On Monday evening, the members of the Shanghai Catholic Circle yave an amateur dramatic entertainment, "in honour of the Reverend Father H' Basuiau, S.J., on the occasion of his Feast." The little theatre off the Rue clu Consular was crowded long before nine o'clock, the hour at which the performance was to commence, so much so that a large number of people had to remain standing during the whole evening, a situation which was not very comfortable as far as those who could not obtain seats were concerned, and which also interfered with those who had come early enough to secure seats in the back part of the building, as the standing groups in the passages must have obstructed their view of the stage but thi avoidable inconvenience which everyone put up with, with the best grace possible, 'The audience comprised a large number of ladies, and the Reverend Fathers were fully represented. The excellent band of St. Cecilia's Society played an overture in' first-class style, and the audience were assured that, if the dramatic performance might have its shortcomings, the musical portion of the entertain ment was at least perfection, and was of itself well worth hearing. 'The play presented was entitled 'The Expiation,' a drama in three acts, translated from the French by James Kehoe, The scene was laid in Mont-braun, in France, and the period was the twelfth century. The first act opened by a scene in a village inn, where two knights Loredan (Antonio Jose Diniz) and Gerard (L. A. Lubeck) met as strangers; one had been with the Crusaders in the Holy Land, the other was going there; and after vowing eternal friendship, Gerard discovered that Loredan was his long. lost brother, and called for a bottle of the best wine, an order which the innkeeper (Adolfo J. Diniz) paid no attention to. Loredan, who had returned from the Holy Land, is the hero of the drama, and his mission at Mont-braun was to expial a crime which he had committed in his younger days. He had 'a tale to unfold" to his brother, and as the old inn-keeper had not gone to fetch the wine yet, they retired. Count Flavy (Mr. E. B, Gutterres) who was lord of a castle at Mont-brunn, and his attendant Rinaldi (Mr, J. Pereira) next appeared, and the villainy of the innkeeper was displayed when he showed himself to be a spy, and told the Count what little he had picked up from, the conversation of ye bold knights.' Count Flavy is burdened with a troubled con-ne had obtained his domains by foul play, and he had his tale to unfold tuo. A gipsy had once read the fortunes of three young men,—ono was to be a Count (that was Flavy); another was to be killed; and a strange uninteleligible prophecy was made about third. This corresponded with Loredan history, which he afterwards disclosed. A Count had been killed by Loredan; Flavy killed the Countess, exiled Loredan, and imprisoned Robert of Lusigny, the son of the Count. The shade of the Countess crossed the stage with a heavy tread, scribbled a line or two, and the knight read from it that Robert of Lusigny was still alive, in a dungeon of the castle, The younger knight deciphered the warning that they were surrounded by asas This tragic plot made matters very interest and the determination of the knight to expiate his crime at Flavy's expense kept up the excitement, to see how matters would turn out. There was a good deal of grotesqueness in the characters; excusable peculiarities of accent, seeing that the actors were not speaking their own language; and free and easy manner about the tragedy, 80 that, although one could not help laughing at times, the whole affair was proceeding tolerably well, Count Flavy was much
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.