pieces, of which Monsieur Garat (1860), and Les OCTAVE FEUILLET. EUGÈNE LABICHE. EUGÈNE LABICHE, born in 1815, has been for forty years one of the most popular of French farce writers. In 1878 he ceased writing for the stage and published a collection of fifty-seven of his plays, which was so well received by the critics that he was elected a member of the French Academy in 1880. The best known of his plays are: Poudre aux Yeux. Cagnotte, Moi, Le Voyage de Monsieur Perrichon, and Le Misanthrope et l'Auvergnat. OCTAVE FEUILLET, born in 1812, was educated in the college of Louis-le-Grand, at Paris. After graduating he became a constant contributor to newspapers and reviews, besides writing many novels, comedies, dramas and farces, which achieved popularity. He was elected to the French Academy in 1862, and in the following year was made an officer of the legion of honor. His most noteworthy dramatic productions are: Echec et Mat (1846); Le Cheveu Blanc (1856); Dalila (1857); Le Roman d'un Jeune Homme Pauvre (1858); La Tentation (1860); Montjoye (1863); and Le Sphinx (1874). Three of his plays have been successfully adapted for the American stage -The Romance of a Poor Young Man, Led Astray (adapted by Dion Boucicault from La Tentation), and The Sphinx. He cannot be said to have exerted a healthful influence upon the French stage, and has been aptly termed one of the foremost of the French dealers in forbidden fruit, canned for export and domestic use. It is singular, however, that his novel "The Romance of a Poor Young Man," should be harmless enough for perusal in a seminary of young ladies, when we take up the latter highly spiced productions of the same author. MEILHAC AND HALÉVY. HENRI MEILHAC was born in 1832, and began his career as a dramatist in 1855 with a two-act comedy which proved a failure. The following year, however, his play called Sarabande du Cardinal made a hit, but his Petit-fils du Mascarille, produced in 1859, was not equally successful. In 1860 he formed a literary partnership with LUDOVIC HALEVY, who was born in 1834, and is a nephew of the French composer of that name, and a son of the playwright Léon Halévy. He began his career as a librettist to Offenbach, for whom he wrote Bata-clan in 1855, and later the Chanson de Fortunio, the Pont des Soupirs and Orphée aux Enfers. He then joined M. Meilhac, furnishing with him the librettos of Offenbach's comic operas, La Belle Hélène (1864), Barbe-bleue (1866), and La Grande Duchesse (1866). They have since written conjointly Fanny Lear (1868), Froufrou (1869), Tricoche et Cacolet (1872), and La Boule (1875). They have also produced Réveillon and other comic dramas, and furnished the librettos of Carmen and Le Petit Duc. ÉMILE ZOLA is the apostle of a new school which makes a plea for greater naturalism on the stage, but like many other reformers he has allowed his enthusiasm to carry him into extremes. Two of his novels, "L'Assommoir" and "Nana" were successfully dramatized for the stage by Busnach and Gastineau. Besides those mentioned above the following writers have produced plays during the present century Bouilly, Raynouard, Pixérécourt, Picara, Charles Nodier, Lebrun, Victor Ducange, Alexandre Soumet, Gabaux, Fréderic Soulié, Bouchardy, Dennery, Paul Meurice, Ernest Légouvé, Balzac, Jules Sandeau, Mme. de Girardin, Théodore de Banville, Edouard Pailleron, François Coppée, Edmond Gondinet, Paul Ferrier, Henri de Bornier, Parodi, Erckmann-Chatrian, and Alphonse Daudet. FFICIALLY the annals of the Comédie Française date from the year 1680, when by the decree of Louis XIV. the two rival companies of the Hôtel de Bourgogne and of the Hôtel Guénegaud were amalgamated into one under the title of the "Comédiens du Roi." Up to the time of Molière's death, in 1673, there existed three companies of equal pretensions-that of l'Hôtel de Bourgogne, of le Théâtre du Marais, and la Troupe de Molière. Upon the death of Molière the companies of the Théâtre du Marais and of Molière's troupe, became incorporated at the Hôtel Guénegaud; the fusion, decreed by Royal intervention, between the company so formed with that of the Hôtel de Bourgogne was the foundation of the true Comédie Française, and delivered both the Court and the players from the heart-burnings and jealousies which disturbed the welfare of the separate companies, and which appealed alternately to Royal justice or Royal favor for their final issue. These united companies played under the title of "Comédiens du Roi entretenus par le Roi," until the year 1689, when they took the name of "La Comédie Française." In the year 1682 the King granted to his comedians an annual pension of 12,000 livres, or francs (about equivalent to $2,400 at the present value of French money), and this was their first subsidy. The Hôtel de Bourgogne, occupied by the Troupe Royale, had originally been