her on to excess by too hot an opposition; 'perhaps he loves you now,' and goes on to describe Hamlet's position; he may not carve for himself, he says, and if he has a fancy for her he may, seeing her passion, use it for her undoing; he adds to this an exhortation to keep Within the rear of her affection, Out of the shot and danger of desire, words which could only be suggested to a brother by the passionate temperament of his sister. Her reply is caustic, while it affects compliance. She saysI will the effect of this good lesson keep, but she adds with fine irony a sharp retort:- But, good my brother, Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, ‘Oh, fear me not,' answers Laertes, but adds, 'I stay too long,' not willing to hear any more such pungent remarks. And again with Polonius she is not the docile daughter who lives only to obey, but holds an avowed difference of opinion as to Hamlet's disposition, and without violence but with a good deal of resolution holds her own. It is the intensity of her passion which, unable to bear the seeming indifference of Hamlet, leads her into the base business of playing the spy upon him—anything rather than not see him, anything rather than the endurance of his neglect--and when by the death of her father she is driven mad it is not only because she has lost Polonius but because Hamlet has killed him. The character of her insanity is not an approach to imbecility, which the stage is apt to make it, but the delirium of a thwarted passion. The scene of Ophelia's burial is very well given at the Théâtre Français: it is not too long drawn out; the painful details are not forced; the maimed rites are carefully observed; the gravedigger is allowed to have his and his song. say On the whole M. Meurice has shown remarkable ability as a dramatic translator, for there are few undertakings so laborious in the attempt and so disheartening in the result as that of converting the poetry of one nation into the poetry of another. The sense may be subtly rendered, but how is the sound of it to be captured? Where is the music? It refuses to be torn from its birthplace to charm. another land. But if the translator of a great work expresses the thoughts of his author with real fidelity, with force and truth, then he bestows a great boon upon his countrymen. Such a gift M. Paul Meurice has afforded them in his version of Hamlet. It is generally VOL. XX.-No. 118. 3 L faithful (with the exception of the lamentable interpolated scene already mentioned), it is in some passages vigorous, and it is altogether dramatic it has cast off some conventionalities of the French stage and is courageous without swagger. M. Meurice has had to wait forty years for the realisation of his desire to have the play of his predilection performed in a wholly worthy manner at the great national theatre, while the tragedian who has ensured its success has brooded for fourteen years over his ardent wish to play Shakespeare's Hamlet. The two separately watched and wondered with something more like resignation than hope, but while they waited the trammels of French literature were gradually loosened, the pedantries of the Academy were cast aside, and so at last it happened that the right author and the right actor came together and in conjunction obtained for the Théâtre Français one of its best triumphs. JULIET POLLOCK. BUYING NIAGARA. I HAVE been asked to write the story of the movement to preserve Niagara, and I gladly comply, believing that all students of politics and the actions of public opinion on measures will find in the movement which has led to the purchase of Niagara Falls by the State of New York another instance of the power of mere sentiment among men. The machinery of government in the United States is rarely used to procure a result belonging so entirely to the realm of elevated sentiment; and yet it is only by appeal to a legislative body that any help can be obtained for such purposes from the State. An occasional appropriation for a statue or some other work of art is about the limit to which a Legislature will go, unless the object is distinctly of an educational character and has a very practical side to it. But away down deep in the Anglo-Saxon breast is always to be found the element of sentiment; stronger perhaps because so deeply hidden, and capable too of great results and great sacrifices when once aroused. The trouble is to arouse it, and this, in the practical, active life of the great Republic, is a matter of difficulty; certainly it requires time and patience to do it. Nowhere in the world is private generosity for public purposes greater than in the United States, and it was not an impossibility to imagine that the preservation of Niagara might have been secured by the contributions of private individuals; yet the evident propriety of the work to be done being carried out by the State, prevented even the consideration of the former method. Besides, it was thought by those who had the matter in charge that an appeal to the sentiment, to the patriotism and pride of the people would not be in vain, and on that principle the battle was fought and the victory won. Never before had an attempt to use the machinery of government on so large a scale for such a purpose been tried; but the very magnitude and grandeur of the sentiment, so to speak, would, it was thought, have an attraction for our people, who have an inborn interest for anything great or large; and, moreover, there was from the very beginning no sordid element to degrade or modify the ideal set before the public by the labourers in the move ment. Time has justified our faith: the work has been accomplished, and