Notwithstanding the excellence of several of the artists-who have suc-
ceeded Frederic Leutaitre at.the St. James's Theatre, it cannot be denied that after his departure a certain leaver prevailed. The performances pleased and were praised, but they made no strong impression. The inimi- table Bouffe did not come before he was wanted; and his appearance on Monday last gave an animation to the house, such as we have rnt witnessed for some time.
For the power of entering into the peculiarities of a variety of charac- ters, which will admit of no classification, Beuffe is unrivalled. What general expression is large enough to take in Michel Perrin and the Gamin de Paris ? Every other actor has more or less of a fixed routine; or, if the routine be not so fixed iu itself, his own peculiarities produce a resemblance between the personages he represents. But Bouffe in a new part is a new individual. The outer and inner man are completely changed. The transmigration of fouls would furnish a weak comparison; for Bouffil seems to put on a new Foul as well as a new body. In Farren's best days, we could abstract from the assumed peculiarities, and there was a certain resi- duum which might be called the Farren. But what is the Bouffe? Abstract from the peculiarities of Michel Perrin and of N. Girard, and what common element rensains?—None. Bouffe so completely puts off his own individu- ality, that he makes of himself what the old ontologists called a prima materia, susceptible of an infinite variety of forms. It is no mere assumption of external oddities that can produce such complete personations as the two characters just named. Boo& has caught the very heart of the old aunt, the very heart of the old danseur: hence the natural benevolence which colours every feature of the former, and the complacent formality which pervades every gesture of the latter. His details must be correct, for they are the radiations of a profound central thought, which precludes the possibility of going astray. Even if a conception be wrong in itself, yet if an artist works from it alone, instead of borrowing decora- tions from without, the whole may indeed be untrue, but the parts will be in keeping. Perlet is an actor who seizes on the central point of a chafficter, and works his details accordingly, with the finish of a miniature-painter. But there is this essential difference between Perlet and Bouffe--.-that you could always see the former at work, while the latter gives his detail as if from a mere suggestion of his nature. Not only is Perlees finish given as a result, but the means by whioh he attains that result are equally visible. Bouffe so completely becomes the character he represents, that the art, which produced is completely concealed by the product
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