3 MARCH 1855, Page 11

In the way of theatrical production Paris is even more

dull than Lon- don. The drama of La Czarine, which was never in a very healthy con- dition, and which shortly after its production retired for a while on ac- °aunt of most suspicious indisposition, has at last expired, after an inglorious run of eighteen nights. An action brought by M. Vatel, the late director of the Italians, against the present director Colonel llagain, shows that the difficulties of ma- naging an Italian opera in London are as nothing to the intricacies of Paris. M. Vatel is the manager from whom, in 1841, M. Victor Hugo obtained damages for the performance of Donizetti's Lucretia Borgia, on the ground that the libretto was founded on his own tragedy. Rendered wise by experience, he at once purchased the copyright of those French plays that might afford PaARblassullis foTrHEAsimmtilarcAlaproceedings; and on the strength of this property he now takes the same position with respect to Colonel Regain that was taken by M. Victor Hugo with respect to him- self. The Juges de Premiere Instance gave a judgment in January 1854 in favour of Colonel Regain ; but M. Vatel has appealed against their de- cision, which was more based on a statute-of-limitation principle than on a consideration of the intrinsic merits of the case, and the affair is now pending before the Cour Lnperiale de Paris. The operas on which proceedings are taken are Norma and I Puritani ; but if M. Vatel be victorious, he will also have an available property in La Gazza Zara, Linda di Cliamouni, Don Pasquale, Nabuceo, and many other works. ,