22 APRIL 1871, Page 3

A fierce discussion has been going on as to Mr.

Tom Taylor's right to burn Joan of Arc upon the stage. Mrs. Rousby is tied -every night to the stake, with the faggots, &c., round her, flames break out, and in short the scene is made as realistic as may be. The objection to such a representation is that it is inartistic, and that it hurts the feelings of the audience. As to the art point, the old canon never had much sense in it, and has long since been broken through, while the audience can save their feelings very easily by staying away. Moral harm there is, we suspect, none. Representations of cruelty are as a rule injurious, but representa- tions of martyrdom seem to be exceptions. Nobody, we think, was ever made more cruel by the pictures in Foxe's "Book -of Martyrs."