BELLEW ON FROUDE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 6, 7 June 1873, Page 9

BELLEW ON FROUDE.

*r ll £ J - M. Bkcmw lately gave owe of his readings at Steiu way Hall, New \ ork : before a crowded house. Preceding the opentaj pi-ec, the distinguished elocutionist paid a t-ibute to Irish actors and dramatists .which was called out by some remarks of Mr Froude in his last book. Ml- liellew s&id : v Ladies akd GuNjiEME^-Before reading the following scene from the famous comedy ot the "C.ifcic," I wish to preface it with a remar* which canaot possibly offend any one, but which it is only iust and right to make in introducing so great a name as that of Sheriaan In a work just published, and as yet hardly known in this country' imttcnbyMrJJroude, and entitled " The English in Ireland" that gentleman, at page 22, takes occasion in referring to Irish art and literature to make the following amazing or amusing assertion : "The incompleteness of character is conspicuous in all that the* uo and have done j in their history, in their practical habits, in their arts and literature. Their lyrioal melodies are exquisite • their eo£ poetry is ridiculous bombast. In the lives of their saints there ial wild and fantastic splendor ; but they have uo secular history fOPf 0P a, a nation, they haye done nothing which posterity will not be anxious to forget, ana if they have never produced a tolerable drama it ?! because imagination cannot outstrip reality." ' I know I am here to night reading before many of the most intelligent men and women m New York ; I know there are amone you many skilled men and women, probably as generally conver ■ant with the literature of the English language as Mr Fronde, and let me add, I hope much more so. In hearing such words a3 I have just read, I cannot resist jocularly asking you, "Would you believe * ™ umn asßUimn g our ignorance, or is he ventilating his own? Why, next to Shakespeare, every literary man aud" every dramatic artist will give the place of honor to an Irishman—Richard Brn.sley Sheridan ? Is »ot he the author of the two greatest comedies of 'he last two centuries, « The Rivals," and ''The School fnr Scandal ? And where was he born but in dear old, dirty, and muchbeloved Dublin ? Who, again, was Oliver Goldsmith ? Did not he write "She stoops to conquer," which had a run of four-hundred nights at Drury Lane Theatre, when originally produced, and wag

twice played by royal command, before the King and his Court f So great is the vitality of .that famous comedy that only the year before last it was re-produced by Mrs John .Wood, at St. Jameß* Theatre, in London, and ran uninterruptedly, if I remember aright, for nearly three-hundred nights. I ehall never forget the beauty and completeness of that performance, and my delight with the rendering of the part of Mr Hardcastle, undertaken and admirably executed by one of our own favorite actors, Mr Mark Smith. And who was Goldsmith? Was he not born and bred in the County of Longford, Ireland? Then, <iguin, how about Congreve and Farqnahir? Are not theirs historical names as dramatists ? And were they not Irish?K? i. WhatahiiU I say of such a constellation of minor lights, as QKeefe, Murphy, Richard Lalor Sheil. and Matnrin? The present generation has seen Cork.produce Jumea Sheridau Knowles WVerford produce Sheil, Dublin, Dion Boucicmlt, and last but not lea^t Limrick G-erald Griffin, lou hare had a good treat ktely of Mr Froude in this city, and a good deal of reflation of his statements by Father Burke. I don't presume to intrude upon -hat arena ; but when Mr Froude has the temerity to print the assertion that the Irish " have never produced a tolerable drama," I feel called upon to ful I a promise I made to an enormous audience in Duhlin, wi*hi,V* me « God speed \vhenl was coming across here, that I would point out in America this misstatemont, and vindicate Irish genius and literature on a matter winch has created astonishment and shrieks of lauchter throughout Ireland, and should any members of your now York press which has treated mo so generously, be present now, I should feel grateful if they would report my words, that on the wings of the press, hey may be earned back to Ireland, 8 o that it may be known there that I have done my du-y, fulfilled my promise, and pilloried Mr Froude s ignorance and effrontery.