Islands, The boats kept company until the 20th, when, finding the currents too strong, It was agreed to separate aiter dividing the provisions. The master in com- mand of the longboat then made for Cochin; the mate in charge of the gig and the second mate, David Webster, in charge of the pinuace, with tour of the crew—viz., three men and one boy— made tor the Maldive Islands, After two days Webster's boat was injured by a heavy sea, and could not keep up with the “gig and lost sight of her, krom this time the pin- | hace Was kept Working to windward until the gth | March, by which day the provisions aud water had been consumed. Shortly aiterwards (he crew cast | lots which of them sbouid be first killed to ve | eaten, and the lot fell upon the ship's boy Horner; | but Webster, wio had been asicep, | time to save the boy's ine. Aiter dark an attempt | was made to kill Webster bimsell, but the boy , Horper awoke him in time to save bimsell. On the following day Webster, having fallen asteep, | Was awakened by the struggles of the crewtor the | possession of mis gun, With which to shoot hum. iwo huurs later the crew attempted to take Horner’s |iie agaim, but were prevented by the de- | teroined conduct of Webster, who threatened to , shoot aud throw overboard tue first man who Jad nands on the be The pext day one of the crew attempted to sink the boat, but Webster masterea lin and prevented further mischief, Two days later the same member of the crew agatn tried ; to sink the boat, and expressed ius deter- mination to take the boy's li Vor this he would have been shot by Webster had. not cup on cue gun missed Ore, Soon aiter, putting | i cap on his gun, @ 4 dew over the voat, | which Webster shot; ft at once sewed and devoured by the erew. even to the bones aud feathers, During the next live days tue crew were | quieter, subsisting on bvarnac whieh attached | Theuisetves to The bottom Of the boat, and on sea | blubber for wisich stney dived. The 1ollowimg day | some of the men became delirious. One of them | lay down exbausted, when apotner struck bim Liows oa the head with an trom belaying | pin, cutting hun badiy. The blood which lowed Wes catight ina tin aud drunk by the man himself | and t ‘her inen. Atierwards they Jought and bit ove another, and only ett om when com. | e wunerce as soon as icy ucr during the time keep | ing wal with Webst On the thirty-trst picked up 600 miles 1 in the boat they were land by the ship City of Manchester, Hardie ter, by Whom they were | Very kindly treated aod brought to Caleutta, Webster, who oy iis conduct was the means of saving the lives of wll to jerred upon bim by the Queen the Albert medai of | tue second class, He is Low liviag ot Broughty Ferry, Dundee, i the bout, has had cons SHOOTING AFPFRAY IN WseTOHESTER, While endeavoring to arrest a man named John | Robinson, living near Asiford, in the town of | Greenburg, Westchester county, on Tuesday even- ing, Constable Barnes, 01 White Plains, was fired upon by his prisoner, who is arged with having assaulted a party named Roach. Robinson fired twice at the constable, missing him each time, and then wok to his heels Secing | that he had e character to secure, | vnd fired at the fugitive, bear the right shouluer | involuntary halt, Yue | conveyed his prigouer to mefectual attempt was m I ihe wouuded man was | ndition yeste A young woman 18 understood (O be at the bottum of the trouble bee f him | she Wake’’ is to be had atan unmense redaction, | tween Rovinson and Roach, THE FRENCH DRAMA, New Plays with Exciting Plots at the Paris Theatres. Domestic Infelicitv-Cause and Result. Money Lenders and Gamblers Shadowed Near the Footlights. * Panis, July 10, 1874. The representation of ‘‘Tabarin”’ at the Frangais has been a rare treat to the vlaygoers of Paris. It isa comedy by M. Paul Ferrier, and is not only ad- mirably conceived, but exquisitely played. It ts full of spirit and gatety with some of those happy émo- tional touches which separate comedy from farce, and the spectator goes away laughing with wet eyes, touched, cheered and delighted, It is written im verse, and Lcannot help thinking that this isa mistake, for the necessities of rhyme fetter the freedom of thought; but M. Ferrier’s verses are neat and pointed, and they are delivered so well that one is almost