Angelo : a Tragedy. By Victor Hugo. Translated into English
blank verse by Ernest Oswald Coe. (D. Stott.)—Angelo is not one of M. Victor Hugo's finest efforts. It does not reach the height of dramatic power which he has elsewhere attained ; but it is; we need hardly say, a fine play, and well worthy of translation. The chief situation of the drama, a married woman who has clandestine meet- ings with her lover, but remains perfectly pure, makes too strong a demand upon our faith. This granted, the situation becomes fine. In any case, the gratitude of La Tisbe makes a striking incident. The translator has ventured on a bold step. The denouement of the tragedy in the original does not suit his ideas of poetical justice, and he has accordingly altered it, but as he gives us the original in an appendix, the eccentricity may be forgiven. His verse is fairly good, and he has added an essay on the versification of French dramatic poetry, from which, it is to be hoped, our neighbours may profit.
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