To those who had seen the Bells" at home, with an actor like Irving in the part of Mathias, and with all the scenic access tories for which the Lyceum is famed, it seemed a bold attempt the A, D.C. were about to make in putting the piece on the boards of our Lyceum. But it has always been in bold attempts that the A. D, C. have been most successful; and believing that at all evente the evening would be well apout, a goodly number of the community had taken seats by nine o'clock. The gallery did not show the same crowd Of attentive faces as on the occasion of the Burlesque, which may be accounted for by the well-known nature of the piece; but the stalls and dress circle were fairly full, and the number of Indies who graced the performance evidenced the popularity among the fair sex of our Amateurs, Shortly after nine o'clock the prompter's dell struck the signal, and the curtain rose on the first scene—the interior of Burgomaster Mathias' inn, in a village in Alsace. The plot is'simple, the interest of the whole eco being centred on the Burgomaster. the play opens in the parlour of the village inn, where Catherine is diligently spinning. She is joind by Hans and Walter, who gossip over their wine about the approaching wedding of the quartermaster of gendarmes, Christian, and the retty daughter of the house, Annette. he heavy snowstorm outside and the wild gusts of wind sweeping round the Inn, cause the conversation to take a retrospective turn, and Walter compares the inclement season to that of the how any winter came to be so called. Old Walter responds by slowly and impressively unfolding an awesome tale of how, just that night fifteen years, in similar weather, the sound of sleigh bells came towards the Inn, a Polish Jew entered, unbuckled and Inid down a broad belt of gold, and having obtained refreshment for himself and his horse, proceeded on his journey an hour afterwards. His cap and cloak and his dead horse were subsequently discovered xt a bridge some distance from the village, but no trace of the traveller, and though it was believed that he had been murdered, neither the boily nor the criminal could be discovered. 'The Burgomaster, Mathias, returns home after the tale is ended, and appears strangely agitated when he' hears what their gossip has been about. He talks, however, of the wonders of Paris, and of a mesmerist who sends people to sleep and then cin command the utterance of their' most secret thoughts. Anon, the sound of bells is heard as if they approached the dwelling, but none of the company hear it except Mathias, and he appears so disturbed that the guests soon depart, to leave him to repose. Alone for a few moments, he strives to regain courage and to dissipate what may have been a fancy, but as he rises from his chair, and slowly, with agitated features, tums to take a reassuring survey of Uheroom, he is surprised by a vision of the Polish Jew driving along the sno: is sleigh, face and glittering eyes thrown back on the haunted man. The sight completely overcomes Mathias he utters a loud ery and falls heavily, a senseless mass, on the floor. A perfect storm of applause followed the admirable trausforwation which evolved this scene, The next finds him in the Doctor's hands, protesting that his health is excellent, withstanding that fit, his perturbed nig!
the occasional ringing of bells in his which are put down to white wine, chills, blood to the head, and anything but a-crime-burdened mind. He hastens the marriage of Christian and Annette, anxious that the active and intelligent" yendarme—who, since he has heard the story, has begun to take a keen professional in: terest in the mystery of the traveller's disappearance—should, in case of the worst, be bound to stand by him as son-m-law instead of exposing him as his detective. The contract is signed, the Jew's gold pays the dowry of fr. 20,000, and the wedding eve goes off happily enough, though the accusing bells ring in Mathias? enrseven while he congratulates himself on the success of all is plans, and his fears so grow upon him that he resolves to sleep ina room by himself, lest in his ep he bert-y his secret. The workings of his disturbed imagination, however, conjure up in dreams the very scene he secks to escape. In a remarkably effective way, the dream is presented to the audience by the parting of the chamber wall, disclose ing " court of justice, before which stands Mathias, arraigned for the murder of the Jew. He denies everything and asks for proofs, but the Court considers the circumstantial evidence of his own strange behaviour strong proof; and, as he will not confess, order that the mesmerist should be called. Against this ordeal Mathias protests, but he is obliged to yield, and under the mesmerist's influence he confesses every detail of the crime, with expressions of tragic horror. He is then recalled from his trance by the mesmerist, his deposition read to him, sentence of death passed, and when he wildly calls his help, he is told that his so committed suicide on hearing of the cha The scene vanishes; morning i with a merry chime of wedding bells, and the gay party of the night before return, Loudly they call for Mathias, but no Mathias responds, and at last Christian bursts in the door. "As he enters the room, fol-and waves them back, for Mathias, his face and neck suffused with dark blood and overspread with a deadly pallor, rushes out, ".tching his throat and calling to them to cut the rope, as he sinks dying in their arms.
The leading part of Mathias was taken by our old friend My. Grigin, who, added to his already great reputation by the manner in which he carried it through. Except at the e d of the first and second acts, there is little scope for display, the whole interest culminating in the third, in which the dren is enacted, and Mathias is tried for the murder of the Jew, But his excitement when the bells were ing in his ears—his terror when the vision of the Jew appeared—his terrible recapitulation of the murder—his frenzy when he rushed from his chamber calling them to "ent the rope" he fancied was round his neck—and his death, were scenes to be remembered. The A.D, C. may congratulate themselves in numbering among their members one gentleman who can take up a character like this, and make such a successful impersonation, We deeply regret to learn that in his fall atthe end of the first nct, he received a severe cut on the face, which, however, except in the beginning of the second act, did not interfere with his rendering of the part. Father Walter was fairly well played by Mr. Will Honeycomb, He was most impressive when telling the story of the murder, but his betrothal song" fell rather flat, Aer, St. Aubyu slightly 18, and his laughter was probabl jotalwaysin place, but the character was well and carried out, Mr. Doolittle's Christian wes very successful, and he did his small part in the play with an appre ciation of its point which augurs well for future appearances, The niesmerist (Mr. Chandon) Doctor Zimmer (Mr, Nautilus) the Judge (Mr. MeTonal) and the Clerk of the Court (Mr. Hadut) were all carefully and creditably played. Mr. Timberpost's Notary was capital, both in make up and acting.
About the lndies,—Catherine was taken by Miss Phosphor, and there can be no doubt that she is the only Indy in the Corps who can look and act such a part, There was possibly a touch of Mrs. Saddrip about the character, which however was not altogether out of place, Miss Castor a Annette was as she always is, charming; and the experience of past performances has given her a freedom and ease which enabled her to play successfully a small and difficalt part, for there is nothing more difficult for amateurs than to atend ut ense fon the stage when they have no active crest in the scene, We were decided; pleased with Miss Britannia Mettle's Sozel, and we hope to seo this y quently. The gendar came in most effectively in every sce The scenery of the piece was simpl magnificent. Although in the splendid an most effective transformation of the dark room to a brilliant snow scene in the firat act, the untimely partial dropping of the curtain somewhat interfered, it was still appreciated enough to canso a most enthu-ie call for the scenist. The falling snow was admirably done, and the court scene was a triumph of effect, We have every reason to be proud of our A. D. ©. in all its departments; and as we have criticized the actors, let us now take an unusual step, and criticize the audience. Itis very hard for amateurs to play a melodrama, as a rule, even when the audience fully sympathise with the play; but when in the most impro scenes people move about, and even give way to laughter, it is searcely fair. It no credit to some of the audience that the most impressive scene, on Wednesday night, when perfect silence should have awaited the judge's sentence, a guffaw of laughter marred the effect, and put the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.