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Madame Ristori took her benefit at the Lyceum on Monday afternoon, and made the public acquainted with the Francesca da Rimini of Silvio Faille° ; a work in which guilty deeds are diluted down to inchoate thoughts, and which is therefore as feeble a version of the old vigorous story as modern propriety could compass. Were it not for the expres- sion of wicked delight worn by Madame Ristori when as Francesca, she listens to Paoli's declarations of love, the piece would barely need men- tion as a field for the display of her genius. On the other hand, a little comedy entitled I Gelosi Fortunati, in which she represents a fond but jealous wife—minute in the delineation of her troubles, hearty and spon- taneous in her demonstrations of joy—turned out to be one of the most successful pieces in her repertory. She displayed a quality for which no one had previously given her credit—the quality of unrestrained hilarity. Decidedly, the young wife in this bagatelle affords a much more incon- testible proof of comic talent than the wily and malicious " locandiera." The testimonials of respect and admiration paid to Madame Ristori on the occasion of her afternoon benefit were of the most unequivocal kind; but the glories of the day did not end with her performance. In the evening the went to the Olympic Theatre to witness Mr. Robson in a new burlesque of Medea, terminating with an apotheosis of herself. Mr. Robson never more thoroughly displayed that peculiar talent -which al- lows real tragedy to assume a grotesque exterior, than in his half-terrific half-ludicrous representation of the child-slaying dame. The burlesque itself was sparkling, far above the average level ; the bust of Madame Ristori, discovered at the end;- was a well-executed. plastic compliment ; and the plaudits that greeted The bust were uttered with the full know- ledge that they would reach the ears of the fair original. Altogether, Monday was a day consecrate throughout to Madame Ristori.
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