M. Dumas's well-known play of Mademoiselle de Belle-Ale has been
done into English, and produced at the Princess's Theatre, under the title of The Duke's Wager. The tone of the original play, it will be remembered, is produced by an infusion of innocence and chivalric honour into an at- mosphere of courtly profligacy. Lestelle de Belle-Isle and her gallant lover are the virtues, the Due de Richelieu and his clique are the vices of the tale ; and a reconciliation is effected at last by making the said Due turn out not so bad as he seems. The English adapter of this piece, and the managers of the English theatre, have seen in it nothing but am interesting story with some striking situations. Up to this mark it is played ; Mr. and Mrs. Sean, as the young lovers, showing no lack of power in setting forth their miseries : but as for the picture of courtly manners, which M. Dumas intended, the personages in The Duke's Wager belong as much to the court of Bing Dagobert as to that of Louis-the- well-beloved. We say this in reference to the actors ; the decorations, illustrative of a period of the highest luxury, leave nothing to be desired. Probably, too, the actors are wise in their generation : a strong melo- drama is more likely to please our modern audiences than a polished comedy.
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