The Cruise of the Branwen

THE WREATH OF OLIVE ineffective grouping of actors and chorus, the same absence of choral evolutions. The leading parts of CEdipus and J ocasta were well acted by M. Furst and Mme. Lorando, but in a style hardly suggestive of classic severity; the heroic and the statuesque were missing, as well as the semi-religious restraint; Jocasta, moreover, was impossibly young and impossibly dressed. Among the minor parts the best was that of the second messenger, a young man, who looked admirable and delivered his message well. The text was handled in the most arbitrary manner and cuts were made, especially in the choruses, irrespective of sense and even of grammar. The modern Greek pronunciation was, of course, employed, and its superiority to its cacophonous English substitute amply demonstrated. The English system, which, in the interests of " quantity," ignores the accents handed down from antiquity by usage as well as by literature, finds fewer supporters every day, and its doughtiest champions would abandon the cause if they could only hear a Greek play recited by Greeks." It will be seen from the extract given above that its writer does not take my own view as to the effect of modern Greek upon a modern Englishman. These things are entirely personal questions, as to which few men can wholly agree, and I remain unconvinced. The only thing that really moved me in the whole performance was when a chorus of deep bass voices sang the F 8I