CIRCENCES FOR GOOD CHILDREN.
A SENSATION has been created in the Theatre Francais by the introduction of an English custom while the perpetual encroach- ment of certain indigenous French customs appears to excite no sensation, scarcely any notice. From the days of Moliere the curs tai has risen to the sound of three strokes given by a baton but now it rises to the sound of a bell. Sensation is ever excited by novelV, and the clangour of the little bell is far more felt by a French audience ihan -the perpetual interference of a tyranny which escapes their notice from the-universality and continuance of its pressure. The cynicism even of Paris forgets to notice it, or notices it only in such a form that the cynicism itself is unseen. In this country we are accustomed to let theatrical composi- tions be laid before the Lord Chamberlain, or his deputy, for the purpose of being " licensed ; " and under a late regime the power of the officer was not unfrequently exercised to the entire extinction of the new work. Having been long accustomed to this interference, we have put up with it, though we our selves are surprised at the anomaly. But in Paris, and in- deed in the -whole of France the entire performance, as well as the original draft of the Play, must be strictly according! to rule. If a piece is announced the audience must have "the play, the whole play, and nothing but the play." In the town of Bayonne lately, a police tribunal has condemned the manager of a theatre to pay a fine of one franc for omitting a piece of music in the representation of an opera. The reason for this strictness is not stated. The smallness of the punishment proves perhaps that the omission did not offend by constituting any political allu- sion; and the inference is that the Government has interfered to protect the rights of the audience.
The more rigorous interference with the stage began before the accession of the present Minister; it is only increasing. During a shortrule, General Espinasse marked the crescendo. He issued an order against the use of "slang" in dramatic works and every manager of a theatre was served with a copy of the notice. As a wit in Paris remarked, under the new edict Paul Bedford would have been liable to be sent to "the stone jug" for singing "Nix my dolly pals fake away !" "What is slang ?" was asked. Ob- viously it is a factitious jargon in which words are used with a peculiar sense, conveying a signification only to the initiated ; and the slang which passes for mere fun may by O. little ingenuity be made to convey a political allusion. The medium in which Pas- gain addresses his audience is pun or pleasantry. But it was reserved for the present Minister of Instruction to bring this paternal treatment of the theatre to its perfection. Some little time since he issued a circular to the theatres, pointing out that at the debilts of actors and actresses frequently occurred scenes of disturbance and irregularity, originating in the conflict between the friends of the new performer and the audience. The Minister of Instruction was scandalized at the importunities of the °liqueurs, and he sympathized with the annoyance of the public. With a d of consideration not always shown by imperial re-
gulators degree declared that he did not wish to restrain "legitimate manifestations." He would allow the audience to applaud ; he would suffer them to be struck by passages on the
; he would permit them to give vent to their involuntary gs of admiration or amusement. But to those interested he pointed out themo3e-mtspr atietnpte. at ,appleese as an evil ;
and he " invifedeohitaceis. Would " harmonize with jnatice,, andnet 'violate ,Shortly after, near theeartie` *lister of Instraction, a paragraph appeared in the 'pitpers, the' " coinnumleatdd" form, notifying that his appeallad bee
loyally n met 'in- many responses ; but he remarked with naive so-
lemnity' amongst the ingenious suggestions were some •which Nygren-de 'tidlitisSible, and seine even which were ludicrous; For eaple, one writer proposed that on alloceasions of ,d6bi2t the officers of the garrison in the audience should constitute a kind', of jury, that after'the performance they should retire and discus the merit of the i/Obiitant or e/afilanie, and should report their decision ; and that the merit of the performer, or otherwise, should afterwards be proclaimed by beat of drum, through the town ; any one disputing that dictum to be taken up and tried by court-martial. This is a magnificent example of the mode in which extremes meet Terkel suppression of every manifestation ends in drawing the manifestation of French feeling, and especially of Freneh wit, which has much more life in it, throvyk the very highest authorities in the land. Pasquin being forbidden to make any sign through the perform- ers, or the audience', the getius of French cynicism manages to convert the Minister of Instruction himself into a Pasquin ; and the unconscious Minister publishes the satire with an obvious un- consciousness that the suggestion is made merely for the purpose
of ridiculing Government. •
The Frenchman caneot resort, even to other amusements with- out finding that lie is compelled to entertain himself , accord- ing to rule. At Strasbourg, lately, the Prefect has issued an order prohibiting 'a 'game called the "Poide de Seba' stopol," played with a considerable number of halls, for the avowed reason that the genie is "too favourable to the keeper of the table." Frenchmen must not throw their money away—a Paternal Go- vernment steps in and regulates their expenditure. This is en- tirely in accordance with the religious principles which prevail in Paris. It is an old story, but a true one, that therope of Rome has interfered to regulate the size and make of women's combs, from the idea that too large a comb or one too pleasing might be too attractive to the opposite sex ; and in the cause of virtue Ro- man soldiers have taken • the ornament from women's heads, broken it, and returned the pieces ; attesting the honesty as well as the rigour of the Pontifical Government. The French paternal rule has surpassed that of the Pope. The Frenchman's inte- rests are protected, even at the billiard table; the play at the theatre is arranged for him; his own applause must be regulated ; the interest excited by a new performer is moderated by the ever-present Minister of Instruction. If the fast young gentle- man seeks amusement after the performance, he finds even his vices regulated for him by an all-wise Government. In short, there is not a single hour of the twenty-four in which he can es- cape from this incessant vigilance, and this untiring providence. The instances of the intervention ,receive daily addition. There have been such scenes in the taverns of Paris, that shortly we may expect to see a regulated carte, not only for the purpose of pre- venting political allusions in the naming of dishes, but also of checking any tendency to unwholesomeness in the cuisine. A valuable profession has also received such attentions from the Government lately, that every Frenchman may soon expeet to have official inquiries after Ins own health. He may be called upon by the Prefect to come up, like a charity-boy, in order to take brimstone and treacle before breakfast. The course of his reading and studies is already. modified, if not dictated, by the central authority. He goes into society, and finds the con- versation clipped and guided by the imperial spies. The agents of the Emperor have recently, almost in :terms, put forward the claim to declare what Frenchmen must not think, and to suggest what they must. A little further, and the Frenchman, like the Hungarian or Russian peasant, will be summoned unexpectedly by his superiors to take his station on one side of a great country- dance, and to accept his partner for life at the dictate of authority; the Emperor, of course, having an eye more to the physical quali- ties of the France of the Future, and to the recruiting of his Army, than to anything so trivial and little worthy of attention as personal feelings. It is this last suggestion alone which is not warranted by something which has already occurred in the annals of French administration.
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