French Lecture.

"The Social Question: Francois Curel and M. Antoine's Theatre" was the subject of the sixth French lecture yesterday afternoon. The lecture dealt with the history of the small theatres that have sprung up in response to the efforts of young authors who are trying to gain a reputation. Of these theatres the chief are the Theatre Antoine, Theatre Libre, Gaiete Montparnasse and Menus Plaisirs. For the fifteen years in which these theatres have been in vogue many popu ar plays have been represented there, such as "L'Evasion," by Alexander Villiers; "Le Pain du Peche," by T. Aubanel; "Rolande," by J de Gramont; "Le Mort du Due d'Enghien," by Leon Hennique; "Tante Leontine," by Boniface and Rodin; "Le Maitre," by Jean Jullien. Plays by Ibsen and other foreign writers are also sometimes represented.

Of the playwrights for these theatres, M. Francois de Curel has attained the greatest success. More recently, M. Bruyerre has scored a success with "En Paix," a study of lunatic asylums. In "La Clairiere," Mm. Lucien Descaves and Maurice Donnay present in a very clear manner the social problems that confront our society, and show the difficulties that protract their solution.

M. Antoine is one of the most successful actors at these theatres. His charm does not, like Coquelin's or Mounet Sully's, lie in a commanding voice or an extravagant costume, but consists in putting before his audience the exact counterpart of what he represents. He does not act; he lives his part. He never panders to the whims of the public: for instance, unlike other actors, he does not hesitate to turn his back on the audience. He likes to act the plays of young and comparatively unknown authors, and it is his boast that he discovered and fostered such men as Brilleux and Henri Lavedan.