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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

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SCENE FROM A FRENCH DRAMA.


No. XVII. of the _Foreign Quarterly Review_, contains a paper of
much interest to the playgoer as well as to the lover of dramatic
literature--on two French dramas of great celebrity--_La Maréchale
d'Ancre_, by de Vigny; and _Marion Delorme_, by Victor Hugo. We quote
a scene from the former. Concini, the principal character, is a
favourite of Louis XIII.; the Maréchale, his wife, has a first love,
Borgia, a Corsican, who, disappointed in his early suit by the
stratagems of Concini, has married the beautiful but uncultivated
Isabella Monti. On the conflicting feelings of this strange personage,
his hatred to the husband, and his relenting towards the wife; and the
licentious plans of Concini for the seduction of Isabella, whom he
has seen without knowing her to be the wife of his deadly enemy, the
interest of the piece is made to turn. The jealous Isabella is at last
persuaded that the Maréchale has robbed her of the attachment of her
husband, and appears as a witness against her on the pretended charge
of witchcraft and sorcery.