able to jorgive the monotony which would be inseparable irom this kind of com- position in the mouths of inferior actors. It may be said at once, therefore, that “Tabarin” has taken Tank aga standard play at what ts perhaps now the first theatre in Europe. THE PLOT. It is, it may be said, inevitabie that. M. Ferrier should have felt himself obliged to follow the tradi- tion of #rench dramatic writers, and consequently be has inilicted upon his hero the same misfor- tunes as were sutfered by Georges Dandin, He describes Tabarin as jealous of his wife Francis- quine, and trying in vain to recall tue love which she once vowed to him back to her heart, Excited by tumes of wine, which he has drunk to drown his troubles, he at last adiniuisters to her obe Of those wild manual corrections which are allowed by the laws of many countries, but which | are politely supposed to nave fallen into disuse in good society. The effect of this doctrine of marital ovedience, taught with a stick, satis- factory as it 18 said to bave proved in some bistorecal imstances, 13 far, in- deed, from regaining the wandering affections of Francisquine, she not only persists in her in- fidelity to the marriage vow, but makes such ar- rangements as give her constant opportunities of seeing her lover, and one wretched day Tavarin is informed that.sne has eloped with him. He en- deavors to follow her, but 1s prevented, and here comes the pathos of the piece, Ultimately liis wiie returns to him; he explains her temporary ab- sence from his roof, as such things only are ex plained on the stage, and the curtain falls on the | return of his domestic bliss. The part of Tabarin was played by Coquelin with a skill and delicacy which quite ennobled it, Coquelin the younger was equally successful as Grippo-Sauce, and Kime interpreted the part of the mountebank Mondor with great truth of accent and gesture, AT THE CLUNY THEATRE MM. Beauvallet have been showing the public of Paris how much of trouble, torment, crime and infamy may be compressed into the space of twelve hours, M. and Mme. Van Bruck, when the “Nuit de Paris” begins, are indulging in the happy hope that their beloved son Armand will be married on the jol'owing morning to his charming cousin Jeanne, who has been brought up by them. The ycung man shares tie Joy of his parents, for he loves his betrothed with a deep and tender passion. He therefore resolves that evening to sup witha few irlends and take leave of his bache- | lor life forever. While this jolly festival is going | on Louise Bernier, with whom he bas formed a connection more common in France than in America, breaks im upon the, party and passionately tries to seduce back the lover wuo is about to escape from her toils, All her efforts in this direction proving. powerless sie resolyes upon vengeance, and, aided by an old usurer who hag designs on Van Bruck’s niece, she succeeds by enticing Armand into a low gambiing house. The keeper of this vile place is one Frusquin, chief of a band of robbers, and the servants of the estab- lishment, though dressed in iivery, are all his dis- guised accomplices, When Armand wishes to go home he is prevented from doing so by Frusquin and his acolytes. morse, comes to his relief; but is stopped on the way. Pvesently Armand rises trom the card table, alter having lost ail he possesses, and sold his watch for 4 flith of its value to the usurer. More- over he has piedged his honor for the further sum of 50,000f, For a moment he attempts to rise up against the rogues who have despoiled him, and to wrench from them the profits of a transparent cheat; bat he is reducea to silence and despair, for he Knaws It wili now be impossible for him to marry the girl he loves, Meantime Louise Bernier, who is aware of all that has been done, comes to see him and offers | to pay his debt of honor to the gamblers. He re- | fuses this base proposal with indignation, but nev- | ertheless the young woman, who reproaches her- self as the cause of his ruin, makes an inventory of her jewels with the intention of taking them to the Mont-de-Piété a’ soon as it is open in the morning. Unluckily she 1s calculating without taking Frusquin and bis band of thieves into ac- count, for they not only break into her house and carry away her trinkets, but so manage the