bestowed upon a society of religious pilgrims, who went about covered with shells from street to street, chanting recitals of the Passion, and to whom the piety of the citizens assigned the great hall for the better performance of their mysteries. The Troupe Royale, willing at first to go shares with the Confrères de la Passion, soon found them greatly in their way, and pleaded a necessity for the whole salle for their own performances, describing the Brethren as mendicants unworthy of the name of citizens. The Confrères, of course, had many taunts in reply; but Louis XIV. preferred the players, and finally made an arrangement by which he confiscated the goods of the Brethren for the benefit of "l'Hôpital Général," and required the players to pay rent for their occupancy of l'Hôtel de Bourgogne to the same hospital. This decision is the origin of the tax upon playhouses paid to the clergy for the poor of Paris, which is known now as "le droit des pauvres," and which is a heavy imposition upon managers and companies, and is likely to be the subject of fresh legislation before long. It was also a frequent cause of irritation between priests and managers; for the clergy, not slow to encroach where money was to be had for church or parish, gradually began to increase their exactions-a course which naturally provoked remonstrance from those who were subject to them; nor was this the only source of contention between the Church and the Stage. The Drama, which had its origin in religious mysteries in France as in England, found by degrees a new outlet for its energies in the form of sotties or sottises-farcical entertainments which followed the solemn performances of sacred subjects, by way of a relief for the excited or the satiated spectators. The Confrères de la Passion delivered these buffooneries into the hands of a junior society, known as "les Enfans sans soucis." Mere buffoonery was unsuited to the spirit of the French nation, and the sottises grew into satires, distinguished by license of thought, and used as weapons of attack by contending parties during the civil wars which troubled the reign of the unhappy Charles VI. Each faction had its dramatic poet, and the poet spoke out roundly. a It can easily be conceived that such audacious talking was displeasing both to Church and State; and after the death of Charles, when order was restored, these performances were put down with strong hand. Heavy penalties were laid upon the "Enfans sans soucis," whose appellation under this rigorous treatment seemed bitter irony. The company of the "Clerks of la Basoche," who played farces under the title of "Moralités," were not less harassed. They were a curious company these clerks -lawyers' clerks, with the privilege granted to their fraternity by allegorical, often satirical and licentious, and probably never moral. The accession of Louis XII., one of the few excellent rulers that France has known, banished bigotry and superstitious fear for awhile, and the persecuted companies were taken into favor. "A satire of his time is valuable to a king who wishes to learn the truth," said Louis, "so I will see these sottises." The comical representations, which had been extravagant farces, began now to show a new significance. The writing of a few among them became forcible. One of them, called "Maître Pathelin," acquired a considerable reputation, and, in a modernized version, it is occasionally still played at the Théâtre Français. It is possible that, under the favor of the Government, a French national drama might have developed itself early in France as in England; but with Louis XII. indulgence disappeared, and the progress of dramatic art was again impeded by continual interference. It was, perhaps, the ardent love of the French people for theatrical exhibitions, together with their satirical wit-also a national characteristicwhich excited so much alarm, and caused the Gallican Church to pursue the comedians with singular severity-a severity which displayed itself in the earliest records of French history, and culminated in the latter part of the reign of Louis XIV., when Bossuet anathematized the stage and the players with the concentrated energy of his one-sided mind. THE GRAND STAIRCASE OF THE NEW OPERA HOUSE AT PARIS. Philippe le Bel of choosing a king for themselves, who had the right accorded to him of coining money for their especial use. This King annually reviewed his troop in state; and to close the day's proceeding they performed a "Morality," so called because the religious element was not allowed to enter into it-the sacred mystery being the exclusive property of the "Confrères de la Passion." "Moralities" were were sometimes mythological and FLORIDOR. The most distinguished performers in the early days of French drama were Floridor, Baron, and Madame Champmeslé. Floridor, whose real name was