ART, LITERARY, AND DRAMATIC GOSSIP.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1744, 22 September 1879, Page 3

ART, LITERARY, AND DRAMATIC GOSSIP.

[From English Files.] In the new opera, " Heloise et Abelard," which he is at present writing, M.Gounod will, we are informed, take new and for him extraordinary ground. The libretto is, in fact, written with the serious object of showing the straggle of conscience against the Church law, and is intended as a vindication of freedom of mind against the dogma of orthodox priesthood and Roman Catholicism. That M. Gounod, who was educated for the priesthood, and was in his younger days in Rome received into minor orders as a preparation for the subdiaconate, should at the mature age of sixty-one be concerned in that which is practically a Protestant opera is sufficiently extraordinary. One difficulty in the story is overcome by the murder of Abelard in a bye street at the instigation of the clergy ; while the principal scene of the fourth act is where Abelard before the ecclesiastical tribunal throws all his religious books into the flames. The legend that Heloise rises from her tomb to receive the corpse of Abelard will be represented »b a vision, in a tableau like the apotheosis of Faust, in which the clouds at the back of the stage divide and the tomb of Heloise and Abelard in the cemetery of Pere-la-Chaise is discovered. It is, however, pretty obvious that before the new opera can be represented on the stage considerable modifications of the libretto will be necessary. The " Buffalo Express "thus refers to the probable causes of the infelicity of Dickens's marriage : —An Auburn clergyman who recently visited London professes to have learned all abont the cause of separation, and in a letter to the Auburn " Advertiser " has given the public the entire information. The sole and only trouble was, he says, that Mrs Dickens did not appreciate her husband's books. Without having the ability to understand, or at least the cast of mind necessary to appreciate them, she was nevertheless free in her criticisms, and these to the sensitive mind of Mr Dickens were excessively annoying. She persisted in her criticisms until they and she became hateful, and the separation, to two persons peculiarly given to judgment and to action in opposition one to another, was a natural consequence. The story seems absurd, but it is the only reasonable explanation of the domestic differences of Mr and Mrs Dickens that hasyetbeen given; and that themanwho wrote such wonderful books, very evidently patting his whole heart in the work, should be sensitive regarding them, and perhaps unreasonable so far as the judgment of his family was concerned, is not at all strange. There have indeed been too many such cases to question the reasonableness of the story—too many cases of more sadness, the freethinking and free-talking wife remaining with the man to whom her presence was persecution, to the creation of smaller but meaner scandal than that which followed the Dickenses, whose separation was, after all, a mere declaration of domestic peace. In his first visit to this country Mr Dickens was accompanied by his wife. In many instances, having perhaps been persecuted too much by the admiring crowd, he was haughty and overbearing, and thus made enemies. He became fretful and nervous, and his self-esteem was developed to a far greater degree upon his first visit than when he came last. We have read somewhere that Mrs Dickens on these occasions was not slow to chide him, even before his assembled admirers ; that she was glad to catch him in inaccuracies in his unconsidered remarks, and to correct them, with the best intentions, but with an air of importance ; and that whenever she was thus free her husband exhibited unmistakable signs of impatience and oven anger, " Behold how great a matter fi little fire kindleth 1 " From these slight differences may arise the whole great trouble. To believe so is to be in entire harmony with the reasonable story of the Auburn clergyman ; and there are thousands who will be glad of such an explanation, preferring it to the supposition that Mr Dickens was unintentionally unjust to his wife, even in the slightest degree, or that his part of the blame was other than might have been expected of a man of his peculiar temperament. But it is a strange reflection that a man who made so many happy firesides for others should have had one so barren of love and comfort for his own. It is told that John Howard Payne, whose " Home, Sweet Home " will live as long as there are homes and hearts, was a mere wanderer, and drew the inspiration for his song from glimpses through closed windows at domestic circles utterly strange to him. Is it that which we cannot possess which pleases us most Is possession necessarily disappointment? Mr Dickens' fictitious households show a fine understanding of the rale of disorder that prevails where a slovenly woman manages. His story of the child wife in "David Copperfield" is the very poetry of mismanagement, at the same time that it is one of the tenderest and

touching ever writttn. With her accomplishments as a critic, Mrs Dickens may have possessed all but the lovable attributes of "Dora;" and we know that there was visited upon the imaginary woman all the manliness and all the disposition to bear and forbear which characterised the great author, so far as the public knows, in his dealings with the real one, During the demolition of some old houses in Brook-street, Holborn, a collection of newspapers, periodicals, &3., of the dates of 1765-70, waa, reports the " Echo," discovered among a quantity of lumber and disposed of aa " waste" at ono of tho shopa in the neighbourhood. Among the packages thus sold a MS. waa found, and on examination a dramatic poem in blank verse was brought to light, numbering about 800 linos, and perfect, with the oxception of the first few pages, which, however, apparently only contained tho title, and possibly dedication. The poem is signed with the capital O of the Saxon alphabet, and it is now believed that it is from the pen of the unfortunate Chatterton, who committed suicide in a house in Brook street, in 1780. The poem deals with love and revenge, is laid in the Second Charles's days, and abounds in many striking pasaagea. Tho MS. is now in the hands of Lord Houghton, who is of opinion, with Dean Stanley, Mr Swinburne, and other men of letters, that the MS. is genuine. Arrangements are being made for its publication at an early date. A lively episode is reported as having occurred during the representation of the washhouse scene, in " L'Assommoir, at the Olympic Theatre, New York. Miss Granger, the representative of Gervaise, had for some time been on bad terms with Miss Rigl, the representative of Virginie, and on this occasion took the opportunity of the washhouse scene to vent her spite against her. Instead of dashing the water on Miaa Rigl's bosom and hipß, as before, Miss Granger hurled the bucketful with all her might direct into her face. Tho audience shouted and applauded loudly. It was gloriously funny, and, as they supposed, all in the play. Instantly—that is, as aoon as she had recovered—Mias Rigl took up her pail of soapsuds and strided across the stage after Miss Granger. The latter caught up her skirts and started to run. Miss Rigl increased her speed, and overtook Gervaise and drenched her from head to foot with water. Then the matter became more serious; they pulled each other's hair, scratched each other's face, tore each other's clothes, called each other names, and would, perhaps, have seriously injured each other if they had been permitted to have their own way. The curtain was rung down ; carpenters and scene shifters rushed upon the stage, and the belligerents were separated. Expostulated with by the Manager, the ladies promised to fight no more, and the curtain was rung up again.