busi- ness as to have Armand accused Oo! the thelt. At length, by the assistance of an honest servant, Louise Bernier bestirs herself so actively that the stolen jewels are traced to Frusqnin. All ends as dramas ougot to end, with the triumph of innocence and the punishment of vice. “UNB NUIT DE PARIS." This is essentially a French piece, written for a French audience. It could not be performed in New York because the hero’s castaway mistress carries off most of the admiration, which is justly considered ia our country tobe only the proper reward of purity—on the stage—as though no fallen woman had ever done acts of noble self-sacrifice and sublime devotion. Upon the whole, however, perhaps we had better not exchange our general views of morality, stern and sometimes mistaken or cruel as they may be, for those light theories which prevail in France; for here public opinion | goes to the opposite extreme, making all improper pevple fascinating by reason of @ greatness of soul which redeems their frailty and entices our sym- pathies In the wrong direction. “LE PIED DE MOUTON.” This play has been rovived at the Porte St. Mar- tin, @ new theatre built on the site of that wherein Alexandre Dumas the elder won 80 many triumphs in the lust generation. It is a ‘ballet seeriv,” or What Is Irreverently called a “leg” prece—sueb as is chiefly the delight of elderly gentiemen who are not sufliciently careful ag to the decorum of their behavior, and it 1s divided iuto five acta, with twenty tableaux or sensation seenes, The original author of it is Martainviile, a mau of some theatri- cal celebrity, and it has beea revised aud corrected by Coqutard and Cremieux, 1t 1s composed of the usual characters aud the usual INCIDENTS of extravaganza. Gusman the Handsome re- ceives a talisman froma fairy godmother and is thereby enabled to win the heart of Eleonore the Peerless and to laugh to scorn his rival Ni- gaudinos, who ts named with delicate humor in | such manner as plainly to signify that he ts a blockhead, and to prevent an incautious public from feeling any Inierest in him at starting. There is such an amazing luxury of costume and decora- tion ia this piece; it has been so magnificently put upon the stage; there is such @ countless host or pretty qiris in spare clotaing to embellish it; the dances are $0 gracetai; the music 80 lively and bright; the acting 80 good; the songs trresistibly funny, such exquisite to transiate the piece into English and put it into the hands of a heavy souled company of Anglo-Saxons it would all sound as Guli as strokes of lead upon sponge. Paris is the home of the exXtravaganza; it will not bear ex. portation, It is understood that no less than fouling; but if one were Louise Bernier, stung by re- | that one cannot help being amused at | | 200,000f., or $60,000, have been spent by the mana. gerof the Porte St, Martin on the revival of the “Pied de Mouton,” and that le will make a Splendid prot by the audacity of this enterprise, AP TILE GYMNASE, ‘The Gymnase has produced quite a bouquet of artificial flowers during the past month. “Une Femme qui Ment” ts a smart little comedy in one act by M,, Delacour, ‘Thus:—Mme. Ciayiere iy married to a clerk 1m an office, who can ouly give her 300f, a month to keep house; and the Femme qui Ment (The Fibbing Wile) nevertheless finds means to make purchases of which the value far exceeds the whole of this modest allowance, as well as to provide domestic comforts of the amplest kind, When her husband expresses some astonishment at this miracie she has a woman's Wit to help her, and a satisfactory an- swer is always forthcoming from her pretty lips, a3 straight as an arrow from a bow. She declares, With agrecbie frankness, that a lace shawl, Jor which she has paid 11,0001, only cost 300; and that a magnificent clock of the Louis XY. style Was Won at a lottery, which took place at a chari- table institution, Thas she tells fb after fib, and is ably seconded in this seminine occuparion by Juliette Nirodot, the wife of her husband's inti- Mate triend, who unblushingly supports the amaz- ing statements by her unhesitating testimony. Jullette, who 1s also fond of dressing herself be- comingly, however, has found no better way of doing so than putting tier busband upon a strict diet, and making @ vegetarian