Josias de Soulas, and who was a gentleman of good family, left the regiment of the Gardes Françaises to go upon the stage. He was handsome and graceful, with a singular charm of voice, and he was generally selected to be the orator to his company; that is, the actor whose function it was to speak an address before the performance of the piece, invoking the indulgence of the spectators; he was never heard without applause. He played both at the Marais and the Bourgogne with equal success in tragedy and comedy, and he was a personal favorite of Louis XIV. During an investigation which took place in his time touching the legality of cer then continued his admirable performances-a convincing proof that the profession of the stage did not interfere with the civil rights of the comedians. He played leading characters in Corneille's and Racine's tragedies and in several comedies. He fell ill in the year 1672, and the Curé de St. Eustache seized the opportunity to persuade him to renounce the profession in which he had won his renown and which he had honored not less by his moral qualities than his intellectual gifts. He recovered from his illness, was faithful to his promise, and did not return to the stage. He died about three years afterward. MADAME CHAMPMESLÉ. Madame Champmeslé's name is familiar to all readers of French literature. She was discussed by Madame de Sévigné in prose, and extolled by Boileau in verse. Racine taught her elocution, and she excelled chiefly in his tragedies. She had considerable power and pathos, but her art was often artificial, and her style of sounding her author's verse was too regular in its cadence for the true utterance of passion. Penetrated by the genius of Racine, she enhanced his faults at the same time that she exhibited his beauties. She was a member of the first united MME. FAVART IN 1753. tain titles assumed by gentlemen who had no sufficient warrant for holding them, Floridor's right to bear the title of Ecuyer was questioned. The comedian, not having his title deeds in his possession, was obliged to ask for time to recover them. The space of a year was granted to him for this purpose: he proved his claim, was reinstated in his rights, and company of the Comédie Française, which values the traditions of the past, and does not allow the merits of a great artist to be forgotten. FRANÇOIS BARON. The name of François Baron is little known in America, yet few actors have deserved a wider reputation. He was the son of a meritorious tragic actor, but at an early age it was evident that he was to eclipse the parental fame; and when Molière saw him play in the juvenile troupe, known as "La Troupe du Dauphin," he was so much struck with his capacity that he at once requested him to become his pupil, intending to bring him out as the leading actor of his company. Baron profited by the lessons but deserted the master. He left Molière to join a provincial company, and finally made a successful appearance before the King and the Court at the Palais Royal in 1671. His first triumph was in as he reached the summit of his popularity he solicited the royal permission to retire. Louis XIV. formally granted him his freedom at Fontainebleau, where the great actor appeared before him on the 22d of October, 1691. He was at the time of his retreat the chief delight of the Comédie Française ; he received the pension of 1,000 livres due to him as a retiring member of the company, and the King's bounty added a second pension of 3,000 livres-about $800 according to the present value of French money. Baron was a proud man, and the obloquy attached to his profession was irritating to his sense of personal dignity. He persevered in his resolution during a period of thirty years, and then, as if it were his function to startle the public, he re-appeared upon the stage in Corneille's "Cinna" on the 16th of March, 1720. This Rip Van Winkle of the Drama came back to find most of his former comrades departed, but there still remained his sovereign, and many of his friends at Court, to rejoice in the return of the tragedian who had first sounded the depth of unknown sympathies within them, and taught them the existence of untried passion. The theater was crowded to excess, and the longing of, many hearts fulfilled. Baron had not lost his power: he had doubled it. His figure was imposing; his voice was completely under his command. He had meditated on his art, and he came back to improve it. MLLE. MARS. Molière's "Amour et Psyché." His youth, his beauty, and his tender tones fitted him for the part of L'Amour, and made Psyché's sentiments quite intelligible to the feminine portion of his audience. He played during twenty years with equal power in tragedy and comedy, in Corneille and Molière, and Louis XIV. bestowed upon him every possible mark of esteem. He was the favorite of the day, but just |