BOUFFE'S engagement at the French Play is for so short
a time that he is scarcely able to repeat all his most popular characters ; especially as he is announced to appear in two or three new ones. On Monday, be played in Maurice, ou le .MidiFein de Campagne ; an English version of which was brought out at the Ilaymarket two or three seasons back, when FARREN played the country-doctor with great effect. The con- trast between the two schools was very striking to those who Ird seen -both performances: the quiet, easy, natural style of BOUFFE, gives to his personation an appearance of reality, that powerfully influences the feelings of the audience, and exemplifies the superior delicacy and refinement of the French actor's art ; making the English copy look hard, angular, and exaggerated in comparison. The difference, in brief, is this : FARREN evideutly takes pains to exhibit his skill and cleverness, and succeeds in producing an impression on the audience by the force of his manner ; whereas Boorlis seems unconscious of the audience, and rather to repress than parade the expression of emotion. The French comedian, having studied the character as a whole, pre- serves the due subordination of its different parts, as the artist does the " keeping " of a picture ; but the English comedian, anxious to make every part tell, injures the general effect by thrusting on the attention all the details : the one labours to display, the other to conceal his art.
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