of him against bis will, His remonustances under this treatment, hushed as they are by his dread of Incurring further expense, are extremely French and extremely Junny, M. Nirodot has become very thin from fasting. M. Clavieres has grown astonishingly plump and much puzzled at the wonderiul man- agement of his domestic concerns when the two friends sit down one day to compare notes. Niro- dot, with a wry face, describes the morutying food Which ts supp! totum jor economical reasons, tul Clavitres, who dines upon lamb aud asparagus In April, begins to make rather serious reilect:ons about the tightness of his waistcoat and the pienti- ful repasts which have caused him to become so round. Some equivocations on the part of his wile and the embarrassed manner of Mme. Niro- dot awaken his suspicions that all is not quire | right. Under this disagreeable impression he angrily demands au explanation irom his wile, and she deiends herself in such an incomprehensible manner that he is seized with extreme alsrm ior his honor. At length, driven to her last intrenchments, lady makes a full avowal. She confesses that sie | has been telling stories all along and imposing on | her husband’s credulity. dhe Louis Was not won at a charity bazaar; it was bought at Tahuu’s, which 1s a very dierent thing (and gives M. fahaua@ splendid advertisement, for which, doubtless, he would supply acl with much Pleasure), But this extravagance and every othe! have been paid for by an inheritance of ie which Mme. Clavitres received from the as: a deceased aunton the eve of her marriage, ar Whicn she has appiied partly to her sole and sepa- rate usc. Zhe remainder of the sum, amounting to 8,000f., has been spent im the payment of a debt contracted by M. Claviéres in his bachelor days, and itis necdiess to add that the husband of a | wite so generous and discreet iorgives her un- truthfulness, A NEW COMEDY. M. Gustave Nadaud, the best song writer pow living in France, has also brought out a com two acts atthe Gymnase. The title of the pi “Dubois 4’Australie;” and the hero is one Dubois, who, aiter having won and lost a large fortune in Australia, is returning to France with 100,vv0r., when the ship in whica he is a passenger gocs down off the coast of Spain, and his money 1s lost, though not nif lle, Under the circum- stances he presents nimself to his cousin as poor as Job, and is treated by her as a servant, till at the end of a week she feels a strong inclination to pass him on to another cousin, having observed with | disinay the keenness of his appetite at her board. All his relations, however, unanimoasly refuse to be burdened with such an expensive charge, till a daughter of his cousin, who desires to marry a@sweetheart notin funds, inspires him suddenly with the idea of asserting that he is still rich. Then all his miserly relatives begin to fancy that he only wanted to prove thelr affection, and straightway vie with each other in overwhelming him with attentions. He condescendingly allows them to pay their court to his supposed wealth, and, sending for a notary, he adopts the lover of his cousin’s daugnter as his heir. In that tmme- morial manner a marriage 13 once more brought about on the stage, and tne grateful couple under- | take the somewhat onerous duty of supporting henceiorth ‘Dubois o: Australia.” The piece was | played as pieces only are played at the Gymnase, and the curtain fell to such subdued app!ause ag can be got from the most critical and fashionable audience in France. 4 DRAGONNE.”” ‘This piece, by M. Edouard Plouvier, is another comedy in two acts, two sensation scenes aha two characters, It is too bold in its conception to bear translation and is throughout the giorification of a@courtesan. Of course all Paris flocks to see it, but it may be a guide to the present state of public opinion in France to add that it has not obtained w marked success. The principal character pos- sibly was not played witn sufiicient hardinood by | Mile, Legauit, who is very young and very modest; so the audience were disappointed. Iam afraia 1 cannot honestly say that the tone of theatrical morality has improved in Paris A JOINT PRODUCTION. Finally MM. Besson and Sylvane, two authors hitherto unknown to the public, have brought out a comedy in one act which they call “Le Chevalier