PARISIAN TREATRICALS.
A new spectacle produced at the Ambigu-Comique, with the title Le Paradis Perdu, is one of those social "facts" that make an un- travelled John Bull rub- his eyes, and ask himself whether the narrator is not taking advantage of his credulity. There is no metaphorical meaning in the word Paradis " ; but the fall of man, as related in Genesis and expatiated upon by John Milton, is gravely put on the stage, and the history is carried down to the termination of the deluge. In the first scene, the rebel angels, recently cast down by the thunder- bolt of the Almighty, are shown in the abyss. The Angel of Mercy ex- horts Lucifer to give some sign of penitence ; but Lucifer is too proud to yield to his Conqueror. With the new name of Satan he reigns over Hell, and creates Pandemonium ' • where he takes his seat on a throne of fire, with Death and Sin on each side of him. The following scene shows the Garden of Eden, with the tree of knowledge. Satan, mad- dened with jealousy at beholding the happiness of the newly-created pair, tempts them to eat the forbidden fruit; and they next appear as exiles from Paradise, parents of Cain and Abel ; a new French interest being given to the action at this point by the circumstance that Satan is—In love with Eve. (!) The murder of Abel by Cain is perpetrated in due course ; and then the history passes on to the time of Noah, when the descendants of Cain have incurred the Divine wrath by their orgies in the holy temples. The ark is built, and the deluge is announced by Noah and his family ; but the sinners around them laugh at the menaced destruction —prompted as they are by a stranger, who is no other than Satan in disguise. The Arch-enemy is now in love with Noema;the be- trothed of Japhet. At the instance of her wicked admirer, she refuses to enter the ark ; and is carried high above the rising waters in the arms of Satan, who surveys with delight the destruction of the world. When, how- ever, Noema discovers the real character of her preserver, she springs into the waves, and saves her soul by the sacrifice of her life. Nor is this the only source of grief to Satan: The Angel Gabriel shows-him the rain- bow as the symbol of a new covenant ; and below this wondrous arc stands a woman, intended for the virgin Mary,' with her foot upon the Serpent's head.
The authors of this strange piece-are MM. Dennery and F. Dugue.
Madame Ristori has achieved a brilliant success m Alfieri's tragedy Rosmunda. Fortune constantly brings her into collision with Mademoi- selle Rachel ; who in the course of the year before last acted the Lom- bard Clytemnestra in a piece by M. Latour do St. Ybars, which — failed.
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