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128 SOPHOCLES IN LONDON
One new as our new-come affliction,
Or an old toil returned with the years ?
Unveil thee, thou dread benediction,
Hope's daughter and Fear's.
This is very pretty, but is it Sophocles ? or
Swinburne ? Still, grace there is, and dis-
tinction, in all that Prof. Murray writes
qualities that are not accentuated by the
mouthings of the protagonist, Mr. Martin
Harvey, the uninspired drone of the chorus,
or the intermittent shrieking and bawling of
the crowd. In the translation of the Professor
the simple profundities of the poet become
delicate verse, which in the mouth of the
histrion is turned into rhythmless rhetoric.
But, after all, in performances of this sort
it is not the play, but the production, that is
the thing though that is less true of this
than of any other Reinhardt entertainment
we have yet seen. Still, deeds not words :
it is by theatrical effects and stage decoration,
if by any means, that the message of Sophocles
is to be conveyed to the people of London.
That both are remarkable cannot be denied.
(Edipus is a fine show. It is erudite, striking,
and ingenious but it is not a work of art.
;
What is it, then ? To borrow an expressive,
though unnecessarily insulting
neighbours, it is " Le faux bon."
term from our