saptiste,” new authors generally appearing like swatiows in the summer time. M. Ravel acts the part of Baptiste, and so consum- mate & master of his art would redeem any play, however far below excellence. Baptiste” ts a vaudeville without coupicts, und as young authors should have encouragement I heartily wish them more success another time. COOLING OFF. There is nothing else cither new or interesting | at the Parisian theatres, and ali the audiences Who confer or withiold the fame of a playwright are hastening away to the seaside. We bad forty- one degrees of heat at noon yesterday, and the evenings are a je cooler, THE PARIS PRESS, french Opinion of an Radttor’s Trial and Acquutal. The Paris Constitutionnet of July 4 makes the subjoined observations on the late acquittal of the Pays vewspaper, accused of “exciting citizens to hatred of each other’ The Jury of the Seine nas just pronounced the Hon-culpability of our colleague the Pays by de claring '0 be not gutity that eourageous and y the indictment against it Other Journals wiil not tail, in their spite and fury, to see in that disc which they jonor with their apprehensions, their exeerations and We ouly applaud tn it justice rendered to honest men, Who are too good | patriots and foo absolute enemies of disorder not to be the sincere aud devoted urends of the Mar- shialaud tie Seplcunate. The speect of the advo- cate of the Pays, the tilnstrions M, Lachaud, Was & ei were Ot oteration, elevation and vigor, Previously M. Paul de Cassagnac, tie principal ac- cused, ha exp! his defence and predisposed {h Javor of his cause by the honest clearness of his reasons and the poriect restraint of his langage, the minds of the juryine, to which the address of complete convicuon. M. Lacnaud carri THE YON&S? , ATROCITY, In the City Court at Yonkers, Westchester county, yesterday, Thomas Foley, one of the par- ties charged with having perpetrated a criminal assauiton Elicn Egan, after an examination was committed without béll to answer at the next Court of Sessions, Bernard Featherston, another O! the inculpated rowdies, Whose arrest and sul Sequent liberation on the trifling amount of $600 vail Was pabiisoed in the HERALD last Saturday, was rearrested by Captata Mangin on | CUBA. A Woful Chapter of Cur ban Liistory. The Ugly Affair of the Dead Poet Zenca—The Existence of the Hispano—Venozuelan Commission Insisted Upon. Unfortunately for themselves, it seems that the Cubans have not enough to contend against in combating a. poweriul, brave, but implacable cne- my in the fleld, but they must needs occupy their leisure hours in.New York by fulminating charges and countercharges of treason rather than equip- ping expeditions or sending arms to Cuba, Tuts sort of thing is all the more to be regretted Just now, While the Spaniards are straining every nerve to put down those noble Cubans who are sogering daily every privation and hardship, even to death itself, in defence Of country and liberty. The let ter against Mr, Aldama, which apseared in Saturs day’s HeraLp, was replied to in Sunday's edition by a categorical deniai of the charges on the part ofthat gentleman, Yesrerday a communication reached the HERALD office, of which 9 synopsis will be found below. It 18 needless to state that the paper is from the hand of a Cuban patriot ot undoubted earnestness and high standing with his countrymen, In suvstance the document above relerred to is as follows:— It is said that a very insignificant part of the Cubans 18 in favor ot Spanish rule, and even such portion, although not composed of revolutioniata, decidedly hates Iberian tyranuy. Nearly EVERY CUBAN HATES SPAIN, but they do not all take the same ground of ace tion against her, Betore the preseut war broke out iu the island some proimment Qubans of Havana founded what was culied the reform party, whose motto w: “Liberty with Spain and py Spun.’ This pa sent commissioners to Madrid iu 1866 to obtain Hberal reforms. They were roughly received and harshly rebuked. ‘The lead- ers were M Morales Lemos, Aidama, Mestre and Echevarria, Peacetuliy inclined and timid an action, while they hated Spanisn despotism they feared Cuban dependence, and, in order to ar the | ock | “Le Chevalier | Lorgan oy tae cause of order on all | urge the triumph of @ poutieal party | rest the march of events. they came before the people of Cuba as revolutionists — while in truth they were playing adoubdle gume, In thid Way they managed to suffucate in Havana every plan that was seton foot to obtain Cupa’s mude- Bul, without the knowledge or consent of trese gentlemen, Setior U. M. de Cespedes took the eld un the oth of Getuber, 180s. Yhey did nyt prevent the revolauion, but the Spanish’ resi- dents of Havana, being suspicious of these gencie- | mien ob gecuunt Of their gutecedents, persecuted them, and they came to tho United States. Seior | U. M. de Cespedes appoinied us Cuban agent im | this country his personal friend Seior José Valie | ente but the ring to which I have alluded worked | manner as to procure the @evocation of | Vatiente’s powers and have them trausierred to | | Sedor Morales Lemos. Meaawnhile the Cavan reve olutionists had the sympathies of tie people ana United States; but when tac ablished here applied to Wasn- nthe government, began to government of the Junta waic ington tor recogn jock up ove nent Wiih undisgaised disike, General Sickles had been sent to Madrid with very energetic lustructions to exact om Spain te SALE OF CUBA TO THE PATRIOTS,« payment Lo be guaranteed by the United States; but aiter some interviews of Morales Lemos with My. Fish, the latier wrote to Sickles thai the cou. duct pursued in this country by the Cuban agenta had atenaied from them all the ouicialand popu- apathy whic they at first eajoyed.. The scandaious benavior of the Junta can public; but their tat Weshington has not been fully undat. General Graut, in @ message | (1870), said that some Cubans Lud come to tins country with the cowurdly intention o) preciploating the nation into & War Wilh Sputa, whue they themselves did behs in the deadly struggle like fh us repeated this accusation 2a several ollcta! documents. With suca premises it 13 not dificult to arrive at the conclusion that Alduima aud Lis trivuds intended to suffocate the Cuban movement tor Indepentence by means of @ war between the United Siates aud Spain... In thi way their properiies would be restored to them through the inverventiou of America, and the Cuban indevendent party would bo . ANNITILATRD BY ANNEXATION, sped ‘ish Was not willing to embrotl thig country r with Spain foe sake of Aldams’ and is’ property, aud hence the opposition, to tne Cubaa Catise Which the Secretary o1 State has So openly adopted. 5 But pot alio; the Cubans in the United States were aware of or participators im these intrigues, | aud some of them put forth great edorts to send arms and aumunition to” the patriots. ‘Tae | brothers Mora collected finds. among thei coun- | Wymen, aod several expeditions were sent out; but tne lcaders bemg nominated by the Junta, | they weneraily tailed i the most mise: ney ner. With the eption of the Anna expedition | (January, 1570), otier was successfully landed auiing along Ume, and the patriots suflered Irreparavle biows on this account. Suddealy a Spanish agent, in the peravn oi seiior Ascarate, Who was privately received and treated with dinnera and banquets by Aldama and his triends, sent an emissary to Cuba lor the purpose of inducing the parriots, throuzh indirect means, to luy down their arms. This emissary was none other than the Cuban poet Don Juan Clemente Zenea. He had letrers Ol introduction to the pasriot leaders jrom Aldam: tre and Echevarria, in which letters 1f Was said that be was authorized to ex« piain vervaily tae thoughts, Alter the tim? when | Zenea arrived in the Cuban camps with a Spanisn | passport iu bis possession demoralization began aud prominent leaders, atter having an ine lerview with him, surrendered to the enemy. Awong these were Porro, Silva, Mendoza and Others, Al Wa Was then the Cuvan agent here, ahd so iar irom sending any aid tu the patriots he resigned his ofllee mm an irregular manuer, traugss ierring his powers Without authority toa Cuban society Called the *Auxiuadora” beiore his reaige nation was accepted by the Cuban government, He and his irieuds thougat it was their best policy to abandon tie patrivis, Bat @ small number of gentlemen decided to not leave those HEROES 10 BE EXTERMINATED for want vi arms, and without other assistance ) sent Genera! Quesada aud Colonei Aguero to Cuba with valuabie expeditions, which