All Englishmen will join with France in sorrow at the
sudden death on Wednesday of M. Coquelin eine, probably the most accomplished actor on the European stage. Benoit Constant Coquelin was born in 1841, and became a soeiataire of the Comedie Franraise before he was twenty-three years old. At the time of his death he was rehearsing for M. Rostand's long.' postponed play, Chantecler. These who saw him act are never likely to forget the amazingly expressive, nervous, flexible face,' which seemed to have' the power of expressing every shade of impertinence, slyness, naïveté, and broad content before ever a word was spoken. To see Coquelin act in the plays of Moliere was to have a. matchless exposition of that master of' human comedy. Who can forget Coquelin's Masearille in Lee' Prgeieuses Ridicules, or his Jourdain in Le Bourgeois hanone, or his Scapin in Lee Fourberies de Seapin ? Of Coquelin's more recent triumphs, every one will remember Cyrano de Bergerac and L'Aiglon, if only because they were performed with particular success in England. Coquelin's best characteristic perhaps was that he never grew stale in a part. He would embroider on his conception for years till he had it a finished, clear-cut, gem-like thing, and then he could preserve all its lustre. Idis old parts were his best, and in saying this we can pay him, as an artist, no higher tribute.
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