Julius Caesar.

The following is taken fron the Transcript of May 26:

"The acting itself can naturally not be spoken of from a professional point of view; that even the most gifted amateur can learn much from the worst and stupidest professional is a truth which no one can gainsay. Yet it was a rare comfort last evening to find that every member of the large cast really knew what he was talking about. This is a feeling that one does not often experience in the face of the professional stage. Everything that was done was governed by evident intelligence; the gestures, if not always graceful and forcible, were generally appropriate and had some meaning. In the reading of the lines, the ear was very seldom shocked by that false emphasis which is the bane of our stage-that ignoring of substantives and verbs, and throwing the main stress of the voice upon the minor parts of speech, Upon the whole, the reading was less constantly declamatory than we had expected and feared. Now and then a line, especially if it had a pathetic or humerous purport, would come out in quite a human way. The most striking general failing was a tendency to make too many pauses in a sentence, as if the young speakers felt the need of a certain start before making an emphasis, on the reculer pour mieux sauter principle. The lack of by-play was striking, albeit natural, and almost all the participants fell into the error, common to all American -born amateurs, of looking preternaturally solemn-as if the destinies of the stellar system weighed upon their shoulder-when they had nothing to say. Yet there was no sign of carelessness; every movement and position seem to have been well studied out beforehand. The thing that most detracted from the effectiveness of the play was, not so much the indistinct enunciation, as the untrained voices of the actors. Few of the voices carried well. But for really brilliant stage effect, give us the populace. They were superb, and acted and shouted with a naturalness and conviction which left nothing to be desired."