enavied tne | patriots to hold their ow Presid: had sent abroad General i dent of the Rex becretary ol Staie, to temporarily represent Cuba and obtain moral and material aid ior her, Both of these gentlemen preferring to quietly remain io the undisturved enjoyment of the freudship of Aldana and his friends rather than periorm the vneroug aud honorable mission upon Wuied they were sen President Cespedes recatied them and appolntet Geueral M. Quesada, Seior Carios Castillo and senor Govin as agents. The Aidama people lus utediately began to plot in order to induce the Cuban Chamber ot Deputies to depose Cespedes—a jeat which they untorcunately succeeded 1 wecom- | plishing, Cespedes was deposed and sanneanenely betrayed into the hands of the Spaniards. Al daima, who had been appointed agent tn place of | Quesada aud Castillo, resumed his old poucy of | fhaxe-pelieve patriotism wriie preparing the sar- | render of tne patriots, The rumors now aout | with regard to possible arrangements tor the Cu« bans to again accept Spanish rule have been cons tradictea by him as he contradicted those which came out when HE S&NT ZENEA TO CUBA; but the best way ol giving the le to them would be found in sending a powertul expeuition to the island. He js a miliionueire and can do it very easily, But he wii do no such thing, His interesta are opposed to aay change in the Cuban govern. ment that might be untavoraole to actual Spanish rule, He owns extensive sugar refineries in shid cuuntry, and the continuation of Spanish power ta Cuba is the only way he’ has: to procure the raw material needed for his mills, Spanish rule im Cuba means a CONTINUATION OF SLAVE LABOR, and its existence means sugars sent to Aldama’s reflaing milis. The triumpn of Cuban indepens dence would lujuve sugar growing interests until the chanye Of slave lito free labor should be su cessiuliy carried into evect, These assertiout might be considered ineredibie in the face of the | fact that aldama pseuts himself as an abor Litionist; butit must be borne ind that h never manuuitted any of his es until it wag OUL Of his Dower to have any coatrol over them, and that he was lor many years the largest ime porter of coolies into Cubu, le having mtroduced 2,000 Of theta, ald it 1s Well Known that cooile contracts are only disguised forms of slave labor, ‘Phese data prove that the Cubans in the feld have to deal not only with Spanish foes, but with the batefaced Mactiavelism oi their alleged iriends of representatives abroad, Now, another arranges ment like the Zenea atfair is being attempted In the dark; but this edort of the dray-chain patriots (retranqueros), a8 they are cailet by the peopie, Will be checked again. by the eforts of the very same nen who formerly irustrated them, aod who have fitted out all the Successful expeditions that were landed in Cuba irom January, 1870, until the present time, Let me add a curious fact, Since 1871 Seior Fy V. Aguilera, Vice ’resident of the Republic, has | been recalied by the Caban government, During three years te nas never attempted to go back to his post, and he 18 doing nothing to tnduce the bee lie: that he will ever take sucu astep. Entirely identified with Aldana aud nis irtends, he docs nothing to aid the patriots, Ne t consiaerable sums of iaoney which he and Aldam: have received for that purpose. In fact, the only Way to be patriotic in New York 13 to seud expedi+ tions in ald of the Cuban array, ¢ Tuesday, | purguant to an ordey issued by City udge Baird. The judicial tape donary named, it m rr arm Appeiis, reconaiiiered. ms. deeision inthe cuse’ oF | AN BXLLANATION, beatherston. l yesterday tually committe him aoe to await the seuon of the Grand Jury. It is gener. aliy conceded that Featherston was not “brougat in” aday tov soon, as his accomplice, Fitzpatrick, WiO Was also released on $590 bail, Las disap. peared irom the city, Johu Kelly, another o: ie Fang which abused the young Woman bgan, was eid in $250 to Answer @ Charge Of essault Wild ine | tent to Outrage, aaa —sOC_C_C Colonel P. Rosada sends the following card for publication :— New Yorn, July 22, 1874. I declare, under my word of boaoy, that T have bot taken’ a@ single siep which could have givon room for what the Henanp published to-day with regard to selor Don José erra de Conto. P, ROSADA,