the million and a half which the State of New York has given for this purpose is not regretted by even the small part of its citizens who originally opposed the appropriation. On the contrary, the pride of the people is universal in the fact that they themselves have made the Falls of Niagara free to all mankind for all time to come. But to secure all this it was first necessary to obtain an expression of public opinion, and that not a doubtful one: and this is the way we went about it, for we never doubted for a moment that, this expression once obtained, success would follow as a matter of course. About eight or nine years ago attention was called to the condition of affairs at Niagara, but not until 1879 did the matter take any public form. During that year the Governor of New York, as the result of an interview had with the Governor-General of Canada, sent a message to the Legislature of the State regarding the abuses existing at the Falls. The result of this message was a resolution by the Legislature directing the Commissioners of the State Survey to inquire, consider, and report regarding the matter. Such a report was duly made, and in the following year the movement received additional stimulus by the presentation of a notable memorial to the Governor of New York and the Governor-General of Canada, asking that immediate steps be taken to preserve the scenery at the Falls. The first bill to secure these results was also at this time introduced into the Legislature of New York, but did not pass. A second bill was brought in the next year, but met with the same fate. In 1883, however, another effort was made, and an Act was finally passed. To secure its passage an association was formed called the Niagara Falls Association, which had for its object 'to promote legislation and other measures for the restoration and preservation of the natural scenery at Niagara Falls, in accordance with the plan proposed by the Commissioners of the State Survey in their special report on the subject.' It was through this society that the expression of public opinion was obtained. The first move made was to secure the support of the press; and right willingly and steadfastly was this support given to the very end. Indeed, it was through fear of this mighty engine of a free people that more than one legislator gave his vote for the bill, and the writer recollects a fellow-member of the Legislature telling him he had voted for the measure solely because he was afraid 'the newspapers would hammer the life out of him if he voted t'other way.' Strong opposition to the bill came from certain quarters, and in some of the agricultural counties of the State the fear of additional taxation to meet the cost of the proposed Reservation induced the members from those counties to oppose the bill. No opposition was made to the bill per se, though there were members who considered the whole thing a bit of sentimental nonsense got up by a lot of rich people in the large cities. In many cases, however, these gentlemen were undeceived by their constituents, whom they found on inquiry to favour the proposition and to be very much more alive to the advantage and benefit to the State to be derived from the scheme than the aforesaid legislators dreamed of. Another difficulty to be overcome was the indifference on the part of the members, and the trouble always attendant on any effort to obtain the active support for a measure without any politics in it,' or which lacks the interest which attaches to legislation in the interests of corporations. Finally, however, the measure came out of committee in the Lower House, and, after a debate of some length, passed and went to the Senate. The margin, however, was a narrow one, the vote in the Assembly being barely enough. Sixty-five affirmative votes were required, and the measure received but sixtyseven in a possible hundred and twenty eight. Altogether this first engagement was the hardest, and promised to be more difficult to win than any of the subsequent combats of the campaign. Public sentiment had not yet declared itself so emphatically as it did later on, and there were at this time honest opponents to the bill who carried many votes with them by the arguments that the State might become involved by such legislation for an unknown, and perhaps enormous amount, and that the measure was merely the entering wedge for a great and lasting extravagance. Enemies of the scheme made use of the word 'park,' commonly applied at the beginning of the movement, to show that all manner of costly public works were contemplated at Niagara. Goat Island was to be covered with statues and fountains, roads and paths laid out, bridges built, and summer-houses and other buildings erected, a mass of useless officials employed, and the Falls converted into a sort of State Cremorne. In the Senate the passage of the bill was delayed for some time by the committee having the bill in charge failing to report it, and matters began to look serious, when the assistance of a certain well-known political leader was sought, and through his influence the bill was at once reported and presently passed. This leader was the last person whom many would have thought willing to give it any help, and yet not only at this time but afterwards no one gave us more important support or more entirely sympathised with our efforts, and this, too, purely from a great love for nature inherent in the man-from, in fact, a mere sentiment, added perhaps to the sound common sense for which he is recognised by those who know him. As was generally expected, the Governor of the State, Cleveland-now President of the United States-at once |