3-034-873 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Scene from "The Bells", at the Lyceum Theatre, 1871. London stage production. 'The drama entitled "The Bells," by Mr. Leopold Lewis, adapted from MM. Erckmann-Chatrian's sketch called "Le Juif Polonais," continues to run at the Lyceum, and will, no doubt, establish itself in popular favour. The piece contains two dream scenes, the first of which has been selected by our Artist for illustration. Mathias, Burgomaster of Alsace (Mr. Henry Irving), who had fifteen years ago committed a murder on his Hebrew guest, has his mind directed to the incident by many circumstances of the day just closing, when, falling asleep in his chair, the vision of the Polish Jew drawn in his sledge, and himself pursuing with the axe by which the assassination was effected, appears to him, and he rises in a state of terror, on which the curtain falls. This tableau has been objected to by some critics, as anticipating the revelations of the second, in which, under mesmeric influence, the criminal is made to act the dreadful scene as a clairvoyant; but we scarcely concur in the opinion, for we remark, that in the Shakspearean treatment of ghostly appearances a law of duality obtains; and we think that Mr. Lewis has been right in following the great poet's example'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.