PARISIAN THEATRICALS.
M. J. Bouchardy, well known in Paris as the author of several pieces in the " dmme " line produced years ago, has provided the AmbiguComique with a new work of the old class, entitled Le Seeree des Cavaliers. The scene is laid in Ireland ; and the "Cavaliers" are a party of Jacobite conspirators against William III. However, the plot is nothing more than a somewhat commonplace story of murder and false accusation' equally adapted to all countries in which capital punishment is a part pa of the legal system and conspiracies are possible.
At the Theatre Lyrique, there is a new opera in three acts, called la .Reine Topaze. The heroine thus named is a young gipsy potentate, (played by Madame Miolan-Carvalho,) who watches over the fortunes of a fascinating gentleman, as a sort of guardian angel, and finally turns out to be a scion of nobility. Such maks are not uncommon on theatrical boards. The authors of the book are MM. Lockroy and Battu ; the composer of the music is M. V. Masse ; but a great share of the success belongs to the manager, M. Carvalho, the splendour of whose mise en scene is loudly extolled.
La Finesse Adnitere, a new drama by M. Adolphe Dennery, was brought out at the Gaite on Monday last. The plot seems to be founded on one of the causes celebres of last century; and turns on a sort of conspiracy got up by a noble family to destroy the reputation of a lady to whom one of its members is married, and thus to avenge the loss of a rich inheritance. The means employed to this end are revolting enough ; and, what is a great fault, the final triumph of innocence at the conclusion is rather left to the surmise of the audience than fairly stated. • It is perhaps not universally known that, by a Ministerial decree of October 1851, a prize of 5000 francs may be awarded any year to the author of a dramatic work in five or four acts, produced with success at any Parisian theatre except the Theatre Francais, in the course of that year,—that is, if of such a nature as to conduce to the instruction of the laborious classes, by the propagation of healthy ideas and the exhibition of good examples. The Commission under this decree composed of MM. Lebrun, Merimees Scribe, Nfsard, Camille Doucet, Rolle,. Theophile, Gautier, R Thierry., Sainte-BeuVe, and Cabanis, and presided over by
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M. Baroche, has ust.seni in its report for 1865, statieg its conviction:, that no piece produced during that yearcomes. sufficiently within the meaning of the decree to merit the reward proposed. The ,Teunee Gen: of M. L. Lays and the Demi Honde of M. A. Dumas file are however, mentioned with great respect. We have almost literally translated the main clauses of the decree, to show the strictness of the conditions.
Mr. Woodin came in with the Christmas holidays ; having renovated his "Polygraphic Hall," which looks brighter than ever, and provided himself with a new wardrobe, that makes him exceedingly smart. The "Olio of Oddities" has become one of the stock entertainments of the Metropolis, and its reappearance will doubtless be welcomed by all who have a taste for genteel recreation.
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