'PAUL JONES.'

Evening Star, Issue 9581, 29 December 1894, Page 4

'PAUL JONES.'

The comic opera ' Paul Jones,' by the composer of the tuneful ' Lea Cloches de Corneville,' will be produced at the Princess's to-night for the first time in this colony. The libretto is by j Mr H. B. Farnie. The following is a synopsis of the plot;— A good deal of mystery surrounds the birth and boyhood of the famous Paul Jones. Although it is commonly accepted .that his parents lived in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, and that he was named Paul, there is yet a strong belief in France that he was in some way of French extraction; and Alexander Dumas, vire, in his well-known play, goes so far as to claim him entirely for that country. There can be no doubt, at all events, that Paul Jones when a boy passed some time in the Brittany ports; and this is. sufficient for the purposes of the present opera comigue, in which the motif is a purely fanciful episode in his adventurous career. In the first act Paul is bound apprentice to a St. Malo ship chandler, old Bicoquet, who has a pretty niece called Yvonne; and the love affairs of the voung couple, crossed by the rivalry of Ruflno de Martinet, a fellow cleri of Paul's, form the idyllic interest of the intrigue. This young Spaniard, Rufino, is the nephew of Don Trocadero, Governor of the little Spanish settlement of Estrella, off-the Mosquito shore, and Bicoquet favors his suit to Yvonne, the more that he is secretly influenced by Rufino's sister Malaguena, whom he ultimately marries. The usual result follows. Paul is dismissed by Bicoquet, and with his cronies, an old smuggler, Bouillabaisse, and his apprentice, Petit Pierre, volunteers on board an American privateer, in the hope of being able to return with a fortune and claim Yvonne in the three years accorded him by her guardian. Bouillabaisse, on his side, leaves his young wife Chopinette, who is hostess of the harbor inn, and whose domestic tiffs and flirtations with Haricot, concierge to Bicoquet, furnish the uuder-plot of the opera. Three years pass away, and in Act 11. we find Bicoquet retired from business, married to the strong-minded Malaguena, living in a handsome chateau opposite St. Malo, and on the eve of marrying Yvonne to Rufino, now captain of a Spanish man-o'-war. At the moment of signing the contract, however, Paul turns up to " flutter the dovecote" and claim Yvonne. The result is a cartel from Rufino to his rival, now in command of the famous United States corvette, the Bon Honlme Richard, on board which his old chums, Bouillabaisse and Pierre, are bo'sun and bo'sun's mate respectively. The scheming Malaguena, however, arranges that the duel shall only bo a pretext to make Paul and his two seamen prisoners. The ambuscade is only partially successful. Paul is captured, but Bouillabaisse and his mate seize a boat and escape across the bay to their own ship at St. Malo. The act concludes with the departure of the Bicoquet household on board Rufino's frigate to the island-command of Don Trocadero, where the marriage of Yvonne and Rufino is to take place; and for further security Paul Jones is put in irons in the cabletier, and accompanies them to the Spanish Main. Act 111. passes in the presidio of the eccentric Don Trocadero, Governor of Estrella, whom we find concocting measures of defence against the roving squadron of Paul Jones, his perpetual and harassing enemy. When, therefore, his nephew's ship arrives, and he learns that; Paul is a prisoner on board, the delight of Trocadero knows no bounds, and he gives a fete to the island to celebrate the event, and also to welcome the Bicoquets and Yvonne. But the amari aliquid soon rises in his cup of joy. Paul Jones escapes from his guard, and in despair, wishing to see Yvonne once more, boldly enters the Governor's house. There he meets his bitterest foe, Malaguena, who, however, becomes his warmest friend on finding accidentally from Paul that to him she owed her deliverance from her first husband, Don Mincio y Partidas, an old salt, whom she cordially detested. Still greater luck attends Paul. Don Trocadero mistakes him for Malaguena's husband, Bicoquet, and when the real merchant of St.' Malo arrives he is supposed to be Paul Jones, and maltreated accordingly, the ladies aiding in the deception for the sake of Yvonne and her lover. It is necessary, however, that Paul escape to his vessel, which is lying off the island, and this is managed by a ruse of Bouillabaisse, who, intercepting the canoes of the Indian King of the Mosquitos and his son, who are crossing to the island to make an alliance with the Spanish Governor, assumes the royal savage's dress, puts Pierre into that of the Crown Prince, his son, and so gains access to his captain at the moment that the identity of Paul is discovered. A sudden attack of the American crew overpowers the Spanish guard, Don Trocadero is taken prisouer, and a happy denouement ensues.